What I liked:
After viewing Shadow Chronicles a few times, the one thing that stood out the most was the music and sound. Scott Glasgow’s musical score elevated the quality of Robotech into the echelon of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Gone is the 80’s keyboard music and replaced with 40 strings and brass. The fine musical score was well mixed with the sound effects of the old show as well with new ones.
The second thing I noticed was the 3D animation and the achievements of the computer graphics. The opening sequence was something out of a Star Trek episode. I was also quickly reminded of the opening of Superman Returns. Yes, this has been done again and again in science fiction but I definitely liked it. I did have doubts about the mixing of traditional 2D animation and the new computer driven 3D animation. But in the end, I was definitely blown away. The ability to escalate the special effects and enlarge the pallet is amazing. The battle to liberate the Earth at the beginning greatly out did the old animation of the New Generation. I was so impressed I rewound the DVD and watched it again and again. In the 80’s, I had to almost use my imagination to encompass the size of the battle fleet from the REF. But finally, I didn't have to think but be overwhelmed by the sharp and crisp scene playing out on my widescreen television.
If I was numbering these points, I would say the third most important thing I liked about TSC was the bringing back of so many of the original voice actors. It gave me chills and took me back to the summer 1985 when I heard Scott Bernard speak again, the first time in 20 years. Tony Oliver gave Rick Hunter an edge and realism. He didn’t just should like Rick from Macross but had the voice of age and wisdom. Dan Woren’s voice was welcomed back as Gen Reinhardt but I will admit he’s best as Roy Fokker. Other voices most Robotech fans will definitely appreciate are Richard Epcar, Iona Morris, and Melanie MacQueen. There was even some other famous voices like Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, and Chase Masterson. I would say the voice talents have only gotten better with age.
Did I like the story? Yes. The story stayed with the themes of Robotech. With the new sequel we got a new villain and enemy. Pacing and action was again in line with the old series. The battles were grand and filled with explosions. The ability to work actual dialog from the final episode of New Generation was also a plus in my book. The small things like that kept me involved and allowed me to remember back to good ol' early days.
All in all, I found this new Robotech very entertaining. I would have to give it a 7 out of 10. Or on a stars level, I would give it 3.75 stars. And as Ebert and Roper would say, two thumbs up!
In a future post, I will state my dislikes. And once that is on the table, I can begin to break down a few scenes and few larger topics that I want to bring around for discussion.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Shadow Chronicles Review and Commentary Part I
The Robotech sequel was put into production over three years ago. Why it took so long, I have no guess. The Sentinels fell apart in an economic collapse between the dollar and the yen. What plagued Shadow Chronicles? Distribution deals and Harmony Gold. Well, that is my guess.
As for the wait, I had anticipated the release of Shadow Chronicles like everyone else. I don’t think I took the release delays as hard as some other Robotech bloggers. I figured we’d eventually get it and left it at that. I think I took a passive approach to those delays as I didn’t want my anticipation to impact the perception I would have of the feature when I saw it. Some may understand what I call “the anticipation syndrome” of movies. Does anyone recall the American Godzilla feature film? We saw teaser trailers 18 months before the release. With such an early promotion campaign, the film collapsed under its own weight of hype and anticipation. The audience was geared up for the film so long that they wanted something that would blow the Japanese versions out of the water. And we know how that ended. The film tanked and was thrown in the classification of “worst films of our generation”—riddled with clichés and bad story movement. I’m surprised the Japanese didn’t attack us again just for the slaughter of their iconic character and story.
As for my opinion on the Shadow Chronicles delays, I think this most likely was Harmony Gold’s fault. From recent interviews and articles, it appears that Harmony Gold doesn’t exactly rush their negotiations to do anything. They’re the grannies of deal making. Palladium is suffering the same fate with wanting to release a TSC version of the role-playing game. We can only hope that the July-ish release date of a revamped RPG for Robotech will hold true. If Harmony Gold doesn’t work deals a bit faster, the fans may abandon any future projects or merchandising. You can sustain fans for future releases but you can’t riddle them with delays and deception. The Star Wars prequels had gripped fans with anticipation for Episodes I, II and III but we knew we would get them in 1999, 2002 and 2005. If George Lucas had delayed Episode III to 2006, would he have kept the fans eager and craving Star Wars? Yes, of course. But if he delayed it again to 2007 because he couldn’t find a distributor and then delayed it again to 2008 because he couldn’t decide if he wanted it to be a DVD release or theatrical release, then the fans would have been outraged and interest would have faded. What Robotech needs is a strict release schedule. And do everything to hit those marks this side of a comet smashing into North America. Then, slowly release footage and mecha designs to wet our appetites. One great example of just giving enough details without giving too much away was the Star Wars Insider’s content of the prequels. Since Lucasfilm guarded things so well, gave tiny tid-bits and never strayed from those release dates, the fans flocked by the millions to local theaters.
With the official word that a sequel to the sequel is in production, the first thing that popped into my head was, “so we’ll see this feature sometime in 2009 or 2010. Now that I think about it…2009 would be a great release date! Harmony Gold could use the tie in to the year the Zentraedi arrived. It would be grand….
Oh well, perhaps I should focus some commentary to the actual production of The Shadow Chronicles…. Stay tuned tomorrow for Part II.
As for the wait, I had anticipated the release of Shadow Chronicles like everyone else. I don’t think I took the release delays as hard as some other Robotech bloggers. I figured we’d eventually get it and left it at that. I think I took a passive approach to those delays as I didn’t want my anticipation to impact the perception I would have of the feature when I saw it. Some may understand what I call “the anticipation syndrome” of movies. Does anyone recall the American Godzilla feature film? We saw teaser trailers 18 months before the release. With such an early promotion campaign, the film collapsed under its own weight of hype and anticipation. The audience was geared up for the film so long that they wanted something that would blow the Japanese versions out of the water. And we know how that ended. The film tanked and was thrown in the classification of “worst films of our generation”—riddled with clichés and bad story movement. I’m surprised the Japanese didn’t attack us again just for the slaughter of their iconic character and story.
As for my opinion on the Shadow Chronicles delays, I think this most likely was Harmony Gold’s fault. From recent interviews and articles, it appears that Harmony Gold doesn’t exactly rush their negotiations to do anything. They’re the grannies of deal making. Palladium is suffering the same fate with wanting to release a TSC version of the role-playing game. We can only hope that the July-ish release date of a revamped RPG for Robotech will hold true. If Harmony Gold doesn’t work deals a bit faster, the fans may abandon any future projects or merchandising. You can sustain fans for future releases but you can’t riddle them with delays and deception. The Star Wars prequels had gripped fans with anticipation for Episodes I, II and III but we knew we would get them in 1999, 2002 and 2005. If George Lucas had delayed Episode III to 2006, would he have kept the fans eager and craving Star Wars? Yes, of course. But if he delayed it again to 2007 because he couldn’t find a distributor and then delayed it again to 2008 because he couldn’t decide if he wanted it to be a DVD release or theatrical release, then the fans would have been outraged and interest would have faded. What Robotech needs is a strict release schedule. And do everything to hit those marks this side of a comet smashing into North America. Then, slowly release footage and mecha designs to wet our appetites. One great example of just giving enough details without giving too much away was the Star Wars Insider’s content of the prequels. Since Lucasfilm guarded things so well, gave tiny tid-bits and never strayed from those release dates, the fans flocked by the millions to local theaters.
With the official word that a sequel to the sequel is in production, the first thing that popped into my head was, “so we’ll see this feature sometime in 2009 or 2010. Now that I think about it…2009 would be a great release date! Harmony Gold could use the tie in to the year the Zentraedi arrived. It would be grand….
Oh well, perhaps I should focus some commentary to the actual production of The Shadow Chronicles…. Stay tuned tomorrow for Part II.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Let’s talk about Robotech!
As I will review Shadow Chronicles shortly, I will discuss a few topics on Robotech.
Where to start? To give creditability to my review, perhaps some back story on my past with Robotech…
1985. An early spring day. It was Friday. KCOP, Channel 13 in Los Angeles premiered a 90-minute long episode of Robotech. I recall KCOP had a tendency for placing animated specials on Friday afternoons as if it were a treat for school kids to start their weekend. I remember they did this from time to time and especially would do this again the next year with Voltron: The Fleet of Doom special. The premiere was advertised for about a week before the airdate amongst episodes of Flintstones, Thundercats and Voltron, so I had an opportunity to see a sample and was well prepared to watch it that fateful Friday.
At the time, I was a Japanimation fan (although I would not know this until after Robotech. I mean I was a huge fan of Battle of the Planets, Tranzor Z and Voltron. Yet I didn’t know these were products of Japan. I was only a child back then, 12 to be exact, and was naïve about the production of many of my favorite cartoons and animated shows). This Robotech episode would be dubbed “the pilot” or in my words a very extended version of Gloval’s Report and I would be reminded a few years later that it was actually titled Codename: Robotech. It would be lost to me until the DVD box set release of Robotech. I will admit when I watched this episode I was hooked. I thought the visuals were breathtaking and designs of the mecha were right up my alley. Yet, I didn’t know what the freak this show was about. Honestly, I found the pacing very confusing and rushed. Thinking this was only a special, I wasn’t too happy with the end product. But…while watching the "pilot" show, advertisements for its daily incarnation, motivated me to give the show a second chance.
Thus, my interest in Robotech was born. Let’s say, from that first Monday through another 85 straight week days, I was addicted to Robotech. I would race home after school to watch it. (later, I would manage to tape all 85 episodes via the VCR—I still have these tapes to this day and many still have commercials. Someday I hope to rip them and get them on the good ol’ puter.) If memory serves, it was on around 4 p.m. (this would be mountain time—see my bio) This was now my new Star Wars (I will expand my past with Star Wars in a future post). To make a long history short, I searched out everything Robotech. I found the novels (which I enjoyed greatly and don’t understand the controversy—perhaps I will write about that soon), I played the role-playing game by Palladium, I bought the Robotech art books (at this point I started to understand the concept of Japanimation), I bought every issue of the Comico comics, I bought the VHS tapes and I would subscribe to Protoculture Addicts. I was a fan in the purest. I found that many of my school mates loved Robotech too and thus we had our little club of fans.
Although the show was riddled with inconsistencies and minor goofs, we didn’t think much of them and joked about it often. That is why I loved the novels so much as it tried to fix those issues. As time passed, Robotech faded in the background. I think it dominated much of my life from 1985 until 1992-ish. I was one of those kids who wouldn’t let it die even when my other friends did and mocked me for liking it still (at this time I was entering my freshman year in college). I did move my interests back to Star Wars in 1993 (a story in itself for another time).
Today, I own both the remastered and the original release of Robotech on DVD, to which, I prefer the original as it reminds me of how it was back in 1985. I currently have all 85 episodes and Shawdow Chronicles on my iPod. I’m not a new or passing Robotech fan, thus I think my comments and insight of both Robotech and Shadow Chronicles should be well supported…
Where to start? To give creditability to my review, perhaps some back story on my past with Robotech…
1985. An early spring day. It was Friday. KCOP, Channel 13 in Los Angeles premiered a 90-minute long episode of Robotech. I recall KCOP had a tendency for placing animated specials on Friday afternoons as if it were a treat for school kids to start their weekend. I remember they did this from time to time and especially would do this again the next year with Voltron: The Fleet of Doom special. The premiere was advertised for about a week before the airdate amongst episodes of Flintstones, Thundercats and Voltron, so I had an opportunity to see a sample and was well prepared to watch it that fateful Friday.
At the time, I was a Japanimation fan (although I would not know this until after Robotech. I mean I was a huge fan of Battle of the Planets, Tranzor Z and Voltron. Yet I didn’t know these were products of Japan. I was only a child back then, 12 to be exact, and was naïve about the production of many of my favorite cartoons and animated shows). This Robotech episode would be dubbed “the pilot” or in my words a very extended version of Gloval’s Report and I would be reminded a few years later that it was actually titled Codename: Robotech. It would be lost to me until the DVD box set release of Robotech. I will admit when I watched this episode I was hooked. I thought the visuals were breathtaking and designs of the mecha were right up my alley. Yet, I didn’t know what the freak this show was about. Honestly, I found the pacing very confusing and rushed. Thinking this was only a special, I wasn’t too happy with the end product. But…while watching the "pilot" show, advertisements for its daily incarnation, motivated me to give the show a second chance.
Thus, my interest in Robotech was born. Let’s say, from that first Monday through another 85 straight week days, I was addicted to Robotech. I would race home after school to watch it. (later, I would manage to tape all 85 episodes via the VCR—I still have these tapes to this day and many still have commercials. Someday I hope to rip them and get them on the good ol’ puter.) If memory serves, it was on around 4 p.m. (this would be mountain time—see my bio) This was now my new Star Wars (I will expand my past with Star Wars in a future post). To make a long history short, I searched out everything Robotech. I found the novels (which I enjoyed greatly and don’t understand the controversy—perhaps I will write about that soon), I played the role-playing game by Palladium, I bought the Robotech art books (at this point I started to understand the concept of Japanimation), I bought every issue of the Comico comics, I bought the VHS tapes and I would subscribe to Protoculture Addicts. I was a fan in the purest. I found that many of my school mates loved Robotech too and thus we had our little club of fans.
Although the show was riddled with inconsistencies and minor goofs, we didn’t think much of them and joked about it often. That is why I loved the novels so much as it tried to fix those issues. As time passed, Robotech faded in the background. I think it dominated much of my life from 1985 until 1992-ish. I was one of those kids who wouldn’t let it die even when my other friends did and mocked me for liking it still (at this time I was entering my freshman year in college). I did move my interests back to Star Wars in 1993 (a story in itself for another time).
Today, I own both the remastered and the original release of Robotech on DVD, to which, I prefer the original as it reminds me of how it was back in 1985. I currently have all 85 episodes and Shawdow Chronicles on my iPod. I’m not a new or passing Robotech fan, thus I think my comments and insight of both Robotech and Shadow Chronicles should be well supported…
Sunday, February 25, 2007
A New Dawn....
…The Kastle Tower has been constructed. The power of the hobby kingdom will be discussed and explored…
