Robotech live action movie

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2007-09-12 11:00am

Darwin wrote:
Ford Prefect wrote:
For god's sake man go and watch Macross Plus. It is happens to be quite awesome.
Yes, but..

Miniseries version or movie version?

In my opinion, the movie version is superior. (I've seen both.)

Redleader34 · Post by **Redleader34** » 2007-09-12 11:48am

Uranium235 wrote: I'm skeptical that it would work nearly as well for it as it did for neoBSG, especially considering that you're trying to inflict grittyness on a show with starships and space-F-14s that transform into giant humanoid robots

Dude, you can make a show about those elements serious and gritty, Hell, Gundamverse did it with the 08th MS team (last episode aside). It all depends on how the story is written and how the director does it.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-09-12 03:43pm

Durandal wrote: Why does Minmei need to save the universe to preserve that love triangle?

She doesn't. The world gets blown to shit anyway.

Minmei's songs, and their effects, are used in Macross as a shorthand for overarching cultural pollution that the three Zentraedi spies bring back with them and spread throughout their fleet.

Even in the climactic battle the only expected effect of flooding Zentraedi command frequencies with her singing is momentary confusion and crude jamming, and Britai has only joined the Earth fleet because he knows he and his fleet will be purged.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2007-09-12 06:39pm

Redleader34 wrote:
Uranium235 wrote: I'm skeptical that it would work nearly as well for it as it did for neoBSG, especially considering that you're trying to inflict grittyness on a show with starships and space-F-14s that transform into giant humanoid robots
Dude, you can make a show about those elements serious and gritty, Hell, Gundamverse did it with the 08th MS team (last episode aside). It all depends on how the story is written and how the director does it.

Hell, Plus mostly did it for Macross. Sure, the big evil AI uses music, but it's to hypnotize people. The overall tone of Plus is still a lot darker than the original Macross or most of the Gundamverse.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2007-09-12 07:50pm

The Dark wrote:
Redleader34 wrote:
Uranium235 wrote: I'm skeptical that it would work nearly as well for it as it did for neoBSG, especially considering that you're trying to inflict grittyness on a show with starships and space-F-14s that transform into giant humanoid robots
Dude, you can make a show about those elements serious and gritty, Hell, Gundamverse did it with the 08th MS team (last episode aside). It all depends on how the story is written and how the director does it.
Hell, Plus mostly did it for Macross. Sure, the big evil AI uses music, but it's to hypnotize people. The overall tone of Plus is still a lot darker than the original Macross or most of the Gundamverse.

Yeah. Aside from the fact that Sharon was a Pop Star computer instead of some evil HAL, it was pretty serious. Especially since it was about and a waaaay more serious love triangle.

CycloneRider052 · Post by **CycloneRider052** » 2007-09-12 07:59pm

Nephtys wrote:
The Dark wrote:
Redleader34 wrote: Dude, you can make a show about those elements serious and gritty, Hell, Gundamverse did it with the 08th MS team (last episode aside). It all depends on how the story is written and how the director does it.
Hell, Plus mostly did it for Macross. Sure, the big evil AI uses music, but it's to hypnotize people. The overall tone of Plus is still a lot darker than the original Macross or most of the Gundamverse.
Yeah. Aside from the fact that Sharon was a Pop Star computer instead of some evil HAL, it was pretty serious. Especially since it was about and a waaaay more serious love triangle.

You might even say it was....DEADLY serious.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2007-09-13 01:55am

Uraniun235 wrote:I'm not convinced the same would be true of Macross; the campy elements of the show are where a lot of the fun comes from. I'm skeptical that it would work nearly as well for it as it did for neoBSG, especially considering that you're trying to inflict grittyness on a show with starships and space-F-14s that transform into giant humanoid robots.

It made it fun when I was 8. Now I can't really re-watch it without cringing. And let's be honest. The show wasn't campy intentionally; it was campy because of poor writing, translation and editing. There just happened to be elements in there that were interesting. But a movie has to decide what it's going to be.

There can be campy elements in it, but the show was just dominated by them. Something in the tradition of The Empire Strikes Back would be very fitting for Robotech. A dire situation that is appropriately portrayed but with some light flecks of comedy thrown in.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-09-13 03:00am

Durandal wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:I'm not convinced the same would be true of Macross; the campy elements of the show are where a lot of the fun comes from. I'm skeptical that it would work nearly as well for it as it did for neoBSG, especially considering that you're trying to inflict grittyness on a show with starships and space-F-14s that transform into giant humanoid robots.
It made it fun when I was 8. Now I can't really re-watch it without cringing. And let's be honest. The show wasn't campy intentionally; it was campy because of poor writing, translation and editing. There just happened to be elements in there that were interesting. But a movie has to decide what it's going to be.

There can be campy elements in it, but the show was just dominated by them. Something in the tradition of The Empire Strikes Back would be very fitting for Robotech. A dire situation that is appropriately portrayed but with some light flecks of comedy thrown in.

*shrug* I haven't seen Robotech; I've only seen SDF Macross.

You're probably right. I'm just grumbly when it comes to modern space opera. A movie like Empire Strikes Back would be awesome, though.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2007-09-13 09:59am

I think you're all honestly over-estimating how difficult it would be to condense the Macross saga into a 2-2 1/2 hour movie. There's a lot of extraneous stuff that goes on in the series that, while it does contribute overall to our picture of the characters, is mostly unnecessary. The entire Misa/Riber backstory, for instance, is unnecessary, as is most of the Mars conflict in general. It adds a little to our understanding of Misa, but not enough to be tragic if it's cut out.

I'm kind of tempted to re-cut the series into a single movie. Might help my girlfriend get into it.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2007-09-13 10:36am

McC wrote:I think you're all honestly over-estimating how difficult it would be to condense the Macross saga into a 2-2 1/2 hour movie. There's a lot of extraneous stuff that goes on in the series that, while it does contribute overall to our picture of the characters, is mostly unnecessary. The entire Misa/Riber backstory, for instance, is unnecessary, as is most of the Mars conflict in general. It adds a little to our understanding of Misa, but not enough to be tragic if it's cut out.

I'm kind of tempted to re-cut the series into a single movie. Might help my girlfriend get into it.

Guess that begs the question of what to put into it and how the pacing would be?

I'd skip the whole Rick/Mienmay lost in the bowls of the SDF 1 bit after they fold. Might even skip the whole arc of Rick's flight being captured along with Lisa by the Zentrani. Stick with and develope the Zentrani spies along with Mira(was that her name?) absorbing Human Culture so that by the final battle of the movie, Rings of Saturn in this case? Or all the way back to Earth? Zentrani's have been throughrouly compromised by human culture and Mienmay worship without the humans even knowing it.

Lisa's bit with (Carl? on Mars) could be relegated to some dialouge, but focus on the Rick/Lisa bit with Mienmay more of a crush or link to the past for Rick rather than the childish triangle the show made it.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2007-09-13 10:47am

Call me what you will for it, but I rather liked how DYRL handled Misa/Hikaru getting closer by being the only ones to explore a desolate Earth, while the SDF-1 was still powering back. It then later makes sense that, having seen that devastation and explored it with someone he grew close to, he would recognize that Minmei was no longer 'right' for him and reject her when she came to him later.

I don't think you can really pull off the story without having the huge climactic space battle over Earth -- as disjointed as it was in DYRL, I still think the DYRL version is the best presentation of a "final battle" to close out the story. The subsequent stuff on Earth doesn't do much for me.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2007-09-13 10:48am

Ghetto edit: And writing that post, I came to realize how much of a mish-mash my memory of Macross is.

A huge part of it is informed by DYRL (which is what I first saw), followed by the Robotech books, followed by the series, followed by the actual Macross series (which, along with DYRL and Plus, I actually now own on DVD).

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2007-09-13 11:35am

Knife wrote:
McC wrote:Stick with and develope the Zentrani spies along with Mira(was that her name?) absorbing Human Culture so that by the final battle of the movie, Rings of Saturn in this case? Or all the way back to Earth? Zentrani's have been throughrouly compromised by human culture and Mienmay worship without the humans even knowing it.

The female Zentradi pilot's name is Milia (renamed Miriya in 'Robotech').

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2007-09-13 03:03pm

Uraniun235 wrote:*shrug* I haven't seen Robotech; I've only seen SDF Macross.

You're probably right. I'm just grumbly when it comes to modern space opera. A movie like Empire Strikes Back would be awesome, though.

Robotech had a narrator who said things like "On the next exciting chapter of Robotech!" Trust me, it was campy beyond anything you'd want to see on the big screen.

Macross Plus, on the other hand, was just downright awesome, even if there was that whole ridiculous "Hal/Sharon loves Hikaru" thing.

CycloneRider052 · Post by **CycloneRider052** » 2007-09-13 03:28pm

CycloneRider052 wrote:
Durandal wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:*shrug* I haven't seen Robotech; I've only seen SDF Macross.

You're probably right. I'm just grumbly when it comes to modern space opera. A movie like Empire Strikes Back would be awesome, though.
Robotech had a narrator who said things like "On the next exciting chapter of Robotech!" Trust me, it was campy beyond anything you'd want to see on the big screen.

Macross Plus, on the other hand, was just downright awesome, even if there was that whole ridiculous "Hal/Sharon loves Hikaru" thing.

WTF? Text didn't show up?

Narrators are only rarely needed in a show; and in Robotech it really did nothing more than just jump up the camp level. A movie should only have narration MAYBE in the beginning to set the stage...

Sharon was a total fucking whackjob, but then look at Myung whose Sharon's brain was based on. Guld did whatever the the fuck it was he actually DID to her, then shacks right up with him when she runs across him. She obviously had some serious issues. Or maybe it was guilt from the fact that she actually loved Isamu and not Guld and that was kind of her way of apologizing? Ugh. She's either a pyscho or a slut, or a pyscho slut. Gah, you just reminded me of the one bad part about Macross Plus. The resolution of the damn triangle.

CycloneRider052 · Post by **CycloneRider052** » 2007-09-13 03:29pm

Ghetto Edit: Sharon was a total fucking whackjob, but then look at Myung whose brain SHARON'S was based on. Guld did whatever the the fuck it was he actually DID to her, then shacks right up with him when she runs across him. She obviously had some serious issues. Or maybe it was guilt from the fact that she actually loved Isamu and not Guld and that was kind of her way of apologizing? Ugh. She's either a pyscho or a slut, or a pyscho slut. Gah, you just reminded me of the one bad part about Macross Plus. The resolution of the damn triangle.

Just not my day for posting. >_>

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2007-09-13 08:53pm

Knife wrote:Guess that begs the question of what to put into it and how the pacing would be?

I'd skip the whole Rick/Mienmay lost in the bowls of the SDF 1 bit after they fold.

Agreed. This was to establish the romantic tension early.

Might even skip the whole arc of Rick's flight being captured along with Lisa by the Zentrani.

Probably. The only reason I could see is to establish the relationship between Rick and Lisa.

Stick with and develope the Zentrani spies along with Mira(was that her name?) absorbing Human Culture

Definitely a good idea to have it as the major secondary plot.

so that by the final battle of the movie, Rings of Saturn in this case? Or all the way back to Earth?

Either Saturn's Rings, Mars, or Earth would work - Mars would be the weakest of the three, in my opinion, since Saturn has the Daedalus Maneuver and Earth has the whole battle against Dolza.

Lisa's bit with (Carl? on Mars) could be relegated to some dialouge, but focus on the Rick/Lisa bit with Mienmay more of a crush or link to the past for Rick rather than the childish triangle the show made it.

I think the triangle could work, with the Rick-Minmei angle being more idol worship, and Rick-Lisa being the "realistic" relationship.

I just hope they don't try to do a Minmei-Rick-Lisa-Roy double triangle. It wouldn't go with the anime, but I could see them doing it.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-09-14 05:22am

Durandal wrote:Macross Plus, on the other hand, was just downright awesome, even if there was that whole ridiculous "Hal/Sharon loves Hikaru" thing.

It's a whole part of the 'Myung's brain' subplot; Sharon is the physical embodiment of Myung's confused feelings for Isamu and Guld - or rather that they're not so confused after all, and that she's just not capable of accepting it. It's not quite on the level of HAL saying 'I love you, Dave'. Sharon was just generally creepy though, can't deny that.

I just hope they don't try to do a Minmei-Rick-Lisa-Roy double triangle. It wouldn't go with the anime, but I could see them doing it.

I hope not. Pineapple salad, anyone?

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2007-09-14 06:48am

The Dark wrote:
Knife wrote:
Might even skip the whole arc of Rick's flight being captured along with Lisa by the Zentrani.
Probably. The only reason I could see is to establish the relationship between Rick and Lisa.

And to show off Breetai's badassedness.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2007-09-14 10:06am

SAMAS wrote:
And to show off Breetai's badassedness.

Meh, it would show off Max's badassedness more, but you could probably work in both in either the intial battle or the battle at Saturn or the final battle by messing with the plot line a bit.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-09-16 08:17am

Knife wrote:Meh, it would show off Max's badassedness more, but you could probably work in both in either the intial battle or the battle at Saturn or the final battle by messing with the plot line a bit.

While Max actually passing off his Valk as a person was pretty awesome (GIANT TRENCHCOAT), I think the most apt display of badass for Max would be allowing him to pull a stunt he did in the first sortie of DYRL - where he pulled a Zentraedi out his pod, snapped his arm and popped his helmet.

That was insane.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2007-09-16 12:37pm

Ford Prefect wrote:While Max actually passing off his Valk as a person was pretty awesome (GIANT TRENCHCOAT), I think the most apt display of badass for Max would be allowing him to pull a stunt he did in the first sortie of DYRL - where he pulled a Zentraedi out his pod, snapped his arm and popped his helmet.

That was insane.

"Yeah, he's a genius!"

The clip in question, followed by a drastically slowed-down analysis of WTF just happened.

Right-click and save, please. I don't want my bandwidth to be murdered.

Also, please don't re-post anywhere else.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-09-16 09:04pm

McC wrote: "Yeah, he's a genius!"

The clip in question, followed by a drastically slowed-down analysis of WTF just happened.

Right-click and save, please. I don't want my bandwidth to be murdered. Also, please don't re-post anywhere else.

Rather annoyingly, it doesn't seem to be available.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2007-09-17 12:47am

Ford Prefect wrote:
McC wrote: "Yeah, he's a genius!"
Rather annoyingly, it doesn't seem to be available.

Thaaaaat's because I'm a champion and can't type my own server name correctly.

Corrected link

Sorry.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-09-17 04:38am

McC wrote: Thaaaaat's because I'm a champion and can't type my own server name correctly.

Corrected link

Sorry.

No problem at all. And Jesus, Zentraedi are strong.