Pterobat

IMO, the disappearance of the Megaroad isn't "legendary", it's cheap and silly. That emphatically *doesn't* mean I want to see the main characters of SDFM revisited, just that disappearing into space was pretty ridiculous.

I loved this movie: it amazed me in that it did a re-introduction of an old franchise right, and was pretty fun to boot, too. It knew when to let the older characters take centre stage,without being afraid that audiences wouldn't like them anymore, or modernizing them too much. I teared up at "The Rainbow Connection" like a little girl, even though I'm a big one. And props to Uncle Deadly.

Nobody is denying that SDFM had sexual aspects to it: I'm just saying I can see why someone would find the sexual aspects of later series to be more blatant/grating even if the amount might be the same.

It's a simple kinda thing. Some things just strike individual viewers as more absurd than others, though they're all equally implausible. I know I got on with everything else in Macross fine, but Mac 7 had me going "Ehhhhh?" Part of it's just about what might *look* more plausible on the surface, but it's not quite an intellectual thing. The fanservice angle is a good example. Yes, Minmay was naked, but for some of us, there's just an overall feeling that things have gotten a little more blatant, but without actually showing more skin. Again, it's not intellectual.

There's no shame in feeling that later works don't capture the same magic. Nothing in fandom's really rational anyway. But if somebody can back up their assertions with reasoned explorations, the idea should be open to discussion--talk about the "why", back it up with context, etc., and don't assume it's just an irrational distortion. I used to be embarrassed that I never enjoyed anything related to Macross as strongly as I enjoyed SDFM, to the point where if the other things weren't Macross, I wouldn't have labelled myself a fan at all. Yet I realized I should just trust in my own feelings, and that it wasn't some kind of failing. I was always open to exploring new Macross, and to liking it, it just never happened to "click" with me on a major level. I understood why, and trusted in what I felt instead of assuming I was just doing it wrong, that I was being too demanding or focusing "too much" on older stuff. However, I did enjoy the Frontier movies, which confirmed that it was more of an "it's not me it's you" thing. Maybe whatever new thing comes along next, you might enjoy. That being said, I didn't find Sheryl or Ranka's stuff to be overpowering at the expense of the rest of the storyline, because Macross has always been as much about the arguably "feminine" sensibilities as the space battles. The emotional stuff does tend to be what interests me more, and Sheryl was my favourite non-SDFM character, so this all mattered even less.

This. Frankly, the idea that SDFM needs to be discarded/overwritten in order to "cleanse" the franchise is..."disrespectful" is too overblown a term, but it's trivializing to the series on some kind of level, that's for sure. To speak for myself, I'm always just playing around when I discuss "what I'd do." I needed something to add to my posts in order to seem like I'm not just complaining without being productive--the real truth is that I am still as much against an SDFM remake as I ever was.

Dude, have you seen the original Britai action figure that Matchbox made? This thing looks a lot better, and I'm also hoping it doesn't fall by the wayside.

Not to mention that, while there IS science fiction out there that tries to adhere to the known laws of science, much of it doesn't, and the audience doesn't give a damn. The key to selling a science fiction series is an entertaining story and appealing characters, not scientific accuracy. The public at large aren't scientists and don't have that passion that would make accurate science a selling point.

I'd say Zentradi are outside the realm of possibility if we're going for realism, since there's a little something called the Square-Cube Law. I know that attempts were made to explain how Zentradi got around this (rearranging body structure when at full size, and such), but come on, it's just not in the cards for "realism" to still include something like them. Anyway, Macross does not need to be more realistic in terms of military protocol, because the events of the series depend to a large degree on defying protocol, or it never coming up. Following military protocol and strict pragmatism got us people like Mr. Hayase, not the characters we were meant to root for and who changed their world. From the main characters letting their emotions get the better of them, to allowing the Zentradi alliance, the main plot of SDFM is filled with stuff that's the opposite of hard-nosed, gritty realism. The overall "character" of SDFM, is mostly one of idealism. Yes, there are moments of greater complexity and even cynicism, but these don't define the whole of the series, merely stop the idealistic aspects from becoming too sugary. And part of SDFM is just being plain absurd and silly. So many of the central concepts sound ridiculous when you really think about them, but that's part of the charm, isn't it? That the series takes those silly ideas and makes them work, while still leaving a slight tinge of the absurd. This balance of idealism, realism, and goofiness is something few series can do well, and I'd hate to see even a different version of SDFM lose that.

I am totally blameless.

[derp Milia] Lots of shows produced in that era have bad animation. Anyway, I've thought about things I'd like to have done if SDFM could be done over, too, but I'm still of the mindset that a remake have just less of what I enjoyed about the original instead of an extension and a fleshing out of what I did enjoy. And for all the stuff that could potentially be "fixed", there'll still be flaws: it's a pointless search for absolute perfection. That's a horrible nerd cliche to say so, but whatcha gonna do? ... ...okay, I'll play. What I would like to see from a remake is what everyone else has said: a less creepy version of Max and Milia (the rushing into marriage is fine, but the lead-in not so much), and not turning Hikaru into a big cad. Perhaps a story could continue with the characters *past* the love triangle resolution, with the resolution still coinciding with the climactic battle. After all, if the main characters maintain enough of a sense of closeness to go on the Megaroad together, more stories could be told with them after Hikaru chooses MIsa. There's still Minmay's rejection of Kaifun and her desire to sing "real songs". What I'd like to see, personally, is a tiny bit better of a resolution for the allied Zentradi characters besides Milia. I've got no problem with Warera, Rori, and Konda fading into the background, but don't imply they'll fail at life even at their tiny blue-collar jobs, c'mon. Give Exsedol a bit more to do instead of just disappearing. And while we're at it, explain why the heck Laplamiz does anything: develop her personality and motivations so that she isn't just doing random things that the plot needs her to. I'd like to see more of what the female Zentradi as a whole were doing the entire run of the series, how they knew of, or handled, what was happening to the male fleet (and not as cheesy "Show me this Earth thing called kissing" fanboy dreams, either). (It goes without saying that I'm picturing this all as the TV series Zentradi, right down to no elf ears, no special name for female Zentradi, and no silly racial catchphrase ).

Thirded. Well, nothing *is* perfect, but there's nothing so wrong with SDFM that it "justifies" a remake on the grounds of some major flaw existing in the original that now needs to be excised. Also, what JB0 said. Good stories often take time to stop and just "hang out" with the characters in between Major Events, so that the audience gets a handle on these characters and actually *cares* what is happening to them when the big stuff happens. The obvious example is that Kakizaki's death has more impact when he's been around for several episodes prior, but an overall strength of Macross is its compelling secondary cast. If one viewed the story only in terms of efficiency, in getting from point A to B the quickest, the secondary characters would be the first to go, but the series would overall be much the poorer for this. By the way, I *love* Phantasm becuase it's a really creative and weird style of Clip Show, and I'd hate to see it "go", which probably proves that I don't have the ruthless heart to contemplate a remake. That, and it does show HIkaru's increasingly ambivalent psychology in an interesting way. As to the post-ep 28 series, I'm eternally on the fence about these episodes. They have several good moments and ideas, demonstrating the importance of "hanging out" with the characters, but they also have several trainwrecks, and narrowing the focus to the re-opened love triangle and Kamjin's sudden rebellion rather than keeping the more balanced focus is also what brings the episodes down. I don't deny that having a set number of episodes to write to would have helped this pacing immensely, rather than the fluctuating episode numbers the original SDFM run got, but even so, the idea of a remake having such a structure isn't enough to make me interested in one.

Good-bye, and thank you for helping to make such a lovely series.

It has to be Princess Mononoke. I guess my harsh analytical tendencies trump my chlidlike sense of wonder when it all comes down to it. But great characters, great story, wonderful art, so it's all good. My favourite Ghibli movie, period, however, would be "Whisper of the Heart".

These days I usually get into one anime a year, and that's a generous estimation. I just have the burnout, I suppose. This time it's "Princess Jellyfish". It seems to wrap up the storyline too quickly and neatly, but that's an unsurprising consequence, and doesn't dampen the appeal of the entire thing. I love that it doesn't try to idealize female otaku, and is far more emotionally complex than the usual horrid "My Fair Lady" type of narrative. Some parts hit a little close to home, while others are simply hilarious.

I love Ghostbusters: the first movie, The Real Ghostbusters...yeah. But this has gotten pathetic. Seeing Dan Akyroyd (Ray, my 2nd favourite Ghostbuster after Egon) keep trying to drag this project back into the spotlight, when it's clear so very few are interested, when something like this rarely turns out well, when there's already that game, when Billy Murray says no...it's a farce. I've got the standard complaints against the "remake culture", but in this case the extra patheticness makes it even worse.

I dunno: you can't compare this situation with the many other media reboots of the recent past. All the other reboots, including ThunderCats and Nu-BSG, owe something, usually *a lot*, to the form, content, and story of their original series. However, Robotech draws far too much from the original series for a legally-distinct "reboot" to remain anything recognizable. There are concepts introduced that are exclusive to Robotech, yes, but not enough to hang a recognizable reboot upon. That's excluding the fact that Harmony Gold has never been able to scrape up the talent to do any kind of large media project at all.

I listened to your Stratos 4 show....everyone should. It's very informative. Oh, I'm totally going to. Besides, DYRL changed the characters' personalities, too, including the revised Exsedol. It's a bad scene all around. Nobody said "Deculture!" in SDF Macross; essentially giving Zentradi a catchphrase is a pretty silly idea. Also, SDFM handled the whole "otaku" thing a lot better, given that it was part of a story arc and the spies were able to love real people. The rest of Macross obviously can't do this again, but in the place there's just a "male Zentradi are always otaku lolz!" that's pretty predictable and boring in comparison. Basically, I feel like the Zentradi are sidelined into being minor command figures or comic relief (male), and are treated as if they should be sympathetic and developed characters, but aren't really that interesting (female). There's exceptions, of course, but a lot of it seems knee-jerk derivative of SDFM without doing anything new or having what made those original characters special, and I'm thinking an SDFM remake would try to fit into these archetypes, instead of sticking to the characters that inspired them: Milia would be the only Zentradi with some character, and the rest would be plot devices. Don't get me wrong, I *like* some of the newer Zentradi characters, but things aren't as good as they could be.

No. There's the usual bog-standard reasons: -SDFM, while flawed, is a finished product, and fine as it is. -Remakes are redundant and it's better to push forward and make something new -A remake can "improve" visual and storytelling flaws, but will also create new ones -In today's culture it's easier than ever to access older media, and therefore no real need to push a classic series in order for the "next generation" to discover it. -One's enjoyment of a work depends on some combination of the original content and the time it was experienced--I can't imagine lightning striking again. -Sometimes you get a weird joy out of the original product *because* of its imperfections/dated technology -We already have Macross the First Are there things in SDFM that I feel could have been improved, aesthetically and plot-wise? Sure. But there's nothing that's really so bad that it serves as justification for a remake. Also, There is nowhere near enough original content in Robotech to support a full-blown remake. Nor should/could a remake of SDF Macross be used to somehow sever all ties with Robotech, as I've seen other fans suggest in the past. There's also the reason that I really like the Zentradi (Yes, I'm the person Gubaba mentioned on his Macross Zero podcast, but to be fair, I gave everything Macross an equal chance), and I'm certain any SDFM remake would owe more to later portrayals than the original series: we would have DYRL designs, and characterization closer to the modern Zentradi types, both things I'm really not interested in seeing. [i'm not dead to the human cast members, but I can't think of anything specific I would be unsatisfied about.] I know SDFM would still be there, and all that, but it's normal not to want to see beloved things twisted around, if we're asking about a theoretical remake, the question always becomes, "Why do *I* want/not want to see one?" We geeks usually aren't altruistic enough to think about the larger impact of our wants.

Does that make the Protodevlin the Blue Meanies?

This show is awesome. Anyone who's seen bad SF TV and bad writer's vanity projects can attest to its accuracy.

The problem with the Protodevlin certainly is that they aren't terrifying enough...the EVIL designs are pretty damn silly, and a lot of the actual Protodevlin characters are pretty goofy as personalities, too. But furthermore, the Protodevlin as a concept are just too...*large* to fit into the story of Macross 7. It's too hard to suspend disbelief that these ridiculous creatures were a major factor in the destruction of the Protoculture, and that on top of that, they can still be reconciled with due only to the actions of a single rock band. I love Macross for mixing absurdity and seriousness, but this was just way too much. Even if the Protodevlin we see in the series were just a fraction of the earlier groups, I still can't wrap my head around the notion that we're supposed to accept them as terrifying space monsters that could bring the universe to their knees. As for Basara, Basara...I dislike Basara. I understand what he's *supposed* to represent, namely that a burning passion for his Art can overcome all obstacles, that he is a force of nature, one of Macross' central themes arguably distilled into its purest form. But while I like the theme of art/culture overcoming, I find Basara insufferable precisely *because* he's too uniform, too grand a character. I like characters with flaws, characters who have to change, etc. Basara doesn't have to change...everyone else has to change for him, everyone else has to understand that he was right all along about the right way to "defeat" the Protodevlin. Basara never alters, never wavers, and while I can see the appeal in a character like that, I don't share it.

I've been into anime for over a decade, cutting my teeth on Digimon and Gundam Wing, and still trying to get caught up with everything I haven't seen yet. I never saw Macross, because any time I saw it brought up, which was never often, I never heard anything that interested me. I liked mecha in general, but the story had to have some other element which would draw me in. I think it was just a period (mid-90s to mid-00s) where I never saw anyone discussing Macross. At two different points, I tried watching the Robotech dub but never got into it, and a second time bought a tape of "Clash of the Bionoids" from a thrift store and couldn't finish it. The actual catalyst was giving Robotech another shot when it aired on Space: The Imagination Station in 2008, and I thought to do what I sometimes still did, was use heavily-edited TV anime to gauge my interest in the unedited versions. In this case it still worked, and I fell hard for Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, as it was a show that appealed to me in terms of its themes, characters, and overall just great quality. Some of this was muted by the Robotech dub, but obviously not enough. SDFM has, in the course of a few years, become one of my top three anime, along with Neon Genesis Evangelion and Whisper of the Heart. I've watched the rest of Macross everything, but nothing can really capture that same spark. Probably what I enjoyed the most are the Frontier movies. It's not that they're bad, just that they're not my cup of tea for various reasons, and even when I enjoy them, nothing blows me away quite like SDFM did.