Zinjo

BD will not "hide" grain. That is a process that the film stock has to go through. Essentially they'll have to scan every frame at full resolution, digitally fix all the flaws (typically frame by frame) and then remaster THAT for Bluray. That is what Lucas and Speilberg did for the Indiana Jones movie restorations and it cost them a million and a year to do it, several years ago (the fact that those movies haven't come out on BD yet indicates to me more work is probably required). It will cost BW a lot to do it, but if they are smart they'll commission a sub and dub to be included with the movie and they'll recover their money through export sales in no time. They should also get a North American restoration house to do it. Experience will cost them less and the results will be far superior to anything an inexperienced Japanese company could do (hence the last release of DYRL on DVD!).

Pfft! Yeah, everyone knows about George!!

According to various web sources, it looks like a new Forbidden Planet movie is in the works. Joe Stracinsky is writing it and James Cameron apparently loved the first draft. The film will be about the Bellerophon and what happened to her crew. It's a prequel much like "Death Race "was a prequel to "Death Race 2000". It is being written as a stand alone story. However, if the film does well, there are plans for two more, including a remake of the 50's original. Since Stracinsky is a fan of the original there is no indication that the story will be changed, but with events of the previous films, the story of the C57D crew will have a much greater significance in the overall saga.

Actually Kawamori wrote the story, not the script. On many occasions he gave the script writers the latitude to take the characters where they felt they should go. He created the framework outline of the events and the staff writers filled in the blanks. Very common in TV. The writer Kawamori brought in to flesh out Sheryl (can't remember his name at the moment) had free reign with her and because of it, she became one of the best characters of the series. This is mainly due to the fact that she actually "evolved" into someone new over the course of the show. Klan was another character who evolved. This is what makes great drama. Back to the initial comment. Considering how much Kawamori enjoys leaving dangling threads and enigmas, I'd expect no resolution to the triangle, much like Mac 7 had. However, considering SK doesn't like to do the same thing twice, we may get a "hint" or at least an ambivalent answer that can be taken either way depending on the fan interpreting it. The key is to keep the fans talking about the show long after its over, to feed the fires of fandom.

Me neither. I expected the Frontier Materials to be like the original Red and Blue books, but nada...

It's been my experience that those who've never lived in the 80's (toddlers don't count) tend to be the first describe it as bad, yet fully embrace the "new" recycled fashions from that era today.... Granted the decade had it's issues, but nothing like decade we are in now! Though now that March mentions it, Brilier is definitely the old-school Macross fan. Just like the Birdman director was Kawamori...

Damn! I want to see all the customs, hopefully they'll post them on a site somewhere...

Probably, I was in a rush and didn't have time to look up the proper names...

No size comparison of Klan at full Meltradi size, however the heights of the characters are as follows: Grace = 173cm Sheryl = 169cm Luca = 160cm Nanase = 165cm Klan = 146cm (micronized) Michael = 180cm Alto = 175cm Ranka = 158cm Ozma = 185cm Bobby = 190cm Kathy = 173cm Camilla = 180cm Gilliam = 187cm Quarter Captain = 178cm Bridge Bunnies = 162/165/172cm I hope this helps...

Firstly you've already answered one of your points about society reacting the same when the Vajra swarmed the ship. As for physical/emotional deterioration, one must keep in mind the Vajra fought somewhat like guerillas throughout. The pilots and soldiers were not fighting a prolonged conflict but rather a series of sorties over a period of time. Then there is the fact that only so much screen time could be devoted to the social impact of the battles. Essentially Kawamori had to decide what was most important to progress the plot. Finally, as with most network TV shows, it was somewhat santized compared to how the story would have been shown in an OVA format, which is traditionally much shorter and much less restricted by TV censorship. This show is far closer in tone to SDFM as compared to Mac 7 or even several of its anime contemporaries. One thing I did notice that it was very close to becoming rather flat until Kawamori brought in his buddy to flesh out Sheryl more and thus gave her the most dimension of all the characters.

Considering there doesn't appear to by any Kawamori artwork in them, I seriously doubt it. No. Only one page is devoted to grace and it doesn't show her in a flight suit. With all the craziness over the past month, creating the content breakdown post of the books is the second time I've had a chance to look at them...

Macross Frontier Materials - Red Book (Published by Movic Press) Content: Ranka = 10 pgs of character and costume designs Sheryl = 12 pgs of character and costume designs Nanase = 3 pgs of character and costume designs Klan = 8 pgs of character and costume designs Pixies = 3 pgs of character and costume designs Carmella = 2 pgs of character and costume designs Kathy = 2 pgs of character and costume designs Bridge Bunnies = 3 pgs of character and costume designs Grace = 1 pg of character and costume designs Background Characters = 2 pgs Highschool Settings = 7 pgs Various Locations around Frontier = 30 pgs Macross Quarter docking berth (external) 1 pg Trashbot = 1 pg Character Height comparisons = 2 pgs Macross Frontier Materials - Blue Book (Published by Movic Press) Content: Alto = 11 pgs of character and costume designs Michael = 4 pgs of character and costume designs Luca = 3 pgs of character and costume designs Ozma = 6 pgs of character and costume designs Bobby = 2 pgs of character and costume designs SMS Captain = 1 pg of character and costume designs Brera = 4 pgs of character and costume designs Howard Glass = 1 pg of character and costume designs Leon = 1 pg of character and costume designs NUNS staff = 2 pgs of character and costume designs NUNS Combat uniform & weapon = 2 pgs NUNS Flight and EVA suits = 2 pgs Various Supporting Characters = 6 pgs Logo Sketches for the SMS, NUNS, Skull, Frontier & Galaxy = 6 pgs Flight School Patch sketches = 1 pg Background Characters from the School & Public = 4 pgs Cockpit and Controls sketches = 4 pgs Dulfim Sketch = 2 pgs (angled and side views) Vajra Carrier sketches = 3 pgs (1 internal view - where Luca was held) Aikun Sketches = 3 pgs Vajra homeworld Sketches = 2 pgs Vajra Lobsters = 4 pgs Vajra Hammerheads = 1 pg Vajra Swarmers = 1 pg Frontier Government Building = 2 pgs Hospital = 2 pgs Research Lab = 1 pg Hippocows = 1 pg Hydra = 2 pgs Vending Machine = 1 pg Character Height comparisons = 2 pgs ** These books are very much like the old Movic Press art books released for Megazone 23. The printing is only on one side of the 8.5 x 17 newsprint pages. In my opinion these books could have been bound into one volume with double sided printing, but Movic doesn't do that. There are some things we've never really seen before, but IMHO it is not the type of content I was hoping for for the 1890 Yen price tag per book.

I have them both. Got them about a month ago... I suspect their low profile is mainly due to the fact that Amazon Japan isn't carrying them and that's where the majority of Japanese book sellers in North America get their books from. It appears they are carried, mainly, by Japanese local bookstores and domestic mail order. Unfortunately the mecha lineart is rather sparse. Mainly character and background art. However there is one very sexy bit of full page art of the Dulfim cap ship! I swear Satelite is hoarding their line art like they did with Zero. I am hopeful that we get some sort of TIA book of mecha lineart before the popularity of this series dies off... CG is pretty, but not much detail comes through for us gearheads...

Anyone have the FLV or AVI for that one?

Do searches on imageshack, picshare, deviant art, etc... and any of the various image hosting sites and you will find lots of artwork. The animesuki forums has some (although mostly character art) and various art threads in the "Fan Works" section here can have art work. Though there isn't any dedicated section on these forums for artwork. The 3M is a good place to start for quality fan colored mecha images, but not the only place to find it (since I am noticing more and more the 3M images as well as ones posted here, showing up on other sites... ). Although as Azreal said, try investing in art books of your own since quite a bit of Macross production art has not be digitized or posted on the web...

It's possible they want to create a new acronym to distinguish this release as on "Original Animation Disc" moving away from the conotation of video tapes which traditionally were associated with OVAs. Hence the impression that this movie will only be released on DVD & BD... Gotta love marketing teams...

IMO, it's worth it to support BigWest. Without merchandizing, the franchise would disappear... After the merchandizing has cooled, then by all means have at it, because only the re-sellers and auction posters make money then...

I'd suspect any remaining operational VF-0s and SV-51s were used for planetary defense since they were not made (as far as we know) for space flight. They may or may not have been fitted with the nuclear engines, however it would make more sense to utilize them on Earth as they are much larger and it is doubtful the ARMD carriers would have enough room to carry any large number of them to be effective or the Macross for that matter... I suspect there were more that survived the Mayan Island incident since the VF-27 used a few design principles from the SV-51, giving me the impression that OTEC had the opportunity to examine the design at some point and record their findings for posterity.

I keep thinking that if this kit were to go for sale on Yahoo Japan it would probably go for the same as the Club M 1/48 Valk, which is about 80000 yen! Likely more, since very limited quantities were ever produced..

Glad to see another decal coming out! The Ranka set tends to go on Yahoo Japan for about 5000yen on average...

Once upon a time (very early in the franchise) they were extrgalactic, although the references currently escape me, but that has since been changed to more realistic borders... As for fold drive limitations. Keep in mind, we don't know what kind of fold limitations the PC themselves had, if any. Since they patterened their fold engines after the Vajra's abilities, it is possible they may have achieved nearly as powerful fold engines as the Vajra are capable of. The fold faults (albeit an arguable retcon) were overcome by fold quartz. A substance I highly doubt mankind was the first to discover.

Very nice work, however the word is spelled "SPACY", no "e".

IIRC the Stellar Republic initially spanned galaxies, however since Mac 7 it seems SK & co. have limited it to just the milky way by most indications. Considering how vast our galaxy already is, it makes sense that such a civilization as the PC would stay within it. The possibility exists of PC outposts in other galaxies, but one gets the impression that the core of the Republic resided in the Milky way only.

Yes they are R2 DVDs and no they don't have subtitles. The DVD prices tend to vary a bit, but the BD are fairly consistent... AMAZON JAPAN MF Discs

Macross = SDF-1 Macross (Super Dimension Fortress Macross) Robowreck = SDF-1 (Super Dimensional Fortress 1) The battleship uses the SDF-1 designation in both shows. However the acronyms are different. In Macross "Super Dimension" is the source of the incredible amounts of energy that allows the ship to space fold and fire it's cannon, where as in RT it is "Super Dimensional", referring to the ship's size... In case you were curious...