M0 and Clarke

[JELEINEN]

Finally finished watching Macross Zero last night (been trying to catch up on my anime watching lately), and it struck me that the story very much resembles Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel" and 2001: A Space Oddesy (the latter being an expanded re-working of the former). For those unfamiliar with the premise behind this short story and novel, basically aliens visit Earth in the distant past and meddle with our development then go away, leaving behind an artifact for us to discover once we reach a certain point of development (space travel, to be specific). The biggest twist on the story in M0 is that the artifact in question is apparently meant to knock us back down if we're still a war-like people once we achieve space travel (obviously the Proto-Culture weren't very good at practicing what they preached).

The other thing that struck me is the use of Clarke's Law in the show. This law states that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." All the mystic mumbo-jumbo is just over technology, which is sufficiently advanced enough to not only appear like magic to the primitive Mayans, but to many of the modern humans as well. I thought it was well played by Mr. Kawamori (in spite of him slipping in some of his whacked out ideas on ecology).

Anyone else pick up on this stuff? Anything to add or something I might have missed?

[Keith]

Yup, I definately agree. Especially with how Sara & Shin pulled a David Bowman at the end, dissapearing into the stars for parts unknown.

Of course with this comparison brought up, do you suppose they'll re-appear in a future sequel to help along with another evolutionary step?

[yellowlightman]

Kawamori has stated in interviews that he's a big Stanley Kubrick fan, so similarities between Macross and 2001 aren't really surprising. Macross Plus had a lot of visual homages/influences to the 2001 movie, mostly in the Sharon Apple concert on Eden and with Sharon's red eye.

[Vespaeda]

Wow!

Hearing this about Mac0, I especially would like to see the series now, as i am a big A.C. Clarke fan myself.

Great exposition, JELEINEN.

I noticed in another thread on the Indian Ocean tsunami(that got locked), someone mentioned that they believed the legendary author, Mr. Clarke, had passed away several years ago.

He is actually alive and well, living in Sri Lanka, and had given a commentary on the disaster from his perspective and the well being of his household and estate crew(read it on MSN'S Cosmic Blog).

Arthur Clarke also had been dealing w/Michael Moore over the use of the title

"Fahrenheit 9/11" in court.

Hope I haven't strayed off topic.

I envison Arthur C. Clarke to look very much like his aged character Harry Seldon

from the "Foundation"

[Gui]

Anyone else pick up on this stuff? Anything to add or something I might have missed?

Weren't all these points (or almost) already present into SDF?

[polidread]

now that youve mentioned it.... i think there are strong similarities too

[F-ZeroOne]

I envison Arthur C. Clarke to look very much like his aged character Harry Seldon

from the "Foundation"

I suspect that if he read this, Sir Arthur would be very amused... "The Foundation" was written by Arthur C. Clarkes good friend Issac Asimov (I believe Asimov once dedicated a speech with the words "from the Worlds second greatest science writer to the Worlds second greatest science fiction writer... " ) , though given the friendly rivalry between the two its possible Asimov had Clarke in mind...

Edited January 6, 2005 by F-ZeroOne

[Roy Fokker]

Wow! Now this is interesting!

[Prime]

Anyone else pick up on this stuff?

It is definitely a strong theme in Zero...

[Gerwalker]

Wow!

Hearing this about Mac0, I especially would like to see the series now, as i am a big A.C. Clarke fan myself.

Great exposition, JELEINEN.

I noticed in another thread on the Indian Ocean tsunami(that got locked), someone mentioned that they believed the legendary author, Mr. Clarke, had passed away several years ago.

He is actually alive and well, living in Sri Lanka, and had given a commentary on the disaster from his perspective and the well being of his household and estate crew(read it on MSN'S Cosmic Blog).

Arthur Clarke also had been dealing w/Michael Moore over the use of the title

"Fahrenheit 9/11" in court.

Hope I haven't strayed off topic.

I envison Arthur C. Clarke to look very much like his aged character Harry Seldon

from the "Foundation"

Is this trolling? Seems so, you are mixing science fiction authors without even thinking what you are writing!!

First, as was stated above, Isaac Asimov wrote Foundation.

Second: Fahrenheit 451 was written by Ray Bradbury and he is mad about Moore using a simmilar title for his film.

I had the same impression about M0 and Clarke!!. Thanks Jeileinen for bring this up!

[Duke Togo]

Is this trolling? Seems so,

If you think that's trolling, you are as misinformed as he is.

[ewilen]

I wouldn't be surprised if Clarke/2001 was an influence, but the idea of ancient aliens influencing human evolution and/or being the basis of human religion/myth is widespread in SF, and may predate 2001. There is also the Erich von Daniken "Chariots of the Gods" theory, which is generally laughed at in archeology but makes good science fiction.

Let's see:

Chariots of the Gods? 1968

Clarke's (Third) Law 1973

The Sentinel 1948/1951 (Read it here!)

2001 (movie/book) 1968

Does a Bee Care? (short story by Asimov) 1957

Demon with a Glass Hand (teleplay by Harlan Ellison) 1963

Quatermass and the Pit (teleplay later remade as a movie) 1958

Hmmm. Well, so far, Clarke's short story is the earliest, and M0 does show more similarities to 2001 than most of the others, but I think there's some von Daniken (or even Stargate) in there, too. I also see similarities (in the way humanity is "tested") with The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and to an extent "Silly Asses" (short story by Asimov, 1958). The overall plot, with two power-hungry factions fighting over an ancient weapon, only to miss the Big Picture of the fate of humanity, is also similar to Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and shows up in some of the Miyazaki's other films, too.

[Vespaeda]

As Yoda said of Ben Kenobi not finding Kamino...."How embarrassing!"

I have to admit I am MANY years removed from reading any of these works, and unfortunately, the joy I received from these author's work has really gotten quite muddled in my memory. I have succumbed to that state causing such fearful speculation in so many children through the ages..."Will I become a dottering, old

fool like my parents?!?"

Please forgive my errors all, I was actually just caught up in the thought of how great that Mr. Clarke is still alive and fairly well, and frequently issuing commentary on contemporary human society.

Even when I typed the bit about "Fahrenheit 451"="...9/11", my brain was giving the alarm that I was getting something very wrong, although I'll admit my brain was telling me it was authored by Kurt Vonnegut

[in the voice of Teddy from movie "A.I."]: "I.. AM NOT A TROLL!"

[Gerwalker]

As Yoda said of Ben Kenobi not finding Kamino...."How embarrassing!"

I have to admit I am MANY years removed from reading any of these works, and unfortunately, the joy I received from these author's work has really gotten quite muddled in my memory. I have succumbed to that state causing such fearful speculation in so many children through the ages..."Will I become a dottering, old

fool like my parents?!?"

Please forgive my errors all, I was actually just caught up in the thought of how great that Mr. Clarke is still alive and fairly well, and frequently issuing commentary on contemporary human society.

Even when I typed the bit about "Fahrenheit 451"="...9/11", my brain was giving the alarm that I was getting something very wrong, although I'll admit my brain was telling me it was authored by Kurt Vonnegut

[in the voice of Teddy from movie "A.I."]: "I.. AM NOT A TROLL!"

I'm deeply sorry for calling you a Troll. As you had a science fiction authors confussion that day I was also sufferig a very bad mood day.

I was convinced that your post was a joke or some sort of very soft trolling (as Duke said, actual hard trolling is something different!!)

Just remember another Clarke's thing related to Macross that was discussed some time ago: The helmets used in Macross share similiarities with those from Kubrick's 2001 movie.

[platypiman247]

I always wondered why, during the training scenes from M0 episode 2, Focker kept on calling Shin 'Gomer Piles' and threatening to rip out his eyes and skullf@#& him.

Shins helmet would also look ten times cooler with 'Born to Kill' written on it.