Gundam Show Thread - MSG thru Witch from Mercury

[Gubaba]

I suspect - rather like the mysterious case of ZZ Gundams first twenty-odd episodes - that the truth will never truly be known... (Tomino was also allegedly responsible for the dub-only US version of Gundam; I might be getting my legends mixed up... )

It could be argued that Tomino does have a habit of destroying (or at least severely vexing) successful companies. The creative decision to alter the Gundam design quite late in the planning process hurt original Gundam toy licensee Clover very badly (this is why the early Gundam toys are somewhat different to their on-screen incarnations [1]) and he followed that nail in the companys coffin with Dunbine, whose mecha designs wouldn't be accurately recreated in toy form until about 15 years after the show was broadcast...!

Sorry if this is turning into a "Cult of Tomino" [2] discussion, please carry on with the Gundam watching!

[1] Ironically, these are now some of the most sought-after Gundam toys of all.

[2] Like the Cult of Skaro. Only scarier.

Yeah, ZZ was a truly puzzling decision. "We'll do a direct continuation of Zeta, but it'll be a COMEDY! People will love it!"

A lot of people here get annoyed at Macross 7 for not being more serious, but at least it's kind of its own separate entity. It's not like all the wacky hijinx happened on board the Megaroad-01.

As for the Clover toys, did you see the Gundam Ace photo-comic a few years back where some Zeon troops were attacked by the Clover Gundam toy? It was pretty funny.

"AAAAHHHG! It's that WHITE DEMON!"

"Wait...it looks a little different..."

"But it's definitely the Gundam. See? It says 'Gundam' right on its chest!"

"IT JUST SHOT ITS FISTS AT US! Who knew it had such abilities?"

[F-ZeroOne]

Well, like I say, I've seen so many different reasons... the first I saw, long before I saw any Gundam, was that he was tired of the series and deliberately tried to sabotage it (he may also have been under pressure from Bandai about the design direction of Gundam mecha; similar pressures apparently resulted in the "land battleships" of V-Gundam). However, I've also seen interviews responses where hes both claimed that maybe he wanted to "lighten up" after Zeta Gundam and that "he doesn't remember the reasons".

Tomino can certainly do a light comic touch, as evidenced in Xabungle and Turn-A.

There is some indirect evidence that Tomino can be fairly headstrong; Syd Mead got a lot of (unfair, possibly) flak for the Turn-A design but he says that it was Tomino that actually encouraged him to make it more and more esoteric. Alternatively, possibly Tomino suffers from mood swings.

I have a horrible feeling that this makes me sound like some sort of expert, which I quite definitely am not (or I'm not trying to sound like an expert, I hope!); this is just bits and pieces I've read here and there...!

I haven't seen that Gundam Ace magazine, no, but your description is making me chuckle!

Edited January 18, 2009 by F-ZeroOne

[F-ZeroOne]

one thing i've often wondered about is how shayla after jeopardizing the crew so often w/her selfish actions kept getting away with it.

Presumably Bright likes blondes too.

[Gubaba]

Well, like I say, I've seen so many different reasons... the first I saw, long before I saw any Gundam, was that he was tired of the series and deliberately tried to sabotage it (he may also have been under pressure from Bandai about the design direction of Gundam mecha; similar pressures apparently resulted in the "land battleships" of V-Gundam). However, I've also seen interviews responses where hes both claimed that maybe he wanted to "lighten up" after Zeta Gundam and that "he doesn't remember the reasons".

Tomino can certainly do a light comic touch, as evidenced in Xabungle and Turn-A.

There is some indirect evidence that Tomino can be fairly headstrong; Syd Mead got a lot of (unfair, possibly) flak for the Turn-A design but he says that it was Tomino that actually encouraged him to make it more and more esoteric. Alternatively, possibly Tomino suffers from mood swings.

I have a horrible feeling that this makes me sound like some sort of expert, which I quite definitely am not (or I'm not trying to sound like an expert, I hope!); this is just bits and pieces I've read here and there...!

I haven't seen that Gundam Ace magazine, no, but your description is making me chuckle!

Finding out the truth is a tough situation, isn't it? The problem with "behind-the-scenes" stuff is that often it's just rumors and hearsay, or else sometimes the people involved actually lie. Any time I hear "Tomino/Anno/whoever was trying to sabotage the series," I never believe it...it sounds too much like fanboy speculation when they don't like whatever the end product is.

Pressure from Bandai or Sunrise sounds possible...wanting to lighten up the franchise might be the most plausible of all, simply because it sounds so ludicrous.

But then I think of things like the (possibly apocryphal) story of Tomino at a convention getting pestered by fans about a new Gundam show where he stabbed a Gundam kit through the head with a pencil, said "THERE'S your new Gundam show," and stormed off. So maybe there IS some truth to the sabotage story...

Who knows? And who shall say he knows?

[F-ZeroOne]

We can't handle the truth...!

I can believe in toy sponsor pressure, of which there have been enough accounts to make it at least a factor. And it could be argued that evidence for Tomino "flips" can be seen in his work; for example, I have trouble sometimes believing that Turn-A was the work of the same man who did V-Gundam or Ideon. of course, all directors experiment or change styles occasionally, but Tominos earlier work certainly seems grimmer, for the most part, than his more recent stuff.

[Bri]

The dreaded Gundam Seed Destiny.

Finished the series today and what can I say. I've been told it was bad and reviews are unforgiving. But honestly, I enjoyed it a lot.

It certainly has it's flaws, but the bad reputation is undeserved.

What was wrong then? :

1) Opening and pace. The first few episodes are rushed, overflowing on mecha action and add little to the story line. I can see why fans dropped after this bad start. Howeverthe story improves, a lot. After this adrenaline fueled start it slows down, and slows down some more until it crawls.

Watching this series in blocks of 5 episodes really helped to take in the storyline. And this is not a good thing. Can imagine the frustration for fans to watched it week by week with the story creeping along. Watching the series in chunks saved it for me. In hindsight, Destiny could have been as good as SEED if it had run 40 episodes by cutting the excess action and filler material.

2) Mecha design. The designers go a little overboard. The Freedom and Justice were the ultimate machines in SEED. But now there are loads of insanely powerful gundams and some look so so. The Phantom Pain mechs in particular look terrible. Not to mention a golden Gundam...

3) Dumb girls. I hated Lacus Clyne in Seed for being a shallow idol altough she was never dumb. You can imagine my joy when Meer Campell was introduced, Lacus doubleganger. Twice as bouncy and half the IQ . Stellar was another pet hate. Imagine a blond Rei Ayanami with short term memory loss and prone to short periods of fear induced hysteria and unable to produce coherent speech...

4) Sound track. The BGM was hit and mis. And quite often mis. The battle scenes often had nice bombastic scores which reminded me in some ways of Hans Zimmers work. But the Sting like slick music in the character driven bits really put me off. The majority of opening and ending songs were just plain bad. Notable exception was ending 1 (Reason).

So what left on the bright side then? Well:

1) The story line is quite clever. The threat of Phanton Pain group of the Earth Alliance is used to intoduce the ZAFT vessel Menirva, it's crew and new lead character Shin Asuka.

The characters get time to develop and gain sympathy with the public. The Archangel is brought back much later and pitted against the Menirva. Both crews are likable and the writers force the public to betray one side. A nice writing trick and main focus point of the series. Around half way it becomes clear that the real lead character is Athrun Zala as opposed to Shin. Shin develops into an ace pilot like Kira but lacks his ability to question his actions as Shin is influenced to strongly by past trauma)

2) Athrun Zala gets a lot more exposure then in SEED fleshing out his character.

3) Where SEED is mostly a remake of MS Gundam 0079 with a twist, Destiny is allowed to go its own way. The villains have better motivations and

the side using ZAKU's finally gets to win for a change!

The plot makes a few turns and twists which keep it interesting till the end.

4) CF mecha is very nicely done. I love the modern animation of ZAFT ZAKU's and Orb CF designs. While not CF(well almost) I really like the strike rouge, enough to make it my next model kit project.

In the end Destiny is not a great anime but not bad either. It has to much mecha pr0n (yes, that is possible) and bad pacing make it a must to watch multiple episodes at a time. But at the same time those likable characters and enjoyable story carry Destiny through.

A lot of concepts from SEED and SEED destiny found their way in to GD 00 aswell. For example the antiwar philosophy of Celestial Being closely resembles Kiras and Lacus conclusions about using force to end war. Coordinators and the Enhanced have replaced the natural development of New types as shown with the Trinity and Innovators.

[Tinderfitles]

I don't know about you guys but I enjoyed ZZ Gundam. I mean any series that takes you from a dramatic three-way battle between the AEUG, AXIS, and the Titans; to warding off an invasion force with oranges is pure genius in my opinion.

/sarcasm off

is quite clever. The threat of Phanton Pain group of the Earth Alliance is used to intoduce the ZAFT vessel Menirva, it's crew and new lead character Shin Asuka. The characters get time to develop and gain sympathy with the public. The Archangel is brought back much later and pitted against the Menirva. Both crews are likable and the writers force the public to betray one side. A nice writing trick and main focus point of the series. Around half way it becomes clear that the real lead character is Athrun Zala as opposed to Shin. Shin develops into an ace pilot like Kira but lacks his ability to question his actions as Shin is influenced to strongly by past trauma)

You know I don't think I really feel as strongly as you do about this. I have always felt that what SEED did was shoot itself in the foot. At the end of SEED we get a Kira and Athrun who where really confident in there own skin, and where forced to grow up and make tough decisions (this doesn't make up for the space whale). Then re-introduced to SEED destiny we see Athrun has made a relapse into his "not so sure" phase, and has begun doubting himself again, while Kira is so stuck up in his own aura of "Im awesome you can be to". To me it really cheapens the end of the first series all for no other reason than to make the second one more familiar, and it robs from the real character development that should of happened in Shin and Meer. I respected where they tried to take the series but when it came to crunch time they pulled a shaq and missed the point.

I have always felt SEED was supposed to be about the Ghost of wars past, and the cloak and daggers of geo-politics, but thankfully 00 picked up where SEED failed and is doing a wonderful job.

Other points

1) To many overpowered suits. At the end there was no point in sending anything out to fight because 1 mobile suit shooting a google of lazers and a confetti of missiles that would put macross to shame, would destroy the entire fleet.

2) After Said fleet was destroyed you would need a recap episode to tell you that the entire fleet was destroyed in the last episode.

3) then another to remind you that the fleet was destroyed and that 6 episodes back someone stubbed there toe and had to pop 18 pills. Oh and then 5 minutes to dedicate to Meer being crazy.

[Gubaba]

I don't know about you guys but I enjoyed ZZ Gundam. I mean any series that takes you from a dramatic three-way battle between the AEUG, AXIS, and the Titans; to warding off an invasion force with oranges is pure genius in my opinion.

/sarcasm off

Yes, yes, a fine moment in the show. And there's just no end of funny when Bright Noa starts chasing chickens!

[F-ZeroOne]

I bet Bright keeps "ZZ" off his resume every time he has to apply for a job as a shuttle pilot.

[kung flu]

To VFTF1, in your earlier post you keep comparing first gundam to macross, girls etc, but you should remember that gundam is an old show, way before a lot of the fan service crap we see in todays anime shows. What makes gundam a great show imo is the story, not the girls, or mecha. The story for macross is not really all that great compared to it. Todays' anime as a whole are relying too much on sexy/emo crap and less on story. So if your use to seeing the new stuff, i can understand if your having a hard time looking for fan service in a old show like first gundam. The first macross is the same, it didn't really have that much fan service, compared to Frontier.

[bob joe mac]

I dunno I certainly recall a couple comedic shower scenes like where amuro see's..... whats her face in the shower with the kids and I think their was one with frau bow too Oh and of course our bishi boy char shower scene with garma sitting outside the door ...

As for my 2 cents on the original gundam. I remember watching the TV show on cartoon network wondering how THIS became the big changing "real robot" show. I mean it had a invicible robot created by amuro's father that could transform into aweful planes or tanks I mean wtf. And some of the mobile armours looked more dumb and run of the mill then the enemies from Mazinger and the like.

Then years later I saw Z gundam and I was blown away by how different it was then the first series so I went back and watched the movies. It was like a entirely different show! They took out the Daitarn 3 tank and jet transformations and most of the dumb as hell robots tightened up the entire show so it was far less episodic and made it a epic. I completly understand why the movies did better then the show in japan the TV series was like this horrid hybrid between Super robot shows and real and I guess at its time it was mind blowing but the movies made it 100x better.

So in the end I tell people to never even bother with the series and IMO its pretty much garbage compared to the movies.

[Gubaba]

I dunno I certainly recall a couple comedic shower scenes like where amuro see's..... whats her face in the shower with the kids and I think their was one with frau bow too Oh and of course our bishi boy char shower scene with garma sitting outside the door ...

As for my 2 cents on the original gundam. I remember watching the TV show on cartoon network wondering how THIS became the big changing "real robot" show. I mean it had a invicible robot created by amuro's father that could transform into aweful planes or tanks I mean wtf. And some of the mobile armours looked more dumb and run of the mill then the enemies from Mazinger and the like.

Then years later I saw Z gundam and I was blown away by how different it was then the first series so I went back and watched the movies. It was like a entirely different show! They took out the Daitarn 3 tank and jet transformations and most of the dumb as hell robots tightened up the entire show so it was far less episodic and made it a epic. I completly understand why the movies did better then the show in japan the TV series was like this horrid hybrid between Super robot shows and real and I guess at its time it was mind blowing but the movies made it 100x better.

So in the end I tell people to never even bother with the series and IMO its pretty much garbage compared to the movies.

Clearly, the movies are a further evolution of the show, moving it away from the demands of the toy company and making it a little more "real," but the show has a lot of good stuff that was left out of the movies, like the Odessa Operation. Also, as I've said before, I think the first two movies are terrible AS MOVIES, since they still feel like a bunch of episodes strung together. The third one is the only one that actually builds to a real climax (naturally, of course, but I think they could have tightened up the first two a little more). The Zeta movies didn't suffer from the same problem, but maybe only because they weren't each two and a half hours long.

The Gundam movies also failed to emphasize salt, the importance of which was covered AT LENGTH in the TV series.

[bob joe mac]

Yea but the Z gundam movies as cool as they were, the newly animated scenes were SO out of place sometimes it made the movies a little awkward.

*Super sarcasm* But I'm sure we can all agree the Turn A movies incorporated the series the best

[Gubaba]

Yea but the Z gundam movies as cool as they were, the newly animated scenes were SO out of place sometimes it made the movies a little awkward.

*Super sarcasm* But I'm sure we can all agree the Turn A movies incorporated the series the best

I haven't seen the Turn A movies yet...

As for the Zeta movies...I dunno. The transitions seemed awkward at first, but about halfway through the first movie, it ceased to bother me. On the contrary, I started trying to anticipate when the next "new" scene would come in, and what they were going to change about it.

Strangely, Sara's voice changing between movies II and III get on my nerves MUCH more, but I think that's because I really liked her voice in the second movie.

[kung flu]

I agree that the first gundam movies, especially the third part are much better than the actual TV show, as for fan service, comparing it to the anime thats coming out today its really not that much. Todays shows there seems to be far too much just to sell a show whether it be big breasts, panty shots..... which really doesn't add anything to the story but only there to appeal to the lonely otaku or horny teenagers.

About the Zeta movies, i thought they weren't put together all that well compared to the first movies.

[F-ZeroOne]

I've always felt that the first Gundams success is not so much to do with whether it counts as a "Super" robot show or now (though its worth pointing out that it was the first show to focus on the difficulties of military resupply in the field and the like) but because of the setting, which was rather more thought out than shows previous to it.

[Gubaba]

I agree that the first gundam movies, especially the third part are much better than the actual TV show, as for fan service, comparing it to the anime thats coming out today its really not that much. Todays shows there seems to be far too much just to sell a show whether it be big breasts, panty shots..... which really doesn't add anything to the story but only there to appeal to the lonely otaku or horny teenagers.

I don't know about that...I remember L-Gaim seemed to throw in gratuitous boob shots every few episodes, and all the old Gundam series had their moments as well (my favorite when I was a kid being Four getting out of the bath).

About the Zeta movies, i thought they weren't put together all that well compared to the first movies.

Hmmm...maybe it's just a personal quirk on my first. The first two Gundam movies seemed rather shapeless to me: they build to a climax about an hour and a half into the movies, they reach that climax, I thought it was over, the movie started building to another climax, it reached that climax, I though it was over, then it started building to another climax...and so on. Garma's death seems like it should've been the end for the first movie, and introducing Ranba Ral ten minutes from the movie's end seemed like bad plotting to me. And in the second movie, the filmmakers are trying to cram so much in that the credits start rolling well before the movie's even over!

I will say, though, that if you look at it as one gigantic seven-and-a-half-hour movie, it fares much better.

Zeta didn't give me that same "Isn't it over YET?" feeling, but again, it may simply be because the movies were shorter.

[promethuem5]

I'm looking forward to watching the movie versions of MSG, but I feel that if I watch them right after I finish the series, I'll get bored. I'm only just now finally watching the Z movies, and I finished Z ages ago.

[kung flu]

The first gundam movies were great in that it had a narrative, a guy explaining certain events as though its a documentary and they also expanded on the Newtype theory and got rid of some of the stupid robot/vehicle designs that were in the TV show. In the Zeta movies i felt something was missing from it to make it feel more like a "movie". They seemed like a rushed job to me with some inconsistences. The Zeta TV show is by far more superior to the movie versions and also better than first gundam imo.

[Gubaba]

The first gundam movies were great in that it had a narrative, a guy explaining certain events as though its a documentary and they also expanded on the Newtype theory and got rid of some of the stupid robot/vehicle designs that were in the TV show. In the Zeta movies i felt something was missing from it to make it feel more like a "movie". They seemed like a rushed job to me with some inconsistences. The Zeta TV show is by far more superior to the movie versions and also better than first gundam imo.

Yeah, I agree that the TV series of Zeta is much better than the movies...the movies make a nice supplement though.

I'd also agree that Zeta is better than the original Gundam. The infallible equation of Tomino stories (and ONLY Tomino stories) is "MORE ANGST = BETTER THAN."

[kung flu]

The infallible equation of Tomino stories (and ONLY Tomino stories) is "MORE ANGST = BETTER THAN."

Yeah, the darker the tone for a show the better it is, especailly if the setting is in a war. But if he makes them too "dark"and unforgiving like Victory Gundam it can be very depressing, and if he makes them too "light" like ZZ it seems out of place and unbearable to watch at times. I'm glad he struck a balance for Turn A, that show gives me a good feeling at the end.

[promethuem5]

Turn-A's on my watch list, but it's all subbed, so it requires a much more concerted effort... the nice thing about stuff like the Z and MSG series are the dubs, which I really enjoy, and can work on my models while watching.

[Gubaba]

Yeah, the darker the tone for a show the better it is, especailly if the setting is in a war. But if he makes them too "dark"and unforgiving like Victory Gundam it can be very depressing, and if he makes them too "light" like ZZ it seems out of place and unbearable to watch at times. I'm glad he struck a balance for Turn A, that show gives me a good feeling at the end.

I dunno...I like depressing. (Which is why Eva is one of my all-time favorite animes. And why Stephen R. Donaldson is the only one out of the many fantasy writers I liked in high school who I still read now.)

[kung flu]

I like victory Gundam, but the way Tomino "killed them all" again and the constant suffering really put tears in my eyes when i first watched it. War is depressing after all and Tomino made sure of that. If he was suffering from depression at the time, seems as though he tried to make everyone else suffer from it too.

Turn-A's on my watch list

You'll be surprised at how different the show is compared to other gundams. Its a great show and the story is upbeat.

Edited January 24, 2009 by kung flu

[F-ZeroOne]

Got 'tache? Got Turn-A Gundam.

More seriously, possibly one of the most misunderstood anime series of the past decade or so, and mostly based on static images. Believe me, it all works much, much better when you see it moving, even seemingly bizarre creations like the Mobile FLAT. It also conveys the seriousness of the conflict without being depressing, has very likeable characters, Tomino shows that he actually can do comic touches without lapsing into slapstick, the music and background design is simply excellent, and the ending is possibly the best Tomino has ever done since Ideon: Be Invoked.

Possibly the most amazing thing about it is that everything that was perceived as a potential weakness when the series first appeared actually turn out to be the series greatest strengths. I would actually recommend it to anyone who wants to see a well-done science-fiction anime, not just a Gundam anime. It does have a few flaws - Tominos characteristic narrative jumpiness, and the story relies on a really huge coincidence - but if you treat it like an Indiana Jones story (all daring escapes and unlikely events and derring-do) you'll forgive it.

[Bri]

The dark and grim atmosphere made the orignal Gundam and the rest of the UC time line a classic (ZZ a little less but who is counting). The alternate universe stories are pretty handy as it allows new writers directors to work with the same themes and mecha but without ruining the original body of work of Tomino.

Doubt many directors would even want to make a new 50 ep UC timeline series. Media, 2ch and investors would be such a happy bunch to deal with.

Hmm, makes me doubt wether to see Victory and Turn A first. Was planning to go for Victory but even Tomino recommends not to watch it. That is kind of a warning. Turn A is becoming more appealing.

[ChrisG]

Was planning to go for Victory but even Tomino recommends not to watch it. That is kind of a warning.

If there's any one statement I can't stand on the internet about Gundam, it's this. This one thing has been blown so out of context by so many people (mainly, people looking for a reason to bash the show). Where does Tomino make this infamous statement? In the V Gundam DVD box set. Thus, if he's trying to warn you not to watch the series, it's kind of too late for that once you've bought the box set. He's a strange character, and not a single person on the internet has thought of the possibility that the might just be a smart ass with this quote. There's no reason for you not to to watch Victory Gundam. Watch it for yourself, and forget about Tomino's statement (which is probably out of context for us). If you don't like it after watching it, at least you verified it for yourself, instead of just going by that one statement.

[Gubaba]

The dark and grim atmosphere made the orignal Gundam and the rest of the UC time line a classic (ZZ a little less but who is counting). The alternate universe stories are pretty handy as it allows new writers directors to work with the same themes and mecha but without ruining the original body of work of Tomino.

Doubt many directors would even want to make a new 50 ep UC timeline series. Media, 2ch and investors would be such a happy bunch to deal with.

Hmm, makes me doubt wether to see Victory and Turn A first. Was planning to go for Victory but even Tomino recommends not to watch it. That is kind of a warning. Turn A is becoming more appealing.

I agree with ChrisG; V Gundam is pretty great. Some of the mobile suits look pretty goofy (and I'm not too fond of the character designs either), but the story is awesome.

It IS bleak, though, so lock away the razor blades before you watch...

[Bri]

That's reasuring to hear. And I'll be sure to check it out. I mean I actually enjoyed Gundam Seed Destiny ( or should I say Gundam SOAP ?) so opinions differ. Just meant my previous remark more as a comparison between Turn A and Victory. But I still plan to watch all the remaining GD stuff out there.

As for depressing I count movies like 12 Monkeys, About Smidt and 1 hour Photo amonst my favourites and I still haven't had to resort to a razorblade for anything else then shaving

[F-ZeroOne]

The dark and grim atmosphere made the orignal Gundam and the rest of the UC time line a classic (ZZ a little less but who is counting). The alternate universe stories are pretty handy as it allows new writers directors to work with the same themes and mecha but without ruining the original body of work of Tomino.

Doubt many directors would even want to make a new 50 ep UC timeline series. Media, 2ch and investors would be such a happy bunch to deal with.

Hmm, makes me doubt wether to see Victory and Turn A first. Was planning to go for Victory but even Tomino recommends not to watch it. That is kind of a warning. Turn A is becoming more appealing.

I'd see Victory first. Turn-A will seem like a dancing ray of sunshine in a world of fluffy bunny wabbits after that.

There is actually nothing wrong with V-Gundam (well, certain mecha designs aside... ), but the very high rate of character attrition does get to you after a while. The music is actually pretty good and the lead character is one of the most likeable in the saga. Hmm, wonder where he might get his charisma from...? It also has a... ahem... nice surprise for those who stick with it.

Way back, I read an article on Gundam that asked why they don't just remake the original series with modern techniques. SEED pretty much seemed to be that to start with. Of course, there'd be trouble with the original castings... maybe no-one just wants to risk the WRATH OF TOMINO...

Edited January 24, 2009 by F-ZeroOne

[Gubaba]

Way back, I read an article on Gundam that asked why they don't just remake the original series with modern techniques. SEED pretty much seemed to be that to start with. Of course, there'd be trouble with the original castings... maybe no-one just wants to risk the WRATH OF TOMINO...

I doubt it...I mean, they shoved Mobile Suit Gaiagear out of continuity to make way for G-Saviour...if that didn't spark his wrath, I don't know what would.

And it should be mentioned that your speculation about the origin of Usso's charisma has been pretty much discounted.

I still like believing it, though.

[VFTF1]

I just want to say that I've seen one episode of Turn-A - namely Episode 8. I watched it because I wanted to see the episode with the cow that came with my MG Turn-A Gundam. I am still dissapointed in my 1/100 cow. It's too big. It's supposed to fit in Turn-A's missile compartment but doesn't really...

Anyways - I liked the feeling and the mood to Turn-A; also liked the mecha - particularly the...err...green things with the long arms...Kapok? Kapowee? Kapiokas? Whatever - they were cool.

I also liked the retro/alternative technological landscape in terms of aesthetics.

The one problem with Gundam is that there's so much of it to watch... dag. Building Gundam kits is easier than getting straight on this continuity.

Pete

[Gubaba]

I just want to say that I've seen one episode of Turn-A - namely Episode 8. I watched it because I wanted to see the episode with the cow that came with my MG Turn-A Gundam. I am still dissapointed in my 1/100 cow. It's too big. It's supposed to fit in Turn-A's missile compartment but doesn't really...

Anyways - I liked the feeling and the mood to Turn-A; also liked the mecha - particularly the...err...green things with the long arms...Kapok? Kapowee? Kapiokas? Whatever - they were cool.

I also liked the retro/alternative technological landscape in terms of aesthetics.

The one problem with Gundam is that there's so much of it to watch... dag. Building Gundam kits is easier than getting straight on this continuity.

Pete

Yeah, Gundam can be a real pain, because there is SO MUCH of it.

When I first got into Gundam, all we had were the original TV series, the three movies, Zeta, and two or three episodes of ZZ. It's grown considerably since then.

One of these days, I might get around to watching things I haven't seen, like G-Gundam, Wing, X, SEED, and 00...but for now I have three criteria:

If it's UC, I'll watch it.

If it's Tomino, I'll watch it.

If it's a live action movie using leftover costumes from Starship Troopers, I won't watch it.

That's still a pretty vast swath of stuff, but it makes it all a little more manageable.

[VFTF1]

Wait - so 00 isn't Tomino? Who is doing current Gundam now - and why is Tomino not involved?

When I first got into Gundam, all we had were the original TV series, the three movies, Zeta, and two or three episodes of ZZ.

Hah! Using this information, google, and my calculator I will be able to narrow down your aproximate age - and then, armed with that information, I will crush the Autobots and rule Cybertron for ever! (initiate smoker's lung laugh)

If it's a live action movie using leftover costumes from Starship Troopers, I won't watch it.

I've seen a bit of G-Savior, which I assume this refers to, and (speaking on the basis of the small fragment I saw) what really makes it painful are the terrible actors. The actual CG graphics are ok - not great - but not horrible. However, the internal "cockpit" looks like something from a Doctor Who set, and the pilots look like they got rejected while auditioning for PHOTON.

If you remember the series PHOTON, then you win a cookie.

Pete

[Vifam7]

Wait - so 00 isn't Tomino? Who is doing current Gundam now - and why is Tomino not involved?

Gundam 00 is not directed by Tomino. Seiji Mizushima directs Gundam 00.

Tomino is not involved because he's not available, doesn't want to do it, or Sunrise wants to experiment with Gundam again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it utterly fails.