New Robotech Shadow Chronicles Vid

[jenius]

What does RT:SC have... outdated CGI, bad dub, cheesy 2D animation, questionable character designs, predictale storyline, "MIA" Rick Hunter...

It's my understanding that not every Gundam story is very good either. Still, the point was that Gundam is a hugely bank-able franchise (most bank-able anime EVER if I'm not mistaken) so any comparison of it and Robotech is just harsh. Robotech being a loosely knit fabric of three distinct shows adapted into one and never marketed successfully, Gundam being the absolute phenom that has made Bandai oodles and oodles of dollars. Believe me, if you were an exec anywhere and someone said to you "Hey, let's make a new Gundam" the wheels would start spinning in your brain a lot faster than they would for "Hey, let's revive Robotech!" You can't expect Robotech to get nearly the budget of a Gundam project. Even if Bandai TRIED to run Gundam into the ground they would probably fail... Robotech is in a much more precarious position.

Honestly, I don't think many of us know how anime financing works. I don't know if CGI is more expensive or cheaper than traditional anime. I do know that HG can't possibly have the funds Bandai does so I know not to expect anything visually in par with something Bandai would make. That said, I think HG should have known that all along and focused in other directions. Keep the story good and only the most shallow of us will still gripe about the animation. Again, I still watch the original Macross from time to time, the animation certainly isn't what keeps bringing me back.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Film may be a visual medium but it looks to me like the chief place this new "thing" created by HG falls short is in the area it counts most: story and character. Seriously, they could have spent billions on ILM and Weta Digital to make the thing look better than anything to date and if it still had the same cockamamie story it would still suck. In a nutshell this project suffers from every kneecap a hollywood sequel suffers from... they can't get the original artists, actors and writers from the original shows so they hire different ones... those different ones have "new, different" ideas and pick up their own little footballs and run with them. The same goes for the creative departments and the talent. It's like someone having the rights to Ben Hur and trying to make a sequel decades later using new actors, new story lines and new technology but in trying to recapture the same "magic" as the original they somehow completely miss everything that made the original what it was and the new project ends up a shallow piece rife with stereotypical action scenes, canned plot lines and shallow "seen it before" dialog and set pieces.

[Wicked Ace]

I just saw this film at a theater in my area. I will say I laughed, I cried, and I kissed $8 U.S. good-bye. For those that have yet to waste their time with this film, let me just warn you that it sucks, bad. What's wrong with it? Here's my top three:

1. The script sucks -- the dialogue at times is horrible/knee-slapping, Hee-Haw funny.

2. Exclamations that don't jive with what's happening on screen (example: "I can't lock on." followed by missle locks on multiple targets.).

3. Bright white backgrounds for the space ship bridges to avoid having to draw in details; ride armor (sorry, "Cyclone") not shown to transform -- you get riders on the bikes, followed by a cut to after transformation.

There are many more examples of just my top three criticisms. Anyway, the poor RT people who were there did not like me much.

Another funny: "What will we do with no protoculture for fuel?" My suggestion (out loud) was to use the magic crude oil used in the film Water World.

Edited January 20, 2007 by Wicked Ace

[yellowlightman]

Kinda like this quote from the ANN review:

"But where the visuals really fall down is in the 2D work. Characters have that hybrid anime-style-drawn-by-non-Japanese look that has become synonymous with Korean anime. The costumes are basically paint-on jumpsuits over Ken and Barbie-with-implants body types, not one of them deviating from another."

-ANN Reviewer

A pretty great line considering how much "real" anime is animated in Korea, but in this case its wannabe s*&%^$!

[Kyp Durron]

Another funny: "What will we do with no protoculture for fuel?" My suggestion (out loud) was to use the magic crude oil used in the film Water World.

Can't type...laughing my ass off!!

I can say from the trailer that at least the Alpha's weren't using "anime magic" to transform and they appeared to look much like my MPC green alpha in fighter mode which I thought was kinda cool.

-Kyp

[JELEINEN]

A pretty great line considering how much "real" anime is animated in Korea, but in this case its wannabe s*&%^$!

While a lot of Japanese studios may farm out the animation to Korea, most of the designs are still by the Japanese artists.

[justvinnie]

A pretty great line considering how much "real" anime is animated in Korea, but in this case its wannabe s*&%^$!

I thought Korean studios do the in between frames while the Japanese studios do all the key frames? Thus the actual style of the animation is Japanese.

vinnie

[Wicked Ace]

Can't type...laughing my ass off!!

I can say from the trailer that at least the Alpha's weren't using "anime magic" to transform and they appeared to look much like my MPC green alpha in fighter mode which I thought was kinda cool.

-Kyp

I will say that the "Alpha's" transformation was pretty decent; however, you never get to see a "Beta" transform -- it only served as a booster/missle holder. I was disappointed in this. As I mentioned before, no ride armor transformation; I actually said, out loud, in my best Cartman voice, "That's f-ing weak."

I just want to clarify that I would not make outbursts in a regular theater -- that's just rude. The theater where Shadow Chronicles was showing is a sit-down-and-eat-while-watching type thing, which had plentyof seating, as this thing was FAR from sold-out. The RT fans who kept applauding and cheering, behind me, actually got me going, as I was trying to give this thing a chance; these people had every chance to move to an equally desireable table at any time, but maybe they liked cursing me and throwing popcorn at me -- I don't know.

Edited January 20, 2007 by Wicked Ace

[HoveringCheesecake]

Did you yell "HIKARU!" when Rick showed up?

Wait, was he even in the movie?

Edited January 20, 2007 by meh_cd

[Wicked Ace]

Did you yell "HIKARU!" when Rick showed up?

Wait, was he even in the movie?

"Rick" is a gray-haired, hard face lined, limited screentime figure in the film -- not recognizable in the slightest, as the script writers constantly remind you who this is supposed to be by having others say, "Admiral Hunter" several times.

[hutch]

I was really sad.

I know everybody around here hates Robotech, but it was what introduced me to anime, when I was 9 or so, and I kind of have a soft spot for it in my heart.

I was very disappointed in this movie. Pretty much everything anybody has said is true. I think the most disappointing thing to me was that the story nor dialog were as mature as the 'original'. It was pretty pathetic in spots.

[Kyp Durron]

I've been a fan since '85 myself, and these reports really sadden me.

The Mospeada/New Generation part of the RT series made more sense than Southern Cross....that always did seem out of place to me even before I learned about it being a Frankenstein of three seperate series'.

-Kyp

[jenius]

C'mon, it can't be worse than Star Wars Episode 1 can it? I still love Star Wars. I still watch Episode 1 every now and then (Dude, that Darth Maul duel kicks!). I'm not gonna get too heavy into a few diehards feeling let down. Let's face it, anything we've waited on for 20 years is gonna let us down.

Edit - To vs Too, the battle continues.

Edited January 21, 2007 by jenius

[Wicked Ace]

C'mon, it can't be worse than Star Wars Episode 1 can it?

Yes it can. If you haven't already, take a peek over at Robotech.com and see what the, ahem, "protoculture adicts" are saying. As one of the RT people put it, the dialogue was just "not as mature" as the original ("New Generation"); I agree.

I will say that the two friends I went to this film with actually liked it -- not loved it, but liked it. I apologized profusely to them for making so many wise cracks during the film, but it turns out I didn't ruin it for them. There's just a few scenes that it's almost impossible for an MW'er not to bust out with something, if not just plain laughter.

Edited January 21, 2007 by Wicked Ace

[Keith]

Ok, I just got my disc in the mail today, it actually exists, and hell, I've opened it to make sure it's even inside. I'm as shocked & amazed as anyone. Think I'll wait until my next day off so I can marathon it with the sentinels & space gandam V!

[jenius]

Wow, you got yours quick. Did you eBay it? I went the Amazon route... not expecting mine until next week.

Here's something fun though. I did purchase Robotech the Movie (the Megazone 23 adaptation) and holy christ, I think I am going to absolutely LUV Robotech Shadow Chronicles. After the steaming pile Robotech the Movie is I am going to think Shadow Chronicles is AMAZING in comparison. Wow... from atrocities in continuity, bad video from a VHS tape turned DVD, to just about every other aspect of it... YIKES! You wanna talk about something to watch with Sentinels and Space Gandam... this is it!

[Keith]

Rightstuf.com, they usually ship as soon as they get their stock of items. Where'd you get your copy of the robotech movie? Is it one of the older umpteenth generation fansub tapes, or a DVD?

Edited January 27, 2007 by Keith

[jenius]

I hate rightstuf with the passion of a million burning suns right now. My first order with them, the Votoms boxset, they made me jump through a million hoops to only then say "sorry, it's sold out, check in often to see if we've got it back in stock to ship to you." How much you wanna bet two months from now they'll tell me the DVD set is out of print and refund my money? Meh, my bad luck I suppose.

I bought "Robotech The Movie" off eBay from some guy who clearly just takes old tapes, puts on DVD-Rs, and then develops cases for them and uses software to make legitimate looking DVDs. It's complete with tracking fuzz! The DVD doesn't even play on my nice DVD player... I have to play it on my PS2 or computer. I knew I was in for that when I bought it though. You want a copy?

[big F]

Rightstuf.com, they usually ship as soon as they get their stock of items. Where'd you get your copy of the robotech movie? Is it one of the older umpteenth generation fansub tapes, or a DVD?

Quite a while ago there was an original vhs of the movie on eBay I watched the auction ( I had no intention of buying it) The final price was lofty shall we say but enought that you could have bought a 1/48 and Strike pack and still had plenty of change. I remember thinking Surely it cant be worth that much.

[jenius]

Robotech the movie is all over eBay now for $25 shipped. Still about 25x more than it's worth but yeah, considering people were buying it for over $100...

Edited January 27, 2007 by jenius

[terry the lone wolf]

Darkwater has posted up the DVD menus on his blog. He got his copy pretty early too.

http://www.robotechnews.blogspot.com/

[Keith]

Ok....I've watch it....

And honestly, I didn't dislike it as much as I expected. Don't get me wrong, as an attempt at anime, it's super pathetic. But graded on an american campy sci-fi scale, which is the only way to even remotely take it seroiusly, it's not that bad. After getting past the trademark juvenille robotech dialogue, and super stiff late 90's video game cut scene quality animation (that's the only way I can describe it, you know, animation done for video game cut scenes that at first glance appears to be pretty good, until you realize nothing is moving except the bare minimum of what needs to), borrowed from various american sci-fi cliches, and those still so melodramatic robotech voice actors, there's still something entertaining left in there.

Perhaps it's just because there are almost zero attempts to bite off of Macross made (though if I was an agro Mospeada fan, I'd comment on how they botched the retelling of that ending), but I just don't seem to hate this like I've hated everything else they've done.

One thing they should seriously take into account though. If they're going to have massive tits on their characters, they should go through the effort to animate them. Big tits ain't nuthin' without the bounce. They would also do well to ditch their american comic book muscular spandex suits, when even the geekiest character has tight muscular pecks, something ain't right.

[jenius]

Big tits ain't nuthin' without the bounce.

I think I made that exact same quote when a super petite female friend of mine was surgically enhanced... eventually I was able to get some movement out of them but that's neither here nor there...

it's not that bad.

wow.

though if I was an agro Mospeada fan, I'd comment on how they botched the retelling of that ending

I don't consider myself agro... but I'll let ya know

[Keith]

I think I made that exact same quote when a super petite female friend of mine was surgically enhanced... eventually I was able to get some movement out of them but that's neither here nor there...

wow.

I don't consider myself agro... but I'll let ya know

As surprising as it sounds, I'll give them the benefit of raising the quality from the steaming pile of crap that was the Sentinels, to that of an episode of Exosquad (which is funny in itself considering how much exosquad borrowed from Robotech).

And considering the rehashed so much of what was going on in the last episode of Mospeada, you'd think they could have at least included a shot of Yellow, Hoquette, Ray, Jim, & Mint. But not so much. Also, they need to ditch the references to those robotech minmay songs, they were terrible then, and they're sti ll terrible now.

[jenius]

I can't believe they don't have a single shot of Yellow. That kind of tells me that they're not going to go the "Mospeada 2" route with this in Japan. Yellow seems to me to be the most popular character from Mospeada in Japan (going by the DVD release they had there that features Yellow on everything and the fact he was the main character in LLA) so you'd think they'd give him a cameo.

[terry the lone wolf]

I can't believe they don't have a single shot of Yellow. That kind of tells me that they're not going to go the "Mospeada 2" route with this in Japan. Yellow seems to me to be the most popular character from Mospeada in Japan (going by the DVD release they had there that features Yellow on everything and the fact he was the main character in LLA) so you'd think they'd give him a cameo.

When Michael Bradley, the American singing voice for Yellow, was interviewed by Robotech_Master Chris Meadows he stated he would love to audition for Yellow. He hinted it might be some future plans for Yellow but wouldn't confirm it. I wish HG would adapt LOVE, LIVE, ALIVE into ROBOTECH or at least some elements of the OVA.

[hutch]

And considering the rehashed so much of what was going on in the last episode of Mospeada, you'd think they could have at least included a shot of Yellow, Hoquette, Ray, Jim, & Mint. But not so much.

I COMPLETELY agree with this. It really ticked me off how they completely left all of those characters out, especially in the shots inside Reflex Point with the Regis. Ummm...Scott was inside with the Regis and Ariel. As were Rand, Rook and a bunch of the others if I recall correctly.

Anyway, that was really one of the main things I had a beef with. They already cut up 3 Japanese series to make this series, now they can't even keep their OWN continuity straight.

[chrono]

But where the visuals really fall down is in the 2D work. Characters have that hybrid anime-style-drawn-by-non-Japanese look that has become synonymous with Korean anime. The costumes are basically paint-on jumpsuits over Ken and Barbie-with-implants body types, not one of them deviating from another."

-ANN Reviewer

Knee-slapping funny! Because the reviewer isn't far from the truth. LOL

[Keith]

I COMPLETELY agree with this. It really ticked me off how they completely left all of those characters out, especially in the shots inside Reflex Point with the Regis. Ummm...Scott was inside with the Regis and Ariel. As were Rand, Rook and a bunch of the others if I recall correctly.

Anyway, that was really one of the main things I had a beef with. They already cut up 3 Japanese series to make this series, now they can't even keep their OWN continuity straight.

The way they make it look here, is that Stik/scott was just hanging out, outside, twiddling his thumbs until it was over.

[hutch]

The way they make it look here, is that Stik/scott was just hanging out, outside, twiddling his thumbs until it was over.

Yes. That was HORRIBLE. They completely left out his HUGE duel with Corg.

[Ladic]

anyone knows if any retail stores are already selling it?

[1st Border Red Devil]

Yes. That was HORRIBLE. They completely left out his HUGE duel with Corg.

Welcome to Tommy Yune's idea of good storytelling.

[HoveringCheesecake]

*checks unmentionable program that could cause the downfall of our society*

EDIT: DANG!

Edited January 29, 2007 by meh_cd

[jenius]

Blatant piracy is illegal Meh CD.

[Knight26]

hmm, put it on my netflix, will see how bad it is