The MW rewatches M7 together Thread

[VFTF1]

Thanks for the catch, I meant "androgynous" meaning http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/androgynous

Definition 4 specifically:

neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance: the androgynous look of many rock stars.

Well that basically means my whole post was completely irrelevent

Not the first time it's happened

As for la jeaune fille avec les fleurs (if I even spelt that right...er...spelled?) .... I think you're right Marzan. She's one of those beautiful Kawamori plot elements - never meant to be fully explained.

Speaking of her... back in episode 1 we had an up-skirt shot - but Mylene got the view instead of the audience. In light of the rising level of fanservicing that anime has since adopted - I find that particular scene amusing because it's like fanservice...but isn't. What's the point of the explosion blowing up her skirt if we don't see panties?

In other words: assuming animation is always done in order to present something to the viewer...what was the point of that shot?

Pete

Pete

[Sketch]

He looks nothing like a pilot or a rock star. I have nothing against glasses but the best pilots should have 20 20 or close vision

Max would like a word with you.

[Marzan]

Well that basically means my whole post was completely irrelevent

Not the first time it's happened

As for la jeaune fille avec les fleurs (if I even spelt that right...er...spelled?) .... I think you're right Marzan. She's one of those beautiful Kawamori plot elements - never meant to be fully explained.

Speaking of her... back in episode 1 we had an up-skirt shot - but Mylene got the view instead of the audience. In light of the rising level of fanservicing that anime has since adopted - I find that particular scene amusing because it's like fanservice...but isn't. What's the point of the explosion blowing up her skirt if we don't see panties?

In other words: assuming animation is always done in order to present something to the viewer...what was the point of that shot?

Pete

Pete

In todays fanservice oriented anime that scene would have lasted 10 seconds, we would have seen plenty of black lace or pure white cotton panties followed by a massive scream of "iiieeeeee"!

[VFTF1]

And on that note - it's Friday! Time for EPISODE 4

I invite somebody OTHER than Gubaba or me to write the "Official" in depth review! If nobody steps up, I'll do it later today - but it would be nice to get a fresh perspective to start our discussion of Episode 4 from - and episode 4 is NOT "more of the same" by any stretch of the imagination - so let's see what ya got!

Pete

[Renato]

EDIT: Talking about EPISODE 4!

I only had time to catch the first 15-18 minutes of this today. First of all, I have to say that the "Previously..." recap is a load of crap. None of the important scenes are in there!! You have the fans lunging at and trying to punch Basara with him dodging, and you see Mylene get pushed, but you do not see Basara let it rip and then later having to explain that what he did was wrong and why. That was awful, awful execution. It's like they took the most random scenes to flashback to. Does this mean anything to anyone who missed the previous episode?? I don't see why it's there.

OK, so vampires. Interesting new angle, now we've got infiltrators as a result of the previous enemy operation last episode.

I've only watched up until the part Basara is about to launch into battle, but I should mention that Basara's "I'm high and almighty" attitude might begin here, with his argument with Mylene where she claims he's coming in too late in a song and vice versa. "What are you talking about?? It's you who's early!" "I'm playing it as it's written!" and "You just don't get it, you have to build up the emotion!" "So what about the harmony??" etc... Again, I like these arguments. They argue because they care. Neither of them are like, "ok, whatever, I'll come in earlier, then".

Also, a bit of background on Mylene's philosophy. "I ran away from home. There's no way I can go back and accept help just because I got in a spot of trouble. I really hate those kinds of half-assed things!" In a way, she is like Basara. She has her beliefs. And that is why Basara answers with a simple "I see". He has absolutely nothing to argue about here, and knows she is right and true to herself. He even looks glad to hear her say that. I think this is the first time the pair "agree" (i.e. don't argue) about something, and it is quite poignant.

Anyway, there's plenty more going on in the ep, including Max & Millia stuff, but I'll leave that for next time to discuss.

EDIT 2 -- I'm quoting the dialogue from memory and I watched it raw earlier today. I apologise if I'm paraphrasing a bit. But they are memorable enough, so they should be fairly accurate.

Osaka concert tomorrow!! BOMBAA!

Edited November 27, 2009 by Renato

[VFTF1]

EPISODE 4

recap is a load of crap. None of the important scenes are in there!! You have the fans lunging at and trying to punch Basara with him dodging, and you see Mylene get pushed, but you do not see Basara let it rip

But you see Bassara singing while the fans try to punch him - and that's enough

Anyways...onward:

1. I really like the opening of this episode, with the juxtaposition of the Fire Bomber concert and then the first, second and third victims of the Vampires being attacked. It's a great way to introduce this plot theme - and of course it's all the scarrier that we have Planet Dance as the background music to the vampire attacks instead of just a generic "scary" vampire attack scene.

2. Were those two girls who pushed flower girl out of the way to get to Bassara the same girls who praised him last episode at the Super Nova competition?

3. This episode introduces the ever loyal, persistent, brave, strong, humble and proffesional Micheal. He's one of my favorite bit characters in the Macross universe - everything about him is well executed. He's huge and buff but wears the glasses that you would associate with an accountant. He's a bit of a clutz but certainly he's not the stereotypical "brawn over brain" that is usually associated with big strong looking guys.

4. The Vampires: WHY do all of them look the same - down to even having the exact same hair dos? That's just kind of irritating. Are they clones?

5. The scene where Bassara and Mylene run through the sewers kind of reminds me of Minmei and Hikaru lost in the SDF-1...but of course...it's totally different since Bassara knows where they're going and the bodygaurds and Vampires make appearances in the sewers too.

6. Bassara gets "shot" in the arm by a Vampire beam when shielding Mylene - the beams seem to only therefore work when they hit the head of a human being (this has also been the case in space combat) - ergo, is it safe to presume that spiritia resides in the human brain? That it's a function of neurons and...umm...oh...I forgot my brain terminology that I learned from Asimov's Fantastic Voyage II... but there's some kind of stem or something that might be responsible for creative thought...forgot what it was called...but whatever - point is - this is spiritia. Actually, after re-reading Asimov's book, which is about a neuroscientist's attempt to monitor and track the portion of the brain responsible for creative thought and to generally map out the brain - I'm less averse to the quantification of spiritia that the Vampires/Enemy engage in - and that later Dr. Chiba will revolutionize. It's just...it would have been better, plot wise, if the writers had actually explicitly tied spiritia to the brain and used a little bit of true scientific terminology in this regard since there are plausible theories out there. The way they did it kind of leaves the subject up in the air...

7. I agree with Renato that the argument over music between Bassara and Mylene is great - and it's also nice to see that they're arguing specifically about music. Notice the difference:

Mylene asks "where's the harmony!?"

Bassara says he will come in (late or early) "when his heart tells him"

So there's a nice debate in music - the goal is to achieve a beautiful sound - but Bassara insists that it can only be done by being true to yourself, while Mylene points out that you need to be sensitive to others. This isn't the last time she makes such a comment - in the future she'll laugh at Basara that he's scared to play Ichijo Hikaru precisely because Hikaru could empathize with others - while Bassara can't.

And you know...one wonders about this theme - because Bassara himself realizes there's a problem because his music can't reach the hearts of those he's singing too - so he keeps plumbing the depths of his heart for a sound that will touch other hearts.

8. Max and Millia's exchange here is cooler than in the interview from last episode. Why? Because of the coffee. Max makes Millia some coffee and she says "I don't need special consideration" - I think this kind of shows that she's still a Meldrani and not fully accustomed to human culture, because Max is kind of surprised - at least I interpret his reaction to be like "dude - what special treatment? I was just offering you coffee in a styrophom cup." After the discussion - which is basically an admission of helplessness on both their parts - Max is obviously stressed since he drinks the second cup too...

9. Gamlin's squad commander's talk with Max.... I love Max's voice. This is where his main character trait from SDF-1 really shines through - namely he is a polite gentleman. And to be honest - in a situation like this one - with three pissed off battle weary veterns talking to you - the only thing that kept these guys from snapping was Max's politeness I think. It is a firm politeness - like yes, I understand. Thank you. Bye. But I think if he had even a hint of arrogance in him then they would have been most pissed. As it stands they were annoyed, Gamlin especially - but I think Gamlin is just jealous - he understands that Max knows something and that the military in general is doing something that Gamlin is not privy to - and I think it frustrates him. Could be wrong...

10. The ending is once again abrupt - and Basara seems to do everything possible to pretend he doesn't feel anything for Mylene - but he clearly keeps protecting her and risking himself for her. I wonder - does he like her? As in - is he attracted to her? I can't believe it's just a big brother thing because there's plenty of other people in trouble but Bassara is always taking care of one person - Mylene - and that's a priority for him - even more important than singing to his enemies sometimes.

Anyways - the episode moves the plot along.

Oh - one last thing:

When the enemy defolds, and the bridge bunny announces to Max that the enemy has defolded "inside the red line" (aka inside the perimeter where no enemy should be allowed EVER) - Max is embarrassed, freaked, and quickly turns to Exedol like "help me here man!"

that's a funny scene.

In general, this episode is good Max development.

Pete

[Marzan]

EPISODE 4

10. The ending is once again abrupt - and Basara seems to do everything possible to pretend he doesn't feel anything for Mylene - but he clearly keeps protecting her and risking himself for her. I wonder - does he like her? As in - is he attracted to her? I can't believe it's just a big brother thing because there's plenty of other people in trouble but Bassara is always taking care of one person - Mylene - and that's a priority for him - even more important than singing to his enemies sometimes.

Anyways - the episode moves the plot along.

Pete

I take it you don't buy then the whole "I'm worried about Gubaba" line from Basara?

While in this episode I already get the feeling that Mylene is starting to feel attracted to Basara despite their creative differences, from Basara's side I feel its just plain affection for the little, cute kid in the band. It's not as if he needs to go around protecting Veffidas or Ray...

Does anyone else feel that its a bit dated to have a radio with a tape recorder in the scene were the girl was doing aerobics to Fire Bomber?? I mean tapes!! Cd's had been around for ages when 7 was made.

Gamlin is really feeling the hate for Basara at this point, even requesting to shoot him!! It'll be important to bear this in mind as the series continues and those two grow closer by the end.

[VFTF1]

It's not as if he needs to go around protecting Veffidas or Ray...

Well, that's because neither space vampires nor horny lesbians threaten those two all the time

But yeah - it's an open question regarding Basara and Mylene... I think though, that while in M7:Dynamite, they stress his "I'm an artist and don't notice women" character, in 7 here it's more ambiguous.

Oh - and I love Mylene saying "I hate being indecisive!" given that's precisely what she'll end up being in regard to the upcoming love triangle

Does anyone else feel that its a bit dated to have a radio with a tape recorder in the scene were the girl was doing aerobics to Fire Bomber?? I mean tapes!! Cd's had been around for ages when 7 was made.

Well - maybe it's a retro design but internally it's very futuristic?

Given the architecture of M7 - which is a mish-mash of famous buildings from various Earth cities, I wouldn't put it past them to be into retro looking stuff from Earth either....

although yeah - just like with Spiritia/Brain science - the writers could have put some effort into this kind of stuff...still, Macross has always been a kind of mirror of the times it was written and not so much a "futuristic" saga...

Gamlin is really feeling the hate for Basara at this point, even requesting to shoot him!! It'll be important to bear this in mind as the series continues and those two grow closer by the end.

Yeah. Gamlin continues to be a total ass.

I mean - remember that Hikaru Ichijo was also a civilian who flew into a combat zone - and Roy's reaction was totally cool and smooth. Smooth enough that not long after, Hikaru joined the military.

Gamlin, on the other hand, would make a bad recruiter - all he does is shout and threaten and make mean looking faces.

I can't see WHAT Millia sees in him - I mean, he might be a great pilot, but he's mean and, with regard to women, naive.

She should have hooked Mylene up with Gamlin's commander. That dude knows how to treat women

Pete

[Gubaba]

She should have hooked Mylene up with Gamlin's commander. That dude knows how to treat women

That's the problem...I don't think a freaky fourway with Kinryu and two bridge bunnies is what Milia has in mind for her daughter...

And, uh...sorry, haven't watched episode 4 yet. I'll get to it in the morning.

[VFTF1]

But it is the morning. It's 7:51 am

And yeah...I'm just being hard on Gamlin. He's actually a good choice for Mylene.

Pete

[Bri]

Took me a while to catch up, so remarks on Episode 4:

The character art improved again after the drop in quality of episodes 2 and 3. Visually this series is still very appealing. Sofar have not noticed much of repetition except each episode seems to involve a raid by the mysterious alien force to aquire spiritia.

Focus in this episode is again on exploring Mylene and Basara's relationship and Mylene's background. All is not well in the state of Genius and Mylene gets to act like an angry teenager from a dysfuntional family.

Basara does not seem to patronize her nor is he forcing her to do anything, probably a wise method of dealing with a frustrated teenager, and one that Millia hasn't figured out. He does act when he considers her safety in danger regardless if she agrees as seen in the situation with the vampires. I like the exchange between Michael and Basara in the sewers, Michael realizes that Mylenes wont accept him as a guardian and yields the responsebility to Basara, placing her well being in his hands. Mylene admits she ran away from home and feels she cant accept protection from Michael or Milia as she wants to stand on her own two feet.

I think this is examplified in Basara walking her home, he says it's to protect Gubaba while to respect Mylene's desire for independance.

Always felt Basara has a much healthier aproach to interacting with Mylene then Gamlin. Basara sees her as the kid she really is while I feel that Gamlin is projecting his adoration of Millia, who he can't have, on her daughter. I doubt he would respond the way he does to Mylene if she wasn't Millia's kid. Though I'm now jumping ahead of the episode.

Was nice to seee Mylene in other clothes then the outlandish Firebomber outfit, never realised see has Meltran ears. Makes me wonder, is Firebombers looks based on the Visual Kei bands of the time? Don't know much about Japanese pop culture.

[VFTF1]

I feel that Gamlin is projecting his adoration of Millia, who he can't have, on her daughter.

That's a theory I have not heard before. I never got the impression that Gamlin had a crush on Millia - besides, it was Millia who found him, and probably has a crush on him, but is just projecting that crush onto her daughter in the sense of "this is the man I'd choose for myself so I'm chosing him for you."

As for what's behind the crush? Well - Gamlin seems to be polite and gentlemanly and a genius pilot - so just like Max... except in reality, Gamlin has an aweful short temper. Max would never scream that much, nor would Max ever let himself get so emotional over things that bother him. The ONLY time I remember Max letting rip was when Misa was injured by one of the unruly and disgruntled citizens who grabbed her, trying to "kidnap" her and the other members of the military to force Global to return them to Earth. Max immediately punched the guy - but there was no bravado in it - and right after he did it, he realized he had made a big mistake.

Gamlin, on the other hand, keeps running up to people calling them XAMA!! and making mean faces. He's like a total candidate for being in that movie American Pie or American Beauty or whatever it was called. Nice Mr. Rogers on the outside, psychopathic maniac on the inside

But maybe I'm being too harsh on him... I mean, in a sane and normal world he'd kind of be expected to be miffed that some dude in stilleto heels keeps flying into his line of fire singing glam rock...

Pete

[Marzan]

To I like the exchange between Michael and Basara in the sewers, Michael realizes that Mylenes wont accept him as a guardian and yields the responsebility to Basara, placing her well being in his hands. Mylene admits she ran away from home and feels she cant accept protection from Michael or Milia as she wants to stand on her own two feet.

I think this is examplified in Basara walking her home, he says it's to protect Gubaba while to respect Mylene's desire for independance.

Always felt Basara has a much healthier aproach to interacting with Mylene then Gamlin. Basara sees her as the kid she really is while I feel that Gamlin is projecting his adoration of Millia, who he can't have, on her daughter. I doubt he would respond the way he does to Mylene if she wasn't Millia's kid. Though I'm now jumping ahead of the episode.

Was nice to seee Mylene in other clothes then the outlandish Firebomber outfit, never realised see has Meltran ears. Makes me wonder, is Firebombers looks based on the Visual Kei bands of the time? Don't know much about Japanese pop culture.

I really like Michael too. Poor guy got a raw deal from Milia and gets stuck with the worst tasks! Running around trying to protect an adolescent who doesn't want to be protected.

Regarding Mylene's Meltran ears, at what point in the Macross canon did it become standard for Zentran/Meltran or those who descend from them to have these ears? As far as I can remember, in SDFM and DYRL the Zents have normal ears? At least Milia does...

Anyway, it becomes a very useful tool in M7 and Frontier to see who is of mixed origin (Michel Blanc for instance)

[VF5SS]

But maybe I'm being too harsh on him... I mean, in a sane and normal world he'd kind of be expected to be miffed that some dude in stilleto heels keeps flying into his line of fire singing glam rock...

Pete

Basara wears cuban heels.

also as a preview for the next episode ELGAZORENE KICK!

[VFTF1]

Nice pic Reminds me that I've always wanted an Elgazorene from Yamato - it would be a very very wierd Valkyrie - and what with the VF-11C....It would having something to suck the spiritia out of! Cannon-Fodder spiritia pilots! Mmmmm!

Pete

[Bri]

That's a theory I have not heard before. I never got the impression that Gamlin had a crush on Millia - besides, it was Millia who found him, and probably has a crush on him, but is just projecting that crush onto her daughter in the sense of "this is the man I'd choose for myself so I'm chosing him for you."

I was under the impression it was a platonic thing between teacher and student. I think they are both pretty attached to the other, prolly as you said Millia sees a younger Max in him who isn't burdened by command yet while Milia represents to Gamlin everything a pilot can hope to achieve.

Regarding Mylene's Meltran ears, at what point in the Macross canon did it become standard for Zentran/Meltran or those who descend from them to have these ears? As far as I can remember, in SDFM and DYRL the Zents have normal ears? At least Milia does...

Anyway, it becomes a very useful tool in M7 and Frontier to see who is of mixed origin (Michel Blanc for instance)

Micronised Zentran already have those ears in DYRL so it was pretty soon. In the reimaging of SDFM in Macross Fever they gave Milia those ears as well, depending off course how much value you place on those images:

[VFTF1]

Re: Ears -

I think you just have to take this one along the same lines as the entire DYRL vs SDFM TV "what is canon?" debate and remember that a) it's all an artistic representation or meta-history of a concept and b) generally the designs from DYRL for mecha, uniforms, Exedol and EARS have become the norm.

I would however like to note that Ranka does NOT have the Zentran ears, even though she is half Zentran - and a good thing too. I personally don't find the ears very attractive and I think it would have totally ruined Ranka's sex appeal.

Milia represents to Gamlin everything a pilot can hope to achieve.

A record as a combat ace, a terrible hair-do and a wardrobe totally lacking in color coordination?

I suddenly do start seeing similarities between these two now that you bring it to my attention...

Anyways -I'm going to bed- let's try to get back to the subject of Episode 4, if we can

Pete

[David Hingtgen]

Ranka's only 1/4 Zentran. Apparently the hair-color gene is stronger than the ears gene. (as opposed to Star Trek, where even 1/4 Romulan or Vulcan gives you pointed ears IIRC)

Also, you have to wonder if there's not different groups/races of Meltrandi and Zentradi. Even in M7 with the more DYRL look, Milia looks far more "human" than Veffidas. Veffidas has greenish skin very similar to Guld's.

[Uxi]

We're lucky Milia didn't end up dark green like Exedol or Britai.

[David Hingtgen]

What, you don't like green girls? Kirk does.

[shiroth]

Also, you have to wonder if there's not different groups/races of Meltrandi and Zentradi. Even in M7 with the more DYRL look, Milia looks far more "human" than Veffidas. Veffidas has greenish skin very similar to Guld's.

I guess there's just the more human looking type, and the alien type. It's the easiest way to set them apart. Personally i rather like the Exsedol DYRL look.

[VFTF1]

Well if you think about it, there are slight differences in pigmentation amongst caucasians, blacks and hispanics and other racial groups/classifications amongst regular Earth people - that is to say there are different "shades" of black and different shades of white. So why wouldn't there be different "shades" of green?

In any event- yes, Ranka is a quarter Zendrati - that's true - so no elf ears... As for the green itself - I had always thought that their green color was a result of them spending so much time in dark, murky, humid space ships living lives completely dedicated to war and therefore effectively never dedicated to skin care. They got very little light, and their bodies were constantly genetically manipulated. Thus their sickly, pale greenish colors.

That's my explanation for it anyways.

This is also why cultured Zentradi like Klan Klan are not longer green - she gets to go to the beach, her skin is exposed to sunlight, she bathes, she tans - she takes care of herself.

I never actually interpreted the Zentradi to be literally "green" - I just thought that their skin color was sickly pale puke green because of the attrocious conditions that they lived in.

Pete

[David Hingtgen]

Poor living conditions---that doesn't explain Veffidas or Guld.

Different shades----Milia isn't green at all---peachy-pink is not a shade of green.

[Master Dex]

Ok, hello everyone! I've been gone from this thread for a while. School work is never done, but the semester is almost over. Thanks to Gubaba I finally have a good copy of the first 20 episodes of the remastered set I was looking for. Now that I've caught up and just watched through ep. 4 I can finally give my opinions. However since I'm late I'll focus on ep. 4. I'd like to note though I have been reading everything up till now, I agree with a lot of it as well.

You know I usually hate the vampire gimmick, but it is different enough this time that it doesn't bother me so much. I'd like to look the other direction for a second and note the enemy characters. Gigil is already getting annoyed with Gepelnitch (that is how I'm going to spell it from this point on, it has like 7 different spellings and I can't keep up). It is clear why Gigil ultimately ended up going against Gepelnitch, though the real reason he does later is a certain Protodeviln, but we won't talk about that plot device just yet. Still he seems to be fed up with Gepelnitch going behind his back on some plan he sees no point on. Gigil prefers the old attack and drain their spiritia technique that worked for them in the past. Since this is supposed to be early on I'll feign knowledge of what the past for them really is since we aren't suppose to know yet.

Soo.... anyone else wonder why they designed City 7 to have buildings protrude out the dome? That seems to be just reckless and dangerous. The tops of those buildings better be super airtight and heavily fortified because if they blow off you have a huge air leak for the dome. While we are on the fact of the easy to reach buildings... fat lot of good that protective shell did. They started closing it at the beginning of the battle and it didn't finish until after the battle ended, lol. Of course I know why, the power to move that shell is all in the hinge at the front and moving something from a hinge of that much mass (the shell must have a lot of mass/be heavily armored to be strong enough to resist attack) isn't easy so of course it will move slow. Also you don't want the shell closing fast because if something that massive just smacks down on the dome it could cause massive damage... not to mention wrecking the protruding buildings...

The Frontier Island One dome got it right. Got rid of the protrusions and even was able to close the shell on a dime. Still a lot of mass to move at once but it is clear to me (from an engineering standpoint) that the Island One dome on Frontier was designed to be able to let the shell close down quicker without worrying about any damage as a result. I'd feel safer under that dome than City 7.

So yeah I didn't talk about any character stuff save for Gigil, but most people got to that already and I was late even for this episode. Maybe next week I'll get in something good for ep. 5. Hell I'll write up the first review if you like... that is if studying for my finals doesn't get in the way...

Edited November 29, 2009 by Master Dex

[MastaEgg]

Yeah the ship design in this show is silly. Is there a reason why the research ship looks like a pyramid, or that the farming ship looks like a flower?

I think Gigil is like the best villian in the show. It's pretty clear he has different motives than the rest of the protodeviln early on, and the friction between him and Gepelwhatchamacallit is always funny to watch. He kinda like a certain ally killer...

[Uxi]

Gigil is definitely the best. He is often clandestinely defiant and once or twice openly. Interesting that only Gigil and Geperenich possessed bodies and that none of the other large Protodeviln did that, or even the "smaller" ones like Glavil and Sivil....

[Master Dex]

Yeah the ship design in this show is silly. Is there a reason why the research ship looks like a pyramid, or that the farming ship looks like a flower?

Well there is something to be said for aesthetic choices. The ship can look like a bottle of Tylenol for all it matters as long as the aesthetic choices don't compromise the ships integrity or safety of the people inside.

Really it is like saying why does any building on Earth look the way it does when it can be a simple gray rectangle. There are a lot of building with very interesting designs, but if those designs don't cause any problem and are safe, then there is no problem.

However the protruding buildings of City 7 do seem problematic to me and represent a poor architectural and civil engineering design.

Having said that, I do think that the basic pill shaped islands in Frontier seems better to me. If one of the islands is for specifics purposes like research or farming, then the unique building designs can be inside the dome. In that way it constitutes less work in the design of a space craft that doesn't need to look any more special than it needs to be, but you can still get your aesthetic flair. Also the pill islands in Frontier have shutters like the shell for island one, so they could be better protected than the various ships in the Macross 7 fleet. That's two wins for the Frontier fleet design over Macross 7 fleet. I guess Kawamori did some homework in between these shows.

I like to say in the engineering world, it maybe be ugly as hell, but if it has to be ugly in order to work, then it will be ugly.

[David Hingtgen]

My theory: A bigger dome on M7 would require a lot more air and oxygen. That seems to be a fairly precious resource. M25 has all those bio-processing-plants, and can thus support that massive volume.

[VFTF1]

Wait...the buildings stick out beyond the dome?? I never noticed this - honestly. I will have to pay special attention to this but...it's almost inconcievable that this is so...

Pete

[hulagu]

This is also why cultured Zentradi like Klan Klan are not longer green - she gets to go to the beach, her skin is exposed to sunlight, she bathes, she tans - she takes care of herself.

I never actually interpreted the Zentradi to be literally "green" - I just thought that their skin color was sickly pale puke green because of the attrocious conditions that they lived in.

Pete

I always put it down to the consumption of their presumably synthesised space grog or diet (or maybe those weird multicolor Zentran carrots Ranka was hawking?)

Edited November 29, 2009 by hulagu

[Gubaba]

Wait...the buildings stick out beyond the dome?? I never noticed this - honestly. I will have to pay special attention to this but...it's almost inconcievable that this is so...

Pete

You never noticed it? It's there every episode! They even make a plot point of it when Sivil attacks Milia's office.

[VFTF1]

Oh. Yeah - so they do Thanks for the pic.

I guess I'll put this down to looking at the subs and therefore not having a chance to really SEE everything on screen...

Pete

[Marzan]

I was under the impression it was a platonic thing between teacher and student. I think they are both pretty attached to the other, prolly as you said Millia sees a younger Max in him who isn't burdened by command yet while Milia represents to Gamlin everything a pilot can hope to achieve.

Micronised Zentran already have those ears in DYRL so it was pretty soon. In the reimaging of SDFM in Macross Fever they gave Milia those ears as well, depending off course how much value you place on those images:

Thanks for the info...

[Marzan]

Well there is something to be said for aesthetic choices. The ship can look like a bottle of Tylenol for all it matters as long as the aesthetic choices don't compromise the ships integrity or safety of the people inside.

Really it is like saying why does any building on Earth look the way it does when it can be a simple gray rectangle. There are a lot of building with very interesting designs, but if those designs don't cause any problem and are safe, then there is no problem.

However the protruding buildings of City 7 do seem problematic to me and represent a poor architectural and civil engineering design.

Having said that, I do think that the basic pill shaped islands in Frontier seems better to me. If one of the islands is for specifics purposes like research or farming, then the unique building designs can be inside the dome. In that way it constitutes less work in the design of a space craft that doesn't need to look any more special than it needs to be, but you can still get your aesthetic flair. Also the pill islands in Frontier have shutters like the shell for island one, so they could be better protected than the various ships in the Macross 7 fleet. That's two wins for the Frontier fleet design over Macross 7 fleet. I guess Kawamori did some homework in between these shows.

I like to say in the engineering world, it maybe be ugly as hell, but if it has to be ugly in order to work, then it will be ugly.

City 7's urban planning was quite shoddy one has to say. And all those eclectic buildings don't help a bit.

At least it has lots of parks and green areas....

[Master Dex]

My theory: A bigger dome on M7 would require a lot more air and oxygen. That seems to be a fairly precious resource. M25 has all those bio-processing-plants, and can thus support that massive volume.

Oxygen isn't really that hard to come by, but having it in a large volume could be. With scrubbers though, the exhaled CO2 can be recycled into oxygen though. It is the Nitrogen that they'd have to find a way or supplying or recycling. Luckily breathing air (72% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 7% trace gases) is a compressible fluid and so can be stored in tanks smaller than the volume it is meant to fill when not in use.

Still even if it was the volume of air that was the reason for the dome size, there is no reason to make buildings come out of the dome like that. Just have smaller buildings if you have a smaller dome.