Revisiting OG Macross and DYRL

[jenius]

Here's the thing, doing Macross the First doesn't make much sense. It easily leads to this line of thought: "Hey, we're revisiting the era, let's finally get clear of these licensing problems". We might get new/unrecognizable characters and mecha. Hikaru is a girl, Minmay is a boy, Max and Hayao are twins, Gloval is gay, Misa is in a wheelchair, Roy is black, Claudia is hispanic, and of course they all have different names, slightly different backgrounds, and slightly different wrinkles to their stories. The SDF-1 is now the UNSS-1 and it's purple and still looks like a Meltrandi ship from DYRL with minor tweaks. The VF-1 is now the F-99 and looks like the VF-0 had a baby with an F-22. Add some dialog about spiritia at some point. Now, that could still work out to be an awesome show but it's gonna be a real punch to the gut for anyone that was in the "Just do the show over and make it look pretty!" camp. 

[pengbuzz]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:08 AM, jenius said:

Here's the thing, doing Macross the First doesn't make much sense. It easily leads to this line of thought: "Hey, we're revisiting the era, let's finally get clear of these licensing problems". We might get new/unrecognizable characters and mecha. Hikaru is a girl, Minmay is a boy, Max and Hayao are twins, Gloval is gay, Misa is in a wheelchair, Roy is black, Claudia is hispanic, and of course they all have different names, slightly different backgrounds, and slightly different wrinkles to their stories. The SDF-1 is now the UNSS-1 and it's purple and still looks like a Meltrandi ship from DYRL with minor tweaks. The VF-1 is now the F-99 and looks like the VF-0 had a baby with an F-22. Add some dialog about spiritia at some point. Now, that could still work out to be an awesome show but it's gonna be a real punch to the gut for anyone that was in the "Just do the show over and make it look pretty!" camp. 

Wasn't that done already (Macross Frontier)?

[Big s]

On 3/3/2024 at 12:08 AM, jenius said:

"Just do the show over and make it look pretty!" camp. 

They already did with DYRL. 
 

[Bolt]

On 3/3/2024 at 12:08 AM, jenius said:

Here's the thing, doing Macross the First doesn't make much sense. It easily leads to this line of thought: "Hey, we're revisiting the era, let's finally get clear of these licensing problems". We might get new/unrecognizable characters and mecha. Hikaru is a girl, Minmay is a boy, Max and Hayao are twins, Gloval is gay, Misa is in a wheelchair, Roy is black, Claudia is hispanic, and of course they all have different names, slightly different backgrounds, and slightly different wrinkles to their stories. The SDF-1 is now the UNSS-1 and it's purple and still looks like a Meltrandi ship from DYRL with minor tweaks. The VF-1 is now the F-99 and looks like the VF-0 had a baby with an F-22. Add some dialog about spiritia at some point. Now, that could still work out to be an awesome show but it's gonna be a real punch to the gut for anyone that was in the "Just do the show over and make it look pretty!" camp. 

They can do Macross the first in anime form. For their domestic market, which, let's be honest, is their priority. Not the rest of us. That doesn't mean they will..

[JB0]

Shouldn't they FINISH Macross The First before they adapt it?

[Bolt]

14 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Shouldn't they FINISH Macross The First before they adapt it?

Absotively !

 

[pengbuzz]

9 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Absotively !

 

Posilutely!

[Jeff J]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:08 AM, jenius said:

Here's the thing, doing Macross the First doesn't make much sense. It easily leads to this line of thought: "Hey, we're revisiting the era, let's finally get clear of these licensing problems". We might get new/unrecognizable characters and mecha. Hikaru is a girl, Minmay is a boy, Max and Hayao are twins, Gloval is gay, Misa is in a wheelchair, Roy is black, Claudia is hispanic, and of course they all have different names, slightly different backgrounds, and slightly different wrinkles to their stories. The SDF-1 is now the UNSS-1 and it's purple and still looks like a Meltrandi ship from DYRL with minor tweaks. The VF-1 is now the F-99 and looks like the VF-0 had a baby with an F-22. Add some dialog about spiritia at some point. Now, that could still work out to be an awesome show but it's gonna be a real punch to the gut for anyone that was in the "Just do the show over and make it look pretty!" camp. 

I have similar concerns about revisisting the OG series. Instead of just celebrating it as it was, it'd likely be recontextualized in ways I wouldn't be interested in experiencing.

...

This weekend, I was chatting about a certain sci-fi/fantasy sequel writer who (we didn't think) really understood the source material, and during that conversation this Carl Macek quote came up: 

Quote

First the storyline of Macross has major flaws, primarily the concept of "music" as a weapon to be used against the alien invaders

Assuming this is how he truly felt back in the 1980s, it would really explain why RT changed Vrlitwhai's request from the 1000+ ships in the Adoclas fleet to the million plus in RT. In short, he wanted the end of Space War I to be on closer to even terms (4:1 instead of nearly 4900:1) with regard to the number of ships because he didn't think the music would be enough to turn the tide. Then again, maybe he just said that after the fact to make RT come across more favorably; who really knows?

This then got me thinking of the actual scene when Vrlitwhai got sent back to Earth and how the resulting RT version might be the worst nonfunctional* change they made for RT. We lost the foreshadowing that Vrlitwhai figured out that Boddole Zer was going to exterminate him, and instead it just became a generic scene where "Dolza" just warns him that failure will be punished. This played out several episodes later when Laplamiz informed Vrlitwhai that the Boddole fleet was on its way and Vrlitwhai explained they were going to get executed, but the RT version makes it so much more ambiguous as to what "Breetai" was so concerned about.

*Nonfunctional as in it wasn't done for any specific intended effect, e.g. trying to mesh together three disparate storylines or making Minmay more of a dislikable/buffonish character for audiences to dislike or laugh at. I'd describe a "functional" change as something that has at least some give and take, whereas a nonfunctional one serves no purpose to gain anything in exchange for what's lost.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Jeff J said:

Assuming this is how he truly felt back in the 1980s,[...]

An unwise assumption to make, given his fairly well-documented habit of stretching the truth and outright lying to exaggerate his credentials and the show's as well.

He indulged in a fair amount of "I meant to do that, honest!" and a few verifiable whoppers in the early 2000s interview that remark is from.  Even HG has been more candid and said that there's no real intent behind most of the weird choices in the show. 

 

15 hours ago, JB0 said:

Shouldn't they FINISH Macross The First before they adapt it?

Nah.  They can treat it like every other anime made while the manga's unfinished and make up their own ending.

After all, that's never ended poorly for any series, right?  🤣

 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

They can treat it like every other anime made while the manga's unfinished and make up their own ending.

For better or worse, it’s definitely happened a lot. Sometimes the anime has come out and there never was a manga conclusion and in some cases may never be concluded 

[Jeff J]

17 minutes ago, Big s said:

For better or worse, it’s definitely happened a lot. Sometimes the anime has come out and there never was a manga conclusion and in some cases may never be concluded 

George R.R. Martin could speak at length on this topic. 🙃

[Big s]

3 minutes ago, Jeff J said:

George R.R. Martin could speak at length on this topic. 🙃

I hear he likes model railroads these days. If he’s happier building models, then I guess that’s how he wants to do things. Max will eventually do more with his stories and may even pass what he’s written. I don’t know if it will be good or not. I really only could stand a few episodes of game of thrones before I stopped watching, but there are fans with bigger opinions on the subject.

Personally, I think it would be horribly hilarious with everyone bugging him about how things end for him to just give a statement that he just didn’t care anymore and somebody asked him how it ends and he just turns around walking back into his house saying “Choo choo” all the way til the door shuts behind him 

[Seto Kaiba]

On 3/5/2024 at 5:01 PM, Big s said:

For better or worse, it’s definitely happened a lot. Sometimes the anime has come out and there never was a manga conclusion and in some cases may never be concluded 

Yup... and most of them are terrible or incredibly weird and out-of-place.

But who among us wouldn't want to watch Earth secure a lasting peace with the Zentradi after Lynn Kaifun defeats Boddole Zer in a twerk-off on the moon or similar similarly out there? 🤣

 

 

23 hours ago, Jeff J said:

George R.R. Martin could speak at length on this topic. 🙃

He could... but would anyone want to listen?  I mean, Game of Thrones spun in so hard that it almost completely removed itself from the public consciousness.

[Jeff J]

24 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

He could... but would anyone want to listen?  I mean, Game of Thrones spun in so hard that it almost completely removed itself from the public consciousness.

The first season of House of the Dragon gained some traction. My sister keeps reminding me that Season 2 is coming to MAX in August! 😅 I think GoT's popularity was big enough that even half the viewers is still pretty decent.

Though as far as A Song of Ice and Fire goes, I just don't care at this point. 

[pengbuzz]

8 minutes ago, Jeff J said:

The first season of House of the Dragon gained some traction. My sister keeps reminding me that Season 2 is coming to MAX in August! 😅 I think GoT's popularity was big enough that even half the viewers is still pretty decent.

Though as far as A Song of Ice and Fire goes, I just don't care at this point. 

At this rate, more like A Song of Lice and Mire. The only good parts left were The Hound's one-liners.

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

But who among us wouldn't want to watch Earth secure a lasting peace with the Zentradi after Lynn Kaifun defeats Boddole Zer in a twerk-off on the moon or similar similarly out there? 🤣

I didn’t know Disney picked up the Macross franchise.

Boddole Zer twerking would literally bring the house down 

[Keith]

On 3/6/2024 at 3:51 PM, Big s said:

I didn’t know Disney picked up the Macross franchise.

Boddole Zer twerking would literally bring the house down 

You need to go buy a lottery ticket.

[Big s]

53 minutes ago, Keith said:

You need to go buy a lottery ticket.

To be honest, I was just joking, but I’m gonna pick up some tickets for sure 

[pengbuzz]

On 3/6/2024 at 5:15 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Yup... and most of them are terrible or incredibly weird and out-of-place.

But who among us wouldn't want to watch Earth secure a lasting peace with the Zentradi after Lynn Kaifun defeats Boddole Zer in a twerk-off on the moon or similar similarly out there? 🤣