Re: The Shadow Chronicles

My good friend Derick gives Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles a "B." If I remember his remarks right, very good animation throughout, mostly good voice acting -- a few jokes fall flat, a few weird dialogue readings, IIRC, but not bad overall -- and an excellent score, so good that afterwards he asked when he could buy the soundtrack CD. He did note that it felt long, kind of the way that Megazone 23 Part 1 feels long. When you bear in mind that the events of Megazone 23 Part 1 were supposed to be thirteen episodes of a TV anime, and The Shadow Chronicles project began with the desire to create a new ROBOTECH TV series, well ... that does make sense.

Apologies if I misquoted him anywhere; it's not like I was taking notes.

To read Darkwater's take on the film, clicky-click here.

Does anyone else have any opinions they'd like to share? Drop 'em in the comments thread.

Stuff & Things ...

As I type this, my pal Derick and a bunch more lucky ROBOTECH and mecha anime fans are watching Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles down in Lafayette, Louisiana at the first public screening of the film in North America. At least, I'm pretty sure Derick made it down there ... I'd hate to get a phone call in about an hour's time and hear that he got stuck at the dealer's table and had to miss it because nobody would take his spot ...

Noted at several spots on the web, Japanese voice actor Hirotaka Suzuoki, who played Yellow Belmont in Mospeada and Lynn Kaifun in Macross, died August 6 of lung cancer. He was best known for his portrayal of Captain Bright Noa in Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, Gundam ZZ, and Gundam: Char's Counterattack, as well as numerous modern video games based on the franchise. That sound you hear is thousands of Gundam fanboys across Japan openly weeping.

Robotech.com finally has the $80 Hikaru Ichijyo doll, limited to 3,000 pieces, in stock. Not that you could tell from the main page -- they don't even have it up on the little "new store items" bar that nobody looks at. Back at the New York Toy Fair, Toynami said they planned to do Max next, though no phototography of such a thing has been shown anywhere -- are they waiting to see how this does before they even get a head sculpt ready?

Another conversation with Tommy Part 3

MP3 File
The conclusion, in which we discuss Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, as well as (briefly) the ill-fated Robotech 3000 and the distribution deal with Funimation Entertainment. The early Q's & A's (with the hiss in the background) were recorded before San Diego Comic-Con 2006, while the rest was recorded afterwards but before the press release was issued by Funimation giving the release date for the Shadow Chronicles DVD (November 21 -- you have marked your calendar, right?).

Enjoy!

*pops head up*

New updates over at the Robotech Comics Blog (Sentinels series overview + 1st issue), hopefully new audio-interview-flavored content Tuesday night and maybe Wednesday for major one-two-punch action.


I always thought this promo piece looked cool, even if it didn't make a damn lick of sense for Sentinels. Also, the color version (see blog logo at top) cuts off most of Rick's considerable Sentinels-comics-chin, which always ticked me off ...

I had a rough night.

ROBOTECH-related, and written on no sleep -- NO SLEEP!! HA HA HA!!!

I think someone's bitter.

At Otakon this weekend, ADV announced that they've licensed an anime series called Utawarerumono. Looks like a very Japanese fantasy sort of thing, with ninjas and samurai and people in kimonos and such, and wouldn't have anything to do with us except for what ADV decided to do about that totally Japanese name.

They're calling it Shadow Warrior Chronicles.

Hmmmmmm ...

This Is What I'm Doing About That ...

Old link: robotechcomics.50megs.com
New link: robotechcomics.blogspot.com

A work in progress, to be sure, but I told you, I'm closing the old site on January 1, 2007, so I've got plenty of time to get the new site up to speed. I'm starting with a whole host of updates I've been working on for a few years now that I never got around to posting up. Let me know what you think here, OK?

Okay, so ...

I'd been wondering when this would happen ... after all, Harmony Gold is headquartered in sunny Califor-ni-a, so of course, they'd have to get a screening there somehow, right?

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles has been accepted to film festival #3 (screening #4), the Los Angeles Korean International Film Festival, Sept. 29 - Oct. 5 (details on the Shadow Chronicles film festival calendar here).

So now you've got your New York and your L.A. covered, and you've got your southwestern U.S. (Phoenix, AZ), and you've got your southeast (MechaCon 2.0 @ Lafayette, Louisiana next weekend) ...

C'mon midwest!

*rolls dice*

The Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles Release Date is ...

November 21

Mark your calendars, friends.

Oh, and the press release is here.