Labels: ALIENS ARE PEOPLE TOO, comments, Roboblog Chronicles, The Shadow Chronicles
posted by Captain JLS at
01:22
Reviews and commentary on the vast and multi-faceted Robotech universe from its earliest days in 1985 to the post-Shadow Chronicles lull of 2008-2009.
JONATHAN L. SWITZER has written an awful lot about the 1985 animated series ROBOTECH, its sequels and spin-offs. Some of this writing has appeared in THE ART OF ROBOTECH: THE SHADOW CHRONICLES (Stone Bridge Press); other examples appear in the Appendices to the most recent editions of the ROBOTECH MASTERS and NEW GENERATION novels (Del Rey). He draws girls and cartoon dogs at WWW.SCWONKEY.COM, and spends his days selling electronical goods at RadioShack and sleeping a lot less than he used to.
8 Comments:
Thanks for the comments Jonathan. What I really meat with my comment was that I don't want JANICE to be the "negotiatior" with the Haydonites since we already have a "negotiater" in Marlene. And yes, besides, I'm a bit tired of every enemy turning good in the end, but you're right, this is Robotech. And whatever happens, I'll probably like it too. Looking forward to more Roboblog Chronicles mate!
By
Anonymous, at 12 April, 2007 03:23
Uhm, sorry for double post, but "Marlene" should of course be "Ariel".
By
Anonymous, at 12 April, 2007 03:24
I agree the after the fact nature may mean more bleeds over in the sequel, but for example the origin of Janice as relayed in the Shadow Chronicles conflicts various Sentinels versions, and that tends to show that much of Prelude like Sentinels won't be making the jump.
By
Anonymous, at 12 April, 2007 16:26
Captain JLS, nice work with the video blogs.
The case of Jack Baker...
Personally, I think it'd be a tragedy if they didn't bring back Jack Baker. First, in the new canon, he was Wolf Squad comrades with Daryl Taylor, who was killed in TSC; discovering this would give him extra motivation to play a role in the fight against the Haydonites--whom he trusted in PttSC. Second, even in the new canon, he sounds like a trusted soldier and friend of Admiral Hunter's. Third, despite the big blank spot of the reworked Sentinels campaign, one has to imagine that Jack worked alongside Vince Grant and other Sentinels characters that have appeared in TSC or may yet appear. Fourth, he's one of the few notable REF combat troop veterans from the Sentinels Saga, and was THE "young Rick Hunter" of that saga. And, fifth, "you didn't even manage to rescue me--dismissed!"
As far as I'm concerned, the current Shadow Chronicles cast is unsatisfactory. You've got Vince and Reinhardt to lend some credible authority--and Admiral Hunter eventually--but with Alex killed off too early, the only characters with some notable personality are Maia, Marcus, and Jean. Scott and Ariel are pretty straightforward and semi-lethargic--they always have been--and the new Janice and Louie are goofy in a largely cringe-worthy way. This cast just is not dynamic.
Characters from earlier generations are going to have to be brought back into the fold ASAP to solve that, and Jack Baker should logically be one of them. The direction of his still rocky relationship with Karen Penn would make a nice side-story and present a different sort of pairing interaction than Marcus and Maia. Also, since he knew Taylor, who Marcus looked up to; has dealt with a fellow fiery pilot like Maia (though more so) in Karen; and also lost his family to an alien race (in some canons, the Zentraedi), Jack could be a more complete role model for Marcus while the youth goes back and forth in his opinions of Scott. Plus, his personality was great, as he argued with the 15th over who had to fight the tougher war in EOTC and, when asked how things were going once during the Sentinels novels, he retorted, "It's not beer and skittles." The guy is priceless; I only hope they can get back the perfectly fitting voice actor from the Sentinels movie.
Now, obviously you have to bring back in Dana and others, but Jack shouldn't be left behind. He and Karen are a fascinating pair and have been sadly sidelined too many times. Not having them return would be a big nail in the coffin for the acknowledgment of the Sentinels Saga, as they're the human protagonists who define that section most perhaps. There's a lot of space right now for interesting characters in the largely bland, current roster. If things get crowded, do like most books or anime, and have the story more dynamic by running more threads simultaneously. Maybe while one conflict is happening by the Earth, another is happening on one of the Sentinels planets--the overuse of folding in TSC would make this easier than ever.
Along similar lines, you mentioned the other Sentinels races. I really think they should be brought back in, but they shouldn't be the focus and have to be handled carefully and credibly. Last note: do we know if Veidt is evil in this new canon?
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Anonymous, at 12 April, 2007 22:18
An extra thought concerning Maia's family: is it possible that HGUSA is planning on exploiting the comment Dana made in SDC:SC concerning her "brother"? Given that they're going with the 85 episodes as exact canon, that could explain Maia's comment. After all, if the VF-1R can come about out of an animation mistake, why not an extra Sterling kid? ^_^
So, was Baker promoted in Sentinels or Prelude? I don't remember my Sentinels well enough, and I didn't read Prelude....
Skull 23: I agree, the cast is very unsatisfactory. Why in the world they killed Alex off this early is beyond me, especially since he was the most interesting of the new recruits.
By
JHC, at 13 April, 2007 16:19
JHC-
It's interesting that you should mention: "Given that they're going with the 85 episodes as exact canon." I don't know if the brother comment by Dana was ever resolved as referring to Bowie or not, and there's a remote possibility they could steer RT in the direction you mentioned, but they've already strayed from the 85 episode canon in TSC. This is something I find ironic after they were sure to make the books and such secondary canon.
The Battle for Reflex Point was very different in TSC, with Scott's band of freedom fighters nowhere to be found--especially not in the hive, new lines of "Children of the Shadow," and the fact that General Reinhardt and the REF fleet don't get toasted with the departure of the Invid phoenix, just to name a few.
In other words, they could take this anywhere.
I want to reemphasize, as you have, that Alex Romero was a great character and forced out too soon. I don't know why more people haven't raised this.
Jack Baker came on the scene promoted in Prelude. We don't know what happened prior to that--like WHEN he was promoted--because the whole Sentinels series as presented in its previous forms is non-canon now. Basically, the Sentinels Saga happened, but not as we recall it. Which, in my opinion, really makes TSC confusing for those who have either A. Experienced the Sentinels, or B. Never heard of the Sentinels, because we have Sentinels characters and concepts appearing out of the blue, but their context and history have been altered with very little explanation. The big blank of the Sentinels leaves a lot of freedom for HG, but it leaves the overall narrative a little shaky, and I wonder if it might potentially weaken any future narrative--video game or otherwise--of the reduxed Sentinels events.
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Anonymous, at 13 April, 2007 19:15
I think HG Production shouldn't kill off interesting characters right away. I hope that in the sequel will be less death of heroes and more focuses on the heroes' special talents...
What I liked about Macross Saga and New Generation is that there was always a group... Rick, Ben, Max, Roy, Miria (had she joined before Fokker's death would've been sweet)... Scott, Rand, Rook, Lancer and it would have been cool to have Lt Wolfe alive but sacrificed his life to protect them.
Shadow Chronicles 2 would be great if Jack Baker, Karen and other SDF-3 squadron members were a group... Scott, Maia, and Marcus in another squadron... surely there has to be more squadrons than just Wolf and Skull... we've been the massive army the expedition force had?
And they have to bring Max and Miria at least briefly..
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Anonymous, at 15 April, 2007 10:45
I think that HG should ditch the OAV format and go back to episodes. Because Robotech is as much about relationships of the characters as it is action, the series benefits from the episodic nature of a tv series.
I suppose that HG could create "episodes" and release them like many Anime dvd's that come out today (I'm thinking Samurai 7 or the new Guyver dvd's). From a storytelling perspective this would be the best option. It seems like "movies" have to have something big and monumental happen . . . like the Death of Spock or Data or destroying the Enterprise. Robotech doesn't always need the monumental events, just subtle storytelling.
--Ryan
By
Anonymous, at 16 April, 2007 16:40
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