I was planning to save these for the actual day (along
with the series finale of Gundam: 08th MS Team). But a friend urged me to post these today,
who am I to argue? Been sitting on these
reviews for a while, waiting for the right time to post them. Fireworks and Giant Robots? Sounds like a winning combination to me. So here we go, I present to you Part 2 of the
Robotech Trilogy.)
2044 AD. After a
two decade absence, the Robotech Expeditionary Force returns to an Invid
dominated Earth. As the final battle to
retake the homeworld of humanity begins, a force that even the Invid fears
prepares to reemerge. As old friends are
reunited and new faces join the fray, the battle for the survival of the human
race takes a dark turn. Who can be
trusted? Is humanity more outmatched
than ever? At long last, the saga of
Robotech begins again.
It took almost two decades of waiting, but at long last
we finally got a sequel to Robotech. Is
it the continuation we always wanted? Is
it better than The Sentinels? Will we
see more Robotech in the future thanks to this movie? No, Yeah and…Maybe?
The movie is billed as a continuation of the series. However, the first half of the film turns out
to be a new retelling of the events that concluded the third and final arc, The
New Generation. Fans may take issue with
the lots of retconning with this segment.
Only New Generation protagonists Scott Bernard and Ariel appear heavily
as well as the Invid Regis. The rest is
focused on the battle in space and the introduction of three new leads: rookie
Marcus, who happens to be the younger brother of Scott’s former fiancée; ladies
man and comic relief Alex; and probably most importantly, Maia, the second
daughter of series legends Max and Mirya Sterling. I say most important because Maia was my
favorite of the new cast by a wide margin.
Not only is she cute but she’s also kick ass and the leader of the
infamous Skull Squadron from the original Macross Saga. Alex is hit and miss and Marcus’s racist
attitude towards all aliens (even Maia before she straightens him out for his
bigotry) did not make him a very likeable lead.
We also get to look at events happening alongside the
grand battle for Earth. To be more
specific, the long unanswered question: what the hell ever happened to Rick
Hunter? We get an answer…and then
no. Rick does appear in this movie but
it’s a very brief appearance and not nearly enough to satisfy long time fans
who have pleaded for his return. Even
worse, Lisa, Max, Miriya and other favs we know were with him are totally
absent. While we do get glimpses of
characters introduced either in The Sentinels or the second and third seasons,
I don’t think they were the characters everyone wanted to see (Scott probably
being the exception). In truth, the plot
of the movie is ok at best. I feel like
any and all story time should have gone back to Rick and the REF onboard the
SDF3 instead of attempting to relaunch the franchise with their presence
minimal. It’s just not a fair payoff for
years of waiting for a sequel. Also, the
Haydonites (or Children of the Shadow as Ariel annoyingly keeps calling them)
are pretty bland and forgettable. It’s
hard to top the Zentradi from the Macross Saga and these guys don’t come
anywhere near close.
As far as productions go, this film looks a lot better
than The Sentinels. Not sure if that’s
fair since The Sentinels was planned as a new series while The Shadow
Chronicles was always planned as a movie.
But it’s still true. The 2D and
3D animations aren’t a bad mix. It feels
like Robotech a lot more than The Sentinels ever did. Character designs are pretty good, Maia being
a sexy standout. It’s not without
fault. The same battle and explosion
animations are used over and over and over again (you’ll know which one when
you see it). And the new Veritechs look
great…in jet form. When they transform
to Guardian or Battleoid modes, they look way to clunky. The lack the sleekness of the Macross
Veritechs and it sucks to see them lack the mobility and grace of that
generation.
If you’re a fan of Robotech, The Shadow Chronicles is
worth at least one watch. Rewatching is
up to you. Me personally, I can tolerate
it, faults and all but the faults are not far from my mind. The story is a let down, the new cast is hit
and miss, the animation is decent but not flawless, and it just falls way too
short of being the movie everyone was waiting for. It’s not unwatchable. If anything, it’s a good point to start if only
to go back and rediscover the (better) beginnings of the Robotech saga.
I’m going to do something I rarely do in these
reviews. If you want a good look at what
would have been a better film than this, I recommend (if you can track it down)
the Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles
Graphic Novel. The story takes place a
year or so prior to The Shadow Chronicles and actually focuses on Rick Hunter
dealing with the end of the REF’s mission and his conflict with T.R. Edwards,
who was set up as his rival in The Sentinels.
Lisa is there and we even get a cameos from Jack Baker and Karen Penn
from The Sentinels and Dana Sterling, whose fate was left unclear following the
conclusion of The Masters Saga. Plus,
Rick is right in the thick of the action once again, fighting alongside Shadow
Chronicles star Vince Grant, to take down Edwards. There are gaps to fill in at the beginning
since we’re coming in at the climax of another story that’s hard to find. But this prequel is the movie that would have
been better served here. Rick back in
action, a truer to form Robotech story, basically everything The Shadow
Chronicles should have focused on but didn’t.
And seeing as how The Shadow Chronicles sequel is, as of
right now, virtually dead in the water, it makes the letdown of this entry all
the more painful. If Robotech was to go
into hibernation again, I wish id would be sent to sleep on a better note than
this.
5/10
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