T5W#408-Top 5 Abandoned or Unfinished Robotech Sequels

Despite it’s success story in the mid 80s, Robotech has also been seen as a cursed series.  Ignoring all of the controversies around its creation in the first place, it seems like any and all attempts to continue the epic saga beyond The New Generation has ended up crashing and burning.  And those lucky enough to see some kind of beginning never got a proper conclusion.  It’s been a point of frustration for die hard fans who have just wanted some new adventures with Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes and the crew of the SDF3, but always ended up getting next to nothing on that front.  Well, we saw how badly Robotech: The Movie bombed (so bad it never got a US theatrical release, though it did have one overseas).  So today on Top 5 Wednesday I’m looking at the other Top 5 Abandoned or Unfinished Robotech Sequels.  Are they really all that bad?  Eh, depends.  Let’s take a look.

Robotech: The Movie

2027 AD.  Eighteen years have passed since the near apocalyptic end of Humanity’s first intergalactic war with the Zentradi.  As the Human Race continues to rebuild its homeworld, the Zentradi’s overlords, the Robotech Masters, descend upon the planet to finish what the Zentradi started.  When civilian Mark Landry is given control of an experimental Motorcycle, he suddenly becomes the custodian of the key to the Masters plans for conquest.  Now Mark must dodge shady government assassins and unlock the secrets of the MODAT 5 if Humanity is to have a chance against this seemingly invincible new enemy.

Robotech.  To some it’s either a genuine science fiction masterpiece or an irredeemable insult to Anime (more believe the latter than the former).  The combination of three totally unrelated Mecha Anime, united only by the theme of transformable Giant Robots, was an ambitious project that proved hugely popular in the 80s.  And like many other properties that had both successful toylines and Cartoon TV Series (Transformers, GI Joe, My Little Pony), Robotech was also destined for a big screen adventure.  And just like it’s TV counterpart, Writer Carl Macek sought to recreate the magic he’d lucked into by adapting yet another unrelated Mecha Anime and pasting a new Robotech chapter over it.  But while the success of the TV Series may vary (especially after the First and most popular Season featuring Super Dimension Fortress Macross), Robotech: The Movie is a total disaster.  It’s so much in fact that the only way you can track down a copy is through YouTube uploads since it never saw an official wide release in North America outside of a few test screenings.  So, just what went wrong with this attempt to expand the Robotech mythos outside of the TV Series?  Well I said “total disaster” so just about everything.
 

Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island

Universal Century 0079.  After successfully repelling a Zeon attack on their home base of Jaburo, the Earth Federation feels the time is right to push Zeon off the Earth by launching Operation Odessa.  In the build up to the attack, the Federation begins several mop up operations against lingering Zeon outposts.  The White Base is assigned to retake “The Island of No Return.”  Here, Gundam Pilot Amuro Ray encounters a lone Zaku defending a group of war orphans.  Up against a Zeon pilot looking for redemption, Amuro must find a way to defeat this ferocious enemy before time runs out.

 
Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island is a curious little project for the Gundam franchise.  It’s based on an episode from the original 1979 TV Series that Tomino thought was so terrible that he attempted to bury it after its only TV airing.  Now, I’m all about second chances with this franchise (still holding out hope for a redo of Gundam F91).  But the notion of turning a failed 22 minute episode into a two hour feature film seems baffling to me.  And yet here we are, the 6^th Original Gundam Movie in a nearly 45 year old franchise (btw that’s less than half of the Compilation Films or OVAs out there).  So does the resurrected failure of Cucuruz Doan’s Island offer anything new for the franchise or at least redeem this lost tale?
 

Anime Corner-Summer 2023 Update

Welcome Dear Readers to Summer 2023 (unless you’re like me and Summer kicks off in May with the start of the Summer Movie Blockbuster Season, in which case, hey there).  We’ve officially crossed the threshold into June and now, to quote Anakin Skywalker, “This is where the fun begins.”  A lot of old favorites are returning to the Anime Corner for new stories, some of which have been lost to time (with good reason?).  Add in brand new Top 5 Wednesdays, the Season Finale of Gunpla Builder Thursday and the return of First Impression Fridays and it’s looking like it’s gonna be another action packed Summer of reviews and fun.  Grab a seat and lemme take you through what’s on the horizon from now through the beginning of August.

 

GBT#9-The O

The term “Gunpla” might be a little misleading sometimes.  Sure it’s a generalized short hand term for “Gundam Plastic Models”.  But, it’s pretty clear there’s more than just The Gundams themselves.  If there’s a Mobile Suit in a series, it’s bound to have a model kit of its own.  Heck, the first Gunpla Builder Thursday was about a non Gundam Mobile Suit, the Shinenju Stien from Gundam Narrative, and one of my favorite Gunpla to cover to date in this new blog feature has been the Kampher from Gundam 0080.  Seems kind of silly to cover this 9 episodes in but figured why not.  Today’s Mobile Suit in the spotlight today is a Final Boss kind of Mobile Suit, the personal creation of one Paptimus Scirrocco that would be used in the final battle of the Gryps War depicted in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.  It’s also shares part of its name with a Mecha Anime I looked at a couple of months ago and man would I love to build a model of The Big O.  Anyway, on to this O, The O.