Correct Century 2345.
Millenia have passed since a devastating war wracked the planet, forcing
some of Earth population to migrate to the Moon. These “Moonrace” have been though lost to the
ages and become myth…until now. With the
planet restoring itself, these long lost humans have come back to reclaim their
homeland. As a technologically outclassed
society prepares for war, the salvation of both sides lies in the hands of a
young Moonrace spy named Loran Cehack.
For he has just discovered an ancient relic of the past, a Mobile Suit
that brings both hope and fear to whoever encounters it. Once again, in a new era, the fate of mankind
will be determined by one name…Gundam.
Compilations movies are nothing new for the Gundam
franchise. Obviously there was the film
trilogy for the original series that helped popularize Gundam before Zeta
Gundam in the 80’s. But it seems like
once a series concludes, compilation movies or OVAs cant be far behind, just look
at Wing, Zeta, Seed and 00 for proof.
That said, I don’t get why Turn A Gundam needed the same treatment. The 50 episode series was event enough for
the franchise, nevermind it being the 20th Anniversary series
already. It felt like one large, long
and very well put together passion project by Yoshiyuki Tomino. Why try to potentially ruin a good thing? Well since I reviewed the original Mobile
Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy earlier this year, I figured id see if the success of
those films would rub off on it’s 20th Anniversary celebration
brethren…sadly it didn’t.
Earth Light sets the pace and stage for the combined four
hour trim down to come and it plays out much like you’d expect if you’ve seen
your fair share of compilation films.
The pacing is pretty much lighting speed, sometimes even sporadic, and
it carries on throughout both films.
Yes, things are going to have to be cut for time but there’s a problem
with that. Out of 50 episodes, I think
Turn A Gundam had less than 10 that were filler or could have been removed
without consequence. That’s still leaves
a large chunk of story that one would have a hard time picking apart to fill a
two hour feature. I will say though that
thankfully, one of my least favorite mini arcs, the Adesan arc, is included in
the omissions. Yet, the breakneck pace
of Earth Light doesn’t give anyone time to really take in the situation as we
rush from one plot point to the next and sometimes even skipping some very
important, series defining moments like the Fall of Nocis. Characters are introduced just as rapidly and
much of their big character development moments are nowhere to be seen as
well. In effect: Sochie remains the same
annoying brat from beginning to end and we never see the full extent of
Dianna’s experiences on Earth that steel her to become the woman she is by
series end. Oh and Gavane’s fate is
intact…and I still don’t feel bad for the stupid decision he makes that gets
him offed.
What’s even more puzzling is that after the nicely done
cliffhanger ending of Earth Light, Moonlight Butterfly skips ahead to the space
episodes without any explanation as to how the Willghem even got off of the
Earth’s surface. At that point, however,
Moonlight Butterfly becomes more concerned with being an action heavy feature,
whereas Earth Light seemed to keep the action not quite to a minimum but all of
them were pretty brief. So it tries to
compensate but it doesn’t change the fact that something is missing
overall. It does make one wonder why
Turn A Gundam only got two compilation movies instead of three like most Gundam
series in the past, and since, have (hell Gundam Seed Destiny got four,
FOUR!!!). Needless to say, viewers will
either be scratching their heads in confusion if theyre coming in fresh, or
shaking their heads in disappointment at all the character defining moments
that are absent. I’d say it’s almost a
miracle that the big Dark History sequence on the moon, featuring cameo moments
from the first 20 years of Gundam, still made it into the final product and if
im honest I was afraid it would’ve been cast aside just as haphazardly as other
moments.
I was really hoping that after watching the work of
brilliance that was the TV Series that the Turn A Gundam movies could improve
on the project and even fix a couple of the series problems. Unfortunately, not only are key moments
omitted, everything else is pretty much copy and paste from the original story
without any true changes. This goes
double for the finale, which still has the same uneven 2D/3D animation clash
that kept me from giving the series a perfect rating. Speaking of the animation, I’ll admit, the
series looked like a movie for the bulk of its run, it was pretty much perfect. So I guess it didn’t matter if the footage
wasn’t touched up much for a feature film edition…but still a little extra
effort would have been nice? I take that
back, there is some extra “umph” put into a couple of the big action scenes
including The Battle of the Willghem and the Dianna Counter’s first big battle with
the Ghingham Fleet, those both looked spectacular.
Those aforementioned action sequences aside, was there
anything I liked about this double feature?
Not much, ill admit. It was good
to be back in this new favorite Gundam universe of mine and I do enjoy Loran,
Kihel, Dianna and Harry’s characters in particular. The music still remains one of Gundam’s best
OST’s, courtesy of Yoko Kanno and the majesty she brings to every score she
works on. And again, Earth Light
actually keeps one very important series moment intact and once I realized that
was going to be the bookmark, I was alright with that. It still carries dramatic weight and is one
of the few moments Im glad wasn’t messed with during this patch job of a two
part film.
I had high hopes for Earth Light and Moonlight Butterfly
and part of me thought they could make an already great Gundam project
better. But both films play out like a
very, very, very cliffnotes edition with a few minor animation tweeks and the
omission of important character arcs and series events. Things play out so quickly, I guess it’s kind
of a relief theyre both kind of over before you know it. Moonlight Butterfly might be the slightly
better of the two films because of the action scenes but its hardly enough to
give both movies a pass. Turn A Gundam
had so much time to explore and flesh out a new world for the Gundam mythos and
you can tell it’s a labor of love, even at 50 episodes long. The movies are…well if they make you want to
watch the extended version of the story then more power to them. Otherwise, if youre doing the opposite, once
you finish the TV Series, no need to bother with either film at all. All of the good stuff is in the original Turn
A Gundam show and very little of it can be found here.
Turn A Gundam: The Movie-Earth Light gets a 4/10
Turn A Gundam: The Movie II-Moonlight Butterfly gets a
5.5/10
And with that, it’s time for Otakon 2019. You’ll have a new Top 5 next Wednesday and
maybe something special next Friday. But
new reviews will resume in two weeks with the beginning of Street Fighter II
V. Thanks for sticking around with
all of my Turn A Gundam reviewing. Now I
gotta decide what next years Extended Summer Series Review will be (and I think
I’m gonna call this event that from now on).
Catch you all later.
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