T5W#409-Top 5 Ways to Improve Gundam F91

A couple weeks ago, we looked at Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island and while it wasn’t perfect, it was a very strong update of a concept that even Yoshiyuki Tomino once considered a failure.  The improvements made to the story of Cucuruz Doan and his island of orphans had me thinking about how other Gundam projects that haven’t been that successful could be improved.  Heck, there’s earlier proof with Gundam AGE.  While that series was an almost total failure, the Memory of Eden OVA showed that better focus and character writing could salvage it (I even gave Memory of Eden a much higher score than the TV Series).  Case in point, Mobile Suit Gundam F91 is a title I’ve always wanted to see get told properly.  Originally conceived as a new TV Series in the early 1990s, it was eventually reworked poorly into a 2 hour feature film that is often forgotten amongst the fan base.  Well, if Cucuruz Doan’s Island can rise from the ashes, I see no reason why F91 couldn’t do the same (btw I know full well it’s a bad movie but the behind the scenes production turmoil makes me a little sympathetic).  Anyway, that long intro finally done, these are my Top 5 Ways to Improve Gundam F91.

 
#5-Keep What Worked Originally

Ok this ones a bit of an ask but hear me out.  Not all of F91 was a fail, just most of it.  The new leads, Seabook and Cecily both had potential as close friends, potential lovers and possible forced rivals between their two sides of the conflict.  The Mobile Suit designs are pretty awesome, especially for the titular F91, and the returning Jegan Federation Suits look even more amazing in the films stunning animation.  Finally, while it could use some tweaks, F91 was also the first Gundam entry to focus on an enemy that WASN’T ZEON, kind of a novel concept that would eventually continue into Victory Gundam.  This all needs to be included in a potential update.

 
#4-As a TV Series

Like I said, Gundam F91 was initially approached as a new 51 episode TV Series and by the time the Movie direction was announced, around 13-15 episodes had been written.  There’s no reason to think this approach could work for a reimagining.  After all, the rushed job feeling of the original movie was due to the writing staff needing to workshop a quick resolution that would have taken dozens of episodes to get to.  As a TV Series, F91 could take its time and properly explore the origins of the Crossbone Vanguard and see more of their expansion into the Side 4 Colony Cluster and see how Seabook more naturally adjusts to being the F91s pilot.  Ideally, 50 episodes would due the trick but we’re also living in an age where Season Anime are dominant and anything past 13 episodes that isn’t a Shonen Anime is pushing it.  But hey if The Witch from Mercury can get all of its story told in 24 episodes (maybe? I don’t know how long its going to be at the time of this writing), maybe F91 can too.  And if that doesn’t work…

 

#3-As a Film Trilogy

One of the reasons F91 was reworked into a movie was no doubt due to the runaway success of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack, aka Gundams first Original Theatrical Feature.  But as we’ve said, trying to create a makeshift ending for an unfinished story outline resulted in what boils down to a Compilation Film for a TV Show that doesn’t exist.  But what about taking things back in the theatrical direction?  Only instead of just one film, take the approach Denis Villineuve is taking with the Dune movies: split it up.  F91’s overall tale could make for a solid three part trilogy.  While the first film could play around with most of the original films events in the first half, maybe leading up to Seabook getting the Gundam at the films climax, films 2&3 could build off those and properly expand the tale.  After all, Gundam Hathaway is only the first in a planned trilogy based on Tomino’s Hathaway’s Flash novels.  Film or TV, take your time and do it right.
 

#2-Incorporate Material from the Sequel Manga

While there hasn’t been another Anime chapter in the saga of Gundam F91, Tomino did continue the saga in the form of novels and Manga.  The most famous of these sequels is Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam, which ran from 1994-1997.  The Manga picks up 10 years after the events of the F91 Movie and focuses on a new protagonist teaming up with the Crossbone Vanguard, now ruled by Cecily and with Seabook as one of their top pilots, to combat a new foe looking to start some trouble.  If you wanted to do this via TV Series, then I say Crossbone Gundam could be a Second Season after the First covers and expands on the events of the Movie.  Heck, I could see this as an OVA sequel myself or an epilogue movie to the trilogy I proposed.  Either way, there’s a lot of possibility to be mined from this spinoff.
 

#1-Keep it a Fresh Start Point

When it was released in 1991, Gundam F91 was one of two new Gundam projects meant to draw in new fans.  Unlike Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, which was both a sequel to the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and a prequel to Zeta Gundam, F91 was a completely fresh start point for newcomers, far removed from the events and characters of the One Year War and Principality of Zeon.  The fresh start approach has worked for Gundam for many years and it’s allowed titles like Gundam Wing, Gundam 00 and The Witch from Mercury to thrive and become popular.  While yes, those are all Alternate Timeline Gundam Series so they’d have to start with a clean slate, there’s no reason F91 cant still serve the same function.  There’s no Zeon and no returning characters from any preceding entry.  It’s still the Universal Century, just without decades of story baggage.  You can hint at or reference events from the past but the best way to really make F91 succeed is to keep it as stand alone and accessible as possible.  It’s the best way to satisfy fans old and new and ensure this new adaptation gets a proper chance to succeed.