T5W#515-Top 5 Changes Made to Megazone 23 Part I for Robotech: The Movie

Now that I’ve finally covered Megazone 23 Part 1 properly, I can finally talk about something I’ve been dying to do for a while now: its Robotech adaptation.  A couple of years back I reviewed Robotech: The Movie (Which you can check out here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/robotech-movie.html ).  Short version, I hated it, a lot.  Boring, all over the place and not really amounting to the highs of the Macross Saga or even the low bar set by the Southern Cross saga, I can see why this has become the lost and forgotten chapter of Robotech.  The funny thing is though: Megazone 23, Part 1 ended up being pretty disappointing on its own.  So much so that I think I’m finding a new appreciation for the Robotech movie as a result…if I look at it as a parody dub I shouldn’t take seriously.  The funny thing is, Megazone 23 could be a good foundation for a Robotech story, it was just done the wrong way.  Point is, I wanna talk about how the original OVA was changed to fit the Robotech mold.  So after that long winded intro, here are the Top 5 Changes made to Megazone 23 Part I for the Robotech Movie.

 
#5-The Villain

Megazone 23’s main villain, B.D. is a military official with his own hidden agenda for dealing with the mysterious force dogging the Megazone and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.  He’s probably one of the more memorable parts of the first part given how cool and confident he is compared to Shogo.  In the Robotech Movie, B.D. becomes B.D. Andrews, a colonel in the army of the Southern Cross.  He’s killed off screen and replaced with a clone under the command of the Robotech Masters, made to serve their plans for conquest.  It kind of takes away from the nuance of the original B.D. in favor of a more straightforward, menacing baddie.

 
#4-The Music

Music is as essential to Robotech as the transforming fighter jets.  The music of Lynn Minmei and Yellow Dancer are true jamming hits, much echoing the Anime they’re dubbing over (Macross and Mospeda respectively).  Likewise, Eve’s music in Megazone 23 Part I is also pretty catchy and memorable so it makes sense she’d be adapted for Robotech as another legendary songstress.  Robotech: The Movie takes it a step further and infuses more original music to the mix and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it.  Heck it’s probably the only thing about Robotech: The Movie I actually do enjoy.  “In My Heart”, “Saved by Science” and “The Future is Now” still find their way onto many of my Anime playlists here and there. 
 

#3-More Robots

Of the notes given to Robotech creator, Carl Macek, after he showed the producers at Cannon Films the original Megazone 23, Part I, two things stood out “Too many Girls, not enough Robots.”  This would end up leading to Macek scrapping the original idea to simply adapt Megazone into a side story to fit alongside The Macross Saga.  Instead, he moved the events of the movie to become a prequel to The Masters Saga and began integrating unused action sequences from Southern Cross into the films narrative.  Trouble is while it does provide the wanted action boost, Southern Cross is kind of dull compared to Macross or even Megazone.  Not to mention Southern Cross is a not so good looking TV Mecha Anime compared to Megazone 23’s movie level quality.  Needless to say…not a great plan.

 
#2-Roboteching Megazone

As you’d expect by now from Robotech and Anime, the source material is mostly being flushed down the drain unless youre the Macross Saga.  Megazone 23, Part I is no different.  Gone is the tale of a biker trying to deal with a reality shattering discovery.  Instead we follow another happy go lucky biker who gets caught up in a conspiracy by a traitor in the UN Spacey to help destroy the Human Race.  It comes with all the usual trappings and Robotech hallmarks from the reused stock music to the hammy voice acting to leaps in story logic that make no sense.  Makes you wonder what the original idea to make the Robotech Movie just using Megazone 23 and the original Macross side story route might’ve gone.
 

#1-A New Ending

Oh man I cant believe they pulled this one off.  The Producers of the Robotech Movie project didn’t like that Megazone 23, Part I ended on a dour note.  Thus not only did Macek incorporate the Southern Cross footage, he also somehow got the animation studio The Idol Company to animate an entirely new end battle sequence for the Megazone components.  It’s a wild feat and even if it doesn’t save the movie overall, from a Megazone 23 standpoint, it’s interesting to see this alternate ending where we get to see Shogo and Yui reunited and even see some faces who disappear from the trilogy after Part I’s ending.  Some Megazone collections do have this ending included as a bonus feature to and while it goes against Megazone’s more somber tone, honestly it does fit the Robotech build as intended so, that’s a win I suppose.