Robotech: Remastered Volume 1

If there’s one thing that Manga Entertainment excels at it is releasing old fan favourites at a value for money price: Robotech is another title that can be added to this list. A made-for-Western-TV version of the original Macross series with footage from two other unrelated anime shows spliced in, Robotech has been a bone of contention for purists for some time but older anime fans will no doubt have fond memories of this series as being one of the first pieces of anime of any description to reach our shores.

In the year 1999 an alien spacecraft crashes into the remote Macross Island in the Pacific Ocean and prompts world leaders to make peace and unite in trying to investigate its advanced technology. The said technology, named Robotech, is used to rebuild the ship and create the next generation of Earth-based military hardware. Years later, an alien race named the Zentraedi launch an invasion on Earth to retrieve their lost ship, which is called into service by Earth leaders as the SDF-1 to protect the planet. When a defensive “fold’ operation goes wrong, the ship transports itself to the outer reaches of the Solar System, taking a chunk of the island, including Macross City itself, with it. The people of Macross City and the crew of the SDF-1 then battle the Zentraedi forces as they try to return home.

With a series of this age it is unfair to dwell on things such as the quality of the visuals; the animation and character designs are indeed dated but the remastering has made a great job of breathing life into the old footage. The English dub shows its age a little as well, but is not nearly as corny as one might expect (clichéd narration and theme tune aside). Being a Westernised version of an anime series there is unfortunately no Japanese language track but the audio is at least presented in a new, also remastered, 5.1 surround mix and even the ad break clips at the episodes’ midpoints have been retained. It is also interesting to note that this release includes some scenes that were not included in previous ones; since I personally have not seen the show before I can’t say how they affect the narrative but it’s something of an incentive for existing fans who have already bought the earlier versions.

The story itself isn’t half bad either with a likeable cast and well-written drama and romance that go on in between the frequent battles with the alien forces, making it an early example of how character-driven plotlines can combine well with sci-fi action. Young Rick Hunter is the original hot-heated mecha pilot thrown in at the deep end when the Zentraedi invade; Lyn Menmay is the token love interest and there are some memorable supporting characters who are explored more fully as the episodes progress. It’s pretty predictable stuff now compared with newer mecha series but at the same time you can’t help but be impressed how enjoyable it is; especially with much more technically advanced shows on offer these days.

Manga Entertainment has released the show as a real “bare bones’ package. On the review discs at least there are absolutely no bonus features to speak of but with two discs giving us twelve complete episodes, who cares about such trivial things such as DVD extras anyway?

In Summary

UK fans of old-school mecha shows can finally take a trip down memory lane and enjoy the opening episodes of a series that has made a significant contribution to the establishment of this country’s anime industry. Thanks to an impressive remastering of the video and audio tracks, the series looks and sounds much brighter than the age of the footage suggests and the low RRP makes up for the lack of DVD extras. Although it appears that we will still have to wait for a UK release of the original Macross series there is enough entertainment value in Robotech to make it a fun series to watch in addition to being a fun piece of nostalgia.