Remembering Robotech, Part II

I first saw Robotech when it debuted on afternoon syndication in 1985, and it arrived on the scene at roughly the same time as other popular Japanese robot imports. While Voltron and Transformers were evoking memories of similar 70s era Japanese toys such as Shogun Warriors and Micronauts, Robotech’s method of serialized storytelling was very much like Star Blazers (or Space Cruiser Yamato as it’s known in Japan), another anime series that had a brief run on American airwaves in the early 1980s. Read on . . . 

For me, the biggest hooks for Robotech at its launch were its opening and closing credits. (See the opening for yourself here.) Not only did the credits have a rousing theme composed by Ulpio Minucci and orchestrated by Arlon Ober (I’m convinced that Minucci and Ober’s musical work was instrumental to the ongoing appeal of the Robotech series), but it featured tantalizing footage of mecha in action from Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada. So, while the first 36 episodes of Robotech covered the Macross saga, I would watch the opening and closing credits and wonder with great excitement what was coming next in the series once the Macross saga reached its conclusion.

I guess you could say that I was still in the mindset of the mass merchandizing frenzy that was Star Wars. With each successive entry in the Star Wars saga, amazing new spaceships would be available for purchase as both models and toys; thus, the same logic seemed to apply to Robotech and since some of the Macross mecha were already released in the US as model kits in Revell’s Robotech model line (which wasn’t the same as the Robotech TV series due to a variety of licensing issues), there was no reason to assume otherwise.

Sadly, I was wrong. The only scale-accurate transformable Macross toy was actually released as a robot named Jetfire in the Transformer toy line, and I was able to pick up one of the Mospeada mecha toys which somehow made it into US toy stores with its original Japanese packaging(!). (Oddly, the Mospeada mecha model kits somehow ended up in the GoBots line of model kits, not the Robotech line.) Matchbox eventually released a Robotech toy line, which featured a transformable Southern Cross mecha, but the toy line was rather lackluster both in terms of its variety and distribution and it disappeared quickly from the shelves.

Then again, Robotech’s lack of focus around merchandising was actually a breath of fresh air in comparison to other syndicated sci-fi/fantasy animation at the time. Whereas other shows were clearly designed and produced to promote a specific toy line and thus kept their storylines as kid-friendly and non-controversial as possible, Robotech actually told a story that featured flawed heroes who didn’t (or couldn’t) always save the day and characters who died and stayed dead (gasp!). It even flirted shamelessly with topics such as interracial dating and cross-dressing (you read that correctly: cross-dressing). In fact, it was the Mospeada story arc that piqued my own interest in Darwin’s theory of evolution, something that I’m still grateful for to this day.

Unfortunately, Robotech’s history after its initial syndicated run has been plagued with many false starts and unfinished stories. The first animated sequel series, Robotech II: The Sentinels, was supposed to tell the tale of the surviving heroes at the end of the Macross arc and further explain the connections between the Zentraedi, the Robotech Masters, and the Invid. While the saga of the The Sentinels was eventually told in novels and comic books, the anime series abruptly halted production after the production of (barely) three episodes.

Many other novels, comic books and video games were produced to keep the Robotech story alive, but no new animation saw the light of day until the release of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles in 2006. While Shadow Chronicles had its strong points, its planned sequel Shadow Rising has been postponed indefinitely due to the possibility of a live-action Robotech film, which may never see the light of day. Further complicating matters for long-time Robotech devotees is that the prequel tie-in comic book miniseries, Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles, features a storyline that both affirms and contradicts The Sentinels story arc; thus, it is unclear as to which parts of The Sentinels are ‘cannon’ and which are not, and this issue will probably remain unresolved.

Yet in spite of the ups and downs, Robotech was well worth the ride, as was much of the anime that was brought over here thanks to Robotech’s impact. So where ever you are Mr. Macek, my hat’s off to you.

Remembering Robotech, Part I

I heard a few days ago that anime importer extraordinaire Carl Macek recently passed away from a heart attack at the relatively young age of 59. If you look at Macek’s career in total, he brought a wide selection of Japanese anime titles stateside through the distribution of English dubs. Macek has also been the source of considerable controversy within the anime community, because some felt that his English dubs somehow diminished the creative integrity of the original Japanese work (if you’re an anal-retentive anime fan to the point of requiring medication, this is a major no-no), while others felt that Macek’s efforts were integral to nurturing the anime market in the US. Thus, the work with which Macek is most commonly associated, his pet project named Robotech, has incurred both repeated accolades and vengeful fatwas from anime fans of all stripes. Read on . . .

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, Robotech was created by Macek as a way to get one of the more popular anime series in the mid-80s, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, to the US. As the pre-Robotech story goes, Macross only had 36 episodes, which were too few episodes for American syndication at the time. So, Macek re-edited and re-dubbed Macross to incorporate it with two other anime series, Super Dimensional Calvary Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada, so that the three separate series—each of which were about alien invasions being repelled by humans who pilot transforming battle robots, or “mecha”—into a multi-generational, 85 episode saga named Robotech.

The major complaints that anime fans have against Robotech is that 1) Macek ruined Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada by re-editing and re-dubbing their separate plots into a single story and 2) that Macek took credit as being the “creator” of Robotech even though he had nothing to do with the creation of the three series that were used to assemble Robotech. These are legitimate complaints, but I can’t really speak to them because I happen to fall into the pro-Robotech camp. Like many other Robotech fans, I credit Macek with introducing me to anime through his work and for creating a series that is very unique, even by anime standards.

What Macek did through Robotech (either wittingly or unwittingly) was something that no entertainment company (either American or Japanese, past and present) would ever do: produce and release as a single syndication package a multi-generational saga about three waves of alien invaders and the humans who fought them during each era. If Robotech had been created from scratch and been released across multiple seasons, it could’ve faced cancelation due to lack of strong syndication ratings or merchandising revenue before the story ended and thus left die-hard fans with an incomplete story—much like the fans of many, many, many cult classic sci-fi television shows. This factor alone makes Robotech a one-of-a-kind treasure, both then and now, in spite of its shortcomings (e.g., cheap animation, awkward dubbing, inconsistent script details, Lynn Minmei, etc.).

Robotech’s biggest asset was its epic story, which was the one thing that Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada on their own couldn’t offer. By tying their back stories together, the alien invaders—the gargantuan Zentraedi, the ghoulish Robotech Masters, and the insectoid Invid—became more interesting, and the usage of transforming robots by human against each set of invaders also made more sense. While many fans cite the Macross saga as their favorite part of Robotech, I felt that the series became even more interesting as it went along to the successive two “generations”. From the somber Macross episodes which took place after the Earth-wide attack by the Zentraedi fleet, to the morbid, brutal exploits of the Robotech Masters in the Southern Cross episodes, to the heroes’ quest to end the Invid occupation in the Mospeada episodes, I kept finding new and interesting things to appreciate in this anime epic—all courtesy of Macek’s efforts.

High Profile Secret Identities

Big thanks to Rick at Mail It To Team-Up for this article suggestion!

While a superhero is usually a very high-profile thing, the secret identity is supposed to be something that allows you to disappear into the background. Unfortunately, there are a few heroes who seem determined to stay in the spotlight even when they aren't wearing spandex. These guys should rethink their off-time:

Bruce Wayne 

Ok, so you're a creature of the night and all that, but being a bazillionaire does tend to draw attention from time to time. I understand he throws off the party boy image to help him disappear for weeks on end, but there always seemed to be a party at Wayne Manor and Bruce was there. Likewise, a supervillain would inevitably show up and crash the party, then Bruce disappeared and Batman showed up...and no one ever put it all together.

Guess Gotham's elite weren't the brightest bunch of folks out there.

Tony Stark

While everyone knows he's Iron Man now, there was a time when he was supposed to be his own bodyguard. Not quite sure how he was supposed to be convincing since Tony never really made an appearance with Iron Man in tow, but if you can believe in a dude in a flying suit of armor you can suspend reality long enough to enjoy the book.

Eventually he tossed the whole secret identity thing out the window and just told everyone who he was, but the big surprise is how he managed to keep everyone fooled for so long. Of course, the whole alcoholic phase probably bought him a little time.

Clark Kent

How do you hide your identity as the strongest superhero on Earth? Why, you become a television news anchor!

True enough, in the 80's Clark Kent traded in his Daily Planet reporter digs to become a television news anchor with Lois Lane. While it might be possible to explain running away to chase a news story, I can't imagine any television station allowing their anchor to just run off the air "for an emergency" or something.

Yet through those constant and regular disappearances, Clark kept his job for years and not a single person in the investigative news section ever caught on to the fact that a superhero was in their midst.

Peter Parker

Another hero who chose a profession that was hard to just run away from when a villain was in the neighborhood was Spider-Man. First of all, he was a photographer who always managed to fight his battles in the small frame area of his webbed-up camera. While most heroes fought villains all over the city, Spider-Man had an understanding with his that they'd just stay in a little imaginary box and keep it clean.

Then Peter turned to teaching. A school teacher. Every day (except holidays) he has to be in one place with dozens of witnesses watching his every move. If he tries to leave, there's some splainin' to do. After work, he has to grade papers, write tests, and plan assignments. And then, somehow, he's out there fighting bad guys who are kind enough to wait until he's off work to do their attacking.

Still Here

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but I've actually run out of things to say at the moment. While I was heavy on keeping up with the "every Monday" schedule, it's just become impossible recently. I'm still committed to the site and as things come to mind I'll post them (suggestions are more than welcome!).

With the upcoming "Brightest Day" series looking so promising, I'm pretty sure I'll have some material to work with in the coming weeks.

Just wanted to let you know I'm still here, still reading a comics as I can, and still thinking of things to say.

Myths and Monsters in Motion

I went to see the re-make (or alternate adaptation?) of Clash of the Titans the other weekend. The film is enjoyable in its own right, with a decent script, a solid cast, and good direction by Louis Leterrier (who did a great job with 2008's The Incredible Hulk, in my opinion). However, because of its name and virtually identical approach to the ancient Greek myth of Perseus, it inevitably invites comparisons to the 1981 Clash of the Titans film, the last film where stop motion special effects legend Ray Harryhausen created the mythic monsters. This post isn't a review that compares the movies; instead, it is a reflection on the stop motion style of special effects in the context of modern movie making technology that uses Clash of the Titans as a central example. Read on . . .

To put it simply, the mythic monsters in the 1981 movie were created by using stop motion animation techniques, while the monsters in the 2010 movie were created by using CGI animation techniques. I've read many complaints over the years regarding how Hollywood is becoming--or already is--overreliant on CGI effects, thus creating over-produced but creatively bankrupt films. Indeed, recent reviews of many recent big-budget films are littered with the accusation that such films are more like video games than actual films. While I think that such an accusation is just as unoriginal as many of the films about which they are complaining, there is a kernel of truth to it, even if the critics themselves are unaware of it--that is, CGI techniques are used to create video games and film effects, whereas stop motion animation is the unique creation of cinema. This statement may not mean much on its surface, but the cinematic aesthetics that it evokes are worthy of careful consideration.

This is not to say that creating detailed special effects inside of a computer is a simple task, or that impressive technological power can outperform even the most polished artistic talent in terms of aesthetic impact. Nevertheless, when watching the latest Titans movie, there was something more ephemeral, less tangible than the ones created by Harryhausen in the 1981 version (particularly the demon creatures that the underworld god Hades divides into in a few parts of the film, creatures which move so fast that they amount to little more than large, dark blurs with wings). If I had to summarize it in a sentence, it is as if many of the 2010 CGI monsters moved too smoothly, too fluidly to be convincing, whereas the 1981 stop motion monsters had enough wealth of detail in their appearances and dimensons to compensate for their less-than-realistic motion.

By the same token, I've seen some comments that compare both versions of Titans and regard the effects of the 1981 version as "hokey", "kitsch", or "cheesy". The suggestion behind these comments is that stop motion filmmaking is a technology that is obsolete and meant to be replaced, as opposed to a form of artistic expression and cinematic storytelling. This is somewhat similar to Disney's announcement not too long ago that they were going to completely stop doing hand-drawn animated feature films and instead produce only CGI animated feature films. Subsequently, there were many hand-drawn animation fans cheering at Disney's change of heart over this decision and its resultant release of The Princess and the Frog; sadly, I have yet to hear many critics and film fans wondering where the new generation of stop motion masters such as Ray Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien have gone.

Yes, stop motion animation hasn't completely disappeared from cinema: Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox are both great examples of stop-motion animation at work. But what made the work of O'Brien and Harryhausen worthy of extra merit were the extra lengths they went to integrate their artistry into live-action film. Everything from the stop motion models' designs (from their general appearance to the detailed modeling of their 'skins'), to their surrounding miniature sets, to their lighting and photography had to be meticulously planned and executed so that they could be intergrated into the live action film footage as seamlessly as possible (the swordfighting skeleton scene from Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts comes immediately to mind). When the extra care was given to this kind of special effect, the craftsmanship behind the work could clearly be seen in every frame of the film. Sure, the monsters in the 1981 version of Titans don't move as fluidly as their 2010 counterparts, yet Harryhausen's creations still generate an awe of their own if for no other reason than that they were all done by hand, not by machine.

Then again, even when stop motion animation in live-action films was in its (supposed) heyday in the 1950s and 60s, it still didn't acheive the support or appreciation that it deserved--even in situations where stop-motion animation would've be a more effective aesthetic choice. For example, for as much as I enjoyed George Pal's 1953 version of War of the Worlds, I can only wonder how amazing Ray Harryhausen's version would've been. Likewise, while Them! (1954) is clearly the superior "big bug" movie it does not diminish the work that Willis O'Brien did in The Black Scorpion (1957), which raises the question of how much more could've been done visually in Them! had the giant insects been created in stop motion and not life-sized puppets. That's not to say that stop motion animation is always perfect--for every one Beast from 20,000 Fathoms there are dozens of Crater Lake Monsters. Like any other artistic medium, it is only as good as artist who uses it.

The good news is that there are some signs--at least among the low-budget filmmaking community--that stop-motion is not completely being scrapped in favor of CGI. For example, stop-motion animation was used to brillant effect in low-budget indie film The Call of Cthulhu (2005), one of the best H.P. Lovecraft adaptations I've ever seen. Regardless, I'm hoping that after all that it has contributed to horror, fantasy and science ficiton films, stop motion animation won't be unfairly relegated to obsolence in the minds of moviegoers.

For your additional reading pleasure, check out these informative stop motion sites:

• The Official Ray Harryhausen Website, which is maintained by The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation. The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is devoted to preserving Harryhausen's work, including his original stop motion puppets.
• The Seventh Voyage, a very detailed Harryhausen tribute site.
• Stop Motion Works, a site that specializes in stop motion animation history, news and technology.
• The Art of Stop Motion Animation, a site that was published in conjunction of a traveling museum exhibit of the same name.

Judging a VHS Tape by its Cover

When the video rental business finally made it to my town in the mid-80s, several pre-existing business tried to get in on the act, including a small, now-defunct electronics shop and the local convenience store. But the video rental place that won the battle of the boob tube was a new place called K&K. Unlike its local competitors, K&K lasted for almost two decades, until its inability to keep up with the transition to the DVD format finally drove it out of business. I can't say for sure exactly why K&K stayed in business for so long, but I suspect that much of it had to do with its willingness to stock its shelves with just about anything--especially in its early days and in the genre of horror, which brings me to the subject of this post.

Sure, K&K stuffed plenty of cheap, obscure exploitation titles in between the more well-known, bigger-budgeted, theatrically-released titles--there seemed to be no end of Rambo, Conan the Barbarian, Death Wish, Mad Max, Animal House and Enter the Dragon rip-offs. Yet the most obvious examples of video selections that no one heard of and appeared to be made on a shoe-string budget were in the horror section, which was located at the back of the store. Unlike the other genres, many of the horror movie boxes were bigger than regular VHS boxes, and the covers were some of the most lurid things I have ever seen; imagine several rows of these sorts of boxes lined up together across a wall and you have yourself a graphic display of horror imagery that was like no other. Adding to the visual impact of this display was K&K itself: Not only were the owners really into taxidermy, with various stuffed animals and animal heads mounted throughout the store, but K&K was located outside of town along a small, backwoods road, a perfect setting for an obscure, low-budget horror film--say, Video Dead 2?

I've long had a greater appreciation of movie posters that are painted than those that are more photorealistic. Even if the film itself is average, below average, or abosolutely unwatchable, a creatively painted movie poster is a work of art in my opinion. Apparently, my opinion is not unique--almost all of these big box horror videos featured painted covers, as if to compensate for their obscure, budget-impaired titles. (In fact, of the makers of these films put half as much effort into their filmmaking skills as they did in the VHS cover art, their films might actually be worth watching.) Read on . . .

Of course, there were mixed results from this obvious ploy to entice video renters through impressive cover art. The worst was that many covers had little or nothing to do with the movie itself. To show you what I mean, let's take a quick quiz using two covers.

Question 1:

The movie that features this cover is about:

1. A funeral home that is suddenly overrun by an army of zombies (like Return of the Living Dead).

2. A funeral home that is the site of sinister, paranormal happenings (like Phantasm).

3. A funeral home where visitors are terrified by a rotting, possessed hand.


Question 2:

The movie that features this cover is about:

1. An inn visited by a horribly disfigured serial killer who uses an axe to murder his victims.

2. An inn visited by a zombie that is capable of using blunt objects to attack his human prey.

3. An inn haunted by ghosts of two murdered children who re-animate dead bodies as their way of seeking vengeance among the living.

If you selected one of the provided answers for both of these questions, you're wrong. Both of these films are in fact hokey rip-offs of Psycho, the first one from Canada and the second one from Australia.

Nevertheless, among these cheap, forgettable movies were a few genuine cult classics. While the later years of the video rental industry was (and still is) flooded by direct-to-video titles, the early years featured low-budget films from all over the world from the 1960s and 70s, some of which were re-named from their original release titles. Thus, K&K had three movies from Italian horror guru Lucio Fulci, two of which went under different names:

The Gates of Hell

(Original Title: City of the Living Dead)

Seven Doors of Death
(Original Title: The Beyond)

The House by the Cemetery

Alas, the era of mom and pop video rental stores such as K&K is long gone, and these gore-a-palooza displays of horror art for the sake of moving cheapie movies have disappeared along with it. Slasher Index and Critical Condition have plenty of VHS horror title cover art and information about this period of video rentals, and Cover Browser has a huge collection of VHS cover art from a wide variety of genres. In closing, here are a few examples of creepy cover art from titles carried by K&K that I loved to look at but never gave much thought of watching:

Also, check out the covers of these two pre-Dead Snow nazi zombie movies:

An Eight Legged Freak of Lego

It's two great tastes that taste great together: Legos and big monster bugs. This lovely giant spider was built by Lego hobbyist Jason Ruff (a.k.a. Doctor Mobius) for the Battlebugs Creepy Crawlers Build Challenge. Go to Ruff's Flickr page to see more pictures so you can appreciate the full detail of this creepy-crawly creation--Ruff even went to the trouble of covering the spider with Lego levers to provide the creature with 'hair'. Now, all this guy needs to add is two Lego jets with spring-loaded missles, a Lego mini-figure of a disfigured mad scientist, a couple of Lego mini-figure police, army soldiers and cows, and a two-story Lego house so the huge Lego spider can peep through a second story window at a Lego mini-figure that looks like a young Mara Corday, and he'd have the perfect Lego play set for the classic big bug movie Tarantula (1955). Sadly, it'll never happen. Such a missed opportunity, especially since a Lego play set for Them! (1954) would be really awesome too.