Robotech II: The Sentinels

Last updated
Robotech II: The Sentinels
RobotechTheSentinels.jpg
Region 1 DVD release cover
Directed by Carl Macek
Written byCarl Macek
Ardwight Chamberlain
Produced byAhmed Agrama
Hiroshi Ōnogi
Music by Michael Bradley
Jack Goga
Ulpio Minucci
Arlon Ober
Steve Wittmack
Production
companies
Distributed by Streamline Pictures (1992)
ADV Films, A&E Entertainment (DVD)
Release date
  • September 1988 (1988-09)(VHS)
Running time
75 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Japan
LanguageEnglish

Robotech II: The Sentinels was an attempt by Harmony Gold USA to continue the original 1985 Robotech television series. Only three episodes were ultimately animated before the project was canceled in 1986, and a feature-length film was released from footage taken from the completed episodes. The aborted 65-episode Sentinels series would have followed the ongoing adventures of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes and the rest of the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF) during the events of The Robotech Masters and The New Generation series.

Contents

Background

The feature-length pilot is composed of the first three (and only) episodes that were produced for the series. It introduces the SDF-3, along with its crew, and gives an overview of their new mission. The title refers to the Sentinels, an alien resistance movement encountered by the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF) that consists of races subjugated by the Robotech Masters or the Invid. The significant events in the film include Lin Minmei making peace with Admiral Lisa Hayes well enough to sing at her wedding to Major General Rick Hunter and the Invid's brutal invasion of the Robotech Masters homeworld of Tirol.

Being a sequel/spinoff to the combined series, The Sentinels featured characters from all three Robotech sagas, including Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes (later Lisa Hayes-Hunter), Max Sterling, Miriya Parina Sterling, Exedore and Breetai from The Macross Saga, Dana Sterling, Bowie Grant, and a couple of their superiors from Masters, in addition to Jonathan Wolff and the Invid Regis of The New Generation (Scott Bernard was also planned, though never appeared in the confines of the feature). Among the newly created characters were young cadet rivals Jack Baker and Karen Penn, whose early love-hate relationship mirrored Rick and Lisa's; Vince Grant, brother of Claudia Grant, and father of Bowie Grant; and the Invid Regent, the villainous leader of the Invid. Dr. Emil Lang, a supporting character in the Macross Saga, would return as a main character. The story also introduces a human adversary in the form of T. R. Edwards, who was first introduced in Comico's Robotech: The Graphic Novel.

Storyline

The Pioneer Expedition was a mission to confront alien forces in space to prevent interplanetary war on Earth. It took place concurrently with the 2nd and 3rd Robotech wars. The expedition was led by Lisa Hayes [1] aboard the SDF-3, which was launched in 2022 in search of the Robotech Masters. [2] The mission soon became preoccupied with the liberation of worlds under the control of the Invid Regent. In June 2030, the final battle of the Second Robotech War caused a release of the spores of the Invid flower of life across Earth, which soon attracted the Invid. In 2031, the Invid, under the control of the Regis, invaded Earth. The United Earth Forces (including the elite Army of the Southern Cross) had been severely weakened by the Second Robotech War and were only able to offer limited resistance. In less than a week, the Invid seized control of the planet and began utilizing the human population for slave labour and scientific experiments. In 2038 and 2042, the REF sent the 10th and 21st Mars divisions to try to retake the planet, but both ended in complete failure. It was only with the third attempt in 2044, which involved all available REF forces (now equipped with new technology known as new Reflex Weapons and Shadow Techno Fighters obtained from the Haydonites) that the Invid were dislodged from Earth.

Production history

The Tatsunoko Production animation studio assigned the first script drafts to writers Sukehiro Tomita (Macross, Mospeada) and Hiroshi Ohnogi (Macross). According to director Carl Macek, [3] the Japanese animators initially tried to relate the project to the original versions of Macross,Southern Cross, and Mospeada, until Harmony Gold explained the differences made in Robotech's adaptation with diagrams and charts. When the animators focused on new characters instead of Rick Hunter and the other characters derived from the original Macross series, Macek ended up reassigning the scriptwriting to American writers, headed by script supervisor Kent Butterworth to refocus the project.

Upon viewing the completed animation, Macek felt that scenes featuring new characters (such as Jack Baker, Karen Penn and The Invid Regent) had received much more care and attention by the animators than those with the original Macross characters (Rick Hunter, Lisa Hunter, Max Sterling). Macek believed that Tatsunoko secretly intended to re-use this higher-quality footage for a Japan-only sequel to Genesis Climber MOSPEADA - one of the Japanese series that had been adapted into the original Robotech series. [3]

Mechanical designers

Cancellation

Macek blamed the cancellation of the series on the crash of the Dollar/Yen exchange rate in the mid-1980s, [4] which caused toy partner Matchbox to withdraw from the project due to the increased cost. Since Harmony Gold lacked the funds to produce the series on its own, production ceased after only three episodes. [5]

Home video release

Macek collected the usable footage from the aborted Sentinels project into a feature film that was first released on VHS in September 1988 by Robotech Role-Playing Game publisher Palladium Books. Macek's own Streamline Pictures released it again in 1992.

The Sentinels feature was included on DVD as an extra with the third volume of the Robotech Legacy Collection and the complete Protoculture Collection, from ADV Films. The disc includes the option of a voiceover commentary by Macek (mostly read directly from the comprehensive Robotech Art 3: The Sentinels ), in which he discusses some of the aspects of the production.

In 2011, a "remastered" version was released on the A&E DVD set, Robotech: The Complete Original Series. This version has opening titles resembling those found on the Robotech Remastered DVDs, as well as a new ending with text explaining the fate of the SDF-3. Also, all of the flashback footage used from "The Macross Saga" has been removed, along with re-used footage from the episode "Wedding Bells."

Adaptations

Despite its cancellation, Harmony Gold provided the unfinished Sentinels source material for adaptation by several different parties, resulting in several different versions of the same continuity. Macek's original outline and notes for the series were published by Comico as Robotech Art 3: The Sentinels .

Novelizations

In 1988, author Jack McKinney completed a series of novels of the Sentinels storyline, released in paperback.

Robotech #18 - The End of the Circle (1989), although not technically a Sentinels novel, did wrap up all of the outstanding issues from both the Sentinels and the first 12 books.

Comics

The Waltrip brothers adapted the novels into comic books, though they diverged from the novels as the story progressed. The Sentinels comics were published by Eternity Comics, then Academy Comics. The storyline abruptly ended when Academy was unable to renew their license with Harmony Gold. The comics license passed to Antarctic Press, who published The Sentinels: Rubicon, which draws its name from the title of the fifth Sentinels novel. However, the Rubicon comic, instead of completing the Sentinels story, is set years after the end of the Sentinels Campaign, and was not illustrated by the Waltrips. It was not popular with fans, due to the poor artwork and the lack of connection to The Sentinels. It was cancelled after only two issues.

The Waltrips returned in 2005 to adapt elements of the last McKinney Sentinels novel into Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles , a comic book miniseries which also serves as a prequel to the animated 2006 feature film Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles . This prelude miniseries, while picking up roughly where the previous Sentinels comics ended, also acknowledges the official 2003 rebooting of the Robotech universe. While the events of Sentinels are still seen to have happened, it is now agreed that certain events and situations have been retconned both before and during the events in Prelude.

Role-playing game

Palladium Books had published an role-playing game called Robotech in 1986 that was based on the original anime television series. The following year, with the new Sentinels storyline, Palladium adapted the Sentinels material — and the move away from Earth and into deep space — into its Robotech II: The Sentinels role-playing game.

Related Research Articles

<i>Robotech</i> Science fiction media franchise

Robotech is a science fiction franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production and first released in the United States in 1985.

<i>Super Dimension Fortress Macross</i> Science fiction anime series

Super Dimension Fortress Macross is an anime television series from 1982. According to story creator Shoji Kawamori, it depicts "a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles" during the first Human-alien war. It is the first part of two franchises: The Super Dimension trilogy and Macross series.

<i>Macross</i> Mecha anime franchise

Macross is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime media franchise/media mix, created by Studio Nue and Artland in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth and the human race after the year 1999, as well as the history of humanoid civilization in the Milky Way. It consists of four TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel, and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West Advertising, in addition to 40 video games set in the Macross universe, two crossover games, and a wide variety of physical merchandise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zentradi</span> Fictional aliens in The Marcross franchise

The Zentradi are a fictional, militaristic race of alien, humanoid giants and often the main antagonist in Macross media mix and its Robotech (1985) cartoon adaptation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Macek</span> American screenwriter

Carl Frank Macek was an American screenwriter, script editor, producer and voice actor on numerous English language adaptations of anime during the 1980s and 1990s. His work is considered by many to have been instrumental in creating mainstream awareness of Japanese animation in the United States.

<i>Genesis Climber MOSPEADA</i>

Genesis Climber MOSPEADA is an anime science fiction series created by Shinji Aramaki and Hideki Kakinuma. The 25-episode television series ran from late 1983 to early 1984 in Japan. MOSPEADA stands for Military Operation Soldier Protection Emergency Aviation Dive Armor, one of the transformable motorcycle-armors the series features. The other primary mecha featured in the show is the three-form transformable fighter called the Armo-Fighter AFC-01 Legioss. MOSPEADA was adapted as the third generation of the American series Robotech, much like Macross and Southern Cross.

<i>Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles</i> 2006 American film

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is the 2006 animated sequel to the 1985 Robotech television series. It was released on DVD on February 6, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmony Gold USA</span> US film and television production company

Harmony Gold USA, Inc. was an American film and television production company. It was founded in 1983 by Egyptian-born Frank Agrama and is managed by his daughter, Jehan F. Agrama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hikaru Ichijyo</span> Fictional character in The Macross franchise

Hikaru Ichijyo is one of the main fictional characters of the Macross Japanese anime series. His voice actor was Arihiro Hase. After the death of Arihiro Hase in 1996, he was voiced by Kenji Nojima in the PlayStation 2 Macross video game from 2003. In the English dub of the series produced by ADV Films, he is voiced by Vic Mignogna.

<i>Robotech: The Macross Saga</i> 2002 video game

Robotech: The Macross Saga is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up for the Game Boy Advance handheld system, developed by Lucky Chicken Games and published by TDK Mediactive. This title was released during a renaissance of Robotech video games, where struggling projects were no longer cancelled and actually made it to market. A remake was published in 2021, Robotech: The Macross Saga HD Edition.

<i>Robotech</i> (novels)

In 1987, the Robotech animated series was adapted into novel form by authors James Luceno and Brian Daley and published by Del Rey Books. Having previously collaborated on the animated series Galaxy Rangers, the pair released the Robotech novels under the unified pseudonym of "Jack McKinney". Using fictitious epigraphs in the style of Dune, McKinney's novels escaped the limitations inherent in the dubbed cartoon and fleshed out its chronology in greater detail; most significantly, by adapting the storyline of the aborted sequel project, "The Sentinels". The entire series lasted for twenty-one books, the first fifteen of which were later collected into five three-book omnibus compilations in the early 1990s.

<i>Robotech</i> (comics)

Robotech comics first officially appeared in print in 1985, though Comico published the first issue of its license from Harmony Gold USA under the Macross name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotech (role-playing game)</span> Tabletop anime role-playing game

The Robotech Role-Playing Game, based on the Robotech and Robotech II: The Sentinels series, was originally published by Palladium Books from 1986 to 1995. A second series based on Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles was released between 2008-2018.

<i>Robotech</i> (TV series) 1985 animated series

Robotech is an American 85-episode adaptation of three unrelated Japanese anime television series made between 1982 and 1984 in Japan; the adaptation was aired in 1985. Within the combined and edited story, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific island. With this technology, Earth developed giant robotic machines or mecha to fight three successive extraterrestrial invasions.

<i>Robotech: The Movie</i> 1986 film by Noboru Ishiguro, Carl Macek

Robotech: The Movie, also called Robotech: The Untold Story, is a 1986 American-Japanese science fiction animated film based on the Robotech TV series and Robotech franchise created by Harmony Gold USA. The film was created by splicing together footage from the Japanese direct-to-video movie Megazone 23 Part I and animated television series Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and had only a loose connection to the Robotech TV show.

<i>Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles</i>

Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles is a five-part comic book mini-series written by Tommy Yune along with the Waltrip brothers, who were previously the art-and-writing team of the Robotech II: The Sentinels comic series. It was published under DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. It bridges the gap between The Sentinels and the new movie Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, and also features characters from the Robotech Masters Saga. The series is important, in that it provides an explanation and deepened background for many of the events seen on screen in the movie, and clears up many apparent contradictions within the original animation.

Jason Waltrip and John Waltrip are identical twins who comprise a comic book art and writing team, known for their work on Robotech comics and in webcomics.

<i>Robotech: Love Live Alive</i> 2013 American film

Robotech: Love Live Alive is a direct-to-video animated film produced by Harmony Gold USA released on July 23, 2013. It is based on the 1985 Japanese OVA music video Genesis Climber MOSPEADA: Love Live Alive by Tatsunoko Production but adapted to the continuity of the Robotech universe.

References

  1. ↑ "Lisa Hayes". Robotech.com. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  2. ↑ "Pioneer Expedition". Robotech.com. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  3. 1 2 Carl Macek (1988), Robotech Art 3: The Sentinels , The Donning Company
  4. ↑ From June 1985 to December 1986, the Dollar/Yen exchange rate dropped from 1-250 to 1-160. By the end of 1987, the rate had further dropped to 1-120
  5. ↑ "Macek Training". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.