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SUMMARY

In the year 1999, a mysterious space ship crash landed on Macross Island. The advanced technology discovered on board the wrecked ship proved that intelligent life exists in the universe. In anticipation of this extraterrestrial threat, a new United Nations is formed.  During the opening ceremonies, an alien race known as the Zentradi arrive to reclaim the repaired ship of the Robotech Masters. During the battle, the SDF-1 executes a hyperspace fold, which transplants the battleship and Macross Island into deep space.

The war between the Earth and the Zentradi is fast coming to a head.  Legions of the Zentradi have defected to the side of the humans, thanks to Minmay's song.  Even hard as steel Zentradi pilot Myria has converted, marrying SDF-1 ace fighter pilot Max Sterling.

Dolza, supreme commander of the Zentradi orders an all out attack on Earth.  He will destroy not only the humans, but the "infected" Zentradi as well.

As the battle rages, the Robotech Masters sit in deep space, waiting for the outcome.  Who ever wins will determine the future of both the humans and the Masters.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: Wow. The video quality on this DVD far surpasses anything made before it. The colors are no longer solid, showing the folds of the uniforms. The image is sharp, free of pixels, color bleeds, rainbows or any other defects. The quality is so good, you can see every single defect of the source print.

AUDIO: The 5.1 English and Spanish audio is pretty damn loud.  There are plenty of surround sound elements to knock you around, which is cool. What's not cool is that most of the time, the sound effects overpower the dialogue and the music.

The Spanish 5.1 isn't nearly as aggressive as the English 5.1.  It's pretty much center speaker based, with little directionality.

EDITS: The "Robotech" opening animation has been replaced with a new one.  Scenes of death or nudity, edited out of the original broadcast, is now present.

EXTRAS: With this volume, you get a super deformed Myria morpher toy!  This is good since my Skull 1 morpher broke a week after getting it.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Robotech is an example of great story telling. Unlike Gundam Wing, which concentrated on soap opera drama, Robotech took realistic characters and placed them in tough situations. Carl Macek and the Harmony Gold writing staff did a wonderful job of adapting Matsuzaki Kenichi original story for American audiences.

ACTING: The entire cast of "Robotech" is fantastic.  There is not a single rotten voice actor in the entire series.  Everyone plays their parts with the right amount of humanity.  You believe every emotion that pours fourth.

The only negative is Reba West when she sings.  While her speaking voice is perfect for the ditzy Minmay, her off key singing makes my entire body cringe.

The Spanish cast is decent.  Unfortunately, they didn't over-dub Reba West singing voice.

FAN SERVICE: As far as nudity or panty shots go, there is none to be found here.  There are a couple of moments where the animators slip in a couple of Orguss mecha.

CONCLUSION

The end of a series can be the hardest part of any anime experience.  For 12, 26, or in this case 36 episodes, you have invested a part of yourself into these characters.  You think of them as good friends, sharing in their triumph, weeping at their defeat.  With this, the last box set in "The Macross Saga", it is time to see how your friends will survive.

The first volume in "Remaster 3" sets up the massive (and I do mean massive) battle between the Earth and the Zentradi.  The SDF1, and a good quarter of the Zentradi armada are going up against Dolza's 4 million ships.  Sides have been chosen, with some major Zentradi leaders pitching their lot in with the humans.

They just don't make battles like this in anime anymore.  Both sides get mercilessly hammered, and we see every second of it.  Soldiers, buildings, friends, family, and even children are obliterated in shocking detail.  The death toll is astronomical, as millions of Zentradi are killed by a combination of the Grand Cannon and the SDF1.  Both Lisa and Minmay loose family members, but neither has time to mourn.  Minmay must sing for the troops, and Lisa tries to survive in the shattered remains of Alaska Base.

After this battle is over, there is still one more fight that must be waged, pitching in to help restoring the Earth.  Post war reconstruction may be no big thing for the Earth people, but for the Zentradi, it's hard.  Not everyone was converted by Minmay's song, and a life of peace is not a life for many Zentradi.  When an old foe returns and offers the disaffected Zentradi a return to their warlike ways, peace is going to be a lot harder to maintain.

The Rick, Lisa, Minmay love triangle gets more and more complex.  Afraid to admit their feelings to each other, the two of them are miserable.  Things between them may have been resolved earlier if danger prone Minmay didn't keep needing Rick to bail her out.  Plus, Lisa needs to remember that she is ten times the babe that Minmay is! 

These episodes set the stage for events that occur in the "Masters" and "New Generation" segments.  In episode 29, we are introduced to the Robotech Masters, the main foe in the upcoming "Masters" segment.  We also hear for the first time in episode 27 "We will win", a Minmay war rally song .  This song is a favorite of "Yellow Dancer", member of Scott Bernard's resistance cell in "New Generation".  We also get to meet little Dana Sterling, who is the main character in the "Masters" segment. There are a lot more, but I'm not going to get into them all.

The big reason why Robotech continues to excite and entertain us is how it was written.  Carl Macek didn't trivialize complex emotions like love, hate, jealousy, survival, and redemption.  The characters were portrayed as real people, not heroic yet vapid supermen.  The situations these characters faced are ones that we all have faced at one time or another.  Besides, how many anime shows have a main character drunk off her butt, nursing a broken heart?  In the 80's, there was only one.

As much as I love "Robotech" there is one thing I can't stand; the singing voice for Minmay.  Reba West tries real hard, but she can't sing worth beans.  It doesn't help that the lyrics were crap.  "Stage Lights flashing, the feelings smashing!"  What the hell?

The mecha designs to this day are still fantastic.  Here it is 20 years later, and the basic design of the Valkarye (Veritech) is still being used.  From "Yukikaze" to "Macross Zero", very few mecha have stood the test of time like these have.  My personal favorite is the Monster, the big four barreled cannon mecha.  I hope that someday we get to see a side story featuring a Monster crew.  For now at least, I have "Macross VFX-2" to keep me happy.

I was surprised at how well they cleaned up the animation featuring the "Robotech Masters".  You can see how different the two animation styles were.  I can't wait to see what the "Master Remaster"  (ohhh bad title) looks like.

"Robotech Remaster 3" marks the satisfying end of the historical "Macross Saga".   If you don't have this series yet (like me) make sure you grab a copy.  You will not be disappointed.

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