Review: Robotech the Shadow Chronicles

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is the next installment in the Robotech saga. It is a movie that shows the legacy of the Invid Regis and the final battle for the Liberation of the Earth from the Invid. Admiral Rick Hunter orders the Robotech Expeditionary Force to amass at Moon Base: Aluce for a direct assault on the Invid Reflex Point. The REF attacks, the Regis destroys everything and leaves the Earth -- and that is that. Or so we thought.

Robotech Revisited

You can't talk about Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles without talking about Robotech itself. Robotech was a 1980s show that came out in 1983. Brought about by Harmony Gold and Carl Macek himself, it was the splicing of three shows into one: Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (which would spin out Macross II, Macross Plus, Macross 7, and Macross 0); Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Mospeda. These three sagas in Robotech are known as the Macross Saga, Southern Cross (since the Robotech Masters come from the Southern Cross), and Next Generation.

Robotech was the most unusual t.v. series on American T.V at that time. Like G.I. Joe, it was military themed. You had military engagements, battles, and a great story. Looking directly, from the overall picture you could say that Robotech glorified war. People said that about G.I. Joe as well. Looking deeper, you see something else about Robotech that people often overlook. Robotech is actually anti-war.

The battle scenes, the death, the destruction depicted in Robotech actually shows kids what happened in war. It does not hold back. Even beloved characters die in conflict (Roy Fokker dies, Admiral Gloval, and so does Marlene and Zor). The consequence of war isn't even held back. Cities get destroyed, people die. Robotech does not glorify war.

That is what makes Robotech so good. People identify with the issues that it presents. While G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is designed to help raise morale for the troops in Afganistan; Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is still clearly anti-war. War is something the human race shouldn't have to descend into.

Back to the Shadow Chronicles. If you know anything about the Robotech Expeditionary Force and the Invid War, the REF had allies among the Haydonites. Although the Robotech Masters, Zentraedi, and the Invid are WELL chronicled in the Robotech Universe; the Haydonites are the most mysterious. One question remains. WHO IS HAYDON!?

The Haydonites are a cybernetic race. I.e. a lot like the Autobots and Decepticons of HASBRO's Transformers sagas; but a lot unlike them. These living machines fear the Invid Flower of Life and the power it generates. During the REF's Invid War, the Haydonites allies themselves with the REF and provides them with new technologies. I.e. the Shadow technology, the synchro-cannons, and the Neutron-S Missiles. After the Invid leave the Earth, the Haydonites turn traitor on their allies; and thus begins a new war.

Impressions:

I liked the film. It still has anti-war themes. The animation is crisp, and they use 3D graphics for much of the film. Rick Hunter is of advanced age, he has gray hair and a scar. General Rienhardt, who leads the mission, is finally named and we get a good look at him (about 50 to 52 years of age).

Many questions are answered, and we get a good look at the Invid Regis. We also get a reference of the Children of Shadow: which were the Haydonites. The storyline is great, the beginning of the show happens during Robotech episodes 83-85; and that is the first 30 minutes of the show. The other hour takes place during the first engagements with the children of Haydon. We also learn that Janice Em, Doctor Lang's android, also carries Haydonite technology within herself. Captain Grant is then assigned a mission to get the lost SDF-3, the REF flagship; back to Earth along with an intact protoculture matrix.

This is an original spin off of the three shows together. Written and voiced in America, the show was made in Japan and Korea. Although the final Robotech book doesn't seem to be followed (in fact, it's dumped); it makes a lot of sense that this is the new canon storyline. I give this film four stars.

Review of Visionaries

Visionaries is an 80's Cartoon. It was one of many, but there is something about the 80's cartoons that set them a part from other cartoon series. The 1980s saw a rise of complex storylines, better characterization, and sometimes better animation.

The Visionaries were of this class of cartoons. Thanks to He-Man, and Dungeons and Dragons; the Visionaries tried to top them. On a distant planet orbiting a trinary system, an age of Science reigned. But it failed and everything changed. Electricity suddenly stopped working ad a new age of Magic came into being.

After the old order was reduced in the Apocalypse, a new order of Feudalism appeared and a new order of knights. Of this new order, there were two kingdoms: Prince Loric's New Valaris; and Darkstorm's kingdom. The two superpowers were like the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.; they were evenly matched so something had to give. Merklyn offered both kingdoms the power of magic. And both kingdoms took the offer. The result were the Darkling Lords and the Spectral Knights.



A Critique

To properly critique the series is to understand what happened. The series never did gain a good following, despite it's superior characterization of every character involved. Only thirteen episodes were made and a few comics. I believe few people believed in it because it, too, was a head of its time. However, a few things don't sit right.

1. How can electricity fail in one fell swoop? The way electricity works is still according to law. It provides power and makes machines work. Surely, items of technology still work in the Visionary Universe that Hasbro devised. Electricity is an application of law. So what happened? This turning of an age is mind boggling to a traditional scientist. What happened broke the Laws. However, if we look at the facts.

For seven thousand years, technology reigned. I propose that there were fewer and fewer people who knew how electricity worked and how everything functioned. Someone said that the more technology advanced, the more it seems like magic. And that is what happened. Fewer and fewer people understood what happened is an application of natural law. More and more people took the electrical power for granted. When the age turned, electricity simply didn't work since people believed it was magic and not the result of an application of magical law. Therefore, the collective beliefs of many instead of a few caused a change in how things work. A paradigm shift. The aligning of the trinary just made it apparent to all.



Although many think that the two kingdoms were autonomous, this is not so. I think the real government of Prismos was actually Merklyn himself. Most everything the Visionaries did was in reaction to Merklyn. Merklyn was an impartial judge who sought to maintain the balance of power in Prismos. This is because he helped the Darkling Lords escape a few times. He also asked the knights to go on quests to find certain items. What was also interesting that Merklyn often bestowed magic that seemed helpful at first; but provided a hindrance. Such was revealed in the "Honor Among Thieves" episode when the writers showed that a false sense of security can provide a problem (we have this here in the U.S. of A. Especially among Utahns, who have a false sense of security). In fact, Merklyn provided the Crystal of Detection, which lulled the citizens of New Valaric into a false sense of security. This was driven home even deeper by cries of less weapons and more plants.

Quest shows didn't show up often, though. They were actually quite rare. Most of the shows showed the conflict between the Spectral Knights and the Darkling Lords. And sometimes, impudence against Merklyn himself.

Summary:
Although a good show with strong characterization and a strong storyline; Visionaries showed potential. With Visionaries competing against other shows of its time, it was eventually cut. The age of good storylines and great characterization was over as Tiny Toons, and other cartoons like it replaced the cartoons of the '80s. Still, with these cartoons coming back in DVD and BluRay, people are rediscovering what made these shows great. Maybe, in the 2010s, we can see shows that had these kind of storylines again. What made an '80s cartoon show great is that it never treated its audience like little children. It treated them with intelligence; as these '80s shows taught the consequences of our choices: good or bad.