Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2006)

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is the long awaited sequel to the Robotech franchise that started in the 80s. Its release was met with very mixed fan reaction and reviews ranging from amazingly awesome to downright terrible.I am a "late comer" to Robotech, having only discovered the classic series recently thanks to dvds and youtube. My first impression was not a good one and only season 3 of the original series made me not dismiss it as overly dramatic, hyped up anime trash. Robotech the Shadow Chronicles was entertaining but inconsistent. It is very obvious that there were different directors and writers working on different parts of the movie. Story - The good points of the story was that it was easy to follow. It lent itself well to the setting of the movie. However, the creators make the assumption that the viewer already has a level of knowledge concerning Robotech since little time is devoted to flesh out the backstory, and this would tend to alienate new viewers.Characters - A very varied bunch of characters with well defined personalities. Only the main cast gets any significant development though. Most of the characters are likable and the dialogue interplay between them fits very nicely. Their character redesigns are very attractive and still keep the essence of the originals. On the other hand, once again the creators assume that the viewer should have prior Robotech knowledge and thus character back stories are just glossed over.Animation - Inconsistent in both the 2D and 3D. For the most part, the 2D art is a good balance between detail and animation fluidity. Vibrant colours complement the attractive character designs and smooth character movements. However the few animation short cuts used can be quite obvious and jarring and the "zoom in to face close up" shot is slightly over used. In the 3D department, there are scenes of amazing quality, like The shot where Scott Bernard is flying is Alpha Fighter toward the invid Hive to look for Ariel. Another well done 3D scene was the Haydonite mecha invading Space Station Liberty. The quality in those is equal to that of high production value anime movies like Sky Crawlers. However, at the same time, you get really shoddy 3D work like the invid mecha and the human space cruisers.Choreography - I do not know if it was just inexperience, or that the directors were trying to be true to the original.......but the fight choreography of the space battles looked like they came straight out of the original 80s anime. This is not really a good thing since this is a 2007 production. In the original anime, to save on budget, mecha would zip across screen locked in a set pose, enemies would disappear in gaudy balls of flame and space cruisers exchange volleys of fire while making no attempts at evasive maneuvers, basically on screen movement of mecha and spaceships were kept to a minimum. Robotech the Shadow Chronicles continues that tradition. Mecha are locked in a set pose as they zip about screen, there is minimal mecha part movement, spaceships do disappear in gaudy out-of-place looking balls of flame. All in all, Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles is a good effort by the creators. Especially since for most of them, especially the directors, this is their debut production. Perhaps their only mistake was continuing the mistakes of the original series. The sometimes campy dialogue, derivative music(the original robotech theme seemed ripped from Superman), limited mecha animation and inconsistent production standards were all carried over from the original series. Of course, this would spark the "keeping true to the original" debate again among fans.I look forward to seeing the next installment of the Robotech saga but I do hope that the creators learn from the mistakes of the original series and Shadow Chronicles.

However, my lack of speech is more out of respect for the original series than anything else. As a long-time fan who grew up on Robotech every day after school, it is extremely hard for me to speak about the series with harsh words. And yet, that's what I feel I must do.This movie is a prime example of why Americans (or maybe just Harmony Gold) should NEVER, EVER, EVER be allowed to do Japanese-style anime. To begin with, the plot is predictable, the dialog is terrible and the voice acting even worse. Seriously, the voice acting is worse than a bad dubbing job. However, even if all of that were true, at least there should be some great eye candy for Robotech fans, right? Really cool robots flying around, new aliens to gawk at, cameos from old characters, cool new armor, etc. Wrong, you get NONE of that.The mecha in this movie is so utterly disappointing. On the Earth side, you get Alpha and Beta Fighters with a short scene with Cyclones. Not a single new mecha. Not only that, but the mecha are rendered in the worse CGI I have seen in decades. Simplistic models with no texture mapping at all (AT ALL!!), no cell-shading or any other advance techniques to maintain an anime-style feel. Just pathetic. On the Invid side, all you ever see are the standard Invid Troopers (they may even be Scouts, I didn't get a good enough look). For the "Children of the Shadow", you only get to see their mecha for about 5 minutes towards the end, and the mecha design is really primitive compared to Japanese designs.Overall, it's hard to believe that this movie was made twenty years after the original series. If you watch the many sequels for series such as Macross, each one brings to the table advancements in animation, character and mecha design. The Shadow Chronicles is a step backwards in each of these areas. If you are super die-hard fan as I am, you will probably ignore this review and see the movie anyway, because you need to see for yourself. However, just be prepared to have your childhood memories ripped to shreds.

Robotech is always about characters as much as the mecha battles. Some people complain about the CGI Battles, but having watched it a couple times, I'll say that I was happy with the mecha and their transformations.Some will say it totally revised history from Symphony of Light (final episode of New Generation). The question becomes, was the Regess really 'there' entirely, in one place or another? Or just as much as she needed to be? If the latter, she could easily be having the same kind of discussion with Ariel as she was having with the others at the time.Which is point three. Characterization from the old show, and new directions for chars. Ariel in particular was fantastic! They recaptured her when Scott left to find the SDF-3 perfectly, clothes and all, right from Symphony of Light. And even if people complain about 'boobs' in later parts , I thought the character looked fine. Fascinating new direction, as well. (Though Ariel is not, and should not be treated, as a Star Trek transporter. :p) The animation changed, yes. After the early stages, Ariel did look a bit different, Bernard all the way. But they were still recognizable as themselves.For continuity, no matter how you regard it as 'canon', reading The Sentinels book series from Del Ray is VERY recommended, at least by me. That allowed for much more perspective on the 'Children of the Shadow' among other things.Some I've heard elsewhere complained about the changed premise of when the Regis left. That they turned her from the 'great evil' into someone who saved the Earth. She still did a lot of bad stuff, it makes sense that she saved it for her 'daughter'.I saw someone scream about it starting after Invid Invasion and having some of the same stuff. Well, news flash: ALL THE MECHA IN INVID INVASION WERE FROM THE REF RETAKING ATTEMPTS. Unless they somehow switched mecha overnight, those are the ones that'll still be there, not hovertanks, or elderly Macross Valkyries. The older VF series is totally outmoded by that point, and the Hovertanks mentioned in novels/RPG were only there for Wolff. And he was taken out of the picture long before.Even the anti-alien prejudice is there in the right spots, though a little rushed at points. Maia should have said "half-Zentraedi" instead of "half-alien", but that's a nitpick. Love the scene with Marcus meeting Ariel and finding out what she is. My only nitpick about being 'rushed' is how suddenly people seem to go from lack of trust to right in the heart of the sensitive spot. Though they did try to explain it enough. Ariel and Janice with bridge spots on the Ark Angel... Wow.All the nods to the old show were right. The SDF-3's situation made /some/ sense, though it was a terrible military decision to send along a weapon that hadn't been field tested, then field test it when it might get used before the test.The SDF-3 certainly isn't like the Sentinels RPG artwork, but meh. No complaint. The ships all looked good. Especially the Invid Clams in the Reflex Point battle! Seeing that in CGI was FANTASTIC! While 2D and 3D animation didn't always blend 'perfectly', it was pretty easy to get used to it. The storyline absorbed me enough to not notice after a while. Beware Trojans bearing gifts! Heehee.The sequel is already in production, reportedly. This movie has done deservedly well on DVD (I'm buying the 2 disk set in November when it comes out), so they're justified in making more. The next one I'm hoping will satisfy some of the complainers more, if they pick up where this one left off. They're going after the SDF-3. And all the people that the complaints come about not seeing.

You know, I could babble in length about why I think this film is poor and not worth seeing unless you are a die-hard fan of the Robotech series, in which case you'll be greatly disappointed if you're expecting anything of the sort that got you hooked on the original series in the first place.The story is poor and unsatisfying for a long awaited continuation of the saga. The animation, both CG and conventional is rigid, cold and lifeless and sometimes looks downright amateur. The sound effects are lame. Does it have any good moments in it? Yeah, the opening score that borrows from the original Robotech series, but that is short lived. The rest is just a big expectation that never gets fulfilled, and then it's over. It's interesting to hear the creators of this film in the "making of" bonus feature talk passionately about how they strived to retain the feel of the original series and how proud they are. - People! Pardon me but you have failed miserably at that! Apparently this is supposed to be the beginning chapter of a new Robotech series. Well if that's the case, my advice would be to fire everybody that was involved in this project and hire others to do it.In the meantime, if you're hungry for Robotech, stick to Macross Plus or Macross Zero if you haven't seen them already. And if you have, watch 'em again.