One of the primary directors of the Disney+ series Hawkeye, Rhys Thomas, has been tapped to helm a Robotech movie for Sony.
The studio has been trying to get a Robotech film made for about a decade now. Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari will prduce. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Kraven the Hunter) penned a version of the script that Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka (Sharper) are rewriting. Harmony Gold, which brought the original cartoon to the United States, is also involved.
What You Need To Know About Robotech
Robotech was a syndicated anime that began airing in the U.S. in 1985. To be syndicated, a show had to have at least 65 episodes. So, like Voltron and other anime imports, Robotech had to be cobbled together from three unrelated Japanese shows: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982), Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross (1984), and Genesis Climber Mospeada (1983). The American dub wove in elements that connected these shows in the same continuity but set in different eras. This helped explain the differences in animation style and storylines.
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the most famous and recognizable iteration, is known as Robotech: The Macross Saga. This iteration will likely be the basis for the film. Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross is referred to as Robotech: The Masters, and Genesis Climber Mospeada became Robotech: The New Generation.
All three featured the Earth using “Robotechnology” to fend off alien invasions. In Macross, the alien invaders are the Zentraedi. To fight against them, the humans used giant battle suits (mecha) that could transform from a large humanoid form into jet-like space ships. (You may recognize these vehicles as they were released in the U.S. toy market as the Transformer Jetfire.)
The Robotech Masters are the villains in The Masters. The New Generation presented a new threat, the Invid. It was explained that the Robotech freedom fighters from Macross had taken to space in a preemptive move against The Masters.
Robotech has a huge following even to this day. I think that’s due to it being much more sophisticated than any other anime (not to mention any domestic cartoons) that aired during that time. That’s because… to be honest, I don’t know if the original Japanese shows were even made for kids. I mean, maybe they were, but if so, Japanese kid audiences are FAR different from Americans. Even though the continuity between the three shows was tacked on, it added a depth and mythology that American kids weren’t used to.
So Robotech could make for a great film series. However, with three different versions spanning 85 episodes, a lot of material will need to be cut out. And American anime adaptations have a rotten track record. (Just look at the recent failure of Cowboy Bebop.)
Are you a fan of Robotech? Are you looking forward to a live-action film adaptation?
