Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2006)

Pretty Good

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

When Robotech was first aired--I recorded (vcr was all we had in them days, remember?) all three generations even though I didn't like the 2nd generation, Dana's Story, I recorded it anyway so I could have the complete set. It was fascinating---I was in junior high. Loved the drama, the action(people and aliens being killed), and the characters were likable and interesting---the way the stories were told--the dialog-- the visuals, animation--it was just bad ass. I felt like I was there and I couldn't wait to see the next episode. Now-a-days, I watch the DVD's of the series, and the characters are like old friends. When I heard this Movie was made, I was hoping to catch up with some of the old characters---like Rick Hunter, Max Sterling, Myria, Lisa Hayes, Lynn Minmei, Rand, Rook, etc. Didn't happen.The only character you see is Rick Hunter when he mumbles a couple of sentences on a broken video transmission. Thats it. Maybe ten seconds of footage. Total rip off. Oh, and Scott Bernard w/Ariel(Marlene?). He didn't say a lot in the third generation, but he thought a lot--we could here his thoughts--not in this movie.The new characters were lame. Dull. ALL of the females had large bulbous breasts. Taking away from the characters themselves I believe. Those boobs were too much of a focal point I believe. When I saw all that cleavage with no pay off nudity, I felt robbed.The movie was set almost entirely in outer space which made it even more boring. Part of the allure of Robotech was the battles on earth's countryside and in urban environments.In this movie, when aliens were killed or humans for that matter, they just disintegrated and disappeared----nothing like the series: when aliens were killed they may lose limbs or pieces and turn into bleeding carcasses. Same deal with the human deaths--you may see flesh burning off skin during an explosion---much more realistic. The point: no detail in the animation.

All in all I found that TSC was a fairly good production, nothing to rave about mind you but a nice effort non the less. As I watched the show the fan in me leaped for joy but the movie enthusiast in me cried. Dialog was clumsy and stilted in parts, character animation was OK with the 2D parts actually looking better then the 3D and the story was hurried. In the original series the mecha were fluid and moved as if they were alive, here the fighters looked... well like plain machines nothing special. There was no flair, no flash and the battle scenes were not inspiring.One of the best features in this rendition of classic Robotech was that the ships weren't made of paper as was often the case in the original trilogy. The use of actual formations for battle groups lent an aura of believability and helped to reinforce the idea that it was an actual military op instead of a bunch of high-tech barbarians hurtling towards each other. I actually appreciated the fact that the capital ships kept their distance and attacked from range rather then get in to the thick of it.Another aspect that I liked was how the characters of Bernard and Marlene/Ariel and developed. Scott is no longer the angry young man but more like a man who has seen enough death and wants no more of it. The hothead role is now passed on the Marcus Rush (org. Marlene's brother). The scene were the two meet up on the moon reminds me of the interactions between Rand/Lancer and Scott in the series but this time its Scott taking up the more rational less bigoted view.Though there is little mention of certain other characters from the series I don't think this a bad thing, too many old faces would have diluted the story even more with each hero jostling for screen time. However on the flip side i did feel that the REF was composed of only about a dozen pilots. The vast expanses of corridors seemed empty and lonely. A few added extra's would have certainly spruced up some scenes.By the end of it I felt that it would have probably been better approached a mini series instead of a feature. At least in that format the writers would have had more time to build up the characters and story. Somehow I couldn't shake the feeling that harmony gold were intentionally keeping the budget tight on this, probably not wanting to risk a huge amount of capital on reviving a long dormant franchise.So with that in mind, i give this flick a 7 star rating. A must see for fans, A fairly entertaining spiel otherwise.

OK, first of all "Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles" isn't the Robotech you remember from your youth. Unfortunately, we will all just have to accept that the 80's phenomenon will never be fully recaptured. Too many of the original creators have moved on (or in one case died) for any new Robotech project to match the original.Now, that said, R:TSC does a pretty good job of updating Robotech (while taking a few... um... liberties with certain story elements) to meet the more mature sensibilities of the returning audience.Visually, the movie is a blend of 3D and 2D animation, with the 2D looking better than the 3D, but that may be down to the "Shadow Technology" effect on the REF ships that gave them a glossy sheen when a flat color would have looked a bit better (Scott's Alpha doesn't suffer from the glossy look, but it is only shown briefly). Glossy looks aside, its a visual delight to see Alpha fighters and Invid dogfighting in the space above Earth, with missile contrails and tracer rounds lighting up the screen. Robotech mecha battles haven't lost any of their visual appeal.The characters look slightly more American-styled than Anime-styled, but given that Robotech was cobbled together out of 3 different TV series with 3 different styles of animation, fans should be used to that by now. And at any rate, they are more pleasing to the eye than would be expected, with the female characters' eyes being particularly expressive.Returning characters are instantly recognizable, despite the copyright-induced makeover they have all received, with the exception of Rick Hunter, who is only recognizable (and only briefly shown) if you've seen The Sentinels. Admittedly, the breasts on Marlene/Ariel and Janice are rather larger than they should have been, but a buxom Maia is perfectly allowable in a character we have never seen before.A delight to hear is the voice track; almost every returning character has their original voice actor/actress providing their voice again, with the notable exceptions of Ariel/Marlene and General Reindhart (but he was a minor character anyway, so lets not quibble).Plot-wise things are a bit different... I don't mind visual re-designs, but some of the story elements that were altered grated on me a bit. Maia Sterling's existence is a bit of a shock, considering we've only heard of two Sterling children before. Given her advanced age, she feels shoehorned into the story to provide us with the obligatory Robotech female ace pilot. If her surname was different, she would'nt feel as out of place. The decision to completely disregard Ariel's status as a visual copy of Marlene Rush makes for a rather unbelievable sequence between her and Marcus. And Scott Bernard's decision to leave Earth is different than in the original series; then he was setting out to find Rick Hunter's lost SDF-3, here he is heading to REF HQ to tell them that humans and Invid can live in peace. He has also fully accepted his feelings for Marlene/Ariel, which is quite different from the original series, where he was still struggling with his love of Marlene/Ariel and his hatred of the Invid.The decision to introduce a new enemy for the REF to fight was a logical one, since the Invid situation was resolved at the end of the original series, and a new enemy means that one doesn't have to jump through copyright hoops before putting them in a movie. However, the identity of that new enemy is fairly implausible, considering their goals are totally not in keeping with their previous portrayal in the Sentinels novels.The tone of the movie is somewhat darker than the original series, with a little more than the usual Robotech death & destruction on hand, and a general feel of desperation that sets in about halfway through the film. Still, it does maintain the mature feel of what was always the most mature cartoon on American TV.The conclusion of the film is one thing that disappointed me at first. If you come in looking to see Scott Bernard's quest to find Admiral Hunter, as any fan of the original series would be expecting, you won't find that depicted here. The ending of the film suggests that said search will be the driving plot behind an upcoming series, or another movie, however. So there's still the hope we will finally see Robotech's loose ends tied up, we just might have to wait a while longer. Though hopefully not 20 more years...

Despite what the other reviewer has commented about "The Shadow Chronicles", this movie was made with the fans at heart. Yes there are loose ends with missing characters like Minmei, Lisa, Max and others, but you need to realize that this is being made to reintroduce people to the legacy that is ROBOTECH. The fact that they used Rick's, Scott's, the Regent's, Vince's and many other cast members voices from the series, shows the dedication the production team spent to make it as authentic as possible. For Christ's sake, they use lines lifted from the last 3 episodes of Robotech in the movie. For any TRUE ROBOTECH FAN, they close a lot of open questions, they use Minmei's songs, and try to keep the style as close to the original style... And to top it all off the use the original designs for the ships and mecha.Please watch this movie with one thing in mind. This is a modern reworking of the series in an attempt to stay true to what Robotech represented. They do a very good job to keep as much continuity as possible without making it too confusing for those who have not seen the series or remember much of what happened at the end of the series. Don't's nit pick all the issues, enjoy it for what it is, Robotech for a new generation of fans.Below are my responses to the other reviewers comments made about the movie..."In all honesty, the Sentinels OVA was MUCH better." All Sentinels did was tie the the first and second series together. It was not as good as it could have been. Yes it had the animation and character style of the series, but you cant expect them to use such an old style in a modern rendition of the series. But seriously, Lisa's Hair? The use of the stock footage from the series? Very Bad dialog? Should I continue?"Who is to blame for this mishap? Definitely Tommy Yune. By the way, who the hell is this Korean guy? They should have gotten Carl Macek on the project. What were they thinking? I mean without Macek you can't have Robotech. He made the bloody thing." Tommy Did a great job reworking the movie. Frank Agrama was part of the movie screenplay (he helped with Sentinals too so =P ) and Macek did advise on the screenplay. LRN2Research before you make comments like this.