This is a series of email conversations I had with Peter walker, one of the authors of the ROBOTECH technical files 2060 edition.
At 04:33 PM 8/18/2000 -0400, Peter Walker wrote:
>At 1:26 PM -0700 8/18/00, Jacen Sapphire wrote:
>>allright, that's cool. Actually i am just learning the history
behind the
>>show and how it was made of 3 series', that's awesome. Can you
answer one
>>last question though? I read that the robotech masters series was made
up
>>just for robotech, is that true?
>
>No, it comes from a series called "The Superdimensional Cavalry
Southern
>Cross", which aired in Japan in 1983. It replaced a show called "Orguss",
>which replaced the original Macross.
>
>Of the three shows, its plot and backstory was the most changed from the
>original Japanese, compared to Macross and Mospeada, which were relatively
>close to the Japanese original. I've Cc'ed Rob Morgenstern, our group
>expert on Southern Cross, in the hope he has a canned summary of the
>original show he can send you.
-----------
At 11:13 AM -0700 8/19/00, Jacen Sapphire wrote:
>But how come the SDF-2 (or at least what looks like it from the description
>you gave me) was in the lake in the demo of 'Macross: VF-X-2'?
Ah. That VF-X.
The game VF-X-2 takes place in the official Macross continuity (which
excludes, Macross II, BTW). In that continuity, the SDF-1 isn't destroyed
by Quamzin's (Khyron's) ram. In fact, if you watch the footage, the damage
to the SDF-1 is not irreparable. The center torso is damaged from Quamzin's
original shot, the main guns have burned away from the SDF-1's
counter-fire, and one of the shoulders/thruster banks was sheared off by
Quamzin's ship in the ram. Though the Robotech writers considered this a
total loss, the Macross writers didn't originally see it that way.
In the Macross continuity, the SDF-1 is repaired and refit two years after
it's rammed, to the version you see in the VF-X-2 game, and in the Macross
Movie. And if you look closely, those Armors on the arms aren't the same
design as the Armors in the series; they're a new design that first appears
in DYRL.
This is why you see the SDF-1 from DYRL in Flashback: 2012 and Macross
Plus, even though the events from DYRL aren't how things happened in the
official continuity. (DYRL was a movie released in the 2030s, a historical
docudrama, according to the official Macross continuity).
>I don't know
>if you saw it or not, but it was in the lake, and had 2 armors assigned to
>it's arms. Could this just be the Ship from DYRL? oh well, thanks
That's it. The above is the story in the Macross unvierse. In the real
world, Kawamori just redesigned the SDF-1 and the ARMD carriers for DYRL,
and had to explain, once the new design was used in all subsequent Macross
sequels, why it was different from the one in the show. So he came up with
the "refit" notion.
--------------
At 1:26 PM -0700 8/18/00, Jacen Sapphire wrote:
>allright, that's cool. Actually i am just learning the history behind
the
>show and how it was made of 3 series', that's awesome. Can you answer
one
>last question though? I read that the robotech masters series was made up
>just for robotech, is that true?
No, it comes from a series called "The Superdimensional Cavalry Southern
Cross", which aired in Japan in 1983. It replaced a show called "Orguss",
which replaced the original Macross.
Of the three shows, its plot and backstory was the most changed from the
original Japanese, compared to Macross and Mospeada, which were relatively
close to the Japanese original. I've Cc'ed Rob Morgenstern, our group
expert on Southern Cross, in the hope he has a canned summary of the
original show he can send you.
But no original animation was produced for Robotech - it was all old
animation with new dialogue.
There *was* a series in production made up just for Robotech that was set,
in part, on the Masters' homeworld. This was The Sentinels, and they only
got the first three episodes completed before they lost funding for it.
These three episodes were re-ordered, and some new dialogue dubbed, and it
was released on video, now available from Streamline.
>PS please tell me if you know of a good robotech on-line game like a mud,
>sim, muck, mush, or rpg, thanks.
I'm afraid not. Have you asked around on the mailing lists?
--------------
At 1:41 PM -0700 8/18/00, Jacen Sapphire wrote:
>What about the macross episode (in robotech) titled the robotech masters,
>did that just have clips from southern cross in it?
In that episode, "Khyron's Revenge", and "Viva Miriya", they
all use
spliced-in Southern Cross footage for the segue to the Masters.
>and how did they manage
>to get the SDF-1 in there as that heap o' dirt *LOL* i never understood
>that.
Well, considering they opened up when the Masters pressed a button like a
garage door, and had the machinery to do so, I suspect that it wasn't the
ship, but three identical modules from it - perhaps the ship's powerplants.
One for each engine, perhaps, and one reserve.
>Another question: Were the VF-x's shown in the series? i forget,
The experimental ones? Well, the VF-X-1 is seen in Claudia's flashbacks in
"A Rainy Night", and Rick is seen playing with a model of the VF-X-4
in "To
the Stars". Is this what you mean?
>and What ever happened to the SDF-2? what did that look like?
That's just about the toughest question in Robotech fandom. The
*traditional* answer is that it was back to back with the SDF-1, Khyron
destroyed it with his first shot, Lisa ran from the SDF-2 to the SDF-1,
which was rammed by Khyron's crippled ship.
Problem is, that isn't what happens in the show. In the show, we never see
the SDF-2, although there are two occasions where we might infer that the
SDF-1 is the SDF-2. But this is explicitly contradicted in several places -
Lisa tells us she's going to the SDF-1 to respond to the attack, not the
SDF-2, and Khyron tells us he's firing on the SDF-1, not some new
battlefortress.
Personally, I think the SDF-2 was elsewhere - on the moon or in
geosynchronous orbit, and was attacked simultaneously by a second Zentraedi
ship. When we hear the SDF-2 mentioned as being hit, it's because it was
destroyed at about the same time the SDF-1 (which was in the lake). It's a
pet theory, perhaps, but it comes closer to explaining all the footage and
dialogue than the traditional explanation.
----------------
At 12:36 PM -0700 8/18/00, Jacen Sapphire wrote:
>oh, ok thanks. Although i tend to see the books as true and the show
as
>supplimental, but that's my opinion. See ya later.
We understand and respect the existence of multiple continuities; I
consider Jim Luceno (1/2 of the pseudonym Jack McKinney; the other is the
late Brian Daley) to be a friend and colleague, and correspended actively
with him several years ago.
But because there are multiple - and often very different - continuities,
it's simply impossible for a site like ours to be all things to all people.
As most of the contributors were fans of the show from its first airing, we
all tended towards the show's as the continuity we accept, and in which we
prefer to write.
Again, thanks for your interest.
-----------------
At 2:07 PM -0700 8/17/00, Jacen Sapphire wrote:
>yeah, when will the page have a new update? i mean i have seen a few typos,
>but that's it....
We've had some mecha updates recently, but we've all been working on other
projects, mostly in real-life, and not in fandom. There is new stuff in the
pipeline, though.
>I have a question though, about robotech... The timeline
>on your page is different than that in the back of book #18 'End of the
>circle.
Our timeline, and in fact all our material, is designed to be 100%
consistent with the original TV series. We haven't used the novels except
to homage them with some ship names.
The fine details of the TV show's continuity and the novels' are *very*
different in almost every respect. Not just in the timing of events, but
which events even occurred. The show precludes a lot of things the novels
did. McKinney rewrote the events from the show to make them compatible with
the stuff he added, but since we're going with the original show, we can't
do that.
>Also, that same book has an odd pic of the sdf-3, why is it
>different that the one on you're page? it looks alot more terran and
>futuristic.
They based their pictures off the same ones we had access to, but the
cover-art painter apparently decided to make his own interpretation. Our
pictures are from the Sentinels source material, and reflect how it would
have appeared if more episodes of the show had been completed.
--------------
>Hey, are you still one of the guys behind the robotech tech page?
That would be me.
> that page
>is so awesome, good job. Is there a hard version of it? because
the
>disclaimer at the bottom implies that there is more other than the html
>version. If there is, please give me a reply back, thanks.
Thanks for the praise. No, there is no hard-copy version of it at present.
We would like someday to be in a position to make one, either in book
format or CD-ROM (or both!), but we're not anywhere near there yet.