Macek, who died in 2010, was an early champion of Japanese animation in the U.S. That's where a savvy, forward-minded guy named Carl Macek comes into the picture. The longest of these series, Macross, clocked in at 36 episodes. That breaks down to one installment to air every weekday for 13 weeks. syndication in the 1980s, they would need about at least 65 episodes. Inside Harmony Gold's offices, Yune and Kevin McKeever, the vice president of marketing for Robotech, explain what made this project so difficult. Despite their track record, the new shows would be a hard sell in the U.S. This was the team behind Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets/ Gatchaman. in addition to acclaim in their home country.
The Japanese studio already had some success in the U.S.
Harmony Gold had picked up the sci-fi series from animation studio Tatsunoko. Those cumbersome titles are usually abbreviated to Macross, Southern Cross and MOSPEADA. Those shows were Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Calvary Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. that was comprised of three series that aired in Japan. Robotech is a television mash-up, one animated story for the U.S. Tucked into a corner one of the archival rooms are the origins of Robotech, a collection of 16 mm reels that came from Japan. Master recordings of the music used in the show. There are tapes of the show in a variety of formats that are ready for broadcast.
Then there are the vaults - multiple, closely guarded rooms filled with the footage that made this phenomenon possible. There are offices filled with collectible toys, rare box sets and other ephemera. There are posters and a plaster statue of a very large robot. Head upstairs, though, and the legacy of Robotech spills out into the hallways. It's home to a lot of private screenings, as well as the occasional film festival. These days, the nondescript office building is best known for a large theater on its ground floor. Harmony Gold's Sunset Boulevard headquarters appear ordinary from the outside. The new box set isn't just about the show, but the story behind Robotech. There are also hours of behind-the-scenes footage, including a short documentary that dates back to the 1980s. The latter appears both as an English-language dub and it's original Japanese.
Twenty discs feature 85 episodes, plus sequels The Sentinels, Shadow Chronicles and Love Live Alive. Today, Harmony Gold is releasing Robotech: The Complete Set. For the elementary school kids of the 1980s, death in Robotech hit like the Red Wedding, swiftly and unexpectedly.Ĭarl Macek in 1985, seen with Leonard Araujo as they work on Robotech. The comparison to the HBO hit is warranted. “It's almost like Game of Thrones now,” says Tommy Yune, the Creative Director for Robotech at Harmony Gold USA. Robotech, though, was a far cry from Looney Tunes. Even Acme dynamite couldn't kill the characters we loved. The trauma of fiction sticks with you, even when you're an adult, even when you haven't seen the show in years.
Robotech was a show where people - good people, the ones we call heroes - died. Decades later, we drop reference after reference until someone darkens the mood. Robotech was quite unlike what we knew of the cartoon world, filled with action and romance and music. For those of a certain age, likely over 30, we might flash back to an animated, sci-fi drama that caught our attention in the middle of the 1980s. “Did I remember that right?” we ask as we chat in living rooms or bars. We'll rehash pieces of plot that are now only vague memories. Sometimes at night, when we're hanging out with friends, we'll start talking TV.