Robotech: The New Generation

It is hard to rate this series as I have loved it since I was a kid, so it has a special place in my heart. The animation is decent for the time. Unfortunately there is no attempt to remaster at this price level. It is barebones, however, they do replace the opening credits with the original series credits, but shorten it to fit with the standard Robotech theme.As far as story goes, if you're reading this you've already seen this show. Each of the characters in the series are fleshed out nicely, even Mint, who is just worthless for the most part. Normally I do not latch on to the principal character as they tend to be the standard "goody goody" but not Scott Bernard. He has all the ear marks of a good leader, but he is too caught up in his deontology point of view to consider the other characters all too much. It's obvious he cares for them in his own way, but it struck me that he had a little too much of a machevellian viewpoint. That's my assessment 21 years later. When I first watched this show I was just happy Scott wasn't a pansy like Rick Hunter. I appreciated his sense of duty and his drive to fight for what he thought was right.The other characters are archetypical, just as Scott is, and the next in line as far as fleshed out was Lancer. However, the creators of Robotech made absolutely no attempt to mask his voice when he was dressed as Yellow. Even his singing voice sounds like a gravely dude singing it. Mospeada (the Japanese show this part of Robotech was based on--just in case you're a Lunk) just flat-out uses a woman's voice with mixed success.Everyone else is forgettable.I do wish they would have ended the series better, but considering the source, it ended as well as it was going to. Though, I wonder if Orguss might not have been a better show to end the Robotech saga with. We'll never know.This is a good kid friendly show (with the exception of one episode), though I wouldn't let a kid below 10 watch it. The themes in the show are a little more adult than would be expected. It is based on a Japanese show after all.

To begin let me tell you something about Robotech: Robotech was created by taking three Anime that were not in any way related (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada) and creating a single series - Robotech - from them. This is because back then there was a minimum length for shows to be aired on US-TV and Macross was too short...I must admit after watching "The Masters" my expectations for "Mospeada" aka "The New Generation" were not all that high. I was surprised!Mospeada has by far the best Animation of the three parts of Robotech but there are other things that set it apart.First this series hits a quite different tone than the other parts. Macross and Southern Cross (Masters) were all about a giant war between massive armies, including vast space and ground battles. Mospeada has such battles only in the beginning and in the end. The rest of the series focuses on a small band of freedom fighters with seldom more than a dozen Mecha involved in any single battle. Those small battles are masterfully done though. Unlike in Southern Cross and (to a lesser degree) in Macross, battle footage is almost never repeated. Choreography is nice and though each episode ends with the obligatory battle against the invid, every battle seems unique. (Even the recap episode had an own story!)The second high of the show are the characters! I've grown to like each and every member of the small band. They are given much time to develop, and though some episodes might be considered filler by some, you learn a bit more about one of them each time.Third the atmosphere: Macross and SC seemed a bit lacking in that department. You wouldn't have known how the characters felt, if the narrator hadn't (persistently) told you. In Mospeada you get the feeling of a small group, constantly hunted by overpowering forces right from the beginning, you feel the suspense when they are hiding from another invid patrol. Yes much of the time here is actually spent AVOIDING battles, which makes this show fell more real than the others.Finally Yellow Dancer has a much better singing voice than either Minmei or Dana Sterling!Differences between "The New Generation" and "Mospeada": Few that I could tell... For once the armada of the humans trying to reclaim earth does not return from deep space but comes from Mars. You can read "Mars base" written on some of the ships. I don't think there was an Admiral Hunter or a SDF-3 either in the original show.The "Invid flower of Life" probably doesn't exist either, but the references to it are few and far between and can easily be substituted with other things.Having its focus on a small group instead of the Big Picture probably saved the show from too drastic editing.

Robotech has always been one of my favorite tv shows of the 80's. The action was non-stop, the weapons were great, and the storylines for each episode, had you on edge. It takes it's place in the top 5 animated tv shows by far. I wasn't that into the 2nd saga, the Hover Tanks, driven by Dana Sterling. Not to say that it wasn't good, but it didn't grab me like the 1st and 3rd. Season 1, Rick, his big brother Roy, Lisa, and Lin Minmay, kept you coming back for more each week. The love triangle between Rick, Lisa, and Minmay, was some true soap opera stuff. Also, who could resist that tingle in your body when the jets went from plane,to guardian, to robot modes? C'mon , you couldn't! Season 3, awesome! Scott Bernard, Rand, Rook, and Yellow Dancer aka Lancer. Rook was indeed, the best on the team. That red bike she rides, had some off the hotest weapons. But I will not take away from the rest of the pack. Lancer pushed that blue bike to the limits. I loved how his wheel caps turned into hand blasters. This takes me back to 11:00am Sat. mornings 1987. That's back when EVERY local channel showed cartoons from 5am( starting with Bullwinkle & Rocky on ch. 2, ending w/ Looney Tunes Hour on ch. 7) to 12pm. Cartoons nowadays, don't have that rush of excitment, I mean the Nicktoons, are good, but kids today, will never have what we had. From G.I. Joe(80's) to Transformers( the original gen. 1), to Robotech, they gave the animated series the same type of audience that comes with your most watched reality show. Damn, I miss growing up.

I remember the first time I saw the bike transform into a mecha and how exciting it all was. This series is very different from its prequals since it is more a resistance setting than a military one.The story isn't as good as The Masters and the characters not as good as 'Macross'. Especially the little girl got on my nerves some times.But it is still a good story and if you've watched the other two series, you'd not want to miss this one.My reaction to this is lukewarm and I added to my colection more for completeness than anything else.

Delighted with my purchase. Fast delivery and great service. Highly recommended

Characters are a big zainy at first but do grow on you. As long as you watch this within the context of the decade it was written it will be enjoyable if you are a fan of the series.

Als Anime-Nostalgiker mag ich Robotech / Macross sehr gerne und habe mich sehr gefreut, dass man die Serie jetzt auf DVD bekommt.