Customer Reviews

Robotech Remastered - Volume 4 Extended Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Macross Saga," released as Robotech Remastered volumes 1-3, was simply stunning. The restored video, restored and re-recorded audio, additional footage, new credit sequences, and other details made for one perfectly polished product. I was impressed that such quality could come from a 20+ year old series.

With "The Masters" (starting with this, Volume 4), Harmony Gold and ADV Films have dropped the ball. The picture and sound are certainly better than the original airing of 20 years ago. However, the video contains noticeable artifacts, and seems occassionally out of focus. The audio is somewhat flatter than volumes 1-3, and the new sound effects sound redundant. Every so often, the spoken dialog appears out-of-sync with the video. Furthermore, episode titles are *missing* from a random 50% of the episodes.

Not to mention, I totally agree with the previous review, regarding the lack of deleted footage beyond token nudity.

These issues are INEXCUSABLE for a "remastered" edition. Especially given HG's and ADV's apparent ability, from volumes 1-3, to produce a quality DVD product.

If you must have "The Masters" on DVD, then this is unfortunately your best option. Just be prepared for disappointment compared to the previous Remastered volumes.

With the exception of a certain number of films in the public domain, Robotech is easily the most released DVDs you'll ever see. First, we have the Legacy sets, which include a hit-and-miss set of special features to go along with the episodes in the series. Next came the individual episode discs from the Legacy collections. Then, it was three "complete saga" editions that put the Macross, Masters, and New Generation sagas in complete sets, minus any special features. And now, currently, we have the Robotech Remastered collections, which see the series restored and given a new 5.1 mix. However, since the Robotech edit decision lists have been lost, Harmony Gold decided to throw in some of the stuff that wasn't acceptable for TV in the mid-'80s.

Having been unimpressed with the "restored" video on the first Remastered set (which wasn't sourced from the exhaustive re-masters of Macross since rights to that footage belong to another DVD company), I was a bit wary of this set when purchasing it. However, thankfully, ADV *does* have rights to the restored Southern Cross (and Mospaeda, for that matter) video, so the video is much improved over the previous set I had purchased. However, there are some problems, many of which are very widely known, it would seem (at least based on the Amazon reviews).

Firstly, the 5.1 mix isn't all it's cracked up to be. While similar re-mixing efforts have been largely faithful to the original programs (i.e., merely boosting certain elements of the audio while creating a surround-sound effect), the re-mix on the Robotech Remasters is downright annoying in my mind. Also, title cards (which are new and improved over the original broadcast versions) are oddly missing in some episodes. I'm no fan of the Masters/Southern Cross-specific openings, as they seem more obsessed with hiding the more embarrassing aspects of the extremely dated Southern Cross opening (which also includes a character that never even appeared in the Southern Cross series) than creating the interest in the show that the original opening and the Macross-specific opening managed to excellently convey. Also, there are some artifacting issues, as well as some audio sych issues, implying that this set was hastily mastered to DVD. Finally, the extra footage this time around is nothing more than the restoration of Southern Cross' rather excessive nudity of Dana Sterling (Jeanne Francaix in the Japanese original)-a highly questionable move, truth be told.

While the video *is* excellent, owners of the prior Legacy box sets shouldn't be in a rush to sell off those collections for the Remastered sets. Even worse, with Dana's nude body as the only additional footage, one can't help but feel like a pervert if one expects to cheer for the much-hyped additional footage. Therefore, this set is best purchased by seasoned Robotech fans, with the corresponding Legacy collecion existing as the best choice for everyone else.

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

This volume covers the first half of the under-appreciated "Robotech Masters" saga following the adventures of Dana Sterling and the Earth Robotech Defense Force after the SDF-3 departs to the the world of the Robotech Masters.

Most of what made the original Macross great (great characterization, drama, action, and storyline) was present to a slightly less (albeit still satisfying) degree in Robotech Masters. A common complaint leveled against the series is that the characterization is "poor" and that only a relatively few characters (i.e Dana Sterling) have any depth. The only merit that I can find to this statement is that a few members of the 15th ATAC Squadron were not as fleshed out as other characters. This may be true in a sense, but this is looking at the glass half-empty instead of half-full. The larger cast of good guys in Robotech Masters meant that a smaller fraction (though not necessarily smaller number) of these good guys could be given screentime as major characters. In retrospect, even Macross had several "underdeveloped" characters. For instance, a full half of the members of the SDF-1 bridge (Vanessa Leeds, Sammie Porter, and Kim Young) are relative unknowns, with the viewer barely learning anything more about them than their basic military duties. Furthermore, exempting major characters, most of the Skull Squadron remain little more than anonymous wingmen throughout the series. Although Masters did have its fair share of lesser-detailed minor characters, there were more than enough interesting relationships in the fleshed out cast of "good guys" from Dana Sterling, Bowie Grant, Marie Christal, Nova Satori, Rolf Emerson, Sean Phillips, Commander Leonard, Zor Prime (and so on) to prove that the criticism about a "lack of characterization" in Masters is simply false. One just needs to cite Bowie Grant's internal battles between his military duty and his love of the piano, or his lovesickness for an "enemy" character, Rolf Emerson's constant battle of wills with Leonard, or Nova Satori's inner conflicts between following orders and friendship, to see just how incorrect such complaints are.

Similarly, the "bad guys" are also well-fleshed out. Unlike much of the third season, (and like Macross), the viewer is not only treated to the thoughts, motivations, and plans of the good guys, but with nearly every episode, we are given direct insight into the plans, thoughts, motivations, and fears of the enemy from both the standpoint of the military leaders and of the civilians. The enemy army doesn't come across as just big and bad random mecha patrols that serve little function other than to serve as antagonists to destroy at the end of every episode, but like the Zentraedi, several characters stand out as having considerable depth on par with some of the protagonists. Furthermore, inspite of the stern demeanor displayed by the main triumvirate of Robotech Masters, it was refreshing to see considerable screentime devoted just to their discussing of battle plans on how to best proceed against the Southern Cross. Seeing the Robotech Masters out-think Southern Cross was especially suspenseful, especially when only the viewer knew what trouble the unwitting good guys were getting into. All this was a nice contrast to the relatively little characterization given to the Invid in the first half of season three. With that said, it is this reviewer's opinion that the overall level of characterization in Masters actually exceeds that of New Gen (although less than Macross).


I also disagree on a common complaint that Robotech Masters had the worst mecha out of the 3 series.... Despite what may be said about the transforming hover tanks, to each his own, but I didn't think that Invid "giant purple crab" mecha was very original either. I'd much rather be caught in an AJAX or a Bio-roid anyday.

One thing that Masters had, that the other two didn't was that the bad guys actually WON sometimes! Robotech Masters wasn't scared to make the good guys lose every now and then. Up until the last few weeks of the war, the Armies of the Southern Cross had actually fared pretty badly in the larger battles. Aside from small skirmishes won by Dana's group, the Robotech Masters really proved their technological superiority, particularly in the larger space battles.

As for the purported picture/audio issues from some of the previous reviews, unless these problems have since been remedied, I found no such issues after watching most of Masters twice through. All in all, this was an enjoyable solid entry to the Robotech saga, and in this reviewer's opinion was the second best in the series (after Macross). To counter some of the unexpectedly low ratings, this reviewer gives this 5 stars instead of 4.4.

When I was a kid, I saw the original Robotech series and was instantly hooked to anime. It was the first anime show I had ever seen. I love Robotech, but the way Harmony Gold and ADV Films re-mastering it, they totally ruined it.

The originals were rated "G" and were great just the way the were. In the re-mastered versions, they added unnecessary deleted scene, basically all the nude scene that were deleted were put back making it a "PG-13." Those scenes didn't add to the story line or make it better, they were very pointless and avoidable.

The audio is defiantly superior and they redid some of the gun fire and explosions. But everyone seams to have the same problem with episode 27, and that is the audio slowly goes out of synch in the first half, and slowly goes out of synch again in the second half.

The new re-mastered are also more expensive then the originals. But that's to be expected because they are suppose to be better and newer. And in the end, the DVDs also have some trailers to other animes and shows from ADV Films.

These were hard to watch because they just weren't the shows I saw as a kid. I absolutely can not recommend this version even with the re-mastering. If you want to see what Robotech is really all about, check out the originals:

-Robotech - The Macross Saga - Complete Collection
-Robotech - The Masters - Complete Collection
-Robotech - New Generation - Complete Collection

Ironically, these are by far superior to the re-mastered editions.

Let me first say that I have watched the Southern Cross series on the old Harmony Gold VHS tapes, and liked it better. The only real improvement over the old VHS tapes is the picture and sound quality. The only new footage in the set is Dana in the shower - three times, and an up the dress shot when she is climbing. In the old VHS series, they did not have the episodes cut with introduction credit and comercial insert clips. I could live with these if I thought it improved the enjoyablity of the film experience,it dosen't. My advice is go with the old VHS tapes, the film is not cut and it does not have all the "extras" that are totally worthless in terms of story line.

As a longtime fan of the Robotech series I'm thrilled about these new releases. It's great to see the show again with the deleted scenes put back again and I can't wait for the rest of the series to be released.
The only drawback is on every episode they show the opening and ending with credits and such. Should have that just once.
Overall, a great DVD set and I recommend it to all Robotech or early anime fan.