Customer Reviews

Robotech Remastered - Volume 1 Extended Edition

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

With a stroke of success in the 80's, the Robotech: Macross series still has a place for many fans today and shares a strong cult following. Being a fan of the series as a kid, I decided to buy the whole Robotech: Macross series, but I came across the overwelming amount of editions to the series. I didn't know which to buy, so I watched them all. Here are the differences between to different boxsets (all offered through Amazon):

Robotech: the Complete Macross Series
One Boxset: 6 disc

Sells for around $60-$65
Nothing special, picture quality is not great, but bearable. Comes in one compact boxset with all the disc in it. Would not reccomend getting this edition unless you just want a copy of the series and want to spend the least possible amount of money.

Robotech: The Legacy Collection: Macross Saga (Collections 1-3)
Three Boxsets: with 3 disc in each
Sells for around $40 each boxset, entire set around $120-$130
Same picture quality as the above set, but with addtional features. Comes with the most extras out of any current sets, but even then, they are so-so. I would actually recommend getting the above edition as I was not impressed with the extras, some were interesting, but it definately didn't justify the price. Your paying almost twice the price.

Robotech Remastered: The Macross Saga (Volumes 1-3)
Three Boxsets: Two disc each boxset
Sells for around $25 each boxset, entire set around $75-$80
Remastered picture quality superior to both sets above, sound quality much improved. This is the set that I would recommend. The price is affordable and well worth the extra money compared to the first set. Also includes a few bonus footage.

Macross: Super Dimensional Fortress (Sets 1-3)
Three Boxsets: Three discs each boxset
Sells for around $60-$70 each boxset, entire series around $180-200
Macross is the original Japanese series of the Robotech: Macross Saga. The storyline is slightly different with different music and sounds. When it was brought to the US, Harmony Gold added the Macross material with two other Japanese series to make Robotech. Macross is more "mature" and includes several scenes taken out of Robotech. Picture quality is even more crisp than the Remastered Series. I would reccomend only to die-hard Robotech fans. It's pretty expensive and lacks really any real extra features.

Well for starters I'm a total Robotech fanatic (as if my alias didn't say it) so I have purchased the Remastered and the Legacy collection DVDs. I must admit at first I was skeptical about getting these as I really had no reason to since I already owned the whole collection. Then I kept reading that the difference wasn't that great. Guess what? Those reviews are one of 2 things. 1) Wrong or 2) those people watch TV on small TVs. The Legacy collection while already complete and having the bonus material looked horrible on my 53" which was rather upseting once I bought the TV. But I just received the Remastered DVDs a few days ago and the difference is absolutely unbelievable. The colors for starters are much sharper and brighter. The quality just looks more like something that should be on DVD while the Legacy looked just like the original airing, which looks like VHS quality(fuzzy). Besides those upgrades it looks fantastic on my 53" Widescreen which the Legacy did not (I had to set it to 4:3 to make it bearable). And to top it off a 5.1 Surround Sound upgrade. Life is good. I would recommend this set to anyone who loves Robotech. And for those who don't care about the extra features or who are trying to decide between the 2, I'd say go Remastered! Especially for those w/ big screens.

I strongly recommend that you read through some of the positive and negative reviews here before buying this "Remastered Edition" of the Harmony Gold Robotech series. If your thinking this is going to play exactly how your memory of it is when we beat it home from school back in the 80's to catch this great show on tv, FORGET IT. This is a jazzed up version, well intended probably, but unnecessary IMHO. I was very impressed by the show when it came to America, I even went to a Robotech convention back in the day, met Carl Macek, had a Robotech t-shirt, stuff, etc. I wanted the preservation of the show as it played, as I remembered it, with the same opening, etc. That is why I bought all the first issues of Robotech on dvd with the arrival of the "Legacy Collection" box sets. Later, they were re-released without the fancy extra special features discs. That second release is known as "The Complete Collection" series. That is the one to get if you want things as they originally were shown without any tinkering around. I recommend getting it while you still can. This new release is a tinkered around version and another way for the film company to get more cash. Granted, there are pluses and minuses to this new tinkered with the series, but I'd recommend it for the serious collector only. The original series as shown and as released on dvd holds up just fine and is spectacular. Don't be deceived about that. It's great. And, when tinkering around with sound and visuals with a series this old, it can be rather difficult to make the tinkering not stand out. If it works, don't screw around with it. The Harmony Gold vision of Robotech works just fine as originally aired and released to dvd.

Though I'm a little miffed that I have to shell out another $20 per set after buying the complete original three series, I welcomed this remastering and have not been disappointed- mostly. The sound is vastly improved (good bass and some decent use of the surround channels) and the video, while not perfect, is leaps and bounds better than the original DVD and TV offering. It has bright colors and remarkable clarity, but there are compression artifacts from time to time. Another minor annoyance- the original box sets included a third disc of bonus material. These sets do not include those. It isn't worth rebuying these unless you want the best possible quality video available or if you don't have the originals.

The main Amazon review is on the mark.

The basic differences between this release and the previous DVD release.

Picture:
1. Video has been improved especially the removal of grain in the picture but overall lacks the look of a "remaster".
2. A couple of seconds has been added to a few episodes, this is not the full uncut Macross.
3. This is not the Macross remastered edition, the picture quality is very much lower than that true remaster.

Audio:
1. There is a 5.1 sound track now, but don't expect a master piece, just a few extra sounds thrown in.
2. The Special effect sounds over power the vocal and music tracks making it hard to hear the spoken words at quiet levels.
3. The Special effects have been redone and sound worse than the original. Crappy laser sounds for lasers in the original now sound like crappy machine guns.

Overall if you have the original DVD's don't bother with it and remember the original. If your new to Robotech and value Picture quality over correct sounds balance then you may wish to consider this.

If your like the rest of the Robotech followers you will wait for the Robotech Ultimate remastered collection, (they say it will not happen, but they said Robotech would never be remastered as well)

Yes I did purchase this 2 DVD Box with 12 episodes. Yes from what I can tell a lot of the seines are extended and a few new ones that I have never seen. Yes you get the fantastic 5.1 surround sound. But one thing that broke my hart is that, the video quality still looks worse than a VCR tape. I have tried all of my video settings and was still not impressed. You think when they say "Remastered" they would also digitally improve the video quality. Well they have not from what I can tell.

So if you have never see Robotech, GET IT! It has a good story line, and action seines. If you already have the previous DVDs, you might want to barrow this set from a friend if you really want to see the extended seines.

And that is my two cents.

I'm new to Robotech. I remember watching it as a kid, but not a whole lot. So I had to go from the start. And I'm a guy who's always confused when looking at anime series because of all the volumes, series, sub-series, movies that take place between certain episodes and sub-series, editions, special editions, etc etc etc. Often it just makes me turn away and look for something else to watch.

But this Robotech Remastered came out and it plainly says it contains episodes 1 thru 12. It was clear that this is the start and it's a new and supposedly extended edition. And this was $17.99 at Target(check your local Target first, heheheh) so I was like "hey alright, I'll do it!" and I bought it.

So I'm not a guy who's seen earlier DVD editions or read Macross comics or learned the Japanese language just to understand the original dialogue or whatever. I just want to buy a DVD or DVD set and enjoy it. And that's what I did with this one, and for what it is, this set is great.

Animation quality is old looking of course, but I got used to it. It clicked with me. I laughed as Rick Hunter was caught in the lingerie store and called Lisa a "sourpuss." Exploding ships and laser battles were fun to watch. An entire city inside a gigantic space ship? Alright, works for me. Dialogue was easy to hear and understand. Character interaction and development was cute but intelligently done for its time.

Again, I know there are Robotech "purists" and whatever and I haven't seen all those other editions out there nor do I want to devote that many hours and dollars just out of curiosity. I from what I learned about this sort of thing, I see that people are looking for the definitive version, edition, or whatever you wanna call it. And often it's just up to each person's opinion and what works for them. And this Remastered edition of Robotech works for me. Maybe I'll see the "The Complete Collection" that was mentioned in an earlier review later on and like it better. Who knows. But I like this one and I'm planning on getting volumes 2 an 3. I didn't see them at Target so I guess I'll get them on the next best place, amazon.com :-D

In order to appreciate this release, you have to know what went into making it possible.

For those NOT in the know, independent US Anime Distributor AnimEigo (with the cooperation of North American Macross distribution right holder Harmony Gold) conducted an EPIC and PAINSTAKING restoration of the original UNCUT Japanese Language/Soundtrack Macross TV series from the original 35mm Film Masters that Robotech's Macross Saga was based on and then released this MASTERPIECE on 9 DVDs.

The Macross release was then followed by a DVD release of the UNCUT Japanese Language/Sountrack version of the Southern Cross and Mospeada TV series which made up the second and third arcs of the Robotech storyline respectively.

On the 9 DVD AnimEigo release, there was the option to play the Restored Japanese Language version of Macross DVD's without the sound.

This curious feature led many of us to suspect that Harmony Gold agreed to the AnimEigo funded and conducted restoration because they had already secured the right to use the finished product of it and because they had always/secretly/eventually intended to do a Special Edition Robotech release which would take the form of Robotech Re-Mastered.

This hypothetical release would likely be created using the restored video masters synchronized with the US English Language/Robotech Soundtrack which was composed by Ulpio Minucci. It would also likely include the extra deleted original footage which had been deleted from the original Robotech TV series because of concerns over continuity, length, and content back in the 80's when Robotech first came out. As it turns out the original audio master tapes had been destroyed in a freak flood accident but a recently discovered back-up gave Harmony Gold the missing piece of material they needed to do a full audio merge with the restored Macross TV Series making Robotech Re-Mastered possible.

With the release of these sets, our suspicions have been confirmed and Robotech fans everywhere can rejoice and dance in the streets!

The reason that the image quality isn't quite as good in this release (Even though it came from the EXACT same AnimEigo Restored 35mm Film to Digital Video Master!) is because Harmony Gold has squeezed MORE episodes onto each disc (6 as opposed to 4!) INCREASING the amount of compression necessary to pull it off. The AnimEigo release has 36 episodes spread over 9 discs (The best space-use/image balance possible!) and the ADV release will have 36 episodes spread over 6 discs so you can do the math on image degradation due to the compression.

The results with the increased compression actually aren't bad at all, especially, considering how wretched the original Robotech Series looked both on TV, VHS, Laserdisc, and the initial DVD release as much as we loved it.

For those who want to appreciate the level of restoration they were able to do and also understand the Macross TV series as a stand-alone release before it was spliced into Robotech, the AnimEigo set is still the best one to own and it is available for order from Amazon and AnimEigo and the Robotech website.

One must wonder why they just didn't just go 9 for 9 on the number of DVDs utilized in this release. My suspicion is that they were either feeling cheap or they wanted fans to be able to replace the two intitial release DVD's that came with each Legacy Box Set 2 for 2. A better strategy would have been to follow the Animeigo 9 for 9 approach and then release a special case for the Bonus Discs.

The credit text and organization are a vast imrovement and the "new" opening credits are just the original Macross TV Series opening credits with the new Robotech Credits. They have added A LOT of improved and way-cool weapon and ship's systems sound effects which adds a level of believability to the action. For instance, the SDF-1 take-off, transformation, and bridge scenes all have techno-sounds which make them feel more real then before.

The original US version of the credits was more integrative for the combined series -- Though the credit text looked cheap and awful! -- but this is a fun alternate version although seeing Lisa Hayes (Misa Hayase) tossing her hair like she is in a Pantene Commercial looks pretty dumb considering how serious the character was most of the time.

Another thing that doesn't make sense (And blame for this goes to Tatsunoko because they designed the credits!) is that the SDF-1 is shown firing its Main Gun while flying through the upper atmosphere in cruiser mode using it's gravitational control system which NEVER happened in the original series and which would have been IMPOSSIBLE given the limitations of their reflex furnace power, their gravitational control system's requirement for standby booster support while in cruiser mode and within Earth's gravitational field, and the disappearance of the fold system which rendered the Main Gun inoperative while in cruiser mode.

Anyway, ADV and Harmony Gold could have given us a slightly more Royal Treatment, but, considering all the hard work they have done, considering how badly we all wanted the Restored Version/Deleted Scenes to be paired with the US Music and Vocal Soundtrack and to have it all come together in this life, this version, and the Southern Cross and Mospeada versions that are going to follow, are going to be a welcome addition.

Well done, ADV, AnimEigo, and Harmony Gold, well done!

First of all, sorry because of my poor english but my native language is spanish.
I'm 30 years old and i recall when as a child a was shocked because of a series that was promoted in TV and became so different in many aspects to the rest...and that was ROBOTECH!. I just was amazed because of the script, the battle scenes, the "Varitechs" transformation, Cmdr. Focker's dead, Rick Hunter-Lisa-Minmay love triangle, Max Sterling vs Miriya battle scene and of course that lovely songs.
Now, after 20 years, i decided to purchase those DVD`s (the first 03 Remastered editions)and i dont know what to say....i think just THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH to the producers because the released this series that meant so much for people like me that grew up with every single friday waiting for the next chapter.
I spent the whole sunday looking at those videos and it was like being 10 years old again. Every single scene that i though i forgot just appeared in my mind again and again...
I know the quality is better than years ago and i know that for today's standard could be consider as OLD but i think that no matter how much time could pass, ROBOTECH is (and will be) the series that i will recall the most.

I strongly recommend these DVD's....a real fan will love them as i think many people do.

Compared to the previous washed-out and blurred DVD editions of Robotech (blue boxes, etc.) this version is a far better reach of quality. The picture is bright and the colors are fully saturated. The 5.1 surround sound gives you an almost theatrical experience from the later days of mono audio. Though, I did notice newly added sounds to some of the effects and such, but it only adds to the viewing experience. I highly recommend this remastered collection!