Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2006) User Reviews

From something old, it tries to be too "new."

[edokun · 6/10 · 10 February 2007]

The last half of my "growing up" years included Robotech and I enjoyed the series. There was a style that I enjoyed and it helped me discover anime. Watching Shadow Chronicles does not fully capture that style and it is entirely a "Hollywood" production than something adapted and remade for a North American audience. For a newcomer to the anime scene, one would not suspect its Japanese origins unless one does the research or watches a behind the scenes documentary.

Production-wise, Shadow Chronicles borrows from what is now hip in the SF television genre scene—like the Battlestar Galactica 2005/6 style battle sequences and the CG replacing traditional cel animation / model elements. That is what distinguishes it from the original series. While there is nothing wrong with that, it does not lend well to a series that is trying to pick up from what was done 20 something years ago. Robotech Sentinels, ironically enough, does a better job of capturing that style.

a good effort wasted on fussy fans

[xamtaro · 7/10 · 13 June 2009]

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is the long awaited sequel to the Robotech franchise that started in the 80s. Its release was met with very mixed fan reaction and reviews ranging from amazingly awesome to downright terrible.

I am a "late comer" to Robotech, having only discovered the classic series recently thanks to dvds and youtube. My first impression was not a good one and only season 3 of the original series made me not dismiss it as overly dramatic, hyped up anime trash.

Robotech the Shadow Chronicles was entertaining but inconsistent. It is very obvious that there were different directors and writers working on different parts of the movie.

Story - The good points of the story was that it was easy to follow. It lent itself well to the setting of the movie. However, the creators make the assumption that the viewer already has a level of knowledge concerning Robotech since little time is devoted to flesh out the backstory, and this would tend to alienate new viewers.

Characters - A very varied bunch of characters with well defined personalities. Only the main cast gets any significant development though. Most of the characters are likable and the dialogue interplay between them fits very nicely. Their character redesigns are very attractive and still keep the essence of the originals. On the other hand, once again the creators assume that the viewer should have prior Robotech knowledge and thus character back stories are just glossed over.

Animation - Inconsistent in both the 2D and 3D. For the most part, the 2D art is a good balance between detail and animation fluidity. Vibrant colours complement the attractive character designs and smooth character movements. However the few animation short cuts used can be quite obvious and jarring and the "zoom in to face close up" shot is slightly over used. In the 3D department, there are scenes of amazing quality, like The shot where Scott Bernard is flying is Alpha Fighter toward the invid Hive to look for Ariel. Another well done 3D scene was the Haydonite mecha invading Space Station Liberty. The quality in those is equal to that of high production value anime movies like Sky Crawlers. However, at the same time, you get really shoddy 3D work like the invid mecha and the human space cruisers.

Choreography - I do not know if it was just inexperience, or that the directors were trying to be true to the original.......but the fight choreography of the space battles looked like they came straight out of the original 80s anime. This is not really a good thing since this is a 2007 production. In the original anime, to save on budget, mecha would zip across screen locked in a set pose, enemies would disappear in gaudy balls of flame and space cruisers exchange volleys of fire while making no attempts at evasive maneuvers, basically on screen movement of mecha and spaceships were kept to a minimum. Robotech the Shadow Chronicles continues that tradition. Mecha are locked in a set pose as they zip about screen, there is minimal mecha part movement, spaceships do disappear in gaudy out-of-place looking balls of flame.

All in all, Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles is a good effort by the creators. Especially since for most of them, especially the directors, this is their debut production. Perhaps their only mistake was continuing the mistakes of the original series. The sometimes campy dialogue, derivative music(the original robotech theme seemed ripped from Superman), limited mecha animation and inconsistent production standards were all carried over from the original series. Of course, this would spark the "keeping true to the original" debate again among fans.

I look forward to seeing the next installment of the Robotech saga but I do hope that the creators learn from the mistakes of the original series and Shadow Chronicles.

Pre-OVA Summary

[Fury9033 · 7/10 · 25 March 2006]

Shadow Chronicles is a relaunch of the US Robotech Animated TV Series.

The movie/OVA deals with events that accrued on last episode of its "third" series. A key character from old series, Scott Bernard, leaving his beloved "Marlene/Ariel" begin the search of giant warship named SDF-3. By joining the surviving ships of the Robotech Expedition Force to discover what happened to the Invid and SDF-3.

From what has been printed about this OVA, it is a modified story based on the Robotech novel "End of the Circle" which was suppose to be the completion of the original series in printed form.

This is the strongest attempt to produce a actual sequel to the series. Previous attempt, Robotech II: The Sentinels (1986) which failed to be completely produced due to production cost changes between Japan & USA.

Sentinels was published in Novel form as well in form of a successful comic book series till it was canceled in mid-90s by Harmony Gold.

Thou it is high quality, i do not think its as good as the original series. I know its tough act to follow. However, the CGI does not blend well with hand drawn animation.

Shadow Chronicles barely misses the mark -- SPOILERS

[the_zero_g · 7/10 · 7 February 2007]

I have been a Robotech fan from the very first moment I ever saw it back in 1985 or so after school on a rainy Tuesday. The serialized, multi-generational story of humanity fighting against several massive alien invasions of Earth was almost unprecedented in American TV animation and signaled a growing sophistication for U.S. kid's animation.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles takes place during the Battle of Reflex Point (at the end of the 3rd chapter of Robotech called NEW GENERATION -- specifically the series finale episode titled "Symphony of Light").

This film is supposed to represent the beginning of a possible/rumored new Robotech series that may see production within a year or two. As a film that serves as an extended pilot for a new series, Shadow Chronicles succeeds well, but as a stand-alone movie that is supposed to wrap up the various dangling plot threads from the old Robotech series and the novels, it fails miserably.

The film was advertised as a kind of final story that will wrap up the many, many loose ends from the original story like:

a) What happened to Admiral Hunter's fleet (SDF-3)? b) What happened to the characters from SOUTHERN CROSS who supposedly went to join the REF when Zor Prime blew up the Masters' ship? c) Where did the Invid Regess go when she left Earth? d) What was Scott Bernard going to do after leaving his friends behind on Earth after the Battle of Reflex Point?

None of this was really addressed. Shadow Chronicles is one of those rare projects that will only speak to the original fan base, but the producers still tried to catch new fans and get them interested in the series after the fact.

That is why I feel this movie ultimately fails. It tries to be too many things for too many people.

I enjoyed the animation, the writing was solid, and the action was furious and fun. Just like the original show.

But Shadow Chronicles spends too much time on repetitive fights, long explanations of obvious events, and doesn't fully explore what old school Robotech fans wanted to see: A RESOLUTION TO THE ORIGINAL CLIFFHANGER!

This film ends with another cliffhanger of sorts. And that will only frustrate older fans looking for closure.

barely nice movie. Could have been better. Nothing in common with the original

[r-c-s · 6/10 · 10 September 2008]

First of all the soundtrack...from Star Wars to Gladiator to Star Trek etc etc, they 'borrow' from many known movies, hence lack of originality. Many -if not most- ignore that the 1980s ROBOTECH was a series engineered from THREE DISTINCT, NON-RELATED Japanese series filmed at different points in the early 80s by TATSUNOKO. Americans created the brand, engineered a storyline and edited some bits to give barely passable coherence to the whole; it isn't hard to understand under close examination that Robotech-Macross, Robotech-Southern Cross and Robotech-Mospeada are distinct and not related: only a few design schemes recur (E.G robot/airplanes ). Still the 1980s Robotech was a very good series (Macross & Mospeada anyways ). This movie is another attempt to engineer a lively sequel, after the aborted tentative ROBOTECH SENTINELS (which by all means was much closer to the original ) and it succeeds to an extent. A series of comics (PRELUDE TO THE SHADOW CHRONICLES) have been published to bridge the gap between the original series and this sequel.

This is a barely nice movie: no more, no less: nothing to write a book about. CGI looks experimental and unfinished; women all look alike (like porn cartoon queens ). They take some important liberties with the plot ( E.G Marlene is an Invid, but the Regis' daughter is yet another character ), but it wasn't meant to be in close harmony with it to start with. I am glad I watched it, and will watch any sequels, but I wouldn't watch it a second time.

Who's an old sour puss?

[flieswithoutwings · 6/10 · 7 February 2007]

I have always been a Robotech fan. After seeing too many animated GI Joe characters parachute to safety it was nice to watch a show that respected that I could handle viewing a war-based cartoon where people actually died.

For "Shadow Chronicles," the movie-masters seemed to be serious about giving the Robotech fans what they want. Overall, the movie was okay but it seems like they missed some of the finer things that made the original show so endearing.

The first thing that fans like about Robotech is the Mecha. Jets that turn into robots = awesome. Motorcycles that turn into robots = awesome. Tanks that grow legs and hop around = not so awesome, and that is why season 2 is weak. I was excited to see cool Mecha in Shadow Chronies but was a little disappointed. The fighters and Cyclones are still cool and the alien ships are pretty cool but nothing AWESOME. The CG really could have been better in a lot of the scenes with vehicles.

The second thing fans like about Robotech, I believe, is the Drama. Like Rick Hunter innocently meeting Minmei and then being stranded with her in the depths of the SDF1. And it doesn't stop there... suddenly Minmei breaks into song, then they catch a giant space-tuna (just the head), then they rebuild Macross city INSIDE the ship... how about a beauty contest?... a trip to a lingerie store?... or aliens that spaz out every time they see a guy and a girl kiss? How about Yellow Dancer doing a strip tease to reveal that he's a dude in drag? Shadow Chronicles didn't seem to have any bizarre drama that the fans like so much. It was all battle strategy. I know that a lot of the quirky stuff derives from the original show being made from three completely unrelated Japanese cartoon shows but somehow, IT WORKED, and the model should be followed.

And how about more rock music? And an original NEW song? Chase Masterson has a good voice, I think she is up to the challenge.

There are people out here who want MORE Robotech. Overall, every aspect of this movie was at least OK. It's nice that fans of the show made the movie. It's nice that a lot of the original voice cast is back. This can be a good first step into an awesome new Robotech series. Keep it going and don't mess it up.

Disaster....not worth watching

[mamobac · 1/10 · 6 August 2007]

Wow. What an incredible cliché after cliché... You wait for 20 years and all you get is a complete rehash oh every SCI-FI cliché in the book...

Yet again the earth is fighting nasty aliens, with one dimensional forgettable characters...

Only this time the awesome(robotech) music score is not here. It is replaced with easily forgettable Star Wars alike score...

And on Top of that, we have the so advertized CGI. O dear that is THE worst CGI ever seen on film. I simply cannot find a comparable title.

What you will see is one cgi flaw after another, badly animated mecha,( almost not moving), Massive perfectly aligned fleets, moving all at the same speed..., horrible out of sync explosions..

The 2d characters were somewhat decent. They could use some more animation, but they look quite good.. Too bad all they have is their looks...

Over all a major desapointment. Most certainly not worth the money...

Great transition to a new chapter

[bet52003 · 8/10 · 22 February 2007]

Yes, I'm a Robotech fan from the 80's. But I can honestly say that I've long since forgotten most of the storyline and am not an avid anime watcher.

That being said, the movie immediately jogged my memory of where Robotech: New Generations had left off. It does not, however, lend itself to engage new viewers of the series since the main job of the movie, which is accomplished quite successfully, is to rekindle the nostalgia of the old movies while attempting to transition into the new storyline.

So yes, young kids who are watching Robotech for the first time probably won't equate this movie to say, Beauty and the Beast, because by design, the movie is not easy to pick up and watch. The movie is not a stand alone. There is no complete plot. It literally transitions from New Generations onto the Shadow Chronicles.

Numerous characters that fans will recognize pop up here and there. Shadow Chronicles does a masterful job of connecting the viewer to the characters since the protagonists they choose to follow are literally kin to some of our most beloved characters from the previous series.

The plot, although not quite seamless, does summarize the three-way relationship between Invid-Robotech Masters-Humans. It also introduces another element to the equation, dubbed the "Children of the Shadow." Although the movie does not fully explain who the "Children" are, you seem to get the feeling that all subsequent episodes will address this issue and go in-depth to detailing the Children's place and motive. Again, the plot is intentionally inconclusive so that it can eventually transition into perhaps a full blown series.

The animation is entertaining. Mixed usage of 2D and 3D CGI graphics are awkward at first, but blend in once the story unfolds. In fact, I found the CGI annoying at first, but after a while, I got used to it and actually found myself pleasantly amused. The one downside of the CGI is that I've seen better in a lot of movies and video games, so I do feel somewhat shortchanged. I don't want to be unfair by saying that it's not good, but at the same time you can tell that it's no Pixar production.

Ultimately, I will say that if you're into Robotech, you will probably enjoy this movie a lot. If you have no idea what Robotech is, you'll probably feel mixed, a little confused, but perhaps eager to find out more. Overall, the movie is entertaining if it's understood that it is not, again, a stand alone. And to its credit, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it and wishing that they would continue the saga just so that I can get myself back into the story and get some closure on the unsatisfying end to New Generations.

A pretty good effort after 20 years...

[squid_hills · 7/10 · 27 February 2007]

OK, first of all "Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles" isn't the Robotech you remember from your youth. Unfortunately, we will all just have to accept that the 80's phenomenon will never be fully recaptured. Too many of the original creators have moved on (or in one case died) for any new Robotech project to match the original.

Now, that said, R:TSC does a pretty good job of updating Robotech (while taking a few... um... liberties with certain story elements) to meet the more mature sensibilities of the returning audience.

Visually, the movie is a blend of 3D and 2D animation, with the 2D looking better than the 3D, but that may be down to the "Shadow Technology" effect on the REF ships that gave them a glossy sheen when a flat color would have looked a bit better (Scott's Alpha doesn't suffer from the glossy look, but it is only shown briefly). Glossy looks aside, its a visual delight to see Alpha fighters and Invid dogfighting in the space above Earth, with missile contrails and tracer rounds lighting up the screen. Robotech mecha battles haven't lost any of their visual appeal.

The characters look slightly more American-styled than Anime-styled, but given that Robotech was cobbled together out of 3 different TV series with 3 different styles of animation, fans should be used to that by now. And at any rate, they are more pleasing to the eye than would be expected, with the female characters' eyes being particularly expressive.

Returning characters are instantly recognizable, despite the copyright-induced makeover they have all received, with the exception of Rick Hunter, who is only recognizable (and only briefly shown) if you've seen The Sentinels. Admittedly, the breasts on Marlene/Ariel and Janice are rather larger than they should have been, but a buxom Maia is perfectly allowable in a character we have never seen before.

A delight to hear is the voice track; almost every returning character has their original voice actor/actress providing their voice again, with the notable exceptions of Ariel/Marlene and General Reindhart (but he was a minor character anyway, so lets not quibble).

Plot-wise things are a bit different... I don't mind visual re-designs, but some of the story elements that were altered grated on me a bit. Maia Sterling's existence is a bit of a shock, considering we've only heard of two Sterling children before. Given her advanced age, she feels shoehorned into the story to provide us with the obligatory Robotech female ace pilot. If her surname was different, she would'nt feel as out of place. The decision to completely disregard Ariel's status as a visual copy of Marlene Rush makes for a rather unbelievable sequence between her and Marcus. And Scott Bernard's decision to leave Earth is different than in the original series; then he was setting out to find Rick Hunter's lost SDF-3, here he is heading to REF HQ to tell them that humans and Invid can live in peace. He has also fully accepted his feelings for Marlene/Ariel, which is quite different from the original series, where he was still struggling with his love of Marlene/Ariel and his hatred of the Invid.

The decision to introduce a new enemy for the REF to fight was a logical one, since the Invid situation was resolved at the end of the original series, and a new enemy means that one doesn't have to jump through copyright hoops before putting them in a movie. However, the identity of that new enemy is fairly implausible, considering their goals are totally not in keeping with their previous portrayal in the Sentinels novels.

The tone of the movie is somewhat darker than the original series, with a little more than the usual Robotech death & destruction on hand, and a general feel of desperation that sets in about halfway through the film. Still, it does maintain the mature feel of what was always the most mature cartoon on American TV.

The conclusion of the film is one thing that disappointed me at first. If you come in looking to see Scott Bernard's quest to find Admiral Hunter, as any fan of the original series would be expecting, you won't find that depicted here. The ending of the film suggests that said search will be the driving plot behind an upcoming series, or another movie, however. So there's still the hope we will finally see Robotech's loose ends tied up, we just might have to wait a while longer. Though hopefully not 20 more years...

Mediocre. Call back Carl Macek

[stonecutter887 · 3/10 · 10 February 2007]

Shadow Chronicles is another attempt by Harmony Gold to capture the formula of the 1985 series. Sadly, it failed again. With the exception of the music and voice acting which was good in all Robotech productions including this, It can be said that they don't learn from their own past mistakes. In the past,they used to leave almost all responsibility to Carl Macek, the creator of Robotech. When that wasn't good at all, now they moved to another extreme. They left him almost completely out of the movie (he just was called as consultant) just to put to do direction, designs and story to a comic book artist called Tommy Yune with no experience at all in animated movies and what's worst, who wasn't involved at all with the original series. So, which mistakes did they make this time?

First of all, the story is again bad. Since the Robotech series they didn't manage to get real good writers for their productions. Second, they repeated a mistake we thought they had learned from, moving away from the original series continuity and making obvious ripoff of other series concepts and ideas. In the first scripts of the Robotech II movie, they replaced the writers for the second version of the script because they were moving away from the original series characters. This movie does the same, you barely see Rick Hunter, you don't know what happens to the 15th squadron and a bunch of other past generation characters and the old characters who reappears looks nothing like they were, to summarize it, you don't see anything that resembles more than the last generation of the old series as if they were trying to make a Mospeada sequel instead of a Robotech one. Moreover, they changed the series story again. Like a Robotech fan said on the internet "it looks like that kid game where children pass what the first said from one to another, and where the last tries to figure out what the first said". In the original series, Robotech was the result of Carl Macek (story concept), Robert Barron (director/writer) and the other original writers. Just a year after that, everything (direction, writing, story concept) was in charge of almost only Macek and just a couple of the original writers. Later it was Mc Kinney, the Waltrip brothers and now finally Yune. Since the original series no one has taken care of keeping the coherence and the flavor of the series story.

What other mistakes did they make now? They gave big breast to all women in the movie, and big muscles to all guys. There are no new mecha. About the animation, it looks like they were amateurs experimenting with the 3d & 2d mixing it badly. I truly can make better 3d than the cg in most of the movie, the veritechs, vessels, explosions, and missile and beams fire looks pretty bad most times, artificial, done without passion, with poorly textured mechas. Finally, they left out the science fiction feel the series had. A missile which exploded can create a black hole? yeah, right. If they would have the minimum knowledge and interest for science they'd know only the mass of a giant star can create a black hole. Why not giving magic sticks to the soldiers to turn the Invids into flowers then?

Watched it, Loved it

[Mr_Tym · 9/10 · 9 January 2007]

I really loved the movie and how it was written. It was scripted specifically for fans of the series who needed that empty void filled. I know many of you probably waited almost 20 years for this. As for myself I just finished the series in the summer and fell in loved with the series and cried at the ending or lack of.

I won't give any spoilers away but they do a good job of explaining whats happened so far and finishing it up. The new characters feel like they would fit perfectly into the Robotech Sagas. The art itself was really impressive, instead of going for the most glamorous visuals everything looked exactly like the original. Aside from a more detailed and clean picture the art itself resembles the show.

Well the release date is coming soon and I'm definitely gonna pick it up. For those who weren't fortunate enough to see a sneak peak, the wait is well worth it. Considering some of you have been waiting for as long as I've been alive (I'm 20)

Good but could have been better

[cpizanias · 7/10 · 10 January 2007]

I just wanted to start by saying that I grew up with Robotech and loved it as a kid and as an adult.

First what I liked about the movie: For a movie that is produced in the U.S. it still manages to feel like anime...it has corny jokes which almost feel like mistranslations...stereotypical anime characters...exaggerated women's bodies(which no one seems to ever notice)...cute anime expressions etc. The movie feels authentic as an anime.

The story is also pretty decent although confusing. I wasn't sure who the new enemy was...were they somehow related to the Robotech masters? A throw away line made me think that.

The voice acting was good. Mark Hamill and Chase Masterson were good as well as the rest of the cast. None of the voices were annoying or seemed out of place. The dialog was decent too.

The bad: The characters were meh. The only character in the movie that I cared about was Rick Hunter and they show him for a second and he's a really old man. Somehow Dr.Lang is still alive; he must be 120 years old. There's no Lisa. No Minmei. I believe that this is a rights issues with the original characters, but it is still disappointing.

The computer animation was pretty bad...so bad that they should have just stayed with hand drawings. I mean...why bother if it looks so bad? I think they were trying for 3D animations that still looked like a cartoon but it ends up making it look like 3D rendering from 1994 or something...very low quality.

The movie is basically a sequel to what I and many fans consider to be the weakest of the three series...the series with the Invid. Honestly, I would have loved it if they simply did a reboot....pretended the robotech masters and invid never happened and just continued with Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes vs. the Zentraedi.

I also hate how Robotech always has some sort of cliffhanger ending and this was no exception. Maybe that means they intend to make more and that wouldn't be bad.

LAME-- a big let down....

[contactdburns · 3/10 · 17 April 2007]

When Robotech was first aired--I recorded (vcr was all we had in them days, remember?) all three generations even though I didn't like the 2nd generation, Dana's Story, I recorded it anyway so I could have the complete set. It was fascinating---I was in junior high. Loved the drama, the action(people and aliens being killed), and the characters were likable and interesting---the way the stories were told--the dialog-- the visuals, animation--it was just bad ass. I felt like I was there and I couldn't wait to see the next episode. Now-a-days, I watch the DVD's of the series, and the characters are like old friends. When I heard this Movie was made, I was hoping to catch up with some of the old characters---like Rick Hunter, Max Sterling, Myria, Lisa Hayes, Lynn Minmei, Rand, Rook, etc. Didn't happen.

The only character you see is Rick Hunter when he mumbles a couple of sentences on a broken video transmission. Thats it. Maybe ten seconds of footage. Total rip off. Oh, and Scott Bernard w/Ariel(Marlene?). He didn't say a lot in the third generation, but he thought a lot--we could here his thoughts--not in this movie.

The new characters were lame. Dull. ALL of the females had large bulbous breasts. Taking away from the characters themselves I believe. Those boobs were too much of a focal point I believe. When I saw all that cleavage with no pay off nudity, I felt robbed.

The movie was set almost entirely in outer space which made it even more boring. Part of the allure of Robotech was the battles on earth's countryside and in urban environments.

In this movie, when aliens were killed or humans for that matter, they just disintegrated and disappeared----nothing like the series: when aliens were killed they may lose limbs or pieces and turn into bleeding carcasses. Same deal with the human deaths--you may see flesh burning off skin during an explosion---much more realistic. The point: no detail in the animation.

B+ for effort

[call_me-1 · 7/10 · 16 March 2007]

All in all I found that TSC was a fairly good production, nothing to rave about mind you but a nice effort non the less.

As I watched the show the fan in me leaped for joy but the movie enthusiast in me cried. Dialog was clumsy and stilted in parts, character animation was OK with the 2D parts actually looking better then the 3D and the story was hurried.

In the original series the mecha were fluid and moved as if they were alive, here the fighters looked... well like plain machines nothing special. There was no flair, no flash and the battle scenes were not inspiring.

One of the best features in this rendition of classic Robotech was that the ships weren't made of paper as was often the case in the original trilogy. The use of actual formations for battle groups lent an aura of believability and helped to reinforce the idea that it was an actual military op instead of a bunch of high-tech barbarians hurtling towards each other. I actually appreciated the fact that the capital ships kept their distance and attacked from range rather then get in to the thick of it.

Another aspect that I liked was how the characters of Bernard and Marlene/Ariel and developed. Scott is no longer the angry young man but more like a man who has seen enough death and wants no more of it. The hothead role is now passed on the Marcus Rush (org. Marlene's brother). The scene were the two meet up on the moon reminds me of the interactions between Rand/Lancer and Scott in the series but this time its Scott taking up the more rational less bigoted view.

Though there is little mention of certain other characters from the series I don't think this a bad thing, too many old faces would have diluted the story even more with each hero jostling for screen time. However on the flip side i did feel that the REF was composed of only about a dozen pilots. The vast expanses of corridors seemed empty and lonely. A few added extra's would have certainly spruced up some scenes.

By the end of it I felt that it would have probably been better approached a mini series instead of a feature. At least in that format the writers would have had more time to build up the characters and story. Somehow I couldn't shake the feeling that harmony gold were intentionally keeping the budget tight on this, probably not wanting to risk a huge amount of capital on reviving a long dormant franchise.

So with that in mind, i give this flick a 7 star rating. A must see for fans, A fairly entertaining spiel otherwise.

The best news from the remake of BATTLESTAR GALANTIC.

[stanley_scheinen · 27 March 2005]

I've grown up being fascinated by ROBOTCH. I loved everything about it and wished I could be living in that world. I suppose that's what all kids do.

Seldomly have I seen a animation series so well written, and casted and I've seen a great many. I simply don't understand what took HG that long time to make a new serials. So, this time please give us a real unforgettable festa.

And, as a personal suggestion, I hope the new Shadow Force can present more realistic storyline -- darker. If you ever seen the surgent response of new BG serials, you would understand what I am talking, it all based on tightly written scripts and a darker edge to a truly promising TV series. This is a Brilliant idea to catch old fans and also new audience, isn't it? I hope HG have realized this already.

Good to pass some time

[WeAreLive · 7/10 · 10 June 2022]

Picking up where the original series left off, Scott Bernard continues his search for Rick Hunter and the fate of the SDF-3.

I was kinda bored and I found this movie on the internet and i suppose it actually did it's purpose for entertaining me.

Fall short

[darkmax · 6/10 · 18 December 2007]

Perhaps Tommy Yune is trying too hard, but to me, it seems he and his team hasn't done quite enough.

It is refreshing to see Americans doing Japanese style CG-cell mix anime. There is little to complain about their first attempt at this, although there are plenty of room for improvements.

For those who criticize this movie as being lame, you obviously have not seen the Robotech series from the 80s. So shame on you to make such a comment.

But having said that, despite a huge budget and 20 years of over-selling the series, there is surprisingly little character depths. In fact I would go as far to say it expects the audience to be knowledgeable in the backgrounds of the characters.

The animation is satisfactory. I can find few faults. The only obvious disappointments, for me at least, are the way the starships exploded. A simple fireball covering each portion of the units is all, no breaking apart or little details like debris and sharpnels. Another would be the lack of detailed transformation of the fan-favorite Cyclones.

Anyway, in my humble opinion, this movie could have done well with another 15-30 minutes to emphasize on the characters' personalities.

I, too, am speechless

[tonicboy · 3/10 · 21 September 2008]

However, my lack of speech is more out of respect for the original series than anything else. As a long-time fan who grew up on Robotech every day after school, it is extremely hard for me to speak about the series with harsh words. And yet, that's what I feel I must do.

This movie is a prime example of why Americans (or maybe just Harmony Gold) should NEVER, EVER, EVER be allowed to do Japanese-style anime. To begin with, the plot is predictable, the dialog is terrible and the voice acting even worse. Seriously, the voice acting is worse than a bad dubbing job. However, even if all of that were true, at least there should be some great eye candy for Robotech fans, right? Really cool robots flying around, new aliens to gawk at, cameos from old characters, cool new armor, etc. Wrong, you get NONE of that.

The mecha in this movie is so utterly disappointing. On the Earth side, you get Alpha and Beta Fighters with a short scene with Cyclones. Not a single new mecha. Not only that, but the mecha are rendered in the worse CGI I have seen in decades. Simplistic models with no texture mapping at all (AT ALL!!), no cell-shading or any other advance techniques to maintain an anime-style feel. Just pathetic. On the Invid side, all you ever see are the standard Invid Troopers (they may even be Scouts, I didn't get a good enough look). For the "Children of the Shadow", you only get to see their mecha for about 5 minutes towards the end, and the mecha design is really primitive compared to Japanese designs.

Overall, it's hard to believe that this movie was made twenty years after the original series. If you watch the many sequels for series such as Macross, each one brings to the table advancements in animation, character and mecha design. The Shadow Chronicles is a step backwards in each of these areas. If you are super die-hard fan as I am, you will probably ignore this review and see the movie anyway, because you need to see for yourself. However, just be prepared to have your childhood memories ripped to shreds.

They got the characters right so it feels like a good fit with the original

[kelley-64 · 10/10 · 24 February 2007]

I just watched Robotech The Shadow Chronicles and was so entranced I almost forgot more than two decades had passed since I first watched the original series. Fan's of the TV show are well aware of its merits but I want to point out that there were some peculiar aspects of Robotech that I first found annoying but slowly grew to love. The main characters never seemed to have much common since and this was especially true where relationships were concerned. Sometimes they were so awkward I would actually feel upset and I was constantly thinking about what they should have done instead or what I would have done in there place. Sure it was the awesome giant robots and fight scenes that brought me to Robotech but it was this simple and honest approach to character development, this awkwardness that seemed so touching and personal, that sucked me into the show. I think it was unique back then and I think it's still unique today. It seems like a lot of the fans of the TV show are coming down pretty hard on Robotech The Shadow Chronicles but to me the most important thing about the movie was that the characters felt right. I think the production crew did a great job of making characters that acted like Robotech characters should. I will state for the record that I didn't read any of the books or comics and I had no idea that this movie was being made. As such I had no expectations when I saw the movie and this may be why I feel so much more positive about it than some of the other Robotech fans that have posted here. There were some things I didn't like but most of these can be attributed to budget limitations so I'm not going to complain about computer animation vs. cell art or modern anime styles vs. vintage. It sucked me in just like the series did and left me wanting more (there were many questions left unanswered in classic Robotech style.) I hope they will be able to continue making more movies and continue the story in the future.

Disappointing

[mislovato · 4/10 · 31 January 2007]

Having been a fan of the original series since I was a kid, I was very excited to hear about this sequel. I was also eager to see what happened after the conclusion of the last of the trilogy which most consider the strongest and darkest of the three. Unfortunately, I left the theater disappointed.

Overall the voice acting was good. It was reminiscent of the original series. The corny jokes and at times hokey dialog seemed right at place.

However the animation was disappointing. The computer graphics seemed very out of place. It was not integrated seamlessly with the traditional animation like other successful animated projects have done (Clone Wars, Appleseed).

Finally, the storyline was...well...boring. It was dull and confusing. It left me scratching my head as to what was going on and I'm an avid fan. I'm not sure what the unfamiliar viewer would think.

Again, a disappointing movie especially after so much online hype.

Loved it

[neonboy619 · 10/10 · 11 February 2007]

I don't care what anyone says, I love this new star. Notice I didn't call it a movie because a movie this is not. This a new start. Ariel, Maia, Marcus, Scott, Janice, Louie, Vince, Jean, everyone was awesome.

I have been a fan of Robotech for so long. I even remember walking around my middle school with a petition for more new episodes and for the entire release of the series on video.

My sisters and I used to get up at 4am in the morning to watch this on reruns. We loved this show.

When a sequel was announced, I was the first to be skeptical. I didn't want to the same thing that happened to the sentinels to happen with this series. (Sentinel's was canceled after 4 episodes were produced.) But I don't care really if this series never gets picked up, this little movie was just so satisfying. I love that it wasn't entirely clear of a lot of the plot points. It leaves it open for more.

http://neonboy619.blogspot.com

A lot of stuff we don't see in this movie: 1) Lisa Hayes 2) Minmei 3) Max, Miriya and Dana 4) Annie, Rand, Lunk, Lancer and Sera 5) Bowie Grant But we do see a lot of other things that are just as interesting: 1) Ariel (I have always loved this character and the direction they take her in was magnificent) 2) Scott Bernard (voiced by the original voice actor) 3) Jean and Vince Grant (Vince also voiced by the original actor) 4) Louie and Janice (now there's a couple I should have foreseen) 5) Maia Sterling (Dana's younger sister, Max and Miriya's other daughter) What makes a Robotech story for me personally are the themes of prejudice, race, and love of all kinds and I am so glad that these themes are dealt with in here. Back are the various love triangles: I was loving how Maia was getting jealous of the robotic Janice who seems to be getting the attention of all the boys on deck. I love Scott and Ariel's relationship and am anxious to see how it grows from here.

All in all, I think it's a perfect little film to watch and if you're a non-fan, it's still a pretty good watch as well. It's proof that every good end is also an awesome beginning.

A bad movie

[kakeruryu · 1/10 · 6 February 2007]

Where to start? Shadow Chronicles was a big disappointment. 22 years waiting for a new Robotech story to watch and this is what you get, a bad script, a bad story, bad character redesigns (Rick Hunter looks nothing like him, so does Ariel, Scott and Louie are recognizable but they got heavy bad redesigns too). The story is about the look of Admiral Hunter by the Expeditionary Force, and when all where waiting for him to be a main character of the movie he just appears a few seconds on a screen (and he looks nothing like him, did I already say that?) The animation is very bad in some parts, the character movements looks artificial, and there are parts where the 3d looks like made by an amateur 3d artist making a flash movie. Who to blame? Tommy Yune for the story, direction and redesigns, Ford Riley for the script, and Doctor movie and Harmony Gold in general for the delivered animation. The movie also lacked the real presence of Robotech's creator Carl Macek, who was only consulted and a few things. So was it all bad? No, there were some interesting battle scenes, the voice acting was good, and the music was just OK. Not too much for over 20 years of waiting.

What happens to a fandom when you let too many cooks in the kitchen...

[barriosk · 4/10 · 1 November 2007]

There is a good reason why JK Rowling will never let anyone else write official Harry Potter stories and why the Tolkien family are even reluctant to let people adapt movies of their stories. Let fan boys and fan girls get into the kitchen and you undoubtebly get one big fat mess where the fanboys try to rewrite history to the way "they" think it should have gone. For example, Scott Bernard goes from angry, bitter duty bound sourpuss to mellow and easy going. Some fans complained that Dana Sterling was too annoying to be the daughter of favorites Max and Miriya, so they decided to create a "perfect" version of their daughter in Maia Sterling.

Like Maia Sterling, characters here are two dimensional. They are either good guys we are supposed to root for or boo hiss bad guys. There are no flawed characters like Rick Hunter or Lisa Hayes who could drive you crazy but ultimately you want the best for them. There are also no "baddies" whose motivations you can sort of understand.

It doesn't help that the creators don't exactly have rights to the Macross characters that everybody knows and loves. That's why we have a completely unrecognizable Rick Hunter and no Lisa, Max or Miriya (and don't be surprised if Miriya has been bumped off. Exedore and Breetai and their loyal crew were killed in prequel comics and as Zentraedi is a Macross term, the Yune brothers seem to be getting around this issue by committing fictional genocide).

The plot is interesting although too derivative from Babylon 5 and Star Wars but hopefully in the sequel we get to see what Rick and co. have been up to. Because the SDF-3's been lost for some 20 years and I can't be the only fan who just wants someone to either find the damn vessel and move on or blow Rick and co. up and move on to other things.

I am literally Speechless!!!!

[Mantrix7 · 10/10 · 20 February 2007]

This is a great comeback for Robotech!!!!!even for new generations who had no clue the saga even existed, I'm sure that if the producers decide to give continuity to the saga, there will be a great outcome out of this plot; My only complaint is that it was too short, way too short to develop the story with more intensity, but at the same time it was action packed from start to finish; Trust me, You will not get bored!!!! To catch up with the plot I would recommend everyone to watch the New Generation Saga all over again and to read the comic book mini series: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles, as they will introduce you to the whole panorama seen in the movie; Then again I'm just a long-time fan from the original series and this movie made me re-live and recall the good times I had 17 years ago, Definitively a Must-see

The Lord of the X-Dreams

If you liked Robotech on TV, you will dislike this

[quibx · 3/10 · 20 January 2007]

Caught this at the Brattle theater the other night, and was sorely disappointed. The movie takes place at the end of the New Generation, with the raid on Reflex point. The story seems interesting, but unless you have read the novels, you will be lost on a lot of the major plot points. None of the characters look like their former selves, and the dialog is terrible. It was nice to see the Alpha fighters back in action, but the CG was absolutely dismal. If it had been cell-shaded CG, that would have been a lot better.

Another odd thing i noticed is how well endowed every woman was in this movie. I guess they grow 'em big out in space. It just seemed a little gratuitous.

It was nice to see Robotech on the big screen, but I can see why this took so long to come out.