Space Station Liberty Robotech/Anime TalkShoe Live Talk Show and Podcast

<BODY SCROLL="auto" BGCOLOR="#C0C0C0" TOPMARGIN=0 LEFTMARGIN=0> <p>Space Station Liberty is a TalkShoe podcast, or talkcast, devoted to reporting Robotech news—including the new Shadow Chronicles movie—and interviewing Robotech guests live on the air for the benefit of the fans. It is also intended to cover anime in general.</p> <p>Guests have included Harmony Gold representatives such as Tommy Yune, and prominent fans such as Peter Walker. There are also shows without guests, that serve mainly for discussion of Robotech and related fandom.</p> <a href="http://www.robotech.com">Robotech</a> was one of the first anime released in the United States that largely managed to preserve the complexity and drama of its original Japanese source material. Produced by Harmony Gold USA, Inc. in association with Tatsunoko Prod. Co., Ltd., Robotech is a story adapted with edited content and revised dialogue from the animation of three different mecha anime series: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. Harmony Gold's cited reasoning for combining these unrelated series was its decision to market Macross for American weekday syndication television, which required a minimum of 65 episodes at the time (thirteen weeks at five episodes per week). Macross and the two other series each had fewer episodes than required since they originally aired in Japan as weekly series. This combination resulted in a storyline that spans three generations as mankind must fight three destructive Robotech Wars in succession over a powerful energy source called "Protoculture": * The First Robotech War (The Macross Saga) concerns humanity's battle against the Zentraedi, a race of giant warriors who are sent to earth to retrieve the flagship of the Robotech Master Zor. The ship contains the last known source of Protoculture in the universe. * The Second Robotech War (The Masters) begins when the creators of the Zentraedi, the Robotech Masters, attempt to take up where the Zentraedi left off and capture the protoculture held within the remains of the SDF-1. * The Third Robotech War (The New Generation) occurs after the alien Invid have been alerted to the existence of Protoculture on Earth by events that transpired at the end of the Second Robotech War. The planet is conquered, then enslaved and it is up to the Robotech Expeditionary Force to retake their ancestral homeland. * ADV Films, the largest American distributor of anime, began releasing the entire series on DVD in 2001, typically with six episodes per disc. The first box sets of the series (dubbed the Robotech Legacy Collection) included extra discs with special features ranging from Robotech II: The Sentinels to pre-Robotech dubs of the first Macross and Mospeada episodes. Complete collection box sets were also released, containing all the episodes of each of the 3 Robotech sagas minus the extras discs. o The restoration of the original Japanese Macross TV series led to speculation among fans that the remastered footage could also be used to create a similarly-remastered version of Robotech. However, Carl Macek stated that a remaster would be impossible at the time because they lacked the necessary source materials, including edit decision lists, unmixed audio elements, and restored video elements for Southern Cross and Mospeada as well as Macross. Some of this (the audio elements and edit lists) had been destroyed in a flood in the late 1980s; some of it (remastered footage for the other two series) had never been available to begin with. But in 2002, a set of off-site audio backup tapes was discovered to include the missing audio elements, and in 2003 ADV delayed its release of the subtitled Southern Cross and Mospeada series by several months in order to remaster them as well. With the remastered footage and audio elements available, ADV was able to forego needing the edit decision list by commissioning the same video production company that had originally edited Robotech to create a new edit of the show. Robotech: Remastered included the restoration of some scenes previously cut from the original Robotech release to conform to broadcast standards and broadcast length requirements, new opening/ending sequences, 5.1 Dolby surround sound with rerecorded sound effects, and new eyecatch sequences. o Robotech: Remastered is not without its share of controversy. Some fans were upset by the reversal of ADV's position on a remastered Robotech, feeling betrayed because they purchased the expensive Legacy Collection during the time ADV was insisting that there would be no remaster and this would be the best way Robotech would ever be seen on DVD. Other fans feel that the new 5.1 mix is overly loud and lacks subtlety; they prefer the unremastered version of the series because it represents the Robotech that they love and remember as it first aired on television without the distraction of new sound effects. Also, the extent of the new footage is limited to sequences that did not require newly recorded dialogue (though other cut scenes are included, in the original Japanese, on one of the Legacy Collection extras discs). The video quality suffers slightly by comparison to AnimEigo's Macross DVDs: ADV includes 6 episodes per Robotech disc to AnimEigo's 4 per disc of Macross, meaning that more compression is necessary and therefore more compression artifacts appear. However, there is little question that the audio and video quality are substantially improved over the prior Robotech DVD release, and Robotech fans would likely prefer having had two different DVD versions released than none at all. o In 2003, the original Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada series were released on DVD in their original Japanese language by ADV Films. o Finally, in 2005, ADV released yet another box set, Robotech: The Protoculture Collection, containing all the Robotech: Remastered DVDs plus the seven extras discs from the Legacy Collection in one thin-pack box. Detractors criticize these DVD re-releases as part of an industry trend to entice buyers to "double-dip," or buy more than one edition of the same DVD. o Nevertheless, ADV Films announced at Anime Expo 2005 that they would be creating an uncut dub for Macross, with the original Japanese voice actress Mari Iijima reprising her role as Minmei. This release has been completed, with the first volume being released on January 10, 2006, and the final volume being released on December 19, 2006. English cast * Robert Axelrod (as "Axel Roberts") - Rico * Robert V. Barron - Admiral Hayes * Bill Capeze (as "A. Gregory") - Robotech Masters, Konda * Frank Catalano (as "Anthony Wayne") - Rand, Bobby, Dennis Brown * Cam Clarke (as "Jimmy Flinders") - Max Sterling, Lancer * Tony Clay (as "Jonathen Alexander") - Breetai * Mary Cobb (may be a pseudonym) - Annie * Lara Cody (as "Deanna Morris") - Kim, Jason * George C. Cole (as "Paul St. Peter") - Zor Prime, Corg, Romy * Andre L. Cornelllarry (as "Larry Abraham") - Bowie Grant * Richard Epcar - Ben Dixon, Grel, Lunk * Greg Finley (as "Guy Garret") - Henry Gloval, Leonard * Rebecca Forstadt (as "Reba West") - Lynn Minmei * Eddie Frierson - Lynn Kyle * Barbara Goodson (as "Shirley Roberts") - Marie Crystal, Sera * Melora Harte (as "Chelsea Victoria") - Musica * Alexandra Kenworthy (as "Celena Banas") - Azonia, The Invid Regess * Steve Kramer (as "Drew Thomas") - Angelo Dante * Ted Layman (as "Leonard Pike") - Exedore * Wendee Lee (as "Wendee Swan") - Vanessa * Susie London - Rook * Melanie MacQueen (as "Aline Leslie") - Lisa Hayes, Marlene, Ariel * Michael McConnohie (as "Jeffrey Platt") - Rolf Emerson * Kerrigan Mahan - Sean Phillips * David Millbern - Louie Nichols * Edie Mirman (as "Penny Sweet") - Miriya / Nova Satori * Iona Morris (as "Brittany Harlowe") - Claudia Grant * J. Jay Smith - Narrator * Mike Sorich - Sparks * Melissa Newman - Dana Sterling * Tony Oliver - Rick Hunter * Mike Reynolds - Dolza, Senator Russo * Gregory Snegoff (as "Greg Snow") - Khyron, Fredricks, Scott Bernard, Dr. Lang, Mayor * Sandra Snow (may be a pseudonym) - Sammie * Dan Woren (as "Don Warner") - Roy Fokker * Thomas Wyner - Jonathan Wolff Original Spanish cast * Patricia Acevedo - Lisa Hayes, Sammie Porter, Nova Satori, Musica, Annie Labelle, Sue Graham * Raul Aldana - Maximilian "Max" Sterling * Yamil Atala - Bowie Grant, Rand * Jesus Barrero - Rick Hunter, Lynn Kyle, Sean Phillips, Scott Bernard * Eduardo Borja - Breetia * Rocío Garcel - Azonia * Sylvia Garcel - Lynn Minmei, Kim Young, Marlene / Ariel * Monica Manjarrez - Dana Sterling, Rook Bartley * Moises Palacios - Roy Fokker, Khyron, Konda * Rocio Prado - Vanessa Leeds * Jorge Roig - Exedore * Martin Soto - Lancer / Yellow Dancer, Rico * Alvaro Tarcicio - Henry Golval, Lunk, Bron Executive & creative staff * Ahmed Agrama - Executive Producer * Jehan Agrama - Associate Producer * Debbie Alba - Dialogue Director * Robert V. Barron - Supervising Director / Writer / Dialogue Director * Ardwight Chamberlain - Writer * Greg Finley - Writer, Dialogue Director * Kent Hayes - Production Manager * Jason Klassi - Writer * Steve Kramer - Script Editor / Writer / Dialogue Director * Carl Macek - Producer / Story Editor * Mike Reynolds - Writer / Dialogue Director * Gregory Snegoff - Script Editor / Writer / Dialogue Director * Tao Will - Writer Production crew * Jorge Allia - Transfer, * Leonardo Araujo - Recording Engineer * George Bours - Recording Engineer * Guillermo Coelho - Video Tape Engineer * John Reiner - Recording Engineer * Bryan J. Rusenko - Chief Engineer * Eduardo Torres - Recording Engineer * Gerardo Valdez - Transfer * Joel Valentine - Final Re-Recording Music staff * Michael Bradley - Composer / Songwriter / Lancer's Singing Voice * Alberto Ruben Estevez - Music Composer * Ulpio Minucci - Composer / Main Theme * John Mortarotti - Music Editor # Arlon Ober - Composer / Arranger / Songwriter # Reba West - Minmei's Singing Voice # Thomas A. White - Executive Music Producer Robotech: <a href="http://www.theshadowchronicles.com">The Shadow Chronicles</a> is the 2006 animated sequel to the 1985 Robotech television series. At Anime Expo 2004, Harmony Gold USA revealed that Robotech: Shadow Force was in production to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Robotech in 2005. The name of the new story arc was soon changed to Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and the film was not completed until January 27, 2006[1]. This project was initially met with skepticism from the fan community due to Harmony Gold's spotty track record of completing Robotech sequels and spinoffs in past decades. The first teaser trailer debuted to considerable applause at Anime Expo 2005. [citation needed] An official trailer was more recently released on The Shadow Chronicles website during the NATPE conference, a broadcast industry trade show. Harmony Gold has planned several film festival showings, but FUNimation delayed a possible wider theatrical and DVD release until at least 2007. [2] Recently, a new release date has been set for February 6, 2007. [3] The storyline is described as a direct continuation from the 85th (and final) episode of the original Robotech television series, and perhaps also The Sentinels in an indirect way. The main plot seems to revolve around the Robotech Expeditionary Force's search for the missing Admiral Hunter and the SDF-3, but there are reports of a new adversary behind the scenes. Pre-release animatics and teaser trailer footage indicate that the production is a mixture of 2D animation and cel-shaded CG mecha animation. Though the involvement of original Japanese studio Tatsunoko Productions seems to be limited to early development, the actual digital production of animation is being handled by the Korean animation company DR Movie, whose credits include subcontracting on the in-between animation in Macross Plus and the in-between animation of Yukikaze. Co-director Tommy Yune said in a Newtype USA interview (republished on the official Robotech website) that the producers "consulted extensively" with Kenji Terada, a writer on Southern Cross and Mospeada (two of the three series adapted into the 1985 Robotech series). DC Comics. Wildstorm label released Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles, a comic prequel series bridging the end of the aborted Sentinels storyline to The Shadow Chronicles. Each of the issues features a "behind the scenes" article about the animation production. Release status Region 1 Theatrical Kevin McKeever, operations coordinator at Robotech.com/Harmony Gold, confirmed at the New York Comic-Con in February 2006 that the movie had been completed, [4] but that earlier discussions with a potential distributor had failed due to contract terms that Harmony Gold considered unfavorable. [5] McKeever posted an FAQ regarding these issues on Robotech.com's forums. [6] The finished film was screened theatrically for the cast and crew on March 8, 2006. Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles was shown for the first time in its entirety outside of Harmony Gold at the Cannes Film Market on May 22, 2006 in the Grey One Theatre to an audience of distributor representatives and staffers. According to Robotech.com, the audience reportedly cheered at the end of the screening. [7] A number of independent film festivals screened the film during the summer and fall. [8] It was awarded Best Animated Sci-Fi Feature at the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, although it was the first animated feature ever shown in this Arizonan festival's history. [9] On December 21, Kevin McKeever announced the first round of theatrical viewings of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles in January 2007. [10] DVD On July 22, 2006 at the Comic-Con International, FUNimation Entertainment announced that they had just licensed the home video, broadcast and theatrical rights of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles from Harmony Gold. Harmony Gold and FUNimation issued a joint press release with a November 21, 2006 DVD release date, but have since delayed the release until 2007. [11] A new release date of February 6, 2007 was reported from FUNimation on November 4, 2006 [12]. As of late January 2007, retailers who do not observe the stricture of street dates for anime DVDs [13] had begun selling it to consumers [14]. The Region 1 DVD has the following features: * Animated menus. * Anamorphic widescreen transfer. * English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby surround; closed-caption subtitles. * 45-minute featurette: Robotech: Birth of a Sequel. * Trailers for Shadow Chronicles and other Funimation titles. Other regions Madman Entertainment in Australia were the first international distributor to license Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles for release, annoucing that they had acquired the title at a panel at the 2006 Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney, annoucing in early December 2006 a March 7th 2007 release date. [15] Music The live musical score was composed by Scott Glasgow and performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Chase Masterson is singing some of the parts for her robotic character Janice. Glasgow confirmed that Melissa Kaplan, the lead singer of the band Universal Hall Pass, has vocalized some of the background music.[16] Cast According to IMDb, some of the original voice actors are reprising their roles for characters such as Scott Bernard, Rick Hunter, Vince Grant, Sparks, and the Invid Regis alongside well-known actors such as Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). This appears to follow the growing trend of casting high-profile Hollywood actors in the voice cast of animation titles. * Richard Epcar - Vince Grant * Eddie Frierson - Louis Nichols * Mark Hamill - Commander Taylor * Alexandra Kenworthy - The Regis * Yuri Lowenthal - Marcus * Melanie MacQueen - Marlene * Chase Masterson - Janice * Edie Mirman - Maia * Iona Morris - Jean Grant * Tony Oliver - Admiral Rick Hunter * Arthur Santiago - Alex Romero * Greg Snegoff - Scott Bernard * Michael Sorich - Sparks * Kari Wahlgren - Ariel * Dan Woren - General Reinhardt <a href="http://www.rdfunderground.com">RDF Underground</a> <a href="http://robotechnews.blogspot.com">The Unofficial Robotech Reporter</a> <a href="http://sdf5x.blogspot.com">Roboblog III: The Odyssey</a> <a href="../talkshoe/">Robotech_Master's TalkShoe Guide</a> <a href="../biblio/">The Biblio File</a> Remember Robotech? This TalkShoe talkcast is about the seminal American anime mecha experience, the anime, games, and other spinoffs related to it, and the Internet fandom that grew up around it. I will try to have guests with interesting things to say about that fandom, but chatters who remember the show (or are curious about the show) are welcome to join right in! NOTE: The opinions and viewpoints expressed on this show are strictly those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily represent those of Harmony Gold (unless they are expressed by a Harmony Gold representative in an official capacity). Robotech, The Shadow Chronicles, Space Station Liberty, and all associated trademarks are property of Harmony Gold, and their use in this podcast is not intended to infringe. pen-and-paper role-playing games based on the Robotech and Sentinels series were published by Palladium Books from 1986 to 2001. Contents * 1 RPG books o 1.1 Core books o 1.2 Adventure/scenario books * 2 Storyline * 3 Game system * 4 External links RPG books The line consisted of the following: Core books * Robotech RPG Book One: Macross * Robotech RPG Book Two: RDF Manual * Robotech RPG Book Three: Zentraedi * Robotech RPG Book Four: Southern Cross * Robotech RPG Book Five: Invid Invasion * Robotech II RPG: The Sentinels * Robotech II RPG: REF Field Guide * Robotech RPG Book Six: Return of the Masters * Robotech RPG Book Seven: New World Order * Robotech RPG Book Eight: Strike Force Adventure/scenario books * Robotech RPG Adventures: Lancer's Rockers * Robotech RPG Adventures: Zentraedi Breakout * Robotech RPG Adventures: Ghost Ship * Robotech RPG Adventures: RDF Accelerated Training Program Core books one through five covered the three segments of Robotech as aired; Robotech II covered the Sentinels pilot movie and the source material that never ended up being developed. Book six and Lancer's Rockers took place after the series ended, and books seven, eight, and the rest of the adventure books took place during or shortly after the Macross segment. The books were written partly by Kevin Siembieda and other Palladium regulars, and partly by freelancers (especially the later books and sourcebooks). Illustrations consisted partly of line art taken from original Japanese source material (particularly in the core books), and partly of new black and white line art done by Palladium and freelance artists such as Kevin Long. Palladium also published a separate RPG based on the Macross II anime, but this was entirely unrelated to the Robotech continuity. Storyline The Robotech RPG by and large followed the TV series storyline, attempting in its own way to fill in gaps just as the Jack McKinney Robotech novelizations did. Several of the sourcebooks covered different parts of the world during or shortly after the Macross era, where there was the most room for expansion. However, the RPG diverged from the McKinney stories after the events covered in the Robotech series ended. Where McKinney followed Scott Bernard and the others in their search for Admiral Rick Hunter, leaving behind a peaceful planet earth, Palladium posited the Invid returning to earth a few months after they were driven away. Some fans are dissatisfied with the Invid return, feeling it contradicts the character development that took place in the Robotech series's final episodes. The books Return of the Masters and Lancer's Rockers were set during this second Invid invasion, and introduced concepts and events not suggested by the original material. Return of the Masters, set in Asia, features a system of gladiatorial mecha martial arts combat called Mecha Su-Dai; Lancer's Rockers concerns a network of travelling performers following in the footsteps of New Generation rock star Lancer/Yellow Dancer, carrying protoculture-powered musical instruments that double as powerful weapons (reminiscent of, but unrelated to, similar developments in the Macross sequel Macross 7). Some fans found these new ideas exciting and original. However, others rejected them as running counter to the spirit of Robotech and being more suited to Palladium's Rifts setting. The Sentinels RPG also diverged in some respects from the story covered in the Sentinels novels and comic books, having been developed independently based on the same incomplete source material provided by Harmony Gold. The two primary differences are the idea that the SDF-3 left with an entire fleet of REF ships accompanying them, and that the REF and the Sentinels joined in a protracted war against the Invid Regent. The game also suggested that members of the Sentinels' races would openly join the REF. Game system The Robotech RPG used a modified version of the rule system used in the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game introduced several years earlier. Clearly patterned after Dungeons & Dragons, the Palladium FRPG used a very similar rule system, based around physical and mental statistics generated by rolling 3D6 (three six-sided dice), and the use of a D20 (20-sided die) in combat. Percentile dice (two ten-sided dice, one read as a tens column and the other as a ones column) are used for skill resolution. On top of this already complex system, the Robotech RPG introduced the concept of mega-damage."super" hit-points that are equivalent to 100 ordinary-person hit points.to simulate the toughness of the heavily-armored mecha. This concept would become widely used in Palladium's Rifts game. Critics of the game charged that the attempt to bolt giant robots onto a D&D-like system, rather than design a new system that would scale better, was a poor decision. The Palladium rules' complexity, as well as the overall toughness of the mecha as rendered in the books, meant that combat and skill checks could often be confusing, lengthy, BattleTech-like affairs, interrupting the roleplaying process and making the game poorly-suited to simulating the rapid-fire combat action of the Robotech anime. The games also never saw revision into new editions (with the exception of one book, Return of the Masters); corrections or new rulings had to be covered in subsequent rule books or on-line FAQs, leading to further confusion. Another common criticism had to do with the percentage-based skill system, whereupon every skill in a character's reportoire improved by a set percentage with each level gained.even if it was a skill the character never actually used. As with the McKinney books, the creators of the Robotech RPG originally lacked access to the complete source material that has since become available largely due to fan translation efforts and research. They were working to a deadline, from untranslated material and tapes of the show itself. As a result of an incomplete understanding of this material, compounded by animation and dubbing errors, many of the mecha depictions in the Robotech RPG are not accurate to what is seen in the television show.they are given the wrong weapons and equipment and in some cases confused for other mecha altogether. This is particularly true for the Southern Cross book, where the many humanoid robots, battloids, and suits of armor are often confused for one another. A detailed listing of some of these errors may be found here. In one of the most notable examples, a 200 meter long space destroyer is confused for a small one-man fighter. In 2000-2001, contractual issues in the wake of Harmony Gold's aborted Robotech 3000 project, as well as a general refocusing of the company on production of its flagship Rifts line, caused Palladium to forego renewing the Robotech license. The Robotech RPG line went out of print as of June 30, 2001. Accoding to a report from the February 2006 New York Comic-Con, a new Robotech RPG license deal is in the works, to coincide with the release of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. In a March 29, 2006 Palladium forum post, Palladium indicates that they have been considering reacquiring the Robotech license and issuing revised editions of the old Robotech games and/or a Shadow Chronicles adaptation. An April 19, 2006 Palladium Books press release indicates the company is experiencing critical financial difficulties and thus may not be able to obtain the license. On September 21st, Palladium Books issued a press release confirming their negotiations with Harmony Gold for a new RPG, with a tentative release date in early 2007. External links * ROBOTECH: The Role-Playing Game - Extensive Robotech Role-Playing Game based heavily on Palladium Robotech RPG. * The Invid Connection (Beyond Reflex Point) - Information based on Robotech RPG books * Robotech Bibliography - Listings of RPG books in and out of print. * Robotech Research - Extensive Robotech Role-Playing (RPG) site. * The Original Palladium FAQ - by Stan Bundy * Oddworldz.com - Palladium Books® Reference.550 Series (Robotech) * Forums of Megaverse - Online Forum for Megaverse of Palladium Books (including Robotech & Macross II Sub-forum). * Armies of The Southern Cross Recruitment Manual - Extensive Robotech Role-Playing (RPG) covering Southern Cross Armies. <a href="http://robotech-master.livejournal.com">Robotech_Master's LiveJournal</a> <a href="http://journal.terrania.us">That's All I've Got to Say</a> <a href="http://www.secretworldchronicle.com">The Secret World Chronicle</a> </BODY>