ROBOTECH

now watching macross on amazon prime, wonder how different it'll be from robotech

because robotech isn't on netflix anymore, is that correct? i couldn't find it which is why i ended up w og macross on amazon prime

Still on Netflix on my end! You may be better off though, idk!

I guess I never posted my thoughts on the Mospeada section. It was a lot more fun than Southern Cross and I totally got why it sucked me into the show in the first place. The "on the road, being hunted" premise gives it a lot of automatic dramatic interest, and reminds me a LOT of John Christopher's Tripod books, which I was also reading at the time. That's especially true early on before you ever hear the Invid talk - and apparently they talk a lot less in the original show - they're these very mysterious, giant overseers that everybody just has to toil under. Some of that gets dissipated since our heroes get their gear a little too fast, and indeed get assembled as a team a little too fast I think.

It also reminded me of The Mysterious Cities of Gold which I had adored at a younger age, and I probably hadn't seen anything in between that had that sense of an ongoing story, a journey that was actually going to reach its destination. MCOG pulls that off much more effectively, with several really distinct-feeling chapters and a real sense of changing environments as they move through South and Central America, not to mention certain structural choices, like a "collect the three sacred thingies" plotline, that create the clear sense of progress being made and certain episodes being 'special.' By comparison, Mospeada is a bit samey, repetitious and episodic, even if you do have fun watching them start to uncover the Invid's (sort of confusing) secrets. The cast is a ton of fun, also - the character relationships aren't as strong as Macross but after the faceless duds of Southern Cross it was great to have a basically likeable group of distinct people. Rook and Lunk go pretty underdeveloped, and Marlene never really makes sense (how amnesiac and confused about human society is she supposed to be?) but hey, it was still way more character than I was finding anywhere else in 1992, when this show was my absolute jam.