Danger Zone

"Danger Zone"
The Masters, Episode 42
Air date	30 April, 1985
Written by	Steve Kramer
Directed by	Robert V. Barron
Adaptations
Comic adaptation(s)	Robotech Masters 6: Prelude to Battle
Episode Guide
previous Half Moon	next Prelude to Battle

"Danger Zone" is the 42nd episode of Robotech and sixth episode of The Masters.

Summary

At great cost, the Armies of the Southern Cross make a grim discovery about the nature of their alien foes, and score their first real victory over the Robotech Masters.

Synopsis

Since neither side is willing to make even the smallest concession, the war between Earth and the Robotech Masters escalates into another serious military confrontation. Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard deploys the bulk of their tactical armored space corps to engage the enemy in space in an attempt to avoid turning the planet surface into a battleground, but his strategy is based on insufficient data. Most of the troops are wiped out while the survivors are left to drift helplessly in space. On the hasty decision of one stubborn man, hundreds of lives have been lost in a single, hopeless gesture. The Robotech Fortress continues to orbit Earth, untouched, unscathed, and apparently unbeatable.

Professor Miles Cochrane and his colleague, Dr. Samson Beckett, examine trace remains of a downed bioroid pilot and make a disturbing discovery. Their analysis of the alien's genetic code determines that the invaders are human -- not micronized Zentraedi as they had originally suspected. They are horrified at the thought of brother fighting brother.

Dana Sterling volunteers the 15th Squad to rescue the space corps. Louie Nichols has determined that the alien ship twists opposing forces in a series of hyper folds to move from place to place. Dana devised a plan to upset the hyper-balance of the alien craft. While everyone agrees that the plan could work, they run into difficulty with Chief of Staff Rolf Emerson, Bowie's guardian. After the recent disaster, Emerson does not want to risk his ward's life in another futile military maneuver. Bowie, Dana, and Louie convince Emerson to see their point of view.

The 15th Squad not only rescue their fellow defenders, but they also destroy the alien ship. What was once an invincible source of terror crashes to the planet's surface, a fiery symbol of mankind's first victory.

Memorable quotes

To be added

References

Characters

• Dana Sterling
• Zor Prime
• Bowie Grant
• Sean Phillips
• Eddie
• Sergeant Angelo Dante
• Girl looking at dress
• Wyatt Moran
• Anatole Leonard
• Rolf Emerson
• Antoine Rochelle
• Louie Nichols
• Samson Beckett
• Professor Miles Cochrane
• Grant
• Nova Satori
• Marie Crystal

Vessels and vehicles

• Bioroid
• Red Bioroid
• Hovercycle
• VHT-1 Veritech Hover Tank
• Golems, which are guarding the United Earth Command Headquarters
• FA-109 Sylphid
• SC-32 Roc
• There are at least eight attack wings sent into the battle. Attack wings two and eight disengages from the battle, attack wings three, four, and seven reported severe losses. All other wings, including the first, do not respond to signals and are believed to be wiped out completely. 97 ships are lost or out of commission.
• Louie believes the enemy Flagship does not have an engine, and instead moves from place to place by folding space.
• The 15th Squadron's mission on the ship starts by piercing the Flagship's hull, exposing the Bio-Magnetic Network. They then plan to black a concentrated barrage, damaging the ship's power systems.
• SC-37 Phoenix
  • Transport 1

Other

• Dana briefly serves as the narrator at the beginning of the story, recapping the previous episode. This was the second time that she had taken the normal place of the Robotech narrator, previously detailing the flashbacks in "Dana's Story."
• Another news report occurs in this story, possibly the Macross Broadcasting Station again. It details known info on the alien Robotech Masters' ship, and names Zor by name as the commander of the forces, even though there has been nothing shown on screen to this point to indicate that the humans have any idea of the name of the alien leader.

The red coat in the windowsill (right) closely resembles the red coat worn by Lynn Minmei throughout the Macross Saga.

• The red coat seen by Sean and the girl he is with is very similar to the one that Lynn Minmei wore multiple times throughout the Macross Saga.
• The red dress costs "12.870.000," which Sean Phillips notes to be more than he makes in a year. It is unknown what currency this is, or if it is the most common in the Robotech universe. The dress that Dana buys at the end of the episode costs "36000," and the wad of money that she gives the shopkeeper are green slips of paper.
• Zor has attacked and destroyed a Suburban Base Section in Sector 3 at 8 am, leaving no survivors but 20 were taken captive alive.
• An Ultra-Violet Scanner is used to scan the damaged Bioroid and piece together its technology.
• Dana Sterling, Bowie Grant, and Louie Nichols present their findings to Rolf Emerson at the Ministry of Terrestrial Defense.
• When Marie thinks about Dana's dress, she notes "That's my outfit." Nova thinks "And I saved for months!" This odd bit of dialogue seems to suggest that Nova is adding onto Marie's thoughts with hers, as if they can hear each other's thoughts. The scene goes on to illustrate them making fun of Dana in unison (both saying the same words at the same time) and then posing at the camera. The name of the store that Dana buys the dress at is 'Fan Fan', although space in-between the two words is not visible in some shots.

Background information

• Danger Zone was based on the original Japanese episode of Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross entitled "Toraburu Shitī" (Meaning "Trouble City" in English) that was aired 13 May, 1984 in Japan.

Cast

• Larry Abraham as Bowie Grant
• David Millbern as Louie Nichols
• Jeffrey Platt as Rolf Emerson
• Penny Sweet as Nova Satori
• Kerrigan Mahan as Sean Phillips
• Steve Kramer as Angelo Dante
• Paul St. Peter as Zor Prime
• Greg Finley as Anatole Leonard
• Barbara Goodson as Marie Crystal
• Melissa Newman as Dana Sterling
• J. Jay Smith as the Narrator

External links

•  Danger Zone Episode Guide on Robotech.com

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Half Moon	Prelude to Battle