Robotech: The Macross Saga was originally Super Dimension Fortress Macross. The Japanese series was adapted by Carl Macek to become the first act of the American TV series Robotech. It originally aired from March 4th, 1985 to April 22nd, 1985.
Characters and names were changed to better appeal to a western audience and episodes were edited to conform with the new Robotech storyline. Despite the numerous changes and a modern controversy, The Macross Saga is the series out of the three that's storyline remained the most unchanged from its source material.
Characters[]
Humans[]
Zentraedi []
Other[]
- The Robotech Elders
- Zor (Mentioned)
- The Invid (Mentioned)
- Dana Sterling (Baby)
Episodes[]
Production[]
During his travels to Japan, Carl Macek discovered the anime Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and was very impressed with its characters, action and drama (so much that he bought some animation cells from the show), and wanted to localize the show to the United States with him using the argument that the show could take advantage of the popularity of Transformers and G.I Joe to sell toys. However, the show lacked the 62 episodes required for syndication in the United States so he abandoned his plans to localize the show. However, the American production company Harmony Gold approached Macek with a pitch to combine Macross with other anime shows to reach the required episodes count similarly to how 1984's Voltron: Defender of the Universe combined the anime shows GoLion and Dairugger XV into a single storyline to great success.
Harmony Gold would negotiate with Tatsunoko Productions, who owned the distribution rights of Macross but not the IP, for the rights of multiple mecha shows, with them getting the rights to Super Dimensional Century Orguss and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA alongside Macross. When Macek and the people at Harmony Gold watched the shows to determine how they would be linked together, they reached the conclusion that Orguss couldn't be used due to its alien setting and time travel storyline, and instead renegotiated with Tatsunoko for another show, with them licensing the then-recently cancelled Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross. However, there are some versions of the story where Harmony Gold failed to license Orguss for a variety of reasons and were given Southern Cross instead due to having been cancelled due to low ratings.
After watching and examining the entirety of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, it would be decided to use "Protoculture" as the unifying element of the three shows, most likely because the translators at Harmony Gold misunderstood that "Protoculture" was the concept of both Humans and Zentraedi having descended from the same ancient spacefaring race, as the term was used in a way that implied that Protoculture was a object rather than a term in the original Japanese version.
Release[]
On 2016, it became available for streaming on Crackle.[1]
Novels[]
The episodes of The Macross Saga were novelized by Jack McKinney during the 1980s. During the 1990s the six novels were re-released in two omnibuses. Robotech: The Macross Saga: Battlecry and Robotech: The Macross Saga: Doomsday, containing three novels each.
- Genesis
- Episodes 1 - 5
- Battle Cry (novel)
- Episodes 6 - 12
- Homecoming (novel)
- Episodes 13 - 18
- Battle Hymn (novel) **Episodes 19 - ?
- Force of Arms (novel) **Episodes ? - ?
- Doomsday **Episodes ? - 36
Comics[]
The Robotech episodes were turned into comics in 1985 by Comico. An ad was provided at the end of every episode for the Comico adaptations. Most of them were reprinted as Robotech: The Macross Saga in the 00s by WildStorm Comics.
- Macross 1: Boobytrap
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 2: Countdown
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 3: Space Fold
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 4: The Long Wait
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 5: Transformation
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 6: Blitzkrieg
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 7: Bye-Bye Mars
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 8: Sweet Sixteen
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 9: Miss Macross
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 10: Blind Game
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 11: First Contact
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 12: The Big Escape
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 13: Blue Wind
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 14: Gloval's Report
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 15: Homecoming
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 16: Battle Cry
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 17: Phantasm
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 18: Farewell Big Brother
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 19: Bursting Point
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 20: Paradise Lost
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 21: A New Dawn
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 22: Battle Hymn
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 23: Reckless
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 24: Showdown
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 25: Wedding Bells
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 26: The Messenger
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 27: Force of Arms
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 28: Reconstruction Blues
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 29: The Robotech Masters
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 30: Viva Miriya
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 31: Khyron's Revenge
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 32: Broken Heart
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 33: A Rainy Night
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 34: Private Time
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 35: Season's Greetings
- Robotech: The Macross Saga 36: To The Stars
References[]
- ↑ Robotech On Crackle TV Series Trailer
 For the Macross equivalent, visit Super Dimension Fortress Macross. |