Robotech - Page 3

C.E. Evans · December 18 2012, 03:40 AM

Ian Keldon wrote:

C.E. Evans wrote:

I loved Shadow Chronicles and thought it continued the Robotech story nicely in a new direction with both new and old characters. I just wish the sequel, Shadow Rising, hadn't been tied to the Warner Bros. attempt to make a live-action Robotech movie (currently stuck in development hell).

Seems like EVERYthing related to RT is stuck there...Harmony Gold's business people should be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail.

It wasn't the best deal possible--it gave too much control of future Robotech productions to Warner Bros. I think we'd probably would have had two sequels to The Shadow Chronicles by now otherwise.

Bishop76 · December 18 2012, 05:51 AM

We're at 6 years out from Shadow Chronicles now and we still haven't seen anything. The franchise is a joke at this point. HG needs to sell off the rights to someone who knows what to do with it. And what to do with it is not make cheap shit like Shadow Chronicles. The digital animation would be considered sub-par for something from the early 90s - it's unforgivable for something made in the mid-00s.

No interest in Love, Live, Alive either. I wish I could get excited but Shadow Chronicles was just such a let down for me.

I'll stick with what I already have - the original series, The Sentinels, and the McKinney novels - no need to pay for or support any more trash.

Ian Keldon · December 18 2012, 06:37 AM

C.E. Evans wrote:

Ian Keldon wrote:

Seems like EVERYthing related to RT is stuck there...Harmony Gold's business people should be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail.

It wasn't the best deal possible--it gave too much control of future Robotech productions to Warner Bros. I think we'd probably would have had two sequels to The Shadow Chronicles by now otherwise.

It isn't that so much (though it is a factor) as it is the bridges HG burned with Tatsunoko (sp?) which cost them the rights to the mecha designs, etc as well as generating so much bad-will that virtually no one wants to work with them.

C.E. Evans · December 18 2012, 08:22 AM

Ian Keldon wrote:

C.E. Evans wrote:

Ian Keldon wrote:

Seems like EVERYthing related to RT is stuck there...Harmony Gold's business people should be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail.

It wasn't the best deal possible--it gave too much control of future Robotech productions to Warner Bros. I think we'd probably would have had two sequels to The Shadow Chronicles by now otherwise.

It isn't that so much (though it is a factor) as it is the bridges HG burned with Tatsunoko (sp?) which cost them the rights to the mecha designs, etc as well as generating so much bad-will that virtually no one wants to work with them.

That's not entirely true, because they are still able to use the mecha designs from Genesis Climber Mospeada in The Shadow Chronicles, and they're from Tatsunoko.

It's mecha and character designs from Macross--owned by Big West--that Harmony Gold can't use. But that really wasn't a big deal for HG since The Shadow Chronicles was set more than thirty years later, pretty much all of the mecha was no longer being used, and the few remaining characters were expected to have aged since then.

As far as no one wanting to work with them because of so much bad will, I really haven't seen any evidence of that. Seems like all of HG's problems getting new Robotech material out there is a result of tying it with Warner Bros' live-action movie project.

Ian Keldon · December 18 2012, 08:45 AM

^That's what they'll tell you, but in no small part the problems with WB are directly tied to the rights dispute over the Macross mecha designs as well as arguing over whether HG even has the rights to DO a LA verision.

It's a great big legal mess, and HG has no one but themselves to blame for all their shady deal-making and legal maneuvering that has given them the worst business rep in the entire Anime/Japanimation field.

C.E. Evans · December 18 2012, 03:38 PM

^^^
There's probably more opinion in that than fact, but the real issue--since a U.S. court ruling in 2003--is that Harmony Gold's claims to Macross doesn't extend beyond that of the original SDF Macross series (in the U.S. only). Big West can release or sell the rights to other Macross shows in the U.S. whenever they want. So that aspect is up to Big West, not Harmony Gold.

Where it gets truly ugly is in regards to the licensing and merchandising rights to the original SDF Macross series in the U.S., which Harmony Gold acquired from Tatsunoko (which acquired them from Big West).

As far as any rights dispute with Warner Bros., that's easily resolved by not using the exact same mecha and character designs from the original SDF Macross series, which they likely wouldn't for a live-action movie anyway.

Mark_Nguyen · December 18 2012, 08:23 PM

...Which pretty much scraps any reason to watch it in the first palce, IMO. I would pay to see a VF-1 series Valkyrie in live action. A Legioss or Mospeada, a little less so. NOT a hovertank or anything else, really.

Back int he day I met with the HG marketing folks a few times when they were doing their pre-Shadow Chronicles anime con tours. Kevin was a super nice guy and I saw he had a lot of passion for the brand. ALso he let me win a Masterpiece Shadow Fighter, which is an uber nice toy.

I think it would take a wholesale change to do anything further with the franchise, though.

Mark

Kooz · January 22 2013, 08:44 PM

C.E. Evans wrote:

Robotech was definitely a game changer for me as a kid. I really didn't know what animation was capable of until it came along--characters that can change, fall in love, and even die--and some fairly serious stuff like the extermination of most of the Human race and most of Earth being laid to waste. And the whole multi-generational aspect of it was something I never encountered before. It totally blew my mind back then.

Even though there's lots of anime that I've grown to love since and have touched me emotionally even more, Robotech remains at the top of my all-time list though.

This exactly. First time I encountered these themes. I must have been 10 or so when this originally aired, and it affected me more than most shows I've seen in my life.

RAMA · January 22 2013, 09:23 PM

This has been getting quite some notice lately on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fp8h...layer_embedded

Turtletrekker · January 23 2013, 04:23 AM

Hound of UIster wrote:

Sentinels and the Mckinney novels is probably the best you are going to get.

Bit of trivia about the novels-- "Jack McKinney" was a pseudonym for the writing team of the late, great Brian Daley and James Lucerno.

Hound of UIster · January 23 2013, 04:26 AM

Yes we all know that.

RAMA wrote:

This has been getting quite some notice lately on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fp8h...layer_embedded

The mecha animation is quite impressive.

Turtletrekker · January 25 2013, 03:58 PM

Live-action movie in the works. A director has been hired.

FreezeC77 · January 26 2013, 01:14 AM

Wow I thought it fell into dev hell and wouldn't be heard from again.

It will be interesting to see just *WHAT* they actually have the rights to use on-screen. There's been decades of legal fights which I thought resulted in Harmony Gold retaining the right to market and release any footage from the Macross series, edit footage for releases, but they were no longer legally able to create new footage involving any of the characters, names, vehicles, etc... from the Macross series.

So where does this leave the movie? The iconic image for Robotech is the ship (Macross) and the Valkyrie (called Veritech in Robotech). Can these things even be used in the movie?

C.E. Evans · January 26 2013, 05:10 AM

The only things that Harmony Gold doesn't have free and clear access to are the exact same character and mechanical designs from Macross, but altering them for the big screen--which would likely happen anyway, IMO--would be okay (there would still be a ship that looks roughly like the Macross/SDF-1, but it'd be an updated version. Ditto for the Valkyries/Veritechs).

Leroy · January 26 2013, 06:02 AM

We'd most likely end up with something like a F-22/35 that turns into a robot (see the live action movie version of Starscream). I highly doubt they'd get Shoji Kawamori on board to work his magic. This assumes the project will even get to that point, I'm highly skeptical so I'll believe it when I see it. Harmony gold isn't even competent enough to release a mediocre Shadow Chronicles sequel in a timely fashion.

December 18 2012, 05:51 AM	#32
Bishop76 Fleet Captain Location: Wisconsin	Re: Robotech We're at 6 years out from Shadow Chronicles now and we still haven't seen anything. The franchise is a joke at this point. HG needs to sell off the rights to someone who knows what to do with it. And what to do with it is not make cheap shit like Shadow Chronicles. The digital animation would be considered sub-par for something from the early 90s - it's unforgivable for something made in the mid-00s. No interest in Love, Live, Alive either. I wish I could get excited but Shadow Chronicles was just such a let down for me. I'll stick with what I already have - the original series, The Sentinels, and the McKinney novels - no need to pay for or support any more trash. __________________ Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. Last edited by Bishop76; December 18 2012 at 06:10 AM.

December 18 2012, 08:45 AM	#35
Ian Keldon Fleet Captain	Re: Robotech ^That's what they'll tell you, but in no small part the problems with WB are directly tied to the rights dispute over the Macross mecha designs as well as arguing over whether HG even has the rights to DO a LA verision. It's a great big legal mess, and HG has no one but themselves to blame for all their shady deal-making and legal maneuvering that has given them the worst business rep in the entire Anime/Japanimation field.

December 18 2012, 03:38 PM	#36
C.E. Evans Vice Admiral Location: Saint Louis (aka Defiance)	Re: Robotech ^^^ There's probably more opinion in that than fact, but the real issue--since a U.S. court ruling in 2003--is that Harmony Gold's claims to Macross doesn't extend beyond that of the original SDF Macross series (in the U.S. only). Big West can release or sell the rights to other Macross shows in the U.S. whenever they want. So that aspect is up to Big West, not Harmony Gold. Where it gets truly ugly is in regards to the licensing and merchandising rights to the original SDF Macross series in the U.S., which Harmony Gold acquired from Tatsunoko (which acquired them from Big West). As far as any rights dispute with Warner Bros., that's easily resolved by not using the exact same mecha and character designs from the original SDF Macross series, which they likely wouldn't for a live-action movie anyway. __________________ "Shout, shout, let it all out..."

December 18 2012, 08:23 PM	#37
Mark_Nguyen Commodore Location: Calgary, Alberta	Re: Robotech ...Which pretty much scraps any reason to watch it in the first palce, IMO. I would pay to see a VF-1 series Valkyrie in live action. A Legioss or Mospeada, a little less so. NOT a hovertank or anything else, really. Back int he day I met with the HG marketing folks a few times when they were doing their pre-Shadow Chronicles anime con tours. Kevin was a super nice guy and I saw he had a lot of passion for the brand. ALso he let me win a Masterpiece Shadow Fighter, which is an uber nice toy. I think it would take a wholesale change to do anything further with the franchise, though. Mark __________________ Mark Nguyen - Producer The 404s - Improv Comedy Group Oh, I like that Trek thing too...

January 22 2013, 09:23 PM	#39
RAMA Vice Admiral Location: NJ, USA	Re: Robotech This has been getting quite some notice lately on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fp8h...layer_embedded __________________ “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”—Stephen R. Covey

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January 25 2013, 03:58 PM	#42
Turtletrekker Vice Admiral Location: Tacoma, Washington	Re: Robotech Live-action movie in the works. A director has been hired. __________________ Coulson lives!

January 26 2013, 01:14 AM	#43
FreezeC77 Commodore	Re: Robotech Wow I thought it fell into dev hell and wouldn't be heard from again. It will be interesting to see just WHAT they actually have the rights to use on-screen. There's been decades of legal fights which I thought resulted in Harmony Gold retaining the right to market and release any footage from the Macross series, edit footage for releases, but they were no longer legally able to create new footage involving any of the characters, names, vehicles, etc... from the Macross series. So where does this leave the movie? The iconic image for Robotech is the ship (Macross) and the Valkyrie (called Veritech in Robotech). Can these things even be used in the movie?

January 26 2013, 05:10 AM	#44
C.E. Evans Vice Admiral Location: Saint Louis (aka Defiance)	Re: Robotech The only things that Harmony Gold doesn't have free and clear access to are the exact same character and mechanical designs from Macross, but altering them for the big screen--which would likely happen anyway, IMO--would be okay (there would still be a ship that looks roughly like the Macross/SDF-1, but it'd be an updated version. Ditto for the Valkyries/Veritechs). __________________ "Shout, shout, let it all out..."

January 26 2013, 06:02 AM	#45
Leroy Fleet Captain	Re: Robotech We'd most likely end up with something like a F-22/35 that turns into a robot (see the live action movie version of Starscream). I highly doubt they'd get Shoji Kawamori on board to work his magic. This assumes the project will even get to that point, I'm highly skeptical so I'll believe it when I see it. Harmony gold isn't even competent enough to release a mediocre Shadow Chronicles sequel in a timely fashion.