Why aren't there any Live-Action Mecha shows

[Lynn Minmay]

Google G-Savior.

 

[SinglePurpose]

The "problem" is in order to do a true mecha show, you need to eliminate human elements like emotion, romance, conflict, etc. And ever since SF film began, the focus has always been on these elements, with the SF part being a maguffin to move the plot along in the background. That was Roddenberry's philosophy, and it's also followed by Doctor Who, both versions of BSG, Firefly, etc. Even going further back to A For Andromeda, Forbidden Planet, and Metropolis.

I'm not a fan of mecha at all but I don't buy that. There's no reason someone couldn't make a show with emotion, romance, conflict, etc that also happens to have giant robots. It probably would have a difficult time getting people to accept it as anything more than a dumb show with robots but that's a perception problem.

 

[lennier1]

I'm not a fan of mecha at all but I don't buy that. There's no reason someone couldn't make a show with emotion, romance, conflict, etc that also happens to have giant robots. It probably would have a difficult time getting people to accept it as anything more than a dumb show with robots but that's a perception problem.

Exactly.

It certainly doesn't help that the previous attempts like Hypernauts and G-Saviour were beyond terrible, but it wouldn't be easy to convince execs that a show like that has to be about more than giant robots blowing up everything in sight.

Look at Battletech/Mechwarrior. You already have a huge franchise with brand recognition to draw from, including tons of novels and experienced writers. Nonetheless, you'd still have a hard time turning it into a successful character/politics-driven show that's immune to outside meddling.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I'm going to go with "lack of demand".

 

[lennier1]

I'm going to go with "lack of demand".

OTOH we clearly don't have enough shows about cops, doctors, lawyers and secret agents.

 

[Blamo]

I guess TV execs are too afraid that people will think that mechas are stupid

And would they really be wrong?

Depends on the mechs really. If we're talking about very humanoid giant robot mechs, then yeah, that would be stupid.

 

[Myasishchev]

Iirc, pretty much any bipedal mech would sink under its own ground pressure on virtually any terrain. I mean, an M-1 is 70 tons. Those things have about twice the load-bearing surface area, and maybe ten times the mass.

Although I always liked how the Gundams were listed as something like 60 tons. Sure they were, cowboy.

 

[Caliburn24]

Give me a show about Bolos instead of Mechas. I think a 32,000ton Planetary Siege Unit is a much more efficient and practical design than stupid humanoid robots.

As well as being much less pricey to do special effects for, the Bolos AIs are much more interesting characters.

Oh, what is a Bolo you ask?

In the fictional future timeline, early models were simply superheavy tanks controlled by programming intended to reduce the need for a human crew through automation. However, as the programming increased in complexity, Bolos became more effective at mimicking intelligence, and in later models were self-aware, controlled by artificial intelligences. According to Laumer's alternate history, the first Bolo was developed in the year 2000 by the fictional Bolo Division of General Motors.[1] As humanity spread beyond Earth, Bolos were used to protect first the Empire, and then the Concordiat of Man. For millennia, each successive mark of Bolo proved to be the lynchpin of humanity's ground-based defenses, especially in the numerous and protracted wars against various aliens, most notably the Deng and the Melconians in the 30th century. Bolos were also used in smaller scale raids, skirmishes and internal conflicts between warring human parties. Following the genocide of the Final War with the Melconians, the surviving Bolos became crucial in sheltering and protecting the few scattered remnants of humanity during the long slow process of rebuilding.


Bolos and their human commanders are assigned to an elite Concordiat unit called the Dinochrome Brigade, which traces its lineage back to various units on Earth. Individual Bolos are generally identified by a three-letter prefix which is generally extrapolated into a given name - this name is generally used as the default access code for a new commander. Often, Bolos on garrison duty are older surplus or reserve units on loan, in which case their three-letter prefix is changed to "SOL". For example, this happened with the Mark XX Bolo LON-2317 (Lonesome Son) which was renamed to SOL-0045 in The Road to Damascus.


Bolos are generally deployed in groups to provide fire support, though individual units are occasionally detached to perform garrison duty - later marks of Bolo are considered to be so capable that a single unit can be assigned to guard an entire planet, even during periods when a human commander is not available. Nevertheless, a commander is provided whenever it is feasible to do so. When deployed by the Dinochrome Brigade for major combat operations, Bolos usually serve with what have come to be called "Planetary Siege Regiments." Before the development of higher marks of Bolos, powerful enough to often allow a single Bolo to conduct major planetary operations without support, the Regiments were only called "siege regiments."


The earliest Marks of Bolo were non-sentient: the Mark I was essentially a 150 tonne conventional tank powered by diesel engines and equipped with various servos and mechanical devices to reduce crew requirements. Conversely, the 300-tonne Mark III incorporated limited AI routines allowing limited independent action and was powered by ionic batteries able to support combat-level activity for up to ten years and enabling operation even when fully submerged. The level of AI support was increased with each successive Mark, until the incorporation of Psychotronic circuitry in the Mark XX led to Bolos becoming self-aware and capable of fully independent operation. The Mark XXVI proved capable of true independent strategic planning, while the final standardised Bolo, the 32,000-tonne Mark XXXIII was fully self-willed and able to operate indefinitely without external support.


A key factor in Bolo psychotronic design is the need to address public and military concern over the potential catastrophe which could be unleashed in the event of a Bolo disobeying orders or being suborned. To mitigate this, a number of safeguards were included in the psychotronic design - specifically a focus on loyalty, honour and a strong sense of duty, as well as a restriction on the level of awareness and processing power made available to the Bolo outside of combat. These safeguards often combined with the prejudices of ranking officers to cause the unnecessary destruction of a Bolo during combat - for instance, the first truly self-aware Mark XX Bolo (DNE/Denny) fought to the point of destruction "for the honour of the regiment", as detailed in "The Compleat Bolo". With Bolos being able to survive for centuries, older Marks often ended up scattered across the galaxy abandoned on old warfields or retrofitted for use in farming or heavy construction. On several occasions obsolete Bolos have gone rogue, causing significant destruction, loss of life and bad publicity for the Dinochrome brigade: as a result, a special unit was set up to find all such units and burn out their control centers.


On several occasions, Bolos have turned against their commanders during combat: in Bolo!, a damaged Mark XXV loses its IFF capability, causing it to attack a fellow Bolo. Similarly, a Mark XXXIII (HCT/Hector) was subverted by an alien AI and turned into a prison guard in Bolo Strike. Conversely, Bolos have occasionally refused to carry out illegal or dishonourable orders, such as Unit NKE (Nike) in The Triumphant or Unit LEN (Lonesome Son) in The Road to Damascus.


The Mark XXXIII Bolo was the last standardised Bolo built by the Concordiat prior to the Melconian destruction of Earth. A number of "seed corn" colonies survived the genocide policies carried out by both sides and went on to produce new models of Bolo: these are generally labelled as Mark XXXIV despite being dissimilar in size, design and capabilities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_(tank)

 

[C.E. Evans]

IMO, the problem comes whenever you add actual people into the mix. CGI mechas/robots and real people don't flow together well on the small screen--it either comes across looking really cheesy or low-budget. The kind of CGI work to make it look seamless with live action is rather time-consuming and doesn't come cheaply--I think it's better suited to a big budget theatrical movie where they have the money and (perhaps more importantly) the time to do it right. A weekly TV series generally doesn't have either, so you wind up with something either very campy or very cartoonish-looking instead...

 

[RAMA]

Couple of thoughts on the practicality of 2-legged mechs vs wheels..wheels may be good for flatter terrain, but I believe the US military has a statistic on the percentage of area wheeled vehicles can't cover on Earth..and its a lot. A large two-legged machine with a stride the length of a truck would move fast, be very agile, and probably could serve very easily in the mountains of Afghanistan. Spreading its legs would increase its stability on softer terrain, and they could deploy surface area increasing panels in mud (like snow shoes).

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

Only live action shows I can think of with mecha are two kids shows: Hypernauts: live action+cgi; and Captain Power: live action, early cgi. Both involved members of the Babylon 5 creative team...JMS in Capt Power; Lawrence DiTillo and John Copeland, Doug Netter, and Ron Thornton on Hypernauts.

Hypernauts

Capt Power

Other shows with mecha:

Seaquest DSV:

I think maybe Andromeda had some too

The OP only mentioned "shows", now if you want to get into movies, there have been a lot more with mecha of all kinds...chief among these: Star Wars:Empire Strikes Back, SW:ROTJ, Star Wars:Attack of the Clones, SW: Revenge of the Sith, Robot Jox, Robot Wars, Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, G Savior, Avatar, Gaiking(not released yet), Aliens, District 9, Gunhed, War of the Worlds, Starship Troopers 3, Iron Man, GI Joe, Battle Los Angeles (not released yet), ....

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1025/1114z.jpg

 

[Myasishchev]

Couple of thoughts on the practicality of 2-legged mechs vs wheels..wheels may be good for flatter terrain, but I believe the US military has a statistic on the percentage of area wheeled vehicles can't cover on Earth..and its a lot.

I'll bet it's at least 70%. *rimshot*

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

I not talking about tokusatsu. I want a show like Battlestar Galactica. But with mecha, aliens

Right here!

and not sucking.

Oh. Sorry.

I thought that clip was pretty cool.

But as the comments by the uploader mention, he took out all the sucky acting

 

[Sykonee]

A series that might make for a good live-action crossover would be Patlabor. It was already a more realistic take on mecha animes, depicting them as they would feasibly be used in everyday life. Plus, most of the episodes had little to do with the actual mechas themselves, typically focusing on character stories (some episodes didn't even have a single scene of a labor in action - talk about a cost-saver if you're doing CGI!).

 

[lennier1]

A series that might make for a good live-action crossover would be Patlabor. It was already a more realistic take on mecha animes, depicting them as they would feasibly be used in everyday life. Plus, most of the episodes had little to do with the actual mechas themselves, typically focusing on character stories (some episodes didn't even have a single scene of a labor in action - talk about a cost-saver if you're doing CGI!).

But I doubt a live action Patlabor show could ever compete with the live action version of You're Under Arrest.
Combining such crazy stories with the over-the-top style of a Japanese drama show ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seHHPcugRlw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps9-QlciTrU

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
OMG! That is awesome!

 

[lennier1]

^
OMG! That is awesome!

^^ Japanese TV has a habit of doing live action adaptions of anime shows (or manga series) which then turn into hilarious shows in their own right.

Spoiler: More examples

GTO - Great Teacher Onizuka (the drama is actually even better than the anime and the manga combined):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BehgIaIO0DU (the special is set after the live action show and its intro contains sequences from the previous episodes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1SQiNUwkdE

Hana Yori Dango:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqHfyhGgBKo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FAuTIehsmE

Gokusen (only makes sense if you know how crazy the source material was):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaiXywN-Ils
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWNW76HCWQU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kRbqyqCS_U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4dJ7grvKuA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qxj0sIW6lQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a22S0N0nI_o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z72NoI_bq4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doUYDmbF8BE

 

[CorporalClegg]

I know.

And must of them suck bad.

 

[RAMA]

Couple of thoughts on the practicality of 2-legged mechs vs wheels..wheels may be good for flatter terrain, but I believe the US military has a statistic on the percentage of area wheeled vehicles can't cover on Earth..and its a lot. A large two-legged machine with a stride the length of a truck would move fast, be very agile, and probably could serve very easily in the mountains of Afghanistan. Spreading its legs would increase its stability on softer terrain, and they could deploy surface area increasing panels in mud (like snow shoes).

RAMA

And the US Army is working on them right now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7HKD-FWKkE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-j7n0AnIGM&feature=related

Japanese mech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2OksmJthZc&feature=related

 

[lennier1]

And the US Army is working on them right now...

So what? They're also looking into building a flying Hummer so guys like this can finally play Top Gun.