SeattleOtaku
Home Reviews Seiyuu/Actors Clubs Conventions Shopping LiveJournal About Me

Super Dimensional Fortress (SDF) Macross

One of the series that brought anime to this side of the Pacific with a rage (and rack space at toy stores), Robotech, was actually a heavily-collective edit of three unrelated series for daily syndication on American TV. The first of these series, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (or simply Macross) would become an all-time favorite of mine. Unfortunately, the US edit had not only stripped out the vocals, but also all music and sound effects from the original.

I never really got that into the second and third parts, keeping my fandom of the show to the Macross Saga section; when I stumbled across a borrowed copy of a "real" (untranslated) tape of Macross years later, and especially upon the release of the first sequel series, Macross Plus, I was truly hooked.

After the various sequels were released here in the US, and when the English-only Robotech came out as well, AnimEigo obtained the rights to do justice to the unedited original Macross series, including a digital restoration.

Story Intro

At the end of the 20th century, a large unmanned alien ship crashes on an island in the Pacific. A city is eventually built around the wreckage as technicians learn about the technology and over the years are able to give it an overhaul. Then just as suddenly, other aliens attack in search of the lost fortress. A young and inexperienced crew become the Earth's last hope.

In an attempt to leave the Earth to lure the aliens away from civilians, the crew manages to warp the ship across the solar system, unfortunately taking the city along with it. Now the crew and civilians need to rebuild the city within the fortress, battle the aliens, and find a way back home. It certainly doesn't help that the aliens are all giants.

More Notes

Macross was one of the first series that hooked me (the other was Space Battleship Yamato, aka Star Blazers) with many things not typically found in US shows: action that always has consequences, characters with actual emotions and histories of their own, allies that become enemies, enemies that become allies, and even an occasional and shocking death. It even works as an anti-war morality play.

Images from AnimEigo's 2001 restoration of Macross (including before-and-after comparisons) can be seen at: AnimEigo's Macross Images.

The offical Macross site's English pages can be found at: Macross Official Homepage. The official site for the edited Robotech version can be found at: Robotech.com.

Another good place for information, including tbe various video-game installments over the years, is located at: Macross Mecha Designs.

Official timeline:

2007: Macross Zero (5-episode OVA)

2009: Super Dimensional Fortress (SDF) Macross (36-episode TV)

2012: Macross Flashback 2012 (1-episode OVA)

2040: Macross Plus (4-episode OVA, Compilation Movie)

2045: Macross 7 (49-episode TV)

2047: Macross Dynamite 7 (4-episode OVA)

Alternate works:

Robotech (65-episode US TV); eps 1-36 are an edited SDF Macross

SDF Macross: Do You Remember Love? (Movie); altered storyline

SDF Macross II: Lovers Again (6-episode OVA, Compilation Movie); different studio

Home Reviews Seiyuu/Actors Clubs Conventions Shopping LiveJournal About Me

Feedback Appreciated.