Cheap Robotech - The Shadow Chronicles Movie (DVD) (Tommy Yune, Dong-Wook Lee) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Robotech - The Shadow Chronicles Movie

The Return of a Classic Series
In 1985, a new series debuted in the United States. Robotech. It was the first of its kind: an animated serial science fiction epic that asked the question: What will we do when we discover we are not alone in the universe? Beginning with the crash landing of an abandoned alien ship on Earth in the year 1999, and ending with the liberation of Earth from the alien race of the Invid in 2044, the original Robotech series charts in dramatic narrative the lives, losses, and sometimes, deaths of the characters over the course of three terrible wars between human beings and aliens. <
> <
>While the original series ascended to a truly legendary status as a masterpiece of intelligent animated storytelling, many story issues were deliberately left unresolved. A second animated series was intended to answer those questions, but due to the fickle nature of network programming, it was abandoned, leaving those questions unanswered for a generation. <
> <
>Now, more than 20 years later, the series enduring popularity with its fans has finally garnered a sequel: The Shadow Chronicles. <
> <
>The movie opens by replaying the events leading up to the end of the Third Robotech War, abeit from a different perspective than the original, and answers some of the burning questions that fans of the original Robotech series have wanted to know for years. <
> <
>Humanity's future is jeopardy. Even though humanity has secured an empty victory over the Invid, who have now fled Earth, there is no time for rest. Scott Bernard and Ariel (human and Invid characters from the original series) discover they have been played for fools all along, and that a mysterious foe has been orchestrating events between their races from behind the scenes, hoping for their mutual extermination - and now emerges from the shadows bent on finishing the job. <
> <
>In the tradition of the original, the movie is dark, gritty, and deadly serious, dealing with many themes of the human condition while telling a fast paced story. <
> <
>It's pacing and depth are its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The film is too fast paced to catch everything in the first viewing, and its plot is a result of subsequent (and necessary) dependence on knowledge of events in the original series. <
> <
>If you are a fan of the original, this is definately recommended, but if you are entirely new to the Robotech story, I'd suggest watching the original series first.

---

Decent
I have been a Robotech fan since the original series, and I was cautious about getting too excited about this DVD. I saw what happened to the Star Wars series and was prepared for the worst. The good thing was that Shadow Chronicles is not the worst. Nor is it the best. I think that the idea is well intentioned, but they just don't have the time to develop the story, the way that they did in the original series. Its hard when you only have 2 hours or less, to tell such a grand story. And, that is what made ROBOTECH great. The story, though grand in scope, was about the people that were taking part in these wars. Any form of storytelling that does not have the time to tell this kind of story is severly at a disadvantage, and so it is for the SHadow Chronicles. ROBOTECH is too fantastical, and the story too well developed for a DVD to come along and explain everything that is happening and make us feel for the characters, and tell a meaningful story. This is the weakness of the SHadow Chronicles. It means well, but it really doesn't get anywhere. Viewers of the original series will get a kick out of seeing old characters again, and I enjoyed that aspect. But, these experienced viewers will also get tired of the retelling of the story. New viewers will undoubtedly be asking, "what?", because the story of Robotech is kinda out there, if you don't watch the original series. Oh, and the computer graphics, once again, fail to impress. I hate computer graphics in movies and anime. Especially when I used to love to watch the art of the Mecha. Now they are laughable video game creatures. Very disapointing, but I understand that the cost would be too great to animate the battle scenes. The art overall is not great, but is decent, and really is eqaul to the original series in quality (some of the episodes in Macross were pretty raw). Anyway, a fun little trip for hardcore fans, but missable for everyone else.

---

Robotech returns
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles was a very anticipated sequel, and due to this fact I was suprised at how much it satisfied me. It was a long wait since I first joined their website and had heard rumors of production of a sequel, and after I had heard the stories of The Sentinels failure and RT:3000, this was actually much better than those two failures of the past. Robotech promises to be a living work now, and this movie will set the groundwork for more animation in Robotech. I liked the subtle character relations, and the humor, and the mecha, though the computer graphics leave a little more artistic character to be desired. I however was disappointed in the slight but obvious differences in the character designs from the original, such as very similar body types that seemed slightly cookie-cutter and not as I remember, but that's putting a fan's expectations above the reality that they had to hire different animators after the 20+ year gap between this project and the 1985 TV series. Also I never cared for the Hadonites as they are too unimaginative for villains. RT:TSC is worth watching more than once though.