Watch Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles For Free

the audience applauded

A different way of telling a story

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I wasn't sure how I would react to this movie follow-up to the Robotech saga that I loved so much when I was a kid. I was even skeptical as I started the DVD, but soon all that slipped away and I started enjoying it. Something about that theme music that really takes you back.It was really nice to see the Robotech mecha and ships get a fancy computer animated upgrade while keeping the characters hand-drawn. It's also good to have the original voices back for several characters, especially Scott Bernard and Rick Hunter.The story in the movie starts near the end of the last episode of the original series with the REF trying liberate Earth from the Invid occupation. A few details are added this time to make way for a new enemy, we meet new characters and a couple characters stories are changed from the stories set forth in the Robotech novels.***MINOR CHARACTER SPOILERS AHEAD***The android Janice was introduced in the Sentinels novels as having been constructed by Dr. Lang before the Expeditionary force left Earth after the 1st Robotech War, in this movie she was partly constructed by the Haydonites.We are also introduced to Maia Sterling, who must be a daughter of Max and Miriya. In the Sentinel novels Miriya has another daughter named Aurora, but she would be a lot younger than Maia, and there's no other mention of them having a child.***END SPOILERS***It somewhat ignores events that happen in the novel The End of the Circle, which I wasn't real happy about since I'm a big fan of the novels. I know in Star Trek and Star Wars novels aren't considered official cannon, but with Robotech there is only 1 series of novels, and it directly follows the animated series, where as the Star Wars and Trek novels are all over the place.I know it's tough to revisit a beloved property 20 years later and please all the fans, but I think they did really well with this. If you loved the cartoons, you should enjoy this. I hope they are able to make another one of these that's also good.

Robotech is always about characters as much as the mecha battles. Some people complain about the CGI Battles, but having watched it a couple times, I'll say that I was happy with the mecha and their transformations.Some will say it totally revised history from Symphony of Light (final episode of New Generation). The question becomes, was the Regess really 'there' entirely, in one place or another? Or just as much as she needed to be? If the latter, she could easily be having the same kind of discussion with Ariel as she was having with the others at the time.Which is point three. Characterization from the old show, and new directions for chars. Ariel in particular was fantastic! They recaptured her when Scott left to find the SDF-3 perfectly, clothes and all, right from Symphony of Light. And even if people complain about 'boobs' in later parts , I thought the character looked fine. Fascinating new direction, as well. (Though Ariel is not, and should not be treated, as a Star Trek transporter. :p) The animation changed, yes. After the early stages, Ariel did look a bit different, Bernard all the way. But they were still recognizable as themselves.For continuity, no matter how you regard it as 'canon', reading The Sentinels book series from Del Ray is VERY recommended, at least by me. That allowed for much more perspective on the 'Children of the Shadow' among other things.Some I've heard elsewhere complained about the changed premise of when the Regis left. That they turned her from the 'great evil' into someone who saved the Earth. She still did a lot of bad stuff, it makes sense that she saved it for her 'daughter'.I saw someone scream about it starting after Invid Invasion and having some of the same stuff. Well, news flash: ALL THE MECHA IN INVID INVASION WERE FROM THE REF RETAKING ATTEMPTS. Unless they somehow switched mecha overnight, those are the ones that'll still be there, not hovertanks, or elderly Macross Valkyries. The older VF series is totally outmoded by that point, and the Hovertanks mentioned in novels/RPG were only there for Wolff. And he was taken out of the picture long before.Even the anti-alien prejudice is there in the right spots, though a little rushed at points. Maia should have said "half-Zentraedi" instead of "half-alien", but that's a nitpick. Love the scene with Marcus meeting Ariel and finding out what she is. My only nitpick about being 'rushed' is how suddenly people seem to go from lack of trust to right in the heart of the sensitive spot. Though they did try to explain it enough. Ariel and Janice with bridge spots on the Ark Angel... Wow.All the nods to the old show were right. The SDF-3's situation made /some/ sense, though it was a terrible military decision to send along a weapon that hadn't been field tested, then field test it when it might get used before the test.The SDF-3 certainly isn't like the Sentinels RPG artwork, but meh. No complaint. The ships all looked good. Especially the Invid Clams in the Reflex Point battle! Seeing that in CGI was FANTASTIC! While 2D and 3D animation didn't always blend 'perfectly', it was pretty easy to get used to it. The storyline absorbed me enough to not notice after a while. Beware Trojans bearing gifts! Heehee.The sequel is already in production, reportedly. This movie has done deservedly well on DVD (I'm buying the 2 disk set in November when it comes out), so they're justified in making more. The next one I'm hoping will satisfy some of the complainers more, if they pick up where this one left off. They're going after the SDF-3. And all the people that the complaints come about not seeing.

You know, I could babble in length about why I think this film is poor and not worth seeing unless you are a die-hard fan of the Robotech series, in which case you'll be greatly disappointed if you're expecting anything of the sort that got you hooked on the original series in the first place.The story is poor and unsatisfying for a long awaited continuation of the saga. The animation, both CG and conventional is rigid, cold and lifeless and sometimes looks downright amateur. The sound effects are lame. Does it have any good moments in it? Yeah, the opening score that borrows from the original Robotech series, but that is short lived. The rest is just a big expectation that never gets fulfilled, and then it's over. It's interesting to hear the creators of this film in the "making of" bonus feature talk passionately about how they strived to retain the feel of the original series and how proud they are. - People! Pardon me but you have failed miserably at that! Apparently this is supposed to be the beginning chapter of a new Robotech series. Well if that's the case, my advice would be to fire everybody that was involved in this project and hire others to do it.In the meantime, if you're hungry for Robotech, stick to Macross Plus or Macross Zero if you haven't seen them already. And if you have, watch 'em again.

Ultimately, this is a good movie. You need to dial back your expectations a bit, because remember. Robotech in 1985 never existed, it was through Carl Macek's vision that he was able to edit and interweave the story into a "western format" as they say. But since the original Japanese product values had lots of depth (violence, sensuality, characters being terminated, etc) he had a lot to work with.Shadow Chronicles goes a bit extreme on the Western format, because its made exclusively from the ground up for the North America/Europe audience. and I do agree that if Carl Macek was actively involved here, there might have been a bit more "bite" to the movie, but give it a chance! POSITIVE: - Good animation value, although its not true to the original. Its much cleaner, and loses a bit of its grittiness both in terms of story line ( and animation. However its still good none the less.Sound is fantastic, the audio quality is superb. Voice acting is superb (regardless of what others say). Even with a limited amount of voice staffing, they are able to stretch it well and make it sound like there are many more actors.Animation is far more fluid than the typical Japanese 10-15 frames per second. Thus its much smoother and fluid. There IS some shortcuts I feel in the CGI aspect where they make the transformations rather quick and the "wow" in transformation is lost, i hope they slow it down just a little bit. however, in war, they NEED to transform quickly, or else you're toast.Picture Quality on DVD is very good, its very clean, not much noise. Good compression scheme, but then again the movie isn't very long so high bit-rate on this DVD should be no problem.ROBOTECH is back, with more episodes and adventures! YAH!! - Again, regardless of is said here on IMDb, the CGI textures are good, (on par to a decent video game production), its not ILM/LucasFilm quality but come on, it's a animation! Its good enough.The unfortunate - story is a little predictable, its a bit too "americanized" taking ideas you've seen on other sci-fi flicks. The twists are not as mind bending as the Robotech from 1985, but there are still some good twists, but I hope they will 'crank it up' on the follow up sequels - long trailer included on the DVD gives almost too much of the story away. The one on www.Robotech.com (short trailer) is better, it wets your appetite and makes you want more.the battles are a bit flat, compared to the original series. its very predictable here and feels a little 'slow' - Robotech fans are being EXTREMELY critical here. if you folks don't support it, they won't make any more! come on, this movie is not bad.the bottom line - watch it at least two or three times, and i think you'll appreciate its production values more.enjoy it, its a good movie.not perfect, but if they can keep a new movie 1 per a year, i think Harmony Gold will make good money to reinvest into Robotech for many years to come.worth buying most definitely.