Volume 8, No.2
- By Ramón Bannister
As I said in the last post, I will do an episode-by-episode cultural analysis of the cartoon, Robotech, produced by Harmony Gold. Robotech provides us with a fascinating portrayal of our desires, fantasies and overall society. So, let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
“Booby Trap”
The first episode is entitled “Booby Trap;” it starts with a narration. As it turns out, the entire cartoon is narrated, kind of like reading a book. The narrator tells us that it is the year 1999, and we humans are in the middle of a brutal global civil war. Every country is fighting every country. We see scenes of blood and carnage, tanks and missiles, no one giving in and fighting to the death. Then, suddenly, literally out of the blue, an alien space ship appears in the sky. It is on a crash course towards Earth.
It crashes on an island called Macross in the South Pacific. World leaders realize that humans aren’t the only ones in the universe. They see the ship as a threat to come in the near future. A world government is formed, the United Earth Government, and all countries agree to a cease fire to have time to analyze this sign from above. Scientists from all over the world descend into the ship to study its technology and restore it to original condition.
The ship is restored and the human species develops a top secret technology, called Robotech, to defend Earth from what leaders think is an inevitable war with an alien species. All this the viewer finds out within five minutes. The next scene is of a celebration, where the alien ship will be revealed to the public and the pilots of the smaller Robotech airplanes doing tricks and maneuvers previously impossible with standard fighter planes of the past. All of Earth’s resources are devoted to this “space fortress,” measuring about 3/4 of a mile long.
Important characters are introduced on the bridge of the ship:
- Captain Gloval
- A politician who’s concerned more with how he appears to the public than to meaningful solutions
- Lisa – An officer, 2nd to the Captain
- Claudia – Another officer, 3rd in the pecking order
- Rick Hunter (soon to be the most famous Robotech character) – Amateur pilot
- Roy Fokker – Robotech pilot
And we cannot forget the aliens, who are introduced on their ships in space. The aliens are known as the Zentraedi race. The narrator tells us that they were specifically bred for military conquest. They were born to kill. The two officers who command a vast armada of ships are:
- Commander Breetai – The leader (obviously)
- Exedore – the scientist/academic
Well, during this celebration, the crew on the bridge notices the ship’s radar detect two ships of unknown origin. The ship automatically kicks into high gear, takes aim, and fires a huge weapon without the crew doing anything. Captain Gloval realizes that it was a booby trap. The ship was somehow programmed to fire upon enemy ships automatically, in self-defense. Therefore, the captain assumes that the ships were enemies.
Commander Breetai, the alien commander, mentions something about the ship having “reflex weaponry.” He commands a large fleet to engage and destroy the humans, BUT DON’T DAMAGE THE SHIP. That last order is key. That was the writers’ answer to how the human species survived at all. In any case, they engage the humans. We humans fight back with our Robotech weaponry. Hence, the famous exchange between the 2 aliens:
Exedore – “VERY heavy resistance, sir.”
Commander Breetai – “Yyeeeeesss. But why are they using such primitive weapons?”
Nevertheless, Breetai warns his soldiers to be cautious. (Interesting.) Long story short, a series of battles are waged, and the humans realize they’re up against fantastic warriors who know no fear and are armed with superior firepower.
Often, Breetai and Exedore make what I think are amusing statements. Consider this one by Breetai when looking at satellite images of Macross Island:
“What a disorderly arrangement! These people are completely ignorant of space-war tactics!”
Those kinds of alien observations are quite interesting and make me laugh. They show how much more advanced the Zentraedi are than the humans.
Cultural Analysis
Early on, Captain Gloval automatically assumes that the aliens are set to annihilate the human species. He mentions that they are fighting alien forces “whose power is beyond our imagination.” So, the captain makes an assumption but never tests it. How does he know that the aliens are bent on destroying us? Sure, shots were fired, but only after the ship on Earth automatically fired upon the two oncoming ships. By fighting so strongly, human characters showed that they wanted what was not theirs.
When the cartoon was produced, we were at the end of the cold war. The Russians were our enemies. Interestingly, the crew of the space fortress on Earth (in the cartoon) was multi-cultural living in a multi-cultural society. Captain Gloval was Russian. Lisa was white. Claudia was black. And the non-military characters were multi-cultural. For instance, Rick Hunter’s girlfriend-to-be (Minmei) was Asian.
It seems as though the writers envisioned a future society of people who learned to respect one another regardless of ethnic background. It was as if they were saying that this is not how it is now (mid-1980s). This is how the cartoon reflected – and still reflects, to a certain extent – our society.
And before the Zentraedi arrived, the United Earth Government had ten years of peace. Strangely, that “peace” consisted of arming a large military with never-before-seen technology that was more powerful than nuclear weapons. Inventing robots of war, machinery designed to kill, took precedence over developing the intelligence necessary to come up with ways to avert war. There’s a contradiction in all three series that plays out regularly. Humans’ desire for peace is enforced with humans’ penchant for war.
Sure, the Zentraedi were bred for for military conquest, but so were we. Commander Breetai and Exedore realized our ruthlessness in that first episode. I ask myself, Is there an alien race out there who would ever dare show itself on Earth, despite superior technology? Probably not. It would be intelligent enough to let us wage war with ourselves.
The Jews and Muslims fight in Jerusalem. Russia has claims on Chenya. We have not-so-subtle claims in Iraqi politics. We deposed a despot by using some of the same tactics of which we criticized the despot.
If I were the captain in the cartoon, the series would have ended in the first episode. Have the damn ship. Take it. The End. Isn’t that what the Zentraedi wanted? It was their ship.
(Well, the plot thickens as the story develops; we learn that it was not the Zentraedi’s after all. It actually belonged to an even more powerful alien race than the Zentraedi, known as The Robotech Masters. And then it thickens even more, when we find out that the secrets of this “protoculture” energy source was stolen from an even more powerful race, the Invid. But I’m getting way ahead of myself. That’s 2 seasons away.)
No. WE HAD TO HAVE THE SHIP. It fell on our land and it’s ours. No one can have it, and we will die protecting our property. Again, a sign of the times. Why can’t we share it? Or, why can’t we negotiate? They get the ship, but we get some of their knowledge of this energy source.
Also interesting is this robotechnology. Even now, scientists are inventing suits that allow its wearer to lift 1000 pounds. The military uses lasers to highlight targets for the computer weapons systems. Not quite Robotech, but the cartoon illustrates what we can dream up. It also illustrates how we could be strangely interested in war machines designed only for killing. Heck, I’m guilty of being fascinated by the cartoon.
I’ll leave further discussion and analysis for upcoming posts. But let me leave you with an interesting plot tidbit. This “protoculture” energy source is a mystery, even to the Zentraedi. And the human characters have absolutely no idea that the secrets of protoculture lie within the ship itself. The humans don’t exactly know about protoculture either.
