Robotech: The Movie — Brought To You By… A Bunch Of Oscar Contenders?

An intriguing (or bizarre) confluence of respected Hollywood bigwigs have joined forces to create a new, live-action film version of “Robotech.”

Tobey Maguire (Spiderman) and Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind; everything Will Smith does) are set to produce, with Lawrence Kasdan attached to write the movie for Warner Brothers. Kasdan is best known for The Empire Strikes Back (arguably the only well-written episode of the Star Wars trilogy) and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but his resume doesn’t end there. He also wrote the yuppie masterpiece The Big Chill and Kevin Costner’s version of Wyatt Earp.

Based on three separate, unrelated Japanese anime series (with awesome names like The Super Dimension Fortress Macross), “Robotech” was a sci-fi cartoon in the 1980s that ran for 85 episodes and spawned countless sequels, novelizations, role-playing games and DC comic adaptations, some of which fanboys and fangirls would like to strike from the record as non-canon. The American TV show used re-edited footage from the Japanese original and dubbed in English-speaking voices. I wonder if there were any translation debacles a la “All your base are belong to us”.

In previous Japanese-to-American adaptations, such as “Speed Racer,” the subject matter was occasionally censored or toned down to better appeal to children, but Robotech tried to incorporate mature themes and action. According to Wikipedia, its popularity led to an increased interest in anime that can be felt to this day.

Here’s what you need to know about the plot: It’s the future, and giant robots have been constructed from alien technology that crashed in the South Pacific. When earth is invaded, mankind must use the robots to protect and defend themselves. Ultimately, two young pilots (gee, do you think one of them will be Tobey Maguire?) are tasked with saving humanity. Look for “Robotech” in theaters in 2010.

Sarah S.

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