A Brief Trek Outside Mecha Anime

I geek out to much more than Japanese cartoons about giant robots from the 80s, but that's what provokes the most thought for me, so that's what this blog is named after.

I (re)watched Star Treks II, III and IV over this week.  These three are my favorite ST movies.  Partly that's because my father took me to all three in the theater (seeing a movie in the theater in the summer was BIIIG thing at my house) over the course of the 4 years it took for them to be released (summers of 82 and 84, and around Thanksgiving in 86).  The original series wasn't on TV in my area at any regular time in that period, so this is really the first Star Trek I've known.  Yep.  For me, Kirk always had a son and Saavik was always a part of the crew.

Compared to the later films (V right on up to the JJ Abrams rebootacular) these three all hang together and seem to contain more of that original Star Trek feel.  Granted, it seems to diminsh somewhat in III and IV, but it's still there.  I'll try to define what I mean by that later on in this post.  But, overall, the three movies tell one story, the main themes of which are aging, death, friendship, loyalty, revenge, and self-sacrifice.

As an adult, I enjoy the literary references (A Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick) in Star Trek II.  They give it a certain extra layering of depth--especially Ricardo Montalban's hammy over-under-acting.  (I've never seen someone else's idea of restrained anger turn out to be "hiss out every syllable while visibly quiviering like you're about to explode."  At least, no one else has ever been able to pull it off).

The Search for Spock is about as close to mythology as the series gets.  By that I mean classical mythology, Greek tragedy.  (Oh, I know about that original series episode with the Greek gods.  That's not what I mean).  David Marcus' hubris in trying to create life--and how it ends in his death.  But it gives a chance for life for Spock, who sacrificed him in the last movie to save his ship and crew.  So then certain of his shipmates sacrifice the ship for Spock's life.

It's all a cycle.

And then the one with the whales.

Honestly, I don't think it's all as terrible as it often gets made out to be (usually by people who write for Entertainment Weekly, not other Star Trek nerds).  I miss James Horner's soundtrack, but that's a minor quibble.  Unlike later attempts at Star Trek humor, the characters stay in character.  This is almost a british comedy.  People just trying to go about their daily life (in this case it happens to be trying to save the world) are stuck in an abusrd situation (well, the past of their own world) which is similar enough to their own time but just off enough to make everything doubly awkward.

Seriously, watch IV.  Then watch V.  (shudder).  The humor in IV is intrinsic to the plot.  It's funny because the plot-driven situation is funny.  In V the humor is just sort of slathered on top of the plot.  And there's not much plot.  Or budget.  So I guess they had to increase the joke-quotient. 

Oddly enough, I think III had the most impact on later Star Trekses.  For example, the Klingons.  I remember reading an article (probably in EW) that called Kruge and his crew bumbling.  Bumbling?  Arrogant.  Bloodthirsty.  Pirates.  But bumbling?  Anyway.  They're privateers--dirty, shaggy, in a patched-together ship.  In an earlier version of the script (or at least a subplot that was dropped) their ship was a stolen Romulan prototype.  So these weren't really intended to be archetypal military Klingons--they were freebooters.

And yet, in Star Trek: the Next Generation, that's what we get.  These freebooters are now the template from which all Klingons derive.  Personally, I kind of liked them as the Red China of the Star Trek universe in the original series.  A whole lotta guys with substandard equipment, but a lot of pride and they would just pile on top of you until you lost or gave up, superior equipment and training be damned.  Now?  Good lord, I once took a history class that covered the Viking Age (Anglocentrically from around 700 to 1100, but anyway) and we had to do individual research projects and present them to the class.  One student's project was to convince us that the Klingons were like the Vikings.  His presentation consisted of watching clips of his favorite Star Trek TNG and DS9 episodes.

Dubbed Under Par

Last post I mentioned that I thought ADVision's 2006 dub was the worst English dub of an Anime series I've ever seen.  Now, the nostalgia factor is a possibility--it could be that since the Harmony Gold voices from Robotech are what I've grown up with, I'm just reacting to them being different.  But I don't think so.  Or, at least, that's not the whole story.

I like the Japanese voice actors just fine.  I especially love Akira Kamiya as Roy and Kosuke Meguro as Kamjin.

Watching Robotech as an anime-addled adult, the usual complaints for most American dubs apply.  The actors tend to yell, they seem convinced that every space must be filled with some kind of vocalization, if it's not exposition that wasn't in the original, then it's a downright pornographic amount of extra panting and grunting.  They also seem to play the characters either a lot younger than they really are (Rick, Minmei, Dana Sterling) or a lot older (Scott Bernard, Captain Gloval).

But the ADV Macross dub . . .  Well.  I can't say that I've watched more than a few minutes here and there.  But everyone I've listened to--Hikaru, Roy, Exedol, Britai, Max, the bridge bunnies--are so ***shrill***.  Shreiking.  Screaming.  "Surely you can't have ordered up Kamjin's division?!?!?!?"  Wait, Exedol doesn't look like he's having a freakout when he discovers which unit Britai has called in as reinforcements.  But that's how he's played.

Here's a somewhat in-depth but totally geeky analysis.  Max Jenius, as played by Sho Hayami, has a very deep, self-assured sounding voice.  Self-assured in an unassuming kind of way.  "Yep.  I'm badass.  Wanna get some Chinese food?"  Cam Clark plays Max Sterling a little differently.  He's shyer (though that may be inferring stuff from the McKinney novels, too), a little more understated.  His Robotech voice is very different from his Japanese Macross voice.  However, I'm inclined to think it mostly fits the way Max was animated.

Now, enter Chris Patton.  He seems to be engaged in a squealing contest with Vic Mignogna.  To the bitter end!!!  I tried watching the scene where Max tells Hikaru he's going to marry Milia in the English dub.  Ugh.  Ears.  Bleeding.  Brain.  Turning.  To POO!!!  (And this is after a lifetime of Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse). 

And Chris Patton!!  WTF?!  Another favorite anime of mine is Gasaraki.  I first saw it at a convention in the anime room, and they played the dub.  Chris Patton as Yushiro Gowa.  He can ***do*** restrained and understated.  Or Greed, in Full Metal Alchemist.  Where he's playing opposite Vic Mignogna again.  Sometimes Vic gets a little shrill as Ed, but it suits the animation--and Ed's character.  Much better than the squealing and screaming on Macross.

In the third episode, when Roy brings Hikaru and Minmei to the airborne Macross and explains to Misa that Hikaru's "kind of a civilian"--yep, voice cracking like a prepubescent.  Why?  Roy's voice in Robotech was much more laid back than Akira Kamiya (who's known for his screaming--but it's a full, back of the throat scream.  None of that nasally, head-voice smeaglol screaming). 

Now, one of my favorite English dubs is Samurai Seven.  The American actors don't necessarily imitate the performance of their Japanese counterparts--and yet they capture their characters perfectly.  Granted, half of the characters speak like six lines in the entire series (that's an exaggeration), but the voice director seemed to opt for a more minimalist, almost relaxed approach.

Maybe ADV was rushed.  I mean, most of the voice actors have been around and have done other anime series where their performances were just fine.  So maybe the problem was with direction.

Or maybe I'm just getting a little bit "Geewun" on it.

Macross II

Thanks to the modern miracle of Netflix streaming I've been watching the Macross II OVA over the Labor Day weekend.

I don't hate it.

In fact, I kind of like it.

It's sort of the bastard child of the Macross continuity.  In that it didn't involve Shoji Kawamori (and came at a time when he thought he was done with Macross--huh, then Macross Plus and 7 came along).  And that it exists in an alternate continuity.

It first came out on VHS when I was a senior in high school.  Since that's when I was starting to figure out the whole japanese source material patched together into Robotech thing, I tripped all over myself getting the first cassette.  Well.  I didn't really like it then.  I think I saw Clash of the Bionoids that summer and then saw this.  I didn't really understand was Clash of the Bionoids was (a Australian(?) attempt at dubbing Macross DYRL), and then I saw this, and it sorta dampened my enthusiasm for anime for a while.  That, and the shit was expensive!

Now I've just finished the entire OVA.  The dub wasn't great.  That alone would have been enough to kill it for me in the 90s.  However, it wasn't the worst dub I'd heard (ADV's 2006 dub of the original Macross has that award--I ***HAVE*** seen anime dubbed and subbed that isn't Macross--but seriously.  Have you LISTENED to that dub?  More on that in another post).  Mostly my problem.  Is with.  That.  Bizarre William Shatneresque PACING.  And.  overly. melodramatic deLIVery.

Obviously I wasn't floored by it.  The way I was floored by Samurai Seven (SEE!?!? Nonmacross!!!!) or thhe 08th MS Team (see!?!?!? Gundam--not Macross!!!)  But watching it was sort of like bracing myself to get beaten by a baseball bat--and realizing it was only nerf.

So, Macross II is Nerf Macross.  Not quite the impact of the real thing.  But still a little fun.