The Asteroid Ring

The Asteroid Ring

The disgraced Colonel Gantz gathers him remaining fleet for one final attack on the Argo, in hopes of redeeming himself.  His ships form up on his flagship as he leads the attack himself.

Avatar is concerned with completing the repairs to the Argo.  Sandor arranges the for the repairs--and a cunning plan that cannot fail.  The repair crews go EVA.  (Repair and maintenance is far more important to anime than in contemporary Western animation).

Nova picks up a Gamilon ship on radar.  Avatar puts everyone on battle stations.  Sandor protests their fitness for battle.  Nova finds an asteroid belt.  Avatar says that it's the remains of the planet Minerva, the first planet the Gamilons destroyed.  (Somebody read Inherit the Stars . . .) Avatar takes the ship into the asteroid belt.

Gantz sees the Argo evade his fleet and redeploys them.  Hm.  Long, green, vegetative looking ships.  Zentraedi much?

Avatar sees the massed Gamilon fleet and orders Venture to take them into the midst of the asteroid belt.  They disappear from the Gamilon radar.  He does some stuff to fix the radar picture, but they're foiled by the Minervan asteroids. 

IQ 9 brings Sandor lunch.  Awww.  He even grew the tomatoes himself.  Sandor brings Avatar plans to camouflage the ship with asteroids.

The Gamilon fleet is still looking for the Argo.  Desslok's adjutant calls them up to see what they're up too, and goes all eye-bulging crazy.  Then Desslock appears and taunts Gantz.  Gantz pretty much loses his mind at this point. 

Avatar briefs the crew on Sandor's asteroid screen plan.  Sandor directs Wildstar to fire the polarity beam cannon . . . thingies.  They create fireworks and plant, um, anchor things in the asteroids.

And Gantz is still looking for the Argo.  He decides to send the fleet to check out individual asteroids. 

Sandor's plan is in effect, and he activates the polarity reactor, which draws asteroids toward the Argo.  The asteroids collect on the hull of the Argo, disguising it.  Couldn't he have just come up with a pinpoint barrier system with the energy left over after the fold engines disappear?  . . . Oh.  Oh.

The repair crews recommence repairs on the disguised Argo.

Bane, Gantz's adjutant thinks he sees the Argo.  Then loses it.  Then finds it again.  Finally, Gantz sees it himself.  He musters the Gamilon fleet.  Soldiers rush to battle stations and cannons are loaded with ammunition.

The repair crews are still working, and Venture and Wildstar discuss the silence.  Nova brings tomato juice to the bridge, from IQ 9.  Venture glances up--and sees the Gamilon fleet.  Wildstar goes to Avatar's quarters, but Avatar reacts calmly and apparently has something up his sleeve. 

Gantz is disdainful of the astroid-barrier trick.  He orders a bombardment.  The Argo is surrounded and battered by the barrage.  Avatar orders the repair crew in, and Sandor and Avatar play their trump card.  Wildstar reverses the polarity on Sandor's command, and the asteroids form a ring around the Argo.

Gantz sees this and orders the attack redoubled.  But their beam weapons are deflected by the asteroid ring.  Wildstar chafes under "just sitting there."

Gantz "steps up the attack" and goes on a rant about the wave motion gun.  The ships surrounding the Argo begin to close in, and Avatar orders the asteroid ring released/  The rock fragments break loose and hit the Gamilon ships, devastating Gantz's fleet.  Gantz's flagship and the Argo are on a collision course.  Avatar orders the rocket anchors fired at the hull.  The flagship swings past the Argo, hits a large asteroid, and explodes. 

So.  Wave motion engine = fold drive
Wave motion gun = reflex gun
Asteroid barrier = pinpoint barrier
Rocket anchors = Daedelus attack
Iscandar technology = Protoculture overtechnology.
Desslock = Kamjin (however, Kamjin is more the dragon to Breetai and then Badolzer as the big bads, much like, if we look at the Gundam influence, Amuro and Char become Max and Milia, who are also demoted to secondary characters, while Sleggar Laws = Roy Focker, who's arguably promoted.

Now, I'm totally not saying Macross is just a Yamato/Gundam rip-off.  Far from it.  I'm just pointing out ideas I have a feeling the Macross creators took from Yamato as inspiration, and reinvented them for their own series.

I think Yamato inspired a fair share of later series.  Beyond Macross, I can make a similar equation between Yamato and Dairugger.

Dying Earth = Dying Galveston
Array of Gamilon generals = Array of Galveston generals
Yamato repairing after battles = Rugger Guard/Galaxy Garrison fleets repairing after battles.
Pink and blue-skinned Gamilons = Purple skinned Galvestons


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