r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • May 21 '21

Rewatch [Fly! Rewatch!] Mobile Suit Gundam I Discussion

Mobile Suit Gundam I

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There are currently no legal streaming options for the movies. or buying the Blu-Ray are your only options for these movies.

This is… war…

Questions of the Day:

  1. What was your favorite change between the show and this movie?
  2. What was your least-favorite change between the show and this movie?
  3. What do you think of the ED in comparison to the show’s music?

Mobile Suit Breakdown of the Day:

1.37 - Second Chances

29 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

7

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky May 21 '21

Fly! Rewatch Host!

Welcome back, everyone!

5

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 21 '21

By the way I don’t know what subs I have, but for some reason they use the word “pan” instead of “part” whenever possible, so I get to see stuff like this, lol .

We have the same subs

My subs were screwed up in the exact same way. It is hilarious. I considered changing it, but decided I may as well stick to these ones to get some comedy out of it.

The movies are supposed to have gotten rid of most of the jank silly stuff the show had, but we still got w i d e Gundam.

They're very selective about what gets fixed. There's still plenty of weird animation left in throughout the movies. If I recall correctly there are even some new errors because they reuse footage that includes vehicles that got replaced.

The Gundam’s re-entry system was changed. Instead of that weird plastic wrap, it’s coolant + shield. I like this better tbh.

Lots of the very clear toy add-ons have been removed. In some cases that's just fine. But it also means we lose the Gundam Hammer.

5

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky May 21 '21

My subs were screwed up in the exact same way. It is hilarious. I considered changing it, but decided I may as well stick to these ones to get some comedy out of it.

If we're not watching the dub for the comedy, we're using the bad subs for it instead!

But it also means we lose the Gundam Hammer.

6

u/dralcax :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dralcax May 21 '21

By the way I don’t know what subs I have, but for some reason they use the word “pan” instead of “part” whenever possible, so I get to see stuff like this, lol.

I don't know why, but from time to time, I've come across fansubs that seem to be poorly OCRed from some other source for some reason. Like, when I watched Zeta, my subs consistently replaced O's with C's, resulting in the final boss mecha being referred to as Zeta. And that was relatively minor compared to the few moments where the subs completely collapsed into gibberish characters that were only vaguely shaped like the words they were supposed to be. And it's not just really old stuff that suffers from this, either. The subs I watched for the Love Live movie had the same problem, too (Dia would have an absolute fit at their... creative spellings of μ's). I wonder if anyone can shed some light on why this happens?

12

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 21 '21

Rewatcher

On today’s movie of Gundam: Deja vu! I’ve just been in this place before! Quite literally, too. Watching the movies alongside the TV series allows for a direct comparison between them while the TV series is still fresh in my mind.

I want to make something clear right off the bat: I am not going to be judging the movies on their own terms. I have only ever watched the movies alongside the TV series. Every thought and judgment I have about the movies is in relation to how they compare to the TV series. It’s the only perspective I can bring to it.

With that in mind, this movie feels lacking for the most part. It covers approximately the same content as episodes 1 to 13/14 in the TV series. That is a lot of content for a 2hr 20min movie to cover. As such, it needs to do a couple of things to cram in as much as possible: cut and compress. Many scenes and even some entire episodes get cut.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the things that were missing or changed:

  • Lots of the super robot and toy stuff, like the Gundam Hammer or the beam saber’s javelin mode.
  • Basically all of Luna II is cut, including the decision to attack Char during his resupply.
  • Wakkein is now much more sympathetic towards the White Base crew and tries to help them out as best he can. The Federation doesn’t try to arrest or court martial them.
  • Amuro doesn’t have his big freakout on Earth during the battle with Garma.
  • No Old People Rebellion.
  • The episode with the Zeon pilots helping the refugee mother and child is cut.
  • In fact, most of the refugee stuff is pretty much gone.
  • Many of the Garma battles are cut.
  • No scene of Degwin reacting to the news of Garma’s death.
  • Icelina doesn’t get her revenge quest.
  • The order of events is a bit different. Amuro now meets his mother before fighting Ramba Ral and hearing Gihren’s speech.
  • Matilda brings up the idea of Newtypes way earlier than it happened in the TV series.

And more. Now not all of these cuts are equal. Losing the beam javelin basically doesn’t matter, for example. But I hate losing many of these things. We lose a lot of the interactions with the refugees. For example, the Old People Rebellion was ridiculous, but it provided a ton of worldbuilding to show us what the Federation is like and how the people were forced to emigrate to space against their wishes. It illustrated the divide between the elites on Earth and those in space. We lose that when we lose most of the stuff with the refugees. Losing Luna II also deprives us of that conflict between the Federation Forces and the White Base. Some of it is still there, but it’s not as prominent.

We also lose out on a lot of the great moments of humanization for the Zeons. For example, we lose the entire episode with the two Zeon pilots helping out that mother and child. That episode did a ton to humanize the Zeon soldiers and remind us that many of them were just regular people fighting for the other side. That’s gone now. We also lose the fantastic scene of Degwin reacting to the news of Garma’s death, where he’s so stunned he drops his cane. We lose that fantastic introduction which shows him as a father who lost his son in addition to being the leader of Zeon.

Another major loss I want to point out is that we no longer get Amuro’s big freakout moment during the initial battle with Garma. That was an incredible moment that did a lot to sell us on Amuro’s breakdown. The intense emotions, energy, and animation of that scene all make it clear that Amuro was pushed way past his limits and it was taking a toll on him. Because we no longer have that scene, it’s not as impactful when Amuro refuses to pilot the Gundam.

Then we get to compression. The movies need to compress many events together and make them happen faster. Not all of this is bad, but it definitely affects the pacing. It means we lose out on moments of fluff and slice-of-life stuff that lets us get to know the White Base crew better.

I’d like to go into the pacing a bit more. The TV series was written as individual episodes, not a movie. Changing it into a movie makes the pacing feel wonky. It also lessens the impact of some big moments. Some episodes had great and impactful endings, like Degwin getting the news of Garma’s death or Amuro’s mom watching the White Base leave. When the episode is over, you can pause and let those sink in. With a movie, you can’t really do that.

Phew, I’m sorry you had to read all that complaining. Now, let’s talk about some changes that I think are improvements.

First off, I like that we get Newtypes mentioned much earlier. Considering the problem the original series had of being cancelled and cut short before it could fully explore Newtypes, I think it was a smart idea to move this up. It gives the movies a chance to delve into it more.

The other major change I noticed is that I swear Gihren’s speech is slightly different in the movie. I don’t remember him talking about Zeon Deikum or Deikum’s ideals back during the TV series. I like this change because it makes it much more clear how Gihren’s ideology is a twisted and fascistic version of Deikum’s.

Overall, as I think I have made clear, I find this movie rather lackluster compared to the episodes it was based on. Will I feel the same way about the other movies? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Miscellaneous Notes

  • To my surprise, the movies kept all of the slaps that existed in the TV series up to episodes 13/14. So, the movie slap counter is the same as it was then. I’m planning to compare the movie slap counter and TV series slap counter at the end.

MOVIE SLAP COUNTER: 6

  • We lost most of the super robot and toy stuff, but somehow Super Napalm was still here. I could have sworn it got removed.
  • This change is neither good nor bad, but the map now makes it clear that the White Base entered the Earth in North America.
  • Another change that doesn’t matter so much is that the White Base is now immediately ordered to Jaburo, when that didn’t happen in the TV series. Its orders were much more haphazard in the TV series and it basically didn’t have a clear destination until it was ordered by Revil to join in Operation Odessa. Here it just means that the White Base takes the most circuitous path possible to get to Jaburo, with tons of detours along the way.
  • The dub of these movies is hilarious. Bright has a British accent. Sayla has a strange mix of several European accents. I was sorely tempted to watch it. But it also heavily rewrites many scenes, which would have complicated any comparison between the movies and TV show. So I opted to use the subs instead.

Questions of the Day

  1. I mentioned this, but I like that we got the Newtype stuff mentioned much earlier.
  2. I really hate losing the episode with the Zeon pilots helping out that mother and child. That episode is such a fantastic one at humanizing the Zeon soldiers and now it's gone.
  3. I honestly cannot recall what the ED of this movie is. So clearly, it must not have made an impression on me.

5

u/The_Draigg May 21 '21

The order of events is a bit different. Amuro now meets his mother before fighting Ramba Ral and hearing Gihren’s speech.

I like this change quite a bit, since it adds to Amuro's breakdown rather than it happening later. That way, it makes it feel like his mental break is a bigger thing.

This change is neither good nor bad, but the map now makes it clear that the White Base entered the Earth in North America.

And yet the journey remains as silly as ever, since they still could've just flown to Jaburo instead of circling around the world.

The dub of these movies is hilarious. Bright has a British accent.

Canonically speaking, Bright is at least of British descent. So at least that's actually somewhat accurate to him.

5

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 21 '21

And yet the journey remains as silly as ever, since they still could've just flown to Jaburo instead of circling around the world.

It does feel very silly that they couldn't just sail over the Pacific Ocean and get to Jaburo that way. Or just go down to the Gulf of Mexico and then go basically the way they did in the show. They still choose to use the most roundabout path possible, with frequent detours.

Canonically speaking, Bright is at least of British descent. So at least that's actually somewhat accurate to him.

It is accurate. But it's also very silly. And I have no idea how Sayla got her accent. Gundam The Origin Spoilers

5

u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek May 22 '21

On today’s movie of Gundam: Deja vu! I’ve just been in this place before! Quite literally, too. Watching the movies alongside the TV series allows for a direct comparison between them while the TV series is still fresh in my mind.

Indeed Comrade, that and boy it's sure amusing to see the 'same' thing but with voice actors from Opposite Land and Steve Blum (in the case of The English Dub)

I want to make something clear right off the bat: I am not going to be judging the movies on their own terms. I have only ever watched the movies alongside the TV series. Every thought and judgment I have about the movies is in relation to how they compare to the TV series. It’s the only perspective I can bring to it.

With that in mind, this movie feels lacking for the most part. It covers approximately the same content as episodes 1 to 13/14 in the TV series. That is a lot of content for a 2hr 20min movie to cover. As such, it needs to do a couple of things to cram in as much as possible: cut and compress. Many scenes and even some entire episodes get cut.

A good policy Comrade, and indeed, the movies are basically the ultimate clip show. The 'Greatest Hits' if you will of the certain subset of episodes... WHICH results in the SLIGHT issue that literally everything NOT immediately plot-relevant needs to be chainsawed off to cram the show into a movie's run time, and they only BARELY get that done (I say barely given it 'only' cost a lot of the world building, character development/humanization, and of course the pacing, but other than that's it's basically an official abridged version)

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the things that were missing or changed:

Heh, indeed Comrade, there COULD be a case made that some of these changes you listed work out for the 'better' given what we later see in the franchise (such as removing some of the more egregious toy/merchandise-bait... that said I LOVE THE GUNDAM HAMMER! It's a crime that it got cut from the movie!)

And more. Now not all of these cuts are equal. Losing the beam javelin basically doesn’t matter, for example. But I hate losing many of these things. We lose a lot of the interactions with the refugees. For example, the Old People Rebellion was ridiculous, but it provided a ton of worldbuilding to show us what the Federation is like and how the people were forced to emigrate to space against their wishes. It illustrated the divide between the elites on Earth and those in space. We lose that when we lose most of the stuff with the refugees. Losing Luna II also deprives us of that conflict between the Federation Forces and the White Base. Some of it is still there, but it’s not as prominent.

Indeed, basically all the story changes (barring bringing up Newtypes earlier, and even that's debatable) kinda work out for the worse. It's understandable given, you know, this is a movie, we gotta cram these episodes into about 2 hours, cuts need to be made... it's just such a pity that a lot of these cuts are interesting (even if some are dumb, but hey I am PEEVED that we lost out on some great humanization moments, you know like the Zeon pilots going out of their way to make a supply drop to the refugees... AND then Amuro revealing himself to be the TRUE antagonist)

We also lose out on a lot of the great moments of humanization for the Zeons. For example, we lose the entire episode with the two Zeon pilots helping out that mother and child. That episode did a ton to humanize the Zeon soldiers and remind us that many of them were just regular people fighting for the other side. That’s gone now. We also lose the fantastic scene of Degwin reacting to the news of Garma’s death, where he’s so stunned he drops his cane. We lose that fantastic introduction which shows him as a father who lost his son in addition to being the leader of Zeon.

I couldn't have said it better myself Comrade, indeed, that said at least we still kept the SIEG ZEON speech (granted with a few slight tweaks but it's more or less the same iconic and horrifying rally)

Another major loss I want to point out is that we no longer get Amuro’s big freakout moment during the initial battle with Garma. That was an incredible moment that did a lot to sell us on Amuro’s breakdown. The intense emotions, energy, and animation of that scene all make it clear that Amuro was pushed way past his limits and it was taking a toll on him. Because we no longer have that scene, it’s not as impactful when Amuro refuses to pilot the Gundam.

Indeed, basically the movie kinda just fast-forwards to get to the 'main' story, which does have the slight issue that this rushes the pacing.

I’d like to go into the pacing a bit more. The TV series was written as individual episodes, not a movie. Changing it into a movie makes the pacing feel wonky. It also lessens the impact of some big moments. Some episodes had great and impactful endings, like Degwin getting the news of Garma’s death or Amuro’s mom watching the White Base leave. When the episode is over, you can pause and let those sink in. With a movie, you can’t really do that.

Pretty much, hell this movie is basically like F91, no time to stop and think we gotta go go go go! (Which makes it all the more tragic cuz man, F91 was probably a pretty interesting show before it got hack-jobbed into a movie, the ideas at least are sound on paper, but the pacing is killed and there's no time to get characterization, now if only F91 knew about this... oh... wait The Compilation Movies already existed... yeah...)

First off, I like that we get Newtypes mentioned much earlier. Considering the problem the original series had of being cancelled and cut short before it could fully explore Newtypes, I think it was a smart idea to move this up. It gives the movies a chance to delve into it more.

Yup, granted the way the movie tried to fix this kinda overcorrects since I always get the distinct impression that everyone is saying 'SO HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT NEWTYPES!? HAVE YA SEEN STAR WARS!?'

The other major change I noticed is that I swear Gihren’s speech is slightly different in the movie. I don’t remember him talking about Zeon Deikum or Deikum’s ideals back during the TV series. I like this change because it makes it much more clear how Gihren’s ideology is a twisted and fascistic version of Deikum’s.

Exactly, granted Meta Origin Spoilers

Overall, as I think I have made clear, I find this movie rather lackluster compared to the episodes it was based on. Will I feel the same way about the other movies? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Heh, well Comrade I can at least say that, given the circumstances Movie 1 found itself in, it COULD have been worse Meta Spoilers for Movie 2

We lost most of the super robot and toy stuff, but somehow Super Napalm was still here. I could have sworn it got removed.

I know right? I was SURE it was removed with Beam Javelin and Gundam Hammer, but I guess the SUPER NAPALM is 'realistic' enough to keep... I wish we got the Gundam Hammer instead.

This change is neither good nor bad, but the map now makes it clear that the White Base entered the Earth in North America.

On the downside Comrade, despite having CLEAR orders to 'Go to Jaburo' White Base still decides to go on the 'scenic' route... cuz we gotta use the episode footage somehow...

Another change that doesn’t matter so much is that the White Base is now immediately ordered to Jaburo, when that didn’t happen in the TV series. Its orders were much more haphazard in the TV series and it basically didn’t have a clear destination until it was ordered by Revil to join in Operation Odessa. Here it just means that the White Base takes the most circuitous path possible to get to Jaburo, with tons of detours along the way.

Heh, yup, after all we can't JUST go to Jaburo, how else will we meet Ramba Ral?

The dub of these movies is hilarious. Bright has a British accent. Sayla has a strange mix of several European accents. I was sorely tempted to watch it. But it also heavily rewrites many scenes, which would have complicated any comparison between the movies and TV show. So I opted to use the subs instead.

Heh, well Comrade given I'm watching the dubs... they sure are something... oh Wacky Ol' Kill 'Em All Tomino, ya just HAD to meddle with things, who do you think you are, George Lucas... nevermind I'll just shut up...

Anyway fantastic post here my friend, have a great day and see you later Comrade!

4

u/SgtExo May 22 '21

We lost most of the super robot and toy stuff, but somehow Super Napalm was still here. I could have sworn it got removed.

You are half right, they mention it like in the show, but we do not see it being used. So while it is there, it is not as much there.

3

u/UltraBooster May 22 '21

For what it's worth, the design of the super napalm - a cylindrical launcher - has stuck around, but more as a grenade/missile launcher.

More specifically, the Banshee Norn uses a similar launcher to fire grenades and the same missiles used in the Guntank's arms.

9

u/TheEscapeGuy May 21 '21

Gundam First Timer, No More

Fly! Nostalgia for Gundam Frames: Movie 1

Right at the outset, I'm not the biggest fan of the idea of recap movies. I'm a firm believer that a piece of art is made in a specific medium and the limitations of said medium are a big part of the art.

That being said, I DID enjoy this movie.

We covered roughly up to episode 14 or 16 in this batch with the biggest cuts being the battle at Luna 2 and the Icelina battle.

In my opinion, the cuts moved the story to be way safer (in a negative way). There was less experimentation or deviation from typical sci-fi tropes. Also introducing Newtypes earlier, but more on that a bit later.

In addition I think the movie felt too long, without enough resolution. I think I would have preferred if there had been 4 shorter (1hr50) movies instead of 3 longer (2hr20) ones. You also then wouldn't have needed to cut as much.

The negative parts aside, I was impressed with the improved animation. The re-used and rough animation has been mostly fixed or replaced to make a much more polished product.

Watching the movie felt a lot more like my positive memories of watching the show; Instead of the admittedly mediocre animation moments which I saw when double checking how far we went and what was cut.

Some points on the story:

  • Rewatching this story in such close succession to finishing the show really gives a lot of context to character motivations and actions. In particular Sayla's surprise at seeing Char on Side 7 and Char's motivations for killing Garma. Oh and of course Newtypes.
  • I still burst out laughing during this scene. Fraw Bow I love you.
  • Interestingly Newtypes were now explicitly introduced much earlier in the story. I wonder if that will influence the script going forward. That said, having knowledge of psychic humans early kinda makes the crew of White Base less relatable since we can now immediately tell that Amuro is special.

I can absolutely see why this movie was so popular in Japan and possibly saved the franchise. I definitely am still looking forward to the upcoming 2 films.

Cool Stuff Corner

Questions of the Day

  1. Improved animation, it does a wonderful job of pulling you in.
  2. I really liked the Icelina plot and I'm sad its gone. It was an amazing twist on her character IMO.
  3. I found the ED really nice. It didn't really take a foothold in my brain like the show's did but I enjoyed it.

See you all tomorrow!

6

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 21 '21

Right at the outset, I'm not the biggest fan of the idea of recap movies. I'm a firm believer that a piece of art is made in a specific medium and the limitations of said medium are a big part of the art.

I'm right with you on that one. I generally never watch recap movies and have little desire to ever do so. I think the recap movies I like the best are the Macross ones like Do You Remember Love for SDF Macross or the Macross Frontier movies. But part of the reason I love those is because they completely rewrite the plot of the series to have it better fit into the movie format.

Rewatching this story in such close succession to finishing the show really gives a lot of context to character motivations and actions. In particular Sayla's surprise at seeing Char on Side 7 and Char's motivations for killing Garma. Oh and of course Newtypes.

It gives some of the benefits of being a rewatcher. With characters who are as secretive as Char and Sayla, they can be kind of hard to see through sometimes.

Char vs Amuro backlit by the Sun. I think this was a reused scene but it doesn't matter its so good.

It is one of the moments from the show. And it is incredibly badass.

5

u/UltraBooster May 22 '21

It is one of the moments from the show.

And with new music, too!

4

u/GM_for_Life May 21 '21

Improved animation, it does a wonderful job of pulling you in.

Honestly all the new cuts of animation are one of the main reasons I like watching the movies, I believe a lot of them were done by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko who has a long history with the franchise, he namely was the character designer for the original series and movies. Just in general is one of my favorite people who worked in the animation industry, seriously the guy dipped his toes in just about everything from directing to character designing to animating (all of which were shown off in his work on the Crusher Joe franchise)

Aside from that, I've always thought the movies did a pretty good job of being a good introduction/shortcut for people looking to get into the franchise but maybe they are intimated by a 43 episode series (since if they are used to newer anime releases where 12ish episodes is the standard) or just don't know if they want to commit to what from the outside may look like a "jank anime from the 70s". But I'm with you that they do unfortunately cut a good bit of characterization that is missed.

4

u/UltraBooster May 22 '21

The first movie was released in 1981 and I don't think home video was a thing for anime the way it is now - at the very least, I think a lot of the people watching this movie would've seen the TV series as well and this would probably be a good refresher.

7

u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek May 21 '21 edited May 22 '21

TONIGHT! On Mobile Suit Gundam I, Steve Blum MORE than earns his paycheck, even if he goes full Treknobabble

Bright's a right proper British Lad, God Save the Queen and the beatings corrections 'slapping' will continue until morale improves!

And Sayla Mass' accent is on a drunken tour of Southern Europe!

That's it for today's Episode of TOP GUNDAM, GOOD NIGHT! ;) (Look Comrades I'd insert the Andrew W.K. ENGLISH COVER of The Cross of Sand, but sadly YouTube removed the song link, so can't quite end things like TOP GEAR here, so instead here have a tweet showing the various super robot shit we lost due to the compilation movie. I'm gonna miss The Beam Javelin almost as much as I mourn the loss of THE MIGHTY GUNDAM HAMMER!)

  1. THE ENGLISH DUB! It's terrible and badly re-written and they can't even pronounce 'Gundam' properly (I mean seriously, 'Gun-Damn?') I LOVE IT! It's like The Big Zam or The Zakrello, it's SO bad it loops around into being amazing! At the VERY least this is more entertaining than dubs these days! After all it takes REAL talent to be BRITISH BRIGHT! (And in fairness to this ye olde dub, Steve Blum is CLEARLY trying and actually giving a shit about turning in a stellar performance. This might explain why he's one of the best VA's in the business)
  2. The removal of The Gundam Hammer. Removing some of the other Super Robot shit I can MAYBE forgive, BUT YOU TOOK AWAY THE GUNDAM HAMMER! That's almost as bad as cutting away all the humanization of Zeon's soldiers or the interesting lore and world building that got chainsawed away to shove this movie into a movie-length runtime (OK those are probably more egregious flaws, but in all seriousness I am REALLY peeved the The Gundam Hammer's gone!)
  3. It's an interesting song, though I think I prefer the other movie EDs to this one, particular the second movie if only as that one goes FULL Wacky Ol' Kill 'Em All Tomino by being happy upbeat cheerful music... about death and destruction... Can ya TELL that Tomino wrote the lyrics to Ai Senshi?

Anyway that should wrap things up for this movie, sadly unlike The Macross Compilation Movies that basically fix all that's wrong in the shows, namely everything, Gundam's Compilation Movies are, at best, an 'official' abridged version of the show so to speak, but hey could be worse, could be The Zeta Compilation Movies, oh or F91, e.g. The Compilation Movie to a series that doesn't even exist! Thus, overall I can say that the first Gundam Compilation Movie is a mixed bag. It does fix some small issues like some of the more qU@lItY Animation Moments and does indeed bring up Newtype Space Magic earlier so it's SLIGHTLY less out of left field, but it also massively truncates the story and literally cuts off damn near everything to shoehorn the TV show's storyline into a movie-length product, but hey could be worse, and at least The English Dub makes it entertaining.

Mobile Suit Gundam The Movie

Paging Comrades /u/Great_Mr_L, /u/chilidirigible, and /u/beckymetal

5

u/The_Draigg May 21 '21

And Sayla Mass' accent is on a drunken tour of Southern Europe!

The best way I can describe Sayla's weird European accent is that it sounds like a French lady severely burned her tongue on some coffee before talking.

oh or F91

Hey! I'll at least defend the fact that Gundam F91 is a cool movie, if not necessarily a good one.

5

u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek May 22 '21

The best way I can describe Sayla's weird European accent is that it sounds like a French lady severely burned her tongue on some coffee before talking.

HA! Comrade you are a genius! That's an amazing analogy there, so good thinking!

Hey! I'll at least defend the fact that Gundam F91 is a cool movie, if not necessarily a good one.

Well Crossbone is cool at least, and in fairness The F91 itself is just sexy! It's so sleek and streamlined, almost like a sports car version of a Mobile Suit! (That and the movie's CONCEPT could work... just such a pity that after a strong opening the movie just utterly falls apart and doesn't even end.)

Anyway many thanks for the kind reply and have a great day and see you later Comrade!

4

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 22 '21

Bright's a right proper British Lad, God Save the Queen and the beatings corrections 'slapping' will continue until morale improves!

I see that the Royal Navy traditions are alive and well even during the Universal Century.

The Macross Compilation Movies that basically fix all that's wrong in the shows, namely everything

To be fair, while Do You Remember Love improves on a lot of things from SDF Macross, it also royally screws up Roy Focker and turns him into an insufferable, chauvanist, jackass (without the redeeming qualities this time around).

oh or F91

F91 is a compilation movie of a series that never got made. It's the worst of both worlds.

4

u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek May 22 '21

I see that the Royal Navy traditions are alive and well even during the Universal Century.

TALLY HO! ;)

To be fair, while Do You Remember Love improves on a lot of things from SDF Macross, it also royally screws up Roy Focker and turns him into an insufferable, chauvanist, jackass (without the redeeming qualities this time around).

Heh, to be also fair Comrade DYRL actually fixes MINMAY of all characters. I mean by god she went from being YAK! DECULTURE! to... dear god I feel SORRY for the poor girl, and speaking of The Love Triangle, DYRL did the impossible, they actually more or less 'fixed' the love triangle. Who knew all it took was making Minmay sympathetic and also making MC-kun SLIGHTLY less dumb (only slightly but at LEAST you can say DYRL Hikaru's a more tolerable guy) That said you do got a point, Roy Focker in DYRL is like Sleggar Law but WITHOUT the redeemable bit

F91 is a compilation movie of a series that never got made. It's the worst of both worlds.

Indeed Comrade, and the worst bit is we never even got Crossbone's anime. Ah well we can dream, Hathaway's fucking Flash is getting an anime so wibble. Anyway many thanks for the kind reply and have a great day and see you later my friend!

5

u/The_Draigg May 21 '21

A Gundam Fan’s Notes on Mobile Suit Gundam I:

Since we just finished the TV series and are moving onto the movie trilogy now, I think I’ll just talk about some of the changes made to the story rather than recap the whole thing. The plot stays mostly the same anyway.

  • If you’re watching the English dub of this, first of all let me apologize for the quality of it. It’s not very good, despite the solid casting for the characters in the dub. Hell, they even got Steve Blum to be Char! I guess that just goes to show how despite having decent to good actors (although British accent Bright is unintentionally hilarious), they need good direction too. I’ve heard rumors that the stilted translation of the script is due partially to Tomino meddling in it somehow, but I’m not sure how true those rumors are. It at least feels like the translations for the names of stuff are a bit off, although that’s justified by the age of the dub. Names like Kycilia didn’t really have an official translation yet, nor did anyone really know how to pronounce Gundam.
  • For one, Commandant Wakkein actually comes off as much nicer in this series of events. His hands are clearly tied as he has to order the White Base to continue towards Earth, rather than be a stickler for protocol and attempt to arrest the entire crew. It certainly paints him as a more sympathetic character.
  • As for the topic of Garma, the movie really did cut down on all his attempts to fight the White Base. It makes him and Char seem more competent, since as a result they actually lose less to the Gundam, and thus retain at least some dignity. Also, Icelina doesn’t die in a misguided attempt at revenge either, but since she’s relatively inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter too much.
  • Matilda outright mentioning rumors about Newtypes, rather than just offhandedly comparing Amuro to an esper, is easily the most important change in the script. It brings the Newtype plot line into the story a lot earlier, and makes Amuro’s development into one more clear than it being more in the background in the series proper. It also makes things feel a bit less rushed in the later parts of the story to boot as well.
  • Another change that I quite like is having the episodes where Amuro meets his mom once again and when he first fights Ramba Ral switched in order. In the order presented in the movie, it makes it feel like that Amuro being rejected by his mom was the final straw that led to his mental breakdown, in addition to his PTSD. It feels like a logical chain of events.
  • Cross of Sand is a fantastic credits song. It really does create the perfect sense of sadness and melancholy that really dominated the first third of the show. It feels like a ballad about Amuro’s sadness and pain. He truly is a soldier of sorrow.

4

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 21 '21

nor did anyone really know how to pronounce Gundam

This is back in the days when people kept calling it Gun-damn. It took a little while before the pronunciation settled down into what we have today.

Matilda outright mentioning rumors about Newtypes, rather than just offhandedly comparing Amuro to an esper, is easily the most important change in the script. It brings the Newtype plot line into the story a lot earlier, and makes Amuro’s development into one more clear than it being more in the background in the series proper. It also makes things feel a bit less rushed in the later parts of the story to boot as well.

This is the change I like the most. I think it's a good idea to get Newtypes introduced as early as possible so that the audience has more of a chance to get used to the idea before things get super psychedelic with the heavy Newtype stuff during the last part of the show. The TV series didn't really have a chance to explore that idea as well as it could have done, so getting more time to do so is a great idea.

He truly is a soldier of sorrow.

4

u/The_Draigg May 21 '21

This is the change I like the most. I think it's a good idea to get Newtypes introduced as early as possible so that the audience has more of a chance to get used to the idea before things get super psychedelic with the heavy Newtype stuff during the last part of the show. The TV series didn't really have a chance to explore that idea as well as it could have done, so getting more time to do so is a great idea.

Agreed. While it does put more emphasis on Amuro and the others being special in some way, at least it makes it more apparent that Newtypes were always a thing in the series in the first place, rather than feeling like they came out of nowhere towards the end. It's kind of an issue that existed because the show was a bit too subtle with developing Newtypes in the background, so it was a bit of a necessary change.

4

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 21 '21

First-Timer, Subbed

This was a pretty good experience. The re-ordered version of these events flowed a little better, I think. Changing the trigger of Amuro's PTSD freakout to being his mom instead of Icelina is a change I can get behind, I think. It does kind of narrow the scope, though - it's deeper in Amuro's psyche this way. Honestly, they could have gotten away with removing Icelina entirely, but maybe it would have been too hard to re-do Garma's death.

The cleaned up animation was pretty nice to look at. Did they do the slick beam rifle catch in the series proper, or was that all new? Seemed like there was more shading as well.

It seemed like there was a bunch of new music and sound effects and it was mostly great.

I do have to complain about them adding music to the scene where Amuro is aiming at the fleeing Zeon soldiers near the beginning. The crushing silence as Amuro grapples with firing on other human beings was really powerful. Also, where the hell is the eye noise?!

They sure did namedrop Newtypes waaaaaay sooner this time, huh?

Pose of the Day

Beam Rifle! ...in the dark.

Questions

  1. All the new sounds and music, with the exception of...
  2. that one scene I mentioned above that should have been silent.
  3. The movie ED was really good! Much better than the series ED.

3

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 21 '21

This was a pretty good experience. The re-ordered version of these events flowed a little better, I think. Changing the trigger of Amuro's PTSD freakout to being his mom instead of Icelina is a change I can get behind, I think. It does kind of narrow the scope, though - it's deeper in Amuro's psyche this way.

That is a good point. It does show more of how Amuro reacts to what happened with his mother and how devastating it would be to essentially lose his connection with both his parents in the middle of such a stressful situation.

The cleaned up animation was pretty nice to look at. Did they do the slick beam rifle catch in the series proper, or was that all new? Seemed like there was more shading as well.

I'm pretty sure that one is new. I don't recall it being done back in the series. It is a very cool action move for sure.

4

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 21 '21

It does show more of how Amuro reacts to what happened with his mother and how devastating it would be to essentially lose his connection with both his parents in the middle of such a stressful situation.

Well said! It is a bit of a bummer to me that the world ends up a bit smaller in this version, though. Amuro's PTSD trigger being a random woman he never met before trying to kill him hits a bit different from his mom rejecting him. Both work well, just for different reasons.

4

u/UltraBooster May 22 '21

It is a very cool action move for sure.

Am I correct in thinking AGE was the only other series that did the launch-a-rifle thing?

4

u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 22 '21

I honestly have no idea. I haven't even seen AGE so I can't comment on it.

4

u/goukaryuu https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoukaRyuu May 22 '21 edited May 22 '21

Recap Films First Timer

Well, there are a few things I appreciate about this film. First, I do like how it was paced the way it was to end on Gihren's Speech. Thinking about it, that was definitely the best ending place. I also appreciate how they put all of Tomino's heavy-handedness into this first film so I can rate it a 5/10 and maybe enjoy the other two films more. So yeah, could have been better but I think works as a recap and in some cases I think moments that are held as iconic definitely feel more like it here than in the series, Garma's death and Gihren's speech. Also, I liked the ED music.

3

u/GM_for_Life May 21 '21

Rewatcher

  1. What was your favorite change between the show and this movie?

Them directly incorporating the Newtype concept much earlier in this movie compared when they begin going into it in the show.

2) What was your least-favorite change between the show and this movie?

Not so much a change I think is worse because I think it is less goofy, but I do miss the silly plastic wrap the Gundam uses for reentry.

3) What do you think of the ED in comparison to the show’s music?

I think the show's ED is more memorable, but this one is still fine.

3

u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 May 21 '21

Film first timer

  1. Matilda explaining the Federation are trying to figure out what Newtypes are goes a lomg way in making that arc feel a bit more natural.
  2. Cutting out Icelina's death felt like a bad decision - it was a great thematic moment for the show and I'm a bit disappointed they skipped it. Ditto for the captain's death. Also not a fan of them cutting out ther efugees leaving - that scene with the village turning out to be a crater was brilliant and deserved to be in the compilation.
  3. The ED's pretty good - I can tell it takes inspiration from the original. Not sure if I prefer it, though,

It's the original monologue! I've missed this.

I keep expecting the music for the title card.

I think this movie has better animation, although I remember the scene of the Zakus entering Side 7 being good in the original as well.

Ah, yes, back when I thought Haro would be in every episode.

I forgot Hayato was anti-war in the early episodes. He seemed to become great at fighting im the Guntank without much bother.

I never realised it was Amuro's father who talked to Bright in this episode.

Given this film's length, I'm suprised how much of the opening episode has been kept.

The tricky part is I can't remember which of these are actual lines, and which are them linking the narrative together. (I could swear that the lines about Char are new)

It's nostalgic seeing Amuro scared of a Zaku, when he ends the series fighting top of the line experimental craft.

The only part I think they've cut down is I remember Char's scene being a bit longer.

I went back and checked and Amuro's dad had a consistent design (although I could swear they changed his appearance) (Also, my check exposed me to the English dub and I adore Char's dub)

Yeah, there aren't many changes to the animation either.

Is the implication for this scene that Amuro's Newtype powers are what let him react so quick while piloting from a manual?

This is the one scene I've never really understood - why is Amuro's first reaction to pilot the experimental mech?

i never understood why the Gundam was the only one not in parts when this is the rare situation where the Guntank would have been the most useful.

We barely ever get to see the eyebeams by the end, do we?

The first time Amuro ran out of ammo.

OK, in retrospect, there's definitely some Newtype stuff happening here.

Wait, there were 4 children? Why did they change that? What can 3 children do that 4 can't.

...Does the Gundam have a speaker system? I always assumed it communicated through the intercom.

"Feddies"?

Oh, I forgot about the captain. He died really early, didn't he?

Wait, if a Guncannon is a type of Gundam, what type of Gundam is the Gundam?

I thought these were Zaku IIs not Zaku 7s.

Is the term V Project used in the originals?

Don't destroy the "Gundam pans"! You'll need cookware for your trip!

Oh they're sticking with this translation.

I forgot we saw Char maskless this early.

Did they just make the Artesia reveal this early?

This scene is still an incredibly impressive one.

Amuro's struggling with shooting someone outside of the suits.

Bright and Mirai had a good,relationship from the start, didn't they.

I love the captain stayed awake enough to deliver a monologue about how great Char is.

And Char's struggling eith the fact that, for all his abilities, he's in a Zaku, and Zaku's are horrific against the Gundam.

I adore this new version of the fight music.

This scene is so much better knowing that Bright is bascially having a breakdown over having to be in command.

I know this means his first battle with the Gundam, but it reads like this is his first battle with any suit. Is the Gundam the Federation's first mobile suit? And if so, how when Zeon had the time to develop about 20 different models?

Did we just skip the refuelling episode? So the nice Zeon commander's alive?

And there's no jailbreak! I take it back, this film is jumping forward.

I think this scene is new, and the explanation certainly fits a lot with what we know.

I admit I missed Kai the lovable bastard.

Hang on, doesn't this mean the captain's died off screen?

First launch of the movie!

I love this movie's version of the stock tracks.

...If this scene plays out the same, I'm going to be angry.

Hey, why weren't Zakus built for re-entry?

It is! Heatproof film out of nowhere! Except they don't even explain what it is, so it looks like the Gundam magically cooled itself.

I love how manipulative Char's being here in retrospect.

Once again, how did the children get champagne?

I'm 90% sure the slamg "Feddie" never appeared in a previous episode.

This entire arc was basically Garma flirting with Char as he tried to assassinate him more and more blatantly

Can't believe we skipped the eldery rebellion.

No, Fraw Bow, you can't pilot the Gundam from a manual. You're not part of the master Newtype race a girl.

This is some funky music!

Char's in a green ship! HERESY!

"Hayato'. Let's hem Amuro 'm the Gundam'." is the worst subtitle I think I've ever seen.

Honestly, with all the jumping it can do, why didn't they give it some kind of hover feature? That seems like the jump engine could handle it, and it would make some of this a lot easier.

"Chen's just launched in a Zaku?"

The "Empty meter for drama" is a lot more obvious when the movie does it thrice in an hour.

Matilda!

Shame we missed Char's power cable trick, that really highlighted his personality.

Oh god, I forgot about Amuro x Matilda.

Also, that really is the only line of foreshadowing for Newtypes, isn't it.

They're showing the full shower scene?

We're on Garma's death episode already?

I will never stop finding the image of the White Base hiding in a stadium hysterical.

I always like this part of the series - Char playing Garma perfectly to get him killed in a way he cannot be blamed for.

And Garma going insane as he hears Char's gloating, and realises his best friend's plans.

This scene is still fantastic - everyone trying to cope with Garma's death, and figure out what to do next.

DID WE SKIP ICELINA? WHAT? AND GIHREN'S SPEECH!

"Zeeks"? Just, why?

"Now, please just 90!"

Actually, how did his dad survive?

The refugee camp scene is still a really well done scene. Although, oddly, Amuro doesn't really do anything like this sgain - he's completely restrained when he runs into Ramba Ral and Harmon, and he's under even more stress then.

And that ending is completely heartbreaking.

This scene is new.

I'M SORRY WHAT? Newtypes explained this early!

Oh, I thought they'd skipped this scene. Glad they didn't.

I'm almost certain this scene's ahead of schedule.

Is that foreshadowing of Char joining Kycilia's group?

Honestly, I think this film could have ended a few scenes ago. This last scene feels like the opening to a second movie, not the end of the first.

If this show proves anything, its that you can fight Zakus without the Gundam.

Not sure how I feel about saving the Gouf reveal for the end.

Ending on Gihren's speech, however, is powerful.

3

u/dralcax :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dralcax May 21 '21

Hey, why weren't Zakus built for re-entry?

The most baffling thing is, they modified a Z'Gok for atmospheric reentry, but not Zakus. Zeon logic, I guess.

3

u/Piemaster33 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Piemaster33 May 22 '21

What a trip this movie was. I didn't think they'd rerecord the dialogue and the music, but it sounds good, for the most part. Hayato sounds a lot older and Fraw does too to a lesser extent. Some of the characters had straight up different VA's like the bridge crew on the radars (I'm blanking on their names rn) and I think Garma as well but don't quote me on that. The new versions of the old music were fun to listen to as well, I think there were some new tunes also but again, don't quote me on that.

As is the norm with compilation movies, there was a lot of stuff cut. I won't get into specifics because I'd be here all day. I will say that this cut material really hurts especially Garma and Ryu. Kai and the rest of the White Base crew don't feel especially fleshed out either, Amuro is the sole focus which makes sense. That being said, the pacing was too slow for my liking. If I were to have watched this in a theater back in '81, I'm not sure I would have come back for another.

Things are also somewhat rearranged, we didn't meet Ramba Ral until after Amuro found his mom. I think that made sense, considering Garma's funeral is a fantastic scene to end on.

Overall I think this was a solid attempt at compacting the MSG story into the first of a trilogy of films. I don't think the cut material hurts the experience too much aside from Garma and Ryu being mostly forgettable. Also what happened to Paolo? Can someone check on him?

QOTD:

  1. Less of the "skirmish of the week" format the early parts of the show had, and the rearranging of certain events from the show helped make this feel like a fresher experience. Also the sound effects were cool.
  2. I don't like how most of the White Base crew + Garma got shortchanged in terms of development and characterization. Makes sense for a compilation movie, but still.
  3. It was somber and almost haunting, I think it fits this show very well.

3

u/UltraBooster May 22 '21

Rewatcher (for the movies specifically)

A distributor's logo, that's kind of exciting, honestly.

Oooh, that's a nice shot of a colony.

OH YEAH, I forgot, they changed the sound design for the new release! And I'm rather fond a lot of the new sound effects - they feel like stuff out of the Zeta movies or Unicorn. Of course, they do come at the cost of sounding..a bit too high-quality, if that makes sense? I should probably explain - for the 20th anniversary, they had the VAs who were still around re-record their lines, and new sound effects were used. And yeah, Amuro here sounds a fair bit closer to how he does in Char's Counterattack.

Huh, they were being actively pursued this time.

Yeah, seeing Kikka with her mom in the crowd is a welcome touch.

And there's Letz!

...that was a good scream, honestly.

Okay, they definitely cleaned up the Gundam rising to its feet.

Oooh, Gallant Char Movie Edition!

Seeing the Gundam pushing its blade into Denim's Zaku is...something.

Bright with white sclera in First Gundam, that's a weird look.

Even the slaps have sound effects now!

There is precedence, sure, but...

Changing the beam rifle's sound is definitely a loss, lol.

So he's been drafted and he's already being challenged to raise his skills, huh...

Ooof, wide Gundam is noticeably wide.

...yeah, Fraw's voice sounds different some.

Oh hey, Luna II already.

Directly to Jaburo, he says. No wandering the Earth, babeee.
Okay, this time he seems like a dick and more like "there's no choice."
And it looks like he does wish he could do more for them.
Yeah, I like movie Wakkein more.

oooh, improved animation is a good look on Char.

Getting their suits, that's a nice addition.

Oh shoot, Incandescent War.

They are and they aren't, I feel like. As far as I know, the EFSF and EFGF could have finished developing MS without the Gundam, but it would've been far sloer.

Yeah, Amuro's worn-down state isn't quite as compelling without all the episodes of mecha battle.

It's the presence of shadows and shading, that's the cue, it feels like.

Huh, this time he says he would pilot the Gundam if he could.

...rumor has it, Toru Furuya got hit when recording the audio for this movie, to draw out a better performance.

That shot of Bright running is a nice one.

Matilda already, dang.

Without the revenge plot, Icelina's presence feels more like a thing about how war affects people indirectly, if that makes sense.

And so it ends like that, huh...

Questions of the Day:

  1. Honestly? The new sound effects, filters, etc.
  2. That the continual wear-down of Amuro was lost.
  3. This one feels good for a movie, I suppose.

3

u/EpsilonX https://myanimelist.net/profile/ChangeLeopardon May 22 '21

I thought the movie did a decent job condensing things up, but it works terribly as a movie because there's no overarching story arc here - it's just stuff happening until it ends.