Dude, you have to watch the original. Earth colonists who discover the planet they've settled is the ancestral homeworld of a humanoid alien race who comes back to find us squatting on their turf. Much better story.
Probably, along with Starriors, the biggest under-seen/under-appreciated gem of its era (early-to-mid-'80s). The story is pretty frikkin' amazing, like, almost Michael Bay/JJ Abrams level of disorienting in places, but in a good way. The Orguss itself is one of my favorite mechs, just for the sheer personality of it. Further thoughts on this below with Dougram.
Orguss getting remastered would be a lovely thing, but I also think about Starriors in there. That really needs to be dusted off and either finished or actually properly released. It's not a terribly original story concept, but the execution, if handled right, could be amazing, mainly because it's populated by good characters.
And on the heels of that thought tends to follow shows that had potential, but suffered from "'80s-animation-itis". You know. The stuff that makes us cringe now, whether it's bad voice acting or overexaggerated animation or cranial-intrusion level simple stories that underestimate the audience or... The two at the top of my list of "geed idea that needs to be rebooted and done properly" are Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and M.A.S.K. That last I have some fun thoughts for, if you'll bear with me:
• Toy line released by Kenner, now owned by Hasbro, who also did/does GI Joe and Transformers
• GI Joe and Transformers crossed over a few times in each others' comics, and Spider-Man appeared in both, along with other Marvel Universe hallmarks, making them both part of the Marvel Universe.
• So... *deep breath* After the Ark wakes up and an initial misunderstanding, the Autobots (Cybertrons or Cybertronians in my treatment) help the government beat the Decepticons (Destrons in my treatment) and are generous with their more-advanced science and technology in exchange for our friendship. With the Avengers Initiative shot down, Project: Insight a debacle, and S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded (even if the intention is to rebuild it from scratch), the government forms a new covert Special-Missions Force, with help from Stark and Cybertronian tech. This team, nicknamed "G. I. Joe" by its members and supporters after the '60s action figure who could go anywhere and do anything, even has combat vehicles disguised as everyday drivers that make use of transforming tech to convert into their combat modes.
• Meanwhile, Hydra operatives are able to squirrel away some of the tech being developed and use it to set up two new "heads" with different focuses, Cobra and Venom. They may even get help from not-as-defeated-as-we-thought Destrons.
I call it my Grand Unified Theory of '80s Animation. *chuckle*
Well, it's set 80 years after the end of Macross, and almost fifty years after all the Macross 7 stuff. The female lead is, like, Max and Miriya's great-granddaughter (she says she has an "ancestor" who was Meltran). So I've never had any problem dismissing the discontinuity by saying we have several decades of untouched intervening time to sort out just about any problems. With all the M7 stuff (it makes my eyes cross there's so much to try to keep track of), I don't know if we ever get an "end" to the story, or a final disposition of the Jenius family. *thinks* Dammit, now I think I have to get all the M7 stuff I'm missing and do a fan-edit to make it all coherent with a single trackable narrative thread.
Very cool. I have all the tie-in print stuff, I liked the story that much.
Oh, and if you're a Twin Peaks fan and from the Salish region, I'm gonna assume you've been to the various shooting locations like the Salish Lodge, Snoqualmie Falls, the Mar-T Diner, etc. Sadly, the "cherry pie" is more like cherry pie material in a bowl, rather than an actual slice of pie. And the interior is nothing like the set they used. But it's still fun.
I've been, yes. But more to the point, I live about fifteen minutes away from the place used for many of the interiors and exteriors in the pilot. Interior and exterior of the Packard house, interior of the Great Northern lobby, conference room, the Horne dining room, the beach where Laura's body was found...
I am utterly thrilled beyond words that they're reviving the series for a third season to tie up the loose ends. I'd been frantically hoping someone had remembered Cooper was twenty-five years older in his dream and would do something with that. I only hope some old resentments can be put aside to see the majority of the surviving cast return. And to honor Frank Silva, I hope they use CG to do Bob and not change his appearance.
I just wish all the Dougram mecha were released in 1:35 scale. Most are 1:72, which is fine for displaying next to my air/space-craft (not counting my 1:48 Gunstar). I have that larger-scale Dougram itself. Just wish at least the "Battlemaster" and "Wolverine" -- to use their Battletech names -- were in that scale, too. It'd be so eye-catching... I like the thought of some of the most notable mechs (Orguss, Valkyrie Battloid, Ride Armour, Legioss Battloid, Dougram, the Bloodsucker version of the VOTOMS from the Last Red Shoulder OVA...) in 1:35 to display among military armor models and just generally be impressive and have context for scale.
--Jonah
