ROBOTECH Coming to the Big Screen

Videos

robotech opening original 1985

see larger video

sourced by Jordan Yerman

Photos

Super Deformed Valkyrie (06/2003)

see larger image

uploaded by greefus groinks

Robotech was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. I loved the idea of humans controlling giant machines to smash the snot out of each other. Hey, I was, like, eight years old.

Guess what?
It's still cool!

Robotech (at least the English-language version) had three storylines, taking place during three different periods in Earth's future-history. As far as I was concerned, though, the series was divided into robo-jet fighters, hover-tanks, and... wait for it... motorcycles that transformed into suits of armor. I totally wanted one of those, even though they looked tough to balance in. I still kinda do want one.

Anyway, the movie. Right.

Tobey Maguire, of Spider-Man fame, will be producing (and possibly starring in) a film based on the series. I bet it'll be the jet-fighter segment of the Robotech saga. The villians therein were giant blue warriors who cruised around in two-legged assault pods that looked like something out of Empire Strikes Back. A sub-plot involved three of the giant baddies who got shrunk down to human-size and tried to blend in to human society, with high-larious results.

The filmmaking technology and techniques exist to actually pull this off, between CGI builds and the sort of forced-perspective shooting that created the hobbits in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.  I'd personally prefer a dirtier look (Battlestar Galactica/Firefly) to anything antiseptically "futuristic". One thing I loved about the show was how the humans had to deal with all this new technology that they barely knew how to control.

Ideal Cast List (Character References):
(Assuming Tobey Maguire plays Rick Hunter)
Lisa Hayes- Maggie Q
Minmei- Ziyi Zhang
Roy Fokker- Kevin McKidd
Max Stirling- Macaulay Culkin
Breetai- Ving Rhames
Exedore- Brian Cox

Of course, carte blanche for giving characters Pantone hair colors.