The first and second discs both have an option for Scene Selection; this allows you to choose which episode to watch on a disc, and where in the episode you want to begin viewing the disc. Both discs also have previews on them. The first disc has previews for Burn Up Excess, Orphen, Gasaraki, Dirty Pair Flash, Farscape, and Getter Robo. The second disc in the set has previews for Dai-Guard, Princess Nine, Soul Hunter, Those Who Hunt Elves, Legend of Crystania, and Dirty Pair Flash.The third DVD in the set is labeled as "Extra Masters 2 - Elements of Robotechnology V." This DVD contains all the special features included in this box set. The first extra is the original English pilot for Macross. This pilot was produced by Carl Macek before the idea of Robotech came to fruition. The theme song took the original music and wrote new English words for it. However, the English lyrics were pretty bad, and the singer on the theme wasn't very good, either.
I also didn't like the narrator on this pilot; he was "over the top," and it gave the episode a cheesy feel. Most of the dialogue in this pilot is used in the first episode of Robotech; the main changes to the dialogue had to be made due to name changes (most notably, Rick Hunter was Rick Yamada in this pilot). Most of the voice actors were also the same, although the voice for Macross City's mayor was notably different. After seeing this, I know that this treatment would never have worked for Macross, and that it ultimately worked better when it was part of Robotech.
There is also "Pre-Production Art." There is 31 pages of line art for The Sentinels, and 22 pages of line art for unproduced Southern Cross designs.
Next is "Movie Supplementals." In this menu, you can see the trailer for Robotech: The Movie. A video for Three Dog's Night "In My Heart" is included; although it should be noted that while the song was recorded for Robotech: The Movie, all the footage that appears in the video is for the Southern Cross portion of Robotech. Under "Movie Supplementals," you can also see 22 pages of original storyboard drawings by Paul S. Power, and you can watch an animatic for Robotech: The Movie.
The final extra on the third DVD is the "International Clips." The first clip is when Marie Crystal and Sean Phillips have a confrontation at a restaurant. The second clip is when the 15th Squadron smuggles Musica past Nova Satori. Both of the clips are available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portugese. I'm disappointed that the original Japanese versions of these clips weren't included.
Overall, this is a decent DVD box set. Even though I wish ADV Films had gone to more effort to remaster the video for this release, I would still recommend this box set. However, this set is now out of print. Even though ADV Films has released other Robotech box sets, I prefer this original set.
If you are a fan of Robotech and happen to stumble upon a used copy of this DVD set, I would recommend picking it up.
I wrote this review after watching a copy of this DVD box set that my husband and I purchased.
| A New Recruit Triumvirate Clone Chamber Love Song The Hunters Mind Game Bonus Feature | Dana In Wonderland Crisis Point Day Dreamer Final Nightmare The Invid Connection Catastrophe Bonus Feature | Bonus Features |
