Cast Robotech (Macross and or sequels)

After re-rewatching Robotech and trying to suffer through the awful ADV Macross dub this weekend, I've really come to appreciate this series and it's place in animation history. It does a nice job of creating three dimensional characters who are more than just fodder for Saturday morning cartoon toy advertisements. With rumors of a Robotech film, which will be made with Harmony Gold's creative input, I want to see who you would have playing some of the show's more memorable characters.

Rick Hunter - Thomas Dekker

Thomas Dekker currently can be found playing John Conner in the Sarah Conner Chronicles, a leader who is unsure about his role in both an upcoming war and in day to day life. His style of acting fits perfectly with the introspective Rick Hunter of the SDF-1

Lisa Hayes - Emily Blunt

Emily Blunt is a very young actress who is able to appear as being very mature onscreen. In The Devil Wears Prada she played the b*tchy assistant. Here she could fit perfectly as the strong yet vulnerable Lisa Hayes.

Armie Hammer - Roy Faulker

Armie Hammer was attached to the dropped Justice League project, and has appeared as a drug dealer on Desperate Housewives. He is quite tall, much like Roy, and also like Roy he carries an almost cocky confidence. As this would be a smaller, yet pivotal role I don't see why this guy couldn't fill his shoes

Lynn Minmei - Brenda Song

Brenda is one of these it girls on the Disney channel or some such nonsense. Either way I found her cast on someone else's fan casting, and she seems annoying...so she fits the part.

Henri Goval - Harrison Ford

For me there would be no greater irony than casting Harrison Ford, once Han Solo, as again the Captain of a great star vessel, but this time much more grizzled, collected and tired than he former sarcastic self. I think he could carry the role well and would be helpful as a veteran actor in pulling the crew together.

Breetai - Sean Bean

 

I hate to say it, but someone suggested Edward James Olmos for Gloval on another site....way better idea.

Here is what I don't get though: almost all the casts I've seen cast Roy in his forties. I always thought a late twenties actor made much more sense

 

Heh, thanks.

 

There are about a million passably funny comedic actors who could play that role, take your pick. Seth Rogan is pretty young, about 22 or 23. That kid from Strange Wilderness and Superbad. Although to tell you the truth, I'd really like to see an unknown for that role. He is there basically as a more meaningful redshirt character (a character who is made to die). With Fokker/Faulker you get at least one or two movies out of him before he needs to kick the bucket. You don't need a ton out of Ben Dixon, although his death is one of my favorite moments in the series...I love the short speech Lisa says on his ride back: "The people of this ship are grateful, although I doubt they'll ever understand what you've gone through for them".

 

It is sad. This is like the third Robotech thread I've made, and almost no one on this site ever wants to discuss this show.

 

Khyron - Michael C Hall


Exidor - Jeff Goldblum


Claudia Grant - Zoe Saldana


Admiral Hayes - Julian McMahon

 

Well from what I understand the Macross series, which Robotech is dubbed and rewritten off of, as well as Mospeda and Southern Cross, were all huge flops in Japan...which is part of the reason why Carl Macek could rewrite them so much.

I've seen some of Macross (Japanese version), and some of the movies. For the most part it seems like a lot of it is quite bad. In fact, I may be in a minority, I don't know, but I've prefer Carl's version to the original. The fact that Roy Fokker is just an American stereotype, Hakiru Ichijo whines all the time, and Misa Hayse is just a cranky b*tch, and far more one dimensional in their portrayals...just kinda turns me off. Plus, I can't stand Minmei...and the Japanese version seems to be a love letter to bubblepop...so that killed it for me.

That said, I think the show we got was a great show. I mean it openned doorways. Having death's of sympathetic characters is a tough sell in cartoons. Their one of the few to do it. I also have always loved the love triangle of Macross, in both incarnations.

 

I've never seen DYRL, although I've heard many like it. I've also heard though, if you aren't a fan of Robotech (not really a problem for me) it is somewhat boring, despite having amazing animation.

I'm a dub man, but from what I read the dub of DYRL is laughably bad. I found five minutes worth of a fan dub online though that was good, sadly it appears like they won't be completing that one.

 

Oh, Robotech is definitely going to be given the "Superman Returns" and "Batman Begins" treatment I feel. It'll go from interested party to interested party until, finally, ten years from now, someone makes it. The problem is it has a real niche' fanbase. I wouldn't be surprised if co-producer, Tobey Macguire, was just a fan trying to get his favorite childhood cartoon off the ground.

I truly doubt we'll see this get made...but that's the breaks I guess.

In other news, I wrote a fan treatment for a story, and started on a script a while back. It combined and condensed the story of the first seven episodes basically. I changed the nature of the story a lot...in many ways, unintentionally, it ended up closer to the Macross (JPN) version.

 

Basically, that's what I did.

Okay; Here is the basic rundown.

The SDF-1 crashes to earth, piloted by a Zentradi desenter named Zor. Zor attempted to bring culture, art and peace to his warlike people, but failed. Fearing they would conquor the universe he stole the "Fold" system, an instant transit system, from the Zentradi and hid it by crashing it into Earth. Now the Zentradi are forced to essentially wander through space aimlessly, hoping to find it.

Enter Admiral Hayes, who is an arrogant bastard. He finds this ship, and locks up the dying Zor in Alaska base. Zor warns him that using the tech will alert the Zentradi to the ship's location. He doesn't listen, and sends his daughter's fiance, Karl Riber to go test it on Mars with a crew of about eighty or so. They all get wiped out by Zentradi who follow the energy signature to Mars. They manage to trap their ship there with gravity mines, preventing the Zentradi from coming to Earth. The mission is completely covered up by Admiral Hayes, and they disavow any knowledge of the crew or the base on Mars.

Three years later, Lisa Hayes is now part of the UEF (United Earth Forces), and a crew member of the SDF-1 on Macross island, which is somewhat of a glorified military monument at this point. Enter Rick Hunter, a young circus pilot who flies in to meet his brother. His "brother", Roy Faulker, is trying to talk him into joining the UEF Robotech force. He's showing him around a veritech when a Zentradi force begins to attack them. The ship automatically fires upon the Zentradi battleship in space, because Zor boobytrapped it.

The crew evacuate the civilians into the space fortress, using it as a shelter. Left behind is a local celebrity there for Macross day named Lynn Minmei, trapped between a rock and a hard place. Rick has been mistook for a pilot, and ends up unwittingly saving the young starlet. To get her safely inside the ship, he crashes in through a hole made by a explosion, but automatic doors clip his wings, and the place crashes to a halt somewhere inside the ship. The ship folds, but the untested technology sends them and the island to Jupiter. They salvage what they can and rebuild a small city inside the ship

Meanwhile, Rick and Minmei are trapped for days, and out of desperation Minmei forms a bond with Rick Hunter he preceives as more meaningful than it is. Once found however, Minmei treats Rick as just a friend. He decides to join the army to impress her.

Reckless and impolite to authority, Rick quickly rubs Lisa Hayes' bad side, and she rides him about all his mistakes in training. Finally, she concedes to let him patrol space under the command of Roy Faulker. Lisa Hayes gets particularly cross when she thinks Rick is flying too dangerously. Rick complains she is far too critical of him, and ignores Max and Ben. While on patrol Breetai again locates the SDF-1 and attacks the small group. Rick enters the battle unsure of himself, but is able to knock a Zentradi fighter off his brother's tail. However, when they return to base, they find two blasts had mortally wounded his brother, and he loses too much blood before returning to base. Rick blames himself, but Lisa also feels guilty seeing that he may have been more battle ready if she hadn't made him feel so unsure of himself.

Finally the ship comes upon Mars, where they dock for supplies. Rick attempts to use the lull in the fighting to seek comfort in Minmei. But Minmei is too caught up in her personal life and career, and wants to talk more about herself, than let him confide in her. Rick starts to have his doubts about his infatuations with Minmei.

Meanwhile Lisa and Dr. Lang investigate an abandoned Zentradi starship on the surface of Mars. Finding out more about the aliens, and where their ship came from.

The Zentradi attack again, and when they try to leave they find the ship has been locked down by the same gravity mines used in the first Mars battle against the Zentradi. Unable to move or fold, Lisa Hayes and Dr. Lang are ordered to find the sub basement generator to the Mars base and blow it up, to destroy the mines. Dr. Lang is killed on their way to the base, leaving only Lisa to complete the mission. Rick, who has been scrambled with the remainder of the former Skrull squandron, is charged with fighting back the Zentradi invaders. Lisa activates the generator, setting it to explode in ten minutes. However on her way back Lisa finds personal affects of Karl Riber, her lost boyfriend, and stays behind. Rick is ordered to rescue her when it is feared she might be injured. Despite her protests, Rick rescues her just before the generator blows. Her returns her to the ship as they move towards space.

In space, they execute a modular transformation to activate the main gun. The massive ship becomes an iron giant, and decimates Breetai's large fleet. The city inside, however is crushed because of it. Breetai is seemingly destroyed.

The invaders fought back, the SDF-1 makes it's lonely journey back to Earth. Rick Hunter gets promoted to squadron leader for his show of bravery. Lynn Minmei confesses she is in love with him, but Rick rejects her, saying she wasn't there for him when he really needed it.

On his final patrol as the ship approaches Earth, Rick is radioed by Lisa who "just wants to talk". Rick is still shaken by the world he lives in now, but the two reach a simple understanding of each other, bonded both by their loses.

Just a side note: In my story Lynn Minmei is a singer, her music, however, is not a focus, plot point or central to the story at all. The script is unfinished (but I'd like to finish one script in my life, lol) but so far Minmei only sings once in the entire film on camera.

 

Interesting choice. Gloval is Russian, yet I wonder if that aspect of his character is outdated at this point.

 

Scott Bernard - Christian Bale (I seriously cannot think of a single person better for this role)