Just found out about it. Mr. Macek passed away last Saturday of a heart attack.
Bummed about this.
Just found out about it. Mr. Macek passed away last Saturday of a heart attack.
Bummed about this.
I wonder how many people on Spcnet know who Carl Macek was (esp. if you don't mention Robotech and Harmony Gold).
Its BIxie Jianfa Gawdammit you guys!!!!
I preferred Voltron over Robotech; Voltron aired before Robotech. Rushed home everyday after school to watch it. Still, where would Anime in the USA be without Macek?
RIP, Carl Macek.
Last edited by Dirt; 04-23-10 at 01:18 PM.
The lions Voltron or the vehicles one?
I never really understood what parts of Robotech was original and which parts were derived from Macross. Was the whole "protoculture as a power source" as opposed to some human cultural superiority Macek's idea? By extension was Invid, Southern Cross, etc. also from him? I didn't watch much of Robotech when it was on but I do have several of the RPG books from Palladium.
HK47: Now do you understand the travails of my existence master? Surely it does not compare to your existence but still...
You: I survive somehow
HK47: As do I. It is our lot in life I suppose master. Shall we find something to kill to cheer ourselves up?
-KotOR
The lions of course. I never watched a single episodes of the vehicle one.
The story with Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes and Lynn Minmey were the Macross stories. Every other Robotech without those characters were not from Macross.
"Protoculture" is only an energy source in ROBOTECH. In MACROSS, "Protoculture" refers to the original humanoid species responsible for bringing human life to Earth eons ago and for creating the Zentraedi.
Macek used Protoculture, the energy source, as a binding concept so that MACROSS, SOUTHERN CROSS, and MOSPEADA, which were unrelated series in Japan, could come together as the unified ROBOTECH storyline for the international market. That was quite a creative solution to the problem that he had at the time, which was that he could not (because of industry regulations) get the three shows broadcast on U.S. television due to inadequate number of episodes for each series separately (MACROSS - 36 episodes; SOUTHERN CROSS - 23 episodes; MOSPEADA - 25 episodes).
When watching VOLTRON as children, most people could relate easily to the simple good vs. evil fantasy appeal of the LION VOLTRON series whereas the plot-heavy VEHICLE VOLTRON went over most children's heads. Rewatching the series as an adult, however, I find that VEHICLE VOLTRON has much greater appeal: it has a level of sophistication in terms of science fiction concepts (particularly space exploration and ecology), politics, human nature, and imperialism that was lost on me when I saw the series as a child, but that I find much greater appreciation for now. VEHICLE VOLTRON is VOLTRON for adults.