History Trivia / Robotech

* ReferencedBy: ''VideoGame/StarCraft.'' The Battlecruiser pilot is a dead ringer for Captain Gloval, Lzerhusskie accent, 'stache, and all.

* Improv: There were many different AdBumpers for the show. Each would feature a different character for the show lending their own style and adlibs to the "After These Messages" and "Now Back To Our Show" lines.

* NamesTheSame: The REF commander who sent Captain Carpenter to Earth was named General Reinhardt. We later see this character at the end of the series as he leads the REF in their last attempt to free Earth from the Invid. Oddly enough this is not a case of DubNameChange. In ''Anime/SuperDimensionCavalrySouthernCross'', the military commander on Liberty that Captain Lombard answered to, and the commander of the Third Earth Recapture Mission in ''Anime/GenesisClimberMospeada'' are both called General Reinhardt. By a freaky coincidence, they happened to have the same name.

* DevelopmentHell: The Hollywood adaptation of ''Robotech'' is one of the longest film development projects even to be stuck in the 7th circle of development hell. Many screenwriters, directors, and leading actors have been rumored to be connected to the project -- but no live action films have been released. Currently, Sony has the rights and are moving forward with a film franchise with James Wan directing the first film.

** BadExportForYou: Said legal snarl also prevented the original ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' from being released in the West for quite a while after interest in unedited anime grew; so all we had was ''Robotech'', which essentially became this. Probably due to lack of demand (and the folding of ADV before any releases could be managed), this is ''still'' the case in the UK.

** Beyond that, the original plans for ''Robotech: The Movie'' (and the first cut) had it as a relatively straight adaptation of ''Megazone 23'', with the story set during the ''Macross'' era on Earth. Early plans for ''Sentinels'' featured Eve along with the hero, heroine, and villain from the movie[[note]]In other words, Shogo, Yui, and B.D. from ''Megazone 23''[[/note]] as major characters. When ExecutiveMeddling forced Harmony Gold to revise the script to include ''Southern Cross'' footage as filler, ''Sentinels'' had to be revised to match: the hero and heroine roles evolved into Jack Baker and Karen Penn, the "Eve II" RobotGirl became Janice Em, and T.R. Edwards emerged after filing off the serial numbers (and the backstory with Roy Fokker) from BD Andrews.

** This doesn't just apply to ''Macross'', but it also applies to anything that features ''Macross'' as well. The Dreamcast version of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' ''almost'' got released Stateside[[note]]at the time, ''Gundam Wing'' was at the height of it's popularity, and the anime boom in general was at it's peak in the US[[/note]], since almost all of the licensing companies who held the stateside rights to the titles said yes...except for Harmony Gold, who said no, since they didn't want ''SDF Macross'' to be brought to the states and interfere with sales of ''Robotech'', despite the fact that the latter had ended over a decade ago. And the reason why Banpresto couldn't just dummy out the units from ''Macross'' was because they were important to the plot of ''Alpha''. And although nothing has been confirmed yet, quite a few fans suspect that the only reason ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsV'' was able to get a multi-region release was because of the absence of Macross in any shape or form.

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: In a legal ruling that outdid the original legal issues, '''''Harmony Gold ITSELF''''' was hit by a legal injunction allowing it to only continue to hold the Macross license until 2021, when their 'copyright' expires. To say the Anime/{{Macross}} fandom celebrated was an understatement.
** The basics were that the arbitrator found that, due to Big West's recent legal case against Creator/TatsunokoProduction, Harmony Gold actually owned none of Macross, and effectively were told to stop saying they did!

* NoExportForYou: Due to th massive and convoluted legal snarl between Big West, Tatsunoko, and Harmony Gold, very few ''Macross'' series will ever make it across the Atlantic.

* NoDubForYou: In the Latin American Creator/{{Netflix}} feed, the series doesn't have neither the original 80s Mexican Spanish dub nor the much-maligned new dub made for the remastered version, very likely because the version used for Netflix was the remastered one, and proobaly it was intentional due how much controversial was that new dubbed version compared with the 80s one, who was much well-known and popular in Latin America.
* NoExportForYou: Due to a massive and convoluted legal snarl between Big West, Tatsunoko, and Harmony Gold, very few ''Macross'' series will ever make it across the Atlantic.

** In addition, Carl Macek had originally intended ''Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss'' on being the second ''Robotech'' series (and ''Southern Cross'' as the third), since it was the second in the the "Super Dimension Trilogy" that started with ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross'' and ended with ''Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross''. All three shows were unrelated in story, but all were from the same studio, and shared many production team members and story concepts. When he couldn't secure the license to ''Orguss'', ''Southern Cross'' was moved up to being the second series, and Tatsunoko's ''Mospeada'' was chosen for the third. This explains why that season is by far the most unique of the three.

** In addition, Carl Macek had originally intended ''Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss'' on being the second ''Robotech'' series (and ''Southern Cross'' as the third), since it was the second in the the "Super Dimension Trilogy" that started with ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross'' and ended with ''Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross''. All three shows were unrelated in story, but all were from the same studio, and shared many production team members and story concepts. When he couldn't secure the license to ''Orguss'', ''Southern Cross'' was moved up to being the second series, and Tatsunoko's ''Mospeada'' was chosen for the third. This explains why that season is by far the most unique of the three. ''Orguss'' did receive a faithful dub in the early 90s from LA Hero, but it was shelved after 17 out of 35 episodes were dubbed.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Believe it or not, according to Carl Macek, ''Robotech'' was never intended on being a children's program. It was originally intended on being a way for him to get localized Japanese animation on television, and the resulting show was the only way to do it at the time. It explains why the series didn't shy away from complex plot points or mature writing, despite all the alterations from the original Japanese shows. Also the localization did ''not'' make use of NeverSayDie like most localizations at the time. Not only did it fully acknowledge character deaths, it actually added ''more'' deaths when [[spoiler:it had Captain Gloval, Claudia, Sammy, Kim, and Vanessa perish off-screen]]. Macek didn't envision a specific target audience, but he assumed it would mostly be watched by science fiction fans into their teens and twenties. This was all made all the more obvious when Cannon Films pulled ''Robotech: The Movie'' before release. They had assumed the film would be targeted towards children, and had bought-up advertising slots during children's shows. When the test screenings in Texas attracted a 90% adult audience (and the film itself being perceived as far too violent for kids), it was pulled from release.

* TheOtherDarrin: Miriya Sterling was voiced by Edie Mirman in ''The Macross Saga'' and Catherine Battistone in ''The Sentinals''.
** Dana Sterling was voiced by Melissa Newman in ''New Generation'' and Lara Cody in ''The Sentinals''. According to series creator Carl Macek, Newman "had completely disappeared from the acting community," and that he had lost touch with her.

** And ''Robotech Academy'' is now stuck too because of failing to meet it's gigantic Kickstarter goal to produce a pilot.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The plot of the Robotech Movie was once going to be vastly different, but had to be changed drastically once the creators of Macross realized this movie could somehow interfere with their profits from ''Do You Remember Love''. Somehow.

** BadExportForYou: said legal snarl also prevented the original series from being released in the West for quite a while after interest in unedited anime grew; so all we had was ''Robotech'', which essentially became this. Probably due to lack of demand (and the folding of ADV before any releases could be managed), this is ''still'' the case in the UK.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: After being bombarded with a ton of fan mail asking what happened to Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes and all the other surviving ''Macross Saga'' characters Carl Macek and Harmony-Gold decided to make their own new Robotech series, ''Robotech: The Sentinels'', a kind of half prequel series that would have taken place in between the end of ''Macross Saga'' and the start of ''The Masters'' and shown the adventures of Rick and the old cast against a new cast (which included Vince Grant, a new character created to be the brother of Claudia Grant and father of Bowie Grant) as they ventured out into space and, presumably, would have eventually chronicled their return home. Sadly, the animation company in Japan that Harmony-Gold hired went bankrupt due to economic problems, forcing them to scrap the series after only finishing three episodes. These episodes were then turned into a direct to video feature, with the intended adventures of the series then becoming the basis for a series of expanded universe comic books and novels. For what it's worth ''The Sentinels'' video feature as it is does fill in some of the gaps when watched in its intended chronological order between ''Macross Saga'' and ''Masters'', and as an extra bonus it gives the shippers the chance to see the wedding or Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes.
** The franchise is somewhat infamous for having many projects planned, but undeveloped. There's also ''Robotech III: The Odyssey'', which never saw the light of day. It would have picked up where ''New Generation'' and ''The Sentinals'' left off, creating a 260 episode series filling up all weekdays of the year, creating an endless cycle. There's also rumors of a 4th and 5th series, but they were never mentioned by Carl Macek himself, only being hinted at by other members of the production team. ''Robotech 3000'' was another attempt to continue the series, this time in CGI, that never got past a trailer. There's also a few projects stuck in development hell, see above. The only derivative works that have been successfully completed since the end of the original series are the ''Shadow Chronicles'' sequel film and ''Love, Live, Alive,'' a localized version of a ''Mospeada'' OVA.
** Also, ''Robotech: The Movie'' was originally supposed to be a dub of ''Macross: Do You Remember Love'', but ''Anime/MegaZone23'' was chosen instead because Harmony Gold couldn't license the former. It did eventually get a poorly-received HongKongDub unrelated to Robotech, but still hasn't been properly released in North American territories.
** In addition, Carl Macek had originally intended ''Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss'' on being the second ''Robotech'' series (and ''Southern Cross'' as the third), since it was the second in the the "Super Dimension Trilogy" that started with ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross'' and ended with ''Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross''. All three shows were un-related in story, but all were from the same studio, and shared many production team members and story concepts. When he couldn't secure the license to ''Orguss'', ''Southern Cross'' was moved up to being the second series, and Tatsunoko's ''Mospeada'' was chosen for the third. This explains why that season is by far the most unique of the three. ''Orguss'' did receive a faithful dub in the early 90s from LA Hero, but it was shelved after 17 out of 35 episodes were dubbed.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Believe it or not, according to Carl Macek, ''Robotech'' was never intended on being a children's program. It was originally intended on being a way for him to get localized Japanese animation on television, and the resulting show was the only way to do it at the time. It explains why the series didn't shy away from complex plot points or mature writing, as much as was altered from the original Japanese shows. Also the localization did ''not'' make use of NeverSayDie like most localizations at the time. Not only did it fully acknowledge character deaths, it actually added ''more'' deaths when [[spoiler:it had Captain Gloval, Claudia, Sammy, Kim, and Vanessa perish off-screen]]. Macek didn't envision a specific target audience, but he assumed it would mostly be watched by science fiction fans into their teens and twenties. This was all made all the more obvious when Cannon Films pulled ''Robotech: The Movie'' before release. They had assumed the film would be targeted towards children, and had bought-up advertising slots during children's shows. When the test screenings in Texas attracted a 90% adult audience (and the film itself being perceived as far too violent for kids), it was pulled from release.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Believe it or not, according to Carl Macek, ''Robotech'' was never intended on being a children's program. It was originally intended on being a way for him to get localized Japanese animation on television, and the resulting show was the only way to do it at the time. It explains why the series didn't shy away from complex plot points or mature writing, as much as was altered from the original Japanese shows. Also the localization did ''not'' make use of NeverSayDie like most localizations at the time. Not only did it acknowledged character deaths, it actually added ''more'' deaths when [[spoiler:it had Captain Gloval, Claudia, Sammy, Kim, and Vanessa perish off-screen]]. Macek didn't envision a specific target audience, but he assumed it would mostly be watched by science fiction fans into their teens and twenties. This was all made all the more obvious when Cannon Films pulled ''Robotech: The Movie'' before release. They had assumed the film would be targeted towards children, and had bought-up advertising slots during children's shows. When the test screenings in Texas attracted a 90% adult audience (and the film itself being perceived as far too violent for kids), it was pulled from release.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Believe it or not, according to Carl Macek, ''Robotech'' was never intended on being a children's program. It was originally intended on being a way for him to get localized Japanese animation on television, and the resulting show was the only way to do it at the time. It explains why the series didn't shy away from complex plot points or mature writing, as much as was altered from the original Japanese shows. Macek didn't envision a specific target audience, but assumed it would mostly be watched by science fiction fans into their teens and twenties. This was made all the more obvious when Cannon Films pulled ''Robotech: The Movie'' before release. They had assumed the film would be targeted towards children, and had bought-up advertising slots during children's shows. When the test screenings in Texas attracted a 90% adult audience (and the film itself being perceived as far too violent for kids), it was pulled from release.

* ReCut: In 2004, the entire series was re-edited using new remastered footage from ''Macross'', ''Southern Cross'', and ''Mospeada'' respectively. Since broadcast was no longer a concern, this new version was able to restore most of the footage that had been cut from the three series for time and content. The series now has more violence and nudity than originally seen. The only footage they couldn't put back in were the ones that involved dialogue. Also, the openings/ending sequences were revised to be unique to each individual series, and any title sequences were redone in modern graphics. The audio was also remixed in 5.1 surround sound.

** In addition, Carl Macek had originally intended ''Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss'' on being the second ''Robotech'' series (and ''Southern Cross'' the third), since it was the second in the the "Super Dimension Trilogy" that started with ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross'' and ended with ''Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross''. All three shows were un-related in story, but all were from the same studio, and shared many production team members and story concepts. When he couldn't secure the license to ''Orguss'', ''Southern Cross'' was moved up to being the second series, and Tatsunoko's ''Mospeada'' was chosen for the third. This explains why that season is by far the most unique of the three. ''Orguss'' did receive a faithful dub in the early 90s from LA Hero, but it was shelved after 17 out of 35 episodes were dubbed.

** In addition, Carl Macek had originally intended ''SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss'' on being the second ''Robotech'' series (and ''Southern Cross'' the third), since it was the second in the the "Super Dimension Trilogy" that started with ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross'' and ended with ''Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross''. All three shows were un-related in story, but all were from the same studio, and shared many production team members and story concepts. When he couldn't secure the license to ''Orguss'', ''Southern Cross'' was moved up to being the second series, and Tatsunoko's ''Mospeada'' was chosen for the third. This explains why that season is by far the most unique of the three. ''Orguss'' did receive a faithful dub in the early 90s from LA Hero, but it was shelved after 17 out of 35 episodes were dubbed.

* ReCut: In 2004, the entire series was re-edited using new remastered footage from ''Macross'', ''Southern Cross'', and ''Mospeada'' respectively. Since broadcast was no longer a concern, this new version was able to restore most of the footage that had been cut from the three series for time and content. The series now has more violence and nudity than originally seen. The only footage they couldn't put back in were the ones that involved dialogue. Also, the openings/ending sequences were revised to be unique to each individual ''series'', and any title sequences were redone in modern graphics. The audio was also remixed in 5.1 surround sound.