In Universal Century 223, the Earth Federation collapsed, leaving behind a vacuum of power in its demise. The Sides that were previously under Federation control became independent, calling themselves "Settlements". Two sides emerge for control over them: the Congress of Settlement Nations (CONSENT) which controls Sides 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 and The Illuminati which controls Sides 1 and 4.
The movie is centered on Mark Curran (Brennan Elliott), a former CONSENT Mobile Suit pilot who finds himself fighting for the Illuminati when he was framed for the murder of a prison guard by his rival and former supreme commander, Jack Halle (John Lovgren) during a food crisis which has struck most of humanity. In addition, he must protect the only key to ending the crisis; a bioluminescent energy formula powerful enough to sustain plant life and create an agricultural breakthrough.
The titular mobile suit, and pretty much anything related to the movie didn't appear, or was mentioned, in any other Gundam media until 2013.
And in case you're wondering, this movie was made in Canada, not in the US.
The film provides examples of:
- Attack Drone: MW-Rais are built from the ground-up to be AI-piloted mobile suits. Two of them kills General Garneaux and Mimi, as the civilian transport they're in (ironically meant to avoid attracting Illuminati forces) are flagged as a hostile by the Rais.
- Animesque: The Japanese version is an enforced example. As if the changes in the intro, dialogues, and scenes weren't obvious enough, it even has an Anime Theme Song (played in the ending credits), "Orb".
- Applied Phlebotinum: The bioluminescence formula.
- Artistic License – Physics: The formula is pretty much used as a means to create an artificial sun. Any physics expert can tell you that bioluminescence just doesn't work that way.
- Black Dude Dies First: Very narrowly averted with the mobile suit pilot who Mark rescued in the intro. Played straight for the prison guard, who was killed by Jack to frame Mark.
- The Cavalry: The Illuminati's mobile suits arrive to aid Gaea's defenders just in time after Jack has been defeated.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Gaean Freedoms (not that one) are helpless against the CONSENT Bugus during the Final Battle, only winning the battle through Mark's and the Illuminati's help. Justified; the Gaean pilots are mostly conscripted civilians using incredibly outdated mobile suits, while CONSENT employs professional soldiers using (comparatively) state-of-the-art suits.
- Dull Surprise: The movie's acting sometimes crosses this territory.
- The Empire: CONSENT. Think about an Earth Federation of Zeon.
- Expy: CONSENT is pretty much a Titans stand-in (combined with the Principality of Zeon), while the Illuminati is AEUG. On a related note, the Bugus are pretty much Zakus while the Freedoms are GMs (they are part of the RGM-series).
- False Flag Operation: Mimi pulls this off by hacking Gaea's defense systems and firing them on a CONSENT ship.
- Final Battle: On Side 8
. And it's pretty much the only real Mobile Suit battle in the movie! - Frameup: Jack kills the prison guard, framing Mark for the murder.
- Heel–Face Turn: Mimi after learning of Garneaux's real motives above.
- Idiot Ball: Whoever designed CONSENT's capitol clearly doesn't know that it's a really bad idea to build a research room next to a friggin' prison cell.
- The Illuminati: In nothing but their name. Here, they're the La Résistance opposing CONSENT.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: None of the CONSENT guards can hit either Mark or Cynthia when they're escaping from the lab. They managed to duck from the line of fire, but it's not like they can't aim below them. This results with Cynthia using one of the formula vials to blind Jack and the guards, allowing them to escape via the morgue.
- Jump Cut: The Japanese version's editing is guilty of this.
- Loose Canon: Sunrise has said "we don't like to talk about G-Saviour" in the past, and they haven't mentioned it since. However, Gundam doesn't have a strict wall between "canon" and "non-canon," and it hasn't been explicitly contradicted by anything made since, either.
- Meaningful Name: Side 8, also known as Gaea. The bioluminescence formula, created by Gaean scientists (namely Cynthia and Rigo) that can be used to sustain plant life and thus, solve the food crisis. As if the naming wasn't obvious enough, the colony even has its own greenhouse.
- No OSHA Compliance: The Sturges Air Base's runway is even more unsafe than the Congonhas Airport.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The novelization feels more like a conventional Gundam series than the movie.
- Putting on the Reich: CONSENT officers, including Jack and Garneaux, wear Nazi-esque, East German, Federation, and Zeon-ish uniforms throughout the movie. Some of their medals resemble French military 11th Parachute Brigade badges, too.
- Round Table Shot: Used when Mark and Jack has a heated argument during the party.
- Schizo Tech: Victory-era tech like beam shields co-exist with Mobile Suits that wouldn't look out of place in the One Year War. Supplemental materials explain this: much of mobile suit technology was lost in the wars during Earth Federation's decline, while MS development was hamstrung by bureaucratic red tape.
- Space Station: The Sides, natch.
- Stock Footage: Used during the intro as the film cuts and zooms to Earth. Its placement is quiet random, to say the least.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After being defeated by Mark (he only managed to disable Jack's Rai), Jack wasn't seen again after the Illuminati reinforcements arrive.
- Zeerust: Not unusual for Gundam. Notably, Garneaux's TV is laughably outdated by today's standards. On the plus side it can be activated just by snapping your finger.
