After a twenty-year absence, Robotech returned as a feature film.

We look back at the attempt to reignite the franchise.

In the early 2000s,Robotechseemed to have hit a dead end.

Where could the franchise go from there?

Instead it just became another stalled attempt to bring theRobotechfranchise back to prominence and left some fans cold.

It wasnt an easy movie to pull off from the start.

TheNew Generationcharacters attempting to rebuild Earth after the Invid occupation.

Yune thought the most obvious was to follow up on the cliffhanger of the original series.

The question was, uhhh.

Why is Scott looking for Admiral Hunter and who is this Admiral Hunter guy.

What makes him so important?

At a certain time in the movies production the outline was changing every day.

Fans wondered why the story didnt focus on importantRobotechcharacters like Rick Hunter who only made a brief appearance.

He couldnt look too much like Rick Hunter because that was owned by the owners ofMacross.

This kneecapped Rileys plans to make the film more a tribute to all three of theRobotecharcs.

While Louie fromThe Mastersdid make an appearance, in terms of legalities, we could only do Mospeada.

It was too long, Yune remembers.

We had a budget target to meet.

We could have had something way over two hours but we would have missed our budget target.

Either one of two things happen.

What we had to do with editorialize and keep what was absolutely necessary.

To Yune those two would be a distraction.

The story needed to stay focused.

If a new fan misses it, it doesnt matter, Yune says.

It doesnt change their enjoyment of the story.

If a hardcore fan sees it they go, aaaah.

Thats my little hint.

Then maybe a new fan who rewatches it understands it later and it works.

Why would Lunk just leave his truck there?

This perplexed some fans since if she was designed for the film why didnt she make it in?

She was an integral character in theMacrosssaga and could have played a big role.

That was something that was going to be punted down to (the proposed sequel film)Shadow Rising.

In the space of the movie we just couldnt fit her in, explains Yune.

Its too easy to start going down this rabbit hole or that rabbit hole of continuity.

Even still, the movie did contain some nods toRobotechslong history.

The big bads of the film, the Haydonites, were taken from theRobotechexpanded universe.

I totally understand his decision.

It was tremendously exciting.

Whatever happens withShadow Risingin the future, it will need to kick startRobotechagain.

The audience will need to be introduced to the universe ofRobotechonce again.

The events ofShadow Chroniclesmight need to be recapped if they follow on from that films plot.

New characters might need to be introduced to be audience surrogates.

They cant simply pick right up whereShadow Chroniclesleft off.