Robotech II: A maior de todas as batalhas do universo

An incomplete story. Only one real storyline gets completed. Its the soap opera type storyline that usually accompanied the action in the TV series. The action storyline never actually get completed. I guess thats because its only the first 3 episodes of a TV series put together and labeled a movie. I grew up watching Robotech on television. It was by far my favorite of all cartoons. Maybe it influenced my decision to pursue an education and career in mechanical engineering. Apart from that I was always intrigued by airplanes. In any case if I had seen this "movie" in my youth I would have been sadly disappointed by the fact that the action was left unresolved. So I guess I'm saying that if you primarily enjoyed the soap opera style love stories that took place in the series you might like this "movie", but otherwise don't waste your time.

I enjoyed this "movie", actually the start of an incomplete series supposed to span 65 episodes. A diehard Robotech fan, I couldn't get enough of this tape, which kept the original voices of the Robotech TV series while recreating the feel of the series even with new animators. Sadly, the story is very incomplete, since all it takes is the first 4 episodes of what would have been a series. Having read the (complete) robotech books, I know that the Sentinels are a group of aliens the SDF-3 is supposed to meet early in the Robotech II story, but despite the "Sentinels" present in the name of the movie, you don't even get a glimpse of them! I hope, probably in vain, eventually someone will pick up and finish the series.

Just to counter some comment saying that The Sentinels "Suck", is "a disgrace", or is "not great"

For anyone who might not already know, Robotech: The Sentinels is an aborted attempt to create an original series to continue or expand the on the Robotech Saga. Again for the benefit of the handful of people who might not know, the Robotech series of the 1980s are three highly edited and modified anime series from Japan. Its presented to the American audience as one story. That is why you never see repeats of any characters or mechas from the other generations. As good as the saga was, this lack of continuation always bothered me a bit.

Anyway, if you weren't a Robotech fan, you probably won't even be visiting this webpage. So let's not worry about how this incomplete work affects the anime universe as a whole. The Sentinels (or what little was produced of the concept) is the the only Robotech animation to ever truly knit together the characters and stories from all 3 generations. The mechas and characters were believably combined to give us the beginning of an original series. The Sentinels, in my opinion helps justify our some what suspended belief that the 3 generations had anything to do with each other besides the shared Robotech title. The Shadow Chronicles make some attempt to do this, but c'mon, Rick Hunter's 1 minute cameo with a completely unrecognizable look doesn't really cut it. With the Sentinels, it seems that Rick, Lisa, Louie and other familiar characters were going to have significant screen time.

So, to say its "not great", I mildly disagree. I would've added a conditional "not yet". I think the potential was definitely there to be great.

So say it "sucks" or "a disgrace"? Are we watching the same show?? If you liked the original series, this is far from sucking or a disgrace! Some well selected main/side characters and concepts from all 3 original shows were cleverly weaved together into one story. Up to that time, its something that was desperately lacking in the Robotech franchise. It's a good alternate story to validate the assumption that the earlier Robotech stories even existed in the same universe. By the time I got to the end of this tantalizing 'preview' let's call it, I find myself thirsting for more. As it is obviously just a few parts of a greater whole, we cannot really judge The Sentinels based on what little we have of it in animation. Perhaps the best way to give this incomplete work some sort of ranking is to ask yourself how badly you would've liked to see more.

Wanting to continue milking the cash cow, Harmony Gold decided to make a sequel. This instalment in the "Robotech epic" was essentially a patchwork of specifically made footage (done by a Korean studio under Tatsunoko's supervision) and existing animation. The character designs were based on those of Macross, as the main characters were Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, Max Sterling, Breetai, Miriya etc. Did I say "based"? These new designs were americanised, looking like the worst moments of Hanna-Barbera. The uniforms were, to put it bluntly, disturbing. The storyline was even worse than that of the initial Robotech. The voice acting was as bad as you can imagine - don't forget it's a Harmony Gold production after all - and, of course, Reba West kept torturing our ears with her "singing". That the direction makes Ed Wood seem like Francis Ford Coppola goes without saying.

Only three episodes were finished. They fared poorly, ratings-wise, so the main financer, Matchbox (the toy and model manufacturer that now is a part of the Revell/Monogram consortium) bailed out. Tatsunoko did too. So, without funding and with appalling ratings, Robotech II: The Sentinels died the early death it deserved. Even Robotech fans find it an atrocity. If Robotech is a waste of time, Robotech II: The Sentinels is a waste of shelf space in video stores.

Look elsewhere and don't buy the hype of Harmony Gold, which desperately tries to revive interest in its pathetic products, in an attempt to cash in on the worldwide resurgence of interest in Macross.

If you're a Robotech fan, you need this film, no questions asked.

If you're into anime or animation in general, however... Sentinels is the result of the abortive attempt by Harmony Gold to create a series that would fit into the "Robotech Universe" (consisting of altered series Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada). In the original series, 3 successive generations of wars are shown; the first generation (Macross) being the most popular, and the second (Southern Cross/Masters) the least. The need was felt to show the continued adventures of the first generation characters over the time-span of the second, and leading into the third, as the original series made continuous mention of the "return" of the original characters, but was never shown. Confused yet?

Animation in Japan began, with "aged" versions of Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, and other protagonists from the Macross story arc, and stories designed by Harmony Gold. Financial backing was given by Matchbox Toys, who were manufacturing American toys based on the Robotech series. Unfortunately, Matchbox's finances weren't up to the strain, and the Robotech "fad" seemed to be tapering off, so production was halted after fewer than 4 of the proposed 85 or so episodes were animated.

Harmony Gold didn't want to completely write off the whole thing, so they stitched together the completed animation.

Is it worth it? Only if you're a Robotech fan. It's great seeing Rick and Lisa again... but the animation really isn't up to the par of the original Macross, the story line is very sketchy and incomplete (by necessity, of course), the voice acting is worse than the original. Streamline/Orion have been selling this as straight anime, and most people accept it as such, but I feel that this is misleading, and may reflect negatively upon newcomers' opinions of anime. It's really no different than any other "American" cartoon- story and character direction came from America, and the animation seemed to have been done half-heartedly by Japanese studios.