“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m the Doctor, I work in a shop now, here to help. Look, they gave me a badge with my name on it in case I forget who I am. Very thoughtful, as that does happen.”

There are times to get all bent out of shape over problems with plot, and logic, and diminishing returns, and other niggling concerns, and then there are times where it makes a lot more sense to focus on the positives of a story, the things that do work, the things that make the story enjoyable despite all those nagging flaws. The time to get all bent out of shape over the problems is when those are the chief elements on display, such as in a story like “Let’s Kill Hitler,” one of the big continuity episodes. “Closing Time,” Gareth Roberts’s sequel of sorts to last year’s “The Lodger,” is no such beast; the plot is a secondary concern to watching Matt Smith’s extra-alien Doctor once again invading the life of James Corden’s Craig Owens, this time during an all-important weekend where Craig is supposed to prove to his family and friends that he can take care of his baby Alfie on his own. Unfortunately, this also coincides with a Cyberman invasion from beneath a department store — not their finest hour, but it’s pretty much just an excuse to keep the Doctor around and give him something to do when he’s not tormenting Craig with his ability to speak baby, quiet less developed life forms with a mere “shush,” and the fact that everyone still seems to really, really like him. Again, you’ve probably already seen it, but if you haven’t, spoilers do follow.

11) The one problem I have with moving Craig’s story along this far — him and Sophie together and having a baby — is that it means it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll ever see Craig as a proper companion, journeying through time and space with the Doctor. Maybe that would be too much of a good thing; maybe this duo works best in limited doses, and more importantly in a more domestic setting, but I can’t help thinking how much fun it would be to take Craig out into space, or into, I don’t know, ancient Egypt. Perhaps a short jaunt, like Martha’s three episodes in the Tenth Doctor’s last proper series, would do the trick. Or maybe we’ll have to wait twenty-five years for this to be realized as a Big Finish audio story arc, when Matt Smith and James Corden are middle-aged and a nineteen year-old Twentieth Doctor, an actor who still has yet to be born as of this writing, is on our TV screens. Long as the comedic timing and chemistry is still there, I’ll buy it.

10) I so love the glimpse we get of Amy and Rory; it really hammers home the fact that both the Doctor and the two of them have moved on — or rather, the Doctor’s trying to move on, and they really have. Look, Amy’s a model now! People know who she is! Poor Rory, he’s probably got some banal office job, and she probably makes more than he does. Oh well, that’s his lot in life. Still, I can’t shake the feeling — and more on this next time — that their story, the exciting bit where they run around and have adventures, is coming to a close.

9) This doesn’t, however, mean that the Doctor doesn’t need companions. Far from it, the point Craig keeps trying to make is that the Doctor needs his friends, needs someone watching his back, and seriously needs to stop beating himself up over the danger he puts people in because it’s not like anyone else is going to ward off the occasional Cyberman invasion. It’s the unfortunate push and pull of the more realistic emotions and dangers of the modern DOCTOR WHO; the Doctor worries himself into fits when the humans around him nearly get themselves killed trying to help him out, but he doesn’t take into account the fact that they’re making these decisions for themselves; it’s not like anyone’s forcing them. The point is, and has been throughout the modern series, that the Doctor makes these people stronger and braver, and yes, maybe dislodges their common sense a bit, but when the Doctor has screwed up — and boy, he kind of screws up bad here — somebody has to step in and follow his example and try to save the day. And besides all that, he REALLY needs somebody to talk to. It’s a little sad watching him try and work things out talking to Lynda Baron’s character or, worse, the ditzy shop girl in the lingerie department.

8) The Doctor we see here is, I assume, two hundred years on from the end of “The God Complex.” About that, bravo, Steven Moffat; you’ve moved the Doctor beyond the “every year we watch he’s one year older” paradigm that Russell T Davies stupidly held to. That, in and of itself, is not a problem. What I do find myself rolling my eyes at is the Doctor moping, staving off death, visiting his friends — basically, replaying the end of “The End of Time Part 2,” which was only two years ago. I think Smith plays it with more natural gravitas and less mugging and heavy-handed schmaltz, but it’s still a bit annoying to see it so soon.

7) Pity the poor Cybermen. They haven’t had a really good story since “Earthshock” in 1982, and before that their glory days were in black and white, with such stories as “Tomb of the Cybermen” and “The Invasion.” This story really does them no favors. They’re defeated, as the Doctor is forced to admit at the end, by the power of love, emotional feedback from Craig’s response to his crying son that makes their heads explode and their ship along with them. The ship exploding really doesn’t make any sense. Given that the core of the story is Craig’s journey and, to a lesser extent, the Doctor’s journey, that really gives the Cybermen the short end of the stick. In fact, I suspect we got Cybermen because Gareth Roberts wanted to play with …

6) Cybermats! Not seen since the Fourth Doctor’s first season, Cybermats are rat-like scouts and energy collectors that make the Cybermen more than just generic emotionless cyborg guys. Admittedly it makes them emotionless cyborg guys with handles on their heads, teardrops on their stylized eyes, and pet metal rats, but that still puts them above the Borg in the style and charm departments. I expect we got Cybermats because they tie in nicely with the image of the Doctor working in the toy department at the shop, which is a really cute touch. Also, they’re extremely marketable. I like how the teardrop has been incorporated into their look, and the organic-looking mouth is shockingly scary.

5) The expansion of the “I can speak baby” gag from “A Good Man Goes To War” opens up a whole new avenue for the Doctor to annoy Craig, and the half of the dialog we hear as he chats with Alfie — I’m sorry, Stormageddon — is certainly amusing, though it does sometimes seem a bit harsh on poor Craig. It’s why I think there must be something to the Doctor’s claim; he’s just not that mean.

4) I do think the gay couple gag goes on a bit too long, or at least too long before the Doctor and Craig figure out what Lynda Baron’s character thinks is going on between them. Then again, the Doctor is a bit clueless and Craig’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. It could just be me; personally, I find that sort of misunderstanding-based humor more uncomfortable than funny …

3) … though I did get a good laugh out of how completely out of his depth Craig was trying to get information out of the dim shop girl in the lingerie section. Really, that was a painful effort. And speaking of that girl, while the Doctor said his “shush” would only work once, and only on underdeveloped minds, the fact that he used it at least three times on the shop girl seems to me to be a bit of a mean gag about her state of mental development.

2) The Doctor getting his Stetson hat from Craig was a little sweet. His farewell to humanity, to those three kids, that seemed a bit weird but also totally in character, at least based on his slightly awkward characterization in this story. And might I say, as catch phrases go, the whole “I’m here to help” bit he picks up from the department store really fits the character of the Doctor, and what he’s largely been about since at least the waning days of the First Doctor. It’s nice. I like it.

1) The ending felt like such an unwelcome intrusion; Madame Kovarian, all smugness without motive, is never a welcome sight, and the fact that there’s apparently no trick to the astronaut coming out of the lake is a major letdown. The only reason it’s an astronaut is because there was an astronaut later in the opening two-parter, or because it was an astronaut in the prophesy, or because there was an astronaut in the eyewitness accounts. Broken causality, the reason that anything and everything happens in Moffat-era DOCTOR WHO. The problem is, it doesn’t actually make a damn lick of sense. And moreover, stripped of any motive, they just seem to be evil and murderous for evil and murderousness’ sake, which is just dull.

“The rooms have … THINGS in them.”

“Things? Hello! What kind of things? Interesting things? I like things. Ask anyone.”

“Bad dreams.”

“Well, that killed the mood.”

If modern DOCTOR WHO episodes were judged solely on the basis of how much they felt like classic DOCTOR WHO episodes, “The God Complex” would the king of the Eleventh Doctor stories. Certainly there are thoroughly modern elements to the story, most of all the deconstructionist climax and the heartstring-tugging ending, but the mystery, the setting, the use of a mythological story as a backbone, and the endless corridors are all very much in keeping with the formula of classic WHO. However, what puts it in the running for best of the season, to my mind, is the way the classic elements of the formula are executed, not just in a more modern way, but with such panache. And yes, while I’m coming to this a few weeks late, I will warn you on the off chance that you missed it, spoilers do follow.

11) The cold open, with policewoman Lucy Hayward finding her room, leaving her note, and breaking down to become the minotaur’s latest victim, sets the stage brilliantly in terms of mood and style, and the mystery of what she means by those last words, “Praise him,” is as effective a cliffhanger as anything in the classic series — hell, moreso in a lot of cases. I love a good cold open without the regular cast. Mind you, it does lead to the viewer knowing full well what the captions on the photos in the hotel lobby mean when the Doctor, Amy, and Rory are investigating — one of those moments where I found myself wanting to scream at the TV, especially given how the Doctor really should be smart enough to guess the common thread between all those things. As an aside, the reuse of stock photos for the alien victims of the minotaur’s prison was especially distracting, moreso than the use of the full body stock photos for the pre-Moffat BBC Wales series companions in “Let’s Kill Hitler.”

10) Good lord, the direction and editing on this one. Nick Hurran also directed the immediately previous story, “The Girl Who Waited,” and he uses some of the same tricks; the one that most jumped out at me was the way, during the Doctor’s conversation with the minotaur, Hurran used the reflection of the decorative waterfall to put the two characters, facing one another, in the same shot. But there are plenty of other storytelling tricks, techniques, and tools he uses to spice the story up: interesting camera angles, the use of the hotel’s surveillance camera between normal shots, and most notably the visualization of the words “Praise Him” to reflect the changing minds of our heroes’ fellow prisoners. It amps up the surreality of the story and setting, and helps keep the viewer guessing along with the Doctor.

9) Not only does it feel like a classic series episode, as I think every observer with a long memory has noted, “The God Complex” has two obvious callbacks to classic series stories. First of all, as the Doctor remarks at the end, the minotaur here is a relative of the Nimon, the titular monster in the Fourth Doctor story “The Horns of Nimon,” a creature who also resembles the minotaur and also was found in a labyrinth of sorts. Both creatures would go to underdeveloped worlds and set themselves up as local gods, and both creatures would drain the indigenous peoples of energy, though this story’s minotaur goes about it in a more complicated way.

8) Second of all, the climax recalls that of the Seventh Doctor story “The Curse of Fenric,” in which the Doctor was forced to break Ace’s faith in him for reasons too complicated to get into here — needless to say, without this shattering of her faith in him, the baddie wouldn’t have gotten what was coming to him. The Doctor may play mean and terrible games with people, but there’s always a reason. Funny thing, the Doctor’s shattering of Amy’s faith in him didn’t play all that well with me the first time, but upon second viewing it somehow clicked. I think part of that stems from the fact that, having watched the next two episodes since my initial viewing, the sense of finality in that scene between Amy and the Doctor really resonated. With the Seventh Doctor and Ace, he’s testing her; with the Eleventh Doctor and Amy, he’s trying to save her, not just in the here and now, but before he puts her in harm’s way again.

7) The guest cast is uniformly brilliant, a well sketched-out group of characters acted magnificently, with maybe the exception of the gambler, Joe — and it’s neither the character nor the actor’s fault. I recall one reviewer during the week of broadcast making the note that he didn’t much care for poor Joe, but I’d argue that we never really get to know him; by the time we meet him, he’s been converted into food for the minotaur, and thus is left to grin like a madman and spout off worshipful dialog that moves the plot along. Rita is one of the two standouts, the clever one that, consequently, the Doctor likes; she’s actually awfully reminiscent of Martha Jones in her first story, “Smith and Jones,” clever enough to be piecing bits of the situation together, but also skeptical of the Doctor and the things he’s saying. She’s brave and selfless, and watching the minotaur get her really stings. On second viewing, I think the Doctor was serious about bringing Rita along as the new designated companion, given that he already had a house and a car set up for Amy and Rory, a sign that he’d already been thinking about letting them go and have a life without him. He jokes about it at first, but seems to seriously dangle it right in front of her before she begins to utter the deadly words. Bespectacled Howie is extremely well sketched out for someone who has maybe fifteen minutes of screen time; a conspiracy theorist who was clearly picked on a lot as a child and, worse, as a young man, the revelation of his room in the hotel, filled with mean girls, and the return of his stammer make him extremely sympathetic. Less sympathetic, though is …

6) Gibbis, a shifty-eyed and slightly sinister coward hailing from the planet Tivoli, the most conquered planed in the galaxy. Remember how in “Voyage of the Damned” the sympathetic characters were picked off, one by one, and the only passenger who survived was the rich bastard? “The God Complex” is kind of like that, except moreso; Gibbis, who keeps advocating letting others hang to save his own skin and even jeopardizes the Doctor’s least flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants gambit this episode in an attempt to do so, is the only character not in the regular cast to survive the ordeal. The interesting thing about him, though, is that via the Doctor’s quiet but stern condemnation of Gibbis we are given the impression that most of his species is like this; he’s not an especially bad guy, this is just how his people are raised, or maybe cowardly survival instincts are in their genes. In either case, he sort of can’t help it. He’s interesting, and given the way races are used and reused in Moffat-era DOCTOR WHO, I can’t imagine we’ve seen the last of the inhabitants of Tivoli.

5) Rory’s lack of faith is interesting. It brings to mind a few questions, the first being, if he’d taken that fire escape, where would it have led to? Would he find himself on the other side of the walls, in a blue grid room, next to the TARDIS? Would he have had access to the control panel? Could Howie and Rita’s deaths have been prevented if he’d just pop through that door? Next, what exactly does that mean, that he has no faith to cling to when the chips are down? The Doctor mentions he’s not religious, and especially after “The Girl Who Waited” he’s got no faith in the Doctor. But doesn’t he have something, anything he clings to when all hope seems to be lost — his wife’s love for him, maybe? For crying out loud, she spelled it out for him pretty plainly in “Day of the Moon.” I guess not; when death comes knocking, I guess he just shrugs, grumbles, “Here we go again,” and prepares to meet his end. Again. I suppose that is reflected in his blase attitude towards possibly being dead again in “Night Terrors.”

4) The Doctor’s reaction to what’s in his own room, down to the way he puts the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, is pitch-perfect. The fact that we don’t see it is also perfect — the more mystery, the better — and leads me to wonder if Toby Whithouse or Steven Moffat know what’s in there or if it’s something only the character of the Doctor knows. (The arrogant “Waters of Mars” Tenth Doctor, perhaps?)

3) Another nice touch is the way that when the Doctor defeats the minotaur by destroying Amy’s faith in him, he calls her by her married name, Amy Williams. It symbolizes so much. Bear in mind, up ’til now he’s been calling them BOTH by Amy’s last name, as a dig at Rory as to who (figuratively) wears the pants in that relationship. But now the games are over and it’s time to grow up and leave the fairy tale behind; Amelia Pond has to make way for Amy Williams, which doesn’t sound like a name out of a fairy tale at all. Just as it was clear in the last episode that the Doctor’s relationship with Rory would have to change, it should have been obvious what was going to happen next after the Doctor called her by that name.

2) The Doctor imitating Rory with a funny voice seemed a bit out of character to me; it sounded more like something Matt Smith might do to Arthur Darvill. Regardless, the rest of the final sequence hit just the right bittersweet note. Funny how rare it is for the Doctor to drop his friends off for their own good before something terrible happens; in fact, the only cases I can think of where it was his decision to leave his companions behind were those of Donna (to save her life, complete with a memory wipe), Sarah Jane (because he decided to answer the summon to Gallifrey), and Susan (so that she can stay behind with the man she fell in love with), and really only Susan’s case really compares to what he does here with Rory and Amy: the Doctor decides that it’s time for them to grow up and leave this childish, dangerous lifestyle behind.

1) While the Doctor was on the verge of picking up another stray and taking her by the hand on a tour of all of time and space, his deep, dark awareness of just how dangerous his lifestyle makes this a bit of a poisoned chalice. It’s another problem suffered by the modern show, the fact that over Moffat’s two seasons so far, starting with “Amy’s Choice,” it’s been hammered home time and again that any one of them could be killed at any time — and, moreover, it’s actually happened that our leads have been killed. Hell, Amy was killed in the previous episode! I don’t think it’s a problem that the show is dark, but I think it IS a problem that while the Doctor knows he needs a companion (see “The Runaway Bride,” “The Waters of Mars”), he also seems to regard having a companion as entirely too hazardous for that person’s health. This is kind of the point of the next episode, but I’m not sure it entirely works on that level. More on that tomorrow …

Matchbox Rand, Scott Bernard, Armoured Cyclone, & Dana Sterling (1986); CM's Corp Ride Armor Blowsperior Yellow Type (2008); Matchbox Rook Bartley (1986)

It’s long been a source of disappointment that Lancer never got a figure in Matchbox’s ROBOTECH line. I suppose he would have been one guy with long purple hair too many, and it is only fair that Zor Prime claimed that particular slot given his greater importance to the ROBOTECH cosmology; likewise, it was only fair to give the fourth third generation hero slot to someone like Lunk, a big older dude very different in appearance to pretty much everyone else in the figure line.

Still, of the seven regulars in the final generation of the original ROBOTECH television series, Lancer is my favorite, so when Japanese toy manufacturers went nuts overproducing MOSPEADA goods a few years ago and one of them offered up a Lancer toy in approximately that scale, I couldn’t pass it up, even if it was too small and fiddly for me to ever bother with transforming the bike. It displays well, even if he does look a bit too perfect next to the charmingly flawed Matchbox toys.

Speaking of charming flaws, I’ve always liked the look of Matchbox’s Scott Bernard figure, despite the missing arm guards and the presence of both the post-transformation chest and hip armor, in addition to the fact that he’s got Rand’s Cyclone’s gun as a sidearm. In fact, it was Rand who had blue sleeves when suited up in his Cyclone armor; Scott’s are supposed to be red. Still, even with all those inaccuracies to the animation design, it’s just a cool looking action figure. I love the boxy bulk of it, and it contrasts nicely with Dana’s sleek, silver armor and both the round insectoid look of the similarly armored Bioroid Terminator and the similarly bug-like uniform of his own arch nemesis, the Invid Corg. That’s definitely something that can be said for all of Matchbox’s post-MACROSS figure choices: they’re all visually distinctive and magnificently colorful.

Matchbox Dana Sterling & Zor Prime (1986) sitting at the feet of the Playmates Veritech Hover Tank (1995) & Bioroid Invid Fighter (1994).

Hovertanks and Bioroids are supposed to be approximately the same height. Also, Dana Sterling and Zor Prime are supposed to be at least reasonably attractive people. The folks at Matchbox seem to have missed both of those memos.

Background: Playmates Bioroid Invid Fighter (1994) atop a Matchbox Bioroid Hovercraft (1986), flanked by two Matchbox Bioroid Terminators (1986). Foreground: Harmony Gold Robotech Master (1992) flanked by two Matchbox Robotech Masters (1986).

The Bioroid Invid Fighter toy was one of my first two acquisitions from the 1994 EXO-SQUAD ROBOTECH line, purchased alongside the Excaliber/Tomahawk Destroid, and is one of my favorite designs out of all the Matchbox/Harmony Gold/Playmates figures. While it’s lamentable that, due to a labeling mix-up in the material provided by Harmony Gold to licensees, this Bioroid, which never appeared in the SOUTHERN CROSS animation, was produced in lieu of either the actual Invid Fighter (much bulkier & boxier) or Zor’s Red Bioroid (much rounder), it’s still a very cool mecha design, realized well by the folks at Matchbox. The articulation is a little odd and some additional jointing would have made it a little more playable, but it’s visually interesting all around and has a sharp color scheme; it also looks alright atop the Bioroid Hovercraft, despite the fact that the Hovercraft is technically designed for the 3 3/4″ figure range.

I’m also a fan of the Bioroid Terminator action figure design; there’s something weirdly regal about that uniform, and because of its almost organic, insect-like styling and lack of human facial features, the poor sculpting that plagues most of the small Matchbox figures isn’t as big of a problem on this one. A shame I didn’t take a shot that highlights the shell-like skirting, as that’s one element that makes it really stand out in a lineup.

However, I have no words of praise for the Robotech Master figure. Had the Kay Bee Toys chain of mall stores not gone under two years ago, I suspect you would still find occasional locations trying to sell off a lone Robotech Master or two for 99 cents a pop, or cheaper. Even for an action figure of an old man in a robe, this is an ugly figure, and somehow the 1992 Harmony Gold release made it worse by not painting the collar, making theirs look like a cheap knock-off. Still, as you can see, I have three, gathered around a glow-in-the-dark “Protoculture Cap” I threw together in the late 90′s and have managed to hang onto ever since. Anyone wanting to understand the depths of my ROBOTECH obsession shouldn’t look to my expensive collection of original artwork; they should be looking at three cheap, malformed-looking action figures that I bought solely so they could stand around a poorly improvised command console and worry and fret about the impending arrival of the Invid.

Clockwise from top: Matchbox Dana Sterling action figure (1986), Playmates Exo-Squad Robotech Veritech Hover Tank (1995), Yamato GNU-Dou VF-1A Max Type TV Ver. (2009), Toynami Robotech Masterpiece Collection Maia Sterling's Shadow Fighter (2010).

Three facts about this photograph:

1) Thanks to SHADOW CHRONICLES, you’ve got three members of one family piloting mecha originally designed for three separate 1980s mecha shows. It almost makes me wish you could tack a fourth 1980s mecha show on beyond MOSPEADA/New Generation so you could call one of its female protagonists the third Sterling daughter and keep the chain going. I will say, putting Max and Miriya’s daughter from “Catastrophe” in the new animation was one of the few inspired moves the SHADOW CHRONICLES team made, and almost makes the Robotech.com-era official flip from Early Return to Late Return worth it. (Almost. Exiling Spangler & Eldred’s INVID WAR comics to “secondary continuity” hell is a blow that still stings over a decade later.)

2) The scale in this image is hilariously backwards. Based on the animation and model sheets, the Veritech Hovertank is a little less than half the height of the Valkyrie, while the Alpha’s supposed to be two thirds the height of its Variable Fighter predecessor. Of course, what we’re looking at here is an overpriced highly poseable action figure of the largest of the three and a transforming vehicle for a 3 3/4″ action figure of the smallest, with the GI Joe-style pilot chilling out on top; in a perfect world, I’d have scale collector’s figures of the two extremes to flank the Shadow Alpha, but one’s outside of my price range at the moment and the other is never going to be made in any of our lifetimes, ever, despite endless pestering of toy companies and internet petitions.

3) The chunky, clunky Matchbox-engineered and Playmates-produced Hovertank naturally gave me the least problems in posing for the camera, though it’s also the least posable overall, with jointing designed primarily for the transformation and lots of widely-spaced ratcheting joints that prevent subtle poses. I’m fairly certain I’ve documented the problems with Maia’s Shadow Fighter before. The head doesn’t settle into the neck groove well at all, making it a bit of a bobblehead. The Shadow Fighter gun is made for the original Shadow Fighter’s claw hand and doesn’t attach to its standard Alpha-style hand well at all. The elbow joint on the right arm doesn’t hold the extra weight of the gun very well either. Also, the legs simply don’t pose very well due to the way they’re constructed for transformation. Meanwhile, the GN-U Dou Valkyrie explodes at the slightest provocation; the body isn’t glued together at all and relies solely on friction to remain in one piece. I understand why it’s built that way; there’s jointing everywhere, and adding glue to the mix on the assembly line could very easily fuse one joint or another. However, it makes the toy frustrating to pose, since one tug too far causes Max’s blue VF-1A to crumble like one of the generic brown & whites. The two halves of the body just don’t hold together very well. This is why I hate toys-as-adult-collectables; they’re like anti-toys, designed to look like toys but not made to actually be handled and played with.

The dearth of merchandising available for SUPER DIMENSION CAVALRY SOUTHERN CROSS in Japan and the second generation of ROBOTECH in the United States means that fans of that show in either incarnation will, if the drive is strong enough, find themselves buying just about anything featuring its cast of characters and iconography. Consequently, I own a Harmony Gold-issued Dana Sterling doll (1992) and its matching Matchbox Hovercycle (1986). Yes, that makes me a thirty year old man who owns a doll, but alongside the small Dana Sterling action figure mounted on its Hovertank it makes a nice display piece. The Dana Sterling doll, oddly enough, was originally issued by Matchbox wearing a pink striped dress; only in this later Harmony Gold release was she released clad in her Southern Cross military uniform. Strange that they thought she’d sell better sans her iconic look.

“I reject the structure of your civilization! I reject your values and your beliefs! I am an individual human being from the planet Earth!”

WHAT HAPPENS:

Aboard the flagship of the Robotech Masters, the 15th Squadron, Nova Satori, Dennis Brown, Marie Crystal, and Musica are reunited and begin searching for an escape route. When Dana asks for a head count, Bowie tells her only Zor is missing. Meanwhile, the Robotech Masters are told that the humans are again preparing for battle. The Clonemasters add that Musica’s absence has caused a serious disruption in the bio-indexes of many of their clones. The Masters’ order the elimination of all clones with a bio-index of less than seventy percent, and order the counterattack to begin immediately. Elsewhere, Angelo breaks into a hangar containing several troop carriers. As they’re poorly guarded, he figures the ships are boobytrapped. Even if they aren’t, Louie points out there’s still the problem of figuring out the controls. Dana figures Zor would know and goes looking for him. Bowie tells Angelo that he’s going back, too, as Musica is worried for her people; she knows they’re in danger because of her bond with her sisters. Angelo tells Sean to stay behind while the rest of them find Musica’s people. Below, at Monument City, Colonel Seward informs Commander Leonard that all forces are in formation and ready to launch the final assault. Aboard the Masters’ flagship, Zor’s Red Bioroid runs a gauntlet of Bioroids and soldiers in his pursuit of the Robotech Masters. Ultimately trapped by falling girders and facing a Bioroid firing squad, he is saved by the timely arrival of Dana in her Hovertank. As she picks off men and machines, Zor thanks her for saving his life but says he must go on alone. However, Dana insists on following and will not be refused. Meanwhile, in the civilian sector of the flagship, Angelo wonders where all the people have gone. Bowie considers that they may have left the ship. He turns out to be right, after a fashion; many of Musica’s people are in a small shuttlecraft, set adrift by the Masters. Thankfully, Musica’s sisters are not among them. The two muses are tending to the clones set aside for termination. Octavia notes that she would feel better if Musica would come, but the two have come to realize that they will have to learn to live as individuals. In their chambers, the Robotech Masters are informed of a fleet approaching from Earth. Half of their own fleet is ordered to engage the enemy in space while the other half will go to Earth to retrieve the Protoculture. As they observe the ruins of the SDF-1, one Master presses a touchpad which raises a glowing pod into the room. Inside it is a small plant, a closed-up mass of Flowers of Life: their final fertile Matrix. Just then, Zor Prime and Dana enter, sidearms at the ready. The Masters have been expecting him. Zor assumes they know his purpose. “Yes, of course, your purpose has always remained the same. You are the embodiement of Zor, creator of the first Protoculture and the Master responsible for our development.” Dana is shocked. “You mean it was Zor who also developed the Zentraedi people?” she asks. “Zor became the prime force behind all the advancements of our society,” the Masters say. “But his most important achievement was the Protoculture which brings with it the promise of eternal life.” Zor yells, “No, no, the Protoculture has brought only death!” He begins shooting at the Protoculture pods, spilling Flowers of Life across the floor of the room. One of the Masters steps towards the final Matrix pod. “Surely you are not prepared to destroy your most precious creation, the embodiment of all your hopes and dreams. Without it, your native civilization will wither and die.” Zor appears to grow weak as the Master speaks, sweat forming on his brow and his breathing growing ever more labored. He glances at the withering flowers at his feet. “My civilization is already dead!” he declares, firing on the flowers, then turning his gun on the last fertile Matrix. With its enclosure broken, the pod flies through the air. One Master leaps to catch it, but Zor shoots him dead. As it continues to fall, another Master says not to touch the terminals, but as Dana catches it she grasps them. At that, the Flowers of Life blossom and their energy is released. While the Matrix is no longer useful to the Masters, the energy unleashes racial memories within Dana’s Zentraedi half. In her mind, Dana awakens on a grassy field covered in Flowers of Life. Above her stand three more Danas, all clad in the Roman-style garb of the Robotech Masters. In her own hands she finds three Flowers of Life. Dana tosses the flowers to the ground, insisting that she is not part of their civilization. The three Danas dissolve in a ghostly fashion and the world turns barren. Seeing the withered bones and dusty ground surrounding her, she asks herself if this is the fate of both their civilizations. Crying for help, she runs, trips, and falls. The landscape changes again. The sky turns a glowing green and life returns to the world. A little blue-haired girl calls her name and approaches. Dana asks the girl who she is, and she tells Dana that she’s her sister and that she is to warn her about the spores. The girl hands Dana a bouquet of Flowers of Life, smiles, and runs back towards silhouettes of her parents. The voices of Max and Miriya Sterling echo around Dana in unison: “The spores, Dana! Beware of the spores and the Invid!” As Dana comes to, the remaining Robotech Masters teleport away. Elsewhere aboard the ship, Musica is reunited with her sisters in the chambers the Masters have reserved for their doomed clones. Bowie warns them that troops are headed their way. The muses warn the other clones and they rise to their feet, marching single-file out of the chambers. At the word of Captain Nordoff, the fleet of the Southern Cross begins its final offensive against the Masters. Both sides suffer devastating losses in space and on Earth, where Monument City is falling to a sneak attack by Bioroid invaders. As he watches the city burn, Supreme Commander Leonard is warned by Seward that the numbers are against them. He suggests an evacuation, but Leonard insists on staying until the end. Moments later, an enemy assault carrier targets Southern Cross headquarters and eliminates it. As the Masters’ flagship descends towards the Earth, Angelo leads the 15th Squadron and the doomed clones in their quest to escape. He pushes up a hatch that he is told leads to the docking area. Angelo tells everyone the coast is clear, but warns them to be quiet and hurry. A steady stream of clones proceeds up the stairs and down the corridor, but soon there are sounds of laser fire and screams from the front of the line. Quickly, Angelo grabs his gun and makes his way to the front. A familiar voice orders everyone to stop or be shot. It’s Karno and his brothers. He orders everyone to go back or be eliminated. As the crowd panics, Nova insists they have a right to freedom from the constraints of their society. Karno and his brothers draw their guns and start shooting, taking down one clone who leaps out to defend Musica and her sisters. As battle erupts, Musica asks the dying clone why he jumped. “You have always been the ideal for all of us,” he tells her as he dies. Musica holds him for a moment before rising to her feet. While the others have run for cover, Musica stands front and center, ordering Karno to stop at once. He insists that the Micronians have cast a spell over her, but as a blast singes her arm she tells him she has freely chosen a new way of life. Karno denies her talk of individuality and free will and turns to shoot her, but Bowie pulls her out of the way. As Angelo comes to believe their only hope is praying for a miracle, a wall collapses revealing Sean’s Hovertank. With the guards stunned by the Battloid’s arrival, Angelo ushers the refugees away, but one of the guards staggers up long enough to shoot Octavia. As Musica kneels down beside her, Octavia assures Musica that her spirit will always be with her. “We’re still as one,” Musica says as Octavia reaches up to her sister’s face. “Yes, I know,” Octavia says as Musica grips her hand, “to the end of space and time, we three will always be as one.” At that, Octavia closes her eyes forever. Bowie hurries Musica along; they’re still in danger. In another part of the ship, the remaining Masters oversee preparations for the retrieval of the Protoculture Factory. A particle beam fires from the mothership, attuned to the biomass of the Flower of Life. It strikes each of the mounds in turn, finally locking in on the SDF-1′s ruins and activating a mechanism within that splits the mound in two. As the Masters watch with glee, Zor Prime enters. The Masters assure him that he is far too late to stop them. Dana enters and raises her gun to the scientist triumvirate, ordering them to stop the machine, but it’s impossible. At that moment, the Masters’ platform rises and fires blasts at Zor and Dana. Zor fires back, hitting one of the Masters dead center. As he falls to his death, Dana concentrates her fire on the platform. It crashes on top of the scientists, exploding and killing them. However, its passenger, the last Robotech Master, gets to his feet and starts running, clutching the Matrix pod to his chest. Zor Prime pursues him. Dana hears the ship’s computer blare a warning that the ship is out of control and descending. She realizes that the ship is locked on a course for Monument City and follows Zor, telling him to capture the Master alive so that he can change course. However as the Master runs for an escape pod, Zor shoots him dead. ”It’s all over now,” Zor says as he approaches the Master’s lifeless body. Dana disagrees, angrily pointing out that the ship is going to crash into Monument City. Zor assures her that the Masters had to be punished for their misuse of the Protoculture. Out of the blue, Zor leans over and gives Dana a long kiss. He tells her not to worry about her people as he picks her up and carries her into the Master’s escape pod. He bids her farewell with a smile, and as she bangs her fists on the escape pod door he launches it, sending her away. At the same time, a fleet of troop carriers takes off from the falling flagship, carrying hundreds of alien refugees and their Southern Cross protectors down to Earth. Back inside, on the command deck, Zor dons his red Bioroid one last time. He raises its blaster and takes aim. As Dana watches the ship from the ground, Zor assures himself that there is no other way; he plans to destroy the ship to eliminate the Protoculture, thus preventing the arrival of the Invid. He fires, setting off a chain reaction across the massive mothership. From the surface of the planet, Dana can only watch in horror as explosions engulf the flagship. She shouts that there must be another way, even as the ship is torn apart and debris crashes into the site of the SDF-1, carrying the spores of the Flower of Life away with the wind. Zor’s final act did not destroy the Protoculture as intended. Instead it has allowed the spores of the mutated Protoculture strain to go free, turning the entire planet into a garden just waiting to be tilled by the Invid horde. The human race has won the Second Robotech War, but their victory is bittersweet, as a world that barely survived two alien invasions will most certainly face another, and soon.

THOUGHTS:

First: Zor specifically mentions attempting to destroy the Protoculture to prevent the arrival of the Invid. Unless this is simply a story he’s telling himself to feel better about Dana and her people after he makes that promise to her, it’s clear what Zor Prime’s intentions are. I still have my suspicions about the original Zor’s intentions with his own seeding operations, the casting off of the SDF-1 to Earth, and the mutations I still suspect he engineered, but thanks to the inner monologues that are a ROBOTECH storytelling convention, we know what Zor Prime was thinking in his final moments. Perhaps he was on a course to follow his progenitor’s path, but his love/admiration for Dana compelled him to attempt to change direction? Regardless, I love how quotable every line he delivers to the Robotech Masters, as he moves to destroy them and the civilization that in another life he helped to create, is, and throughout this episode more than any other I find myself appreciating Paul St. Peter’s slightly inhuman delivery of those lines. With the revelation dropped by the Robotech Masters that Zor was the architect of everything he and Dana see before them, he becomes a larger than life figure, a ghost come back from the dead to judge his wicked successors, an angry god passing judgement on his corrupted creation. That bold but stilted delivery works perfectly for such a figure. The kiss he gives Dana comes out of the blue, especially given what he’s put her through since the Masters took control of him in “Mind Games,” but I’ve always liked that smile he gives her as he waves good bye.

I again find it strange that the Clonemasters place such import on Musica when the nearly the entire series before “The Invid Connection” placed little emphasis on her place in the Masters’ society. The dying clone also tells her what an inspirational figure she was. Her brave stand against Karno and the others does pay off the moment, but I still think this last minute building up of her place in their society is awfully sloppy work. Just as sloppy is the overall construction of Karno as a character; he’s simply a giant tool, a mouthpiece for the ideals of his corrupt culture, and an antagonist who inspires little more than apathy from the viewer. He’s not even the sort of villain you want to see die; I’d be perfectly happy if he just walked away and got off my TV set.

Another thing that doesn’t work in the final two episodes is Nova Satori’s turn, from the moment Bowie stares her down at the ruins of the SDF-1 — a scene only slightly mitigated by Zor’s explanation as to why leaving Musica be is a wise tactical decision — all the way through her little speech to Karno as she carries the clone baby. Where characters like Angelo and Sean get moments to let their personalities shine through even as they get carried along by the plot, Nova is defanged and used as little more than an extra. Oh well, at least she gets more to do than Marie Crystal and poor, forgotten Dennis Brown. Strange, that: SOUTHERN CROSS seemed designed as a vehicle for the three girls, but these last two episodes give NONE of them anything interesting to do.

Here’s something that doesn’t make any sense. The Robotech Masters say that the pod they show Zor is the last active Protoculture Matrix they possess. The Flowers aren’t to be allowed to blossom; otherwise, it becomes useless. Given the fact that they’ve been fretting so much about infestation of the Invid Flower of Life into their Protoculture pods, what makes this Matrix different? Why is the presence of the Flower a good thing here? Is it an un-mutated Flower, the last remaining “pure” Flower of Life plant? And why is the state of the plant, with its closed Flowers, important? The narrator says that the opening of the Flowers makes it useless to them, that it has expended its potential that way. This seems similar, if not identical, to the idea expressed in the Comico Graphic Novel, that Protoculture is power derived from the seeds of the Flower of Life put in a state of arrested division; the energy they expend striving to divide becomes power to fuel Robotechnology. It would make sense to me if those Flowers represented the only un-mutated examples of the Flower remaining, containing seeds that could be used to create new Protoculture pods, but then it wouldn’t make any sense for the opening of the Flowers to represent their becoming useless to the Masters. The footage itself doesn’t support this; when Dana awakens, the red-collared Robotech Master has reclaimed it. Clearly it still has some use to them. I’m gonna go with the non-mutated, we-need-the-seeds/no-spores explanation. Of course, this problem has it’s, ahem, roots in the fact that in the original animation the bad guys were after the Flowers, not some energy byproduct.

If the United Earth Forces of the post-war era built the mounds to cover the remains of the SDF-1, SDF-2, and Khyron’s ship, how come the Robotech Masters’ flagship can open the mound that contains the SDF-1? Me, I’ve always assumed that the beam they fired contained some override command that opened the housing of the reflex engines of the SDF-1 to reveal the Protoculture Factory, and what we’re seeing is, err, a kind of artistic license. Yeah. That’s the ticket.

I do wonder how exactly the Masters were going to make off with the Protoculture. What kind of a device would they employ to seize it? What would the part they were removing from the ruins of the SDF-1 look like? Or would it simply be a power drain, sucking up all the Protoculture remaining in the structure? Because of the nature of the original animation and Zor’s sharpshooting skills, we’ll never know.

All in all, a rushed ending that still manages a kind of catharsis for the character of Zor Prime if not for anyone else, and solves one problem while creating another. Aside from Zor Prime’s sacrifice, doing much the same thing he did at the end of “Crisis Point,” all the deaths are either strange choices or weirdly undramatic; Leonard’s seems to be little more than an afterthought. Octavia’s comes out of the blue, and while it’s a nice moment, it would only be really interesting in the aftermath, watching Musica and Allegra deal with it. Indeed, that’s really what this ending needs most of all: an aftermath, a moment of reflection by these characters, a chance to see them pick up these pieces and witness the lasting effects of this war on them. We got a couple of chances to see the heroes of the First Robotech War grow and learn from their experiences; unfortunately, no such luck for the heroes of the Second Robotech War. Sure, we eventually got spin-off comics and books, such as Eldred & Spangler’s INVID WAR and McKinney’s BEFORE THE INVID STORM, but those aren’t quite the same thing.

FIRSTS OF NOTE:

This is a story of lasts. We witness the final moments of Commander Leonard, Colonel Seward, Octavia, the Robotech Masters and their scientist triumvirate, and Zor Prime. Southern Cross command headquarters, with its proud spires, is destroyed. One wonders what became of the Masters’ other flagships; aside from some battle footage borrowed from other episodes, we don’t get a good sense of how the Earth fleet’s final attack went.

There is, however, one very important first as regards the wider ROBOTECH story: first appearance of the character who will later be known as Maia Sterling, the “other daughter of Max and Miriya,” as she introduces herself. Yes she has blue hair here and purple later. Dana’s hair color changed from blue to blonde. There was precedent. The scene hints at things left untold, though; clearly wherever Max, Miriya, and Maia are, they know of the Flower of Life and have learned to fear the Invid. And yes, maybe it’s the influence of the novels’ literal interpretation of the scene, added to the fact that Maia did indeed become a major character in the first new ROBOTECH animation in twenty years, but I’ve always taken the scene somewhat literally, as a sort of telepathic communication across the cosmos facilitated by that surge of Protoculture energy into Dana’s body.

DANA’S BRATTINESS/INSUBORDINATION LEVEL:

Like the spores of the Flower of Life, Dana is carried by the winds of change; for such a proactive heroine, she spends the final two episodes of the series simply following Zor around and watching him hog the spotlight, even when it winds up shooting humanity in the foot. The worst she does in this final episode is follow Zor around against his wishes and then yell at him when he shoots that last Robotech Master dead.

DOES BOWIE SULK?

He and Musica end the series with a look of serenity on their faces. As long as he gets to cast off the shackles of the military, I don’t think Bowie will ever sulk again.

“What are they doing injecting the clones with anti-pain serum?”

“Because with the serum they become immune to pain and can stay in battle til the bitter end.”

“It has come to this?”

“That is their fate. War is their sacrificial altar. It is the Robotech way.“

WHAT HAPPENS:

Within the ruins of the SDF-1, Nova Satori tells Bowie to escort the prisoner to headquarters, but Bowie wants nothing to do with the military anymore. Despite Dana’s protests, Nova draws her pistol and gives the order again. Musica tells Bowie she’ll go peacefully, but Bowie won’t let her. He tells her that he thought Nova was his friend. As Nova watches Bowie’s stern, protective look, both her resolve and her arm begin to shake. Zor reaches around and takes her gun. He explains Musica’s function in the Masters’ society, keeping the clones calm and under the Masters’ control. Realizing the ramifications, Nova asks Bowie if they can just pretend she never saw her. Above the planet, the Robotech Masters are told that poor bio-energy output has led to a decrease in judgement and fighting ability among all personnel. The Masters order the transport ships to switch to automatic and all functioning clones to move to the flagship. They are warned that this will decrease the bio-energy supply onboard their ship beyond safe levels. Consequently, all invalids will be transported to Earth as a sacrifice. Finally, the ongoing Protoculture mutation will reach critical levels in four days. Across the flagship, clones are injected with anti-pain serum so that they may fight to the death. Aboard the Tristar, Emerson tells Leonard that the counterattack must begin now. Otherwise, the way things are going, the fleet will be unable to hold out. Leonard tells him that his failure has made a frontal counterattack a useless effort. Emerson demands support and Leonard balks at Emerson ordering him around. Leonard is then informed of a small enemy ship descending to the planet’s surface. He tells Emerson that he doesn’t want this happening again. As Emerson resigns himself to his fate, Leonard tells him that Bowie has gone AWOL with an enemy agent. A shocked and defeated Emerson assures Leonard that he’ll do his duty to the end and salutes. He then orders all squadrons to prepare for a direct invasion of the enemy command ship. On the surface, Battloids stand to defend the Earth from the Bioroid threat. The enemy troop carriers that land safely unleash waves of clone soldiers that march in formation against Earth’s Robotech defenders, unfazed by injury. The carriers that remain in the skies level entire cities with fission beams. News of widespread destruction reaches Commander Leonard, and he orders all squads to assemble at Monument City. Suddenly, a communication comes in from the Robotech Masters ordering the evacuation of Earth within thirty-eight hours. Otherwise, the planet will be destroyed. Leonard tells the Masters they refuse to give up the planet, but the Masters tell him this is an ultimatum; the Invid have detected Earth’s Protoculture and are on their way. Leonard hesitates, then asks for a week. The Masters give him two days. As they sign off, Leonard repeats his final order. Aboard the Tristar, Emerson, wincing in pain, orders all squadrons to return to Earth to defend the front line. He arms the self-destruct mechanism. Lieutenants Brown and Crystal, having abandoned their AGACs, run to the bridge to retrieve Emerson. They drag him into an escape capsule and abandon ship mere moments before the Tristar, its nose rammed into the side of one of the Masters’ flagships, is blown to bits. Their capsule is soon picked up by a passing enemy transport vessel. Back at the ruins of the SDF-1, the area is swarming with GMP officers and police robots. The 15th Squadron spies a Bioroid transport approaching the ruins. The clones, in turn, spot Zor and Musica among the humans. From the mound, Zor orders them to stop; otherwise, they risk destroying the Flowers. He issues an ultimatum to the Robotech Masters, that this must end. The transport departs. Zor tells Dana to retrieve their Hovertanks, and tells Nova to order her subordinates to lie in wait for them. In cities across the planet, people are herded into shelters as Robotech defenders take their places in the streets, awaiting the coming onslaught. Far above the Earth, Marie, Lt. Brown, and General Emerson have been brought before the Robotech Masters. Emerson is stunned that Leonard gave up the planet. The Masters are surprised by his reaction; they understand that Emerson long desired a peaceful settlement, and assure him they seek the same. Emerson doesn’t believe them. When the Masters call him stupid, he tells them he knows their initial landing point is SX.83, the site of the SDF-1. Marie adds that they’re after the Flower of Life, and Brown chimes in with the fact that without it they’re doomed. The Masters ask to know what the people of Earth know of their history; Emerson says they know the Masters’ weak points and goals, and tells them if they won’t make any demands, perhaps they can help one another. The Masters insist that the Invid will wipe them out. “We can’t allow your presence to disrupt the stability of our Robotech continuum! Your stubbornness merely shows how primitive you are,” the Masters insist. Emerson laughs. “We’ve shed so much blood already,” he says with distaste, “and this is how it has to end!” The Masters are soon informed that SX.83 is occupied by Zor Prime, Musica, and the 15th Squadron. The Masters tell Emerson that Earth has run out of time. As the 15th Squadron watches Monument burn, a voice calls out from Sean’s Hovertank’s radio demanding to speak to Zor. It’s one of the Masters. Zor rushes to his Hovertank, and the rest of the 15th follow suit. Zor claims he holds the key to the planet’s survival. The Masters disagree and show him that they have Emerson, Marie, and Lt. Brown prisoner; they’ll release the hostages in exchange for Musica and their evacuation of this area. Zor agrees and asks for conditions. The 15th will be brought aboard the Masters’ ship for a prisoner exchange. Bowie attacks him, telling Zor that he will not allow the Masters to take Musica. However, Musica stops him. The exchange will proceed. A transport containing the 15th Squadron heads for the Masters’ flagship. When it arrives, the Hovertanks of the 15th launch and follow a hovercraft towards Emerson’s location. At the end of a long, well guarded hallway the caravan comes to a halt and the 15th is told that from here on, only Musica and two others will be allowed to continue. Dana, Bowie, Musica, and three guards proceed and are greeted by Emerson and the two TASC pilots. Emerson is glad to see Bowie, but Dana interrupts the reunion, telling him that they have to get back to the squadron. Before they can, one of the Masters’ guards grabs Musica. As he slips away, a guard triumvirate attacks. Outside, Sean hears a shot and rams his Hovertank through the doorway, blasting the guards. A few feet away, Dana and Bowie are locked in a firefight, Bowie protecting Musica. Emerson notices a sniper and runs to Bowie; he gets in front of his godson just in time to take a shot in the back in Bowie’s stead. As Emerson falls, his face tense with a look of shock and pain, the enemy sniper is blasted repeatedly until he hits the ground. Bowie assures Emerson that he’ll be okay and asks forgiveness as he grips the general’s hand, but Emerson insists he is to blame and tells Bowie and the others to learn from his generation’s mistakes. “In the future,” he says, “two different races of people must learn to coexist in harmony. The future is up to all of you. Goodbye, Bowie.” He closes his eyes and dies. Bowie falls and cries on his godfather’s chest. As the 15th engages Bioroids inside the ship, Zor has forgone his Hovertank for the Red Bioroid. “Where are you, Robotech Masters?” he asks. “Your lives are in my hands, and you shall do as I command!”

THOUGHTS:

A breakneck apocalyptic rush of an episode. “Force of Arms” may have a grander scale and “To The Stars” has the resolution of the Rick-Lisa-Minmei love triangle along with Khyron and Azonia’s final moments, but this has such a remarkably bleak feeling of desperation on both sides, and it’s not even the actual last episode. There’s one more to go after this! The smaller scale of this apocalypse, with enemy transports annihilating cities from within the atmosphere, makes it feel to me like a much harder punch to the gut than the almost incomprehensible scale of the Zentraedi Rain of Death. The sight of people rushing to shelters and making their exodus from their ruined homes hits far closer to home.

Based on my previous thinking, Zor’s vague statement, “I must do everything in my power to keep the Invid Flower of Life in the proper hands,” takes on a sinister undertone, especially given that, despite his earlier claims, he remarks here that there are still bits of his memory clicking into place; the Masters and the narrator keep harping on this idea that the Invid are a far greater threat than the Robotech Masters. The inherent problem with his statement is that I wouldn’t call the humans’ hands the proper hands because they have no idea what to DO with the Flower of Life. Their understanding of Robotech is still extremely limited. Who else would be the “proper” hands? Anyone but the Masters, I’d wager. Bear in mind that Zor Prime’s goals, as becomes clear through the latter half of this episode and throughout the next, are to do whatever will cause the most damage to the Robotech Masters. Even Dana has this figured out. I’ll speak more to this next time, but he really doesn’t seem to care who’s in the crossfire. Think about it: you don’t really see him worrying about the Invid.

It’s strange that Musica’s function within the Robotech Masters’ society hasn’t been brought up before now; I almost get the sense that the Masters overstate her importance just to get Zor Prime aboard the ship so that they can do away with him once and for all. However, given that it is Zor Prime himself who first explains her function, it’s probably just sloppy end-of-the-series, let’s-get-this-over-with writing.

This episode has an awful lot of “bleed” from the original SOUTHERN CROSS story. Just in the last episode, the Masters were saying that once the Flower of Life contaminates the Protoculture it becomes useless to them, but now the Flower of Life is treated as their goal by both Zor, who should know better, and Marie Crystal and Dennis Brown, who the Masters make no effort to correct. The evacuation of Earth also makes little sense given all the Masters want is to secure the Protoculture located at the ruins of the battle fortress. (Perhaps there’s a bit of malevolent altruism to it; every time the Masters bring it up, they also bring up the danger of the Invid. I guess that was the ROBOTECH writers’ workaround.) Leonard and Emerson’s talk of developing and pioneering and such makes sense in the original SOUTHERN CROSS where the planet is a colony world, but talking about Earth, the cradle of mankind, like that comes off as a little strange.

One thing I do like is that Emerson finally gets his face to face audience with the Robotech Masters; he’s wanted to try and negotiate all this time, and he finally gets his chance. A shame it goes badly; when they essentially spit on his proposal, he laughs in their faces. Maybe he does this because now he sees the futility of it, that the end result of negotiations with these arrogant bastards would have gone this way no matter what, that he spent at least half the series butting heads with Leonard over something that could never have ended well.

FIRSTS OF NOTE:

Rolf Emerson is the first major casualty of the second generation’s cast of characters. Despite only one episode to go, he won’t be the last. Also, this episode features the first face-to-face meetings, both over video and in person, between the leadership of the Southern Cross and the Robotech Masters themselves.

DANA’S BRATTINESS/INSUBORDINATION LEVEL:

Dana feels weirdly secondary in this episode; Bowie and Zor are the ones who defuse Nova, and then Zor takes command of the effort against the Robotech Masters. She doesn’t really make any of the big decisions. So, um, zero, I guess. Unfortunately, if I remember “Catastrophe” right, that’s where the needle will stay.

DOES BOWIE SULK?

Worse, Bowie suffers mightily. In turn, however, Zor suffers his rage, as Bowie lets out one of the most honest-sounding moments of anger in all of the ROBOTECH television series; there’s a kind of amazing crack and edge to actor Craig Schaefer’s voice when Bowie attacks Zor following his agreement to the Masters’ bargain. It’s bad enough that Bowie had to fend off Nova’s attempts to take Musica away. Then Zor makes this bargain with the Masters, Musica for General Emerson and the two TASC pilots, which could mean their eternal separation. Things get worse in the final couple of minutes of the episode, when Emerson takes the laser blast for Bowie. Mind you, it’s blunted a little bit by Bowie calling him “my good friend.” That always sounded hokey to me, and like a clear admission by the writers that the relationship was different in the original Japanese series, where they were father and son.

“You yourself said there can be no forgiveness for somebody who betrays the people who trust him. Well, what do you think you just did? Are WE supposed to forgive YOU?“

WHAT HAPPENS:

Bowie and Musica are on the run, pursued by the Global Military Police. As they race down a forest road, Musica grows tired. Thunder clashes and rain begins to pour, and Bowie pushes her on. Meanwhile, at the barracks of the 15th Squadron, Dana demands to know why Zor betrayed Musica to the GMP, especially after Musica saved their lives. Nova orders the 15th to form a search party in the morning to bring Musica in. Back outside, Bowie and Musica keep running until Musica collapses from exhaustion. In order to keep moving Bowie steals a hovercycle from a military outpost, but is pursued by a pair of soldiers in a jeep. He stops only for a moment to let Musica on before speeding away, the soldiers still on his tail. He crashes the bike into some bushes, losing their pursuers but knocking the two of them to the ground. By sunrise, the storm is but a memory. Unfortunately for the 15th Squadron, Nova’s orders aren’t. The four move out in a pair of jeeps. Dana thinks she knows where to look for their fugitives, but she’s in no hurry to find them. Zor observes their departure from above. Moments later, Nova follows on her hovercycle. In orbit, the Robotech Masters discover that seventy percent of their remaining culture pods have been invaded by the Invid Flower of Life. While the possibility exists that the Protoculture Factory on Earth has suffered a similar fate, it is decided that the time has come for a full-scale assault on the Earth in order to seize the remaining undegenerated Protoculture and, if necessary, to destroy mankind. A similar decision has been made by Commander Leonard. He tells his staff that the final offensive against the Masters will begin at 1300 hours. In the woods, as Musica wakes, Bowie finishes repairs on the stolen hovercycle and the two continue on their way. On the moon, the Masters’ movements have not gone unnoticed. General Emerson is informed that the enemy appears to be launching their entire fleet against the Earth. Commander Leonard calls in to explain that just this morning they agreed to a preemptive strike, but the enemy has beaten them to the punch. This time there will be no retreat: it’s all or nothing. Back on Earth, the 15th’s jeeps continue through the forest. Louie asks Dana if she’s afraid of what she’ll have to do if they find Bowie and Musica, but Angelo says it’s out of her hands; he points out that Nova’s on their tail. Sean and Louie try to lose her. Watching from a cliff high above, Zor discovers their destination: the ruins of the SDF-1. There, Bowie and Musica dismount. Bowie tells Musica this is where he thinks he saw the Flowers of Life. Inside, as they approach the central chamber, a gust of wind sends yellow powder at their faces: it’s the spores of the Flower of Life. Upon entering the chamber, both are shocked at the sight of spores rising through an opening in the ruins. “We’re too late, Bowie!” Musica cries in fear. “You were right! These are the Flowers of Life! And those spores they’re sending out — that means the mutation is complete! The Invid will be drawn here from across the cosmos!” She explains to him that the Flower of Life feeds off the Protoculture Matrix. It occurs to Bowie that if they feed on Protoculture, the chamber they’re standing in is the Protoculture Factory, the very thing both the Zentraedi and Robotech Masters were seeking. Soon, Dana’s team enters the chamber. Dana takes a misstep, causing some debris to fall, and Bowie notices the 15th Squadron. He tells them that he and Musica aren’t going back, but Dana assures him that she’s not bringing them in. At that moment, Nova brings her hovercycle to a halt in front of the ruins, having spotted the jeeps and the hovercycle. Inside, Dana and the 15th are brought up to speed, but Angelo has his doubts about all this. Dana, however, believes every word. As Nova approaches the Protoculture chamber, she calls out to Dana and draws her sidearm. Just then, Zor approaches from behind. Nova asks what he’s doing here. “You won’t be needing that,” he says of the weapon, pushing it away. As Zor enters the chamber ahead of her, she re-holsters her gun and follows. Upon seeing the spores, Zor’s head aches. Nova spots the 15th Squadron and tells them she’s taking Musica in. As she confronts Dana, Zor screams. “Stop! Stop! Can’t you see? This plant is responsible for making me the monster I’ve become!” He tells them his full memory has recovered; he was a scientist, seeding a planet with Protoculture spores, when an explosion threw him into a deep crevasse. He remembers being outside his body, then opening his eyes and seeing a strange green light above him; as it entered his body, he felt as though he’d been reborn with no memory of his life before. He falls to his knees, but continues: “I can only assume my contemporaries have resurrected me in the hope of learning the secrets of Robotechnology and Protoculture.” Bowie puts it all together: “So, these plants are creating a new form of life and at the same time are breaking down the Protoculture. And whatever form of life this is, it must be something the Invid want because they’re on their way!” Nova says this doesn’t change anything, that Musica is still her prisoner. Dana tells Nova to stay back, but Nova continues her approach. Above the planet, the Robotech Masters’ warships continue their approach as Rolf Emerson’s fleet moves to intercept. Rochelle asks Emerson if he’ll be watching the battle from the bridge. Emerson surprises him with an order for their ship to join the fleet in battle. On Earth, Leonard is informed that Emerson’s ships have engaged the enemy. He orders the fleet to launch. As ships from Earth lift off to join Emerson’s fleet, the final battle of the Second Robotech War is joined …

Original comic book cover art from Comico The Comic Company's adaptation of "Final Nightmare" from my personal art collection. Art by Dave Dorman.

THOUGHTS:

There is an air of finality to this episode; while it opens with a direct continuation of the previous episode, Bowie and Musica continuing their escape, once the Robotech Masters appear bathed in an eerie red light and decide that the time for dilly-dallying is over, an ominous mood is built up, a sense that one way or another the war is nearing its endgame. The scene in Emerson’s darkened office has that same air about it. The melodramatic staging is cranked up throughout the episode, from the gloomy weather in the forest, to moody lighting, dramatic angles, and cameras pulling back to reveal someone watching from afar.

This might’ve become obvious last episode, but it seems to me a sure sign of the end coming: look around the 15th’s barracks and see how empty it is. All the guys without the fancy colors and torso harnesses were killed by the Invid Fighters back in “Mind Games,” and nobody’s been brought in to bolster their ranks. With Bowie’s desertion and Zor drifting around aimlessly, the 15th Squadron is down to four members. I started to wonder why nobody’s mentioned it, but the fact is someone did during the last episode: Angelo, when he was giving Zor a good right cross. Is this another reason why our heroes are closing ranks to try and protect Bowie and his shot at happiness?

Musica acts as though she’s seen the Invid first-hand. Racial memory passed from clone-progenitor to clone, or had the Invid already begun their efforts to take their revenge on the Robotech Masters before the departure of the Masters’ flagships about a decade and a half ago? (That brings up another good question: how old is Musica, chronologically and biologically? You get the idea that the Masters themselves have been around for a while, but how old are the young people of their clone society? You see the occasional baby aboard-ship, such as in “Dana in Wonderland,” and you also see those android bits in “The Trap.” Who is what, and what is who? So many questions that the show never even begins to address.)

Musica tells Bowie that the spores are going to summon the Invid. I’ve been working from the standpoint that the spores are some kind of mutation due to the influences of outside explanations of Protoculture, chiefly Zor’s dialogue from the Comico Graphic Novel of 1986, but A) Musica already knows about them, and B) Zor says he was seeding a planet with “Protoculture spores.” This would seem inconsistent with this idea. Except that, hang on, what if attracting the Invid was Zor’s goal all along? Ever since he’s had his memory returned, Zor’s had a death wish: it’s right there in the dialog of the previous episode, when Angelo decks him for trivializing the deaths of their teammates, and this one, when Dana asks him how he can live with himself: “I don’t think I can,” he says. Everything that happened to the original Zor is now locked in Zor Prime’s head — and it’s largely unlocked by the sight of the spores — and I assume that includes the feelings and emotions he was experiencing at the end, when he was seeding a planet with the spores, just asking for the Invid to come calling. What if that was the whole point of disposing of the SDF-1? What if he was throwing it as one does a bone from a dog, calling out, “Fetch!” He stole their Flower (per the SENTINELS animation), and now he was trying to atone for this by returning it to them, casting it far from his Masters and imbuing it with a biological time bomb that would call out to them. As I’ve mentioned previously, he’s found himself a man without a people, an enemy to both his teammates and the Masters. Who else is described as such? The Invid. Guilt-stricken Zor doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s side, but he is. It’s just not a side that’s arrived on the scene yet. At least, that’s one possible reading of his actions. Maybe I’m overthinking it. I just find it interesting that he was very specifically seeding a planet with the very same things that cause Musica to totally freak out when she sees them, things that seem to be cited as a tell-tale sign that a “mutation” has taken place.

FIRSTS OF NOTE:

Behold the seeds of Earth’s doom. Or, rather, spores. This is also the first account, and the only one in the television series, of Zor’s death. Oddly, it doesn’t match any of the subsequent accounts.

DANA’S BRATTINESS/INSUBORDINATION LEVEL:

Does she feel the winds of change around her? Because she really doesn’t seem to care about the orders given to her. Sure, she tracks down Bowie and Musica, but when she finds them, she tells them straight up, “Yeah, I’m not turning you in.” And then Nova shows up and she goes, “Nope, not doing it.” Given that she did at least follow the order to form the search party, I think I’m gonna hold tight at a seven, but the flagrant defiance of Nova’s intent has me tempted to go higher.

DOES BOWIE SULK?

Sulking Bowie is done, I think. In fact, one of the best scenes in the whole episode features Bowie and Musica happily riding the hovercycle, towards the ruins of the SDF-1, enjoying being together, enjoying the sun shining down on them and nature around them, juxtaposed with the Southern Cross mobilizing, preparing for the final battle. It’s the last moment of peace anyone’s going to have for a very, very long time.