by the fans for the fans

ps99041 wrote:

Still, I would think that The Sentinels would be relatively free of plotholes/inconsistencies since Macek wasn't restricted by preproduced, unrelated animation.

STILL, THE SERIES RAN INTO DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS DUE TO THE U.S. DOLLAR SHRINKING AND DID NOT LEAVE ENOUGH FOR FANS TO KNOW THE WHO AND THE WHAT. YOU CAN ONLY GET A SENSE THROUGH THE COMICS AND NOVELS. WHICH STILL UP IN THE AIR WITH CONTINUITY.

I READ THE COMICS AND STARTED RE-READING ALL COMICS AS WELL. STARTED WITH THE ZOR ORIGIN WITH ROBOTECH GENESIS. THEN WENT INTO MALCONTENT UPRISING.

Concerning Zentraedi ships and size after TMS... In the last issue of Robotech Invasion, Admirals (or whatever their ranks were at this point) Hayes and Hunter command a fleet of Zentraedi ships to fire on the three mounds in 2017. They are onboard a ship with Breetai, who is full size and Exedore is Micronized. [Can't tell if its Breetai's command ship or some other class.]

rtsurfer wrote:

Concerning Zentraedi ships and size after TMS... In the last issue of Robotech Invasion, Admirals (or whatever their ranks were at this point) Hayes and Hunter command a fleet of Zentraedi ships to fire on the three mounds in 2017. They are onboard a ship with Breetai, who is full size and Exedore is Micronized. [Can't tell if its Breetai's command ship or some other class.]

Then it would still make sense for those ships to accompany the SDF-3. I'm well into book 3 of the series but one issue in book 2, I believe, shows the SDF-4 and a Garfish which makes no sense; the SDF-3 is damaged and stranded in Tirol space pending repair but the REF crew are able to build 2 new ships? Can't believe an "original" story has so many plot inconsistencies. Good thing this thing isn't cannon.

Then it would still make sense for those ships to accompany the SDF-3. I'm well into book 3 of the series but one issue in book 2, I believe, shows the SDF-4 and a Garfish which makes no sense; the SDF-3 is damaged and stranded in Tirol space pending repair but the REF crew are able to build 2 new ships? Can't believe an "original" story has so many plot inconsistencies. Good thing this thing isn't cannon.

I THINK THE IDEA WAS THAT THE REF TOOK THE REMAINING SHIPS AND USED IT TO COVER THE SDF-3 LIKE A TROJAN HORSE. EXIDORE AND BREETAI HELP WITH THE DESIGNS OR AND APROVAL SINCE THEY KNEW HOW ZORS FORTRESS LOOKED. CONSIDERING THEY WERE GOING STRAIGHT TO THE MASTERS. INSTEAD THEY FIND THE INVID.

YOU WANT TO KNOW SENTINELS, READ ARTBOOK 3. CARL WRITES PRODUCTION NOTES THROUGH EACH EPISODE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO COME OUT IN ITS 65 EPISODE RUN BEFORE RE WRITING AND CRUNCHING INTO WHAT IS THE SENTINELS MOVIE.

THAT'S AS CLOSE AS YOU WILL GET TO THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THE SENTINELS.

MEMO1DOMINION wrote

I THINK THE IDEA WAS THAT THE REF TOOK THE REMAINING SHIPS AND USED IT TO COVER THE SDF-3 LIKE A TROJAN HORSE. EXIDORE AND BREETAI HELP WITH THE DESIGNS OR AND APROVAL SINCE THEY KNEW HOW ZORS FORTRESS LOOKED. CONSIDERING THEY WERE GOING STRAIGHT TO THE MASTERS. INSTEAD THEY FIND THE INVID.

How many Zentraedi ships did it take to cover the SDF-3 and why would they have used functional ships instead of scrapped ships? [Hey, that question almost sounds like I'm telling a joke ]

I don't remember where I read this, supposedly there were huge empty spaces under the Zentraedi skin of the SDF-3 for them to take along a fleet of support vessels. Don't recall what that compliment of support vessels was supposed to be. It is interesting that the refit SDF-3 is significantly shorter, like 500 m difference, although part of that was likely the SDF-3's spires.

MEMO1DOMINION wrote

YOU WANT TO KNOW SENTINELS, READ ARTBOOK 3. CARL WRITES PRODUCTION NOTES THROUGH EACH EPISODE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO COME OUT IN ITS 65 EPISODE RUN BEFORE RE WRITING AND CRUNCHING INTO WHAT IS THE SENTINELS MOVIE.

THAT'S AS CLOSE AS YOU WILL GET TO THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THE SENTINELS.

There's the script books, they have the first 8 episodes.
Macek had a HUGE collection of notes and research for Sentinels, like a 1,000 pages worth. IIRC, he once said he would like to turn that material into a Sentinels scrapbook but that HG wasn't interested. So yeah Art 3 is probably the most complete documentation of the Sentinels concept/tv series that was PUBLISHED.
Also, Macek had like the first 10 scripts completed and the rest of the series roughed out, some accounts make those out to be simple outlines other accounts describe those in varying degrees of completion.

Some background on the Sentinels comics from an old Captain JLS Robotech comics blog:
robotechcomics.blogspot.com/2006/08/robo...-eternitymalibu.html

Robotech II: The Sentinels was originally developed as a 65 episode animated sequel to the original ROBOTECH TV series, co-produced by Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko Productions, slated to air in the Fall of 1986. Unfortunately, due to a chain reaction of sorry circumstances, the animated version of this storyline was never completed. From April to August of 1988, Del Rey released five Robotech II: The Sentinels novels by the writing team of Brian Daley and James Luceno -- two men who had previously, under the pen name Jack McKinney, adapted the original 85 episodes of ROBOTECH into twelve bestselling novels. They were given the original concepts and outline for the Sentinels TV series and told to tinker with them to their liking. The end result was a product which bore a strong resemblance to the Sentinels story as outlined by ROBOTECH story editor and producer Carl Macek but slowly diverged from the original course as the storyline progressed and unfolded. It was a few months after the five Sentinels novels were on bookstore shelves that the Sentinels story began to emerge in comic book form, written by Eternity Comics editors Tom Mason and Chris Ulm and drawn by newcomers Jason and John Waltrip.

Along with Ben Dunn's Ninja High School, The Sentinels became one of the flagship titles of Malibu Publishing's Eternity imprint. Early on the story remained quite faithful to the original TV scripts, a fact that outsiders can tell only because Eternity published two books containing the first eight scripts in 1991 & 1992, but also included all-new ideas from Mason and Ulm. However, by the beginning of Sentinels Book II in mid-1990, the comic book series had veered more towards the course of the novels -- whether this was due to a lack of access to the remainder of the original TV series material, a desire to present a unified Sentinels front, or due to fan demand, nobody's ever said. Still, as the story progressed all-new elements still slipped in, including an entire new subplot revolving around an underground movement within the REF, featuring brand-new characters, at the start of Sentinels Book III in mid-1993.

rtsurfer wrote:

How many Zentraedi ships did it take to cover the SDF-3 and why would they have used functional ships instead of scrapped ships? [Hey, that question almost sounds like I'm telling a joke ]

HEHEHE GOOD ONE.

HMMM.. TOUGH ONE.

HAS TO MANY VARIABLES.

ONE,THE USE OF THE FUNCTIONAL SHIPS WOULD HAVE BEEN USED TO BUILD THE SDF-3. I THINK WHEN BUILDING THE SDF-3 THEY WOULD HAVE TO USE SOME OF THOSE SHIPS. INCLUDING MATERIAL AND SUCH. IF THE IDEA WAS TO GET AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN WITH GUNS AT THE READY NEAR TIROL THEN YOU WOULD USE ONE SHIP. AND THAT WOULD BE ZOR'S BATTLE FORTRESS. ENOUGH TO CATCH TEH MASTERS OFF GUARD.

AND ANSWER TO THE JOKE, I SAY MATERIAL FOR SDF-3 AND MECHA PLUS HARDWARE... THROW IN THE SKIN.. A LOT. FUNCTINAL AND NON FUNCTIONAL.

I don't remember where I read this, supposedly there were huge empty spaces under the Zentraedi skin of the SDF-3 for them to take along a fleet of support vessels. Don't recall what that compliment of support vessels was supposed to be. It is interesting that the refit SDF-3 is significantly shorter, like 500 m difference, although part of that was likely the SDF-3's spires.

LOT OF SENTINEL STUFF OUT THERE. PROBABLY COULD HAVE.

There's the script books, they have the first 8 episodes.
Macek had a HUGE collection of notes and research for Sentinels, like a 1,000 pages worth. IIRC, he once said he would like to turn that material into a Sentinels scrapbook but that HG wasn't interested. So yeah Art 3 is probably the most complete documentation of the Sentinels concept/tv series that was PUBLISHED.
Also, Macek had like the first 10 scripts completed and the rest of the series roughed out, some accounts make those out to be simple outlines other accounts describe those in varying degrees of completion.

Some background on the Sentinels comics from an old Captain JLS Robotech comics blog:
robotechcomics.blogspot.com/2006/08/robo...-eternitymalibu.html
Robotech II: The Sentinels was originally developed as a 65 episode animated sequel to the original ROBOTECH TV series, co-produced by Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko Productions, slated to air in the Fall of 1986. Unfortunately, due to a chain reaction of sorry circumstances, the animated version of this storyline was never completed. From April to August of 1988, Del Rey released five Robotech II: The Sentinels novels by the writing team of Brian Daley and James Luceno -- two men who had previously, under the pen name Jack McKinney, adapted the original 85 episodes of ROBOTECH into twelve bestselling novels. They were given the original concepts and outline for the Sentinels TV series and told to tinker with them to their liking. The end result was a product which bore a strong resemblance to the Sentinels story as outlined by ROBOTECH story editor and producer Carl Macek but slowly diverged from the original course as the storyline progressed and unfolded. It was a few months after the five Sentinels novels were on bookstore shelves that the Sentinels story began to emerge in comic book form, written by Eternity Comics editors Tom Mason and Chris Ulm and drawn by newcomers Jason and John Waltrip.

Along with Ben Dunn's Ninja High School, The Sentinels became one of the flagship titles of Malibu Publishing's Eternity imprint. Early on the story remained quite faithful to the original TV scripts, a fact that outsiders can tell only because Eternity published two books containing the first eight scripts in 1991 & 1992, but also included all-new ideas from Mason and Ulm. However, by the beginning of Sentinels Book II in mid-1990, the comic book series had veered more towards the course of the novels -- whether this was due to a lack of access to the remainder of the original TV series material, a desire to present a unified Sentinels front, or due to fan demand, nobody's ever said. Still, as the story progressed all-new elements still slipped in, including an entire new subplot revolving around an underground movement within the REF, featuring brand-new characters, at the start of Sentinels Book III in mid-1993.

GOT A LOT OF BOOKS. INCLUDING THE RPG'S. MAN, THAT WILL BE A LOT OF READING TO GET A GOOD SOURCE.

WILL FINISH THE COMICS BEFORE JUMPING IN ON THIS STUFF.

RIGHT OF THE BAT THAT WOULD GIVE YOU A GOOD SOURCE...

1.ROBOTECH ART 3
2.SENTINELS SCRIPT 1 AND 2
3.SENTINEL DVD WITH CARL MACEK COMMENTARY
4.RELATED INTERVIEWS
5.THE SENTINELS RPG BOOK
6.SENTINEL NOVELS. FIRST 5 BOOKS. AFTER THAT THEY GO IN THEIR OWN DIRECTION FOR PLOT ELEMENTS.
7.WALTRIPS COMICS. SAME THING AS NOVELS.. THEY WENT INTO THEIR OWN MATERIAL IN THE END.

MEMO1DOMINION wrote:

rtsurfer wrote:

I don't remember where I read this, supposedly there were huge empty spaces under the Zentraedi skin of the SDF-3 for them to take along a fleet of support vessels. Don't recall what that compliment of support vessels was supposed to be. It is interesting that the refit SDF-3 is significantly shorter, like 500 m difference, although part of that was likely the SDF-3's spires.

ROBOTECH ART BOOK 3. TALKS ABOUT HOW THEY USED 10,000 PERSONNEL FOR THE VOYAGE AND TOOK ALONG A SIZABLE SUPPORT VESSELS. NO NUMBER ON SUPPORT VESSELS THOUGHT.

The further I get into the comics, the more annoyed I get about inconsistencies. Some parts of the storyline just don't seem to flow either as there's just too much going on sometimes. Regarding the actual reading experience on the Kindle, some of the issues in book 3 have diaglogue you can't read because the word balloon uses black print on a dark gray background. Now I'm looking into getting a color ereader though Japanese manga like Macross Trash look great as they don't overdue the gray tones.

What I was talking about is I read somewhere that there were actually supposed to be capital ships hidden under the skin, I was like whaaat?

ps99041 wrote:

The further I get into the comics, the more annoyed I get about inconsistencies. Some parts of the storyline just don't seem to flow either as there's just too much going on sometimes.

HEHEHE.

YEP. SAME PROBLEM HERE WHEN READING THE COMICS. MAKES ME THINK IF THE WRITERS EVER REALLY PAID ATTENTION TO THE CONVERSATIONS AND STYLE LOOK OF THE ZENTRADI AND THE MASTERS FROM THE ROBOTECH STORY LINE. THEY GIVE A LOT OF CLUES AS TO HOW THE LIFE IN THE MASTERS HOME WORLD SHOULD BE.