Boobytrap (Robotech episode)
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Boobytrap was the first episode of Robotech, an anime series adapted for American television, by Harmony Gold USA Inc. in association with Tatsunoko Productions Ltd.
[edit] Airings and Home Releases
The episode originally aired in 1985, on the various stations that had purchased the syndication rights, and has since aired many subsequent times on various stations in countries throughout the world. There have been several video releases of Boobytrap, starting with a home video release by Family Home Entertainment, and a subsequent video release by Palladium Books. Streamline Pictures released this episode in their unfinished Perfect Collection, accompanying the episode with the original Japanese version to allow the viewers to see the changes made. In 2001, the episode was released on DVD as part of the Robotech Legacy Collection, by ADV Films. Following the rediscovery of some necessary source material, this episode was released on DVD as part of the Robotech: Remastered series, also by ADV. The remastered edition was altered somewhat from the originally broadcast version, including the restoration of some scenes that had been cut to conform with the broadcast standards at the time it was released originally, as well as a reworked Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Other companies, such as Madman Entertainment and AnimEigo have released versions of this episode for other regions besides North America.
[edit] Summary
In the year 1999, as the Earth is gripped by a global war, a gigantic alien fortress crashes violently into the earth, causing much destruction before it finally settles on the small island of Macross, in the South Pacific. The space fortress is heavily damaged by the crash, but the technology that survives is quickly discovered to be quite far advanced compared to humanity's current capability. The threat of technologically advanced aliens is sufficient to provoke an end to the global fighting, and the world unites under one Earth government. On Macross Island, a city grows up around the downed spacecraft, populated by scientists of the highest class from around the world who seek to study the alien ship and understand its secrets. Slowly, a new technology is gained from the ship, known as Robotechnology, and the ship itself is restored.
Ten years passes, and the ship is finally ready for launch, christened the SDF-1. There is a huge celebration on the streets of Macross Island. The captain of the new ship, Captain Henry J. Gloval is uneasy about his position in the limelight, but he perseveres with his duties. As the bridge crew settles in to their new assignment, an unidentified aircraft enters their area of detection. The pilot of the ship is soon identified to be Rick Hunter, who is attending the festivities on the invitation of Roy Fokker. Rick's flight path inadvertently gets in the way of an air show going on at the time, demonstrating the new Veritech fighters. Rick's friend Roy, who is onstage for the airshow, giving the commentary to the audience, is infuriated, and publicly admonishes Rick for interfering with the show, to the great amusement of the listening crowd. Switching his microphone to radio-only, Roy awkwardly reminds Rick that he isn't at home, and is surrounded by professional pilots. Rick takes this as a challenge to his flying skills, and proceeds to perform a complex maneuver with the fighter planes, which the audience is very impressed with, and then proceeds to land. Rick and Roy, old friends, are reunited, but their conversation turns awkward when Rick asks about Roy's feelings regarding his war heroics. As the two friends catch up, they catch sight of a beautiful young girl having some difficulty with a young child having a tantrum. Both of the pilots notice the girl, and are duly impressed.
Meanwhile, in outer space, alien ships have come from out of hyperspace, seeking the battle fortress. These aliens, known as the Zentraedi, send a scout team to Earth to determine its whereabouts.
Back on Earth, Roy shows Rick one of the new fighters, encouraging him to climb into the cockpit to check it out more closely. At the same time, Captain Gloval is informed of some strange readings that have been detected, that are strikingly similar to the ones detected immediately before the alien ship crashed. Gloval decides to investigate. As the Captain arrives on the bridge, every system on the new ship seems to be activating on their own, including the massive main gun. The gun fires, cutting a swath through the island itself, with its beam continuing into space, destroying two large objects in Lunar orbit, possibly spacecraft. Upon the firing of the gun, Commander Fokker leaves Rick with the Veritech fighter he had been showing him, to see what had happened. On the bridge of the SDF-1, when the captain hears the results of the firing of the gun, he bursts into laughter, confusing the bridge crew. Gloval reveals that he feels the firing of the gun was a boobytrap, left by the aliens who built the ship, for use against their enemies. He feels that the firing of the gun means the enemies have come close enough to be a threat. Acting on this intuition, Gloval sends everyone to their battlestations and deploys all the fighters, in preparation for an attack.
In Earth orbit, several vessels launch attacks on the alien scout ships, with almost no difficulty. The Zentraedi barrage cuts through the two space vessels almost immediately, destroying one and severely damaging the other. With this information, Gloval, disappointed at the prospect of yet another war, orders a launch. The aliens are confused at this disparity in offense, as the main gun of the SDF-1 is able to easily destroy two of their vessels, but the combined resources of the two orbital platforms are almost completely ineffective. Soon enough, the aliens spot the battle fortress, and noticed that it is different than what they had expected to see. Surmising that the ship must have crash-landed, with the crew killed on impact, and that the "Micronian" inhabitants of the world must have restored the vessel, the aliens proceed with the assumption that the humans are indeed dangerous to them, despite the tiny resistance they have faced thus far. The aliens launch a force of fighters to combat the humans and retrieve the battle fortress.
Meanwhile, Rick Hunter, still waiting for Roy in the Veritech he had been being shown, is ordered, mistakenly, by Lisa Hayes to launch 'his' fighter and join the battle. Rick tries to protest, but Lisa isn't listening, so Rick takes off in the fighter and flies off. He is very impressed with the flying abilities of the new jet, but is quickly overwhelmed when he finds himself being shot at. Roy spots Rick on the communications lines, and rescues him from a tight spot, giving him some survival pointers in the process. They do well for a while, but Rick loses control, and end up plummeting towards the SDF-1. Lisa informs him that he should do something she calls 'changing to configuration B'. Not understanding what this means, but lacking the time to argue, Rick pulls a lever marked B as instructed, and his plane (unbeknownst to him) transforms itself into a giant robot, plowing through several buildings in Macross City on the way down. Rick is alive, but has no idea what is going on.
