In order to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Robotech, Harmony Gold is creating the first ever real sequel to the original series. This 90 minute film was originally called Robotech: Shadow Force but was changed recently to Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. All the information (as of today, November 2005) was gathered from my trip to the AC Cubed 2005 convention in neigboneering Ottawa, Canada.

Storyline

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles will take off right after the end of the last episode of the original series entitled Symphony Of Light. It will deal with the question that Robotech fans have asked themselves for many years, what ever happened to Rick Hunter? There are a slew of new characters that will make their first appearences in Robotech, as well as many returning characters from the original series. Some because they are main characters in The Shadow Chronicles and others will be seen in flashback sequences that were done so that new viewers can pick up the story and understand it, without having seen the original series at all. We were also told that the story telling will lead Robotech back to its roots, meaning it is character driven, that is something that Harmony Gold understands helped with the success of the original.

Production

During the presentation at AC Cubed, we were given some interesting production information. The production of the film is a collaboration between three companies. Harmony Gold of course, who is responsible for the story, planning, music, voice acting and post-production phases. Tsatunoko Studios, who created the original Macross series, is doing some of the animation, but not all of it. The majority of the animation is being done by DR Movie, a company located in Seoul, Korea. And as for the animation itself, 2D for all the characters, and 3D for all the big space battle sequences we will get to see! The music will be top notch, it will be fully orchestrated this time around. We will also were told that it took three to four days to record all the dialog for the film. And let's not forget that Mark Hamill (of Star Wars fame) will be lending his voice to a new character named Daryl Taylor.

Release

I know the big question on everyones mind is, when is it coming out? As we were told by Harmony Gold executive Kevin McKeever, the production of The Shadow Chronicles is nearly complete and they are mearly in the process of finding the appropriate distributor. So expect the release of The Shadow Chronicles to occur on some medium (either DVD, TV, etc...) sometime in the first half of 2006!

The Future

Once the film is released, the rest if up to us fans. Should the film be a success and from what I saw, it will be, Harmony Gold will then hopefully strike a deal with some network to create a fully fledged 24 episode series and perhaps more! So don't forget to let everyone know about Robotech and The Shadow Chronicles in particular!