RETROSPECULATIVE TV: Macross: “Miss Macross” (Episode 9) and Robotech: “Miss Macross” (Episode 9)

but all their recordings were lost.

Rick drifts around unconscious in a crippled fighter.

Minmei wins the contest in an upset, defeating the movie star, much to the star’s obvious displeasure.

Rick wakes up to find Minmei won, and the closing narration informs us that Rick is aware Minmei is entering a world he can’t follow.

The End.

OBSERVATIONS

First and foremost, this episode is funny as hell. The show’s always had a wry sense of humor, but this is the first full-on comedic one they’ve done. Which isn’t to say it’s all cheap gags and slapstick, because it’s not. It’s character-based humor, and there’s even one really dramatic pulse-pounding scene, but it’s mostly funny.

In particular, the scenes of Rick constantly getting interrupted by Lisa, and his rapidly escalating frustration about not being able to watch the show are pretty hilarious. This is contrasted by the odd innocence of the Zentradi spies, who can’t stop leering, and can’t even begin to understand why it’s happening. And then there’s Bretai and Exidore, who watch the commercials in confusion, and decide to investigate since it must be important, or else why would they bother to transmit it? The spies trying to figure out why Minmei is wearing a swimsuit is pretty funny, too: “It must be armor.” “Then why does it cover such a small area?” “I don’t know. Perhaps those are the only areas where she’s vulnerable?” “No, it must be some kind of ceremonial uniform.”

The scene where Minmei tells the judges that she doesn’t have a boyfriend, and Rick’s reaction, is pretty priceless, too.

Ok, I’m an American and a Republican, so I’m pretty sure the Metric System is a tool of the devil, or at the very least, a tool of the French, so I might be figuring this out wrong, but they flash Minmei’s measurements on the screen during the pageant - B 80, W 58, H 87. I assumed W and H were weight and height, but if my conversion is correct that means she’s only 2’10” tall and weighs something like 116 lbs. (Wow! Dense!) I’m assuming I got that wrong: I’m assuming it means she’s got 2’10” hips, 1’10” waist, and a 2’7” chest. That translates out - from top to bottom - to 30-22-34, which seems about right, and is suitably va-va-voom. She also mentions in the American version that she’s 5’2”.

The last three episodes take place within a week or two of each other, the first three episodes take place on the same day, the fourth episode takes place over the course of several weeks, but, an, there's months and months between the first batch of episodes and the current one. Evidently nothing of interest happened between Saturn and Mars, and evidently it took 'em a long time to get to Mars, given how established and business-as-usual all the refugees on the ship seem to be.

There’s a nice subtle bit in both version: When the Zentradi watch the commercial we’ve seen twice already, the vocal track is jibberish. Why? Because the Zentradi don’t speak English (or Japanese), so they can’t understand it. Thus, when they’re talking among themselves, they’re not speaking our language, it’s just that we’re listening in theirs.

This is, of course, the introduction of the spies, who’ll become pivotal characters later on in the series.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the sprawling cast this show is amassing, shall we? You’ve got:

1) Rick
2) Lisa
3) Roy
4) Claudia
5) Gloval
6) Max
7) Ben
8) Minmei
9) Bretai
10) Exidore
11) Khyron
12) Konda the spy
13) Rico the spy
14) The third spy who’s name I can’t remember now.

Which really is a lot of main characters, if you compare it to most shows from the period. In addition to this, you’ve got a ton of recurring minor characters like the Mayor, Minmei’s family, “Jason” (Who turns up again in this episode), the Bridge Bunnies, and so on. And we’re not even done yet, more are a-comin’. I have to say, I like the sprawling cast.

There’s a number of single-frame animation errors in this episode - the piping in Rick’s uniform disappears and reappears a lot, the racing stripe on the head of Rick’s fighter disappears then reappears, etc. Another odd error is that they keep using an establishing shot of the Ampitheater audience, as seen from the stage, behind the contestants. This works the first time they use it, but after that it makes no sense as the women in the shot are all fully dressed, while in the later scenes, the women are all in