Although it launched a continuity that has lasted more than three decades, Yoshiyuki Tomino's landmark Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) was curtailed due to poor ratings on its initial airing. Tomino's vision of mobile suits--anthropomorphic robots that are part space suit, part one-person spaceship, and part samurai armor--revolutionized the mecha genre. Set in the year 0079 of the Universal Century, these first episodes establish the parameters of the Gundam universe and introduce the principal characters. When the human population topped 11 billion, most of the inhabitants of Earth left the planet for the Space Colonies, 20-mile-long cylindrical space stations in stable orbits. But the corrupt misrule of the oligarchic world government has sparked a rebellion that pits the Principality of Zeon against the Earth Federation. During a Zeon raid on his home satellite, teenager Amuro Ray stumbles into the cockpit of the Federation's top-secret weapon, the Gundam Mobile Suit RX-78. He successfully pilots the giant robot and initiates a rivalry with the unscrupulous but dashing Zeon warrior Char Aznable, a.k.a. the Red Comet. Unlike the dedicated pilots of later mecha adventures, Amuro becomes a hero in spite of himself. He wrestles with his new identity as a soldier and the fact that he is a Newtype, a human with psi abilities that may represent an evolutionary leap. An ill-starred romance further complicates his life. The character designs look very American and very dated, with crumbly Xerox lines. The slow pacing, limited animation, hand-drawn special effects, and rather tame battle scenes are closer in tone to Robotech (1985) than to the more spectacular recent Gundam adventures. The English dub sounds rather stilted, with the narrator ominously asking at the end of each episode, "Who will survive?" But this reissue includes the original Japanese dialogue for the first time--a lack otaku had bemoaned for years. Despite its flaws, Gundam fans will want the program that launched Tomino's vision--and one of the longest-running franchises in animation history. (Rated 13 and older, but suitable for viewers three to four years younger: brief nudity, violence largely restricted to robot vs. robot) --Charles Solomon (1. Gundam Rising, 2. Destroy Gundam! 3. Vote to Attack, 4. Escape from Luna II, 5. Re-entry to Earth, 6. Garma Strikes, 7. The Core Fighter's Escape, 8. Winds of War, 9. Fly, Gundam! 10. Garma's Fate, 11. Icelina--Love's Remains, 12. The Threat of Zeon, 13. Coming Home, 14. Time, Be Still, 15. Sayta's Agony, 16. Amuro Deserts, 17. Zeon's Secret Mine, 18. Ramba Rat's Attack, 19. Hand-to-Hand Combat, 20. Sorrow and Hatred, 21. The Trap of M'Quve)
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