(This is where it switches from “long episode summaries” to “short weekly summaries”. -Blaq)
The concept of this week’s worth of episodes is to advance the plot to include the Sentinels-a group of aliens from various planets who have formed a federation to rid the universe of the Invid threat. (Because life under RT Master dominion was SO much better. –Blaq)
Also there is the encampment of the REF on Tirol while the hyperspace [fold] (I REFUSE to use the term “Warp Drive” in Robotech, so I keep substituting “Fold” for “Warp”. –Blaq) drive mechanisms are constructed. It will be an area to develop the relationship between Lisa and Karen, this is also the part of the story in which Dr. Lang shows that Janice is actually an android-as he reprograms her to function as a soldier and join the Sentinels. This will be the time also to introduce plot points concerning the mission to join the Sentinels and resign the commission in the REF for Rick and his friends. It will also be the time in which Edwards sees his opportunity to take over.
The Invid continue to try and recapture Tirol. The Sentinels decide to take the fight to their enemies. The mission of the Sentinels is launched.
During this week’s episodes, the fighting skill of the Sentinels will be defined.
The flagship of the Sentinels remains in orbit around Carbonara. The GMU is transported to the surface of the planet. It is a hostile terrain-made up mostly of rocks and petrified forest. The Sentinels land in an area which is uninhabited. They hope the element of surprise will be to their advantage in dealing with the Invid or the Inorganics. The protoculture-based weapons systems attract the Cougars-the skills of the Gnea and Bela and the power of Veidt and Sarna is illustrated. (Okay, if I’m right about half of that last sentence just lost some of you. So, I guess I’m going to have to include a chacrater guide in this thread near the end. For now I’ll just say that Lron, Crysta, Burak, Teal, Baldan, Kami, Learna, Bella, Gnea, Sarna and Veidt are all aliens in the Sentinels. –Blaq)
Lron and Crysta take the Sentinels into an underground world where they encounter beast native to the planet before they reach the limits of the capital city of Carbonara and battle with the Inorganics-the Sentinels win-the Carbonites want Lron and Crysta to stay-they refuse the offer offer at this time-they must stay with their friends until the Invid are defeated.
During this week’s episode, the battles for Praxis forms the core of the storyline-however, the focus of the individual episodes allows the audience to observe what is happening on Tirol while Edwards tries to undermine the power of Dr. Lang and also deal with his growing infatuation with Lynn Minmei. Jack and Karen are trying to understand their love/hate relationship. They both need each other but they are too proud to admit it. Rick and Lisa are falling more and more in love. Lisa has become a warrior woman much like Bela and Gnea. This new direction for Lisa is quite exciting for Rick. The planet Praxis is devoid of men-which makes for some interesting plot developments. (Okay, sign me up for the REF. –Blaq)
The fight to liberate Praxis is long and difficult. It takes nearly a year. The Invid understand the operation of the Sentinels and have sent reinforcements to help the Inorganics quash the civil rebellion which is overtaking their crumbling empire-the Invid were not made to be rulers of the universe-it is merely their own warped sense of destiny which propels them to this role. Janice as an android recognizes the soul of Zor in Rem, which frightens her.
The final battle to liberate Praxis starts off the week. In the meantime, the REF on Tirol must deal with a planned invasion by the Invid. Lynn Minmei is “brainwashed” to forget Wolfe by the diabolical plots of Edwards. Dr. Lang is beginning to unravel the secrets of protoculture by going over Zor’s notes-he recognizes the significance of the “Children of Zor”-the Cha Cha.
Bela and Gnea ride triumphantly into their city on the mechanical horses they use in battle. Their fellow citizens are ecstatic. Many of the men from the Sentinels group are asked to stay on and develop a new society on Praxis. (Let’s see…Earth’s been decimated, there are only a few thousand women on the SDF-3, and Praxis has several billion women… HELL YES I’D STAY!!! -Blaq) The offer is quite tempting and several earthborn Sentinels decide to stay. Jack Baker attempts to make Karen jealous by offering to stay on Praxis. She puts up a fight-which by Praxis law demands a duel for his life-on Praxis the males are highly prized. Karen wins but tells Jack that she only did it for his own good. They journey to Garuda as Learna and Kami tell their fellow Sentinels about the unique atmosphere of Garuda-a fearful place where caution is the only rule.
(And so begins the psychedelics. –Blaq) The Sentinels arrive at this dark and mysterious planet. They must not only deal with the Inorganics but their own fears and nightmares-it is the nature of the atmosphere of Garuda to transform thoughts into flesh and blood. (Oh, the possibilities. –Blaq) The situation is equally disturbing for all concerned. Certain elements from the past come back to haunt the people from Earth. Rick has a nightmare in which he is lost from Lisa. He is subjected to all manner of dreambeast. Kami and Learna have tried to teach their fellowship how to control their mind-but the novelty of the situation and the power of the subconscious cause many people to become affected. Rem is the most affected-his dreams, as Zor, of the planet Optera where he was ordered by his superiors to destroy the society of the Invid. The Invid cannot survive on Garuda because of the atmosphere-but his dreambeast Invid thrive on the environment. The Inorganics are suited to this environment-they are not alive. The battles with the Inorganics are fierce-a situation is developed in which the Sentinels must fight with “monsters from the Id.” Eventually they defeat the Inorganics and move on.
The Sentinels move toward the planet Haydon IV. They are intrigued by the idea of a planet which uses magic. (Okay, that does it. We have officially crossed over from “Science Fiction” to “Science Fantasy”. –Blaq) It is a novelty to the earthborn heroes who rely on technology for everything. Veidt and Sarna are trying to explain the differences between magic and science. The concept of their society is that scientific experimentation is a fallacy-on Haydon IV experiments are conducted time after time until the result is what was dreamed of by the scientist. In this way they feel that the laws of the universe are meant to be broken. The Invid have a strong base on Haydon IV and the fight to liberate the planet is dangerous and costly. Miriya goes into a deep sleep on the planet which forces Max to stay behind when the liberating Sentinels move on.
On Tirol, Dr. Lang is progressing on his [fold] drive. He sends a test flight back to the Earth to check the mechanism-the test flight never returns. (Major Carpenter. –Blaq) Edwards makes a secret pact with the Invid in a bid to gain power and return to Earth as a conqueror after the Invid are through with it.
The Sentinels realize the delicate nature of the planet Spheris, therefore they determine to approach the planet without the use of protoculture weapons. It it a chance to see if they can function effectively using non-protoculture based weapons. If they are successful they feel that they might be able to attempt a raid on the homeworld of the Invid and defeat the Regent-thus putting a stop to the entire Invid threat.
Karen is a key factor in this liberation raid. The small group of Sentinels which attempt to defeat the Inorganics on Spheris are the equivalent of interstellar “ninja.” (Excuse me, but WTF?!? -Blaq) They dress in dark clothes and use simple weapons and rely on martial arts. Gnea and Bela are instrumental in this fight as are Veidt and Sarna. It is a battle scenario in which the main group of Earth heroes take a back seat to the action and let the aliens function-everyone has learned much from each other and the time for self-reliance has come to the Sentinels-Baldan and Teal lead the group into the fight. Max realizes that Miriya is pregnant. While the covert operation continues on Spheris, the rest of the Sentinels journey to Peryton.
The nature of Peryton is a big mystery to the majority of the Sentinels-the earthborn heroes have no idea of the planet and its curse. (I’ll explain the nature of the “curse” at the end of all this when I get to the glossary of charaters, locations, and terms. –Blaq) Burak is hoping that the Sentinels will not only defeat the Inorganics and liberate the planet-but also break the curse instilled upon the generations of his people. His zeal in trying to deceive the Sentinels rather than coming out and asking for their help causes the group to fall prey to the curse of the planet. It isn’t until Max and Miriya who have rejoined the Sentinels on Spheris, explain the true nature of Peryton which they saw in a dream, that the remaining Sentinels construct a plan to free their comrades. Many heroes lose their lives in the process. This will be the point of revelation for many of the characters in the series. Rem learns of his true origin. Janice drops her guise as a woman and continues through the rest of the series as a “sexy robot.” (You have to love that. Not just a “robot”, but a “sexy robot”. -Blaq)
The time has come to return to the homeworld of the RT Masters and rejoin the REF. They have spent too long away from their own people and planet.
(If you’re wondering how all these are posted back-to-back, I wrote them up on a Word doc and then started to copy and paste things. I didn’t want to keep my phoneline tied up. -Blaq)
Following their experience on Peryton, the Sentinels decide to split up. One group headed by Wolfe and Vince plans to return to Tirol. This group also contains Anoris (Don’t even ask. I have absolutely no idea who this is, and they aren’t in the character profiles listed at the back of the book. –Blaq), Max, Miriya, and Lisa-The remaining Earthborn Sentinels (including Rick, Jack, Karen, Jean, and Janice (now a sexy robot) join with Rem and the other aliens to approach the Invid as a way to stop the war.
Dr. Lang is isolated-lost in his research. Edwards is trying to make a pact with the Regent who has journeyed to Tirol. Breetai (Holy Cow! He IS alive! I was starting to think that they just “wrote him out” of the series or something. –Blaq) tries to reason with Edwards. Breetai is branded as a traitor and is hunted by the REF. Breetai heads toward Fantoma to avoid capture.
The Sentinels meet resistance on Optera. The telepath Veidt ultimately senses that the Regent has traveled to Tirol to make a deal with Edwards. Edwards traps the Regent and assassinates him. He climbs into the Regent’s exo-skeleton to control the Inorganics and Invid.
Edwards lays his cards on the table. He calls for the troops to follow him to destroy the Invid threat to Earth. Wolfe wants to wait until the Sentinels return. Edwards tells the REF that the Sentinels are only looking out for their own planets and do not care for the Earth. Wolfe tries to get back Minmei. She refuses to see him, telling him that they have nothing to talk about. She now is devoted to Edwards’ cause for liberation of Earth. Wolfe agrees to lead an advance force to Earth to survey the situation-to see if either the Invid or the RT Masters have made the journey to their homeworld. He hopes that this will prove to Minmei that he loves her and embraces Edwards’ cause-but sometimes love is blind. (Not just blind, but deaf and stupid! –Blaq) They must also test Lang [Fold] drive.
As soon as Wolfe leaves, Edwards stages a coup using the Inorganics and his few loyal followers from the REF to place Dr. Lang and the rest of the heroes-Lisa, Max, etc. under arrest. Breetai tries to stage a rescue and is mortally wounded. Anoris (Exedore maybe?!? -Blaq) requests to see his friend before he dies.
The Sentinels arrive at Tirol. They are immediately attacked by the Invid and the Inorganics controlled by Edwards. The final battles are fought for the control of the REF and the future of Robotechnology. Rem cannot believe that the Regent is Dead-he feels responsible for turning the Invid into a savage culture. He must make an ultimate sacrifice in order to satify his warped sense of right and wrong. (You gotta hand it to those Zor clones, they sure do love sacrificing themselves to right an injustice. –Blaq)
Rick cannot attack the capital city for fear of injuring his wife who he learns is going to have a child. The only solution is to fight using the Sentinels’ methods. Rick has learned mind control (See, I told you. It really says this, I’m not making this up. –Blaq) from the Garudians and tries to exercise this skill in a battle with Edwards. (Wow, Jedi mind tricks. –Blaq) The duel is fought with the fate of several civilizations hanging in the balance. Rem tries to get into the Invid Regent’s exoskeleton (the Odeon). He cannot control the system. The Inorganics go wild. They begin tearing up everything. It is a sad situation. (Something else those Zor clones have in common. When they try to make a sacrifice, they screw it up ROYALLY! -Blaq) The REF is helpless. Eventually they overwhelm the Inorganics and restore order. They make the long journey back to Earth and Rick and his friends on the SDF-3 are lost in space.
(FINISHED AT LAST!!! HALLELUJAH!!!
At some point next week I’ll cover these characters/locations/terms:
People~
Jack Baker - Sentinels
Mark Landry - Movie
Karen Penn - Sentinels
Becky Franklin - Movie
Jean Grant - Sentinels
Kelly Stevens - Movie
Rem - Sentinels
Stacey Embrey - Movie
B.D. Edwards - Sentinels - You know him as T.R.
Edwards.
B.D. Andrews - Movie
Cabell - Sentinels
Janice aka J.A.N.I.C.E. - Sentinels - Singer/Android
Eve aka E.V.E. - Movie - Singer/Android
Lron - Sentinels
Crysta - Sentinels
Burak - Sentinels
Teal - Sentinels
Baldan - Sentinels
Kami - Sentinels
Learna - Sentinels
Bella - Sentinels
Gnea - Sentinels
Sarna - Sentinels
Veidt - Sentinels
Tesla - Sentinels
Places~
Haydon IV
Garuda
Praxis
Spheris
Peryton
Carbonara
The FoL and Protoculture *1988 defination*
And any questions that someone brings up. But come on, would you really have wanted to see this story animated? Well, at least there were no children chanting “Robotech, Robotech, Robotech,” while sitting in a circle. Well, that’s all till next week. Please leave feedback. –Blaq)