Mobile Suit Gundam (0079) - TV and Movie Discussion

[Draikan7]

I hear there is a series and a movie for gundam 0079. My question is which one is the better of the two? thanks!

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by Draikan7

I hear there is a series and a movie for gundam 0079. My question is which one is the better of the two? thanks!

It depends. Do you have the time to watch all 43 episodes of the original TV series...or would you rather watch three 2-hour+ movies that is a compilation of the TV series?

Sure the TV series will give you a more in-depth detail, but you can get a basic rundown by watching the three movies. You decide.

Perhaps, the best possible way is to watch the TV series first. Then you can go on to the movie to see if you have missed anything and watch some added scenes.

[microlith]

Keep in mind that the only legit english subtitled version of 0079 is the movie trilogy released by Bandai. The TV release is dub-only, does not contain the original op on later discs past the first two I believe, and is missing an episode later in the series.

All of these changes were decreed by Sunrise and Tomino.

There is no R2 release of the TV series, only the movies.

[Silver_Scorcher]

Yeah, best way to go is the trilogy. 1.) Overall it's much much cheaper, 2.) It's subtitles only with a 5.1 Japanese audio track. After months of searching, I finally found the third installment, and overall, I'm quite satisfied with what I saw. But, the movies can only cover so much, and a lot of key events aren't seen, so if you want to see everything thats happened, you might as well dish out $200 for the entire series.

[dreamless]

if you just want to get a hold of the story, watch the compilation movie. It's like to say whether you want to watch the first 21 episodes of Gundam SEED or you just want to watch the around 2 hours long Gundam SEED Special.

Of course for better character development and story details you should watch the TV series...

[Suikun]

I really had a hard time getting into the TV series... which is odd, because I am and always have been a complete Gundam fanatic.

I saw the first 10 episodes or so of the series when it aired on Cartoon Network. It started off okay, but I just didn't have much urge to continue watching it. Soon afterwards, I saw for real cheap at Best Buy the boxset for the movie trilogy that Bandai put out, and decided to pick it up... and I was amazed with it. The movie trilogy basically fixed whatever problems I had with the series and turned a great story from something that came off only so-so in the series into something that was amazingly well done. So, I'd have to recommend you check out the movie trilogy if you can. I fell in love with it, and I liked it much more than the TV series.

[Draikan7]

thanks for the replies! guess i'll watch the movie if its better than the series. i don't really care about length if its short or long, but i do care which is more enjoyable to watch so i'll try and pick up the trilogy i guess. thanks again.

[kj1980]

Seeing that we are on this subject anyway, are the Gundam I,II, and III Movies on DVD that are out in your country the same "Special Edition" version as ours? By "Special Edition," it means that they remastered the audio in 5.1 channel and they re-recorded several voices. Hence, I personally had an awkward feeling since the seiyuu for Amuro's mother was different from the original LD version...

[microlith]

Yep, it's more or less exactly the same, with the exception of the subtitles and maybe a few other slight differences in the menus I imagine. The coverart is the same, video is spectacular, 5.1 audio. I wasn't aware of the re-recording until after I watched it, though I do recall one person I was working with in Japan saying that they all sounded far too old

[Pepperidge]

Has there been any news on 0079 DVDs in Japan? Weren't they planning to rerecord dialogue for the entire series or something?

[microlith]

There is only the movie release.

The reason there's no R1 release with subs is because there is no R2 release of the tv series. Bandai is holding out hope for a potential unaltered/subbed release at some point.

[Zerowinger]

after the series of Kidou Senshi Gundam, there is 3 movies. i know 1 is called chars counter attack.. but what are the others and in what order do they come `? anidb just lists them as 1-2-3

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Zerowinger

after the series of Kidou Senshi Gundam, there is 3 movies. i know 1 is called chars counter attack.. but what are the others and in what order do they come `? anidb just lists them as 1-2-3

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26326

[Obi-Wan]

So I guess we're bumping this dinosaur of a thread and remodeling it into a general series discussion for 0079. I recently finished watching the original run of the TV series and found it to be a little more complete that the movies. But let's go ahead and get the ball rolling here. Anyone have anything they want to throw into the discussion here?

[Sister Princess]

Originally Posted by Obi-Wan

So I guess we're bumping this dinosaur of a thread and remodeling it into a general series discussion for 0079. I recently finished watching the original run of the TV series and found it to be a little more complete that the movies. But let's go ahead and get the ball rolling here. Anyone have anything they want to throw into the discussion here?

I somehow watched all of the TV version in Nicovideo and want to know who is the name of women (wear glasses) who pilot Frau Bow (sp) along with Sharia Bull.

[Obi-Wan]

Originally Posted by Sister Princess

I somehow watched all of the TV version in Nicovideo and want to know who is the name of women (wear glasses) who pilot Frau Bow (sp) along with Sharia Bull.

That's Lt. Simus Bakharov.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Obi-Wan

So I guess we're bumping this dinosaur of a thread and remodeling it into a general series discussion for 0079. I recently finished watching the original run of the TV series and found it to be a little more complete that the movies. But let's go ahead and get the ball rolling here. Anyone have anything they want to throw into the discussion here?

I've still got quite a ways to go before finishing the Mobile Suit Gundam OVAs, but I feel that it's only natural that they would turn out better than the TV series. There's so much excess in the original (White Base needs salt!), that trimming it can only help produce a tighter story.

On a slightly different note, it quite surprising that, given that 30 years have passed, Mobile Suit Gundam is still the show that has perhaps the tightest plot of any of the longer works. Even though much of it is episodic (and quite a bit moreso than many of its successors), the story that's woven still hangs together quite well. And in fact, they are generally told better than the later attempts to tell those same stories (I'm looking at you, MS IGLOO).

On the other hand, I didn't find all that many interesting characters in Mobile Suit Gundam. Other than the characters that only have 1-5 episode exposures, the only one who did much for me was Kai Shiden. His character had actual flavor, and his character arc was both believable and uplifting. That's more than can really be said of both Amuro and Char, the supposedly "great" characters of the show. Oh well, at least they're good in Zeta.

[Rawinder]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

I've still got quite a ways to go before finishing the Mobile Suit Gundam OVAs, but I feel that it's only natural that they would turn out better than the TV series. There's so much excess in the original (White Base needs salt!), that trimming it can only help produce a tighter story.

On a slightly different note, it quite surprising that, given that 30 years have passed, Mobile Suit Gundam is still the show that has perhaps the tightest plot of any of the longer works. Even though much of it is episodic (and quite a bit moreso than many of its successors), the story that's woven still hangs together quite well. And in fact, they are generally told better than the later attempts to tell those same stories (I'm looking at you, MS IGLOO).

On the other hand, I didn't find all that many interesting characters in Mobile Suit Gundam. Other than the characters that only have 1-5 episode exposures, the only one who did much for me was Kai Shiden. His character had actual flavor, and his character arc was both believable and uplifting. That's more than can really be said of both Amuro and Char, the supposedly "great" characters of the show. Oh well, at least they're good in Zeta.

Wow, I feel exactly the opposite. I don't think the plot is all that great (kind of hard to criticize, though, since the show was the first of its kind) but the show still has one of the best--if not the best--cast of characters of any Gundam anime. Just the way the characters interact with one another feels very real. Zeta on the other hand, while still a great show, I always thought felt kind of forced in its character relationships.

[Obi-Wan]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

On the other hand, I didn't find all that many interesting characters in Mobile Suit Gundam. Other than the characters that only have 1-5 episode exposures, the only one who did much for me was Kai Shiden. His character had actual flavor, and his character arc was both believable and uplifting. That's more than can really be said of both Amuro and Char, the supposedly "great" characters of the show. Oh well, at least they're good in Zeta.

Well, as per the norm with Tomino, most supporting characters tend to be killed off just as you're starting to like them. But I do agree that there is a lot to like or find interesting about Kai. I especially like how he goes from pretty much a real-life troll on the White Base to an all-business soldier after he loses Miharu on their way out of Belfast. And it's not like he sells out to the military or anything, he's still himself, but accepts his fate as a pilot.

I can see going with the film version of MSG from a corner-cutting standpoint, but I truly prefer the series. The editing in the second movie is downright awful at times and I don't like the reordering of events, or the fact that M'quve is essentially given a get out of jail free card at the end of the third movie. They're fine to get the story in and don't suffer from content loss the way every other compilation film set do (save maybe the Destiny one). In the TV version, you get to see a little more of the relationship between Amuro and Sayla, Mirai is a little more fleshed out (I believe the part about Bright getting sick and her having to take over is omitted from the movies, but I could be wrong), but then again you're also forced to sit through the ridiculous gattai sequences with the G-Armor, which became a tired act by series' end. Overall they're both fine, but the TV series is more of a nostalgia factor for me and that's why I prefer it.

[Blaat]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

I've still got quite a ways to go before finishing the Mobile Suit Gundam OVAs, but I feel that it's only natural that they would turn out better than the TV series. There's so much excess in the original (White Base needs salt!), that trimming it can only help produce a tighter story.

I pretty much agree with this, it's not just trimming that helps the films but there's also the combining of multiple battles into a bigger one such as the first Garma fight, Jaburo and, where it pays of the most, Side 6 battle which makes the flow of the story much better.

Having said that I do think Obi-Wan has a good point about the characters, a lot of them have more of a face in the series then in the films, Mulligan immediately springs to mind. I was really surprised that he wasn't a mere faceless background character in the series. This isn't necessarily true for every character though Marker and Oscar are still faceless operators in the series but they're more unique in the films if only because they have an distinct voice and by distinct I mean they're not voiced by any of the main characters.

And of course there's the G-bull/fighter/whatever and the only thing I can say about that is: best.retcon.ever.