It's been a busy time.

But we're back in business.

Gundam SEED C.E. 73 Stargazer goes live.

Gundam's first series to be distributed over the Interent, Gundam SEED C.E 73 Stargazer episode 1 went live yesterday. Stargazer focuses on a group of Naturals, members of the Phantom Pain unit from Gundam SEED DESTINY. Stagazer comprises of 3 15-minute episodes to be aires as follows.

Episode 1: 14/07/06 - 18/08/06
Episode 2: 18/08/08 - 22/09/06
Episode 3: 22/09/06 - 10/10/06

Bandai Channel's Stargazer site (Japanese)

Pictures of the MG Gundam F91

I haven't covered Gunpla or Gundam model kits yet, but I will soon as they are some of the most fascinating pieces of Gundam merchendise availible. Still, for those of you already familiar with them, and who are eagferly looking to finally, after 15 years, getting a Master Grade F91, here it is. Due for release later this month.

MG F91

Series Spotlight: Gundam Wing

Ah Gundam Wing, so many memories. Many, if not most of the western Gundam fans were introduced to the franchise by this show. I'll be frank, this isn't my favourite Gundam show, but while it has it's problems there's also a lot, and I mean a lot, to like here. I recommend everyone that wants to get into Gundam to check out this show at some point, if only to see what all the fuss is about, but should you start with this? Here is my thoughts.

It should be said that this is only going to be a brief review. Gundam Wing, indeed all Gundam shows, deserve a bigger review than this, but I just want to advise you on where to get into the franchise. When you're a little familiar with Gundam as a whole you'll be in a better position for a more in-depth review.

Prelude to war
The majority of Gundam shows are about a war between the people of Earth and Space, usually living in colonies. Gundam Wing is a little different. The colonies are opressed by teh United Earth Sphere Alliance, a common government for all of the Earth Sphere, but one that represses the colonies and denies them thier rights. The people of the colonies hold thier faith an thier ambassador Heero Yuy, a strong believer in pacifism. However after he was assassinated rebels within the colonies begin Operation Meteor, a plan to send 5 Gundams to Earth to strike back at the alliance.

Gundanium, why didn't we think of that?
Which brings us to one of Gundam Wings most controversial and debated points, the Gundams. In the early '70s a new genre of anime was invented, the Super Robot show. Pioneeded by manga artist Go Nagai with such shows as Mazinger Z and Getter Robo, this genre of anime featured super powerful, near indestructable giant robots with human pilots who fought against whatever new threat faced humanity that week.

In the height of the Super Robot genres popularity director Yoshiyuki Tomino had a different idea. Why not take these robots, scale them down in power to simple mass produced machines and put them in a more realistic war setting. The result was the original Mobile Suit Gundam and as you may have guessed, it was rather sucessful.

Now back to Gundam Wing. This shows borrows from both the more realistic 'Real Robot' prequals and teh older Super Robor shows. The result is enemy armies that use weak mass produced mobile suits, and 5 rebels with near indestructable Gundams, destroying alliance mobile suits effortlessly. While this makes for quite the light show, some, myself included, feel this removes some of the tension, some of the drama, that made the original Gundam shows so great to watch.

Pretty lights! We like pretty lights
Gundam Wing, despite being over 10 years old still looks rather impressive, especialy compared to many western shows. The environments, many hand drawn, carry an impressive amount of detail. The characters have an interesting pretty boy 'bishonen' look that may or may not work for you. Personally I don't mind it at all, and most of our female fans enjoy it. Since Gundam Wing was meant to introduce the franchise to a new audience in Japan a new art style seems fitting.

The other thing to note about Gundam Wing animation wise is the use of stock footage. While it's understandable the need to keep to the shows budget, seeing our favourite Gundams attack time and time again with teh same animation, or worse still seeing the enemy suits blow up wit the same animation, grows tiresome after a while. Still, it never gets as bad as Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED DESTINY.

Sound wise Gundam Wing is even more impressive. The opening themes, Just Communication and Rhythm Emotion, sung by Japanese band TWO-MIX, are both rather catch, Rhythm Emotion in particular. Most of the background music uses modern instruments, lots of bass, lots of electric guitars. Don't worry, it can be subtle when it needs to be and it does fit very well.

This concludes the first half of my Gundam Wing mini-review. Come back tomorrow where, we'll analyse the characters, story and conclude.

Where's an English speaking fan to start?

So where is an English speaking fan to start? Well, the Gundam official website isn't a bad place. With information and screenshots of all the Gundam shows that have been licensed and released in the US, there's plenty to see.

www.gundamofficial.com

However, for those of us in Europe there's far less availible. So here I'm going to list what we do have, and then give you my thoughts on each of them in future entries.

Gundam shows available on DVD in Europe
Mobile Suit Gundam Movie I
Mobile Suit Gundam Movie II: Soldiers of Sorrow
Mobile Suit Gundam Movie III: Encounters in Space
Mobile Suit Gundam Char's Counterattack
Mobile Suit Gundam F91
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

Come back tomorrow for my thoughts on Gundam Wing, the most popular of all the Gundam entries released in English.

Getting the rest of my time back.

Right then, back to our timelines. Fortunately for me typing, the other, called alternate universe, timelines are siginficantly shorter. Each one offers a different take on the Gundam universe, from super robot fighting to a post-apocalytic battle to live.

Future Century
Most of mankind have left the Earth in ruins to live in space. To decide who governs the Earth, the colonies take part in a Gundam Fight tournament every 4 years. Sending thier nations prize fighter and immaculately designed Gundam to Earth to battle for supremecy.

FC 60
Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994) - 49 episode TV show

After Colony
To counter overpopulation of the Earth humankind move into giant colonies. However the colonies are ruled by the tyrannous United Earth Sphere Alliance. After years of oppression and the assassination of the repected colony representative Heero Yuy, a small group of rebels decide to fight back.

AC 195
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995) - 49 episode TV show

AC 196
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1997, 1998) - 3 episode OVA, later compiled into a movie

(Note: released in the US and Europe as Mobile Suit Gundam Wing)

After War
The Earth based Old Federation and thier colony equivalent, the Space Revolution Army, fought a dreadful war that resulted in the dropping of hundreds of colonies onto Earth, causing a nuclear winter and killing the majority of the Earth's population. How will a bunch of travelling scavengers survive in this post-apocalytic world, and is the war really over?

AW 15
After War Gundam X

(Note: also known as New Mobile Century Gundam X)

Correct Century
Life in an early 20th century like Earth was pretty simple, until an army from the moon arrive, trying to find a new place for thier people to live. With far more advenced technology, these Moonrace effortlessly counter any Earth Milita resistance, but following the discovery of a buried Mobile Suit everything changes. If there's more to history than we know, perhaps Earth Milita might just be able to fight back.

CC 2345
Turn A Gundam (1999) - 50 episode TV show
Turn A Gundam: Earth Light and Moonlight Butterfly (2002) - two movies retelling Turn A Gundam

Cosmic Era
Humankind has evolved. Genetic engineering has given birth to Coordinators, humans with perfect genes. Persecuted by Naturals, humans who were not enhanced, the Coordinators are forced to move to space. Tensions were always high, but when a farming colony was destroyed my nuclear weopens, war is declaired between the two races.

CE 71
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002) - 50 episode TV series
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Special Edition (2004) - 6 episode TV series retelling Gundam SEED

CE 73
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY (2004) - 50 episode TV series
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY Special Edition (2006) - 4 episode TV series retelling Gundam SEED DESTINY
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73 STARGAZER (2006) - 3 episode OVA

CE ??
Gundam SEED Movie (currently untitled) - Movie, release date unknown

Notes:
The Gundam SEED Special edition was released in the US as 3 movies.
Gundam SEED DESTINY Special Edition and Gundam SEED C.E. 73 STARGAZER are at the time of writing, still airing.

Next we'll discuss Gundam shows that have been released in English, starting with Gundam Wing.

Two posts! I've no timeline for this!

Eventually we all feel the need to start over. To try again. To take what we know and apply it in a new way. Clearly the guys and girls at Sunrise felt the same. After 4 TV shows, two movies and plenty of manga, they decided to start over. To take the Gundam franchise in a new direction, to draw in new fans as well as to give long time fans something new to enjoy.

And they did it again. And again. And again. And again.

All of these timelines are completely disjoint. Well, apart from... we'll save that for later. Some of the timelines borrow elements from others, but they are thier own self contained worlds with thier own characters, history, politics and technology. So let's have a look at these timelines and consider the TV shows, OVAs and movies within them. There's so much tie-in manga however, that i'll cover them seperately.

Universal Century
All the original TV shows and movies, from the 1979 original, to the '80s and early '90s took place in this timeline. Closest to real life of any of the timelines, Universal Century tells the story of a time when humans have moved into space in huge colonies after polluting the Earth. All of Earth and the colonies, collectively known as the Earth Sphere are ruled by the cruel and selfish Earth Federation. Over time, numerous groups oppose the Federation, and the resulting wars form the basis of the various Gundam TV shows.

Chronology

UC 0079
MS IGLOO (2004, 2006) - 6 episode OVA
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) - 43 episode TV show
Mobile Suit Gundam I, II, III (1981, 1982) - Three movies retelling Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996) - 12 episode OVA
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Millers's Report (1998) Movie retelling key events of 08th MS Team

UC 0080
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989) - 6 episode OVA

UC 0083
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991) - 13 episode OVA
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: The Last Blitz of Zeon (1992) - Movie retelling Stardust Memory

UC 0087
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985) - 50 episode TV show
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation I, II, III (2005, 2006) - Three movies retelling Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

UC 0088
Mobile Suit Gundam Double Zeta (1986) -47 episode TV show

UC 0093
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (1988) - Movie

UC 0123
Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991) - Movie

UC 0153
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam ( 1993) - 51 episode TV show

My goodness, that was longer than expected. We'll continue next time.

Let me take you by the hand

I love Gundam. I've followed it for many, many years from the 1979 original to the newest stuff from this year, and eagerly look forward to new entries in the Gundam universe. But I understand that with nearly 30 years of TV shows, movies, OVAs and manga it can be pretty confusing for new fans.

So in this blog, I'm going to share my thoughts on the entire Gundam saga. We'll explore every timeline, every character, every mobile suit, and I'm going to tell you what I think of them, what you should start with and what you should watch next. We'll break each show down with reviews, mecha and character analysis. We'll also look to the future, discussing the upcoming entries to the Gundam universe, like the Gundam SEED movie. More on that later.

Come on in, join the fun. Millions of fans across the world have already.

We'll start with the different timelines. Universal Century? Cosmic Era? Correct Century? After Colony? What do they mean? All will become clear.