A fever-based illness runs through Studio 60, putting the rehearsals and show itself in jeopardy. Matt brings in former co-writer Andy, a deadpan friend who has the magic touch to whip Lucy and Darius into productivity. Harriet will be honored at a banquet, and struggles to tell a simple joke. Jordan finally grants an interview, but is all too honest; Jack stops just short of formally firing her. She announces her pregnancy by fainting into Danny's arms. Howie Mandel is guest host; we finally get to see one full sketch when Danny comes on stage to parody 'Deal or No Deal' in the monologue. The cast loosen up backstage, and even the partial sketches are amusing.
During the scene where Minmay and Kaifunn are in the emergency shelter at the beginning of the film, the autograph hound is a caricature of Shoji Kawamori, the film's director.
When Minmay and Hikaru are running through Macross City, one of the billboards is actually a bumper sticker for the San Francisco radio station KMEL. While Kawamori was in SF, he became a avid listener of the station.
Look closely at the missiles Hikaru fires en route to Bodolzaa. One is a Budweiser can, another is a sake flask.
Kawamori and Matsuzaki had originally designed an elaborate ending sequence for the film, which would have featured Minmay singing "Angel's Paints" while we caught glimpses of the other characters watching the concert. This sequence (and a storyboarded sequence featuring Max and Millia's wedding) were scrapped due to the budget running out. The concert sequence was later animated in Chôjikû yôsai makurosu furasshubakku 2012 (1987) (V) and the concert sequence was finally appended to the end of Macross DYRL to complete the film as the creators had intended.
The soda that Hikaru and Minmay drink in the "Zero-G Love" song sequence is Coca-Cola.
According to Kawamori, this film is considered a "fictional film" within the Macross universe, that was made some years after the events depicted in the TV series. This explains the major differences between the designs in the TV series and the movie. He has also at some points left it up to viewer interpretation to determine which is the "real" version of events.
This movie has become caught up in numerous legal disputes on both sides of the Pacific (the most prominent, although by no means only one being the copyright dispute between Big West/Studio Nue and Tatsunoko/Harmony Gold), and it has been said because of this, there might never be a legitimate United States release of the film on DVD.
In the TV series the Zentraedi's dialouge was automatically translated into Japanese. Here they speak an actual made-up language and subtitles are provided for the audience. Much like Klingon in Star Trek, of which a word wasn't spoken until they appeared in the first movie.
[last lines]
Misa Hayase:
Just an old love song...
[Hikaru tries to convince Minmay to sing to defeat the Zentradi]
Lynn Minmay:
You can't win a war by singing! Stay with me, if we're going to die anyway...
Hikaru Ichijo:
It's not just for us. It's for everyone onboard Macross.
Lynn Minmay:
That has nothing to do with us! Why aren't we the only two in the universe? I wish everyone would die except you and me!
[Hikaru slaps Minmay, as a panoply of war's destruction plays across the screen.]
Hikaru Ichijo:
Sempai died. Kakizaki died. So many have died. They had plans for peace. You can still sing, can't you?
[An explosion blows off an armored shutter behind Hikaru and Minmay. They watch, horrified, as a Valkyrie fighter is blown to pieces in front of them.]
Lynn Minmay:
I'm sorry, Hikaru. I don't know what came over me. I chose to become a singer. If I don't now, my mother and father's spirits will never forgive me. Me, I'll sing with all my heart!
Follows
"Chôjikû yôsai Macross" (1982)
Followed by
Chôjikû yôsai makurosu furasshubakku 2012 (1987) (V)
Chôjikû yôsai Macross II Lovers, Again (1992) (V)
Macross Plus (1994) (V)
"Macross 7" (1994)
Macross 7: Ginga ga ore o yondeiru! (1995)
Macross Dynamite 7 (1997) (V)
Macross Zero (2002) (V)
Referenced in
Otaku no video (1991) (V)
Spoofed in
Purojekuto A-ko (1986)
Toy Story 2 (1999)