The One Year War Revisted

By the time "Char's Counterattack" left theaters, nearly ten years had passed since "Mobile Suit Gundam's" debut, and the designs and sensibilities of the giant robot genre had changed dramatically in that time. Sunrise decided it was time to revisit the original setting and give it a new spin. These retakes on the classic 1979 series allowed the writers to explore new areas of the setting beyond the Newtype conflict, and gave mechanical designers a chance to revamp the now dated designs of the original giant robots - a tradition that continues to this day.

The OAV "Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket" kicked things off in 1989, marking the first time that creator Yoshiyuki Tomino - who felt that the story had ended with 'Char's Counterattack" - stepped away from the director's chair, leaving it to be filled by Fumihiko Takayama ("Superdimensional Century Orguss"). "Macross" fans will recognize immediately the character designs of Haruhiko "Hal" Mikimoto, who designed the original "Macross" cast and has illustrated several "Gundam" novels.

Set in the final weeks of the One Year War, "0080" sounds a Casablanca riff by setting the action on the neutral colony Side 6 where Zeon and Federal spies plot the destruction of each other and a young boy gets more than his fill of war.

The 12-episode OAV series "08th MS Team" arrived in 1996, and with its slam-bang action and revamped look at the classic setting, thrilled fans with more One Year War action through 1999. Like "Gundam 0080," it focused on general issue soldiers rather than the "star" Newtypes of the original series, taking the battles to Earth where Zeon scientists concoct new killer mecha designs and Federation grunts beat back the enemy in Southeast Asia.

"Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory" had rolled out five years previously in 1991, but within the universe of "Gundam" took the action beyond the One Year War, filling the gap between the One Year War era and "Z Gundam." Its plots follow the efforts of the Earth Federation to consolidate its victory and the attempts by Zeon elements lead by Colonel Aiguille Delaz to revive the Zeon Empire. Fans were excited to see familiar factions take shape over the course of the show, such as the infamous Titans featured in "Z Gundam."

The Universal Century Rolls On

By 1991, original creator Yoshiyuki Tomino was ready to launch a new incarnation of the "Gundam" series "Next Generation"-style, and "Gundam F91" was the result. Set 30 years after "Char's Counterattack," this new movie introduced the Crossbone Vanguard and its leader Berah Ronah. Like many of "Gundam's" movers and shakers, Ronah is driven by ideology - in his case it's a desire to create a meritocracy to supplant a society governed by corrupt politicians and faceless bureaucrats. The storyline looked promising as originally conceived as a TV series, but suffered by being crammed into a two-hour movie.

"Gundam" fever was beginning to wane. Tomino tried again in 1993 with "Victory Gundam," a 51-episode TV series set 74 years after the One Year War. While "Victory Gundam" was relatively successful, it failed to set the fans on fire with yet another variation on the embattled-Federation-fights-another-glorious-empire theme. It would take a complete reinvention of the entire franchise to re-ignite the flames of "Gundam" passion. It would take the establishment of the Future Century.