The Alternate Worlds of "Gundam"

The Future Century concept took "Gundam" back to the drawing board. Out went continuity, established characters and mecha, and indeed everything that had gone before. For "Gundam's" 15th anniversary, the writers wanted to cook up a new "Gundam" containing elements that made "Gundam" great, and add in the flavor of superpower combat which was then running hot in Japan in games like "Streetfighter" and "Tekken" and anime like "Dragonball Z" and "Sailor Moon."

What first emerged from the blender was a curious concoction entitled "G Gundam," a TV series that launched in 1995. The series imagines a setting in which humanity orbits a devastated Earth and decides who will rule the colonies through gladiatorial combat on Earth's ruined terrain. "G Gundam" was a strange parody featuring ethnic mecha, the search for a super Devil Gundam, and the chance to watch Neo-Sweden take on Neo-England in contests more akin to soccer matches than space opera battles.

While "G Gundam" certainly shook up the franchise, it wasn't quite what fans were looking for. What they were looking for, apparently, was a melding of classic "Gundam" hallmarks - such as maxed-out mecha, political plotting and philosophical musings - with hunky male teen idols. We know this because in April of 1995, Sunrise rolled out "Gundam Wing" -- and the show, featuring five way-cool glam guys piloting wickedly phat mecha, was a smashing success.

Plotwise, "Gundam Wing" represented another variation on the "Gundam" theme. Once again, colonies orbited a war-wracked Earth and once again melodrama ruled supreme, but this time the battle was between the oppressive Earth-based Alliance and the freedom-loving colonies. The fans, enchanted by the characters and seduced by the series' many twists and turns, put "Gundam" back on the map.

"Gundam Wing" was closely followed by a movie prequel, "Endless Waltz," and another unrelated angle on the One Year War called "Gundam X," a 1996 series that cast new characters and new mecha to fight out a variation of the original war. It also represented the first return of the Newtypes since the Amuro Ray/Char Aznable story arc wrapped. The latest incarnation of "Gundam" - aside from a one-shot live action piece called "G-Saviour" - is "Turn A Gundam," a grand 20th anniversary effort featuring the celebrity talents of creator Tomino, Syd Mead and composer Yoko Kanno, among other anime greats. Ambitiously promising to fuse the various "Gundam" continuities into one imposing edifice, the show spun the action several thousand years into the future, in a time when Earth's humanity has regressed to a primitive feudal state, only to be threatened by Lunar invaders who still retain the ability to field mecha. It falls to young Terran Loran Cehack to master an ancient, buried Gundam if Earth is to survive. "Turn A Gundam" ran from 1999 to 2000.

Catch part three of this history of "Gundam" on Monday, July 16 and read part one here.

Note: The author would like to thank Jerry Chu of Bandai Entertainment, as well as Mark Simmons (and his Gundam Project website www.gundamproject.com), both of whom proved to be invaluable resources in confirming dates and details.

• Gundam.com
• TheWorld-Wide Gundam Informational Network
• Gundam Project