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Robotech: Volume 3, Homecoming
by Dan Borses  
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synopsis
Episode 13: Blue Wind

As Rick, Ben, Max and Lisa are debriefed about their experience aboard the Zentradi flagship, the micronized spies Rico, Bron and Konda awkwardly attempt to participate in Micronian society. Meanwhile, the SDF-1 breaks through the quarreling forces of Khyron and Azonia to splashdown on Earth.

Episode 14: Gloval's Report

With his ship safely returned to Earth, Captain Gloval recaps the role of the SDF-1 in the Robotech War in a report to the United Earth Government. With the story told, Gloval recognizes that his crew has only scratched the surface regarding the secrets of Robotechnology.

Episode 15: Homecoming

In light of the Earth government's insistence that the people of Macross stay aboard the SDF-1, a mere two aircraft leave the battle fortress for vastly different reasons. The first carries Captain Henry Gloval and First Officer Lisa Hayes to the Earth Government's military headquarters in the Alaskan wilderness where the SDF-1's commanding officers plead with the top brass (including Lisa's father) to allow the ship's civilians to disembark. Gloval and Hayes are shocked to learn that the crew and civilians of the SDF-1 are pawns in a plot of smug Admirals to keep the public from learning about the war occurring in outer space. They order the ship to depart again still carrying the civilians. Aboard the other aircraft, Rick Hunter carries Lynn Minmei on a special visa to visit her parents in Japan. Once there, they encounter Minmei's cousin, Lynn Kyle, an avowed pacifist with great disdain for the military who returns to the SDF-1 with Rick and Minmei.

Episode 16: Battle Cry

The simultaneous arrival of Lynn Kyle and the announcement that the Macross civilians will be taken back into space creates hostility between the civilians and members of the military. Though Kyle professes non-violence, he uses his extraordinary martial arts skills to stop a brawl in his parent's restaurant. Shortly thereafter, Khyron once again leads an unauthorized attack on the battle fortress. Driven literally to distraction by the similarities between Kyle and her late fiancée Karl Riber, Lisa mistakenly orders a missile launch that catches Rick in the crossfire. The unconscious Lieutenant Hunter is retrieved and rushed to a hospital in the city.

Episode 17: Phantasm

Recovering from serious injuries incurred during Khyron's attack, Rick's delirious mind attempts to make sense of his life. He imagines that Zentradi Lord Breetai has kidnapped Minmei and attempts to rescue her by joining the Defense Forces. Humiliated in his rescue attempts time and again, Rick turns to Lisa, Max and Ben for help and succeeds in reaching Minmei. Once there, Rick learns it is not Breetai holding Minmei hostage, but a fifty-foot tall Lynn Kyle. Rick defeats Kyle, but realizes his position with Minmei will remain tenuous until she chooses between Rick and her career.

Episode 18: Farewell Big Brother

In hopes of cheering up his little brother, Roy Fokker arranges for Minmei to visit Rick in the hospital. When Minmei finally arrives, she is exhausted and falls asleep in Rick's bed, providing little comfort to the wounded pilot. Suddenly, the war once again intrudes forcefully into Rick's life as Myria, ace pilot of the Zentradi, bursts into the skies above Macross in dogged pursuit of Max Sterling's Veritech. Though Max succeeds in chasing off his pursuer, Roy Fokker is fatally injured in the course of the battle. The news of Fokker's death rattles the ship. Communications officer Claudia Grant has lost her fiancée, and Rick Hunter has lost his closest friend.

review
Ever dynamic and colorful, "Robotech: Homecoming" delivers another densely packed layer of adventure. But while the flashy combat scenes would be enough to satisfy many fans, the story delivers even more, carrying the saga's characters into new dramatic territory.

The central plot device of "Homecoming" is the arrival of Lynn Kyle, avowed pacifist and cousin to Minmei. As her longtime friend and companion, Kyle holds great sway over Minmei's decisions and immediately complicates her relationship with Rick. Without hesitation, Minmei accepts Kyle's hatred of the military and makes no attempt to defend Rick from her cousin's accusations, though her silence on political matters makes one wonder if she does ultimately disapprove of her cousin's denunciations. So Rick finds himself in the ironic position of having joined the military to please Minmei only to have Kyle's anti-military stance drive a wedge between himself and Minmei. Kyle's arrival also complicates Rick's relationship with Lisa Hayes because of Kyle's eerie similarities to Lisa's deceased fiancé Karl. Not only do the two look remarkably alike, but Karl was also a pacifist. Haunted by the similarities between the two men, Lisa becomes distracted during a Zentradi attack, which causes her to delay in a crucial moment, perhaps contributing to Rick's combat error and subsequent injuries.

Minmei's sudden rise to fame further complicates shipboard relationships. The presence aboard the SDF-1 of a literally captive audience catapults the young performer to the heights of stardom as she begins a career as a film star. Minmei always wanted to be adored, and during her first days aboard the SDF-1 there was only Rick to love her. Now that she finds the entire ship able to fill that role, Rick is increasingly marginalized. And as much as Minmei pretends that the young pilot holds a special place for her, she cannot admit that he is reduced to being only one of 70,000 shipboard fans.

Despite his failures with Minmei, Rick Hunter still grows through these episodes, able to carve a successful career for himself in an occupation initially meant to impress Minmei. And, despite crashing an inordinate number of planes, Rick has saved the life of Lisa Hayes and aided in the collection of valuable information about the Zentradi. Rick belongs to a new circle of friends that includes his subordinates Max and Ben and even his superior Lisa. By the beginning of the third disc, only his ties to Roy Fokker connect Rick to his prewar life. By the end, even that link to the past has been brutally severed. The news of Roy's death assures that the realities of the Robotech War completely supplant Rick's prewar world.

So, with the close of this disc's final episode, "Farewell Big Brother," the crew of the SDF-1 has adapted readily to a new environment while the same interpersonal relationships that colored the first third of the Macross Saga continue to develop. Denied sanctuary by the planet they call home and battered by the sacrifice of many a valiant pilot, the crew of the SDF-1 has evolved to fit an entirely new role. With verve and vigor, "Robotech: Homecoming" ably explores those changes.



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