Introduction

Au début du XXIIéme siécle, l'Humanité s'est vue obligée de se lancer dans la colonisation d'autres planétes suite à la destruction de la Terre dans une autre guerre mondiale. Sur le monde de Gloire, les colons ont une vie harmonieuse jusqu'au jour où surviennent les Zors, une race inconnue qui habita jadis cette planéte autrefois dévastée par une autre guerre globale : sans sommation, ceux-là réclament leur monde en attaquant la base lunaire Aluce dont les habitants sont lobotomisés pour servir contre leur gré dans l'armée extra-terrestre. Sur Gloire, c'est le branle-bas de combat et pour l'équipe de la 15éme escadre blindée de l'Armée de la Croix du Sud c'est la premiére épreuve du feu... Alors que les envahisseurs semblent invulnérables, un des soldats gloiriens capturé par les envahisseurs lors de l'attaque sur Aluce est soudain "rendu" aux siens : intégré à la 15éme escadre par ses supérieurs, celui-ci deviendra rapidement un élément-clé dans ce conflit apocalyptique qui a des allures fratricides...

Episodes

L'histoire originale

Towards the end of the 21st century, the Earth was destroyed by a nuclear war. The survivors utilized the existing Mars Base and Jupiter Base as launching points for colony missions in search of habitable planets in which mankind could survive. One of these colonies was located on a planet now called 'Glorie' located in the Epsilon Eridani system.

The colonists eventually discovered there was a sentient plant lifeform on the planet known as Protozor. When humans contact the Protozor, they are genetically merged into a species that became known as the Zor. The Zor and the humans eventually degraded into conflict that ended in another nuclear war that destroyed the planet. The Zor were the survivors who fled into space with all of the Protozor they could carry, as they used the Protozor for food and as a source of bio-energy.

500 years later, humans have once again colonized Glorie, knowing nothing of the previous colony other than undecipherable ruins left behind. The new colonists have arrived from another planet, Liberty, located in the Proxima system, and begun to terraform the world. Unfortunately, the Zor have depleted their stores of Protozor and have returned to their homeworld in search of the plant lifeforms they need to survive.

The colonists in the show are first generation leaving family behind on Liberty. They appear to maintain loose communication with Liberty until jammed by the Zor.

The Zors are expert at genetic engineering and have evolved themselves into triplets whereby one of the triplets is optimized for decision-making and tends to lead the triumvirate, one is optimized for action and the third is optimized for surveillance and data-gathering. This makes the three interdependent, yet highly capable. They have also suppressed all form of emotion within their people and consider individual thinking to be a mental dysfunction. One of the functions of the Muses is to keep the population calm and to suppress emotional development.

Les Maîtres de Robotech

Dans l'esprit de ROBOTECH

détail

:Questions Remaining:
Where were the Zor for the last 500 years?
How long were humans on Glorie before being destroyed in the first war with the Zor?
Who is the young girl in Jeanne's protozor-induced vision?
Why are the colonial forces named the Army of the Southern Cross? Neither Eridani, nor Proxima have anything to do with the Southern Cross constellation...The colonists are primarily of European decent, not southern hemisphere.
When in the production schedule was the series scaled back to 23 episodes?

What was Southern Cross?
Southern Cross was an anime series which aired on Japanese TV in the spring/summer of 1984. It was composed of 23 episodes, and was cut at half its run due to lack of popularity. (This is where most people get their opinions that it wasn't any good. Fans of Max Headroom will see why this is a mistake) Whether the storyline was compressed to fit these 23 episodes or the "end" of Southern Cross was actually the halfway point is open to debate, unless we can contact the original creators and ask them, it'll have to remain an open question. The show tended to spend the majority of its time developing its characters, and the story unfolded at a rather slow pace, which was probably why it dropped in popularity.

Where/When was it set?
It was set in the far future, I once heard an estimate of it being set 800 years into the future, but there is really no evidence in the series either way. It is set on a colony world called Glorie located in the Eridani Epsilon system. Glorie is a colony of an Earth colony called Liberty located in the Proxima system. The source material indicates that Earth was destroyed near the end of the 21st century by a nuclear war forcing the remaining human population to seek out survivable planets. Our heroes are first generation colonists, most of them left their parents and families back on Liberty.

What or Who is the Southern Cross?
The military structure that our heroes belong to is called the Southern Cross Army. It is unclear of the relation to Southern Cross as none of the stars in the series have anything to do with the Southern Cross constellation.

What's the story?
Please note the following contains MAJOR spoilers. Although I doubt we will ever see the end of the Perfect Collection, some may wish to remain in the dark. I will tell this in chronological order. Please note this covers only the main points of the series, and is not really that representative of the series as a whole.

One day after Glorie had been settled a fleet of ships appeared above Glorie. They consisted of multiple large mobile baseships. Before they were detected there was a battle between them and a research base on Alpha moon. The residents of the ships captured all of the humans they could from the Alpha Research Base and surgically altered them to convert them into BioHumans, which they used to pilot their bioroids. The flagship attempted to descend to Glorie and they sent down several landing craft as a precaution. Captain Sekieshima, who was in charge of a missile platform on the outskirts of the colony, saw this and defied his orders to not shoot until provoked and launched a volley of missiles at the Zor mothership. This was the proverbial shot heard around the world. The landing craft unleashed several squadrons of Bioroids, which were beat back by the Southern Cross organization, including the 15th Division of ATAC as well as Marie Angel's division of the aerospace fleet. Several transmissions inside the ship are recorded and deciphered. We learn that the beings in the ship are called Zors, and that they come from star system of Elidan.(RMM - Elidan is an incorrect translation of e-ri-da-nu-su, which should be Eridani. TIA#10 explicitly indicates the Eridani Epsilon system.)

The commander-in-chief {Probably should be Chief of Staff - RMM} at that time, Rolf Emerson, decided to launch an attack against the Zor mothership, which was holding a very close orbit to Glorie (the other ships were at least at Alpha Lunar orbit) the mission failed and the Zors sent down a fleet to destroy their main base in retaliation. The 15th division, now properly led by Sergeant Major Jeanne Francaix drove them off and saved the base. It was discovered that some system within the landing craft was vital to the control of the bioroids. Thus damaging the landing craft would cause the bioroids to retreat. Jeanne was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant for discovering this information, despite the fact that she was breaking orders at the time. {Actually the promotion was more likely for saving the Space Center - RMM} Aside from getting Bioroid candidates from Alpha moon the first action the Zors took was to destroy the satellite system surrounding Glorie. Jeanne volunteered herself and two of her men to go along with the Space Force division to re-establish contact with Liberty to ask for help. They succeeded in this mission. Jeanne soon encountered Seifriet near three mounds located outside of the colony and fought him. Bowie was captured by the bioroids. Jeanne succeeded in freeing him later. Around this time Claude Leon started to take over many of Rolf Emerson's duties due to unsatisfactory progress. Louis Ducasse was able to determine how the drive system of the Zor mothership worked and the 15th was dispatched to the mothership in an attempt to knock it out of whack. They succeeded in doing this and caused the ship to crash into Glorie. Once it was on the ground the 15th squadron was sent into the interior of the ship to scout around. This is when we see the Zors for the first time. They are humanoid and their architecture is reminiscent of that of ancient Earth. Bowie meets the Zor girl Musica while inside the ship and falls in love with her. The Zors created the biohumans as an intermediate step between human and Zor, and offer Claude Leon the chance of coexisting, as bio-humans, with the Zors on Glorie. He refuses this offer. The ship is later rescued by one of the carrier vessels after they capture more humans for use as bioroid pilots. Jeanne attempts to destroy the ship by obliterating its power-source, thanks to a computer targeting program developed by Lt. George Sullivan of the Special Technicians Corps, but the program was in error and the ship succeeded in taking off. As the vessel is taking off they dispatch the red bioroid and shoot it down with their own weapons. The pilot of the red bioroid, a 1st Lieutenant of Surface Operations called Seifriet Weisse, is taken in for inspection after being found in the field where the Zor Mothership set down. A lone vessel from Liberty arrives under the command of Captain Lombard {Rank is Major - RMM}. The one ship that they sent was destroyed while assuming orbit. Lombard tells them that Liberty believes that Glorie is more than capable of taking on the Zors on their own, but they sent a ship as a token of their goodwill. Both Claude Leon and Rolf Emerson realize that the reason why the entire Liberty Army was not mobilized was because they feared that the Zors would turn their eye towards Liberty. Attempts to rouse Seifriet's memory are a failure until Jeanne confronts him in his hospital room. A piece of music that Bowie heard on the Zor ship is whistled by him as he passes the room, this is done in an attempt to alert Jeanne to escape the room, but Seifriet begins to remember some crucial details. Such as the girl who played that song was called Musica, and that Glorie was the homeworld of the Zors. Rolf Emerson is impressed by this and has Seifriet join the 15th division in an attempt to bring back more of his memories. An attempt to destroy the mothership is again attempted, this time using the newly developed Auroran fighter, it fails and the survivors flee to Arles. (RMM - Arles is more likely translated as Aluce.

Claude Leon sees this is an excellent opportunity to launch a pincer attack on the Zors and sends reinforcements to Arles while preparing to launch the remaining forces against the Zor fleet. Meanwhile Jeanne takes Seifret to the three mounds where they first encountered each other. Inside they find ruins of a Zor city, they also find a weird greenhouse structure in which tri-petaled flowers are growing. Seifret believes that there is some connection between these flowers and the Zors. All attacks against the Zor mothership have failed because of the fact that Seifret is unknowingly spying for the Zors, they implanted a dispatching cell within his brain to inform them of everything he sees and hears. The bio-energy amounts in the next generation of Zors is slowly diminishing and current clones have drops as well and many of them are starting to experience the dreaded "emotions" that their ancestors warned them about. The very first to experience these is Musica, whose experience with Bowie has forever changed her. Claude Leon prepares to send the second part of the pincer attack into space, utilizing the rest of the SCO, including the Ground Operations squadrons, and he places them under the control of Rolf Emerson, thus effectively removing him from the chain of command.

[Please note, this is where my knowledge of SC gets sketchy, all I know from here on in is what I gleaned from the Robotech version and what I've heard from interviews with the director of SC.]

Louis Ducasse invents a optical-firing system which allows one to target their weapons with pinpoint accuracy. He is duped by the corps of engineers into thinking it will be used only for training, but discovers to his horror that the new model of Spartas contains his system. He almost destroys his Spartas before Seifriet convinces him that its a minor offense, but beyond all else the Zors MUST be stopped. The 15th enters the Zor mothership and attempts to destroy it. Seifriet is overtaken by his dispatching cell and comes completely under the control of the Zors. The 15th is broken up and wanders the ship, Louis finds the central power source and attempts to destroy it, but the power source is alive and captures him. The entire 15th is captured. They escape however, and Seifret (with both sets of memories back in place) helps them get off the ship (with Musica in tow) before destroying the central power source. The lead triumvirates along with most of the civilians manage to relocate to one of the carrier ships in time. Back on Glorie Bowie is hunted down by the Glorie Military Police for bringing back a Zor with him. Seifriet informs them of this, feeling that he has betrayed both the human race and the Zors. Before they're captured Musica sings an old Zor song which speaks of a flower which is the center of their civilization. Jeanne hears this and asks Musica about it. She's certain that it's the flower they've found in the ruins. Musica says she hopes that it isn't, for she believes it to be a terrible thing. When the GMP comes looking for them Bowie and Musica escape. Bowie takes her to the mounds and shows her the flowers, she is terrified because they ARE the flowers they spoke of in the legend, the Protozor. The rest of the 15th meets them, as well as Lana. Bowie tells Lana off and she finally feels guilt about the way she's acted, and decides not to turn them in. Seifriet appears, and the flowers combined with his restored memory makes him remember why the Zors returned to Glorie. They needed the Protozor. The final attack is launched against the Zor fleet. Rolf Emerson is captured by the Zors and offered an ultimatum. The Zors will allow the human population to live if they will leave Glorie and allow the Zors to live there. Rolf refuses the offer, saying that they fought too hard for too long to make Glorie possible, and they weren't going to throw it away. Rolf is mortally wounded and dies in his son's arms. The Zor fleet splits up, the new mothership will descend to the surface and get back the Protozor, while the rest will destroy the Glorie colony. Seifriet goes onto the mothership to confront the Zor Lords, he has to fight his way through the new Biopsychers, Bioroids with Zor pilots, but he eventually gets to them. They reveal the truth of their origin. A long time ago a colonizing fleet from Earth set down on Glorie. At that time the planet was overrun with a strange plant which they later named the Protozor. When a human came into contact with a Protozor the two merged into one being, a Zor. A huge war was fought on Glorie between the Zors and the humans, it devastated the eco-system of the planet. When the war was finally over, all the humans were either destroyed or had become Zors, they left the planet. I assume this was for its ecosystem to return to normal. They took what they believed to be the last specimens of the Protozor with them, being able to tap their power and use them to create clones and such. This is what gave them such an edge in technology. In this interim Liberty was settled and the colonizing effort of Glorie began. The Zors need fresh samples of the protozor and plan to take back their planet. They show Seifriet the last remaining healthy Protozor that they have. The capsule it's contained in drops when Seifret shoots one of them dead, Jeanne grabs it and, despite Desu's shouted warning, touches the terminals. The Protozor acts in response to her and blooms. She passes out and has a wild hallucination which is the beginning of her turning into a Zor. She refuses it, though, and sees the results of the war between the Zors and humans the first time. I still am not clear about the second part of the hallucination, I do not know who the little girl or the two shadow figures are. Though the little girl looks like a young Lana, which is interesting since she is a member of Jeanne's triumvirate. (Marie, Jeanne, Lana.) Seifriet puts her into an escape capsule and reassures her that the Protozor will at last be destroyed. He opens fire on the power-source of the mothership while it's above the opened mound with the greenhouse in it. Due to a miscalculation the explosion serves only to spread the petals and spores of the protozor across the planet. The last scene of Southern Cross is our heroes looking at the protozor petals flying all over, the very last scene is the first protozor taking root on Glorie soil outside of the mounds. Our heroes, whom we have seen all three dimensions of, who were so HUMAN, are now doomed to become Zors.

Mysteries
Who is the little girl that Jeanne saw when she was transforming into a Zor?
There is one character we see in the opening credits who never appears in the series. She has black hair, wears a black body suit (it is not an SCA or LA uniform) with red gloves. {This appears to be a bioroid pilot outfit to me. It might even be Seifriet - RMM} Though, unlike Jeanne's hallucination she is roughly the same age. This may very well be the same person.
Originally, way back in preproduction, the Zors were originally supposed to be composed of groups of four. I assume that this person was the missing piece of the quadumvirate. Whether or not this is the original "Karen Penn" design is open to debate. There is also a fourth branch of the SCA, a navy, which is never seen. The fourth character may very well have been a 2nd lieutenant in the navy.{No, The Sea Squad is part of the Tactical Corps, and its commander is 2LT Jun Yamashita - RMM}
Liberty considers itself an "ally" to Glorie, despite the fact that it's the parent world. Why is this? Could it be that so far in the future colonial ties don't exist anymore?
Exactly how far into the future is Southern Cross? What is the current state of Earth? {Earth was destroyed by nuclear war towards the end of the 21st century. However, it is believed sufficient time should have passed for the planet to be possibly restored itself....}
If the Zors realized their connection to the colonists all along, why didn't they bring it up? Why did they keep referring to them as "inferior beings"? I guess the Protozor doesn't grant immortality or longevity, as Uncle Carl {Macek} would have us believe.
Are the people of Glorie really doomed? The Protozor will take a while to grow, they could still evacuate to Liberty in time to save themselves.
What happened to the other Zor Base ships? I assume that once they learned the location of the central power source it would've been child's play to take care of them, but we never do find out for sure. {Of course, they may have been sacrifice to ensure sufficient bioenergy was available for the fleet commanders....-RMM}