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Boobytrap is the first episode of the Robotech television series. It was written by Steve Kramer and directed by Robert V. Barron. It was first broadcast on March 4, 1985.

Synopsis

The plot summary in this section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (January 2009)

In the year 1999, Earth has been ravaged by a global war. Brother battled brother as the conflict raged across the planet, but the devastation paled in comparison to a new threat which appeared to alter the course of human history forever. Astronomers discovered an alien spaceship that had broken through hyperspace on a collision course with Earth. Alarm increased as reports of the giant spaceship were confirmed by scientists around the planet. Eventually, they determined that the landing site would be Macross Island in the South Pacific.

The uncontrolled descent produced shock waves of incredible force; however, there was little damage to the island or, surprisingly, to the spaceship itself. The armored hull had taken the brunt of the fall, leaving most of the sophisticated technosystem intact. The gigantic craft was explored with a mixture of awe and anxiety. There was no sign of the alien crew, but the remains of the battlefortress gave evidence of a civilization that was centuries ahead of Earth’s most advanced technology. That alone was the most sobering discovery. Neither the look of the spaceship nor the material found inside indicated its creators were a peaceful race. Annihilation by invaders from another planet had become a terrible possibility.

The Global War ground to a halt. A cease-fire was ordered, and world leaders banded together to form the United Earth Government. Under this new administration, a research team consisting of the most brilliant minds on the planet was formed to investigate and restore the battlefortress. The team labored to decipher parts of documents from an incredibly complex technology called Robotech.

For the next ten years, the resources of the entire planet were focused on the restoration of the spacecraft on Macross Island. A great city grew up around the Robotech Project. On the eve of the ship’s maiden flight, every citizen – man, woman, and child – gathered to celebrate the achievement and to witness the launching of Earth’s new defender under the name of the Super Dimension Fortress One.

As the SDF-1 prepares for takeoff under the command of Captain Henry J. Gloval, inhabitants of Macross City enjoy opening festivities hosted by war hero Lieutenant Commander Roy Fokker. The ceremonies are interrupted when Fokker’s young friend Rick Hunter, crashes the air display with a fantastic demonstration of his own aeronautical abilities. To the public’s delight and Fokker’s distress, the young man all but steals the show. However, when the two meet after Hunter landed his plane, all friction is forgotten as the two renew their friendship.

Their enjoyment is short-lived as another warp-fold splits the fabric of space. Yet another huge alien ship enters Earth’s solar system. These are the Zentraedi, a race of giant warriors bred for thousands of generations for the sole purpose of military conquest. They are in pursuit of the Robotech battlefortress. The alien finder-beam locks in on the SDF-1’s position, and the rest of the armada follows its flagship to an orbit circling Earth. Under the command of Breetai and his assistant, Exedore, the Zentraedi prepare to reclaim their lost property.

When the spacefortress senses the presence of the Zentraedi armada, it automatically begins to prepare defense mechanisms. The bridge of the SDF-1 dissolves in chaos. Captain Gloval leaves the opening ceremonies to join his crew. Lieutenant Commander Lisa Hayes and Bridge Officer Claudia Grant advise him of the ship’s unusual behavior. As the SDF-1 bridge crew become aware of the invaders and regain control of their ship, a combat alert is ordered and all personnel are called back to the ship.

Breetai and Exedore don’t know what to make of the humans' initial attack. Their defense seems erratic. It does not put the Robotech spacefortress to its most effective use. The Zentraedi can hardly guess that their foes lack sufficient knowledge to control the massive Robotech mechanisms.

Rick Hunter is literally caught napping in one of the Veritech Fighters as the combat begins. Lisa Hayes orders him into battle. She assumes he’s one of their combat veterans. Rick obliges her, taking off with youthful nonchalance only to find himself in the midst of a situation he’s not prepared to deal with. Fortunately, Roy Fokker comes to his aid.

References

• Robotech Infopedia - Boobytrap
• Robotech: Boobytrap - TV.com
• "Robotech" Boobytrap (1985) - imdb.com

[[Template:FULLPAGENAME: Robotech|v]] • [[{{TALKPAGENAME:Template:FULLPAGENAME: Robotech}}|d]] • [{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME: Robotech|action=edit}}e] Robotech Franchise Codename: RobotechTemplate:• Robotech (episodes)Template:• The MovieTemplate:• The SentinelsTemplate:• Robotech 3000Template:• Prelude to the Shadow ChroniclesTemplate:• The Shadow ChroniclesTemplate:• Art booksTemplate:• Collectible card gamesTemplate:• ComicsTemplate:• NovelsTemplate:• MusicTemplate:• Robotech DefendersTemplate:• Role-playing games Video games Crystal DreamsTemplate:• BattlecryTemplate:• The Macross SagaTemplate:• InvasionTemplate:• The New Generation Characters Rick HunterTemplate:• Lisa HayesTemplate:• Max SterlingTemplate:• Claudia GrantTemplate:• Macross operatorsTemplate:• Miriya Parina SterlingTemplate:• BreetaiTemplate:• ExedoreTemplate:• Dana SterlingTemplate:• Scott BernardTemplate:• ArielTemplate:• T. R. EdwardsTemplate:• HaydonitesTemplate:• InvidTemplate:• Robotech EldersTemplate:• Robotech MastersTemplate:• ZentradiTemplate:• Zor Prime Universe TechnologyTemplate:• ProtocultureTemplate:• Flower of LifeTemplate:• OpteraTemplate:• TirolTemplate:• Reflex PointTemplate:• Robotech Wars SDF-1 MacrossTemplate:• VF-1 ValkyrieTemplate:• Vehicles Related The Super Dimension Fortress MacrossTemplate:• The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern CrossTemplate:• Genesis Climber MOSPEADATemplate:• Megazone 23

Boobytrap was the first episode of Robotech, an anime series adapted for American television, by Harmony Gold USA Inc. in association with Tatsunoko Productions Ltd.

Airings and Home Releases

The episode originally aired in 1985, on the various stations that had purchased the syndication rights, and has since aired many subsequent times on various stations in countries throughout the world. There have been several video releases of Boobytrap, starting with a home video release by Family Home Entertainment, and a subsequent video release by Palladium Books. Streamline Pictures released this episode in their unfinished Perfect Collection, accompanying the episode with the original Japanese version to allow the viewers to see the changes made. In 2001, the episode was released on DVD as part of the Robotech Legacy Collection, by ADV Films. Following the rediscovery of some necessary source material, this episode was released on DVD as part of the Robotech: Remastered series, also by ADV. The remastered edition was altered somewhat from the originally broadcast version, including the restoration of some scenes that had been cut to conform with the broadcast standards at the time it was released originally, as well as a reworked Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Other companies, such as Madman Entertainment and AnimEigo have released versions of this episode for other regions besides North America.

Summary

In the year 1999, as the Earth is gripped by a global war, a gigantic alien fortress crashes violently into the earth, causing much destruction before it finally settles on the small island of Macross, in the South Pacific. The space fortress was heavily damaged by the crash, but the technology that did survive was quickly discovered to be quite far advanced from what humanity was currently capable of. The threat of technologically advanced aliens was sufficient to provoke and end to the global fighting, and the world united under one Earth government. On Macross Island, a city soon grew up around the downed spacecraft, populated by scientists of the highest class from around the world to study the alien ship, and understand its secrets. Slowly, a new technology is gained from the secrets of the ship, known as Robotechnology, and the ship itself is restored.

Ten years passes, and the ship is finally ready for launch, christened the SDF-1. There is a huge celebration on the streets of Macross Island. The captain of the new ship, Captain Henry J. Gloval is uneasy about his position in the limelight, but he perseveres with his duties. As the bridge crew settles in to their new assignment, an unidentified aircraft enters their area of detection. The pilot of the ship is soon identified to be Rick Hunter, who is attending the festivities on the invitation of Roy Fokker. Rick's flight path inadvertently gets in the way of an air show going on at the time, demonstrating the new Veritech fighters. Rick's friend Roy, who is onstage for the airshow, giving the commentary to the audience, is infuriated, and publicly admonishes Rick for interfering with the show, to the great amusement of the listening crowd. Switching his microphone to radio-only, Roy awkwardly reminds Rick that he isn't at home, and is surrounded by professional pilots. Rick takes this as a challenge to his flying skills, and proceeds to perform a complex maneuver with the fighter planes, which the audience is very impressed with, and then proceeds to land. Rick and Roy, old friends, are reunited, but their conversation turns awkward when Rick asks about Roy's feelings regarding his war heroics. As the two friends catch up, they catch sight of a beautiful young girl having some difficulty with a young child having a tantrum. Both of the pilots are notice the girl, and are duly impressed.

Meanwhile, in outer space, alien ships have come from out of hyperspace, seeking the battle fortress. These aliens, known as the Zentraedi, send a scout team to Earth to determine its whereabouts.

Back on Earth, Roy shows Rick one of the new fighters, encouraging him to climb into the cockpit to check it out more closely. At the same time, Captain Gloval is informed of some strange readings that have been detected, that are strikingly similar to the ones detected immediately before the alien ship crashed. Gloval decides to investigate. As the Captain arrives on the bridge, every system on the new ship seems to be activating on their own, including the massive main gun. The gun fires, cutting a swath through the island itself, with it's beam continuing into space, destroying two large objects in Lunar orbit, possibly spacecraft. Upon the firing of the gun, Commander Fokker leaves Rick with the Veritech fighter he had been showing him, to see what had happened. On the bridge of the SDF-1, when the captain hears the results of the firing of the gun, he bursts into laughter, confusing the bridge crew. Gloval reveals that he feels the firing of the gun was a boobytrap, left by the aliens who built the ship, for use against their enemies. He feels that the firing of the gun means the enemies have come close enough to be a threat. Acting on this intuition, Gloval sends everyone to their battlestations and deploys all the fighters, in preparation for an attack.

In Earth orbit, several vessels launch attacks on the alien scout ships, with almost no difficulty. The Zentraedi barrage cuts through the two space vessels almost immediately, destroying one and severely damaging the other. With this information, Gloval, disappointed at the prospect of yet another war, orders a launch. The aliens are confused at this disparity in offense, as the main gun of the SDF-1 is able to easily destroy two of their vessels, but the combined resources of the two orbital platforms are almost completely ineffective. Soon enough, the aliens spot the battle fortress, and noticed that it is different than what they had expected to see. Surmising that the ship must have crash-landed, with the crew killed on impact, and that the "Micronian" inhabitants of the world must have restored the vessel, the aliens proceed with the assumption that the humans are indeed dangerous to them, despite the tiny resistance they have faced thus far. The aliens launch a force of fighters to combat the humans and retrieve the battle fortress.

Meanwhile, Rick Hunter, still waiting for Roy in the Veritech he had been being shown, is ordered, mistakenly, by Lisa Hayes to launch 'his' fighter and join the battle. Rick tries to protest, but Lisa isn't listening, so Rick takes off in the fighter and flies off. He is very impressed with the flying abilities of the new jet, but is quickly overwhelmed when he finds himself being shot at. Roy spots Rick on the communications lines, and rescues him from a tight spot, giving him some survival pointers in the process. They do well for a while, but Rick loses control, and end up plummeting towards the SDF-1. Lisa informs him that he should do something she calls 'changing to configuration B'. Not understanding what this means, but lacking the time to argue, Rick pulls a lever marked B as instructed, and his plane (unbeknownst to him) transforms itself into a giant robot, plowing through several buildings in Macross City on the way down. Rick is alive, but has no idea what is going on.