AniDB

For those completely unfamiliar with the show, Robotech was an animated space opera that aired in syndication in the mid-1980s. The show was noted for its mature themes, something virtually unheard of in North American cartoons at the time, and developed a strong following among teens and young adults. Robotech was the brainchild of Carl Macek who, working with the company Harmony Gold USA, wanted to do a faithful adaptation of a Japanese Animation import (as opposed to previous Japanimation shows which had been butchered down to kiddie-fare level when brought to North America). Macek began production of an English-language version of the Japanese animated series Super Dimension Fortress Macross, creating a pilot episode for the North American home video market. The pilot was a huge success and work continued on adapting the rest of the Macross series. Through a maze of partnerships and licensing agreements I won't go into, the project went from a home video release to a syndicated television series package. There was a problem, however. Macross only consisted of 36 episodes, far less than the 65-episode minimum commitment necessary to get a syndication deal at the time.

The episode problem was solved when Macek decided to pad the series with episodes from other shows. He selected two other animated series from the same producer as Macross (Tatsunoko), Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada, and proceeded combine the three distinct shows into a single multi-generational space odyssey. When it was all done Macek had a total of 85 episodes of the new series, Robotech, ready for the syndication market. (The Robotech name comes from the model company Revell, which owned the North American rights to many of the giant robots, or mecha, seen in the shows and had already been distributing them under the name Robotech Defenders).

Though Macek had to give up on producing the faithful adaptation he'd set out to make (obviously changes to the series would be required to integrate the three distinct storylines), he produced a whole product that in many ways was greater than the sum of its parts, a science fiction series that started a phenomenon that would go on to spawn toys, games, comics, and a host of other spin-offs and attract a following that is still going strong today, two decades after Robotech first debuted.

egg wrote:How about this, that timeframe is about right IIRC. From this you could even put in the dates for every ep...