The final chapter of Robotech begins with this sixth set or remastered episodes.  This is one of the best segments of the Robotech saga, and those that found the previous storyline a little lacking should be sure to check out this set of shows.

As shown at the end of the Southern Cross section of Robotech, the Invid have invaded Earth, turning much of the planet into a wasteland.  Earth has now become a slave colony of the Invid, with humans working day and night to harvest protoculture.

Humanity's only hope is the expeditionary force that is led by Rick Hunter.  They left Earth to search for the home world of the Robotech Masters over 20 years ago, and are now returning to reclaim their home planet.  A scouting team is sent ahead to test the Invid's strength and defenses, but their mission ends in disaster.  The Invid quickly and easily defeat the Earthlings, destroying their ship.  There is only one apparent survivor, Scott Bernard, a tough and rugged military man.  Trapped on a world he has only seen in pictures, Scott is determined to carry out his mission: To find the Invid's main base, the Reflex Point and destroy their queen.

Initially all alone, Scott starts gathering help on his mission.  As the episodes progress, he recruits a team of resistance fighters that will be invaluable in helping him complete his mission.  First he runs encounters Rand, a young man used to living off his wits.  Then he is joined by the talkative and hyper Anne, Lunk, aBio-Maintenance Engineer with a secret in his past, and Lancer/Yellow Dancer, a military expert who dresses as a woman and sings to cover his underground work against the Invid.  Will this rag-tag group of fighters be able to take on the force that defeated the Southern Cross?

This is a great entry into the Robotech world.  There is more character development than in the previous section, and just as much action.  Though these episodes have a 'wandering do-gooder' feel to them, the show is very addictive.  The plot moves along at a good pace, and I really like the character designs.  (Invid Storm Troopers are cool looking villains!)  A fun and exciting story.

This two disc set comes in Amaray cases enclosed in a slipcase.  The set is packaged with a transforming Veritech fighter toy, which goes nicely with the others included in the earlier sets.

Audio:

You have the choice of English or Spanish audio, both in 5.1. Since the video to the show was edited heavily, there is no Japanese language track. The sound during the frequent battle scenes is very cool. They make full use of the sound stage, with planes swooshing from the rear to the front and all around. There are laser blasts coming from all corners, this part of the mix is very dynamic and exciting. The audio track really puts you in the middle of things. Unfortunately, after the battles end, the sound collapses to what is basically a mono mix. The dialog is centered over the screen, and rarely moves about. There are some sound effects in the rears, and some background music, but it wasn't as pronounced as it was during the fight scenes.

The audio quality is good. There is no hiss or hums, though some of the dialog does sound a little flat. The music is not dynamic, though it does sound better than I remember it from television. The dialog was clear, though it did sound a little tinny and thin. This is to be expected with a show of this age.

Video:

The video quality is a vast improvement over the previous ADV release of this series. The first DVDs looked like they were taken straight from videotape. The image was very soft and blurry. It looked horrible. This set looks a lot better. The lines are tight and clean, and the soft look is gone. It is not a perfect image though. There is a lot of aliasing, with many vertical lines having a stair step effect. The colors are not as bright and vivid as I was hoping, but they look significantly better than the previous DVDs. There were also some spots on the image that looked like they were on the cells themselves. This still has a much better picture than the previous release.

Extras:

I was very disappointed that ADV did not include the supplemental disc of extras that was previously available if you purchased the first two volumes together. As it is, there are not any extras on these two discs, aside from six previews.

Like the previous three sets, this volume comes bundled with a mini version of a Veritech fighter. It is about three inches tall by two and a half inches wide. The Veritech can transform from robot mode to jet mode and comes with a removable gun. The plastic feels fairly brittle, so it probably won't last a long time if a young child is playing with it, but with a little care it transforms easily. This is the sort of extra that geeky fan-boys like myself go ga-ga over. I appreciated this much more than a T-Shirts or pencil boards that have been included with anime sets in the past.

Final Thoughts:

The Invid Invasion is a very good story, that adds a lot to the world of Robotech.  The remastered sound and 5.1 audio make this set a must for anime fans who have resisted buying it so far.  Highly Recommended.