in the year 1999 a city size extraterrestrial battle cruiser crash land on earth and and over the next decade scientist and engineer repair it damage and refit it into a hybrid of human and alien technology . what the earth folk do not realize be that the ship have be tail by an entire armada of heavily arm space battle cruiser who seek to claim the ship and it secret for themselves . the alien and call zentraedi and be a formidable race of giant who have be breed for warfare and but a they approach their presence trigger a booby trap on the downed space fortress  call the macross  that plow through them with a devastate energy weapon . think the earth fire upon them intentionally and the zentraedi retaliate and thereby launching space war i. realize that it would probably be a good idea to move the conflict off of the earth ( which have just get over a long on planet war ) and the captain of the macross order the use of the ship untested fold system to warp the ship to the dark side of the moon while the warp be initiate and but it bring the small city that have grow around the macross with it and plus and to the horror of all involve and they find themselves just outside orbit near pluto ( that what you get for mess around with technology that you do not know how to operate . ) . and a if that isn not bad enough and the fold system have completely vanish and leave the ship crew and the now rescued inhabitant of the city no alternative but to make their way back home use only conventional engine . and a the macross crawl back to the earth and the enemy fleet be not far behind . that the basic setup and but what make macross stand out from the plethora of alien invasion space opera that come before it  most notably the classic space battleship yamato ( 1974 )  be it focus on the human element of it story and become in essence a soap opera in sci fi drag . nearly every character be in some way flaw and and despite the military experience hold by many of them and that experience frequently prove moot in the face of deep space combat and technology that they simply do not comprehend . the ostensible hero and sixteen year old stunt pilot hikaru ichijo and come of age during the course of the narrative and we follow him through every awkward step and trace his evolution from prodigy civilian airman to ace space fighter and as well a see him swallow his reluctance to kill once he join the united nation space navy ( annoyingly dub the un spacy for short ) . hikaru also at the center of a love triangle that see his emotion split between a cute chinese girl who end up go from waitress to pop idol overnight and and his by the book career military command officer while this triangle be milk for all it worth and be the primary reason that the series prove so popular with female viewer and along with the romantic trial and tribulation of the rest of the voluminous cast . another thing that set the series apart from the cliché template be the pan cultural scope of the cast . the hero may be japanese and but the rest of the character run the ethnic gamut and the bridge crew alone be comprise of a couple of russian and an american or two and an italian and and a black chick . this be very refresh at the time and with the then most contemporary multi cultural cast of character be find in the various incarnation of cyborg 009 and but each member of that international team be draw in the most broad of ethnic stereotype . not so with macross and which do not make a big deal ou t of the character ethnicity and saw only the chinese character stand out because of her frequently wear hong kong style dress and hairstyle . and while the show certainly have a contingent of fan who revere it for it space battle and transform mecha and i have to say that i love it most for start thing off on a footing that allow the viewer to think they know exactly where the story go to go and then consistently pull the rug out from under them . the love triangle play out in a way that see all three participant change and grow and the b character go through some serious drama involve the tragic casualty of war and the possibility that can blossom between even the most bitter of enemy rivalry ( let hear it for max and millia . ) and and even the enemy alien prove to be far more than just stock evil world conquerers when their strange and ancient history prove that there really be something to the universal nature of basic humanity . super dimension fortress macross be easily the most well craft and intelligent of the space opera from the 1980 and both in term of narrative and visual impact and and totally raise the bar on how such material can and should be handle . in fact and the only serialized alien invasion show to come along since that even come close be neon genesis evangelion ( 1995 ) and a series that wear it macross influence on it sleeve but somehow come up a lot less satisfy . if you can get your hand on the animeigo boxed set of the original uncut and subtitle macross series  avoid the sequel and the not bad americanize version and robotech  do yourself the favor and check them out and start with episode number one because the whole thing one long story tell in thirty six chapter . even if youre not an anime fan i urge you to give this stuff a chance . space opera seldom get any good than this and and super dimension fortress macross sure a hell beat the three recent star war atrocity .