(What if) A Gundam series with aliens?

[riva]

Paptimus Scirocco is about as alien as Gundam should ever get.

[azrael]

At any rate, my point is that if you want to introduce aliens into Gundam to give humans something non-human to fight, you don't really need to. We're pretty good at branding each other non-human already.

Agreed. There are more ways to die by beam saber. I'm waiting for them to pull out a half-fried human body out of a cockpit of a MS that's been cut in half.

[Gadget]

There are more ways to die by beam saber. I'm waiting for them to pull out a half-fried human body out of a cockpit of a MS that's been cut in half.

How about Gundam : Final Destination ?

The nearest thing to what you said could be Kira survive the 'hugging' incident between Strike and Aegis.

[Resident of GMT-5]

If you're talking about characters that have nothing in common with humans and don't even look like humans anymore, then you're just talking about aliens in the traditional sense and you're just playing a semantics game.

The pitfall of trying to divide certain humans up into "aliens" and "humans" should be obvious. Gundam does that all the time anyway in the form of rampaging armies declaring certain people to be "inferior" or "unenlightened." Gihren Zabi did it with Zeon, Ribbons Almark did it with the Innovators.

Well, yeah. I mean, i didn't expect "Aliens" to be some kind of species related to human race, posessing state-of-the-art technology, and having a weird sense of fashion, but i expect them to be.... "foreign". Oh i don't know, maybe it turns out they posess something that human don't (not technology). Though, i suppose you got a point. Gundam made a certain group as the "Aliens" by having them discriminated, like the Newtypes from Gundam X, and Coordinators from SEED

Don't forget Seidel with Space Revolutionary Army.

[Strike Wing]

So everyone is fine with same shit, different day kinds of things with Gundam. Why not broaden the horizon, depict the aliens no different then us. Heck District 9 did it and it worked.

Otherwise it's just carbon copy after carbon copy. I really don't see the problem with Gundam having aliens in it. It would be a breath of fresh air for the franchise, as long as they don't make the aliens beastial and depict them as a menace only. Humanize them to a point so that you can feel for them and cheer for them. There is good and evil on both sides of any war, alien or human.

But if everyone's fine with having the same thing fed to them over and over, then just ignore my post. Good day.

[ShadowCell]

If we could harness the power to leap as far as your logic just did, we could walk to the moon.

[Dendrobium Stamen]

But if everyone's fine with having the same thing fed to them over and over, then just ignore my post. Good day.

Entirely not the case.

I want different things from Gundam. I want new, exciting, previously-unseen things from future Gundam series. I want more small, character-driven stories like Gundam X, or corporate wars rather than political or ideological ones. I want people motivated by greed or pride or lust rather than "fighting the good fight". I want mature anti-heroes who we love to hate (and hate to love) rather than angsty teens and doomed mentors. I don't want more carbon-copies of the past three decades' worth of Mobile Suit Gundam as a franchise.

But it doesn't need aliens.

Just because alien life would be "different" or "interesting" that doesn't make it necessary or mandatory. The argument has been raised repeatedly in this topic that Gundam has spent three decades focusing on human conflict and humanity's need or desire to fight and assert themselves, dominate their enemies or their environment to prove they are worthy of survival. I think that holds true even though the franchise has hit thirty, and it can continue to show humanity's trials and tribulations.

And there are a million and one ways Gundam can do that without aliens.

[ShadowCell]

Besides, if they look and talk and act just like us and the only thing "alien" about them is where they came from, then they are no more "alien" to us than a Chinese person is "alien" to an American person and that raises the question of why you bothered calling them aliens in the first place.

[Leroy Landers]

If fans can handle Turn A and G then Gundam can handle a series with extraterrestrials. Some shows like Babylon 5 and Farscape feature alien characters that have more depth and are more developed than some human characters from other shows. That said I don't think the Gundam franchise needs aliens unless they do a show outside the solar system.

[Seraphic]

There are more ways to die by beam saber. I'm waiting for them to pull out a half-fried human body out of a cockpit of a MS that's been cut in half.

How about Gundam : Final Destination ?

The nearest thing to what you said could be Kira survive the 'hugging' incident between Strike and Aegis.

A whole movie about inexplicable freak accidents maiming and murdering the hell out of Kira and his loved ones? Brilliant! =o

You know, wouldn't a Gundam where the invaders were illegal aliens make for a good parody? They could be taking up jobs/ranks in the military, and everyone else breaks off and revolts in protest. Maybe we could call them "space immigrants" instead of aliens. (Oh god, I can't stop laughing at that term.) I'm not at all trying to promote xenophobia, but I feel Gundam is a show sorely lacking in good/clever humor. I mean, FMA was good and fun along with being intense, but the director didn't carry any of that into Gundam 00.

And another small bit of experience I have to share.... I once read a review for a show called Vandread, a robot show that takes place in space, and the reviewer seemed to really like the show, even advocating it as an alternative to Gundam. Well, I watched it myself, and ended up pretty bored/frustrated. You see, Vandread is a super robot show with a faceless alien enemy. I suppose all the battles were about survival or whatever, so there was no passion or intellect to the combat. The most disappointing thing was that there was no awesome duel or 1on1 fight. I mean, there's no reason for that to happen with aliens, right? (I completely disagree with the reviewer that Vandread and Gundam can be similar, but then again, most of the reviewers at that site don't seem to understand Gundam well.) I suppose that if you're trying to make an alternative for Gundam, you should watch out for that kind of thing.

[quasadra]

hey, i really enjoy Vandread. it is one of those show that dont need brain power to watch. just sit back and enjoy the action.

Spoiler

and there is really no alien here. all "race" are human. the alien they are fighting are actually drones sent by Earth to harvest biological part for themself. the various "race" are refugee from Earth when it was in a war long ago. over time Earth got forgotten and change at the same time.

they dont try to make a war drama in the first place. it was harem + super robot.

[Gadget]

You mean I have to watch 'Brain Powerd' first?

I like to keep an open mind of aliens in Gundam. The problem is also of technology. All the Gundam universe do not interstellar travel. and the technology is not up to Star Wars or even Star Trek, except for psycomm thingy. Pushing Gundam too much into pesudo science may spoil the the whole series. And when a more advance aliens arrive, there will be a big gap. Trying to bridge the whole story may end up more like a super robot than Gundam.

Although Turn A pushes the pesudo science a lot, but it's still about the human struggle.

The only exception is G-Gundam. In fact, to some fans, it's actually super robot with Gundam units.

I agree that Gundam lack humor. Maybe that's why straight face pilots like Kira and Hero got the blunt end of many jokes here. While Mu was a more likeable person.
What gundam needs is more ECCHI and FANSERVICE Flay Allster's spirit and Setsuna's Trans-Am mode doesn't count.

[Seraphic]

hey, i really enjoy Vandread. it is one of those show that dont need brain power to watch. just sit back and enjoy the action.

Spoiler

and there is really no alien here. all "race" are human. the alien they are fighting are actually drones sent by Earth to harvest biological part for themself. the various "race" are refugee from Earth when it was in a war long ago. over time Earth got forgotten and change at the same time.

they dont try to make a war drama in the first place. it was harem + super robot.

Haha, I by no means meant that Vandread was completely un-enjoyable. =) It's just that review I read gave me false impressions, and the show wasn't good to me because of it. Still, out of the two seasons, I think I was only seriously impressed by two of the episodes. Here's to hoping that anyone else that watches likes it more than I did. =)

And yeah, I left out the technicality of the aliens being artificial because that detail/complication doesn't add to our discussion here. For all intents and purposes, the aliens in Vandread are meant to portray ALIENS until other things are revealed.

I agree that Gundam lack humor. Maybe that's why straight face pilots like Kira and Hero got the blunt end of many jokes here. While Mu was a more likeable person.
What gundam needs is more ECCHI and FANSERVICE Flay Allster's spirit and Setsuna's Trans-Am mode doesn't count.

So how did we make this leap of logic from lols to pr0n?

[ShadowCell]

...aaaaaaaand why does Gundam need more fanservice?

[Dendrobium Stamen]

...aaaaaaaand why does Gundam need more fanservice?

Sex sells, at least so I'm told anyway. Who needs aliens when you have lame visual puns using characters who make Murrue and Sumeragi look modest and average-proportioned?

[ShadowCell]

Yeah but they make anime for you to get off on already. >>

[Gadget]

So how did we make this leap of logic from lols to pr0n?

I apologies if I sounded like a hentai fan. It's just that when 00 was screened, Macross Frontier was screening at the same time. I though the antics Alto went through, like doing laps with a powered down EX-gear was funny. And there was the school visit by Sheryl ....
The only joke Setsuna made was we gonna kill them, or kill them all.

[ShadowCell]

Gundam doesn't really need wacky hijinks filler episodes. They can have their jokes and all, but anything like the Outlaw Star hot springs episode certainly wouldn't fit with the tone that Gundam shows try to convey.

[Red Comet90]

Gundam doesn't really need wacky hijinks filler episodes. They can have their jokes and all, but anything like the Outlaw Star hot springs episode certainly wouldn't fit with the tone that Gundam shows try to convey.

I agree with you but I think its rather humorous that a show like Code Geass can pull both off very well and include plenty of fan service on multiple episodes and still deliver a very serious storyline.

[ZeroBusterXX]

Gundam doesn't really need wacky hijinks filler episodes. They can have their jokes and all, but anything like the Outlaw Star hot springs episode certainly wouldn't fit with the tone that Gundam shows try to convey.

I agree with you but I think its rather humorous that a show like Code Geass can pull both off very well and include plenty of fan service on multiple episodes and still deliver a very serious storyline.

I don't know if Code Geass' fanservice was good or not. Too me, the proportions of the "fanservicey" girls look.... really unnatural. I mean, Viletta looked inhuman in that swimsuit.