Studio: Infinity Resources Inc Release Date: 07/12/2005The feature subtitled “The Empty Battlefield” is comprised of recut episodes of Gundam Seed (2002), with some bits of new animation–a practice that goes back to the original Gundam series (1979) and the first three features. This film includes material from the first 20 Seed episodes, or about one-third of the series.
In the year 71 of the Cosmic Era (rather than the “Gundam Saga” timeframe or the “Alternate Universe”), Kira Yamoto accidentally becomes a mecha pilot when he stumbles onto the top secret Strike Gundam during an attack on his home satellite-colony, Heliopolis. Although the war is technically between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, it’s really a conflict between the human “Naturals” and the genetically enhanced “Coordinators.” The movie and the broadcast series offer the ingredients of a classic Gundam saga: a reluctant warrior, a masked enemy general, and an old friend who tests the hero’s loyalty. Cutting the running time so substantially moves the action along a breakneck pace, but leaves little time for character development. Director Mitsuo Kukada uses CG to choreograph some very snazzy mecha battles, in space, within Heliopolis, and on Earth, often with a fine disregard for the laws of physics. (Rated 13 and older: violence, brief nudity) –Charles Solomon
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May 10, 2010
#1
i seldom wright reaveiws but after watching the last ep i had to well this searies is just like mobile suit gundam ZAFT is no different then ZEON and it ends like most gundam shows do a massive space battle come to think of it every gundam searies except 0080 does well now onto the reaveiw the main charecter kira is basically thrown into the war is put on a ship pilots a gundam just like amuro ray did then we come to the ending of the seareis i took off to stars because of the ending beacase when the show starts to reach its “super climax” u start having to pause it just to figure out whats going on 4 example my faverite charecter mu dies in a vailent blaze of glory (he was funny)the saereis ends without kira even knowing (mu saved him out of many a tight spot)if he did know he didint even care ill have to check also on this movie u find out flay and kira auh….(do it) but when flay is still alive it apears kira stats liking lacus (another good charecter) and during the last episode the twighligt type ending starts coming and u dont even get to see if kira really likes lacus because ull see a sad picture of the battle feild with shatered and beaten mobile suits and ships everywere then kira sees to of his freinds(i left out alot of cherters sorry)coming to get him in a nearly destroyed gundam he smiles and says “its are world” then it ends it left things unanswered but the last battle was awesome u get see a ship crew blow up in there space suits it was cool this is almost exactly the same thing as mobile suit gundam oh and also gundam seed destiney is coming out soon does anyone know if the same charecters are one that one?
May 10, 2010
#2
This order got to me in a timely fashion and was in great condition.
May 10, 2010
#3
While I enjoyed this movie very much, I felt the second Gundam Seed movie was better. This movie is good and worth owning, and it does explain alot. There are scenes which need to be seen, as well as character development. But beware: Fllay is a mental case, not to mention a whiney seductress. I don’t recommend this movie for kids under the age of 13, since there are some sexual situations.
May 10, 2010
#4
Whether you have seen the original 50 episodes or not, this is an excellent disc! The original footage has a lot of the side stories cut out. It focuses more on Kira, instead of constantly shifting around, from Heliopolis, the descent to Earth, and the time in the desert. The added footage provides us with a look at the students’ friendship, Flay’s seduction of Kira, and Kira & Athrun’s friendship. The battle scenes are well done, and there is still enough of Kira’s dilemma included that you realize how he feels about the war. I am looking forward to the rest of the collection. If this is your first Gundam Seed disc, this will make you want to see the original episodes.
May 10, 2010
#5
In the tradition of the original Mobile Suit Gundam that made three films with footage from the series, ultimately re-telling the story with a few new things added the Seed story now gets the treatment. The Empty Battlefield covers episodes 1-21 of the Gundam Seed series.
I first watched this to determine if I’d be interested in the series or not and one of the reasons why my rating is a tad higher than most is because it really reels you in if you haven’t experienced the story yet. After watching the series I felt I should view this again before reviewing it and now I can understand some of the negative comments.
To start off the animation is so much better than in the series, especially in the new scenes or the re-done scenes. A new song not heard in the series, Zips by T.M. Revolution is featured and I really loved it. Naturally in the process of making this entire episodes were cut, cutting the whole Battle of Artemis and the Archangel going there in the first place to try to get resupplied was one of the few things I understood getting rid of. The only relevant thing that came out of that was learning that many within the Earth Forces, particularly the top brass are just plain prejudiced against Coordinators and down right cruel. That however is expressed later in the next movies. The only characters that I felt were well represented were Kira Yamato naturally being the main character and his two love interests, Lacus Clyne and Flay Allster. Everyone else could’ve been dealt with a lot better. The most popular new scene added was the sex scene with Kira and Flay inserted between Kira fighting for the first time in the dessert with the Strike Gundam. I could live with it or without it, but I love hearing the song Zips during the battle. It made it more exciting to watch.
The main problem I had with this feature was the time length. The third Mobile Suit Gundam Movie was Two and a half hours at least. They could’ve at least inserted more clips to help the transition between certain scenes better like Kira first finding Lacus’s life pod and shooting down the mobile suit searching for it to prevent the Archangel being discovered by ZAFT or Kira’s four friends puting on the Earth Forces uniforms and first helping out, doing their part like Kira. It also wouldn’t have hurt to show things like Rau Le Creuset taking his blue and white bills to help forshadow certain things about his character. That way it wouldn’t have felt like things about his character came out of nowhere in the later films. Going further more scenes could’ve been shown period with Captain Ramius, Mu La Flaga and Natarle Badgiruel. That way Ramius and Mu La Flaga kissing in the second film wouldn’t have seemed out of nowhere. I said Natarle Badgiruel because she was one of my favorite characters. Since we hardly see her it would’ve been nice to see her clash with Captain Ramius more like in the series, being the sole voice of dissent and all.
Many other reviewers commented on the lack of footage featuring Kira’s four friends Sai, Miriallia, Tolle and Kuzzey. The only scene I felt that was neccessary to convey the friendship between Kira and his friends was when Tolle spoke for all of them by defending Kira to the Archangel crew when they first learn he’s a Coordinator. Just having Tolle raise his arms in front of Kira which we do see in the movie didn’t cut it.
Athrun Zala I felt was handled badly for the most part, so no surprise his three comrads Yzak, Dearka and Nicol got the shaft. Yzak didn’t come off Hot-headed enough nor Dearka passive enough. We see Rau Le Creuset asking Athrun, “Will you shoot it down or be shot down?” Still Athrun telling Rau Le Creuset earlier that if Kira wouldn’t join them he’d shoot him down himself should’ve been featured to. Other things like Kira asking Athrun if he used to hate the whole idea of war then why was he with ZAFT could’ve been shown as well.
I really felt most of episode 18 should’ve been featured when Andrew Waltfeld burned down the village of the desert rebels and they in return seek revenge. It really gave us a lot of insight into Cagalli’s character. Also we would’ve seen Kira’s first fight with Waltfeld. In the final battle they really should’ve shown more of it, particularly of the rebels getting defeated. Mind you I’m a little biased since the Dessert Tiger Saga is one of my favorite parts of Gundam Seed.
This movie as well as the others the hatred of the purist (Blue Cosmos) Naturals is expressed well, but the moderate perspective wasn’t portrayed at all. Many Naturals are simply jealous of Coordinators because they can do more things and faster. That’s why I didn’t like that they kept out all of Sai’s realtionship with Flay, ultimately making him jealous of Kira for starting things up with her. Sai attempting to pilot the Strike Gundam as well as Kira subdueing Sai when he confronts Flay were both powerful scenes. I also liked when Sai questioned whether the reason why Lacus Clyne sang so good was because her genes were tampered with in front of Kira, but that wasn’t featured either.
If you havent’ seen the Gundam Seed series and need some convincing check this out. It’s not perfect, but it’s fun to watch none the less.