Densetsu Kyojin Ideon | Space Runaway Ideon [Shin-Getter]  

My first reaction is still  "And this was trimmed down from how many episodes???"  I admit I am neither scriptwriter nor editor, but it seems this could have been much better as a 24 (or even 36) episode series.  How many 'friendly' planets and bases do the refugees have to flee to, only to be turned away, before we understand that they are pariahs?  How many times do we have to hear a Buff Clanner curse "Damn the Giant God!"

That said, I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would.  On the plus side, the character art is distinctive, and it is not the cast of cookie-cutter 'types' usually seen today.  I found the concept of the Ide favorably reminiscent of the id-monster from Forbidden Planet (Ide = id?), both in concept and as a vehicle to explore the darkest corners of the human soul.   There is a terrible ambiguity in the nature of Ide -- it is self-aware and has an instinct of self-defence, but beyond that, is it good or evil in any humanly-cognizable way, or is it just a relentless force of nature?

Speaking of that 'F-word' (going back to the downside) Ideon does owe a lot to a certain movie of the era:  light saber duels? A girl with the 'fuzzy headphone' hairdo? Giant tube worms?  A planet-killing battle station, even?  The Emperor?  All Supreme Commander Doba needed was a darker helmet and a scuba tank.

A couple more critiques:  A little more backstory on the Buff Clan/Ome Foundation rift could have been interesting.  Despite his surprising --and late-revealed-- importance, did Piper Lou have to be quite so annoying?   Why, o why, does the Ideon always have to be broken down to the 3 separate units?  Is it really just for the sake of the transformation scenes? Put the damn thing together and keep it that way!  How dense is Buff Clan?  You just saw the Ideon split a planet in half -- you don't think maybe it's time to pack up and go home?!?  How many times do we need to hear, "Is this the true  manifestation of the Ide?"  Finally, why did the Sixth Civilization need to build the Ideon and "Solo Ship" at all?  And why did they get buried? Seems that a number of loose ends or ambiguities never really get resolved, or addressed at all.

All in all, a solid effort.  6/10

I made the happy mistake of actually watching "Be Invoked" first, and right after watching the last series episode.  Oh.My.God.  If only the entire series had been like this!  Talk about a gut-wrenching, kick-you-in-the-butt-and-over-the-edge-of-the-cliff deathrace roller coaster!  A number of the ambiguities in the series, as noted above, finally do get addressed.  Very violent, occasionally shockingly so, even by today's blase standards.  There was one bit, I think my jaw literally dropped; I had to back it up and watch it again because I couldn't believe what I had just seen.  Do not miss this.  Can you hear me now? DO NOT MISS THIS! 10/10!

Going back then and watching "A Contact", the first Solo/Buff encounter, was necessarily anti-climactic.  Condensing the first 36 episodes necessarily picks up the pace and makes for a much tighter story. If anything, this movie coud have slowed down just a bit. It seems to assume that the viewer has already seen the series, and that this is more the highlights reel than a movie in its own right.  For example, we get almost no backstory on Solo and the 6th Civilization research; Karala's defection and new loyalty to the Soloists are almost ridiculously quick and easy, and we miss virtually all of the Soloists wanderings and rejections.  As noted above, I think the series dragged that out unnecessarily, but it is an important element. Also, we never meet Cosmo's girlfriend Kitten here, but she does pop up in 'Be Invoked', as a  --well-- you know what happens, right?  Still, much better dramatically and technically than the series. 8/10

Despite the usual characterization of this as dark and gloomy, the conclusion really is quite hopeful and triumphant, even joyful.  

The Solo/Buff conflict evokes a certain resemblance to the US/Japanese phase of WW2, including an unprovoked surprise attack on a peaceful colony -- though I'm not sure if either side here consistently corresponds to real history.  Of course the ambivalent possibilities of Ide power reflect those of nuclear power, a common Japanese theme since Godzilla.

We learn that the Solo planet, home of the lost Sixth Civilization, is equidistant from both "our" Earth and Buff Clan's homeworld (which they also call "Earth"), and all three are in a straight line.  Are the two worlds the survivors of the Sixth Civilization, and is this why the two are the same people, genetically?  This might also explain the draw of the Ide on both civilizations.

Still not sure about one thing -- the very last shot of "Be Invoked" shows the new world -- does it have two moons, or just the one?  If that is just one moon, it looks a lot like our real Earth and Moon. Was all this series our past, not our future?  Is that final scene our own beginning?