Thirty years ago, Super Dimension Fortress Macross premiered on Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System.  Studio Nue and Tatsunoko Production of Japan produced 36 episodes about an enormous alien battleship, manned by humans, defending Earth against a race of warrior giants.  There were space battles galore, but at its heart was a love story involving a young pilot and a gorgeous pop singer.  Harmony Gold imported the series to America, with Carl Macek adapting it into the first third of Robotech.

Here’s the original opening to Macross:

And the updated 2012 opening can be seen below and on YouTube here.

1984 saw the release of the feature film Macross: Do You Remember Love?  Here’s some spectacular visuals from the opening:

A direct-to-video (OVA) series, Macross II: Lovers Again, came out in 1992, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the franchise:

Followed by the Macross Plus 4-part OVA series in 1994, inspired by Top Gun and featuring the music of Yoko Kanno.

That same year, Macross 7 premiered, the longest-running series of the franchise with 49 episodes, 2 movies, and 2 OVA sequels.

Macross Zero, an OVA series that’s a prequel to SDF Macross, was released in 2002.  Here’s the opening dogfight:

Macross Frontier celebrated the 25th anniversary in 2008.   This TV series lasted 25 episodes, plus three spinoff movies.

Why has Macross lasted so long?  It features high-tech action, love stories, some spectacular animation and great pop music.  An effective combination!