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Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Movie I - The Empty Battlefield Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Dolby Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 95 minutes Studio: Bandai Entertainment Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-07-12 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 9 Average rating: 3.5 "Genetically modified SEED" CE 71- War rages in the Earth's sphere between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. Away from the conflict, student Kira Yamato and his friends lead normal lifes like any other citizen in the seemingly neutral Heliopolis colony. But this peace is shattered when ZAFT launches an attack to seize five new mobile suits which have been developed for the Alliance within the colony, unknown to the citizens. Fate sees Kira as the pilot as the last remaining prototype, a weapon known as 'G.U.N.D.A.M.'... It's been nearly a year since Bandai began the US DVD release of the popular Gundam SEED series. Whilst that series has now ended and hype builds for a similar release of the sequel series Gundam SEED Destiny, Bandai are filling the gap by releasing the SEED Special Edition trilogy. A fitting decision, as they served much the same role in their homeland. The packaging is a standard DVD case with the sleeve being printed on nice holographic paper. The front cover art depicts Kira, Lacus and the Strike whilst the back explains the basic plot and lists the staff. There is no insert included inside the case. The menu opens with Strike's launch sequence which is intercut with scenes from the 'movie'. The main menu centers a picture of Launcher Strike posing with the Agni cannon whilst in the upper left hand corner zoomed in and faded clips play. Going to another menu sees the 'Gundam SEED' logo fill the screen and gradually fade out. The 'Special Features' is nothing more than three Bandai trailers. Disapointing but expected for a release like this, especially after how far Bandai seemed to have to reach for extras for the SEED series DVDs. The SE's are a series of movie-like retellings of the SEED story, with some elements removed or changed and at some points completly new footage. This first one covers from the start of the series up to Kira's fight with Andrew. From the get go, it's obvious to anyone who has seen this story in it's original form that you're witnessing a much more sped up take on the story. What took two 22-minute episodes of the series has already been zoomed through by the 15 minute mark of this special alone. Alot of the speeding seems to be a result of the director being eager to get to the next action scene. Having seen the series I knew what was missing so I could link things up but perhaps that's a bad thing as those are new to the story may be left scratching their heads. One of the biggest losses is the focus on Kira and Athrun's friends. Kira and Athrun receive alot of attention whilst the likes of Miriallia and Sai only appear during scenes on the bridge. Since Kira states his reason for sticking with the Archangel is to protect his friends, the decision to cut their scenes is odd. In the show they gave him support, whilst here they often come off as untrusting. Likewise, Yzak, Nichol and Dearka do so little you almost wonder why they're there. Alot of their scenes early on were "monster of the week"-like battles, an element the MSG compilations likewise cut. Whilst cutting back some of the battles makes sense, it leaves Athrun's friends with little impact on the story and makes Kira's SEED Mode seem odd, as he awakens it in his third or so battle here rather than after a good amount of battles. The new footage for the most part is basically used to tighten up scenes for the lack of time but there are some which are interesting. For example, when Lacus enters the Archangel cafeteria in the series we see it from Kira and friends point of view whilst here it is presented from Lacus' point of view. Undoubtedly the most talked about and possibly contraversial new scenes is a more graphic representation of Kira and Flay having sex. The show received flack from Japanese parents for a subtle scene which implied this, so perhaps the new footage could be taken as Fukuda mocking such critics. Whilst the scenes aren't too graphic, they're likely to cause unease amongst some and parents buying this for younger children may want to think it over. Of the battles that remain, Kira's first fight in the desert is notable because it contains an appearance by TM Revolution's 'ZIPS' as an insert song. Whilst a good insert song is always nice alongside a good battle, I feel the song doesn't quite work. It's fast and punchy whilst most of the battle is Kira getting knocked around or falling over. Whilst it may fit given Kira's new savage intensity after sleeping with Flay, I personally more enjoyed the gathering of clips of Kira's various battles which was played to 'Meteor' in one of the series clip shows. Does this special edition have problems? Certainly. Can I say it's a complete washout? Certainly not. There have certainly been worse DVDs and compilation movies then this. Returning SEED fans may enjoy it and it could be a quick way to introduce new potential fans, though certain important elements will be lost. Buy it knowing you're getting an extended and more coherent clip show with some new stuff for your trouble and you should be fine. "A Good Compilation...." After the series was over, they made six episodes lasting 50 minutes as a compilation of the whole Gundam Seed 50 episode run, The only thing new here is in general over 25 minutes of new scenes. I recommend this dvd to those who want to get into the series or to die-hard fans. The hard cuts in the scenes may angry some Seed Fans but hey well just have to find out july 12th. "Not bad but comes up short" As a huge fan of the Gundam franchise I have already purchased the enitre SEED series and wanted to pick up this movie in order to complete my collection. The problem with any of the Gundam movies is trying to compress the storyline and character development even more than they are in a 50 episode series. I thought they did a good job of still keeping in the development for the Mobile Suit Gundam series three movies, but this one keeps its focus almost entirely on Kira and really doesn't go into the other characters as much. About the only other character truly developed is Flay, simply because she is a large part of Kira's development at this point in the story. While it was great not to have any re-cap episodes taking away from the pace of the story, I did miss the earlier battles between Strike and the Crueze team, the destruction of Artemius, Kira's small trial and alot of the moments with Mu and his tutelage of Kira. Instead, we are treated to a new opening sequence involving the ZAFT team preparing to invade Heliopolis (which I thought was cool and let Rusty and Miguel have a little more face time) and an intercut scene of Kira and Flay having sex and Cagalli taking a shower. Neither of these last two scenes, I thought, were necessary to the overall storyline. Those of us old enough could already have figured out what had happened between the two, but the creators were just filling a battle scene with storyline so as to save time. It did work, but I still believe was unnecessary, and I think the Cagalli shower scene was only there for her fanclub. If your a fan of Gundam then this movie will keep you in the club, whether you have scene the series or not. However, someone unfamiliar with Gundam or didn't like one series and is trying it out again, will not be swayed by this movie. The story is simply too fast-paced and significant scenes are cut and placed in battle scenes to keep the pace going, which will lose anyone not used to the series. For SEED fans, you'll definitely be disappointed by the lack of character development for favorite characters like Athrun, Lacus, Mu, and Murrue and the interaction between the crew (especially the Mu/Kira and Mu/Murrue interactions). "Very Well Done" 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.