"By the year 2085, mankind's battle against the robotic MME's was almost over. With most of Earth's surviving population evacuated to Mars, only the touhghest and most resourceful freedom fighters remain to fight a futile guerilla war."
"In the bombed-out wastelands of Australia, Sandy Newman and her rag-tag squad are the last hope to defeat the mechanoid foe..."
"Hidden in the deserts lies an intact nuclear missile silo, with a warhead capable of destroying the stronghold of the MME's and their command computer GORN. But during the search for the secret base, Sandy and her team are shocked to discover another group of survivors, the followers of the Geo Christ religion - and deep inside their hideaway stands the mystical Tree of Revival, ready to grow once again and return the burnt earth to life. But will the power of faith be enough to stop the destruction of the Human Race?"
Director: Kazuhito Akiyama Screenplay: Yuichi Miyaoka Character design: Kenichi Sonoda Copyright: Artmic VHS version: Language: English Label: Manga Video Volume: 1 2 3 Running time: 48 mins 50 mins 58 mins Certificate: PG PG PG Catalogue no: MANV 1160 MANV 1161 MANV 1175 Price: £9.99 £9.99 £9.99 Release Date: 14th Oct 1996 11th Nov 1996 13th Jan 1997
This is a sort of sequel to the original 3-part Gall Force series, in which we learn that humanity is descended from the Solnoid and Paranoid races, a result brought about by the sacrifices of the original team of all-female fighters from the Starleaf.
As a link, some of the same character names appear in the sequel. The date is 2085, and the Earth is a ruined wastland after Mankind's final war. Most of humanity has fled to Mars and the forces that are left are trying to reactivate a set of nuclear missile silos to blast their mechanoid foe, called the MME (though they seemed to be called something else in the dub). Most of the action is in Australia, and involves Sandy Newman and her band of guerilla fighters. She successfully locates one of the missile silos, only to find it blockaded by a previously unknown mystical eco-religion, the Geo Christ, who have a Tree of Revival growing in an underground cavern, and then discovering that the necessarily messy nuclear bombardment is not going to hurt the MME anyway.
It was hard to figure out who was doing what where, and perhaps because of my gastric 'flu I didn't much care. Characterisation is minimal. At various points, leaders shout things like "Carry Out the Plan" (obviously nobody could be bothered to script some minimally authentic-sounding orders like "Proceed to shore at five knots, course 045, show no lights"). And the eco-friendly plot message was about as subtle as a mud brick. A miss. [Geoff Cowie]