US Zeta premiere report - Tomino Interview

Major thanks to Jason Reynolds of the Gundam Mailing List for making this available to the blog. Unmarked spoilers for Zeta & Turn A are included:

The EVENT

I ran into Tomino on the way into the auditorium and bowed to him. He was taller then I expected. Very cool guy.

There were 5 Cosplayers there. Kamille Bidan, Schwarz Bruder, 2 girls wearing identical costumes I couldn't identify, and a female Zeon officer.

Going in I wasn't sure if the movies would be in Raw Japanese, Dubbed, or Subbed. Luckily they were subbed.

Tomino gave introductions to each of the movies through a translator. His introduction to the first movie focused a lot on the technical problems with making the movie due to the graininess, and the aspect ration, of the old footage. When Tomino introduced the second movie he said that he felt the narrative flow of the first movie was too complex and hard to follow so he made a point of simplifying the storylines for the following movies. He talked about how the second film in a trilogy is always a little slower because it is setting up stuff for the following movie. For a second I thought he was channeling George Lucas. He said the second film was his favorite. I don't remember what he said before the third film.

The one thing that drove EVERYONE crazy was that the people running the event decided to turn the house lights up during the credits, bring Tomino on the stage, and then stop the movie during the credits. We got them to restart the movie but they didn't turn off the house lights and they had spotlights on Tomino so we DID NOT see the Hyakushiki. It might have been there but we couldn't tell. They definitely negated Double Zeta with how they handled Axis, and they might've eliminated Char's Counterattack because he might have actually died this time out. It really ticked off everyone in the audience. Someone asked Tomino what was up with the Hyakushiki during the Q & A but all he would say is he would leave it up to the viewer's interpretation.

Q & A Session

I am trying to type all of these by memory so please forgive me if I forgot a question or misrepresent one. During the Q & A the following questions were brought up:


QUESTION: Would the events of Double Zeta still happen now that they redid the ending of Zeta?

TOMINO: At first he appeared to indicate that it wasn't going to happen by his reaction which I could only describe as disgust. He then said that he didn't plan to do it because he wanted to go do something more challenging. (Career challenges were a big theme with him in the Q & A.)


My questions: Who did we have to bribe to get Turn A Gundam released in America? Were Queen Dianna and Loran Cehack a romantically married couple, or platonic, at the end of Turn A Gundam?

TOMINO: I am not in the business so talk to Bandai/Sunrise about Turn A Gundam. As far as Loran and Dianna the nice thing is that I don't have to be in control of every character's destiny. I can leave it up to the viewers to decide for themselves.


QUESTION: Did Char survive the end of Zeta?

TOMINO: I just answered that (in reference to the viewer has to decide for themselves)


QUESTION: Are you considering redoing Char's Counterattack?

TOMINO: I am not in the business so that is all up to Sunrise.


QUESTION: Do you retain creative control or does Sunrise control the movies.

TOMINO: I do control every frame of the movie and I edit it myself.


QUESTION: How do I get a job at Sunrise:

TOMINO: You need to be in the right place at the right time.


QUESTION: How do you feel about the AU series such as Wing, Seed, etc.

TOMINO: I don't know. I never watched them.


QUESTION: How was it integrating the new animation with the old animation for the Zeta trilogy?

TOMINO: It was an exciting challenge. We had to work on cleaning up the old animation and modifying it to flow with the new animation. This is the first time that something has been done like this in an animated work. In a conventional film you can't bring back the actors 20 years later and have them fit in with their old footage. With animation you are able to bring back the voice actors luckily.


QUESTION: Why didn't you reanimate the whole thing?

TOMINO: We didn't have the budget to be able to redo all the animation. I also felt that there was a certain emotional quality to the original footage that should still be there. ( I am not 100% of this last part so I am paraphrasing from memory)


QUESTION: How do you feel about the American audience's reaction to the Gundam series? (I think in reference to how it has started to deteriorate)

TOMINO: I haven't really been aware of their reaction.


QUESTION: What do you want us to take away from the viewing of this trilogy?

TOMINO: The strength and depth of the human spirit.


QUESTION: What made you decide to change the story so much for this New Translation of Zeta Gundam?

TOMINO: When I created the story 20 years ago I was trying to make a dark story. 20 years later I think it is better to put a happier ending to the story. I also was excited by the challenge of integrating the new footage with the old footage to make something new.


QUESTION: Did you have any particular scenes that you had to cut out of Zeta for the trilogy that you really missed:

TOMINO: I don't have the time to go into it in detail because it could go on all night. I don't have any off the top of my head.


QUESTION: Was it hard to come back to the old characters after such a long time and get back into their world/headspace?

TOMINO: That would take too long to explain.


After the Q & A Tomino was presented with a lifetime career achievement award. He was very grateful to be able to share the movie with us and be in Chicago. He was grateful to the American fans as they were what enabled him to receive the award. They then brought down 4 of the Cosplayers (The Zeon officer didn't come down) to take pictures with Tomino. In conclusion he was a very nice guy. Very funny. It was a treat to see him and these movies! I would definitely recommend getting them if they are released in America. I know I will.

Source: http://aeug.blogspot.com/2006/10/#116044179662329268