Carl Macek
Encyclopedia
Carl F. Macek was an American
writer and controversial anime
pioneer and producer of the 1980s and 1990s.
, which he produced for Harmony Gold USA
. Robotech is considered one of the titles most responsible for igniting anime fandom in North America and internationally. Macek intended to produce a sequel to Robotech, Robotech II: The Sentinels
, but this project was canceled due to a number of circumstances. While at Harmony Gold, Macek also produced the little-known, rarely seen Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years
(which combines the almost-unrelated stories of Space Pirate Captain Harlock
and Queen Millennia
(the only connection between the two originally was that they took place in the same 'universe', albeit a thousand years apart)).
) Streamline Pictures
in 1988. Joining him were writers who had worked with him on Robotech, most notably, Steve Kramer
, Tom Wyner
, Gregory Snegoff
and Ardwight Chamberlain
, each of whom are also experienced voice actors. Streamline Pictures was one of the first American companies to successfully deal in the regular production of imported Japanese animation. Among the titles released by Streamline are Lensman
, Robot Carnival
, Doomed Megalopolis
, Twilight of the Cockroaches
, Crying Freeman
, Wicked City
, and the original English dub versions of Hayao Miyazaki
's Laputa: Castle in the Sky, the Fist of the North Star
film, Akira
, Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, and Lupin III: Mystery of Mamo. As of 1993, Streamline Pictures distributed their anime through Orion Pictures
and was eventually purchased by Orion in 1996. Both companies are now defunct.
He was working as a scriptwriter for the English dub of Naruto (anime) and Bleach
for Viz Media
, and consulting for Harmony Gold on Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
before his death.
: Animation for the Eighties and Robotech Art 3: The Sentinels in which he chronicles in detail the conception and what went wrong during the production of the latter aborted animated series. He also worked as a scriptwriter for the animated series C.O.P.S.
and was the executive consultant for the animated film Heavy Metal 2000
. He recently wrote the animated adaptation of Brian Pulido
's Lady Death
.
Macek adapted the treatment by Merian C. Cooper (the producer of King Kong) for the unproduced film project War Eagles into a novel and screenplay in 2008. The book was published in the summer of 2008 by Angelgate Press.
. Many consider him one of the early pioneers of the medium outside of Japan
. Streamline Pictures-dubbed
anime were among the first to be available on home video as well as broadcast on cable. Over the years he has seen his share of detractors and proponents.
His brief obituary in the Los Angeles Times reported the place of death as Topanga Canyon. The obituary shows a picture of him surrounded by several Robotech characters from all three series.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and controversial anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
pioneer and producer of the 1980s and 1990s.
Robotech and Harmony Gold USA
Carl F. Macek came to public attention in 1985 as the producer and story editor of the influential animated television series RobotechRobotech
Robotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
, which he produced for Harmony Gold USA
Harmony Gold USA
Harmony Gold is a television production and distribution company established in 1983. It is best known as the “creator” and main distributor of the anime series Robotech. It also partially dubbed the Dragon Ball series in the late 1980s....
. Robotech is considered one of the titles most responsible for igniting anime fandom in North America and internationally. Macek intended to produce a sequel to Robotech, Robotech II: The Sentinels
Robotech II: The Sentinels
Robotech II: The Sentinels was an attempt by Harmony Gold USA to continue the original 1985 Robotech television series. Only three episodes were ultimately animated before the project was canceled in 1986, and a feature-length film was released from footage taken from the completed episodes...
, but this project was canceled due to a number of circumstances. While at Harmony Gold, Macek also produced the little-known, rarely seen Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years
Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years
Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years is an animated science fiction television series produced by Harmony Gold USA. The series was created by Carl Macek by combining footage from Leiji Matsumoto’s Captain Harlock and Queen Millennia anime series.This is the second time the 1978 Captain...
(which combines the almost-unrelated stories of Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Space Pirate Captain Harlock
is a manga series written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto, serialized Akita Shoten's Play Comic from 1977 to 1979. The series was adapted into an animated television series in 1978 directed by Rintaro and produced by Toei Animation....
and Queen Millennia
Queen Millennia
is a manga series by Leiji Matsumoto which was serialized from 28 January 1980through 11 May 1983 in both the Sankei Shimbun and Nishinippon Sports newspapers. The manga series was adapted into a 42-episode anime TV series by Toei Dōga and broadcast on the Fuji TV network from 16 April 1981 through...
(the only connection between the two originally was that they took place in the same 'universe', albeit a thousand years apart)).
Later career
Macek went on to co-found (with Jerry BeckJerry Beck
Jerry Beck is a well-known animation historian, with ten books and numerous articles to his credit. He is also an animation producer, an industry consultant to Warner Bros., and has been an executive with Nickelodeon and Disney....
) Streamline Pictures
Streamline Pictures
Streamline Pictures was an American media company that was best known for its distribution of English dubbed Japanese animation. -Founding:Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1988, Streamline Pictures was one of the first North American companies that was created primarily for the intention of...
in 1988. Joining him were writers who had worked with him on Robotech, most notably, Steve Kramer
Steve Kramer (actor)
Steven M. Kramer is an American voice actor for many anime titles. He has also done voice acting for various Power Rangers series in the past, with the best-known of those roles being the voice of Darkonda in Power Rangers in Space. His wife, Melora Harte, is a voice actress...
, Tom Wyner
Tom Wyner
Thomas Halperin "Tom" Wyner is an English-born voice actor for anime series who usually gets tough guy or villain roles. He is also a producer, director, and writer...
, Gregory Snegoff
Gregory Snegoff
Gregory Snegoff is an American voice actor, writer and dialogue director who frequently works on English anime-dubs, known for providing the voice of Scott Bernard in Robotech, Taki Renzaburo in Wicked City and Master Roshi in Dragon Ball . He is also known by the names Greg Snegoff, Gregory Snow,...
and Ardwight Chamberlain
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ardwight Chamberlain is a voice actor and screen writer currently living in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the voice of Vorlon Ambassador Kosh on the science-fiction television series Babylon 5...
, each of whom are also experienced voice actors. Streamline Pictures was one of the first American companies to successfully deal in the regular production of imported Japanese animation. Among the titles released by Streamline are Lensman
Lensman
The Lensman series is a serial science fiction space opera by Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith. It was a runner-up for the Hugo award for best All-Time Series ....
, Robot Carnival
Robot Carnival
is a Japanese anime anthology film released in 1987. It consists of nine shorts by different directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience...
, Doomed Megalopolis
Doomed Megalopolis
is an anime rendition of the Japanese historical fantasy epic Teito Monogatari . Like it's live-action predecessor, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, the anime is only an adaptation of the first 1/3rd of the original novel. It was released by Toei in 1991 as a 4-part OVA...
, Twilight of the Cockroaches
Twilight of the Cockroaches
is a 1987 anime/live-action film written and directed by Hiroaki Yoshida that combines live-action footage with animation. The plot concerns a society of cockroaches who live peacefully in the apartment of a bachelor named Seito until a woman moves in and the humans begin to exterminate the...
, Crying Freeman
Crying Freeman
is a manga by Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami about an assassin who sheds tears after he kills his targets. Crying Freeman follows the title assassin, a Japanese man hypnotized and trained by the Chinese mafia to serve as its agent, and covered in a vast and complex dragon tattoo...
, Wicked City
Wicked City (film)
is an animated horror neo-noir directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's novel of the same name.The story takes place towards the end of the 20th century and explores the idea that the human world secretly coexists with the demon world with a secret police force known as the Black...
, and the original English dub versions of Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's Laputa: Castle in the Sky, the Fist of the North Star
Fist of the North Star (1986 film)
is a 1986 Japanese animated film adaptation of the manga series of the same name. It was produced by Toei Animation, the same studio who worked on the TV series that was airing at the time, with much of the same staff and cast working on both...
film, Akira
Akira (film)
is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
, Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, and Lupin III: Mystery of Mamo. As of 1993, Streamline Pictures distributed their anime through Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
and was eventually purchased by Orion in 1996. Both companies are now defunct.
He was working as a scriptwriter for the English dub of Naruto (anime) and Bleach
Bleach (manga)
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...
for Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
, and consulting for Harmony Gold on Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is the 2006 animated sequel to the 1985 Robotech television series. It was released on DVD on February 6, 2007.- Plot :...
before his death.
Other works
Macek was a co-editor of McGill's Survey of the Cinema and Film Noir—An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (1979). He authored The Art of Heavy MetalHeavy Metal (film)
Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian fantasy-animated film directed by Gerald Potterton and produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine....
: Animation for the Eighties and Robotech Art 3: The Sentinels in which he chronicles in detail the conception and what went wrong during the production of the latter aborted animated series. He also worked as a scriptwriter for the animated series C.O.P.S.
C.O.P.S.
C.O.P.S. is an American animated television series released by DIC Entertainment and Celebrity Home Entertainment...
and was the executive consultant for the animated film Heavy Metal 2000
Heavy Metal 2000
Heavy Metal 2000 is the 2000 follow-up to the 1981 animated cult film Heavy Metal, based on the fantasy magazine of the same name. The story itself is based on the graphic novel, The Melting Pot, written by Kevin Eastman, Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot...
. He recently wrote the animated adaptation of Brian Pulido
Brian Pulido
Brian Pulido is a creator, writer and producer of comic books and films.-Early life:Growing up in Long Branch, New Jersey, Pulido first developed an interest in the horror genre after the release of Night of the Living Dead when he was a child.-Comic book career:Pulido has created, written or...
's Lady Death
Lady Death
Lady Death is a fictional character, a comic book goddess created by Brian Pulido and Steven Hughes. Lady Death first appeared in Evil Ernie #1 by Eternity Comics in December 1991. Lady Death then reappeared in the Evil Ernie: The Resurrection mini-series published by Pulido under his now defunct...
.
Macek adapted the treatment by Merian C. Cooper (the producer of King Kong) for the unproduced film project War Eagles into a novel and screenplay in 2008. The book was published in the summer of 2008 by Angelgate Press.
Legacy in anime
Macek became one of the most controversial figures amongst English anime fandomFandom
Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
. Many consider him one of the early pioneers of the medium outside of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Streamline Pictures-dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
anime were among the first to be available on home video as well as broadcast on cable. Over the years he has seen his share of detractors and proponents.
Death
Jerry Beck, one of Macek's former business partners, revealed that Macek died of a heart attack on Saturday, April 17, 2010.His brief obituary in the Los Angeles Times reported the place of death as Topanga Canyon. The obituary shows a picture of him surrounded by several Robotech characters from all three series.