is a 1999 American live-action
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
created as part of the ''
Gundam
is a Japanese military science fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ...
''
anime franchise, produced by Polestar Entertainment under the supervision of
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon.
Terminology
Although the S ...
and distributed by
Bandai Visual
was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.
Most of the anime and ...
.
The film was produced as part of the "Gundam Big Bang Project", which was a series of works made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ''Gundam'' franchise. Set in the
Universal Century timeline, ''G-Saviour'' was produced as a joint effort between the animation studio and creator of Gundam, Sunrise, and an independent film production company, Polestar Entertainment. The film was theatrically screened at a festival in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
on June 18, 1999, and was first broadcast on December 29, 2000, from 16:00 to 17:25 on
TV Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...
and its affiliate
ANN stations.
Plot
The year is
Universal Century 0223. The former Earth Federation has collapsed, and the space colonies have shaken off their colonial pasts and now refer to themselves as independent space "Settlements". In this new power scheme two factions have emerged: the Congress of Settlement Nations (CONSENT), which is largely made up of the former Earth Federation government and Sides 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and the Settlement Freedom League, composed of Sides 1, 4, and the Lunar Cities.
Mark Curran is an ex-CONSENT pilot who now works for Hydro-Gen, an independent research facility located at the
Deep Face Trench. While out on a harvesting run, Mark saves CONSENT lieutenant Tim Holloway. Shortly after the lieutenant is saved, the lab is commandeered by the Congressional Armed Forces, led by Mark's former superior, Jack Halle. As the facility's security system is triggered, Mark goes off to investigate. Mark saves one of the intruders, Cynthia Graves, from Jack's firing squad after she surrenders, while another intruder is killed by the gunfire.
The CONSENT is in the midst of a global food shortage, with its military leaders threatening force to take over the neutral Side 8 Settlement of Gaea. General Garneuax asks Mark to interrogate Cynthia, who is revealed to be a Gaean rebel. Mark helps Cynthia escape, who shows him an enzyme that allows food to grow underwater, which can solve the food shortage. The two meet up with Cynthia's interns, Franz Dieter and Kobi, and the group escape into space along with Mark's fiancée Mimi Devere. Meanwhile, Jack frames Mark for the murder of a CONSENT soldier, whom Jack had killed himself. The group arrives at the Side 4 Settlement of New Manhattan, meeting with Philippe San Simeone, an old acquaintance of Mark, and a member of the Illuminati, a private paramilitary organization. Philippe entrusts Mark with a new prototype mobile suit, the G-Saviour, but he refuses to pilot it. Mark changes his mind to help clear a path through a debris field on the way to Gaea.
Arriving at Gaea, Mark and Cynthia meet with Chief Councilor Graves, Cynthia's father. Graves tell them that a Congressional Armed Forces fleet is on its way to Gaea, looking to apprehend the two and the enzyme sample. After seeing Mark and Cynthia share a kiss, Mimi hacks into Gaea's defense system, causing debris clearing guns to fire at a CONSENT ship. After Mark concludes that a mobile suit carrier is on its way to attack Gaea, Cynthia asks Mark to lead Gaea's mobile suit force against the approaching CONSENT forces. Both sides launch their mobile suit forces, with CONSENT greatly outmatching Gaea's obsolete RGM-196 Freedom mobile suits. Jack sorties out in the CAMS-13 MS-Rai, with Mark engaging him in battle with the G-Saviour. Congressional Armed Forces enter Gaea, with Kobi being critically wounded while trying to protect the enzyme sample. After retrieving the sample, Garneuax reveals his true intentions to destroy the sample and implement a policy of selective starvation across the CONSENT. With Gaea's forces dwindling, Philippe and the Illuminati's forces arrive and push back the CONSENT attack. Jack is defeated by Mark and the G-Saviour, who enter Gaea to disable the remaining CONSENT forces.
Garneuax and his forces, along with Mimi, escape from the Settlement in a Gaean space shuttle. Mimi reveals that she switched out the enzyme sample, which is back in the possession of Cynthia, as the shuttle is shot down by CONSENT forces. With Garneuax dead and Jack incapacitated, the Congressional Armed Forces withdraw from Gaea. Councilor Graves gives a speech stating that Side 8 will stay independent, while Mark returns to Earth with Cynthia.
Cast
Production
In October 1995, work began on the ''G-Saviour''
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...
project, beginning with the production of a promotional trailer to pitch the film to Sunrise. This promotional trailer was completed in March 1997.
Production on the film began in June 1998 and was intended, along with the ''
Turn-A Gundam'' television series, to be the centerpiece of the "Gundam Big Bang Project", which was the 20th
anniversary
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded.
Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...
celebration for the popular ''Gundam'' metaseries. The ''G-Saviour'' film is part of the ''G-Saviour'' multimedia project, which encompasses several forms of media, including a radio drama, novel, and video game. ''Gundam'' co-creator
Yoshiyuki Tomino
is a Japanese anime director, screenwriter, songwriter and novelist best known for creating the ''Gundam'' anime franchise.
Early life and family
Tomino was born on November 5, 1941, in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, to an old family of regio ...
was not involved in this production.
The film's actors are predominantly from Canada, and the
Japanese language
is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...
version has Japanese dubbed into the film. Most of the set locations, such as the
Orpheum Theatre and
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...
Burnaby
Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...
campus, were located in the
Metro Vancouver
The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and Corporation, corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as o ...
area in British Columbia, Canada.
''G-Saviour'' is unique among ''Gundam'' animated and live-action properties in that the word "Gundam" is not in the title, or used at all throughout the film's run. It was the second attempt at producing a live-action ''Gundam'' feature, after the 1997 interactive video game ''
Gundam 0079: The War for Earth''.
Home video
The film was released on DVD on January 22, 2002.
Media
Radio drama
Prior to the television broadcasting, a radio drama series which takes place before the events of the film was broadcast on Japanese FM radio stations. These radio dramas were subsequently released on CD in December 2000 onward as part of a "Sound Cinema" series by
Pioneer LDC.
# G-Saviour Sound Cinema 01: Red Wings of Icarus
# G-Saviour Sound Cinema 02: Before the Mission
# G-Saviour Sound Cinema 03: Deep Sea Prometheus
Novelisation
A novelisation of the film's events was released across two volumes as part of the
Shueisha
is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
D Superdash Bunko series. The novelisation was released in Japan during December 2000 and was written by Yoshie Kawahara with illustrations by Masahisa Suzuki.
Video game
Sunrise Interactive
is a Japanese entertainment company owned by Bandai Namco Holdings with its business focused on production, planning, and management of anime. It was founded in September 1972 by former Mushi Production staff as the animation studio branch of ...
published the ''G-Saviour'' video game, which was an
action game
An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...
developed by Atelier Sai, for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
on September 14, 2000. The game's story takes place after the events of the film with new characters continuing the overall story arc from the movie as well as featuring Mobile Suits that are exclusive to the game . This game was the first ''Gundam'' game released for the PlayStation 2.
A three part manga was serialised in
Famitsu
, formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
which elaborated upon the story during the first two stages of the game. This manga has not subsequently been collected in any compilation volume.
Music
Reception
''G-Saviour'' has received a mixed reception. An
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
review calls the film "a pleasing mix of both science fiction and adventure" while MAHQ, a dedicated
mecha
In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines, typically depicted as piloted, humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japan ...
website, was critical of the "extremely clichéd Hollywood-style writing". Criticism has been levelled at the application of the titular mobile suits during the film, with one review stating "while the CGI effects look great, most familiar with the anime series on which this was based will complain the 'suits' were not utilized as well as they might have been".
RPG.net Review of G-Saviour: The Movie
/ref>
References
External links
*
Bandai Visual's ''G-Saviour'' DVD page
*
*
{{Sunrise OVAs
1999 television films
1999 films
1999 science fiction films
1990s Canadian films
1990s English-language films
1990s dystopian films
Bandai Visual
Bandai Entertainment anime titles
Canadian science fiction television films
English-language Canadian films
Films about Japanese Canadians
Films based on animated television series
Films directed by Graeme Campbell (director)
Films scored by John Debney
Films scored by Louis Febre
Films shot in Vancouver
Gundam
Space adventure films
Super Dash Bunko
TV Asahi original programming
English-language science fiction films