Protoculture (Macross) - Robotech Definitions

Robotech Definitions

In Robotech, the 1985 American-edited adaptation of three unrelated anime sci-fi series (1, 2, 3), the term Protoculture was used to describe a powerful energy source, a catalyst in genetic engineering, a hallucinatory substance, and the described "lifeblood" of two different races. As the "foodstuff" and the by-product of the Flower of Life, it is used by one race, the Invid, in "finding the ultimate lifeform through the ritualistic eating." The Robotech Masters also call it "the lifeblood of our existence," and say their "foremost goal is to control this life force by conquering Earth."

In Robotech: Genesis, a six-part comic book mini-series published by Eternity Comics in the early 1990s, the origin and use of Protoculture is explained. Zor, a young scientist from the moon of the planet Fantoma, Tirol, is part of a major interplanetary scientific expedition. On one leg of the survey, Zor lands on the planet Optera, which is home to the insect-like Invid. Zor finds himself in telepathic communication with the central intelligence of the Invid, and through their meeting an exchange of information between the two races is achieved. The Invid consciousness learns of Tirolian science and engineering, and Zor learns of the innermost secrets of the Flower of Life, a flower that dominates the landscape of the planet (as well as the diet of the Invid).

By processing the Flowers of Life, the energy source, known as Protoculture, was created. Due to the greed and growing thirst for power of the Tirolian government, the planet of Optera is almost completely devastated due to Tirolian harvesting of the Flowers of Life. This callous defoliation inspires the Invid to create their immense war machine and attack the Tirolians, aka the Robotech Masters. After the Emperor orders Zor's father killed, Zor decides to destroy the Masters' Protoculture factories. He then escapes the Masters, along with the only remaining Protoculture Matrix, inside the experimental SDF-1 Zentraedi Monitor. After being mortally wounded during an Invid ambush, Zor sends the space fortress on a random space fold, and passes away. The ship soon crashes on Earth and sets the stage for the whole Robotech saga.

The Jack McKinney novels expanded on the metaphysical aspects of protoculture, notably that protoculture was a form of sentience in itself. Dr. Emil Lang, Earth's chief Robotechnician, frequently referred to a cosmic force that he called The Shapings, a cycle of events and occurrences that ultimately lead to a greater event in the nature of the universe; perhaps the ultimate evolution of life itself to a next stage.

Dr. Lang believes that The Shapings started well before Zor's discovery of protoculture, and have influenced the progress of the Robotech Wars, including the SDF-3's failure to appear in Earthspace at the end of the TV series. He and Exedore also suspected that the mythology of the enigmatic planet Haydon, that they have been researching, may yet have an ultimate part to play in the way that The Shapings play out. Dr. Lang and Exedore's predictions as well as the nature of the Shapings and Haydon are explored in the eighteenth Robotech novel, "End of the Circle".

By Harmony Gold's current stance, the Jack McKinney novels and the Robotech: The Legend of Zor comic series is secondary canon: subject to critical review with respect to the primary canon (the TV series) but not necessarily ruled out. The Haydonites, however, did appear in the 2006 animated Robotech sequel Shadow Chronicles, although their depiction here is far more sinister. According to the Invid princess, Ariel, the Haydonites wish to destroy all races that use protoculture, because "they fear its awesome power...".