Gundam SEED: Special Edition are the compilation movies of the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED TV series with some new footage. Parts I and II were broadcast as TV specials, and Part III is only available on video/DVD.
Plot[]
The year is CE 70. The tragedy of "Bloody Valentine" has escalated the war between the Naturals of the Earth Alliance and genetically-enhanced Coordinators of PLANT to new heights. ZAFT, PLANT's military, has a considerable advantage due to their mobile suits, which the mobile armors of the EA stand no chance against. Kira Yamato is a Coordinator living in Heliopolis, a neutral colony. However, during a surprise attack by ZAFT, Kira stumbles onto the EA's secret project, the powerful mobile suits which Kira calls Gundam. Now forced to fight against his own kinds to protect his Natural friends aboard the EA battleship Archangel, he must choose whether he should fight on, or leave the Archangel defenseless against the four other Gundam that ZAFT has stolen.
Overview[]
Much like the Mobile Suit Gundam theatrical movies, the Gundam SEED Special Edition movies are intended to be a summary of the story from the TV series with new animations and new voices.
These episodes are in fact a complete recap of all 50 episodes of the TV series and were first shown on television in Japan. The Special Edition episodes feature some new scenes and tweaks to previously animated scenes. The first special, 'The Empty Battlefield', which was episodes 1 to 21 of the series, was aired in two parts on Japanese TV in March 2004, followed by the next special, 'The Distant Dawn', which was episodes 22 to 40, in July. The final special, 'The Rumbling Universe', which was episodes 41 to 50. While the story is overall unchanged, there are a few minor changes. In addition, several scenes are re-animated and re-dubbed.
It is believed that these movies were cut to better transition the story between Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Others believe also that the special editions were made to correct or add things that weren't in the TV series from time or budget reasons. It's been mistakenly referred to that this is in fact recapped episodes. While that might be the case, they're still movies in their own right.
All three movies were released on Universal Media Disc in mid-2005. Gundam Seed: Special Edition has been licensed for America by Bandai Entertainment and was released in English in the 2nd half of 2005.
Some of the new scenes from the movies were used for the HD Remastered broadcast of the TV series.
Titles List[]
- Special Edition I - The Empty Battlefield (虚空の戦場)
- Special Edition II - The Far-Away Dawn (遥かなる暁)
- Special Edition III - The Rumbling Sky (鳴動の宇宙)
Changes[]
The transition from TV to movies allowed changes to the storyline of the show to be made for the movie versions.
Special Edition I - The Empty Battlefield[]
- A brand new 55 second scene showing the preparation for the assault on Heliopolis (showing more shots of Miguel and new shots of Rusty).
- Scenes of Kira and his friends before the bombs going off were redone.
- A Newtype flash added when Mu senses Creuset for the first time.
- The debut of Cagalli is retold and a new scene of her conversation with Kira is included with new footage.
- Athrun and Kira's first meeting during the firefight in episode 1 is intercut with scenes of when they were kids instead of being shown slowly with negative colors.
- The scene of Flay emerging from the lifeboat (ep 4) and hugging Kira is redone and retold, while a new 30 second scene of Sai and Flay conversing has been added.
- The scene with Creuset and Athrun discussing the Strike's pilot is reduced to a 10 second flashback and is inserted into the scene where Athrun is lying and thinking about the loss of Rusty and Miguel.
- The Archangel's heading to Artemis and the Battle of Artemis footage had been removed.
- Athrun's shower scene (ep 8) is lengthened and intercut with scenes of his parents; the scene following this (his discovery of Lacus' disappearance) is completely redone and moved to be ahead of hatch opening sequence of Lacus's life pod.
- The backstory from the first clip show is omitted.
- A new 25 second clip of Lacus trip to the cafeteria on board the Archangel is shown.
- The scene of Rau and Mu taking the opportunity to attack during the time that Kira is transferring Lacus to Athrun only for Lacus to order Rau to stand down and withdraw is removed.
- A brand new sequence of Kira and Flay having sex together is shown cut between Strike's first battle in the desert.
- The scenes of Dearka and Yzak assisting Andrew Waltfeld during his final attack on the Archangel have been removed.
Special Edition II - The Far-Away Dawn[]
- Kira's battles with Marco Morassim are reduced to a few frames.
- The scene where Cagalli and Athrun formally introduce themselves to each other has been moved into a flashback scene during the Zala Team's attack on the Archangel.
- There is only a few seconds separating Nicol's death from the next brutal battle between Kira and Athrun.
- Tolle's death scene is redone and is made more gruesome than the TV Series version.
- A new scene is added where Kisaka comes to get Cagalli after the Archangel sends a distress signal to Orb after the battle between Kira and Athrun.
- When Athrun meets with Lacus in the theatre, the gunmen attempting to assassinate her are removed from the scene.
- The scene where Erica Simmons shows that she has rebuilt the Strike and equipped it with Orb's OS system and Mu's decision to pilot it has been removed, instead it shows Mu piloting the rebuilt Strike during the Orb arc without any explanation of how he received it.
- Most of the Orb arc is shown with battle scenes being spliced together to create enlarged confrontations.
- The footage of the Le Creuset team observing the Battle of Orb has been removed.
Special Edition III - The Rumbling Sky[]
- Background is shown of Azrael as a little boy where his hatred for Coordinators began.
- Rau's face is shown in the laboratory sequence.
- Kira has a talk with Lacus about how he isn't sure if he wasn't meant to be born in the world after he found out the truth from Rau. Lacus responds by telling Kira he belongs to the world as long as he is born and exist in the world and his birth has made her a much happier woman, she then tells him she wants him to stay with her.
- In the final battle at GENESIS, Athrun disabled a YFX-600R GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Type (first introduced in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV) when forcing his way into Jachin Due.
- Clotho is killed by Dearka instead of Yzak.
- Mu La Flaga's battered helmet is removed from the debris.
Music[]
Ending Themes
- 1: "Annani Issho Datta no ni (Even Though We Were Together So Much)" by See-Saw
- 2: "Akatsuki no Kuruma (Wheels of Dawn)" by FictionJunction Yuuka
- 3: "Find The Way" by Mika Nakashima
Insert song:
- 1: "Akatsuki no Kuruma" by FictionJunction Yuuka
- 2: "INVOKE" by T.M.Revolution
- 3: "Meteor" (meteor -ミーティア-; Mītia) by T.M.Revolution
- 4: "Mizu no Akashi" (水の証; Token of Water) by Rie Tanaka
- 5: "Shizuka na Yoru ni" (静かな夜に; In the Quiet Night) by Rie Tanaka
- 6: "Zips" by T.M.Revolution
HD Remastered Version[]
In 2019 to 2020, the compilation films are remastered and released for the GUNDAM “BEYOND the Cinema EXPERIENCE” TOUR[1], while using newly-animated footage for the HD Remastered version of the TV series. In 2023, all of the three movies are released on various streaming services in Japan.[2]
Gallery[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- Several of the ending credits animation from the 2nd OVA were used for the 2nd half of the HD Remastered Ending credits.
Errors[]
- The Far-away Dawn
- Original Version:
- In 1:21:49, the Justice's Fatum-00 is still firing after it flew through the Calamity. This was fixed in the "HD Remastered" version of the film.
- Due to scratch track cuts, the English dub clip in 1:21:56 still retains the "Me!" quote from Clotho's "You Bug me!" line.
- HD Remastered Version:
- An animated sequence of the Perfect Strike launching from the Archangel's catapult had a Phase Shift-activated sound despite the Strike itself still had its PS Armor deactivated upon launch.
- Original Version:
HD Remastered Changes[]
- The Empty Battlefield:
- A scene of Miguel wanting to capture the Strike had the monoeye on his GINN properly reanimated. The original version had the eye went from center to left in just two frames.
- The Far-Away Dawn:
- The Beam Saber clash between the Aile Strike and the Aegis at 00:25:27 is newly animated.