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Part 3
It’s now time for us to take a look at Part 3 of this CGI offering into the Gundam world. It’s always interesting what becomes popular and what doesn’t and Igloo is proof of that.
As with the previous Igloo parts we start off with the date in the UC timeline to tell us where we currently are, in this case its 0079.10.24 and we’re with a Zeon supply convoy as they fly through space. Things are not that easy as it appears they are being watched and see that it’s a Federation cruiser with a squadron of MS balls (painted with shark teeth no less) that launch to begin an attack raid on the supply ships. The Ball pilots think they have easy pickings but then a pair of unknown Mobile Suits appear and start to engage and fight off the federation units. The federation pilots realize they are out gunned and beat a hasty retreat as we see the Zeon mobile suit launch a flare into space as we hit the opening credits.
We’re back and it’s more propaganda video time and this time speaks of the discovery of learning about the Federations development of the mobile suit before going on to discuss the Zeon’s new replacement unit for the Zaku: the Zudah. We then go back to the actual Zudah as we see it was them that chased off the attack Ms Balls as they prepare to land on the Jotunheim as the crew prepares to receive the units. Back to the propaganda film as we lean who is leading the testing of the Zudah: Major Jean Luc Duvall who seems to be quite the accomplished test pilot. He leads the suit and is greeted with a hero’s welcome as he asks Oliver is he got good data for his testing of the Zudah. On the bridge as Prochnow is laughing to himself as he’s pleased that they won without a fight as well as the fact that the higher ups may be finally seeing his and his vessels worth to the war. He then orders the ship to set course for Side 3.
We now see Oliver giving his results of the testing of the Zudah to his superior officers on side 3 though he is surprised that the military is always making a big deal out of it. He commander tells him that it’s for propaganda as the war isn’t going well at all with the federation forces rumored to be preparing a large scale attack on the Zeon base Odessa which if lost could be dire for the war. Oliver says that the Zudah should be put into mass deployment right away if this is the case but the commander counters with the Zudah’s checkered past as it was originally designed at the same time as the Zaku but issues came up that caused it to be scrapped. Oliver counters that those problems have been corrected and feels that headquarters shouldn’t use it as propaganda. The commander tells him that things are direr than even he hinted on and then says that he’ll show him one more thing before he leaves and plays a video from a gun camera that shows a White Mobile suit attacking said Zeon camera with its pilot scream, much to Oliver’s shock. Nice to see them work in the classic Gundam into the series.
It’s now UC 0079.11.09 and we see the Jotunheim and its escort cruiser continuing to test the Zudah as they have it dodging fire from the cruiser. They then start a full speed test and the 3rd Zudah’s pilot gets too excited as also tries a full speed run but something goes wrong with his Zudah as the booster engine malfunctions and goes beyond the speed at which the unit can handle it and tears the Zudah apart before turning into a fireball and flying into space and then exploding. Yikes, talk about a design defect.
Back on the ship as they mourn the loss of the test pilot Oliver pulls Duvall aside and informs him that the same thing happened with the Zudah years ago during its first testing. Duvall says that it was the fault of the novice pilot and not the Zudah. Oliver notes that he checked the data of the original test himself and found some interesting results comparing it with the current Zudah and asks Duvall what he knows about it but Duvall gets angry and grabs Oliver but before anything can happen an announcement comes for them to report to the bridge. On the deck as they see an announcement/propaganda type video from the Federation discussing the Zudah, which Monique scoffs at, and announces that the Zudah of now is no different from the one tested before and no corrections have been made as it goes on to talk about the Federation assault on Odessa something that enrages Monique who declares it misinformation. However they then get a transmission from their Headquarters stating that any and all ships close to Earth are to stop current activities and head for its orbit immediately. Prochnow notes that the film was probably real as they are most likely being sent to help recover forces that are trying to escape the Federation attack on Odessa and that they have to go and help the Zeon soldiers in orbit before they “Drown” as he orders the ship to head there immediately.
As they arrive at Earth Prochnow tells Duvall that because of the announcement it would be best to keep the Zudah out of action for this operation. Duvall lays blame on the government while Monique finds it odd that he lied first but is blaming others. Duvall then goes on a rant about how it must be the company behind the Zaku pulling dirty tricks again because this is what they did before regarding the Zudah. They then get a distress signal and see hundreds of escape pods in orbit awaiting pick up and try to start the rescue operation despite the pods floating into each other and basically being similar to an asteroid field. We then see a squadron of Ms Balls (probably the same as the one’s for the beginning as they have similar markings) start attacking and picking off the pods that are floating in space. A zaku tries to go out to defend them but since it’s not tuned for space it acts like a drowning man and is easily destroyed by the Balls as we and Monique finally understand what Prochnow meant earlier. Things are not looking good so Monique order the deployment of the Zudah’s with Duvall, Washiya and herself. Didn’t know she was an Ms Pilot but it should be interesting to see what Monique can do.
We watch the Zudah’s deploy and begin their counter attack against the Ball’s taking one out right away as well as assist with the rescue when we see new objects flying in and start attacking the Jotunheim: Space GM’s. Duvall tells the other to continue with the rescue as he flies off to meet his new foe and we see that he does a good job taking out two right away. The rest of the Gm’s prepare to fight but then they realize that it’s not a Zaku but a Zudah and start to laugh at it because of what they saw in the propaganda film. All this does is anger Duvall as he uses the speed of the Zudah to fly around the 4 Gm’s in an attempt to pick them off before leading them off and away from the Pods. Oliver informs Monique to go after Duvall but warns her not to push the Engine too hard as she flies off after them.
The chase is now on as Duvall is racing ahead of the Gm’s and pushing faster as he taunts them to chase him – which they do. Monique is following from behind and radios him to pull back and stop whatever he’s doing. It’s pretty neat watching them race along the orbit of the earth here. Back on the ship as Oliver notices that Duvall’s Zudah is now reaching the limit area before the booster engine overloads as we see Duvall send his last message to the ship that the Zudah has proven its worth in combat. Meanwhile the Gm’s own boosters are start to overload and shutdown but they are picked off by the trailing Monique as she desperately tries to catch up. We see as the Zudah starts to overload the last 3 Gm’s break apart due to the stress of flying so fast. We then watch Monique stop just as Duvall’s Zudah breaks apart and explodes in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Back on the ship as we watch the crew salute in the direction that Duvall went as we also learn that on 0079.11.10 that the Zeon forces have abandoned Odessa. We then see the ship get a message from the engineering headquarters that they are to stop testing the Zudah and the last units will remain with the ship to act as its defense as Oliver struggles to come up with some way to report what has gone on in the testing of the Zudah as the episode ends.
Nimrod’s Thoughts – Another episode is done and once more I have to say while it’s an interesting look from one group of Zeon soldier’s points of view it’s not the story that draws us to see it but the visuals. Then again, given that this was originally part of the Gundam Museum showcase and not really meant for TV it does make sense that the story telling isn’t up to the usual snuff. Still, spectacular CGI here as we finally see what a space Mobile Suit battle could look like in this medium. And with this comes an end to MS Igloo but that’s not really the end as we next head into Apocalypse 0079 which is the successor/sequel to these episodes.
