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,[1][2][3]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 on June 18, 1999,[4] and was first broadcast on December 29, 2000, from 16:00 to 17:25 on TV Asahi 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.
In October 1995, work began on the G-Saviourmultimedia 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[5] 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 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 was not involved in this production.
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.[6]
Home video
The film was released on DVD on January 22, 2002.[7]
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.[8]
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 D Superdash Bunko series. The novelisation was released in Japan during December 2000 and was written by Yoshie Kawahara with illustrations by Masahisa Suzuki.[9]
Video game
Sunrise Interactive published the G-Saviour video game, which was an action game developed by Atelier Sai, for the PlayStation 2 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 .[10] This game was the first Gundam game released for the PlayStation 2.
A three part manga was serialised in Famitsu which elaborated upon the story during the first two stages of the game. This manga has not subsequently been collected in any compilation volume.[11]
G-Saviour has received a mixed reception. An Anime News Network review calls the film "a pleasing mix of both science fiction and adventure"[12] while MAHQ, a dedicated mecha website, was critical of the "extremely clichéd Hollywood-style writing".[13] 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".[14]
