In terms of sheer volume of content, Macross 7 easily beats any of its franchise stablemates. At 49 TV episodes, the three-part Encore OVAs (bundled with the TV show on Hulu/Disney+), a short 1995 theatrical movie – The Galaxy is Calling Me, and the four-part Dynamite 7 OVA, that's a lot of one particular Macross flavor. If you didn't enjoy the whimsical, light-hearted Macross 7 then these follow-up adventures are not for you. However, Macross 7 devotees will be in their element.

The Galaxy is Calling Me was released in Japanese movie theaters very shortly after the TV show's conclusion, accompanying the contemporaneously-produced Macross Plus: The Movie. It even uses the TV show's opening sequence! At 32 minutes duration, it's an extremely short “movie,” hence the reason I've combined it with a review of the later OVA series. Fan consensus appears to be that The Galaxy is Calling Me is set sometime between episodes 38 and 40, and that's corroborated by the appearance of the Protodeviln, a vampiric enemy race whose storyline concludes by episode 49.

What's instantly noticeable is that The Galaxy is Calling Me doesn't seem to have undergone the same restoration as the rest of Macross 7 – the picture quality is demonstrably poorer, with marked interlacing especially obvious during action scenes, the colors seem washed out, and the image itself is more grainy. It's not enough to detract from the experience, but it seems jarring, especially when jumping straight from the preceding pin-sharp, vibrant TV episodes. It's also presented in a 4:3 ratio, in keeping with the show, rather than offering a more cinematic experience. The Galaxy is Calling Me focuses heavily on Basara, who buggers off on another one of his random solo adventures, leaving his bandmates in the lurch once again, chasing after a mysterious source of song energy through a spatial rift. He finds himself on an icy planet with Wild West vibes, populated by miners terrorized by a distorted wailing that they think portends disaster. Of course, it's not a monster – Basara discovers it's a giant Meltrandi who just wants to sing her music loudly enough to shake mountains.

I won't spoil the Meltrandi's identity, but when Basara discovers who she is, his reaction is hilarious. Basara also befriends Pedro, a random toddler and Fire Bomber fan, whom he takes for a ride in his Valkyrie for some reason. He ends up endangering the kid's life by battling the Protodeviln who appear, also searching for the source of the distorted song energy. Basara and Pedro are a cute duo – it's like he's finally found someone with the same mental energy to bond with.

The story itself is inconsequential and daft, but there are some great scenes – especially when Basara and the giant green-haired woman engage in an intense rock battle. With a couple of new songs as well as reprises of some well-known favorites, The Galaxy is Calling Me maintains Macross 7's flair for high-quality rock soundtracks. "Flash in the Dark" is sung by the new female vocalist, while "Heart & Soul" is a great new duet between her and Basara.

Action scenes, in general, get a notable upgrade, with some extremely smooth, detailed mecha animation. Basara's red Fire Valkyrie never looked so cool. Apart from this, The Galaxy is Calling Me doesn't look much different from a standard Macross 7 episode. Poor Mylene and the rest of Fire Bomber don't get much to do, and Basara's his same old single-minded self. I find Protodeviln Gavil intensely irritating with his repetitive verbal affectations, but at least he gets soundly beaten and sent on his way fairly swiftly. This is hardly an essential watch, but it's a fun one.

Macross Dynamite 7 is much more substantial, with four episodes each hovering around the half-hour mark. Structurally it's very similar to The Galaxy is Calling Me, with Basara disappearing on his bandmates again, this instance traveling to planet Zola for no reason other than “the way the wind was blowing felt nice.” Basara winds up embroiled in a situation involving enormous migratory Galactic Whales, seemingly sentient clusters of spacefaring plant matter that bury their eldest pod members in their ancient cemetery on Zola once every seven thousand years.

Unfortunately, these majestic creatures make excellent fuel for spaceships, so Zola's Planetary Patrol has their work cut out to protect them from highly organized poachers. On Zola, Basara meets young Fire Bomber fan Elma, whose father Graham is the only “Maclonised” (Zentradi-sized) Zolan, who has an obsession with hunting down and killing the Galactic Whale's leader, the seemingly millions-of-years-old white whale. Graham lost both an arm and his wife (Elma's mother, a singer), to the white whale. References to Moby Dick, it seems, are entirely intentional.

Basara strikes up an odd friendship with the adoring Elma and the taciturn Graham. Ever the pacifist, Basara's desperate to sing to the white whale, preventing the poachers and Graham from ending its life. Graham argues the white whale tires of its seeming immortality, having seen so many of its family die over millions of years. Graham views his actions as a mercy killing, as opposed to the poachers who aren't above trying even a Reaction Warhead (nuclear bomb equivalent) to rid them of the powerful white whale.

Without a Valkyrie of his own (his distinctive red Fire Valkyrie meeting its end during Macross 7's final battle), Basara “acquires” a brand new shiny white Valkyrie from the Planetary Patrol, which is soon stained red with the white whale's blood. While it takes a lot of buildup, the final four-way battle between Basara, Graham, the poachers, and the Planetary Patrol is worth waiting for. It's an extended, intense, color-drenched, and sparkling spectacle (yes, Galactic Whales sparkle) that reinforces the Macross franchise as the place to watch insane space wars with skies full of missiles and lasers. Not that Basara is a standard combatant per se – as usual, his weapons are his music, along with his unshakeable pacifism.

Poor Mylene, Ray, and Veffidas, the other members of Fire Bomber, are sidelined. In Mylene's case, this is partly to do with the well-publicized excision of her attempted sexual assault subplot. Any viewer coming to this Hulu/Disney+ stream blind is unlikely to notice the absence of this plot – its removal is so surgical and precise that it begs the question of whether it was even necessary to include it in the first place. Established fans who may have watched the show via other means may notice that footage is missing, but for new viewers, it's not obvious anything is even missing. The main downside is Mylene's reduced screen presence.

The missing footage comprises four short scenes, across episodes two and three, each under a minute duration, where 15-16-year-old Mylene is wined (with non-alcoholic juice), dined, and drugged by an adult female music producer, whose obvious intent is to sexually assault her vulnerable body. Mylene is extremely distressed by this, the scenes are very uncomfortable to watch and seem both thematically and tonally out of place. That they're interspersed with Basara's comparatively innocent naked hot spring bathing scene with the even younger Elma is particularly bizarre. The nudity in Basara's scene is completely non-sexual, and Basara shows no ill intent whatsoever towards Elma. It's due to her dragging an unconscious, injured Basara to the magical spring for healing that they're even bathing together, which is an interesting counterpoint to Mylene's experiences. Perhaps if Macross Dynamite 7 ever gets a physical release, the excised scenes might be included? For now, trust me when I say you're not missing much.

Elma takes Mylene's place in the narrative. She's a peppy, upbeat young girl who adores music and sees Basara as a mentor figure. There's no romantic tension, thankfully. She even has a funny pet, a three-eyed snake, Cappy, whom she wears around her neck. Like Mylene's Gubaba, Cappy seems fully sentient. Oddly, it seems almost everyone else in Zolan culture also has a Cappy of their own. Elma's facial expressions and reactions are priceless, and she's a great ongoing source of humor. Between her and her father Graham, they sport the most late 90's anime character designs ever. That's not a complaint! Macross Dynamite 7's aesthetic is of its time, and it looks great.

Other fun in-jokes include the fact that Mylene and Basara are separated for the entire runtime, and when she finally finds him, he jets off in the opposite direction, barely giving her the time of day! So much for Ray suggesting she search for him to “sort out her feelings and take a step into adulthood.” Once again, romantic resolution is absolutely not the order of the day. With Mylene and Basara both missing, Ray and Veffidas valiantly continue their concert with wooden cutouts of their absent members taking their place on stage. It's incredibly silly, but fun, as the cutouts' motorized arms move repetitively up and down while a microphone captures their vocals from a portable tape recorder.

For the first time, there's a new opener – "Dynamite Explosion" – accompanied by a heavily CGI-using animated sequence from studio Gonzo with visual elements like metallic chains reminiscent of Macross Plus. With each successive episode, the visuals change and evolve subtly. The song itself is loud, brash, and exciting, and looks like it's supposed to be from Fire Bomber's final concert, or final tour at least. The new closing track "Parade" is decent, but not exceptional and features an animated Basara against live-action backdrops.

Macross Dynamite 7 is more Macross 7, but in a different setting, and with a plot divorced completely from the main Protodeviln story arc. It's great for Basara fans, but not so much for those hoping to see more of Mylene or any interpersonal development between Fire Bomber members. At turns exciting and spectacular, silly and bizarre, it's not essential viewing, and won't convert any new fans to the Macross 7 fandom, but I had a lot of fun with it.