Dana Sterling
First Robotech War
In the first Robotech Saga, Dana appears as a baby with seagreen coloured hair similar to that of her parents, Max Sterling and Miriya Parina Sterling. Miriya, a former Zentraedi warrior, never believed that she could feel such love towards anyone or anything before she gave birth to Dana and views it as a miracle that she and Max could produce something so innocent and beautiful or that she could ever create a life inside her own body. Max becomes a proud and happy father, despite Dana's playfulness with his hair and her midnight feedings. The Sterlings look forward to raising Dana in a peaceful world, although events would soon transpire that would force the Sterlings in battle again to protect their planet and Dana.Dana is first seen in episode 28, Recontruction Blues, just a few months after she is born. Lisa Hayes, while contemplating the love triangle between Lynn Minmay, Rick Hunter and herself, looks across the street and takes a sharp breath as she spots Max and Miriya walking together, pushing a baby carriage. The Sterlings stop for a moment and Max smiles as he reaches into the carriage and lifts little Dana into his arms while Miriya watches with joy. Max then makes a funny face and Dana smilies in response. Lisa thinks to herself "they look so happy, I can just imagine how it must be. If only Rick could understand" and momentarily, in Lisa's mind, Max wears Rick's face and Miriya wears Lisa's. Lisa envies Max and Miriya for their happy marriage and for having such a beautiful daughter. Claudia Grant, whose lover Roy Fokker was killed in the war, also envies them, as she never got the chance to have a child of her own with Roy. Dana is considered a symbol of new life on Earth that slowly emerges following the massive devastation of the First Robotech War.
Dana plays an important role in episode 30, Viva Miriya when Max and Miriya are asked by Admiral Gloval to bring Dana along on an important mission into deep space to capture the last remaining Zentraedi Satellite factory in June 2013. As Dana is only eight months old, a specially designed "cradle pod" is installed on the bottom of Miriya's veritech fighter. Although, at first glance, the pod could easily be mistaken for a 20th century bomb, it is actually equipped with a special life support system and a heavily padded interior to safely transport Dana into space. Dana is also given her own tiny white and pink Dr. Dentons spacesuit with a white helmet and tinted face shield. Although Dana travels the long distance from Earth to Breetai's ship alone in the cradle pod, she proves to be a very resiliant baby. As Max lifts her out of the pod following their arrival on Breetai's ship, Dana smiles and coos as she playfully wiggles in his arms. Max smiles and hugs her to himself before saying to Miriya "Safe and Sound!" while assisting Dana with a wave.
Initally, the Sterlings are unclear as to why Admiral Gloval wanted them to bring Dana along but the plan soon becomes clear. After arriving in space near the factory, Max and Miriya take off in their veritech fighters and blast their way into the enemy command ship. Zentraedi soldiers surround the fighter and Commander Reno orders them to surrender. However, Miriya calmly reaches down into her cockpit and proudly displays Dana, cradled in her arms and wearing her spacesuit, to the enemy Zentraedi who have never seen a baby before and recoil in shock. One of the Zentraedi soldiers, with a look of terror on his face, shouts "By the foul moons, that thing is deformed!" Dana coos as she brings her tiny gloved hands to her face shield of her helmet in an effort to rub her eyes, promoting another Zentraedi to shout "It moves!" Miriya explains that "In the micronian [human] language, this is what is called an infant; actually created inside my own body. But by both of us," indicating towards Max. Mirya declares that Dana is a symbol of protoculture and love and lifts Dana above her head in full view of all the Zentraedi in the area. The Zentraedi, especially Commander Reno, become terrified of Dana as they conclude that she is a mutation who is contagious. Filled with fear, the Zentraedi soldiers drop their weapons and abandon their posts, throwing the command ship into chaos and causing disorder throughout the enemy fleet. The Sterlings' diversion gives the United Earth Forces (UEF) and the Zentraedi that have allied with them under Breetai time to destroy the enemy fleet and seize the factory. In the subsequent battle, Miriya pilots her veritech while holding Dana in her lap. Dana, unaware of any of the danger, waves her arms joyously at the fiery explosions going off around her, while Miriya clutches her tightly to herself.
Dana is seen briefly again towards the end of episode 35 when she is approximately 14 months old. As Max and Miriya stand on their balcony watching the SDF-1 lit up with Christmas lights, Max lifts Dana, who is initially startled, onto his shoulder. Max subsequently grumbles after Dana starts pulling on his hair while giggling.
Appearance in the Sentinels
Dana is briefly seen as a child in Robotech II: The Sentinels.As children, Dana and Bowie have already become best friends, despite Dana's teasing of him. Dana also sports a very blond hair colour, in sharp contrast to the seagreen hair (similar to that of her parents) that she had as an infant.Dana remained on Earth when Max and Mirya joined the Robotech Expeditionary Forces (REF) aboard the SDF-3 in 2022. On the day before the SDF-3 launches, Dana serves as a flower girl at the wedding of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes. Although the Sterlings hoped that the mission would be over quickly, events would keep the SDF-3 away from Earth for the rest of Dana's childhood.
It is not stated in the television series why Max and Miriya left Dana behind, since other families had brought their children with them and many children were born during the mission. However, the decanonized Jack McKinney novel "The Devil's Hand" (book 13 of the Robotech series) states that Dana, as the only child of a Human-Zentraedi union (who had been studied, tested, and evaluated since birth), she was judged by Professor Lazlo Zand as to valuable to risk going with the REF. Max and Miriya were very reluctant to leave their only child, who was barely 10 years old (or 8 in the novel) behind but ultimately accepted this decision. Dana's childhood friend, Bowie Grant, for health reasons, was also unable to join his parents, Vince Grant and Dr. Jean Grant, on the mission.
Both Dana and Bowie were left under the care of their godparents, Major General Rolf Emerson and his wife Laura. Dana and Bowie subsequently grew up as near siblings, but without their parents. In the Robotech novels, Dana is depicted as missing her parents considerably and longing for their return.
Second Robotech War
It is during the second Robotech Saga that Dana, now an adult with blonde hair (which she wears in a globe-shape with a black hairpin on the left side) becomes the main character and the catalyst for much of the action that takes place in the Second Robotech War. In 2029, just before the arrival of the Robotech Masters in Earth orbit, Dana, now 17 years old, graduates from the United Earth Forces Military academy along with childhood friend Bowie Grant and is placed with the 15th tactical armored squadron of the Army of the Southern Cross, an elite military unit within the United Earth Forces (UEF).Initially, Dana and Bowie are under the command of Sean Phillips. However, after Sean is demoted for flirting with an admiral's daughter, Dana was promoted to Second Lieutenant and takes command of the 15th. Among those under Dana's command, in addition to Bowie, are Louie Nichols and Angelo Dante. Nichols proves himself as expert with tech gadgets and computers. Dante views Dana as an overconfident teenager and Dana must repeatedly prove to him that she is a competent leader. Dana also struggles to prove that her promotion was not given to her simply because her parents are war heroes. In addition, the fact that Dana is half-Zentraedi is not held in high regard by many humans who still harbor grudges due to the Zentraedi holocaust that decimated the planet 18 years ago. Dana clashes with Marie Crystal, a squadron leader within the Tactical Armored Space Corps and Nova Satori, an officer in the military police.
Gregarious and outgoing, Dana proves to be a brilliant tactical leader during the Second Robotech War against the Robotech Masters but she is troubled, because she is half alien, over the fact that the enemy she is killing could be her own relatives (even though it is soon established that the forces of the Masters are not Zentraedi). Because of this, she has several clashes with supreme commander Anatole Leonard over his bigoted treatment of captured bioroid pilots. Leonard seems to tolerate her because of her relationship to Chief of Staff Rolf Emerson. Dana repeatedly demonstrates her skill as a pilot and leader throughout the Second Robotech War and never turns down an opportunity to prove herself and she eventually earns the respect of her squad as well as Nova and Marie. When Bowie is captured by the Masters, Dana leads her squad in an unauthorized mission to rescue him. The mission proves successful and although Dana fears she will be thrown in the prison, she is instead praised by her superiors who marvel at the fact that she was able to rescue Bowie with such a small force against the Masters' superior technology and numbers. In only a short time, Dana, in recognition of her military prowess, is promoted to First Lieutenant. As the war rages on and the Southern Cross and UEF take greater and greater causalities, Dana continues to led her squadron into battle with incredible skill, even as the situation grows more and more dire. Dana would lead the 15th squadron on several dangerous missions, including an attack against and infiltration of the Masters' mothership. She also struggles after Bowie falls in love with Musica and takes her back to Earth. Dana tries to protect them both from Nova Satori, who wants both of them arrested. Dana always tries to maintain a positive outlook, even in the worst of times, to help rally those under her command.
Dana is attracted to Zor Prime (a captured Bioroid pilot and a clone of Zor, the Tirolian who discovered Protoculture) who was attached to the 15th squadron and helped him regain his memory. During the final battle with the Robotech Masters, Dana accidentally touches the terminals of a protoculture chamber and the surge awakens racial memories inside her. Through a waking dream, she meets a young girl, the younger sister she had yet to meet but had been born in deep space during the SDF-3's mission. (This sister was named Aurora in the decanonized Jack McKinney novels. Maia Sterling appears to replace Aurora in the retconned timeline and is a major character in the Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles movie). Zor, sacrifices himself by piloting the Masters' command ship in a suicide run to destroy the Earth mounds where the ruins of the SDF-1's protoculture matrix were located as they had mutated and began to attract the Invid Sensor Nebula. Unfortunately, the explosion he creates only spread the spores throughout the planet causing Earth to become a fertile greenhouse for the Invid flower of life. Dana, and the survivors of the 15th Squadron, can only watch helplessly as the spores are spread by the wind across the planet. The arrival of the Invid was a certainty now and their chances of winning were non-existent as the United Earth Forces and the Robotech Masters had exhausted themselves.
Third Robotech War
Zor's death takes a heavy emotional toll on Dana as she had fallen in love with him. In addition, Rolf Emerson, Dana's godfather who had cared for her since she her parents left with the SDF-3, is also killed in the final battle against the Robotech Masters. This, combined with the massive devastation caused by the Second Robotech War, to be followed by only more devastation when the Invid invade less than a year later, causes Dana to become somber and pessimistic and a pale shadow of her former cheerful self.It is believed that she and other survivors of the 15th squadron joined in the hopeless fight against the Invid invasion in 2031. Subsequently, it is believed that Dana joined the underground resistance against the Invid occupation. However, the exact sequence of events remains unclear:
- In the Robotech: Love and War comic, Dana, Bowie Grant and Angelo Dante (and possibly other survivors of the 15th squadron) are briefly seen taking off in Jonathan Wolfe's spaceship with the intent of contacting the Robotech Expeditionary Forces in 2031, apparently just as the Invid invasion begins.
- In the decanonized Jack McKinney novel "Rubicon" (book 17 of the Robotech series), Dana, Louie Nichols, Bowie Grant, Angelo Dante, Sean Phillips, Marie Crystal, Musica and Allegra acquire Jonathan Wolfe's ship, travel to Tirol, and meet up with the Robotech Expeditionary Forces in 2033.
- In the Wildstorm comic, Prelude to Shadow Chronicles, which is generally accepted as being the most accurate in the rebooted timeline, at least Dana and Louie Nichols reach Space Station Liberty.
During her brief appearance in the Prelude comic, a still subdued Dana reacts strangely when she meets Tirolian Scientist (and Sentinels member) Rem. Her mostly non-verbal behavior indicated that she recognized him, but this is only due to the fact that, like Zor Prime, Rem is another clone of Zor. it is also apparent, again through non-verbal behavior, that there is friction between Dana and Maia Sterling. When Dana and Maia meet, they simple stare at each other for a long moment until Dana walks away, without speaking a word, with a sad look on her face. The reason for the tension between the two sisters is unknown. However, one explanation that has been proposed is that Miriya died during Maia's birth (this explanation would also explain why there is no mention of Miriya in the Prelude comic.) Another explanation offered is that Dana felt, after being left behind on Earth, that her parents had "replaced" her with Maia. Dana is not seen in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and her fate is presently unknown.
Secondary Continuity
In the decanonized book "Force of Arms" (book 5 of the series) by Jack McKinney, Miriya giving birth to Dana is all the more extraordinary because nobody could quite figure out how Max and Miriya had been able to conceive a child since no Zentraedi male-female reproduction had ever been recorded. Explanations that scientists provided were that Miriya's consumption of human-style food (as opposed to antiseptic rations of the Zentraedi) and her exposure to human emotions had caused subtle biochemical changes. Some even wondered if Dana was actually Max and Miriya's child but, as proved by exhaustive tests, Dana was indisputably their child. To Lisa Hayes, the only explanation that made sense (or mattered) was that Dana was the result of the love that Max and Miriya had for one another.In the decanonized Jack McKinney novel The Final Nightmare (book 9 of the series), Dana states, in a remark recorded by Nova Satori, that she became very close to the three former Zentraedi spies Rico, Konda, and Bron who were the first to defect to the SDF-1. The three had fallen in love with bridge operators Vanessa Leeds, Kim Young, and Sammy Porter, all of whom were killed in the final battle with the rebel Zentraedi under Khyron. The three, who never took new loves, became self-appointed godparents and helped to care for Dana after her parents left with the SDF-3, as they viewed her as the half-Zentraedi child they were never able to have. Dana stated that they were "kinder to me than anyone ever was" but that they became ill due to complications resulting from being micronized in the Protoculture chambers. Although there was a possible cure, it would only work on a full-size Zentraedi and the three chose to stay Human-size so they could look after Dana, and they died within a few weeks of each other. Dana credits them with helping her understand her Zentraedi heritage and realize that the Zentraedi are just as capable of love and kindness as humans. Dana states that she is proud of both her human and Zentraedi heritage, and proclaims "don't ever ask me if I'm ashamed of being half alien."
In the decanonized book "End of the Circle" (book 18 of the series) by Jack McKinney, Dana, as the offspring of the Max and Miriya Sterling, is considered one of the most dangerous and powerful Robotech warriors of all time. In the book, Dana's skills are directly compared to Robotech warriors of other generations when she is deceived by the Invid Regis and initiates personal combat with her father. The book seems to suggest that if Kazianna Hesh had not intervened Dana might even have bested him.
Jeanne Fránçaix
Dana Sterling is adapted from the character Jeanne Fránçaix, of the anime The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross. She is voiced by Michie Tomizawa. Down-to-earth and happy-go-lucky, Jeanne, from the native planet of Liberté became the leader of the 15th Squad in the Southern Cross' A Tactics Armored Corps. Her disobedient behaviors often lead her to solitary confinement, often placed there by Lt. Lana Isavia (aka Nova Satori). Fortunately she always manages to be let out when needed. Jeanne develops a romantic interest in Seifriet Weiße (aka Zor Prime), but his reaction is one of puzzlement and disdain. Most of the series revolves around Jeanne's escapades with the 15th Squad, and her almost personal war with the invading Zor.Other relatives
In the television episode "Triumvirate", Dana briefly mentions a younger brother that she left behind at home. Given the lack of any siblings other than Aurora (original continuity) and Maia (current continuity), most fans conclude that the writers of Sentinels and other continuing stories simply forgot about this mention and treat it as a script blooper. Other fans speculate that she could have been referring to Bowie with whom she practically grew up with and considered family. In actuality, this line was leftover from the original Japanese script where Jeanne did have a younger brother. Some clarification on this issue was given in an interview with Carl Macek by Chris Meadows on the Space Station Liberty program on 4/14/07. Mr. Macek stated that Dana has both a brother and a sister. This was to be further developed in scripts for "The Sentinels" series. Because all the background details of the rebooted Robotech timeline are still being created, it remains to be seen if a younger brother still exists.Deleted Scene featuring Baby Dana
In episode 30 of the original Japanese The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, entitled Viva Maria, (or Viva Miriya in the english Robotech), a scene occurs onboard Breetai's ship in which Hikaru Ichijyo/Rick Hunter, Misa Hayase/Lisa Hayes and Claudia LaSalle/Claudia Grant are sitting for drinks in Maximilian Jenius/Max Sterling and Milia Fallyna Jenius/Miriya Parina Sterling's room. As everyone happily watches, Milia feeds baby Komilia/Dana her bottle. After the feeding, Milia holds Komilia in her arms and smiles as Komilia playfully wiggles and coos while reaching for Milia's face. Misa, after watching enviously, asks Milia if she could hold Komilia for a bit. Initially, Milia refuses and tells Misa, while protectively hugging Komilia, that "If you want to hold a baby, why not make one of your own? I made this one." to which Misa responds with a shocked expression on her face. Max then tells Milia that she shouldn't talk like that and to let Misa hold Komilia. Milia agrees and, to the shock of everyone (execpt Max), yells "Catch!" and throws baby Komilla across the table to Misa, who barely manages to catch Komilia in time. Max, who is completely unfazed by what Milia has done, says not to worry since Komilia has "a strong skeleton." As Misa harsly criticizes Milia (who states with little emotion that she can protect her own child) for throwing Komilia and taking her along at all on such a dangerous mission, Komilia playfully grabs a lock of Misa's hair, to which Misa, after an intital shock, smiles and laughs in response. Misa and Claudia then shift all their attention to Komilia, admiring her, arguing over who should hold her and making her laugh. Both find Komilia adorable and are amazed that she isn't shy at all around them. Misa in particular is overjoyed as she holds Komilia in her arms and lifts her up in the air. Meanwhile, Maximillian whispers to Hikaru Ichijyo that Misa looks so happy holding Komilia and that she really loves babies. Max then suggests that Misa would be even happier if it was her own baby. He then adds, suggestively glancing at Ichijyo, that "Wouldn't you like to see her with a baby of her own? Right captain Ichijyo?" to which Ichiyo responds "Don't look at me like that."By the end of the scene, everyone is laughing and nobody seems to show any further concern about Milia's actions (or Max's lack of concern) - or the serious danger that Komilia could be in due to Milia's severe misconceptions on how to handle a baby. In real life, throwing a baby any distance (not just across a large table) is a form of child abuse as it extremely and needlessly dangerous (and is probably a basis for criminal charges). Such an action can easily result in serious or lethal injuries to a baby.
Later, Claudia tells Misa that "Seeing you holding Komilia...It suited you" to which Misa responds with a surprised expression. When Claudia is alone, she reflects on the death of her lover, Roy Focker/Roy Fokker, and says to herself, "Roy...I never got a chance to hold your baby."
This scene was almost completely deleted when the series was edited into the Robotech saga, except for brief shots showing Dana sleeping in Miriya's arms and Max cleaning up some dishes. Tellingly, the apron which Max is seen wearing reads Max and Millia as opposed to the english verison names Max and Miriya. The only dialogue in reference to this scene involves Lisa stating that she held Dana for the entire afternoon and that she didn't cry at all the entire time and Claudia stating that she envies the Sterlings for having such a beautiful little girl.
In book six of the Jack McKinney Robotech Novels, Doomsday, there is a brief reference to this scene. As Rick, Lisa and Claudia are walking back from the party, Claudia says to Lisa "I don't think Miriya should have thrown Dana to you. She has to learn to be more careful!" Lisa then replies that "it's an adjustment for her. After all, her role model was probably the neighboring test tube" (a reference to the fact that Miriya is a Zentraedi who was artifically grown).
This scene has become a topic of intense discussion and debate among Robotech fans as to why it was deleted and whether or not Milia/Miriya's actions were as dangerous to Komilia/Dana as they appear.
References
External links
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Last updated on Thursday October 02, 2008 at 20:49:50 PDT (GMT -0700)
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