Mobile Suit Gundam (idea)

Gundam first premiered on Japanese TV back in 1979 and was the first mecha anime show that featured a continous storyline. Some call it a soap-opera in space. Anyway, there have been so many follow up series and movies, that it is sometimes hard to remember what comes when, so here is a listing of everything Gundam, in the correct order:

• Mobile Suit Gundam, the television series released back in 1979 that started it all. Set in Universal Century (UC) 0079, it presents the main storyline of the One Year War, as well as the foundation of everything that was to follow. There were a total of 43 released episodes, but like Star Trek, real success came later, in syndication.
• Gundam - The Movie collects the original episodes 1-13, and features some new scenes.
• Gundam - The Movie II, Soldiers of Sorrow collects episodes 16-30 and also features some new scenes.
• Gundam - The Movie III, Encounters in Space collects episodes 31- 43 and also features some new scenes.
• Mobile Suit Gundam The 08th MS Team was originally an OVA (original video animation), i.e. not aired on television. It is set in UC 0079, same time as One Year War and encompasses 11 volumes. It was also combined and released as a motion picture.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, another OVA, released in 1989 and set in UC 0080. There were 6 volumes.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, yet another OVA series, released 1991, and set in (you guessed it) UC 0083. It's 12 volumes were later reworked into a motion picture, the Last Blitz of Zeon, which left out a lot of the series, and spoiled the ending for those who didn't see the series.
• Mobile Suit Z Gundam, was the second TV series, released 1985, but set in UC 0087. There were 50 episodes.
• Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, the third television series, released 1986, was set in UC 0088. The 47 episodes featured a much lighter, childlike tone than Z Gundam, and therefore suffered poor reputation among serious Gundam fans.
• Mobile Suit Gundam - Char's Counterattack, the fourth movie, was released in 1988, and set in UC 0093.
• Mobile Suit Gundam F91, the next movie, released in 1991, was set quite a bit in the future in UC 0123, and was an attempt to launch a new Gundam saga set years after Char's Counterattack. It was originally planned as a full-length television series, that changed during production, so the first 13 episodes had to be crammed into less than 2 hours of screen time.
• Mobile Suit V Gundam, YATVS, released in 1993, and set in UC 0153. It's 51 episodes, set another 30 years in the future to launch a new saga, but failed to launch a new franchise. It marks the end of the official UC saga.
• This however did not spell the end for the Gundam franchise, which was far too lucrative to let it die, so soon new series, set in alternate universes were produced. The first of which was the television series Mobile Fighter G Gundam released just one year after the last series in 1994. It enjoyed a run of 49 episodes and was set in Future Century (FC) 60.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, the next television series, released in 1995, again with 49 episodes was set in After Colony (AC) 195, and therefore the second alternative universe story.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing - Endless Waltz, an 3 volume OVA from 1997 continued this arc by being set in AC 196. There was a "special edition" theatrical version a year later which included extra footage and extended Gundam action sequences.
• After War Gundam X, the third and last of the alternate universe television series was released in 1996, but ran only 39 episodes. It was set After War (AW) 0015, and was a kind of a "what if" story related to the original Gundam series.
• Turn A Gundam, a 50 episode TV series released in 1999 and set in UC 2345 intended to encompass all of the Gundam saga, even the recent "alternate universe" stories.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Seed is the latest spin-off of the neverending Gundam franchise, and promises to be a return to the roots, back to what made the first series so popular. As there are only a couple of episodes, so the jury is still out, but it looks sweet.