 Big West insisted on a leaner budget, not convinced that the show would pan out as profitable and pared the episode count to 27 episodes (meaning the show would have ended with the battle against Boddole Zer's fleet).Even then, Big West found that the show was going to run more expensive than it had bargained for, and to secure more money, entered into a partnership with animation studio Tatsunoko Production which included international distribution (what would culminate in the creation of the "Robotech" adaptation a few years later).Among other production headaches, the master copy of one nearly-completed episode was reportedly accidentally left on a train by a courier, forcing the members of the production staff themselves to search for the footage – otherwise they would have to re-animate it all, at a considerable cost in time and money.