 Eventually they found the reel, and so disaster was averted.When Macross debuted on 3 October 1982 (with only three episodes made so far) its stunning success among Japanese television audiences convinced Big West to approve an extension to 36 episodes, allowing the staff to end with the "two years after" story arc.Studio Nue was unable to carry all of the animation work itself at the time (although the success of Macross meant that it was able to do so with nearly all of its other animation projects), and so work was contracted out to a number of satellite studios, including Artland (Haruhiko Mikimoto's employer), the nascent AIC and Gainax studios, as well as the Tatsunoko-supplied AnimeFriend and Star Pro.