I'll begin this by saying that the Baldios movie is arguably the "true ending" of the series ala Be Invoked for Ideon. The TV series was cut short and so while its ending is a uniquely depressing one, the movie develops it far more in a horribly inevitable twist which is no less powerful for its predictability. It's very rare for a super robot show to have its heroes fail completely by the end - even Ideon and Zambot 3 have some measure of a victory in them - but Baldios certainly has that. The essential plot is that an evil army called Aldebaran invade Earth tocapture it as a new homeworld after some massive disaster has destroyed their homeworld, S1. The hero, a S1 man called Marin, fights alongside human experts in the robot Baldios, and along the way many revelations become apparent until the shocking ending plays out with the heroes powerless against it.

The story is bleak and hopeless, setting up plot events that the audience know cannot hope but play out no matter what the heroes do, and it is this which makes Baldios such a good movie. Much like Zambot 3, themes of distrust and paranoia play into the plot, and Marin's relationship with his fellow S1 and humanity provide a key conflict.

In terms of animation, Baldios is superb throughout. There is surprisingly little combat for a super robot movie, but this doesn't feel like a bad thing since the focus is really on Marin's conflict with the S1 refugees on a personal level. Admittedly, the flaws of the plot show through at times - a subplot about two S1 soldiers is given two scenes but could have been developed on in interesting ways, as is a plotline about the ruthlessness of S1 command, while on the human side, the governments of Earth aren't given the time that perhaps they could have been.

The soundtrack is also excellent, the ending and insert songs being incredibly powerful and moving, while the TV OP is used in an instrumental form throughout although often abbreviated.

Since Baldios in movie form attempts to retell the plot of the series while also expanding upon it, some of the character development suffers in the same way as in Do You Remember Love. Much focus is given to Marin and Aphrodia, arguably the two leads, while the other villains, Gattler and Negros, don't get as much focus. Similarly, the rest of the Blue Fixer's crew aren't given enough focus, which makes their response to the climax of the film a little less effective.

If, however, you are prepared to accept Space Warrior Baldios as a retelling of a series which unfortunately was cut short, and understand that while it is named for a super robot, the robot isn't really the main focus, you'll find a very good movie that's up with Be Invoked, Macross: Do You Remember Love, Soldiers of Sorrow and Macross Plus as one of the best mecha movies of all time.