You know, if it weren't for the fact that the movie Highlander didn't come out until three years after this episode aired, I'd seriously believe that somebody working on the show might have included that deliberately. I mean, episode 34 also has a completely out of nowhere reference to Shane, or all things. A convoluted meta-warning to Hikaru via movie quotes is hardly off the table.
Also, I don't know if this should be taken as building up hype or making an apology, but I've actually got ANOTHER page from episode 34 brewing for next week. Gosh, it's almost like the final arc of Macross is giving my mind a lot more time to wander than the early episodes did.