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Springie Springie is a Female
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Once again, LB and Saturn...wonderful job on the recap! This episode is one of my favorites because I just love the angst of it all! I especially love Jun's reprimand of Ken's behavior...she finally put him in his place!

I was looking at those great tornado fighter closeups, and I never realized how painful it looks! I always thought they were standing on shoulders...but Jun is standing on Ryu's arm! OUCH! Ryu and Joe should be wearing grimaces on their faces during that maneuver!

 

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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Springie on 09-11-2009 at 21:04.
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quote:
Originally posted by Springie
Once again, LB and Saturn...wonderful job on the recap! This episode is one of my favorites because I just love the angst of it all! I especially love Jun's reprimand of Ken's behavior...she finally put him in his place!

I was looking at those great tornado fighter closeups, and I never realized how painful it looks! I always thought they were standing on shoulders...but Jun is standing on Ryu's arm! OUCH! Ryu and Joe should be wearing grimaces on their faces during that maneuver!

 


This is one of the best examples I've seen of the difference in the color of G-5's and G-2's uniforms. G-2's is clearly a dark red and seems to match the trim on his helmet. Usually, it just looks brown.

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Hi all!

quote:
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” says Joe,"


Good Lord, that's awful. They have dialogue that painful and people wonder why I keep saying that they ought to stick with the subtitled versions.

quote:
I suspect it has something to do with the tinting of the picture, all that pink to show the walls of the ice chamber


Exactly. It's something that's fairly obvious if you were to watch the episode itself. I know, suggesting that people actually watch the "Episode of the Week" instead of simply relying on what someone else has said about it before making comments on it. What a foolish notion...

James

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I DID watch the episode, but missed the color change.

Even as I commented, I was wondering if it was the ambient light in the scene or not.

At least we have the screen captures. Some people don't even have that before they weigh in (I refer to the sort of twits who read something on a website and then try to have a book or TV show or video game banned without having even looked at whatever they're protesting).

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Hi all!

quote:
I DID watch the episode, but missed the color change.


It happens when the heating units begin melting the walls of ice. Watch again and you'll see it happen.

James

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quote:
Originally posted by Springie

I was looking at those great tornado fighter closeups, and I never realized how painful it looks! I always thought they were standing on shoulders...but Jun is standing on Ryu's arm! OUCH! Ryu and Joe should be wearing grimaces on their faces during that maneuver!



Our Owl and Condor are tough! I think Joe might have it worse, though. It looks like he's got Ken standing on his hand, and Ken must be a lot heavier than Jun.

quote:
Originally posted by amethyst
I am wondering, though, about Ryu's sudden growth during that move. He's noticeably several inches shorter than Joe until the tornado fighter, and all of a sudden he is nearly the same height. Thus, keeping Jun shorter than Ken in the formation, when she should be closer in height.


Heh, funny how that works, isn't it? I think I've noticed, at various other times, that certain Ninjas seem to have variable height...

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quote:
Originally posted by tatsunokofan

quote:
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” says Joe,"


Good Lord, that's awful. They have dialogue that painful and people wonder why I keep saying that they ought to stick with the subtitled versions.


Yes, ADV is guilty of some very corny dub dialogue! I try to convince myself that Joe was meant to sound sarcastic when he says this...

In nearly all cases, I watch the subbed version too. I find though, that the very literal, directly translated quality of the subs often makes for dialogue that sounds a bit stilted or clunky. This is a case, though, where I should have gone with Joe's subbed "It's because we have strong teamwork."

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quote:
Originally posted by lborgia88
Heh, funny how that works, isn't it? I think I've noticed, at various other times, that certain Ninjas seem to have variable height...


Not to mention that in BOTP they seem to be adamant about portraying Mark as taller than Jason. I guess the leader has to be the tallest! Roll

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Hi all!

quote:
I find though, that the very literal, directly translated quality of the subs often makes for dialogue that sounds a bit stilted or clunky.


This is where watching it with the Japanese language track helps. When you add in the performance of the actors, with their inflection and emotion, it helps give dialogue that might read as stilted a lot more life. At least it does once you get used to associating what you're hearing with what you're reading, which I'll admit does take some getting used to at first.

James

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In order. Until I do the BotP review. Sigh.

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Raid of the Red Scorpion
Battle of the Planets, Episode Thirty
Gatchaman Episode #54, Gatchaman Burns With Rage
DVD and Veoh episode #46

Review/Summary: Our favorite establishing shot, complete with the three, yellow-headed orange fish, and Zark: “Here, at Center Neptune, deep beneath the sea, we’re constantly on the alert for any warnings of alien invaders from outer space.” [Ignore the sunlight streaming in from the surface, and be thankful that, this time, the scriptwriters didn’t say ‘universe’ or misuse ‘galaxy.’]

Oh, dear. Zark’s wearing his sweater and reclining on his slab. His trophies – er, sneakers – are still were they always are. The perky robot theme starts up. “Well, maybe not ‘constantly’: I do get a ten-second oil break every now and then. It gives me a chance to read a couple of good new books.” Followed by the show dating itself as he punches a button on his console and a bound book slides down the chute to the table beside him. He tells us he’s programmed to read a whole set of encyclopedias in five seconds. [Nowadays, he’d just download from the Internet.]

He finishes the book. It was an exciting mystery, but he guessed the ending right away.

Susan calls, and Zark’s antennae sproing to attention. [Remember, this was replacing the violence of Gatchaman.] Yes, I shall be sadistic.

Zark: “Oh, hello, Susan.” [Not creepy. Rather ordinary, at least by comparison with other episodes. No giggling.]

Susan: “I hope I’m not – disturbing you.” [Breathy, but bearable.]

Zark: “Oh, you are – I mean, you do – I mean, I like it.” [See comments above.]

Susan: “We’ve intercepted an interplanetary communication between Zoltar and the great spiritual ruler of planet Spectra. I thought you might like to know.” [They properly used ‘interplanetary’! What happened? Did someone at Sandy Frank Productions get sick?]

Zark: “Oh, thank you, Susan. Put it on my monitor right away.” [Except for a mysterious antenna poing, Zark is acting – the way we all want him to act.]

And again with the rejected version of Tetris.

Gatchaman footage. The Luminous One is pitching a fit and falling in it. It’s screaming at Zoltar, “No! No more excuses!” It doesn’t sound quite like itself today. No, literally, it sounds different. As if someone grabbed it by the short hairs.

And a close-up of Zoltar. Who’s in the same room as the Luminous One. “It is not an excuse, O Luminous One, but” –

He’s cut off by the still-pissed Cosmic Chicken: “Perhaps I do not make myself clear: I wish to destroy Earth’s entire energy capability.” There’s a bit more, but basically, it wants to destroy everything from the laboratory where the generators are designed to the factory at Darsa (sp?) that makes them. [No sense of scale. That, or the economy of the future is really interesting.]

Zoltar assures LO that the Scorpion is on its way to the lab even now, but –

Somebody peed in the Luminous One’s cereal this morning, because it is not mollified in the slightest. “There’s the ‘but’, again! Your position as temporal ruler of Spectra is extremely shaky.” [Zoltar, old boy, not that long ago, the Big Blue Chicken was ready to abandon you on Leucadia. The word ‘but’ should vanish from your vocabulary.]

Zoltar explains that he meant that the Darsa facility would take more time.

Still pissed (and held by the short ones), the Luminous One tells him not to come back until he’s completed his mission.

[So, if they’re in the same room, how is this an interplanetary communication? Or are we to conclude that Zoltar was on a spaceship, and the LO on a viewscreen?]

Cut to an ocean, and something red emerging as Zark speaks: “Another attack from Spectra on the way. I must alert Security, so they can take all precautionary measures at the laboratory, including staff dispersal.”

The red thing turns out to be a giant horsehoe-crab mecha, except that it’s called a scorpion in this episode.

Sandy Frank space travel footage, which means that for once, Zark spotted the invasion force before it reached Earth.

And back to Gatch footage, with Zoltar chuckling as he communicates via viewscreen with this episode’s villain. He made an excellent choice: he cannot think of a better man than Gartz to bomb the Intergalactic Laboratory and its extension.

And now we get a look at Gartz. Sort of, since he’s wearing another reject from the Supervillain Designer line of clothing. Some sort of purple mask that covers everything except his nose, mouth, and chin, and comes down in long points on either side, blue neck thing, and red cloak. He has an Evil Villain Moustache, to boot.

In classic kidvid villain mode, he promises to do his worst, as always.

So the Red Scorpion [Horseshoe Crab!] opens fire on its target. I’m pretty sure the destruction of the facility is edited, but since they used the Hoyt Curtin music, it’s not so obvious.

Then it turns out that someone had filmed at least part of the attack, as the picture freezes and Anderson stands up in front of the image.

He turns and tells (the not-yet-seen) G-Force that they’re going through a critical period. The Intergalactic Federation is meeting in an emergency session. Then we see G-Force as he continues: he wants them to nose around out of uniform. The methodical way the facility was destroyed leads him to believe Spectra’s out to destroy their entire energy complex. [Yeah, and didn’t Zark listen in on a similar conversation not too long ago?]

Jason comments that the scorpion is ‘Heav-y’, while Tiny dismisses it.

The Scorpion may be dangerous, but it’s commanded by Spectra’s best troubleshooter, Brigadier Gartz. (And we’re told that nobody has ever seen him.)

Princess has heard of him. She sounds impressed. Keyop calls him a ‘big nothing’ and looks to Mark for confirmation.

“Be quiet,” Mark snaps, and turns away to look out the window at the Fish Parade. Methinks we’re coming up on this episode’s Important Plot Point. Gartz is a dangerous man.

Princess reminds him that they’ll back him all the way.

Anderson sends the team out.

Or would, except that Mark slouches out of the room before the other four finish their salute.

“I think I know what’s troubling him,” Anderson says. “I’d forgotten. At the Battle of Riga, Mark’s father, our top pilot, was unbeatable in the air. Spectra couldn’t shoot him down, so in desperation, they sent a team of assassins – led by Gartz – to infiltrate Earth’s position. Through stealth and deceit, they learned where Mark’s father was quartered, and killed him while he slept.” All of this nicely voiced over Mark visiting a good-sized grave-marker and leaving a flower.

[Let’s beat up the scriptwriter who wrote ‘I’d forgotten.’ I doubt Anderson would have forgotten this. Given that Riga is depicted as battle-scarred in the series, this implies that Mark knew his father and remembered him enough to mourn him.

[And this information is completely contradicted by The Sky is Falling!, both parts.]

And let’s not forget that they just admitted that somebody died. On a children’s show.

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Back to our story:

The camera pans down a tall building, as Zark informs us that ‘The Intergalactic Federation meets once a month, but in times of emergency, representatives of each planet zoom in from every corner of the galaxy.’

[If they meet once a month, that’s a lot of travel time for the representatives. It would be easier for them to remain on Earth the entire time. Even with time-warp travel, it can’t be that easy to get around.]

Four-fifths of G-Force are lounging around on couches. They’d better be on break. After all, their orders were to nose around for Spectra agents.

Princess wishes Mark could ‘shake it’ (shake what? His well-deserved sadness over his father’s death?)

“Why should he?” Jason asks. “That pig Gartz deserves an apple in his mouth.” [That is such a Kondoru no Joe sentiment!]

Keyop agrees it would improve Gartz’s looks.

Tiny’s with Princess: Mark’s too far down emotionally.

Outside, Mark’s sitting on the edge of a large fountain while pensive theme music plays.

A closer shot, and a hand comes up out of the water as a man gurgles, “Help me!”

Mark turns, and fishes an injured man out of the water. “This looks like something Spectra would do,” he says, during a Significant Close-Up of the symbol on the man’s jacket. He realizes that Spectra’s slipping in an imposter. All he has to do is find the insignia.

Inside, President Kane stands and recaps the destruction of earlier in the episode. [Alan Young, in the sort of nasal tone that sets up a weird vibe in my nose.] Then he turns the floor over to Anderson, so he can outline the defensive and offensive measures against Spectra.

Anderson barely gets to mention finding the Spectra base when Mark interrupts: “One moment, please.”

He makes an entrance that’s marred by rather too much speech (about how they’re here to plan strategy, but there’s something going on in their midst) and not enough action. Then he leaps into the air and comes down in the middle of the gathering.

Rightly annoyed at this violation of protocol, Anderson tells him he was to look around outside, not interrupt this meeting.

Mark tells the room that a delegate’s been hospitalized, and that someone at this meeting is responsible.

Consternation as the camera pans over the room, then a close-up of Mark’s eyes as he does the same.

He spots the insignia of the injured delegate. A well-dressed man with a monocle and familiar Evil Villain Moustache is seated in that place. Gartz. He lights a cigar.

Mark tells the room that it won’t be hard to find the attacker. He was arrogant enough to take the seat of the man he attacked. [Actually, Mark, that was the whole point of the attack. Take out a delegate and insert a spy.]

Mark throws his sonic boomerang as Gartz throws his cigar.

Gartz leaps from his chair to an overhead chandelier to dodge the boomerang, while the cigar lands at Mark’s feet. “You’re out of your league. You’re dealing with Gartz.”

“I’m not surprised. We know your cruel specialty.” [Assassination is sneaky and unsportsmanlike, but cruel? For the target: only if the death is drawn out, sadistic, or painful. The survivors feel the cruelty of losing a loved one. After which they start wanting to use nuclear weapons to solve every problem.]

The cigar explodes, but not in a fun novelty way. It’s edited out, but Gartz does jump through a window, shattering it. He lands in the entry foyer of the Council building and hauls ass.

He rushes past G-Force, startling them, and jumps into a sporty-looking yellow car. [Way to go, Mark, not telling your team. You had time to make a speech, but not to give anyone a head’s up. They could have stopped Gartz.]

Mark blasts out the window and lands in his car. He takes off after Gartz.

They violate numerous traffic laws in a demonstration of driving not seen since the last automotive chase on this show. Somehow, they end up outside the city and in a mountainous area.

Mark streaks ahead and blocks the road with his car before jumping clear. Gartz can’t turn in time, and just manages to leap out before his car plows into Mark’s. There must have been some editing, because he’s suddenly slumping against the rocks and sliding to the ground, unconscious.

Both cars fall to the bottom of a deep gorge and explode.

Establishing shot of Center Neptune, with the yellow-and-orange fish.

Gartz is getting an eyeful of colorful strobe lights.

“You really aren’t one for face-to-face, are you, Gartz?” Mark asks, and his voice is so low and even that it’s scary. This is a man who’s ready to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, and the hell with his principles and the rules. You do not want this version of Mark on your case. Ever. Then emotion starts to creep in: “If you can’t go in with an edge, you won’t play. One-on-one is a kid’s game to you, right? Your best scene is to sneak up on someone who’s looking the other way, or – even better – fast asleep in his bed!” Oh, Mark hasn’t even raised his voice that much. He’s not yelling. If he were yelling, this would not be so disturbing.

Fortunately for all of us, the rest of G-Force interrupts before things get worse. Princess, the voice of reason, asks Mark if he isn’t coming down a bit hard on Gartz. Tiny’s all for letting Mark carry on.

“This man absolutely refuses to cooperate,” Mark snarls.

Oh, good. Yes, regular anger. Anything except that white-winged avenger of a minute ago.

Then he gets scary again. “All he needs to do is tell us where Scorpion’s launching pad is.”

Jason’s been snacking on a feather dart. He pulls it out of his mouth. “You don’t need a lot of words for that. Watch this.” And he throws it.

Good God, he’s channeling Kondoru no Joe again.

The dart slices a rose from a cluster in a vase [huh?]. It falls across Gartz’s face, but they edited out whatever happened next.

“See?” Jason asks. “It doesn’t have to be violent. It doesn’t even have to leave a mark.”

HOLY SHIT! He sounds so – so – casual about it.

What the hell happened to the goody-two-shoes quintet we know and joke about?

Who in Standards and Practices thought this was less scary than the original scene?

And that wasn’t even the end of Jason’s lines:

“If he flinched at a rose petal, he’s worried enough to talk. Just find the right kind of gentle persuasion.” Still conversational.

Why do I feel that Jason is not genuinely counseling anything remotely resembling gentle persuasion?

Mark, sarcastic: “I’ll tickle it out of him.”

“Great idea. I’ll even lend you my feather.”

Somebody call Anderson, NOW!

Mark turns back to his prisoner. “I’ll ask you one more time, Gartz: Where’s the launching site.”

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Next scene is Chief Anderson. He’s angry. And disappointed in Mark. He doesn’t yell, but speaks sharply: “Did you learn enough to justify the third degree?”

Under the Arctic ice, and Gartz will lead them there.

Anderson is not a happy camper. “I know how important this information is, but I also know that we must not stoop to Spectra’s level to get it.”

Mark seems ashamed. He admits he was a little rough with Gartz, but he had good reason: the man killed his father.

He turns to walk away, then back to Anderson. Quietly, he says, “I admit, I overreacted. But haven’t you ever wanted to take the gloves off, Chief Anderson?”

Anderson doesn’t reply, as the camera moves in on him.

“I guess not,” Mark snaps. “It’s against the rules.” And he runs out, followed by the team.

Anderson’s expression is unreadable, implying more than any number of words ever could.

Phoenix launch stock footage. A jarring, but welcome, change of pace.

Okay, scratch that: Zark’s talking.

“I know that G-Force has set off on other missions with lighter hearts than today, but I’m confident of their resiliency (sic). They’ll bounce back, I’m sure of it.” [Further proof, if we needed it, that the actors did not necessarily know the entire plot of a given episode. I just can’t imagine someone of Young’s caliber being so inappropriately chipper, otherwise.]

Commercial break.

And we have the obligatory, post-commercial Zark scene. He’s at his favorite console and wearing that ridiculous cape and helmet.

First, he tells us that Gartz has promised to show G-Force the hidden Arctic base. Then he tells us he can’t locate G-Force on his monitors. Just patch into the IRS computers, Zark. You’ll find G-Force in no time.

He extends his legs and wipes that upper right screen. “No wonder: they’re so far north my monitor has frozen over. Well, I know how to resolve that. I’ll just bring them in on the hot line.”

[Okay, everyone, go over to the nearest wall. On the count of three, bang your heads. One – two – THREE! And now back to the review.]

Somewhere cold and ice-covered. Strangely mountainous for the Arctic. And now they’re coming up on a lake. In fact, this looks like footage from another episode entirely. One that hasn’t yet aired as a BotP episode. Nice doggy.

Digression over.

Now for a more appropriately Arctic landscape. No mountains, but plenty of sea ice. The Phoenix has landed, and the team is following Gartz across the floes. Keyop almost loses his footing, but for Tiny’s help.

An aurora appears in the sky. Princess and Tiny admire it.

“Come on,” Mark says, in that dead tone, “you’ve seen one Northern Light, you’ve seen them all.”

Gartz leads them to an icy outcrop and uncovers a control panel. At the press of a button, an entrance is revealed. It looks the right size for an elevator.

Or a trap.

But there’s a long shot of the scene, and the camera pans to an iceberg or something like it in the distance.

Spectra’s base. We now see the Red Scorpion [Horseshoe Crab!] at its dock. The goons are in a double line, and Zoltar’s addressing them.

They’re to attack Earth’s energy plant at Darsa.

Then, for some reason, a viewscreen in the docking area activates, and we see Gartz and the G-Force team.

Zoltar doesn’t lose his temper. He comments that there is just one detail to attend to before they depart: the removal of G-Force. They can get that project under way right now.

[What happened to the scriptwriters? Except for Zark, this is a great episode.]

Now to an interesting I-don’t-know-what-to-call-it. I can only assume some sort of shaft or pit with a ramp coiling along the inside all the way down. Spectra apparently doesn’t have safety regulations, since there’s no railing to prevent anyone falling into the pit.

Gartz leads G-Force into the shot.

Then more of a close-up on the team and Gartz.

Jason’s brain boots up: “What a second? How can we be certain he isn’t leading us into a trap?” [Should have asked that on the surface, kiddo.]

Gartz is offended that they don’t trust him after he gave his word.

“Yeah,” Mark says, “we know all about your word.”

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Hoo-boy, the manure is rapidly approaching the fan.

As if to emphasize that Something Is About To Happen, the next shot is two spotlights trained on a door framed by the Spectra symbol, with the team standing in front of it.

As the door opens, they dash in. The room seems to be empty.

It looks very industrial, but has a chandelier. I think it’s time for a review of Spectra’s procurement system.

They dart into the center of the room. Jason’s pushing Gartz along.

The doors shut.

Zoltar steps out of an upper doorway, flanked by two soldiers. “Thank you, Gartz. A tempting morsel.”

Ulp.

Gartz turns to G-Force: “I guess what they say is true: the last laugh is the best one.”

“We’ll find out when we get to it,” Mark says, in that ‘I’m so angry I’m not even raising my voice’ tone.

“Time to say farewell, G-Force,” Zoltar says. “I regret to say, it hasn’t been a pleasure – until this moment. Now, pull the trap door.”

And G-Force goes tumbling down a narrow shaft. Gartz is not with them.

They manage to land in various dramatic poses, except for Tiny. Poor guy gets to be the comic relief and land on his ass. By the expression on his face, it really hurts.

That floor looks rather like ice….

And because this episode is just full of great lines, here’s Zoltar gloating:

“Words cannot express how delighted I am to inform you that while you are cooling your heels in this impregnable ice dungeon, my men and I will be on our way to Darsa to reduce your energy capability to absolute zero!”

Followed by his Evil Villain laugh as the trap door slides back into place.

But there’s more. Zoltar addresses a goon standing at an old-fashioned knife switch: “Do it.”

This isn’t a Nike ad. Heat lamps activate in the ice dungeon.

Things don’t look good for Our Heroes. Fortunately, Zoltar follows the Law of Pulp Villainy: never stick around to make sure the heroes die. He orders his men to the Red Scorpion [Horseshoe Crab!], and it heads out.

And then – Zark has to start talking. [ Why? Why? Everything was going so well with this episode.]

As the mecha travels, Zark tells us that even though it’s an enemy vessel, he admires Spectra’s inventiveness: part jet, part submarine, part tail-wagger.

He’s worried about G-Force, ‘trapped in that ice chest.’ He wonders how he can help them. [Since you know where they are, Zark, why not – oh, I don’t know, how about – sending troops to help them? Something sensible like that, hey?]

The team’s well and truly screwed. They can’t find any way out.

Then a fissure opens in the ice wall and icy water pours in. As it rises above their feet, Mark says, “Well, I’m open to ideas.”

Jason observes, “The best idea would have been not to follow Gartz in the first place.” [So, why didn’t you say so earlier? Like, say, back at Center Neptune? You’re the one who argues with Mark all the time. What the hell happened to you? Or did your moment of awesome during the interrogation exhaust you?] He suggests plugging the hole.

Mark must not have been listening, as he starts talking about coming up with something and that they don’t give up so easily in the face of minor problems like this. [Uh-oh: the screenwriters are relapsing into their usual habits.]

Princess uses her yo-yo bomb – and makes things worse. The crack is now even bigger. “Woops. That didn’t help at all.”

Meanwhile, the mecha is surfacing somewhere. Gartz, back in his goofy outfit, is on a viewscreen telling Zoltar not to worry: he gives G-Force five minutes. Zoltar is pleased to have such a capable person left in charge.

Okay, that means Gartz is still at the base and Zoltar is on the mecha?
Down in the ice dungeon, G-Force is still screwed. Nothing they do is getting them out.
Mark has an idea, but he first apologizes for getting them into this mess. They know why, but that’s no excuse. He’d like to try being a leader again, if they’ll follow.

As if he has to ask.

More holes break open in the icy walls, letting in water.

They form the Whirlwind Pyramid and take off just as the walls give way. The trap door breaks open from the force, and they’re free.

Mark and Jason are the only ones who land on their feet. Keyop and Princess go sprawling, and poor Tiny takes another pratfall.

Then they’re off to kick some Spectra ass. On the way out, Jason tosses a bomb-dart into a panel.

On the surface, Zoltar’s toy is wreaking plenty of havoc. “Wait until the doubting Great Spirit hears about this!”

You’d think he’d learn never to say things like that. It never ends well for him.

Sure enough, the mecha shakes, throwing him from his seat. “But not this part!” he gripes.

It’s the Phoenix, firing missiles.

Zoltar changes his assessment of Gartz to ‘bungling incompetent.’ He charges into the cockpit and demands to know if the attackers are G-Force. The two goons confirm in stereo.

The Phoenix’s missiles hit the main carapace of the Scorpion [Horseshoe Crab]. Except for shaking it around, they don’t have much effect. Mark orders Tiny to attack from beneath, where it’s vulnerable.

[Note to all designers of flying craft: all sides are equally vulnerable to attack. Plan accordingly.]

The two craft play some aerial tag. At one point, the mecha fires all its legs, but Tiny’s able to dodge. Jason keeps pushing his favorite red button.

This time, they inflict some damage. Zoltar orders his crew to abandon ship.

The mecha explodes, and rather dramatically. Chunks of it hit the Phoenix, knocking out Tiny’s viewscreen and ripping off the docking pod for G4’s buggy. He manages to make a water landing.

Meanwhile, Zoltar’s getting away again. He takes some comfort from the fact that he’s still flying, while they’re floating on the water.

Oh, lordy, we have the obligatory end-of-episode Zark voice-over. He finally managed to get in touch with G-Force and rescue crews are on the way. [Because, you know, they’re incapable of calling for help on their own and need this talking egg to do things like that for them. Really, that’s what’s implied here.]

Yes, the team’s upset over losing Zoltar, but they did defeat Gartz and his evil plan. [That was Zoltar’s plan, you mechanical twit. Gartz was carrying out orders.]

And now for Zark himself. Because every episode has to end with Zark. It must be in the rule book somewhere.

He notes that the team is only as strong as their spaceship. He must design a stronger Phoenix for them at once. [What? No narcissism? No turning it all around so that it’s all about him?]

But now we see 1-Rover-1 with eyes covered. Zark assures him that his G-Force friends are safe and sound and will be back soon. [Bleargh.]

There’s more, but this episode has been ruined already, so I will spare you.
***** ***** *****
All Zarking aside, this is what Battle of the Planets could have been.

If they’d had the time to do it right and no wimpy moral guardians to insist on watering everything down to avoid upsetting the parents – I mean, children.

Casey Kasem did a marvelous job with Mark. The emotions were spot-on. Realistic emotional trauma, realistic anger.

The peculiarities of recording the dialogue – each actor, alone, reading only the lines for the character – ended up turning the interrogation scene into something far more troubling than in the original. Unnerving.

Fic Alert: Well, it seemed to me that Anderson could have answered “Yes” Mark’s question about taking the gloves off.

Given what happens about 50 episodes later, there is a large plot hole to resolve.

Bizarreness alert: Not exactly the one you think it is. The people at Sandy Frank never knew what episodes they would receive from Japan, or if they would have the 85 they needed for syndication. At the time they received this episode, they had no idea that they would ever get the ones that would become the two part The Sky is Falling! Because of that, they edited out all hints of a family relationship between Cronus and Mark. He was simply a friend of Mark’s.

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What I love about this BotP episode - apart from Casey Kasem and Ronnie Schell doing some outstanding acting - is that we clearly see Mark as Eagle - the man who will do what he has to to get the result he needs.

It happens a few times in the series, but never as chillinglly as here.

You know that part of Gartz is playing scared, but you also get the imprssion that there's a lot of genuine terror there.

We also get to see the Mark/Jason team in a situation where both are just as dangerous as the other.

I'm, frankly, surprised that Gartz even has enough brain cells left to even think of leading them into a trap! If it was me, about now I'd be thinking of just telling them everything I knew becuse a Federation cell is just so nice and safe and WELL AWAY from both Eagle and Condor!

This is also one of the episodes where we see a variation of "how Mark's father died". One of my reasons for thinking that Mark must have an extremely strong character because it's clear thoughougt the series that he has been told more than one version of "daddy's death".

It does pique me though that when Mark appears - in full birdstyle - in the Council chamber, Anderson gives him shit. If it was me and the head of G-Force suddenly appeared, I'd be assuming that there's a security problem and asking what it was!

But - yet again - we have an example of Anderson showing the whole "I only want you to be Commander of G-Force when you can take the blame" attitude that he exhibits on several occasions.

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quote:
Originally posted by Madilayn
What I love about this BotP episode - apart from Casey Kasem and Ronnie Schell doing some outstanding acting - is that we clearly see Mark as Eagle - the man who will do what he has to to get the result he needs.

It happens a few times in the series, but never as chillinglly as here.


Yeah. And I can't believe I missed it when I saw this episode when it first aired.


quote:
You know that part of Gartz is playing scared, but you also get the imprssion that there's a lot of genuine terror there.

We also get to see the Mark/Jason team in a situation where both are just as dangerous as the other.

I'm, frankly, surprised that Gartz even has enough brain cells left to even think of leading them into a trap! If it was me, about now I'd be thinking of just telling them everything I knew becuse a Federation cell is just so nice and safe and WELL AWAY from both Eagle and Condor!


How about the state of his underwear? I'd be messing myself in that situation.

Although Zoltar's lines at the base suggest that part of the plan included leading G-Force into a trap.


quote:
This is also one of the episodes where we see a variation of "how Mark's father died". One of my reasons for thinking that Mark must have an extremely strong character because it's clear thoughougt the series that he has been told more than one version of "daddy's death".


How would that episode have been adapted if the producers had known of the V2 episodes and that they would one day get them? A pissed-off Eagle is important to the plot.

quote:
It does pique me though that when Mark appears - in full birdstyle - in the Council chamber, Anderson gives him shit. If it was me and the head of G-Force suddenly appeared, I'd be assuming that there's a security problem and asking what it was!

But - yet again - we have an example of Anderson showing the whole "I only want you to be Commander of G-Force when you can take the blame" attitude that he exhibits on several occasions.


That's the one time they followed the Gatch script. Nambu's annoyed at Ken for interrupting.

Yeah, the Chief of Security should be asking what's wrong and possibly reaching for a weapon.

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quote:
Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter

Given what happens about 50 episodes later, there is a large plot hole to resolve.

Bizarreness alert: Not exactly the one you think it is. The people at Sandy Frank never knew what episodes they would receive from Japan, or if they would have the 85 they needed for syndication. At the time they received this episode, they had no idea that they would ever get the ones that would become the two part The Sky is Falling! Because of that, they edited out all hints of a family relationship between Cronus and Mark. He was simply a friend of Mark’s.


I get so very confused whenever I try to make sense of what happens with Cronus in Battle of the Planets! I guess I should just accept that, because of the way BOTP episodes were made (and distributed to TV stations to be aired), it doesn't make sense and leave it at that. Confused2

I'm impressed at how much of the interrogation scene was kept, and made rather disturbing. Did the writers not realize that psychological fear can be much more powerful than just showing someone getting sprayed with a fire extinguisher? As Jason says, "It doesn't have to be violent."

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quote:
Originally posted by lborgia88


I get so very confused whenever I try to make sense of what happens with Cronus in Battle of the Planets! I guess I should just accept that, because of the way BOTP episodes were made (and distributed to TV stations to be aired), it doesn't make sense and leave it at that. Confused2

I'm impressed at how much of the interrogation scene was kept, and made rather disturbing. Did the writers not realize that psychological fear can be much more powerful than just showing someone getting sprayed with a fire extinguisher? As Jason says, "It doesn't have to be violent."


I have Hellraiser on DVD. In the commentary, Clive Barker tells how censors recommended editing assorted bits -- and made those bits better.

The Standards and Practices people were concerned with the physical violence. No CO2 in the face, no cuts from rose thorns, and so on.

What 'made' that scene was Casey Kasem's wonderful performance. He obviously had a chance to give his lines a once-over.

Given how the dialogue recording worked, Ronnie Schell must have had only a vague idea what was happening in the scene. Questioning, yes, and Gartz apparently flinches. Okay, conversational tone.

Then it gets put together, and I can imagine the Dinehart in the sound booth: "We're using that. THIS is what I signed on for. This is good stuff." And the engineers don't object.

Attack of the Alien Wasp was edited off of The Phantom Red Impulse, and there are plenty of lines in that episode that revealed that Big Red is Ken's father, and that he died in a previous episode. Why the producers didn't think to keep the 'Cronus is Mark's father' in reserve, I don't know. Perhaps the press of time in creating BotP, or perhaps they didn't think they'd ever use the V2 episodes. Or maybe things were so crazy (85 episodes in about 6 months?) they lost track.

It's that, or think the producers just didn't care about continuity.

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At this point, I'm seriously wondering if 'Colonel Cronus' is a title _in its entirety_, and Mark's father happened to be one of the plural 'Colonel Cronus'.

"Teamwork makes the dream work,” says Joe. In Guardians of Space, Dirk got the line, "We did it by working _together_, as a _team_." Unfortunately, his voice actor got overly gooey on the last three words, so the tone made Dirk's line come across almost as bad as Joe's.

Speaking of Condors, no self-respecting G-2 would have been standing in a Galactor trap just sulking. No doubt Condor was trying to think of a way out, but hampered by the Great Leader being so self-centered.

I agree that the team (in GoS too!) says _way_ too much in front of the guy. First rule of holding and questioning enemy agents: They don't know a thing you don't want them to know. (Works better in theory than practice, I know.) The Allies in WWII were very good at this. Second rule: The prisoner never knows _exactly_ what you know. Smokescreen

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Dirk? Getting gooey? Oh my... I don't know about that... yikes! But did Aggie chew out Ace in the sme way that Jun chewed out Ken? Wink

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