Yes, this week we are honoring the original 'Gatchaman Base', the Crescent Coral Base. Many thanks to Springie for providing these pictures. Exterior shot: Interior shots: Anyone care to post more pictures, or give their thoughts on Center Neptune?

man they need some better decor in there!! some plants or something!! LOL I loved the concept of the Coral Base! Very unique concept! except when we used to write our storues for Gatchaman, we wondered how anyone got to that base without the Phoenix..... did they live there?! Nambu's got a condo there or something?!

I would think that they all had quarters there. And there were submarines. In the episode where it was destroyed, people were being evacuated on subs.

Also, in the spiderweb episode, Dr. Nambu takes some car transporter thingy to meet his "old friend" Dr. Daemon on the beach...wish I had those screenshots...

Inside, it is so much more utilitarian then I remembered - my imagination must be embelishing things again. I always wondered where those neat, orderly rows of fish were coming and going from.

I always thought that Center Nepture (or the Crescent Coral Base) was very cool. A moving base under the sea--Fantastic! Too bad it got destroyed.

I have a whole list of ideas for how the staff at Center Neptune can keep themselves entertained . . . . Fun Things to Do Around Center Neptune Roller-skate. Switch labels on the beverage dispensers in the cafeteria. Sprinkle powdered pepper over G4's drums. Fill the Ping-Pong balls with helium and put them back in the dispenser. Hang a bird feeder in the team's kitchen. Plant a kudzu vine in Hydroponics. Marco Polo in the wetdock. Catch one of those sea turtles. Paint "Zoltar Was Here" on its shell in waterproof paint. Give all the fish names. Lay bets on which sector the next Red Alert will come from. Watch the person who wins try to explain theirself to Security. "Hello Mudda Hello Fadda" over the PA. Reprogram all the computers to display everything in 'Wingdings'. Train 1-Rover-1 to retrieve security cameras. Tell 7-Zark-7 dirty jokes. Watch him try to blush. On Inspection day down in Weapons Inventory, replace all the miniature explosives with jellybeans. Stock the Phoenix's rations box with cans of Jolt. Anything involving eggs. Anything involving Peeps. Wait until G4 has stepped into the shower, then tape his shoes to the ceiling. Place bets on what animal the next Spectran invasion ship will look like. Watch the person who wins try to explain theirself to Security. If some newbie asks you where the nearest restroom is, give them directions to Nerve Center Control. I have more, unless you're now all ready to pound me.

I have to admit it's my fave Gatch base, the Gatch II base was depicted as being huge but it didn't look it on the outside. Centre Neptune (Cresent Coral) looked bigger, must be the design.

Barrdwing those are awesome! I always enjoy your fun things to do arund Center Neptune. Poor G4 seems to be taking the brunt of it, though... or perhaps G5, with all of those 'food' changes...

Originally posted by gogirl212 Inside, it is so much more utilitarian then I remembered - my imagination must be embelishing things again.

Perhaps you're thinking of the BOTP Ready Room?

I always wondered where those neat, orderly rows of fish were coming and going from.

I've heard that G4 feeds them regularly and trains them.

Bardwing, those are great. They gave me a good chuckle or three. Thanks

Bardwing, I must admit that your avatar made it even funnier to be reading those. Thanks for the laughs and I would love to view more.

Bwahahahahahaha !Baardwing, how do you think of these? Fabulous!

Glad that folks are enjoying these! I have a twisted mind . . . but you all knew that, didn't you? (Although some of the ones in this installment were dreamed up during a brainstorming session with a friend from high school. She's a positive influence on me. ) More Fun Things to Do Around Center Neptune Feed the sharks. Teach 7-Zark-7 "The Lumberjack Song." New methylene blue in the spaceburger patties. Hang fuzzy dice in the G-2. (Note: be sure you don't get caught.) Crickets. Oreo the windshield of the G-2. (Note: be very sure you don't get caught.) Hide a crock of kimchee in the team's locker room. Replace Chief Anderson's fancy coffee with Folger's Crystals. Play only music by "Some Japanese Guys." While Chief Anderson is briefing the team using a projector, make hand shadows on the screen. Streak the Rec Level. Keep a pair of swim fins at your station "just in case." Get a bunch of those bubble-driven fishtank decorations and install them outside as many portholes as possible. Line your lab coat with tinfoil and trail a wire out of one pocket. Tell people you have to stay grounded because of all that stray transmutation energy. After the above has gotten old, glue feathers in your hair. Sprinkle the medical computer's Anatomy reference file with images of Australopithecus and chicken specimens. Tag them. See how long it takes for one to get pulled up, and if anyone notices. Use the word "cuckoo" in as many situations as you can. Adjust all the binocular microscopes in the lab so that the eyepieces are at maximum or minimum distance. Stuff a cotton ball about halfway down inside the main pipe of the Medusa-head microscope. Hold gurney races down in Medical. Hook a pulse oximeter, ECG leads, and an IV drip to a rubber chicken. Tell people it's a research project. Fill G2's wallbox with Avon and Victoria's Secret catalogues. Seed the team lounge with feather lice. Culture bread mold in a Petri dish. Label it Aspergillus fumigatus, AIRBORNE ZOONOTIC, DO NOT OPEN. Leave it sitting open on a lab bench.

Thats funny!! You need to put all that into a document and post it just for some funnies to read... Now I wonder who is going to hang the fluffy dice in the G-2 grins.

Somehow I think G2 might enjoy those Victoria Secret catalogs...

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Somehow I think G2 might enjoy those Victoria Secret catalogs...

I suspect he would, if the Owl doesn't get them first.

Want more? Still More Fun Things to Do Around Center Neptune Convince others to sneak into G-force Country and leave rubber chickens tied to the doors of the gym. Listen to the screams when G2 sticks his head out to inquire what the h--l they think they're doing. Glue life-sized photos of Zoltar and/or various of his officers to cardboard, cut them out, and stand them up in random places. Maintenance closets are usually good. Keep track of the team's ship-kills with a row of little Spectran logos stencilled on a scoreboard. Throw a pizza party every 25 or so. Adust the volume on the PA to maximum while it's turned off. Convince somebody on the outside to send you a care package with a live alarm clock in it. Tape some of Zoltar's speeches and splice in disgusting bodily function noises over key words. Play them over the PA at random hours. Send an anonymous e-mail to everyone containing a passionate, blood-stirring recruitment call for "cannon fodder" and sign it "Lord Zoltar, Mighty Leader of Spectra." Spread rumors that the welds are no longer watertight in places on the outer hull, then leave puddles of water in various parts of the Center. Put a fish in the public water cooler. Fill the cafeteria "Special Requests" box with demands and recipes for haggis. Send 7-Zark-7 a grass hula skirt and coconut cups with a memo to wear these the next time he contacts G-force on monitor. Sign it "Security Chief Anderson." Give G4 a set of critales. [Note: these are like small, thick, metal cymbals, tuned to the scale, and suspended on a metal frame. They are LOUD. If you have never been at ground zero when someone is playing them, be glad.] Pretend you can't keep any of the team members' callsigns straight. Get a pair of guppies. Later on, give all of your friends guppies. Set up a miniature audio player so that it runs only in the dark. Load up a recording of a noisy puppy and hide it in the cafeteria or library. Actually, just about any room with manual light controls will do. If you work in Vehicle Maintenance, get one of those dashboard hula girls and stick it to a console on the bridge of the Phoenix. Leave feathers in random places around the Center. Tie Bloogles to the rear of G3's motorcycle (in either phase). [Note: These are also called Whirly Tubes.] Tie-dye your lab coat or coveralls. Place a large order for pizza and tell them the delivery boy will need a boat and a bulletproof vest. Hide ball bearings in the MRI room. Start disputes over which branch of Chiroptera Zoltar is most likely descended from. Bonus points for anyone who guesses "fruit bat."

It looks like someone is trying hard to convince the team that they are molting. Next thing you know they will have a neurosis about jumping out of Mecha because their "flight feathers" have fallen out.

Originally posted by Barrdwing Tie-dye your lab coat or coveralls.

How about, 'paint large, single digit numbers on your lab coat or coveralls'? Bonus points for anyone who dares to wear 1, 2 or 7.

Barrdwing those things to do at Center Neptune are hiliarious!

Originally posted by trideegurl2 except when we used to write our storues for Gatchaman, we wondered how anyone got to that base without the Phoenix.....

Me too. In ep. 76, "Bracelets Exposed," Joe ignores a summons from Dr. Nambu and stays to finish a race, rather than go with the others on the God Phoenix, and later he gets hit with the megaziner ray, but escapes. Next we see him, he's at the Crescent Base, with Dr. Nambu demanding to know where he was and telling Joe that the others have already gone. I always wondered how Joe got to the Crescent Base alone (I don't think his car goes under water!) or how he goes to rejoin the rest of the team after. I assumed that there had to be submarines (like we saw in eps 91 and 92) from Utoland to the Crescent Base, or some kind of aircraft besides the God Phoenix that could transport a member of the team there.

Originally posted by gogirl212 Inside, it is so much more utilitarian then I remembered - my imagination must be embelishing things again. I always wondered where those neat, orderly rows of fish were coming and going from.

I agree it is quite stark and institutional looking -a contrast to Galactor bases, which if I recall, often have chandeliers on the ceilings. Doesn't Dr. Nambu have some plants or decor in his office though? (not sure here) I've always loved the fish! Every time I find myself doing the tourist thing in a big city -if there's an aquarium, I visit it. I've had small aquariums myself for much of my life too.

Memo to self: Never get into a practical joke war with Barrdwing; her mind is evil...

Originally posted by Barrdwing

Funny... I didn't think Zarks *could* blink....

Cloud pretends to not know what TJ is talking about What would you say those lights on a Zark do then? I guess you would say flashing lights, instead of blinking lights.

Just few more screen shots of the base

Even more interesting is the question of how the team get their mechas out of there when good old Big Blue is still in her dry dock (wet dock, wherever)... Or do they just ask Tiny to "Just let me off here" on the way back? Barrdwing ... you are a crack-up, girl ... I've been chuckling like a moron over here reading all your little ways to beat the boredom at Neptune ... heh heh ...

Thanks for the screenshots, Meg! And you even got a shot with some actual *furniture* in it! Amazing! I have to admit, the God Phoenix looks super cool as they launch it.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Thanks for the screenshots, Meg! And you even got a shot with some actual *furniture* in it! Amazing!

And Joe is even sitting, not standing (still has the crossed arms though)! Great pictures, Meg! Two episodes that are among my favourites are 90 & 91, when the Crescent Base gets destroyed -so sad and angsty! Made me realize that the place was almost like a character itself.

Hi all! Crescent Coral Reef, the headquarters of the Science Ninja Team. Their "castle," as it is referred to when it is introduced in episode #8. There isn't a lot in the way of official stats for it, and the series planning doesn't add much information on it, saying only this regarding it: "The Headquarters of the "Science Ninja Team" At one time, they used Dr. Nambu's seaside villa to hide from the eyes of Gallactor, but this is destroyed in Episode 3, "Dr. Nambu Assassination Plan." After that, their base is established within a giant undersea combinant, an undersea city established for the sake of developing undersea resources." Obviously, at the point in which this was written, the concept of Crescent Coral Reef was not well developed. It's interesting to note that the concept of the Ninja Team's headquarters being a "giant undersea combinant" is actually fairly close to what the decoy undersea facility used to fool Gallactor in episode #8 looked like. Perhaps that is where they got that notion from. Despite being titled "The Secret of Crescent Coral Reef," and having the plot of the story centered around completing Crescent Coral Reef, one thing that the episode fails to do is really show the audience just what Crescent Coral Reef looks like. We see a couple of overhead shots of the coral reef, a couple of close-up shots of segments of the exterior of the facility, and a single interior shot from Nambu's Command Room, but no decent establishing shot of the whole structure. Our first views of Crescent Coral Reef, showing almost nothing For that, we have to wait until the God Phoenix launches in episode #9, and that shot raises the question of where exactly are they launching from? Anyway, what else we do know about Crescent Coral Reef comes from the series itself. From that, we know that Crescent Coral Reef is the secret underwater base that was built by Dr. Nambu and the I.S.O. to act as the Science Ninja Team's Headquarters. It floated on the ocean surface, hidden under a camouflage crescent-shaped coral reef that was attached to the upper part of the base (Episode #, which was where its name came from. It was sometimes referred to as "Crescent Base." It main source of power came from its atomic reactors. It was mobile, moving by means of four rocket engines attached to its base, in order to keep its location secret from Gallactor. It takes several of the base personnel to operate these rockets (Episode #82). The Rocket Control Room Crescent Coral Reef contained the hangar for the God Phoenix (Episode #. This hangar is located down a long corridor and fills with water after the Science Ninja Team had boarded the God Phoenix to allow it to launch. Dr. Nambu also maintained a Command Room there (Episode #8, and others). His Command Room contained a desk a large map on the wall and a round window to view outside. Dr. Nambu stored data for the Mantle Plan there (Episode #92). Crescent Coral Reef also had a Standby Room for the Science Ninja Team to rest and relax in (Episode #9, among others). Our first view of the Standby Room Our last view of the Standby Room There was also a Conference Room used for mission briefings. This Conference Room contained a projection system built into a desk to help Dr. Nambu illustrate his points (Episode #15, among others). Also located within it were numerous rooms, including the following: The various laboratories used by Dr. Nambu and I.S.O. engineers to conduct research (Episode #'s 15, 89, and 91, among others) A conference room for representatives of the I.S.O. to meet (Episode #13) A film laboratory (Episode #90) A Communications Room (Episode #'s 9, 17, and numerous others) At least two Computer Rooms (Episode #92) The 2nd Computer Room A medical facility (Episode #'s 20, 34) And a hangar for the Small Transportation Mecha used by Dr. Nambu to transport his car to shore (Episode #84). James

Hi all! Crescent Coral Reef contained equipment that could be used to work on the God Phoenix and the Ninja Team vehicles, whether this work ranged from simple maintenance (Episode #90), to special modifications to the God Phoenix (Episode #'s 15, 22, and 42), or even to rebuilding the Ninja Team vehicles from scratch (Episode #67). The Super Bird Missiles used by the Science Ninja Team were also constructed there (Episode #93). Crescent Coral Reef included a variety of security measures. These included security cameras mounted inside and outside the structure, with monitors inside Dr. Nambu's Command Room and alarm buttons located inside the laboratories in case an intruder was spotted. If anyone managed to sneak inside, they would have a difficult time leaving thanks to the bazookas mounted in the walls of the hangar bays (#91). In an emergency, it was possible to jettison the coral reef camouflage. There was an emergency submarine harbored inside it that could be used to evacuate the personnel if the destruction of Crescent Coral Reef was imminent (Episode #92). The facility also contained a self-destruct switch if it needed to be destroyed (Episode #34). Because of its importance to the Science Ninja Team and the I.S.O., Crescent Coral Reef was an obvious target for Gallactor. In fact, Gallactor launched several campaigns to locate and attack the facility (Episode #'s 61, 82, 89, and 91) before they finally succeeded in causing it irreparable damage, forcing the Science Ninja Team to destroy it in order to prevent the valuable data stored within from being captured by Gallactor (Episode #92). While the destruction of Crescent Coral Reef was a cause for celebration among Gallactor, it came as a deep blow to the morale of the Science Ninja Team. Despite the loss, they managed to come back with even greater determination to defeat Gallactor as they went into the final days of their struggle against Berg Katse and his forces. Annoyingly, virtually all of the rooms seen regularly inside Crescent Coral Reef changed their look and layout throughout the series, with no real consistency beyond maintaining a basic concept of what was in each room. Unlike locations such as the Snack Jun and X's control room, it does not appear that Tatsunoko ever did designs for places like Nambu's Command Room or the Ninja Team's Standy Room. On the other hand, Tatsunoko did create a cutaway view of Crescent Coral Reef. This view was used as the basis for this image from the series: The original cutaway view was reprinted (With color added) in the Gatchaman Fantastic TV Collection Volume 1 back in 1978. Here is is, with the labels translated for your convenience. James

That is a lot of information and some great screen caps you have found about the Crescent Coral Base. Thank you James.

Heehehheeee In an AU I have planned involving BOTP the three original members of the team (Ken, Jun and Joe.) Hack into Zarks data base so they can keep track of what the new teams up to. The comments I keep imagining them saying when Zark talks cracks me up. i can see Joe planning to send a virus through the link just to shut him up. Just something I thought of

Wow, James! Amazing amount of info here! I do notice that there doesn't seem to be any canon that shows that the SNT members have their own sleeping quarters in this base. Is that idea just fic fodder? I used to think that the scene in the mecha ball ep where Jun and Jinpei went to see Ken was showing Ken's CCB sleeping quarters...but upon closer inspection, it looks like his shack at the airfield...

Hi all!

I do notice that there doesn't seem to be any cannon that shows that the SNT members have their own sleeping quarters in this base. Is that idea just fic fodder?

There is no canon reference to the Ninja Team members having their own private rooms inside Crescent Coral Reef, though, if they needed to, there is no reason why they couldn't sleep in the barracks-style Members Room shown in the cutaway view. James

James, I am blown away by the information you have posted! I love all of the screencaps to demonstrate the different rooms! This is incredible!

Originally posted by Springie Wow, James! Amazing amount of info here! I do notice that there doesn't seem to be any canon that shows that the SNT members have their own sleeping quarters in this base. Is that idea just fic fodder? I used to think that the scene in the mecha ball ep where Jun and Jinpei went to see Ken was showing Ken's CCB sleeping quarters...but upon closer inspection, it looks like his shack at the airfield...

That is funny, because I would have automatically said it was at ken's airfield because I thought you could see his airplane out side of his window. But in this image from Reboekah's site it looks like a building (skyscaper)

Originally posted by Springie I do notice that there doesn't seem to be any canon that shows that the SNT members have their own sleeping quarters in this base. Is that idea just fic fodder?

It's been fodder in my fics! Thank you, James, for this wealth of information!

Hi all!

But in this image from Reboekah's site it looks like a building (skyscaper)

The thing that looks like the top of a tall building outside of the window is actually the window shade, as is more obvious in a larger image. So, yes, they are at Ken's home on the airfield. James

Oooooo, I never thought of that. Considering I have never had outer blinds (shutters we call them) on a house I live in. So CAN you see Ken's plane outside the window or door, like I remember? Curiosity says, "I think I am going to watch that eps today and check."

We're going to get some shutters like that for our new house (although they'll be inside). Do you think our new home will look like Ken's shack?

Only if it is a one story house, with just a couple of rooms.

Barrdwing... your list has me Thanks for sharing this! And thanks to James for his explanation of the base, and to everybody for their screen caps! I didn't realize how many different views their were of the base, it seems to look all the same to me when I'm watching the epidsodes I've always lived in a colonial so we have shutters but not working ones . But I agree in the picture it could look like a building.

Hmmmm.... new trend in the real estate market... one room airfield shacks and old trailers...

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Hmmmm.... new trend in the real estate market... one room airfield shacks and old trailers...

That is because the team has retired and are using their ISO bonus money to move up to $500, 000 homes.

Back in the it was written they needed whole rooms for computers unlike today. The concept of a smaller home computer was nothing but a futuristic dream...So I can understand the huge computers in they show at Centre Neptune/Cresent Coral base.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun We're going to get some shutters like that for our new house (although they'll be inside). Do you think our new home will look like Ken's shack?

See the influence Gatchaman is having on you... I thought for a second there you were going to say you started looking at trailers to live in...and then you decided to by an airfield instead so your Eagle had a place to park his Cessna...

All right, finally a minute free to type! Some More Fun Things to Do Around Center Neptune Spread rumors that due to funding cuts, the cafeteria is now substituting Spam for all pork products. Steal one of those little dishes of pudding from the cafeteria. Prop it upside-down on some bricks. See how many days--or weeks, or months--it takes to fall out of the dish. Put a whoopee cushion on one of the chairs on the Phoenix's bridge. Glue a dead spider to a small piece of glass. Tape it in front of the lens of one of the intermittent-sweep Security cameras. Post "LOST" notices in the lounges and cafeteria with a picture of an amoeba. Start a hallway basketball league. Jam a tape of "H.R. Puf'n'stuff" in one of the lounge viewers. When someone asks about the above, tell them you think it's a briefing tape and doesn't Witchy-Poo look like Zoltar? If they buy it up to the point where the broom falls out of the sky, give yourself extra points. Send G2 an anonymous award for "Most Inventive Use of Feathers." Hang an air freshener in the G-4. Start an Irish dance club. Move the rehearsal site around as much as possible: next to the cafeteria, above Chief Anderson's office, in the Phoenix's drydock . . . . Teach yourself how to play the bagpipes. After you think you've mastered the bagpipes, start wearing a kilt and sporran when off-duty. Make up your own plaid design. Stencil a box with CAUTION: SCORPIONS, LIVE, AUSTRALIAN and leave it open on the floor of the locker room. Carry a mouth harp in your pocket and practice it during slow moments. Tell people your department's new defense project involves crossing jumping cholla cactus with poison oak. Try the old burning-bag-of-compost trick in front of someone's door. Who knows? This is an undersea base full of science types. It might actually work. Make up holidays. "Hey, everyone, it's Sanitation Appreciation Day!" Buy a large hairy fake spider and perch it on your computer monitor. If anyone asks, his name is Boris. At Christmas, tie a fancy bow and a little bell to one of his legs. Give him a little green hat on St. Patrick's Day, and a cotton ball at Easter (he's babysitting). Keep a Tagalog-to-Swahili dictionary at your desk. If anyone asks, it's to help you with your work manuals. Leave a pile of empty cans balanced at the top of a stairwell, then remove the nearest light bulb. Put a sign outside reading QUIET PLEASE: RECORDING SESSION NEARBY. If your field is mathematics or physics, put together a dissertation with lots of incomprehensible formulae "proving" that the latest Spectran ship cannot possibly fly (or travel in space, underground, underwater, etc.). Start a loud-voiced discussion somewhere public with someone whom you can count on to disagree violently with whatever you say. Write a theme song for Spectra and hum it loudly during attacks. Compose an anonymous love letter to Zoltar and leave it on someone else's desk. Become a public, vocal fan of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Lost in Space, and Star Wars. Work elements of these into conversations at every opportunity. Tuck your shirt into your underpants so that the waistband hangs out. See how long it takes for someone to actually tell you. Fix it, then unfix it when they're not looking.

Let's see.... working on theme song for Spectra...

Like you have time for that TJ, with everything else you have going on in your life. But when it is done let me know so I can hear it....

Originally posted by clouddancer Like you have time for that TJ, with everything else you have going on in your life. But when it is done let me know so I can hear it....

Here it is! Spectra's Theme

TJ....thats so fitting..

Yeah, thanks, now I'll be humming or singing it all day long!