Nope, I'm not making this up. The name of the Science Ninja Team's Base in Gatchaman II was G-Town. Aside from the obvious smut jokes one can make about such a name, it's certainly not as creative as 'Crescent Coral Base', but the base itself is quite impressive. G-Town was significantly larger than the Crescent Coral Base. It was essentially a small city, and huge amounts of space for all kinds of things, including a docking bay for the very large New God Phoenix. It was also a bona fide submarine, and was able to move around the oceans of the world. G-Town was attacked on two occasions by Gel Sadra (see below) but never destroyed. It may still be floating around out there... somewhere... G-Town exterior: Dr. Nambu's office (Do you think it's big enough?): The team hangs out in a lounge: Later, Joe decides to take a nap while Jun and Jinpei chat: G-Town was attacked twice by Gel Sadra. First, she deceived and trained Eva Douglas to take Jun's place and impersonate the Swan. Here, Eva 'fakes illness' during a G-Town briefing so she can leave the rest of the team. Then she places a bomb in a G-Town computer room: Then she tried to place a locator device in the engine room, but Joe caught her and figured out that it wasn't Jun: Later of course, the real Swan (who had been captured by Gel Sadra) broke out, and made her way back to G-Town in time to convince Eva that she had been lied to by Galactor. Eva ended up sacrificing her own life to save G-Town. On another occasion, Gel Sadra plotted to trap G-Town in a massive crevasse, and she put icebergs on top to trap the submarine base. How did she do this? Well, she had Galactor troops infiltrate the base and install devices to take over control of the submarine's movement. While this was successful, the Science Ninja Team found the infiltrators and dealt with them accordingly. Here, Ken fights a Galactor troop in G-Town's engine room: But they were still trapped. They called Dr. Pandora (who was out of the base on another mission) and had her get the original God Phoenix, so that she could use the Firebird to melt the icebergs and free the base. This turned out to be unnecessary, as the Science Ninja Team reached the New God Phoenix and were able to free it from G-Town and break through the iceberg using their own ship. It did, however, make for a spectacular scene when there were two firebirds flying through the sky. Certainly it was memorable for Gel Sadra, whose mecha was destroyed, leaving her floating in icy ocean waters. (James, feel free to correct my plot summaries as I am using ER for a basis and might have a few details wrong.) Comments about G-Town?

So they had the original God Phoenix as well. Cool, probably could have trained another team as a backup. Oh and thanks for the pics and information. G-Town (no smutty comments from this Eagle) does look more impressive than the Crescent Base.

Originally posted by Metaliant So they had the original God Phoenix as well. Cool, probably could have trained another team as a backup.

I'm sure James will add more to this, but essentially, there was a radio drama before Gatchaman II aired, and in that radio drama they 'sank' the old God Phoenix as a form of 'burial'. However, that was all thrown out the window in this one episode of Gatchaman II. But presumably the ship had been through enough battle damage that it wasn't usable regularly. Dr. Pandora goes to the 'hidden location' of the original God Phoenix. You can see that it was hidden inside a mountain inside of a giant hangar. The two firebirds destroy Gel Sadra's mecha: The new and old God Phoenix, side by side:

Thanks for the info about G-Town TJ! I like the idea of seeing the original GodPhoenix again. I had always wondered what happened to it in Gatchaman II.

Who was inside the original GP to make it fly and go Fiery?

I'm thinking it was Dr. Pandora CD.

It was Dr. Pandora. And no, she wasn't wearing Birdstyle.

What did happen to the original Phoenix?

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun What did happen to the original Phoenix?

It wasn't mentioned again after this one episode of Gatchaman II.

Ahhh. It was probably turned into a restaurant or something in Las Vegas...

If thats the case, then I'm most certainly going there SJ. Oh wait, that was in the Gatch world, not this one.... darn it!

Thanks for the info, TJ! I'm glad they stayed underwater in Gatch II (I like the fish) even though G-Town isn't as nice looking (to me) as their Gatch I base. I've always gotten a kick out of the little tubes they sometimes travel around in at G-town. They remind me of those little canisters that travel through the tubes when you use drive-through banks.

Originally posted by Metaliant So they had the original God Phoenix as well. Cool, probably could have trained another team as a backup. Oh and thanks for the pics and information. G-Town (no smutty comments from this Eagle) does look more impressive than the Crescent Base.

I was meant to be this HUGE you beaut modern 'city' kinda base. But it still gets destroyed in the end. There has to be thousands of people there so for it to be destroyed it would have been an enormous loss of life.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun

Originally posted by Metaliant So they had the original God Phoenix as well. Cool, probably could have trained another team as a backup.

I'm sure James will add more to this, but essentially, there was a radio drama before Gatchaman II aired, and in that radio drama they 'sank' the old God Phoenix as a form of 'burial'. However, that was all thrown out the window in this one episode of Gatchaman II. But presumably the ship had been through enough battle damage that it wasn't usable regularly. Dr. Pandora goes to the 'hidden location' of the original God Phoenix. You can see that it was hidden inside a mountain inside of a giant hangar. The two firebirds destroy Gel Sadra's mecha: The new and old God Phoenix, side by side:

I ddin't think it came back into it at all. The details you miss when you don't see it all from beginning to end in the series.

Originally posted by Ebonyswanne

Originally posted by Metaliant So they had the original God Phoenix as well. Cool, probably could have trained another team as a backup. Oh and thanks for the pics and information. G-Town (no smutty comments from this Eagle) does look more impressive than the Crescent Base.

I was meant to be this HUGE you beaut modern 'city' kinda base. But it still gets destroyed in the end. There has to be thousands of people there so for it to be destroyed it would have been an enormous loss of life.

Ummm, did I get this wrong? I thought TJ said G-Town was never destroy, in the first post she made. Maybe I read it wrong.

Hi all! G-Town was not destroyed. It survived the series intact, and is simply never mentioned in Gatchaman Fighter. James

Originally posted by tatsunokofan Hi all! G-Town was not destroyed. It survived the series intact, and is simply never mentioned in Gatchaman Fighter. James

Sounds kind of similar to the fate of the Old God Phoenix.... (if you look at Gatch II and not the radio serial where it was sunk.)

Originally posted by tatsunokofan G-Town was not destroyed. It survived the series intact, and is simply never mentioned in Gatchaman Fighter.

Whoo hoo! I was right! (Doesn't happen all that often, so i want to celebrate... )

Originally posted by tatsunokofan Hi all! G-Town was not destroyed. It survived the series intact, and is simply never mentioned in Gatchaman Fighter. James

Ahhh for some reason I thought it was destroyed. I must be thinking of the mountain base in Fighter. If thats the case then its still there in use in the series. Good bit of food for thought when writing ficcies...

Hi all! Unlike Crescent Coral Reef in the first series, G-Town was a part of "Gatchaman II" that was accounted for in the series Planning Establishment, giving us at least a little official information regarding it. It come sup twice in the Planning, first in the section on Dr. Nambu, where it says, "Dr. Nambu has constructed an undersea mobile base, the submarine mothership 'G-Town,' and the God Phoenix's replacement, the New God Phoenix, is also born." This is followed up on in the section describing the various Ninja Team mecha, where G-Town is described as follows: Storyboard of the sequence where G-Town is first seen in "Gatchaman II" episode #1 "High Speed Undersea Aircraft Carrier 'G-Town' The mobile base of Gatchaman and the others. (Performance) Engine: Equipped with two atomic engines. Maximum Speed: On water: 80 knots Underwater: 40 knots Weight: 600,000 tons Personnel: 25 people (Functions) It can run through the oceans as an undersea submarine, can launch and dock with each mecha, as well as store them, and operates on a completely computerized automated system. It's like a mobile city, with everything needed inside it, including a gymnasium where one can ice skate." We are first introduced to G-Town in the first episode of Gatchaman II, where we see the massive vehicle moving along the ocean floor. We also see the two rooms we ended up seeing the most of throughout the series. First, the Command Room. Second, the New God Phoenix's launch bay (Episode #1). During the run of "Gatchaman II," we saw a number of other parts of G-Town. These included Dr. Nambu's Office (Episode #20) A standby room for the Science Ninja Team, with an emergency alarm mounted on the wall to call them into action (Episode #37). The Medical Center (Episode #'s 3, 51) The Plant Research Laboratory (Episode #7), The Radar Room, which G-Town uses for navigation (Episode #20) The Computer Room (Episode #20) The Engine Room (Episode #'s 20, 47) A projection room for viewing films and slides (Episode #20) A ready room to prepare to space flight (Episode #45) A bay to recover objects from the ocean floor (Episode #39). As mentioned in the Planning, there is also a large Athletic Room inside G-Town, which includes a large pool (Episode #1, punching bags, gymnastic equipment and a large running track (Episode #29). And, of course, there are a number of other laboratories and research facilities throughout G-Town (Episode #37). Because of its size, there are a series of tubes running through the structure that allow people to be moved quickly from one place to another. When the members of the Science Ninja Team are using this system to head to the Command Room, they stop briefly in a Transformation Room to change to Bird Style before continuing of to the Command Room (Episode #3). This system was only shown being used once in "Gatchaman II," but "Eagle Riders' reused this footage quite often as filler. For shorter distances, there are a number or corridors throughout G-Town (Episode #'s 1, 20, 37, and others). James

Hi all! G-Town uses engineering systems developed by I.S.O. scientist Bill Douglas. G-Town moves by floating above the ground. G-Town also has the ability to surface (Episode #39). It must do in order to lauch the New God Phoenix into space (Episode #. Additional rockets are also stored there, which can also be used for space travel (Episode #45). The top portion of G-Town can also be used as a runway for launching the Eagle Sharp (Episode #31). G-Town was manned by a crew of 300 (Episode #47), including scientists and engineers. It even has a Rescue Squad that can be sent out for special duties (Episode #33). The Rescue Squad in action There are several different styles of submarines that dock at G-Town, which allow individuals or small groups of people to depart for shore (Episode #'s 38, 47). Large submarine departing G-Town Large submarine Small submarine docked inside G-Town Small subarine departing G-Town Small submarine There are also a number of small Operations Submarines that perform work outside and around G-Town (Episode #20). Operations Submarine Like Crescent Coral Reef before it, G-Town moved regularly to avoid being attacked by Gallactor forces. Gallactor did manage to mount an attack on G-Town twice. The first time was by once using infiltration of a spy and an attack by Gallactor Frogmen (Episode #20). The second was by using the Gallacon to invade G-Town (Episode #47). While both efforts caused damage to G-Town, neither were successful in destroying the structure. When last seen, G-Town was safe and sound as the New God Phoenix launched to join in the final battle against Governor X (Episode #51). When Tatsunoko was creating the Planning Establishment for "Gatchaman Fighter," they mention that Dr. Nambu is "Sending commands from their G-Town base..." to the Ninja Team in Gatchaman Base, indicating that they had intended for Nambu to continue to use G-Town as his base of operations. Alas, this never happened during the show itself, which had Nambu operating out of the I.S.O. Headquarters instead. While never seen in the series itself, a pair of early drafts of the story for the first episode of "Gatchaman II" did address the question of how the Ninja Team reached G-Town. In the story as aired, we see Nambu ordering the Science Ninja Team to come together (As though they can hear him calling out from inside the I.S.O. Headquarters). This is followed by a montage of introductory shots showing Ken, Jun, Jinpei, and Ryu riding in their new vehicles, followed by a quick introduction to G-Town with the Ninja Team gathered inside their Control Room with everyone's favorite live-action fish swimming outside. In the first story draft, Nambu is in G-Town talking into a microphone when he orders the Ninja Team to assemble. Ken is dashing along a suburban road in the Carboat 1 when he responds with a basic, "Roger." Jun is shown on a highway in Carboat 3 when she does the same. Jinpei is on a path in a park, hurrying in Carboat 4 when he gets the call, and Ryu is driving the Carboat 5 on a coastal road when he receives the summons. All four of the carboats jump into the ocean, and when the cockpits are shielded by a transparent cover, they dive underwater. In the ocean before them moves G-Town. They enter their individual Carboat hatches and surface inside their hanger pools, where the Ninja Team members spring from their vehicles and run through a passageway and into the Transformation Dome. There, as the Ninja Team members pass through, their civilian clothes automatically change to Bird Style. No fuss, no muss, no "Bird Go!," no Batpoles. Just walk in and Presto, youre changed! The four properly attired Ninja Team members then ride an elevator up to the Control Room, where they are greeted by Nambu, who is holding a stopwatch. Nambu then commends then for taking only 7 minutes, 32 seconds to assemble, which Jinpei credits to their continued training. The second story draft did things a little differently. Rather than riding in the Carboats in their civilian clothes, the members of the Science Ninja Team are already in uniform, traveling in their individual G-Mecha along the same suburban road, highway, and park path as in Scenario A, though Ryu is now also on a suburban road. Since this used almost a cut-and-paste approach for the descriptions for where the Ninja Team members were, it almost reads like the Eagle Sharp was driving along the suburban road rather than flying over it, but I assume it would have been shown in the air instead of on the ground. Anyway, the Narrator uses this chance to introduce the vehicles by name, and the four move to a coastal highway where the New God Phoenix flies along and picks them all up, in a scene very reminiscent of the docking sequence from the first series. With all the vehicles on board, the New God Phoenix dives into the ocean, where it is greeted by G-Town. After the New God Phoenix enters a hatch into G-Town, the four Ninja Team members then ride an elevator up to the Control Room, where they are greeted by Nambu, who is holding a stopwatch. Nambu then commends then for taking only 7 minutes, 32 seconds to assemble, which Jinpei credits to their continued training. From there the action in both story drafts duplicates what we eventually saw, as Dr. Nambu begin to inform the Ninja Team of Gallactor's return, and how they are likely to be brainwashing the people they are kidnapping to make them work for Gallactor. While neither of these scenes were ever used, it is nice to know that the staff had given it some thought. There is a single cutaway shot of G-Town that appears in the series (Episode #47). Surprisingly, this shot was taken from artwork that was created for the June, 1979 issue of "TV-kun" magazine. The magazine article does provide a couple other small bits of information regarding G-Town that, while not appearing in the Planning or the series itself, can be taken as "semi-official," since Tatsunoko worked closely with Shogakukan to create the material. In it, they state that G-Town is 2,860 meters long (9,383 and 1/4 feet) and 900 meters high (2952 and 3/4 feet), and includes hovercraft engines and underwater lasers for defense. I hope this helps to fill in some gaps regarding the Science Ninja Team's second Headquarters! James

Nice information James!

Originally posted by tatsunokofan I hope this helps to fill in some gaps regarding the Science Ninja Team's second Headquarters!

I should say so! Thank you so much, James, for putting all this together.

Thanks for the terrific information, James, as well as all of those great screencaps! One question though... is it really only a personnel compliment of 25? I think you'd need that many people just to maintain the place. It's huge!!!!

Hi all!

One question though... is it really only a personnel compliment of 25? I think you'd need that many people just to maintain the place. It's huge!!!!

No, there's a crew of 300. 25 was only in the Planning, but as I said, in the series itself they stated 300. James

Wow......just wow. I am glad you are here James to give us all these pics and information on the tech, mechs and bases and such like. I think we wiould be absoutely lost without you.

Hi all!

Dr. Pandora goes to the 'hidden location' of the original God Phoenix. You can see that it was hidden inside a mountain inside of a giant hangar.

There's a big clue as to where this hangar is located in the establishing shot that pans down the cliffside. You see that building at the top of the cliff? Does it remind you of anything? It may not look exactly like it did in the first series, but my immediate thought when first seeing it was "Oh, that's Nambu's home." As it turns out, my gut response was correct. I recently got the scenario for that particular episode, and, sure enough, it lists the location of that scene as taking place at "Nambu's Villa." So, Nambu literally kept the God Phoenix close to home. Maybe he took it out for a spin on the weekends... James

That's what I thought as soon as I scrolled down the screen and saw the house, before scrolling down to see the rest of the pic and read your comment.

But I thought Nambu's villa was destroyed? In any case, I am at the idea of Dr. Nambu taking the God Phoenix out for a spin...

Hi all!

But I thought Nambu's villa was destroyed?

I might have had a hole torn in the roof in Gatchaman #102, but it wasn't destroyed. They were seen inside it in both episode #'s 103 and 104. Besides, even if it had been destroyed, he certainly had time to rebuild it. James

Originally posted by tatsunokofan So, Nambu literally kept the God Phoenix close to home. Maybe he took it out for a spin on the weekends...

Oh, that is so cool! Can we assume this secret hangar for the God Phoenix might have been there in the first series too (even if it wasn't shown)? I'm trying to remember where they kept the God Phoenix in the first series, particularly before the Crescent Base was constructed in episode 8 (I will check the "God Phoenix" thread). I think there was at least one episode that showed it being kept under water at Ryu's marina, when not needed for missions, but maybe it wasn't always there...

I know in the OAVs the God Phoenix was underneath Ryu's marina. He had to don some kind of mask to swim down to it. James... I meant that I thought Nambu's villa was destroyed in episode 3. But you're right that he would have had time to rebuild it since then.

Hi all!

I know in the OAVs the God Phoenix was underneath Ryu's marina. He had to don some kind of mask to swim down to it.

Actually, he simply held his breath as he grabbed hold of some device that pulled him down to where the God Phoenix was located. Exactly where the God Phoenix was kept during the TV series was never explicitly stated, but it was implied that it was kept underwater next to the yacht harbor Ryu ran. The OAV simply used this as its foundation.

I meant that I thought Nambu's villa was destroyed in episode 3.

That was what was intended when the series Planning Establishment was written, but they didn't follow through with it once the series went into production. The way things ended up, episode #3 was the Mummy Giant story, while the "Dr. Nambu Assassination Plan" story got pushed back. It eventually became episode #31, minus any scenes with Nambu's villa being destroyed. James

I didn't tink it got destroyed (Nambu's villa) since they end up there after the Crescent Coral base was destroyed... and I saw no indications during anything I've read about the other two series... (but then I've been wrong before.)