It just occurred to me, as I was editing a story, that I have no idea how Jason gets back to his car from the bridge of the Phoenix during a mission. I am assuming that he heads back toward the lift that we always see Mark coming out of. But then what? Does he hoist himself down the hand bars that we see him come up in? Does he jump? I can't believe that I've never given this any thought before, but here I am. Help! Thanks.

I've always assumed that if he has to pull himself up, then he can simply slide down, but how practical that actually is, I've really no idea.

I don't think its ever been shown or revealed, Jul. There's a schematic of the Phoenix somewhere that might show it. I know I've seen it a few times. Check Wendy Dinsmore's Home of the White Shadow site and Jason Hofius' Battle of the Planets site.

Home of the White Shadow is gone, and has been for a couple of years. I have that schematic in one of my Gatch books, but I'm not sure which one...

Her site can still be found with the wayback machine http://web.archive.org/web/20080820085652/http://www.chronicsite.com/gatchaman/index.html But I'm not sure if it has that diagram of the God Phoenix...

Originally posted by Evangelina Home of the White Shadow is gone, and has been for a couple of years. I have that schematic in one of my Gatch books, but I'm not sure which one...

Hi Evangelina! When you say Gatch books, are they available to buy, or are they books you made yourself? *DT looking around for Gatch books*

I have bunches of Gatch books that I've collected over the last 20 years, including Gatchaman Materials: Gatchaman Graffiti Fantastic TV Collections 1 & 2 The schematic below is from the Fantastic collection 1, from 1977. I found schematics of everything, including the inside of Ken's freaking birdrang (there's a lot going on inside there!), but this was the only schematic I could find for the inside of the Phoenix. There's another one I was thinking of, which is in black and white and shows the control room better, but I can't find it. I'll maybe look again later when I have more time. In the meantime, see if this is helpful. (Sorry you can't see the middle very well, but I couldn't get it any clearer without breaking the spine on my book, and since it's a book from the 1970s, I can't replace it.)

I've a;lways assumed that Joe slides down the same tube he uses to exit. It looks easier to 'slide in' than to 'pull out'! (even though we only ever see him 'pull out'_ Okay, I didn't mean to make that sound smutty. Honestly!

Thanks, Katsesama! That is truly awesome.

TJ - I didn't think that at all. Not at all. Nope. Nada. In and out...Okay. I'm thinking about it!

Wow! Thanks for sharing the books, Katsesama!

So that's where they keep that big dish they used on the giant ant robot.

Do you think its still classified?

A lot of classifications expire after 25 years, so I doubt it.

This isnt one of `a lot of` Some US stuff from WW1 is still classified, isnt it?

Here's another one. Still not the one I'm thinking of.

It's amazing how little space the team actually uses in the ship. There are different levels of classification, but a majority are 25 years.

Actor Christopher Lee did some things in WWII that are still classified, even after all this time. All government/military secrets eventually go public, if only because so much time passed that it doesn't matter any more.

Now that's an idea for a fic...Anderson (or Nambu, if you prefer), releasing secret documenrs to the public. In the UK, this is done every year, when the public records' office releases documents every 1st of January, if I'm not mistaken, according to the 25-year rule. But, as others have pointed out, NOT everything is released. It's a big media event, at least for the written press.

I dont think anything on the Team would be released until they are all dead.