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[Thank you, Saturn, for the screen caps!]

Gatchaman Episode 86: “Galactor’s Monopoly Operation”

BOTP Episode: “Super Space Spies”


 


“Due to world wide population increases,” the narrator tells us (while we view a scene of completely unpopulated mountains), “and an unstable climate, sugar production has nearly stopped.” (Guess Galactor won’t be rebuilding Ibukron any time soon.)

“So,” continues the narrator, as we see a couple people now –two mountain climbers to be specific, “the artificial sweetener, sugare [pronounced sugaré] is now being distributed across the globe as an alternative.”


 


One climber loses his footing and, with a cry, begins sliding down the steep rock face he was climbing as his companion, higher up, seizes hold of the falling climber’s rope. Unfortunately, the rope breaks, and the falling climber now digs his pick axe into the ice and snow in hopes of slowing or stopping his rapid descent.


 


However the man arrives at the bottom of the slope with something of a thump, as his companion calls “Are you all right?” from high above.


 


The fallen climber sits up and calls back that he is, in fact, all right and his companion tells him “Wait there, I’ll come help you.”

While waiting, he goes over to a nearby mountain stream and splashes some water on his face, but some of the water also gets in his mouth, and he’s clearly surprised by its taste.


 


“Wait –this is sweet. It’s sugare!” he cries.

And with that revelation, we now cut to the Crescent Coral Base, where happy fish swim peacefully. Inside, Dr. Nambu strides into a room and pauses to check his watch.


 


“According to a timely report I just received,” he announces, “Someone has bought up the world’s entire supply of sugare.”

We see who he’s announcing this to, as we get a look at Ken and Jinpei, in birdstyle. Ken stands up indignantly, hearing this news.

“Did you say they bought up the entire supply?” asks Ken. Yes, Ken, that’s what he said (perhaps someone’s spent too many hours flying a small plane without the protection afforded by headphones?)

“Boy, those guys gotta have some kind of sweet tooth,” snarks Jinpei.

Dr. Nambu thinks the buyers’ objective is uncertain, but adds “Something like this can only lead to one group.”

Ken mutters “SPECTRE?… KAOS?...” before settling on “Galactor!”

(Heh, someone at ADV, it seems, was a James Bond and a Get Smart fan –in the subs he hits on Galactor right away.)

Dr. Nambu concurs with his conclusion, while holding his chin thoughtfully.

Now we see that the whole Team is present, as they all ponder this information.


 


Ryu slouches back in his seat philosophically, saying (in the subs) that as long as he has food, he can live without sugare.

(Not consistent with his attitude in the Ibukron episode, really. In the dub, he says he has a year’s supply already stashed away.)

“It’s not just your stomach we have to think about,” retorts Jun indignantly to Ryu. She’s thinking about children who will be denied sweets.

“Yeah,” chimes in a scowling Jinpei, “If there’s no sugare in this world anymore I’ll just die! I won’t have anything left to live for!”

Joe, who has been listening to this rant with eyes closed and arms folded now turns and puts a squelching hand on Jinpei’s head.

“Don’t let your spool unwind, kid,” says Joe, shoving him down, as Jinpei protests “But Joe!”

Dr. Nambu cuts in, noting that Jinpei’s distress points to Galactor’s likely plan here –“An attempt to cause social unrest and panic.”

But now Jun asks what their grounds for involvement in the matter are, if Galactor bought all the sugare (as opposed to stealing it.)

“Well, just think about it,” replies Dr. Nambu, “Where would Galactor take all the sugare they purchased, hmm?”

Everyone pauses to think about this, and Ken answers first, smiling in understanding.

“They’ll take it to Galactor’s headquarters,” he says, “Won’t they, Doc?”

Dr. Nambu nods, adding “We suspect Galactor’s headquarters is a very large scale operation, with a population of hundreds of thousands, possibly over a million.”

Okay, that would be rather hard to keep secret, wouldn’t it?

But, we see now an image of numerous Galactor workers, all busy at an assembly line to construct machine guns.


 


One worker, weary and sweaty from riveting something on each gun as they move by on a conveyor belt, pauses to wipe his brow, as a gun-toting goon on a screen behind him suddenly yells “Back to work, slowpoke!”


 


These guys need a union, I think. Nevertheless, this is an interesting glimpse into where and how Galactor gets things other than its mechas.

“A majority of its workforce are engineers who are brought there by force from countries all over the world,” continues Dr. Nambu as we now see two such forcibly conscripted people –looks like a man and wife- waving to their child as they approach a playground surrounded by a high chain link fence (and guarded by an armed goon). A little kid runs to them happily, and the three then head towards their Galactor-provided housing as Dr. Nambu goes on “Their wives and children are probably there too, and for those children, sugare is absolutely essential.”


 


As he’s saying this, we see the kid sitting at a table, eating some kind of heavily frosted cake. Like episode 12, with Ibukron, this episode is really drumming up the importance of sugar and sweets for children!


 


Now we’re back to seeing Dr. Nambu, as he concludes “By buying up the sugare and taking it to their base, Galactor can supply their people while disrupting worldwide distribution. Perhaps their plan kills two birds with one stone.”


 


Joe scowls and punches one hand with his fist, angry at Galactor’s “dirty trick.”

So, Dr. Nambu wants them to fly to Snowy Valley, by Big Yellow Mountain –called “the roof of the world.”

Hmm, must be part of the Himalayas… In fact, the map Dr. Nambu points to looks vaguely like the shape of India.


 


Everyone is puzzled by this, but now Dr. Nambu explains, “It seems that when the snow melts, the water is sweet.”

Clearly the mountain climbers spread the word.

So now we cut to a scene of the God Phoenix flying over high mountains, and then Big Yellow Mountain appears on the view screen.


 


Jun thinks it’s magnificent looking, though Jinpei can only wish that it were all made of sugare. They land and everyone gets out to investigate an area at the foot of the mountain. For Jinpei, this entails making a snow cone and giving it a lick.


 


His face rapidly turns unhappy. “Hey, this is just snow!” he yells.

Ryu assumes the sugare is much higher up the mountain. Ken is wondering what sugare is doing at all in such a seemingly-deserted place. Jun wonders if it’s merely “a stopping place on their transportation route.”

Ken doesn’t think so.

Joe wonders if there was an accident while they were transporting the sugare, and as he says this, Ken spots a gleaming shard of metal in the snow.


 


Ken thinks something big might be buried in the snow there, and Ryu decides that he’s the best person to find out. He tries tugging on the shard.


 


However, it proves more difficult to move than he’d expected. Ryu loses his grip and goes flying backwards, crashing into Jinpei and sending them both tumbling into the snow, per their required comic relief duty.


 


Plan B entails tying a rope to the shard and using Jinpei’s buggy to do the tugging.

But, the ropes slides off the shard, which causes everyone to gasp as Jinpei’s buggy ends up nose-down in the snow.


 


So, a plan C is required, and it consists of Ken firing up the engines of his G1 jet such that they’re blasting heat directly at the shard.


 


The snow begins to melt, and it sure looks like something big is there…

Everyone continues to stare, and before long, a massive damaged aircraft is uncovered.


 

This post has been edited 3 time(s), it was last edited by lborgia88 on 20-07-2010 at 06:07.
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“It looks like a huge cargo plane,” says Ryu, but Jun notes that no one has reported any missing transport planes in this region.

Joe wonders if it’s a Galactor plane, and Ken confirms his hunch by noticing a red Galactor symbol on part of the wrecked plane.


 


Ken quickly contacts Dr. Nambu to tell him what they’ve found.

“Good –I want you to search it thoroughly,” replies Dr. Nambu’s voice from Ken’s bracelet.

But somewhere else, an underwater vessel is moving through water.

“Meanwhile,” says the narrator, “Galactor is also searching for the missing transport plane.”

And, boy, are they searching in the wrong place!

And, we get our first look at the Captain of the Week for this underwater Galactor mecha, and he is sight! It’s been a while, I think, since we had one this silly.

Behold Captain Tiger Shark:


 


Now, back at Yellow Mountain, some lights on a console suddenly activate inside the wreckage of the transport plane but the Ninjas are too far away to notice.


 


“When the plane’s transmitter is reactivated,” the narrator tells us, the crew of Captain Tiger Shark’s mecha pick up the signal.

A goon informs the Captain of the newly-found signal and he demands the coordinates. Receiving them from the goon, he activates a map and, looking at it, says “As I suspected…”

We don’t get to hear what he suspected.

We do get an on-screen Berg Katse though.


 


Katse’s been informed that the transport plane is on Big Yellow Mountain, but he’s wondering why it suddenly started transmitting a signal now. Captain Tiger Shark speculates some kind of shock reactivated the transmitter. Katse, lip curled in a sneer, retorts that he’s figured out that something’s reactivated it –he’s concerned that the “something” is other, non-Galactor people.

“It’s a high mountain,” muses the Captain, “There shouldn’t be anything up there except animals and birds-”

“Did you say ‘birds’?” demands Katse, “That’s it. It’s the Science Ninja Team.” He’s not pleased with this thought.

“How would they know to look up there?” queries the Captain, only to be told “They have their ways,” by a grim Katse.

Katse tells him to use caution investigating, and the Captain bows as Katse cuts out.

Next, we see some debris from the wrecked transport plane, on a table.


 


“Before he could do that,” explains the narrator, “Gatchaman and the others took all the plane parts that might be clues, and brought them to Dr. Nambu at the Crescent Base where they were being thoroughly analyzed.”

And Dr. Nambu is also speaking on a cordless telephone.

“Then, by asking the head of the intelligence department,” continues the narrator, “to run an ID check on the name of the person who shipped the sugare, he discovered that the one who had bought up all the artificial sweetener was the international dealer in death, Martin Gillman.”

We get an image of Gillman.


 


‘Then, by looking at the fuel gauge and the flight recorder in the transport plane that had crashed, Dr. Nambu deduced [by taking rulers to a map while the Ninjas watch] four possible points of departure.”

So now Ken’s G1 jet is speeding off across a sea, Joe’s G2 car is zooming along a road, and Jun on her bike is skimming fast across the surface of some body of water as the narrator explains that the Team has split up to search all four locations simultaneously.

Dr. Nambu studies a map. I guess that Big Yellow Mountain isn’t in India after all –unless Australia has somehow moved all the way across the Indian Ocean –Darwin, meet Mumbai.


 


Ken, we are informed, is investigating “Location A.” This entails looking sexy on a beach –whoo hoo!


 


But he “turns up nothing unusual.”

Joe checks out “Location B,” and unfortunately he keeps all his clothes on while doing this. Location B “is also a wash.”


 


And Jun, in location C, also finds no clues.


 


“Only D remains,” says a discouraged looking Dr. Nambu, putting a red marker on that location on his map.


 


And now we see Location D, where seagulls fly in circles near the waterfront and our favourite comic relief duo are pulling up in front of a fancy hotel in a limo.

A valet opens the limo’s door and out steps a pompous looking Jinpei, carrying a butterfly net, wearing glasses and garbed in traditional safari attire, pith helmet and all. He is followed by Ryu, wearing a fez and a suit (and carrying all the luggage).

Inside, they’ve been shown to their spacious room. “How do you like it, my fine Sirs?” asks a man who is perhaps the hotel’s manager.


 


“Just splendid!” says Jinpei (affecting, in the dub, an English accent).

Ryu, taking on the role of manservant to Jinpei, informs the hotel manager that Jinpei is “the Prince of Tuba,” adding “he’s very fond of insects and wishes to gather specimens for his collection.”

“Oh, so you’re the Prince of that country that’s famous for its sugare?” remarks the manager, “This is quite an honor.”

Ryu, flourishing grandly with his arms, now informs the manager that “he’ll spare no expense to obtain the right specimens for his royal collection –right, Prince Jinpei?”

Jinpei startles at Ryu’s use of his real name and makes a shushing gesture. Ryu, a bit nervous now, clasps his hands together and quickly adds that the Prince is looking for ants, and will pay “100 million” to anyone who can inform him where he can find ants.

The manager is impressed by the sound of this offer, though he briefly refers to Jinpei as “a kid” before correcting himself to “Prince” and he goes running from the room eagerly.

Wearily, Ryu closes the door behind him, leaning against it and then sinking down to sit on the floor. “I’m wiped,” he says.

Jinpei, likewise yawns and announces he’s beat. Recalling episode 50, where they had to suffer a hotel with fleas and lizards, I’m wondering if Ryu and Jinpei were determined, this time around, to get better digs.

But clearly word has spread of their extremely generous cash-for-ants offer, and a long line up has formed outside the hotel.


 


From the vantage of their high balcony, Jinpei and Ryu are staring in dismay, asking the manager if all the people lined up are there for them. The manager happily confirms this, as Jinpei and Ryu exchange glum looks.

“I saw them everywhere,” a man is telling a valet (who’s hastily taking notes), “There were ants in the place I keep my sugare.” Others are waiting close behind him for their chances to be heard.


 


Upstairs, Ryu comes into the room, where Jinpei is stretched out, relaxing, on the massive bed. He wants to know if Ryu got any leads downstairs.

Ryu complains that it’s pretty much all “bad information,” and wonders if their Location D is a dud.

“It’s not working, huh?” says Jinpei sadly, “Ants always gather around sweet things, so I though it would.”

Actually that sounds like a pretty good plan –or more than what Ken, Joe or Jun seemed to have, anyway.

“I guess I’ll get in the bath,” says Jinpei, disappearing into the bathroom. Just then, the manager (not bothering to knock or anything) barges into the room crying “We found someone! Someone who knows where there’re lots of ants!”

Ryu suspects another scam –someone making stuff up to get money- but Jinpei emerges from the bathroom, bath preparations interrupted, to hear the manager insist that this new informant is the real thing.


 


And then he beckons and this finder-of-ants comes into the room.


 


Smitten with her appearance, Jinpei is suddenly embarrassed to be seen wearing a towel and Ryu gasps.

“Nice to meet you, I’m May,” she tells Ryu. He blushes and manages to stutter out his name. Her eye glints briefly (the mark of evil!) and she asks if they’re ready to be shown the ants’ location.

Still blushing and smiling, Ryu says they are.


 


However, Jinpei is less easily taken in and is now regarding her skeptically (perhaps he noticed that glint) from the ajar door of the bathroom.

“Something about her smells fishy,” he thinks to himself, holding his chin.

Next, we see Ryu trailing admiringly behind May as she leads him along the waterfront and finally to a warehouse. Sure enough, Ryu pulls out a magnifying glass and stoops to study the trail of little ants that are crawling across the ground and entering the warehouse through a small chink in its wall.



 

 

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Ryu, pleased, concludes to himself that “There’s got to be sugare around here somewhere,” and he stands up again.

“Thank you very much, Miss May,” says Ryu, “We’ll send you the money later.”

The fact that she accepts this happily and merely heads on her way, saying “Enjoy the ants,” ought to make Ryu a little suspicious. But no, he’s all smiles, waving after her as he walks –until he walks right into the warehouse’s door and bonks himself in the face.

And even then, he’s still smiling!

 


Commercial break!


When we come back, Ryu is inside the warehouse, still studying the trail of ants. As he starts to climb a stack of crates, two security guards on the other side see him and immediately jump him, knocking him down.


 


But Ryu sends them both flying with a sturdy kick from both legs. They hit the crates and then slump, unconscious.

“Hah. That tank over there looks mighty suspicious,” mutter Ryu, and he goes and climbs up its side to peer down at what it contains.

What it contains look just like sugare, so he jumps down inside the tank. (And I wonder if he thought about how he was going to get out again. Actually, I think the gun he carries but rarely uses has a cable feature akin to that of Joe’s –or it did in the Shutterkiller episode.)

 


A quick taste confirms it is indeed sugare. “What do you know?” he enthuses, “I finally got a clue I can use!”


 


But, shades of Ibukron yet again, he looks up to see a large disk descending towards him. “Bad news!” cries Ryu, unsuccessful in his effort to clamber out of the tank. Fortunately, the disk is a lid for the tank, not intended for compacting its contents. Nevertheless, as it seals atop the tank, Ryu is trapped inside.

Not far away, May watches all this.


 


She laughs quietly in triumph –yes, Jinpei, you were right to be suspicious of her!- and then walks away. But even as she was watching Ryu, it turns out that Jinpei is watching her.


 


With a “Hmmph!” Jinpei pauses and then tries to contact Ryu via his bracelet. He gets no response and is immediately concerned that something might have happened to him. So, instead of trying to solve the whole thing himself, he sensibly contacts Ken and apprises him of the situation. “It looks like Ryu fell into a trap –come quickly!” Ken confirms “We’re on our way!” to Location D and then Jinpei takes off running to catch up to and trail May.

Ducking between buildings to avoid being seen, Jinpei follows her and sees her boarding a boat docked at the waterfront. A man in yachting-like clothes is standing on its deck, but Jinpei rather cleverly throws a rock into the water such that it gets the man looking in the opposite direction as Jinpei sneaks aboard the boat by agilely running across a mooring rope.


 


On board, Jinpei immediately heads below deck and finds himself in what looks like a typical lounge-type room for a fancy yacht. But, there’s a circular hatch cover on the floor, indicating that there is still more below…

So Jinpei opens the hatch and then proceeds to climb down a ladder. He finds himself now in a much more industrial and mecha-like corridor with walls that are all metal and pipes. He’s about to walk around a corner, but hastily leaps back and flattens himself against the wall was he realizes that someone is coming from that direction.

It’s Captain Tiger Shark himself, approaching a Galactor goon. The goon tells him “The boss wants you.” “Again?” asks Captain Tiger Shark, sounding less than enthusiastic. Instructing the goon to “Prepare for departure,” he heads off to see the “boss.”

“Those guys were definitely Galactor, so this must be their sub!” whispers Jinpei now, peering out from his concealment once they’ve moved on. He starts walking down a corridor himself now, one that ends with a door that has a round window in it.

Peering in the window, he sees Captain Tiger Shark and the “boss” –none other than “dealer in death” Martin Gillman.


 


“How about it, Captain?” Gillman is saying, “I hear you’re also running a pirate operation with this submarine. Why don’t you come work for me at Gillman Concern?”

Interesting –it’s probably not too often that Galactor Captains get to field competing job offers from other non-Galactor villains.

Jinpei, listening and watching via the window, realizes that Gillman and Galactor are working together in the sugare scheme.

But suddenly someone presses a handgun into Jinpei’s back.

“You know it’s not polite to eavesdrop,” says a woman’s voice as a sweating Jinpei raises his hands.

“I want to know what you’ve done with my servant,” declares Jinpei now, turning slightly to look at May –of course it’s May- and affecting his English accent once again.

May tells him his servant is buried in sugare, and then orders him into the room where Gillman and the Captain are. Jinpei complies.

Gillman wants to know what’s going on and “How’d ya get the kid?”

So, May introduces her guest as the Prince of Tuba (I wonder if she really believes that’s who he is).



“ 


“Prince of Tuba?” asks Gillman, looking startled. “The Prince of that country that’s supposed to have developed sugare?” asks the Captain.

“That’s right, Tiger Shark,” says May, “And since we have him right here, why don’t we sell him to Galactor?”

Jinpei gasps in alarm at this suggestion.

Gillman likes it though, thinking they can also demand sugare from Tuba as ransom for him. “What a great idea,” he adds, leaning back and taking a puff on his pipe, “Just what I’d expect from my private secretary.”

While Gillman’s talking, Jinpei notices that his bracelet is chiming an incoming signal, but he can’t do anything, in full view of May and the others, to answer it.

“Stick the runt in the brig,” concludes Gillman.

But now we see that it’s Ryu, still trapped in the sugare tank, who’s trying to contact Jinpei. Sighly sadly at his lack of response, Ryu wonders what Jinpei’s doing out there. But then Ryu has something new to worry about, as the tank he’s in starts spinning fast, and then all the sugare in it begins pouring out from below in a spiral.

“I’m like food for an ant lion!” cries Ryu as he too starts to get sucked down.


 


He’s sucked out of the tank and, along with a rush of falling sugare, he lands inside a new compartment. Above, a round hatch just like the one Jinpei opened earlier on the ship/submarine closes now.

Captain Tiger Shark is looking through a periscope on the bridge and orders “Full speed ahead” to a nearby goon. We see the submarine’s engines firing up and it sails away from the waterfront of Location D, underwater, and leaving behind the yacht-like ship that was above it, acting as cover for it.

Meanwhile, the God Phoenix is flying through the sky. On its bridge, Jun is anxiously looking over Ken’s shoulder as he tries to contact Jinpei while a glowering Joe pilots the God Phoenix.

“Big Bro, this is Jinpei,” comes through Ken’s bracelet, “I’m in trouble!”

Ken gasps and wants to know what’s happened. Sadly, Jinpei admits that he and Ryu are both captives and are “being taken somewhere in a Galactor submarine.”


 


“So they laid a trap at Location D and were waiting for us,” realizes Ken, “I see…”

Jun’s priorities are a little different; she leans over Ken’s shoulder and demands of Jinpei “Why weren’t you more careful?!”

“I feel bad enough,” replies Jinpei a bit reproachfully but looking very remorseful, “Turns out Gillman was part of it after all,” he adds.

“You focused so much attention on the transport plane, you didn’t notice the submarine,” surmises Ken.

“Oh please,” huffs Joe derisively, “Those two are always so sloppy. Let’s find their location and go and rescue them, again.”

“You know what,” says Ken bluntly, “Let’s just let Galactor have them.”

“Huh?” says Joe, not expecting this.

“But Ken, that’s so cruel!” cries Jun.

“We can’t just throw our teammates to the lions,” adds Joe (though apparently, sneering at them is okay), “Come on.”

“Of course we can’t,” says Ken tersely, closing his eyes, “But they’re probably being taken to Galactor’s headquarters right now.”

The implications of this hit Jun and Joe –and not well!


 


“Once we find their headquarters, we can mount a rescue,” adds Ken, eyes still closed.

“But what if we’re too late?” asks Jun, distressed.

“I know," replies Ken, as we get a close up of his eyes, “But we have a chance here.” His brows draw together.

“No!” cries Jun, covering her face, “I don’t want to sacrifice them!”


 


“Try to understand, Jun,” says Ken, “We’ll only be up against Gillman, and he’s just an amateur.” Looking ahead grimly, Ken adds, “He won’t be as cautious as Katse –he’ll just lead us right to them.”

This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by lborgia88 on 20-07-2010 at 03:46.
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Jun is still sobbing as Ken adds, “We won’t get a chance like this again,” but then she gets a grip and seems to resign herself to Ken’s decision.


 


And now the narrator informs us that Ken, Joe and Jun have detected the submarine with their radar and have “followed it secretly so as not to be discovered.”


 


Captain Tiger Shark is looking through his periscope again. Underwater, a large door opens and the submarine sails inside… something –a base or a larger ship- and the door closes behind it.

When they surface, it does look like they’re inside a large base of some kind.


 


The God Phoenix is underwater now too, and speeding in the direction the sub went.

“It looks like we made it here unnoticed, huh?” remarks Jun to Joe, as they see the underwater door the sub went through earlier looming ahead.

“Where exactly is ‘here,’ though?” replies Joe.

“It’s most likely a stopping point on their sugare transport route,” concludes Ken, perhaps thinking this place isn’t big enough to be the vast operation with hundreds of thousands of workers that Dr. Nambu envisaged.

But now the sugare is being unloaded from the sub –all in cute little bags that feature the Galactor logo. Who did all the bagging? Is there a captive engineer-staffed bagging conveyor belt somewhere inside that sub?


 


The bags are all going into a transport plane –probably very much like the one that crashed on Big Yellow Mountain. Yes, it seems Ken is right about this being a stopping point –especially as there’s no way that a submarine can go all the way to Karakoram…

Captain Tiger Shark is impatient for the whole transfer business to be done, but an alarm starts sounding and a goon in an upper level surveillance rooms barks that the underwater radar has detected the God Phoenix.

May looks very interested in this bit of news, demanding “What’s that?!” “What the hell?” demands Gillman likewise, spitting out his cigar.

“If the Science Ninja Team finds us,” says May, “Then the plan I’ve been working on using Gillman as a front will become completely meaningless.”

“Huh?” says Gillman, clearly perturbed to learn his secretary is using him as a front for her own schemes.


 


“Tiger Shark,” May instructs, taking charge of the situation, “Go put our prisoners to sleep immediately and take them in to Leader X right away."

Captain Tiger Shark salutes to her and departs, and now May turns and looks at the quite confused Gillman.

“You’re not May!” he yells, pointing an accusing finger as she begins to laugh at him, “You’re an imposter!”

“I’ve been fooling you all along!” declares Katse’s voice, “But I don’t need to anymore!”


 


And the green clothes are whipped off to reveal Berg Katse.


 


“Who the hell are you?” gasps Gillman.

Katse introduces himself.

“You’ve been playing me all along, haven’t you, you bastard?” says Gillman.

“Yeah, but I don’t need you anymore, so I’ll just be punching your ticket.”

Katse then elucidates this metaphor by pulling out a handgun and pointing it at Gillman.

Gillman starts pleading, offering to give Katse “sugare, missiles –anything!” but Katse shoots him anyway and he falls backwards over a railing.

Meanwhile, Captain Tiger Shark is entering a cell, where the air is cloudy with sleeping gas, but he’s wearing a gas mask.


 


He reaches for what looks like Jinpei sleeping on his stomach in his safari jacket and pith helmet, but upon grasping the clothes, he discovers to his alarm that the Science Ninja Team’s Swallow is concealed beneath them.

Jinpei (who must have been using breathing techniques to resist the sleeping gas) leaps up and sends his bolas flying around the Captain’s neck, and knocking his mask away from his face.


 


Jinpei runs from the cell.

Inside the sugare tank where Ryu was trapped, two goons, in gas masks and carrying guns, are looking for him. Suddenly, the Owl’s arm emerges from the sugare and grasps one goon’s leg, pulling him down. A leg emerges from the sugare next, kicking the other goon in the crotch.




 


Ouch!


 


Ryu now comes all the way out of the sugare and puts the goon out of his misery by clobbering him, and then he punches the other goon in the head to make sure he stays down too.

Ryu leaves through the ceiling hatch. In the corridor above, goons rush at him but he grabs them one by one and tosses them and then bashes two other goons' heads together before charging at a bunch of other goons and smashing them together.

He charges down the corridor now, head down, punching every goon he encounters.

Elsewhere, Jinpei is leaping and flipping off walls and pipes in a manner far more agile than Ryu and just as effective, as he takes down goons with sharp kicks.

However, they’re both startled when they back into each other and initially make to fight.


 

 


Of course, as soon as they recognize each other, they happily hug each other.

Meanwhile, Katse is standing on a little balcony atop the sub, snapping “Hurry up and finish transporting the cargo! The God Phoenix is coming!”

And just then it makes a grand (and destructive) entrance –I imagine Joe at least enjoyed the opportunity to bash it through the wall of a Galactor base!


 


The balcony on which Katse was standing breaks apart from the impact and he falls to the floor below.


 


“Wow, this is convenient!” says Jinpei as he and Ryu now emerge from a hatch in the sub to see the God Phoenix in front of them. They quickly leap to its dome and get inside. I guess the God Phoenix is now sort of sitting on top of the sub and the transport plane, inside the base’s docking bay.


 


“Forget about the sugare! Just take us up!” yells Katse, and the transport plane fires up its engines and starts moving, dislodging the God Phoenix from its position atop it. Inside the God Phoenix’s bridge, Joe gasps and grabs the controls for balance while Ken falls back in his seat.

However, no sooner are Ryu and Jinpei on the bridge, Joe immediately vacates the pilot’s seat for Ryu and the God Phoenix now follows the transport plane.


 


They exit what looks like a small, rocky island through an opening in a cliff overlooking the sea, in pursuit of the plane.

But now the Ninjas are all staring in alarm at the view screen, as it appears that the transport plane is about to fire on them.

“Away with the missiles,” says Katse, on the plane’s bridge. Two missiles are fired at the God Phoenix, but fortunately Ryu is able to evade them and the missiles instead strike the opening in the island through which the God Phoenix and the plane had just departed.


 

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This has the convenient effect of blowing up the base! “Serves them right, I say,” remarks Ryu.

“Check it out, that mecha’s kind of tipsy,” says Ken, and we see that the transport plane indeed appears to be unstable in the air.

Katse is angry, demanding to know why they aren’t shooting down the God Phoenix, but a goon, staring at a wildly fluctuating gauge needle, informs him that “the fuel isn’t flowing smoothly.”

“How could it break down at a time like this?” mutters Katse despairingly, “If we don’t lighten the load, we’re going to crash.”

“All right,” snarls Katse, “Dump the sugare!”

So they do just that. So much for the children of all those captive engineer-workers at headquarters and their cravings for sweets!


 


“What a total waste!” declares Jinpei indignantly when he sees what’s happening.

“Hey, what did you do to them anyway?” says Joe curiously, now approaching Ryu.

“Little ole me?” says Ryu, smiling, “Well, nothing too technical, really. I just did a little tweak and it made it so that the sugare flows into the fuel pipes.”

Ryu is looking smug as he says this –but he deserves to- and Joe is looking at him with genuine admiration on his face –and that’s not something Ryu gets to enjoy very often!

But Ken now shouts “There’s no time to lose! Fire the super bird missiles, Joe!”

“Roger!” replies Joe, heading for the shiny red button and shooting two missiles at the transport plane.


 


Inside it, explosions and flames rip through it, sending goons flying and screaming, but naturally Katse slips through a door that seals behind him, even as terrified goons then bang their hands on it and futilely try to follow him.


 


The God Phoenix veers away as the transport plane begins to blow up completely and its debris sinks to the seafloor below. But something that is not debris is there too –Katse’s escape ship.


 


Inside it, Katse is kneeling at the console, his head in his hands, cursing the Science Ninjas and no doubt despairing at what Leader X is going to say or do to him.

On the bridge of the God Phoenix now, Ryu plants his hands on the console, hanging his head. “This is tearing me up, Ken,” he says, clearly upset, “I heard from Joe and Jun that all because I ran away without thinking, we weren’t able to locate Galactor’s secret headquarters this time.”


 


Hmm, he does have a point, though I don’t think he should blame himself too much for that.

But Ken looks kindly at him and says “No biggy.” (In the subs he says “Ryu…”)

Jun is smiling happily at Jinpei –I think she preferred Ryu’s plan over Ken’s! Joe has his arms folded and eyes closed but he’s looking like he might be thinking that if he were a prisoner of Galactor, he’d take any chance to escape and fight his captors rather than sit tight quietly.


 


“The Owl apologized to the Eagle in front of the whole flock,” says the narrator, “But in truth, thanks to his actions, the Team was able to foil Galactor’s plans for transporting sugare to their headquarters and despite the fact that so much of it was cast into the sea, this victory had a special sweetness.”

The final scene is the tranquil surface of the blue sea.

The end.

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Battle of the Planets Episode: “Super Space Spies”

Okay, the first thing that strikes me about this episode is that it doesn’t open with a scene of Center Neptune and the fish, followed immediately by Zark explaining his eternal vigilance and concern for the well-being of the universe. Instead it opens with a view of snowy mountains.

Two mountain climbers are here, but one of them loses his footing and begins to slide down a steep slope. The other climber grabs hold of his falling companion’s rope but it breaks. But the falling guy slows his descent some with his pick axe and lands at the bottom of the slope, relatively okay. He calls up to his friend “I’m all right!” before heading to a nearby stream to splash some water on his face.

But he pauses, surprised, as he tastes some of the water that’s on his hands.

“Salt water? That’s impossible!” he declares.

And we cut to… no, it’s not Zark, it’s Zoltar. I much prefer Zoltar.

He’s on a screen, telling a tiger shark-like fellow that “Those two men mean trouble.”

“They’re just a couple of scientists from G-Force,” replies Tiger Shark, a tad dismissively, “On a routine check.”

“I want no one checking that area –especially G-Force,” insists Zoltar to this oddly-attired subordinate.

“I skillfully planted a pollutant in the snow,” replies Tiger Shark, “It defies detection.”

Uh, if your “pollutant” is salt, don’t be so sure of that!

“Nothing must go wrong with our newest plan for conquering Earth,” says Zoltar, lip curling slightly, “You should have kept those men away!”

Tiger Shark thinks that they’re having a hard enough time just climbing, and won’t learn anything. Zoltar points out that the success of this venture depends on Tiger Shark himself, who is fine with that, as long as he gets a “percentage.”

“All you’re asking for is trouble, unless you follow my orders implicitly, Captain!” replies Zoltar. Okay, he’s a Captain.

He bows now and says “My loyalties are only to you.”

And now we get the underwater shot of Center Neptune and the fish.

Zark cuts right to the chase as he descends in his little elevator tube.

“Two of our scientists have discovered a critical environmental problem,” says Zark, “I’ll have to run a multiversal computer analysis on the condition of Mount Camilla’s snowpack.”

This is critical, Zark explains, because if the snowpack is contaminated, then a main source of water will be “unfit for human consumption.”

At the bottom of the tube now, Zark exits and flaps his cape to fly over to his monitors.

He continues to explain that the snow that accumulates in the mountains in the winter, melts in the spring and summer and flows down to fill resevoirs. Concluding that “it looks bad,” Zark contacts Chief Anderson.

His worst fears have been confirmed he states –the snow pack on Mount Camilla is contaminated. “Alert G-Force at once,” instructs Zark.

So now we see Chief Anderson, who is telling G-Force that Zark has confirmed that Mount Camilla “has been covered in salt crystals.” Naturally, he thinks Spectra is behind this. Princess wonders why they’d salt a mountain, and Tiny thinks it “Sounds like a waste of time.”

“Make ocean out of mountain,” stutters Keyop, and Jason shoves Keyop’s head down, declaring “They couldn’t do that.”

“Maybe,” insists Keyop.

But Chief Anderson thinks Keyop is on to something –that Spectra might have used salt from the ocean to pollute the mountain.

Now Princess realizes that this whole scheme of Spectra’s will ruin drinking water, and Chief Anderson adds that it could ruin farm land as well.

“With no food or water, Earth would be forced to surrender,” says Mark.

“No way are we going to sit back and let that happen to us!” declares Jason, punching one hand with his fist.

So, the decision is made that they will go and investigate the area around Mount Camilla.

"It’s up to G-Force to stop the pollution of our planet’s water,” voiced-overs Zark as the Phoenix flies through the snowy mountains, “Life on Earth would be impossible without fresh water.”

Once they’ve landed and exited the Phoenix, Keyop makes himself a snowcone. However, when he licks it, he sadly says “Salt.”

Now, unless it’s extremely cold where they are, wouldn’t the salt be melting the snow? Maybe it’s not in a high enough concentration to do that.

Tiny, pointing, thinks the salt came from the mountain but Mark is wondering how the salt got to the mountain in the first place. Princess thinks Spectra could have dropped it there from a spaceship of some kind.

“Right, Princess,” says Mark, and I’m not entirely sure if he’s being sarcastic.

“Any idea what we’re looking for?” asks Jason pointedly.

“No,” says Mark, not reacting to Jason’s apparent implication that they’re wasting their time, “Just look around.”

But just then, Mark notices something, like a shard of metal, stuck in the snow some distance away and decides they should go check it out.

Once there, Tiny is unable to pull it out of the snow (and loses his grip and ends up falling backwards and crashing into Keyop, encasing them both in snow).

For some reason, Keyop does not decide to try to pull it out with his buggy by tying a rope to it (not that it would have worked, heh.)

Mark, however, fires up the engines of his jet and blasts it with their heat, melting all the snow away from the metal shard, revealing that the shard is actually part of a massive piece of wreckage.

“It looks like the hull of a wrecked ship,” says Tiny, eyes wide.

“But how could a boat end up on top of a high mountain like this?” asks Princess

“Easy,” says Jason, “Noah’s ark did it.” Um, Jason, according to the Old Testament that required a 40-day flood that covered the Earth –not exactly “easy.”

“Spectra,” declares Mark, solving the puzzle by drawing everyone’s attention to a Spectran symbol on a piece of the wreckage.

“I think we’ve discovered the wreckage of a Spectra airship on the mountainside,” announces Mark, having contacted “Center Neptune” on his wrist communicator.

“Center Neptune” means Zark –it’s his voice we hear now saying “Gather samples, and return.”

But somewhere else, a sub resembling a tiger shark is cruising along underwater, with Captain Tiger Shark on board, looking through a periscope.

Back at the site of the wreckage in the mountains, lights begin to blink on the console of the wrecked airship, though no one in G-Force is near enough to notice.

But on board the Tiger Shark sub, they’re picking up a signal now. At the Captain’s instructions, a Spectran soldier homes in on it and informs him that “the wreck on Mount Camilla has been uncovered.”

“G-Force,” growls the Captain, now consulting a map, “They’ve found the wreckage!”

But now we go to Center Neptune, and we see the samples of the wreckage that G-Force gathered lying on a table.

Zark is telling Chief Anderson, who’s listening on a phone, that his analysis of the samples has determined “that Zoltar is not working alone in this operation.”

He continues, “Spectra has a tightly knit espionage network that is salting the water reserves of the entire galaxy. The head agent is known as Barzok.”

We see that Chief Anderson has a photograph of the Barzok –a somewhat sinister looking man, with a cigar in his mouth.

“This man is a very dangerous character,” adds Zark, “Who is the mastermind of Spectra’s inter-galactic slave system.”

Now we see that Chief Anderson is busy plotting vectors on a map as G-Force watches.

“We also know of Spectra activity on Paradise Island asteroid. G-Force must locate the Spectra spy network.” It’s not clear how this relates to the mapwork Anderson appears to be doing.

Now we hear Zark saying “You’re cleared for launching, Team,” as we see the Phoenix taking off from Center Neptune.

“That was a beautiful lift off,” blathers Zark, as we get a view of the planet Saturn, “and G-Force is now well on its way through our solar system, heading past Saturn and out of our galaxy, the Milky Way.” Wow –they must sure be moving damned fast!

So, Zark informs them he’s transmitting them to time warp, and we get some odd footage of a sort of spiral of white smoke in space, followed quickly by the Phoenix approaching a heavily meteor-pocked and barren-looking planet/moon/asteroid…

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Ah, Zark tells us that it’s Paradise Island asteroid. What kind of name is that for a place that, as far as I can tell from this image, doesn’t have any bodies of water to hold any islands –and might not even have an atmosphere?

So Zark tells them he’s taking them out of time warp and returning controls to Mark. Yes, they can’t travel in space without Zark’s guidance.

But despite its appearance from space, the asteroid does have bodies of water (maybe all the meteor craters have become lakes), an atmosphere, and lavish beach resorts. “All units, separate and cover the resort area first,” instructs Zark.

Mark is now seen lounging under a tree in a pair of red and white striped swimming trunks.

Jason has apparently elected to scope out the airport (and, it seems, read a newspaper while he’s at it.)

Princess is holding a large camera and walking in a large city.

I’m not sure how any of this is helping them locate secret networks of water-polluting Spectran spies.

Back on Earth, Chief Anderson is studying a map, and looking closely at a red dot that, from what Zark is now saying, is the location of the hotel that Keyop and Tiny have gone to.

In front of the hotel, Keyop (dressed in safari clothes, wearing glasses and holding a butterfly net) and Tiny (dressed in a fez and suit, and holding all the luggage) exit a limo and enter a hotel.

Inside, a hotel manager-type is telling them that they’re looking at the best suite the hotel has. “We’ll take it,” says Keyop happily.

“Dr. Keyopov,” Tiny informs the man, “is a famous entomologist from planet Earth. He’s here to collect insect specimens.”

Keyopov? Apparently having a Russian-sounding name adds verisimilitude to scientific credentials.

The hotel manager is pleased to have a prestigious guest at the hotel.

“He likes to collect large spies,” says Tiny, slipping up here, “as well as little ones.” Keyop cringes, hunkering down in his chair before making a “shh!” gesture at Tiny.

“I mean large specimens," continues Tiny, looking nervous now, and he wonders if the hotel manager could recommend a guide to them –someone deeply familiar with the asteroid.

In fact, there is such a guide; “She would be ideal,” the manager enthuses.

“Pretty?” asks Keyop, and he is informed that she’s “very pretty” before the manager runs eagerly from the room –presumably to go locate her.

Once he’s gone, Tiny slumps against the door, and then sits on the floor. “Close call,” he says.

Suddenly, the manager is back, saying “Allow me to present our most gifted tourist guide!”

At a call from Tiny, Keyop peers out of the bathroom, and the manager is continuing to declare that she’s also intelligent and charming, in addition to being pretty.

At last she steps into the room, saying “If you’re interested in insects, I think I know exactly what you’re looking for. Follow me.” Tiny seems to like her, but Keyop is regarding her somewhat skeptically, holding his chin.

Next we see her, she’s with Tiny and she’s leading him to a waterfront warehouse, where he observes that ants are crawling inside it through a chink in the wall.

“Space ants –they live on salt,” says Tiny to himself, sounding excited, “Something tells me I’m getting warmer.”

Tiny tells the guide that he’ll be a while and that she can meet him again in one hour. “Of course, sir,” she says, walking away and Tiny continues to stare after her, smiling widely –and he doesn’t look where he’s going and walks face-first into a wall.

Back at Center Neptune, Zark is pacing anxiously and claiming he’s suffering from the robot equivalent of indigestion. He’s worried about G-Force, as “they mean a great deal to me.” 1-Rover-1 is present now and takes the opportunity to fly by spinning his tail rapidly, somewhat in the manner of a helicopter’s rotors. His flying method seems to be about as efficient as Zark’s –namely not very.

Zark assures the robot dog that he’s glad of his company but continues to fret about how dangerous the “whole espionage business” is. He decides to check up on G-Force, via his monitors, starting with Tiny. Zark notes that he’s the strongest member of G-Force, but the weakest “when it comes to pretty girls.”

“I wonder if that blond tourist guide means trouble,” says Zark, “Will Tiny be able to keep his mind on serious business?”

Well, other than walking into a wall, he’s doing okay so far. Actually, I’m surprised we haven’t been given a name for this “blond tourist guide” –very un-BOTP-like to have a character with no name. Even Gatchaman gave her a name!

Tiny is inside the warehouse, still checking out the salt-eating space ants. Two security guards suddenly confront him and knock him down but he kicks them both into some stacks of boxes, knocking them out.

“I wonder what they’re so anxious to protect,” says Tiny, standing up again. He soon finds out –a giant cylindrical tank of salt. He jumps in and tastes a bit, verifying that it’s salt. Unfortunately, a lid comes down suddenly and seals Tiny inside the tank before he is able to clamber out. And we see that the blond tourist guide is watching all this from a short distance away, laughing “That’s one G-Force spy off our backs.”

As she walks away now, we see that Keyop is nearby, watching her. He tries to contact Tiny, and gets the response “I’m trapped inside a salt shaker!” “Shaker?” asks Keyop, only to be told “Never mind –go after that tour guide!”

Keyop does just that. No need to contact Mark or anyone, I guess.

He sees the blond tourist guide going onto a large yacht, where a crewman is standing. He distracts the crewman’s attention by throwing a rock and then sneaks onto the yacht by running across a mooring rope.

Inside the yacht, nothing looks amiss, but he spots a circular hatch in the floor and opens it, climbing a ladder to get down below where things are far more industrial and utilitarian-looking. He’s about to round a corner but, hearing people coming, he pulls back hastily and flattens himself to the wall in an effort to stay out of sight.

It’s Captain Tiger Shark and a Spectran solider, who informs the Captain that they’re ready to load the salt truck and he is instructed to proceed at once.

They go separate ways, and in their wake, Keyop peers out from hiding, muttering “interesting.” Actually, Keyop seems to be doing an unusually high amount of broot-dooting in this episode –they could have given him some more real words to say!

He approaches a window in a door and, looking in, he sees that Barzok is there, telling the Captain “Once we have turned Earth into a slave camp, the great Luminous Spirit will make me the new ruler of Spectra and you, very rich.”

Well now, that would be a dramatic plot development.

“I like your style, Barzok,” replies the Captain, “I’m tired of doing all the dirty work while Zoltar collects all the reward.”

But Keyop’s eavesdropping is interrupted by a gun pointing at the back of his neck.

“And now we have number two,” laughs the blond tourist guide.

“Soon I shall be the most powerful invader in all of outer space,” says Barzok, oblivious to what’s going on outside his door.

Meanwhile, Tiny, in the “salt shaker,” is trying to contact Keyop, but sags in disappointment when he gets no response. Then, the tank he’s in begins to spin and he and all the salt get sucked out from below. Whatever room he and all the salt have just fallen into, it has a circular hatch in the ceiling just like the one Keyop went through on the “yacht,” and now it seals shut.

In a control room, Captain Tiger Shark orders the sub to depart and it does, leaving behind the yacht above, which was apparently just serving as cover.

But Mark, Jason and Princess have given up on their search for spies it seems (and it didn’t look like they were accomplishing much with their methods anyway) and they’re all back on the Phoenix. Mark manages to contact Keyop and when he asks him his present location, Keyop replies “jail… submarine.” We see that he is, in fact, in a cell, behind bars.

I guess he didn’t get a chance to meet Barzok.

Mark tells him to “hang in there, we’re tracking the sub now –we’ll get you out.”

Princess leans over Mark’s shoulder to ask where Tiny is, and after an inordinate amount of broot-dooting, Keyop gets out “salt shaker.”

Mark doesn’t think this is much of an answer, but Jason adds “Maybe Tiny got into the Spectra salt tank and he’s been loaded aboard the sub, with the salt.”

“If he’s trapped in that salt tank, he won’t have a chance,” says Mark.

Princess looks horrified, insisting they have to rescue him and Keyop. Jason concurs.

Back on the sub, it’s approaching some islands, and on the Phoenix, Princess is tracking the sub on the radar screen. The sub goes through an underwater door and enters a base of some kind, where it surfaces inside a docking bay.

Inside the Phoenix (now underwater), Princess sees the door where the sub went and Jason agrees it must lead to a secret base. Mark concludes that all they need to do is figure out how to get inside.

Inside the base, bags of salt, all with red Spectra symbols on them, and being taken off the sub on a conveyor belt.

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The Captain is impatient for the job to go faster, but an alarm sounds and a Spectran soldier calls out that an unidentified ship is approaching.

“It’s the Phoenix!” says the blond tourist guide to Barzok, and next thing he knows, she’s telling him “You’ve outlived your usefulness –I’ll be giving the orders around here from now on.”

“Bring me the puny spy I caught snooping,” she tells Captain Tiger Shark, “We’ll use him to bait the rest of G-Force.”

“Who do you think you are?” demands Barzok angrily, pointing a finger at the blond tourist guide as she begins to laugh Zoltar’s laugh. Barzok is horrified to see, as she sheds her disguise now, that she really is Zoltar.

“So, you aimed to replace me as ruler of Spectra?” he asks Barzok angrily. Barzok, looking terrified, insists that Zoltar is the ruler of Spectra. Zoltar retorts that he’s correct and that now Barzok is “nothing.”

But, he doesn’t shoot Barzok or anything nasty like that.

We cut to Keyop’s cell, where he appears to be sleeping on the floor in his safari clothes. But when the Captain comes in, wearing a gas mask, he leaps out from beneath the clothes, having transmuted, and he takes down the Captain with his bolas before running from the cell.

In the salt tank, two Spectran soldiers come looking for Tiny, but he’s hidden himself beneath the salt and is able to reach up and pull one soldier off his feet. Somehow, both soldiers are down though (and surely Tiny didn’t kick anyone in the crotch or punch them in the head) and Tiny escapes through the now-open hatch in the ceiling, shutting it behind him. Now he’s rushed by a whole bunch of Spectran soldiers in a corridor, but he throws some of them aside, bangs some others’ heads together and shoves some together hard so that they all fall down. Then he runs down the corridor, punching and flipping more of them as he goes. Elsewhere in a corridor, Keyop is also taking down a couple of soldiers, and then as he backs up, he bumps into Tiny who is backing up from the opposite direction. They’re very happy to see that they’re each okay, hugging each other.

Meanwhile Zoltar is giving orders for his ship to depart the base, but just then, the Phoenix comes bashing through the door that the sub had entered through. This causes Zoltar to fall down from the little balcony on the sub where he’d been standing. Coming up from a hatch in the sub now, Keyop and Tiny see the Phoenix right in front of them and quickly leap up to its dome.

“Forget about them –blast off!” orders Zoltar and he and his ship rise into the air and fly towards another exit out of the base. The Phoenix gets jostled, but Tiny is at the helm again and the Phoenix lifts off in pursuit of the Spectran ship. They all look alarmed when they see that the ship is about to fire rockets at them, but when this happens, Tiny is able to evade them and they instead strike the base that they had just departed from, destroying it.

“So much for their secret base,” says Tiny.

“We’re gaining on them. They must be overloaded,” says Mark, looking ahead at the ship Zoltar is on, which is wobbling unstably in the air.

“We’re carrying too much salt! What’s the gravimeter reading?” demands Zoltar.

But the soldier studying it sees a wildly fluctuating needle and has to tell Zoltar he can’t get an accurate reading –“the needle has completely flipped.”

Zoltar, sweating, orders him to take evasive action and to jettison the salt. “Head for the escape hatches!” he adds, showing touching concern for the survival of his crew.

On the Phoenix, they all see that the ship is dumping its salt. “Are we pulling within range?” Jason asks Tiny. Tiny is smugly rubbing his nose, and he notes they’re picking up speed now that they’re lighter so “It’s now or never.”

“All right!” says Jason happily.

“They’re pulling away!” says Mark, frowning, “Release the cybernetic rockets!”

Jason, adding “Out of sight!” pushes the red button and two “cybernetic rockets” shoot towards the Spectran ship. The ship blows up completely when they hit it, but no doubt all the crew were able to evacuate via the escape hatches.

We see debris from the destroyed ship falling into the sea below –and there also is a red escape vessel. On board it, Zoltar is kneeling in despair at a console, saying “If I hadn’t brought aboard our secret escape rocket, we could never make it back to Spectra.”

He said “we,” so the rest of the crew must be there with him, even if we don’t currently see them.

“What will the Great Spirit say?” wails Zoltar now, clutching his head.

On the Phoenix, Tiny thumps his hands on the console, saying “I’m a dumb spy –that blond really turned me on and all the time it was just Zoltar in disguise!”

Yes, that could be valid grounds for being upset! How did he know she was Zoltar, though? He wasn’t there when “she” pulled off her disguise.

“Those outer space romances never last,” says Mark, looking sympathetic. Princess is gazing happily at Keyop. Jason is sitting with his arms crossed and eyes closed –brooding, perhaps, on an outer space romance that didn’t last?

Zark voice-overs that Tiny shouldn’t feel bad for being tricked by Zoltar. “After all, he’s the wiliest villain in the universe. Tiny really played a major role in breaking up Spectra’s secret spy network. Earth is safe once more.”

As he’s saying all this, the Phoenix is flying off into a pretty sky over a blue sea.

But then we have to cut to Zark.

He’s telling us that G-Force is probably half way home, and that he has time for a 10 second oil break. He heads for his reclining chair, and of course, this is when Susan calls.

Zark wastes time blathering on about who could be calling, and how, of course, whoever it is, they’re calling for Zark himself –they couldn’t possibly be calling for 1-Rover-1 (I don’t know, I think I might prefer to talk to the dog) so it must be for him.

But when he finally does answer the incoming call –it’s not Susan! No, it's another robot dog, yapping.

“It’s for you,” Zark has to admit, now explaining to us that 1-Rover-1 does have some friends in outer space -on Sirius, the dog star.

Groan.

The End.

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by lborgia88 on 20-07-2010 at 04:23.
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Great job, LB! You had me laughing and giggling even more than I did when watching the episodes by myself! And Saturn got some great screenshots, especially of Ryu and Jinpei's antics.

It seems strange that in BOTP they turned the sugar intp salt... but OTOH, I guess 'salting the Earth's water' is a more diabolical plan than 'stealing all of the sugar'. The first plan is far more deadly.

I'm wondering if one of Gatchaman's sponsors was a cake-making company! Perhaps this was why there is the big push for kids to eat cakes.... Wink OTOH, I know that in many Asian cultures, desserts are not nearly as sweet as we are used to here in North America. So it could be that sugar is marketed mostly to kids, while adults have 'grown out of it'? Or at least, that it was that way in 1973.

quote:
These guys need a union, I think. Nevertheless, this is an interesting glimpse into where and how Galactor gets things other than its mechas.


IMHO, these guys have the better deal. They have steady employment and they get to see their families and play with their children at the end of the day. The average goon has a life expectancy of one episode.

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It's not just salting Earth's waters that'd be dangerous -salt buildup in soil destroys its fertility.

Frankly, to me the Gatch episode seems to be very much a retred of the original Sugar Beetle ep. I wonder if that's why they skipped this for Guardians of Space.

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Ryu's gun has a cable attachment. It's used in A Deadly Ring of Fire and in Storm Galactor Headquarters.

When did high fructose corn syrup become really common? That's when it became feasible to have these bucket-sized soft drink cups and 2-liter soft drinks. Not to mention damn near everything being sweetened. (Yes, real-life sugare.)

For the target audience, it makes sense to have Galactor buy up the supply. In real life, it would make even more sense for Galactor to buy the factories that produce it. They would then have complete control over sugare, and be able to charge any desired price.

As for the base: I sometimes wonder if they weren't showing Nambu's description of it, rather than the real thing. A base with a million people is just not feasible, especially if it's filled with people who have been kidnapped or otherwise forced to work for Galactor. Unless you're a six-year-old, in which case a big underground base full of buildings and factories is as plausible as everything else in the show.

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I have nothing intelligent to add but as a Gatchaman newbie... I finally get to see Ken without his top on and he is wearing stripy budgie smugglers... lol.

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Look around the reviews. You'll find a few more of Ken shirtless.

Under a couple of threads are some fanart pictures of the team. Some of them -- very nice to look at. 'Naughty Birdie Pics -- No Minors' is one of them. And there are some Springie pics you might like.

Feel free to toss in your two cents.

BTW, how much do you know? We're coming up on some interesting revelations about our favorite purple-wearing psycho.

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quote:
Originally posted by PalyNerd
I have nothing intelligent to add but as a Gatchaman newbie... I finally get to see Ken without his top on and he is wearing stripy budgie smugglers... lol.


Hey, I think that wanting to see Ken without a shirt on indicates intelligence on your part! Wink1

I agree that he could find better beach attire, though. "Budgie smugglers"? Heh, that's a new term for me, but I think I can figure out what it means.

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quote:
Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter
As for the base: I sometimes wonder if they weren't showing Nambu's description of it, rather than the real thing.


That's a good theory, that we're seeing his speculations rather than reality. After all, when we finally do get to see Galactor's main headquarters, it doesn't seem like there's hundreds of thousands of workers there.

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quote:
Originally posted by condorcandi
It's not just salting Earth's waters that'd be dangerous -salt buildup in soil destroys its fertility.

Frankly, to me the Gatch episode seems to be very much a retred of the original Sugar Beetle ep. I wonder if that's why they skipped this for Guardians of Space.


There certainly were some plot similarites, and it's interesting that the BOTP writers changed the plot completely, switching the sugar to salt.

Hey, I suppose this episode could even be rewritten such that Galactor decides to muscle in on the world's cocaine trade...

This episode reminded me a lot of episode 50, the trachodon episode, with its emphasis on Jinpei & Ryu as comic relief duo.

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quote:
Originally posted by Transmute Jun
I'm wondering if one of Gatchaman's sponsors was a cake-making company! Perhaps this was why there is the big push for kids to eat cakes.... Wink OTOH, I know that in many Asian cultures, desserts are not nearly as sweet as we are used to here in North America. So it could be that sugar is marketed mostly to kids, while adults have 'grown out of it'? Or at least, that it was that way in 1973.


Good theories. It seems to be a rare kid who doesn't have a sweet tooth, and when I think back, I used to be able to eat about three Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs in row when I was a kid and I think I'd feel pretty ill if I tried that now! I suppose it's also possible that, maybe by the early 70s, Japanese children were being more exposed to western-style, sugar-heavy treats, and getting hooked, while their parents were less interested, hence Gatchaman's emphasis on sugar as something kids especially are utterly fixated upon and they probably assumed that the majority of the show's audience -kids- would consider a Galactor plot to take their sweets away far more evil than, say, stealing uranium.

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Thanks for another great recap and screencaps, LB and Saturn!

I too think that the BOTP plot, using salt instead of sugar, makes more sense! I wonder if, in Gatchaman, they emphasised on sugar because the show was targeted towards a young audience! But, then, it wasn't such a healthy publicity, either!

I've been chuckling at all your comments, LB, but the word that made me laugh most was the country called "Tuba"! In my language, "tuba", apart from the musical instrument, is an offensive term to call someone "really ignorant", like when tapping on one's head in order to show that his/her mind is hollow! Poor Jinpei ... he wasn't that much of a prince of such ignorance, though! Apart from all the comic relief, he has also shown that he knows how to work his brains when he wants in this episode!

I also have found the Owl's apology for ruining the plan to locate Galactor's secret headquarters by his quick escape so thoughtful of him and so demonstrative of his kind character! I agree that he wasn't at all to blame, and that anyone in his situation would have done likewise!

A shirtless Ken, in his outdated swimwear, was surely another bonus! Join the club, PalyNerd! ... even though I sincerely don't know what he might have achieved by sitting shirtless and trying to seem relaxing on a beach as related to the mission assigned! Perhaps he was just having a well-deserved break after having completed his job, which, at the end, turned out futile! A good way of working undercover for us, though ... and, the dark sunglasses always do the trick!

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quote:
Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter
Look around the reviews. You'll find a few more of Ken shirtless.

Under a couple of threads are some fanart pictures of the team. Some of them -- very nice to look at. 'Naughty Birdie Pics -- No Minors' is one of them. And there are some Springie pics you might like.

Feel free to toss in your two cents.

BTW, how much do you know? We're coming up on some interesting revelations about our favorite purple-wearing psycho.



Oh no UnpublishedWriter please no I cant take another look of that picture of a naked Condor Joe over the car hood...my Gosh!!!! too gay!
But its nice that they now more abouth my psychoness   gasthrower

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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Ladygalactor777 on 20-07-2010 at 15:40.
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Hi all!

quote:
I'm wondering if one of Gatchaman's sponsors was a cake-making company!


One of the major sponsors for the series was Morinaga, a candy company.

quote:
Frankly, to me the Gatch episode seems to be very much a retred of the original Sugar Beetle ep. I wonder if that's why they skipped this for Guardians of Space.


No, this episode was skipped for far more practical reasons. Fred Ladd knew from the beginning that G-Force was going to run 85 episodes total. After the two pilot episodes were produced from episode #'s 18 and 87, episodes selected by Turner's people, that left 83 episodes to do for the regular series run. So, Fred started at episode #1 and went forward from there, with episode #18 fitting into that run nicely. When it came down to the final few episodes, episode #81 was skipped simply because the English translation of the script was not available (By the early 1980s, Tatsunoko could only locate about 85 of their translations. They had the same problem when ADV did their dubs and asked for Tatsunoko's translations). Once they produced episode #'s 1~80, 82~85, and 87 they had completed the 85 episode run of the series and production stopped. Nothing sinister, no forethought as to whether an episode would cause problems or was similar to something that had aired earlier, just a luck of the draw on what came next in line and had a translation available when they were working their way through the run. Like I said, it was all done for practical reasons.

James

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