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--- The God Phoenix Cockpit (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=1903)
Posted by Rory on 27-05-2008 at 21:31:
The God Phoenix Cockpit
I've been observing this for quite some time now, so please bear with me for having all these questions.
Would anyone happen to have an actual layout of the God Phoenix's cockpit and which specific equipment (ex. radar) do each of the members personally handle?
I must admit to being confused because I sometimes see the KNT switching seats on certain situations. One thing I've noticed is that whenever they switch to Firebird mode, Joe takes the seat beside Ryu while Ken moves over to sit beside Jun. Is there a logic to all those position switchings?
Any enlightenment would be appreciated. James?? 
Posted by Springie on 27-05-2008 at 21:58:
And I notice that the seat arrangement changes from time to time...of course, the Snack J changes in almost every ep, too...
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Posted by Ebonyswanne on 27-05-2008 at 22:28:
I've noticed that too, Jun must be doing constant renovations to the place... and I guess they like variety on the God Phoenix...
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by lborgia88 on 28-05-2008 at 19:04:
I've never been able to keep straight the seating arrangements on the God Phoenix -I guess they varied to suit the artists' convenience.
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 28-05-2008 at 21:59:
Iborgia...getting closer to the Condor.....
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by Transmute Jun on 28-05-2008 at 22:40:
ITA!!!! Nice new avatar, LB! 
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Posted by gatchgirl on 28-05-2008 at 22:43:
Great Avatar LB, makes me want to get one!
Rory, though I've noticed the same things, I don't have any cannon clue as to why, just possible speculation.
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Posted by tatsunokofan on 29-05-2008 at 00:12:
Hi all!
Well, when it comes to the official layout of the God Phoenix's Control Room, these might help.
As for what equipment each person is supposed to handle, that was a lot more vague. Much of the specifics of the controls were left undefined, allowing the writers to have them do anything they needed in any particular episode.
There probably was some sort of logic behind having Joe taking Ken's seat when they went to the Firebird, but it was never expressed in the series. My assumption is that they had a reason for Joe to do this in the first episode, and then it became stock footage and the reasons behind it were forgotten.
When it comes to having the characters in different seats, in particular Joe, Jun, and Jinpei, lborgia88 actually came pretty close to guessing it. It wasn't the Animators who made that choice, it was the Directors.
If you examine the episodes handled by different Directors, you'll start to notice that each Director seemed to have preferences as to who sat where. Fortunately for me, a group of diehard Japanese fans who call themselves "Gatchaman Countermeasure Headquarters" did just such an examination of the styles and habits of some of the main "Gatchaman" Directors, and published a fanzine with their results.
Their research focused on three of these Directors, which might seem like a small sampling until you consider that these three men were the Directors for a whopping 89 of the 105 "Gatchaman" episodes.
For the episodes that "Gatchaman" Chief Director Hisayuki Toriumi handled himself, he tended to prefer having Jun and Jinpei facing the front of the ship, with Joe facing the Super Radar screen. Borrowing an image from the Japanese fans (With English text added in for the sake of the Japanese-impaired), the seating looked like this:
The Episodes for which Toriumi was the Director were #'s 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 18, 22, 28, 31, 35, 37, 39, 40, 46, 50, 52, 53, 57, 58, 67, 68, 71, 78, 81, 88, 90, 92, 94, 95, 98, 102, and 105. This is even more impressive when you consider that Toriumi also wrote the scripts for 5 episodes (#'s 52, 68, 88, 102, and 105) and co-wrote 4 more (#'s 22, 53, 71, and 92, all with Satoshi Suyama). He was the only Director to also work as a Writer on the series.
Anyway, Director Hideo Nishimaki tended to prefer having Joe facing the front of the Control Room, with Jun and Jinpei facing the Super Radar screen. This had them seated like this:
The Episodes for which Nishimaki was the Director were #'s 4, 7, 10, 12, 17, 21, 24, 29, 33, 34, 38, 41, 45, 48, 51, 56, 60, 52, 63, 65, 73, 74, 76, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 89, 93, 96, 97, 101, and 104.
Director Masami Anno tended to follow the same pattern used by Hisayuki Toriumi, so his seating arrangements also looked like :
The Episodes for which Anno was the Director were #'s 5, 6, 30, 32, 35, 42, 44, 49, 54, 61, 64, 69, 70, 75, 77, 79, 82, 87, 91, 99, 100, and 103.
All three of these Directors left Ken and Ryu in the same seats at the front of the Control Room.
Bear in mind that these seating arrangements were how these Directors tended to have things, but were not necessarily a 100% hard and fast rule for any of them.
For the sake of completeness (And in case anyone cared), Fumio Kurokawa was the Director for 10 episodes (#'s 13, 16, 19, 25, 43, 47, 55, 59, 66, and 72), Setsuo Omura was the Director for 3 episodes (#'s 14, 20, and 27), and 1 episode apiece had Director chores handled by Hiroshi Sasagawa (#15), Katsuhisa Yamada (#23), and Kazunori Tanahashi (#26).
As for the Snack Jun, it may seem like the layout of it changes at random, but there really is a fairly consistent nature to it. To the right of the front door, you'll find a couple of tables and chairs (Though there are a few times when these are shown as booths instead of separate tables and chairs), with a painting of mountains hanging on the wall beside them. To the left is the counter with stools in front of it. At the back of the place is a stage for a band, which can be used as a dance floor when the music is provided by the juke box. The space in front of the stage can be used as additional dance floor space, or have additional tables set up for patrons.
Based on observations of the place by that same group of Japanese "Gatchaman" fans, they came up with this as the basic floor plan of the ground floor for the Snack Jun (With the Japanese text replace by me for easier comprehension):
The restroom was really the only part of this that wasn't actually shown in the series. All the rest is based on what was shown on-screen in various episodes.
While I am sure that model sheets for the Snack Jun were created, I have yet to ever see any of them. So, alas, I can't provide them here.
Anyway, I hope this helps!
James
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 29-05-2008 at 00:56:
Thats amazing information Tats! I've copied the piccies for references..
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by lborgia88 on 29-05-2008 at 01:30:
This is amazing, James. It's also good to know that there are some fans even more obsessed than me, namely the "Gatchaman Countermeasure Headquarters." Now I know why sometimes Joe was clearly visible behind Ken's shoulder, and why sometimes it was Jun.
Posted by Transmute Jun on 29-05-2008 at 04:20:
Wow.... so why do I always picture the staris coming down into the main room of the Snack? I guess I'm insane... 
Thanks James! This is awesome!!! 
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Posted by Ebonyswanne on 29-05-2008 at 07:55:
So do I TJ and thats how I write the layout...So we're all insane!
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by Springie on 29-05-2008 at 09:20:
I was thinking that, too...because of the ep where Jinpei comes out all dressed up for his birthday...I was thinking the door was on the other side of the stage...and there's no kitchen? I always pictured where the stairs and bathroom are shown would be where the kitchen was...
Eithehr way, these pics are great James! Thanks so much!
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Posted by gatchgirl on 29-05-2008 at 12:38:
My first response is WOW! So much juicy information. Thank you James for giving me a lot of wonderful information.
Must add that I too thought there was a kitchen somewhere! Now is there any cannon proof to an apartment in the upstairs? Or is that something else my mind likes to imagine?
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Posted by Condorfan on 29-05-2008 at 14:52:
Thank you so much James! I was just wondering myself about the layout of the Godphoenix and Jun's Joint. Is there a compartment on the Godphoenix for equipment like scuba gear for the times the team has to infiltrate a Galactor base under water? I was also wondering about that there was no kitchen in Jun's joint. I would imagine that the second level has Jun and Jinpei's bedrooms and each bedroom has it's own bathroom.
I agree with James' assessment of the seating. Having Joe usually sit by himself facing the screen seemed to be his usual seat as shown in the last episode where the team is looking out the main viewscreen and the camera focuses on Joe's empty chair. 
BTW lborgia88, I love your Avatar! Yummy!
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Posted by tatsunokofan on 29-05-2008 at 18:29:
Hi all!
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Well, I don't know about being insane, but you are mistaken. The stairs are definitely in a separate room, as seen in episode #95 (I.E. The episode where Jinpei comes down dressed up). Here's the proof:
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The only time I can recall the placement of the door switching side was in episode #87, as seen here:
But, for the majority of its appearances, the door was where it was placed in their drawing.
Their floor plan was based strictly on the way things were shown in the series itself. Unfortunately, we never see any sort of food prep area, so we do not know the location and size of that area. Though not seen, it's possible that this is supposed to go under the smaller, 2-shelf cabinet seen to the right in these images:
My own impression is that the Snack Jun serves mostly drinks and sandwiches, not a full menu. We know that they serve sandwiches, thanks to Ken's meal here:
Does anyone else remember seeing them eating anything different there? Mostly they seemed to be hanging around with things like bottles of soda.
Aside from those two cabinets on the back wall, pretty much the only other part of the counter area that was fairly constant was the location of its sink, as seen here:
And, on one occasion, they showed that there was some additional storage under the counter, as seen here:
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No, it's not your imagination, Jun and Jinpei live in the upper floors above the Snack Jun, which is where the stairs lead to.
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We're never shown any specific storage rooms, and the cutaway views of the God Phoenix never indicated one, but things are certainly left vague enough that there could be one, as you can see:
What little we see of the interior, outside the hanger bays for the vehicles and the Control Room, certainly indicates that there is room enough for storage of additional gear. Just look at the size of this corridor leading to the G-1:
And this passageway leading to the Super Bird Missiles:
If they have that kind of room inside, they certainly have room to keep extra items like scuba gear and the portable drill they use in episode #18.
James
Posted by Askura on 29-05-2008 at 18:39:
I kinda always assumed Joe was next to Ryu when going firey because the Big Red Button was on the console between the two seats.
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Posted by Rory on 29-05-2008 at 20:49:
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Dear James,
Sorry for the very late reply, but I've been rushing a lot of deadlines for the magazine these past few days.
Thank you oh so very much for the wealth of information once again. I've been watching the second airing of Gatchaman carefully, that's why I've been noticing all these changes in seating arrangements in the Godphoenix.
As for the Snack Jun, I think even the exterior has changed a couple of times as well.
Now for a more serious question, have you ever thought about compiling EVERYTHING you know about the three series and actually write a book/compendium about it? Really, James, I can't think of anyone who could write a book about the three Gatch series than you. And I don't think it would be difficult for you to get official permission from Tatsunoko Pro either.
Rory gives the always knowledgeable Tatsunoko Fan a
THANKS SO MUCH AGAIN, JAMES!
Sincerely,
Rory
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 29-05-2008 at 22:38:
OK TJ we had it wrong.... Opppsss
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 29-05-2008 at 22:39:
Rory some times you just have to improvise!
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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
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