Gatchamania.net - Print: Gatchaman II epsiode recaps - Episode 4

Gatchamania.net (http://www.gatchamania.net/index.php)
- [Gatchaman Library] (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=300)
-- Gatchaman II (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=712)
--- Gatchaman II epsiode recaps - Episode 4 (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=3579)

Posted by Crescent_Moon on 28-01-2011 at 09:56:

Gatchaman II episode recaps - Episode 4

Disclaimer: Gatchaman belongs to Tatsunoko, no infringement is intended.

Screencaps: Reboekah has graciously given me access to Gatchaman II screencaps for inclusion in the recaps, thank you! : )

Episode 4:

We open to a view of an unruined city. The narrator mentions Sosai X. He mentions something about Ameria. We see a monorail car moving through what looks like a massive underground Galactor base

Jaunty 70's music plays as we see a river of red and black sludge pour through some kind of machine. There's a massive drill digging into the ground (perhaps the liquid is some kind of oil to keep it from seizing up?)

Sosai X speaks to Gel Sadra, who mentions "Mantle energy" (are they trying to repeat the doomsday plot at the end of Gatchaman?)

Oops. The top of the drill explodes.

The drill disintegrates, taking with it a bunch of goons standing around its base. Gel Sadra receives a briefing from an excited goon. It seems that Sosai X is saying "What's going on?". Gel Sadra seems a little abashed.

A big container of the black and red liquid tips over, flooding the base and destroying everything in its path. It ruptures the Earth's surface with a massive vertical explosion.

We catch a glimpse of Gel Sadra's UFO escaping the scene.

The explosion is in the desert, but appears to be near the city we saw at the start of the episode (I should've remembered that seemingly innocent images at the start of an episode are invariably involved in destruction later) Skyscraper glass breaks, the ground swallows people, all this is being watched by the team and Nambu at (I guess) the underwater base.

The team looks aghast, Jun is visibly moved.

We see that Nambu takes care of his hair. Nambu mentions something about the videotape and Ameria. A serious discussion ensues, serious enough for Nambu to press a purple button that raises some sort of model from below the ground. A monopoly house faces a highrise some distance away, both are on colour-coded rollers that appear to represent the earth's crust. Nambu mentions the mantle project (I suspect that these two buildings are about to become intimately acquainted : )

(I was right!) Nambu presses a switch and the two buildings are thrown into each other by their respective conveyor belts (I think a diagram would bave worked just as well and saved the ISO some money). Nambu continues his lecture.

It seems that Galactor's latest plot involves making the red parts of the Earth's mantle move towards each other. The team takes off on their mission (not sure what it is though) and we see stock footage of the God Phoenix leaving the underwater base. Cut to Gel Sadra's saucer in the mountains of Ameris. Sosai X (always very formal, never just says "So, Sadra.." or "Hey, Gel") seems unimpressed with something. In response, Gel Sadra appears to make a convincing case.

There's a cool dissolve from Gel Sadra's eye to the eye of the God Phoenix. (I just noticed the expression on the God Phoenix, it looks pretty unimpressed, you'd better get out of its way!)

Wow, Nambu is on the God Phoenix! (Where does he sit, and does he have a seatbelt?) It flies across the Grand Canyons of Ameris and we see an overhead view of a long deep canyon that seems to be filled with lava.

Ken (seemingly) overreacts and pulls a Joe by pressing a button that starts a missile launch(he also uses a purple button like Nambu's, wouldn't want to get those two confused!) Nope, got that wrong, the missile just came out into the control room of the God Phoenix (that really doesn't seem safe) and is hanging there.

Nambu mentions New York (or is that my misinterpretation of two Japanese words? I thought they didn't use real place names in this series) There's some discussion about what the missile is for.

Posted by Crescent_Moon on 28-01-2011 at 10:16:

Elsewhere, a ruined building obligingly gets out of the way for Gel Sadra's saucer which blasts the devastated people with some kind of amplified announcement. The people are indignant (and it looks like they dissolve, but I think that may just be a special effect to cut to the team)

We see the team on the ground near their vehicles followed by a close up of a drill (the missile from the God Phoenix we saw earlier). We see Pima flying, and Nambu working on an improbable looking console that seems to monitor the missile/drill as it moves through the ground (I bet it won some design awards ; )

Oh no, it gets worse, parts of the console move, like some kind of monstrous typewriter (I'm laughing pretty hard.. Alright, let me just compose myself, ahem : ) Nambu's getting some serious readings from the console. The team, who are on the ground, are about to take off when a Galactor Captain of the week (who looks a little like a badly coloured Flash superhero) appears and stops them.

Ken turns, and sees that Ryu, Jinpei and Jun are caught. A group of goons have their guns trained on them.

Captain Flash is about to shoot Ken when a weird contraption with an indistinct figure (the colours look like it's the intruder from the last episode, and I'm going to guess, Joe : ) attached to it zooms down from the sky. The figure starts shooting and the goons are cut down. Ken takes this opportunity to kick Captain Flash so hard that he flies across the G1.

Flash and the remaining goons open fire on the flying figure. They shoot away the protective cover around the figure's head and we see what looks to be a black helmet covering his features.

Jun blinks, like she's not sure what's going on. The Captain's shadow is hit, and his human body falls to the ground as the flying newcomer takes off.

Jun swears that it's Joe, Ken's not buying it. Jun runs after Joe, calling his name with feeling. She stops and falls to her knees.

Ken is less than impressed (not sure if it's with Joe or just with the situation).

The team return to the God Phoenix to find the improbable console deserted. They leave the God Phoenix and call for Nambu. The ground in front of them starts moving and a race car with a beak painted on the front erupts from the sands (Hmmm.. Joe?)

Nope, it's Nambu, wearing cool shades (I bet he loves getting in on the action for a change).

There's some discussion (about the mantle project?) and Nambu unveils the Condor machine. It has two faces, the top one looks mean, the bottom one looks sad (a comment on Joe's conflict?)

More serious discussion, emphasised by Nambu grabbing some sand and allowing it to pour through his fingers. Ken arcs up he doesn't like what's going on (or maybe he just doesn't like seeing sand wasted ; ).

Nambu's expression hardens, but he seems thoughtful. Ken tries to jump in the car, but Nambu says something like "Ken, you can't have the car tonight!" : )

Posted by Crescent_Moon on 28-01-2011 at 10:47:

We hear a Gatchaman-esque whistle. Over the hill, backed by a blazing sun, we see a figure approach.

Commercial break

The figure approaches... Could it be? The camera shifts to show us legs and feet from behind. Jun's eyes widen in surprise she whispers "Joe.."

The feet stop. Jun says "Joe!" with a bit more force. Now we see what looks like Joe, standing with his hips thrust forward in a skintight suit and aviator sunglasses. He doesn't smile.

Tears roll down Jun's face. Jinpei finally believes that it's Joe. Ryu is surpised. Ken doesn't seem sure, maybe he thinks it's a trick.

The team rushes towards him. Jinpei first, Jun second, and Ryu third. Ryu's weight seems wrong when he's running. Ken and Nambu follow more slowly. Jinpei trips and the beak of his helmet gets stuck in the ground like an ostrich.

The team finally reach Joe, who casually takes off his sunglasses and says something cool. Jinpei hugs Joe, Ryu pats him on the head like a puppy (I'm thinking the old Joe wouldn't have stood for that!)

Joe sees Jun, and he moves towards her, she towards him. They extend their arms and hold hands. Joe has an intense expression on his face.

Jun hugs him and cries into his chest. Tears well up in Joe's eyes too, and he does a little man-cry.

Ken (perhaps remembering Joe's healing fists) raises his fist and punches Joe so hard that he goes flying (what happend to Jun here?)

Jun, Ryu and Jinpei look on in shock.

Joe raises his head, ruefully rubs his chin and says something that shows he's not angry at Ken (Probably something like "You still hit like a girl" : )

Ken extends his hand (open this time) and Joe extends his. Ken attempts to pull Joe up, but Joe throws him over his shoulder. Ken does a couple of flips and lands on his feet.

Joe stands. He and Ken face each other, Ken says something like "It's good to have you back". Their bodies remain cool and calm, their eyes betray the deep emotion they both feel at their reunion. They rush towards each other and hold each other's shoulders as they burst into laughter.

Ryu, Jinpei and Jun watch on. Ryu sounds like he expresses his happines and some surprise and it looks like Jinpei either makes fun of him or tells Joe what Ryu said.

Joe looks surprised, he turns his head away with downcast eyes and looks like he has a burden to bear that he can't share with the others.

Nambu puts a hand on Joe's shoulder, says some serious words (maybe a welcome back?) and then extends his hand for a handshake.

We hear some rumbling and Jun cries a warning as a sea of skyscrapers rises above the horizon.

Joe thinks it's Galactor (I do too : ) A gigantic snake-like mecha erupts from the ground, it's head appears to be a ball a with a hat (or a flying saucer) and it has a forked tail.

Joe gets in his car (handy how it just happened to be here for him!) and says something encouraging to the team before he drives off.

Nambu says "Joe.." like he still can't believe Joe's back (or, as I'd like to think, he's miffed that now he won't get to drive the car ; )

The mecha is on the move, it looks pretty cool! Twin lasers form in place of its eyes and searing beams cause explosions on the ground.

Joe dodges. The mecha is on his tail. Ken shoots some missiles at the snake-mecha, but they do no damage. The snake alerted to Ken's presence by the missiles rotates its eyes to face Ken's G1.

Posted by Crescent_Moon on 28-01-2011 at 11:02:

Joe transforms his G2 into a digging machine and takes off underground. His digging apparatus looks a little like a giant set of hair-clipper blades mounted on the front of his G2 (I really don't see how this is able to dig a hole wide and high enough for him to get through, but it does look cool.)

We see that the G2's birdstyle conversion process is initiated by Joe slamming both the accelerator and the brake at the same time (Joe drives an automatic, I would not have guessed that!) We see a shot of the city as it begins to crumble and start to disappear into the ground. Joe dodges some dislodged stalactites, does some stunt driving through a tiny crack in the rock, and is surprised by a gap in the ground filled with molten lava (I guess the red liquid at the start of the episode was lava).

Joe jumps over the lava by shooting a couple of stalactites and using them as a landing platform. He doesn't even break a sweat.

He approaches a large actively bubbling pool of lava, pushes a button, and shoots what appears to be a big bird-shaped missile that forms the top of the G2's roof (Cool, he finally gets his own bird missiles)

As the missile approaches its target, Joe makes his way back, but the lava pool that he jumped earlier poses some problems. He seems doomed.

There is a massive explosion and a column of fire erupts from the ground. A second column erupts conveniently near the snake mecha. The explosion causes a fissure to open up under it, it falls in and explodes.

BOOM! (The explosion looks cool)

The God Phoenix lands and the team emerges. They yell Joe's name and run to him as he's lying beside his ruined G2. Joe seems in good spirits. Ken says something that wipes the smile off Joe's face. Ryu breaks the uncomfortable silence. Joe remembers how he comes to still be alive.

Joe remembers and we see Dr Rafael, a dish with many bullets in it, and a surgeon. Ken and Nambu exchange glances at the name. Jun says "But he's with Galactor.."

I think Joe says "Well, he may have been with Galactor, but he saved me anyway" Jinpei's not sure what's going on and seems a little confused.

Joe shares some of his thoughts, then stands in a really weird (and probably uncomfortable) position, like he's waiting for the team to reject him.

Ken approaches Joe and says something like "I don't care about this Galactor crap, you're still a science ninja!"

Joe is surprised. They shake hands.

The narrator narrates as we see Gel Sadra's saucer flying into the distance.

Next episode preview: We see Nambu, a tortured Planet of the Apes monkey, Joe, Jun holding a little girl who she reunites with her parents, Ken's plane losing a wing, A big green monster swinging a massive club and a little boy bathed in green light..

Posted by Transmute Jun on 28-01-2011 at 14:57:

FYI, the 'planet of the apes monkey' is a primitive man. You've reached the caveman episode! Enjoy! Big Grin

So Joe finally made it back! They certainly gave him a hero's welcome, didn't the! And I love Jun's emotional reaction. If you're interested in Condor/Swan, these first few episodes of Gatchaman II certainly make for interesting fodder... the way she screams his name, refuses to believe he's dead and runs after him... and this episode caps it all. Jun screaming Joe's name in that ruined city on her knees just gets to me... and then she cries when they find him... and he cries too! How many times do you see Joe cry? Really?

And of course, Ken's so jealous he has to slug Joe while he's hugging Jun. Big Grin

I have to admit, they had some good tension going for these first four episodes. Too bad the next two are so lame...

__________________

Posted by Crescent_Moon on 29-01-2011 at 11:12:

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
FYI, the 'planet of the apes monkey' is a primitive man. You've reached the caveman episode! Enjoy! Big Grin

Hehe, thanks, I've watched both of those now. I can't really tell if they're crap because of the language barrier (ie. the science doesn't look any worse than normal : ) I think I would've liked to see some more Joe related stuff though.

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
And of course, Ken's so jealous he has to slug Joe while he's hugging Jun. Big Grin

Haha, I hadn't thought of it that way, it felt to me like he just didn't know what to do with all that emotion (but I like the way you think : )

Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 29-01-2011 at 13:58:

Doctor Nambu brings a vehicle for Joe to the very place he'll show up. Another case of 'What does he know, and when did he know it?'

Amazing vehicles the team has: they can withstand molten lava with not so much as a sticky tire.

__________________
Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

Posted by Transmute Jun on 29-01-2011 at 16:22:

Actually, the Condor Attacker is supposed to have been totaled by the experience... yet Joe comes out with only a couple of scratches and is all right 'after a short rest'. Hmmm.... suspicious... Wink

__________________

Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 29-01-2011 at 16:52:

Missed that. But what was Nambu doing with a 'Condor Tracker' before they knew Joe was back?

__________________
Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

Posted by lborgia88 on 29-01-2011 at 21:57:

quote:

Originally posted by Crescent_Moon

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
And of course, Ken's so jealous he has to slug Joe while he's hugging Jun. Big Grin

Haha, I hadn't thought of it that way, it felt to me like he just didn't know what to do with all that emotion (but I like the way you think : )

So do I! I also figure Ken must have been thinking "You've been alive all this time --two years- and you never let us know?" Something like that would get me angry, even as I'd be overjoyed to see the person alive too.

Posted by Reboekah on 29-01-2011 at 23:02:

quote:

Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter
Missed that. But what was Nambu doing with a 'Condor Tracker' before they knew Joe was back?

Well - Getz (the real one - not the Galactor fake) was supposed to be the Condor/Hawk on the team... so there would have been a vehicle for him...

And I always figured Nambu had to have some skill at each of the vehicles - someone had to do the test driving!

__________________
-Boeke
Bird Scramble OE
155 issues - 36.5Years! - and flying high!

Posted by gatchamarie on 30-01-2011 at 16:35:

quote:

Originally posted by lborgia88

quote:

Originally posted by Crescent_Moon

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
And of course, Ken's so jealous he has to slug Joe while he's hugging Jun. Big Grin

Haha, I hadn't thought of it that way, it felt to me like he just didn't know what to do with all that emotion (but I like the way you think : )

There surely must have been a lot of mixed emotions running!

Thanks again for this recap, CM! Great job as always!

__________________
To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!

Posted by gatchamarie on 30-01-2011 at 16:37:

quote:

Originally posted by Reboekah
And I always figured Nambu had to have some skill at each of the vehicles - someone had to do the test driving!

That's what I like to think, also! Nambu also knows well how to surprise us, sometimes even showing us that he's also one heck of a fighter with a weapon in his hands!

__________________
To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!

Posted by lborgia88 on 31-01-2011 at 06:52:

quote:

Originally posted by Reboekah

quote:

Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter
Missed that. But what was Nambu doing with a 'Condor Tracker' before they knew Joe was back?

Well - Getz (the real one - not the Galactor fake) was supposed to be the Condor/Hawk on the team... so there would have been a vehicle for him...

I could believe that Dr. Nambu might have considered it a sort of tribute/memorial to Joe to call the vehicle "Condor Tracker," but I can never quite get over him giving Getz a birdstyle that looks exactly like Joe's and also putting Getz in the #2 position after, as Jinpei points out, they'd agreed to keep the #2 position always empty in Joe's memory (and letting the newbie outrank Jun, Jinpei and Ryu). Pretty darn insensitive!

Posted by Transmute Jun on 31-01-2011 at 14:42:

Dinzumo came up with a pretty good explanation for that in her Out of the Shadows series. She postulated that Nambu knew Getz was a Galactor and so did not give him the uniform that had been developed for him. Instead, Nambu game him an old uniform of Joe's knowing that the technology was outdated, and if it got analyzed by the Galactors it wouldn't be much of a security risk.

__________________

Posted by lborgia88 on 03-02-2011 at 00:52:

But that would mean that Dr. Nambu was keeping Ken and the others in the dark, wouldn't it? (It's been a while since I read Out of the Shadows...)

Of course, it would hardly be the first time that Dr. Nambu's done that! It's a good way to get around the issue. Whether or not Ken and the others were in on Dr. Nambu's suspicions, it would be a way to lure "Getz" into a false sense of complacency about them accepting him, letting him be the new Condor.

In a fic, I tried to make it that it was difficult to make a new birdstyle (since there's no canon, really, for exactly how the birdstyles' transformations work) and that Dr. Nambu thought Getz would have a more intimidating effect if he looked like the Condor-back-from-the-dead.

Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 03-02-2011 at 02:10:

It would be a way of covering the civilian identities. No, Joe Asakura wasn't the Condor: that psycho bird is still around.

__________________
Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

Posted by Transmute Jun on 03-02-2011 at 14:27:

IMHO, Dr. Nambu kept a lot of things in the dark. I think it's pretty likely that he knew Getz was actually a imposter/Galactor plant and sent him along on the mission anyway. You could make a case either way, but I prefer to think of Dr. Nambu as 'smart and secretive' rather than 'clueless'.

__________________

Posted by lborgia88 on 03-02-2011 at 16:25:

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
You could make a case either way, but I prefer to think of Dr. Nambu as 'smart and secretive' rather than 'clueless'.

True, though it always bugs me a bit when he lets Ken and the others be clueless, rather than telling them what he knows. Still, it's a sign of his confidence in them that he figured they'd thwart any attack Getz might make on them at Easton Island and keep Getz from telling Galactor where G-Town is located.

Except as it turned out, it was Joe -not Ken and the others- that did that...

Posted by Transmute Jun on 03-02-2011 at 20:03:

Dr. Nambu has a history of keeping information to himself and leaving the Science Ninja Team clueless. It's nothing new, unfortunately...

__________________