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Posted by Crescent_Moon on 13-02-2011 at 07:45:

Gatchaman II episode recaps - Episode 7

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 7:

A green liquid bubbles in a big glass bowl. Galactor goons and scientists watch as the liquid solidifies into some kind of cell-based organism.

Sosai X speaks to Gel Sadra and a plan of action is decided upon. Cut to a jeep riding through an open field with trees in the distance. The jeep comes to a halt and Galactor goons and a red-headed leader-type (looks a little like a butterfly) disembark. The goons bring out a small glass container with a spore in it. It opens and the wind picks the spore up and carries it away. Oops, looks like this wasn't supposed to happen, the goons chase the spore.

They are unsuccessful. The leader says something like "Gel Sadra's going to be pissed."

Cut to Jun and a group of children walking through the forest. There's lots of happy giggling and sounds of contentment. Jinpei trails behind. He's not having as much fun as the beast of burden and is carrying packs, water bottles and a butterfly net. He stumbles and falls and he discovers that he has a blister.

Another boy, about the same age as Jinpei but drawn to be much more handsome arrives. He's carrying similar gear to Jinpei. He asks Jinpei what's wrong and Jinpei points out his blister. The other boy (let's call him nature boy) runs out into the field and grabs some flowers. He brings them back to Jinpei and puts them on his blister before covering it with a bandaid. Jinpei is surprised and maybe a little impressed. The boys introduce themselves (Bukari?).

Jinpei notices that nature boy has a glass jar with what looks to be the Galactor spore in it.

Cut to Gel Sadra who is telling Sosai X about the stuff up. Sosai X doesn't seem too worried.

We see an apartment building and zoom in to an upper level apartment's flower bed. A giant green vine erupts from the flower bed, smashes a fish tank and greedily drinks all the water. On the way it breaks open a suitcase full of caterpillars who make a slow undulating escape. The vine grows very quickly and appears to be sneaking up on nature boy.

The doorbell rings, it's Jinpei. The vine doesn't show itself. Jinpei's brought nature boy a present. Nature boy puts on the kettle. There's a noise of breaking glass from the other room. The boys go to investigate. The vine attacks. Jinpei grabs a knife and attacks the vine but the knife is either blunt or the vine is too tough.

The boys are about to be strangled when the vine makes a wailing noise and collapses, like it's run out of energy. It turns out that the caterpillars have gone on the attack and are consuming the vine leaves.

The vine shrivels up, turns brown, and dies. The caterpillars have become encased in cocoons. In a matter of seconds the cocoons split open, revealing cat sized butterflies. They escape through a broken window. Jinpei and nature boy look on amazed.

Later, Jinpei has explained the story to the team who appear to be sitting in the Snack J. RYu and Jun laugh at him (you'd think that they'd been through enough weird stuff that this wouldn't seem too far-fetched)

Jinpei is incensed. Jinpei asks Joe to back him up, who does by saying it sounds like Galactor. Jun and Ryu are surprised. It sounds like they're saying "How would you know, Joe?". Ken says something to Jinpei who walks off muttering. Jun and Ryu laugh at him.

Joe says something serious. Ken says "Joe" wistfully.

A church bell tolls in a mountainous region filled with chalet style houses as the narrator narrates. Three hot air balloons glide through the night. They carry glass globes with spores and release them as they pass over the town.

A police car runs into a giant vine. a second vine attacks the car from below, picking it up and throwing it through the air. It lands heavily, flips upside down and explodes.

Commercial break.

Posted by Crescent_Moon on 13-02-2011 at 07:55:

We see a shot of G-Town as ominous music plays bomp bomps along. Nambu outlines what's happened as we see still pictures of vines going wild destroying the town we saw earlier (I'm surprised that no one's apologising to Jinpei and that he's not saying "See, I told you so!")

Jun sounds distraught. Ryu wants to know more. Nambu mentions Galactor, Ken seems surprised (c'mon Ken, are you really that thick?) and we see a group shot of the whole team. There's some discussion, Ken sounds incensed, Jun worried. Nambu reassures them.

We cut to a tropical forest nestled within a large botanical garden glass house. Colourful parrots fly away as we see them (this part reminds me of Day of the Triffids, wonder how long the scene will stay serene : )

Nambu is speaking with a man in a military style uniform. The team is also here and it sounds like Ken says "Jinpei knows something about this" (I'm amazed that no one's said anything before). Jinpei explain s how the vine that attached him died. He descibes the butterfiles and then realised that nature boy's caterpillars must have been the cause. The team springs into action (stock footage of the God Chicken taking off)

We see the devastated town in the grip of the vines. Gel Sadra says something like "Sosai X will be well pleased with me.. muu ha ah aaah".

Pima bleats something as the team approaches the scene of destruction. There's a large construction off to the side of the city, it looks like some kind of sattelite dish. The bottom of the God Phoenix opens up and thousands of tins drop down. As they hit the ground, the cans open up and each disgorges hundreds of caterpillars.

The caterpillars get to work at once. Gel Sadra squeals like a little girl and sounds worried about how Sosai X will take this failure.

From Gel Sadra's vantage point we see many butterflies take off after devouring the vines. The God Phoenix is not far behind them and there's a cool shot of it overflying Sosai X on her view screen.

Ken takes off in the G1, Joe in the G2, Jun in the G3, Ryu in the G5, and Jinpei in the G4 (wonder why they did them out of order, poor Jinpie). Pima shoots some missiles at the Galactor base (turns out to be the sattelite dish construction)

Ken is back in kamikaze mode as he takes the G1 in through part of the base wall, knocking over some goons along the way. He flies through the base and exits through Gel Sadra's view screen (some deja-vu here, very similar to the episode when they met Dr Raphael)

Gel Sadra is like "What, not again!" The rest of the team shoot missiles at the base and blow chunks off it. Ryu's G5 also has some machine guns that he uses to blow up some laser cannons.

Joe drives up the wall into the base and takes out whatever gets in his way. He scores a direct hit on the control room of the Galactor base and it explodes spectacularly. Gel Sadra escapes and doesn't sound pleased.

It's magic hour and the sky is a soft pastelly orange and yellow. The butterflies flutter by into the setting sun only to run out of energy and land in the ocean. Jun speaks softly to Joe. Joe is sad. The narrator says something about Galactor never giving up as the God Phoenix flies off into the sunset.

Preview of next episode.
We see what looks like a sattelite drifting through space followed by a Galactor space battleship, and the God Phoenix battling it out.

Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 13-02-2011 at 11:42:

I wonder if the scriptwriters found out that kudzu has taken over the Southeastern US?

CM, you'd be surprised how many times the team disbelieves something that they should find all too possible. Communications, vehicle speed, and brainpower are all plot-dependent.

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Posted by Transmute Jun on 13-02-2011 at 17:02:

This episode is definitely an improvement over the previous two! The idea of the 'killer plants' is something we might have seen in the first series,. and harks back to our 'classic Gatchaman' roots. At least, it does for me... Wink

quote:

Gel Sadra squeals like a little girl

Um, technically she is a little girl...

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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 13-02-2011 at 17:45:

TJ, hush! We're not supposed to know that yet. Wink1

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Posted by Crescent_Moon on 13-02-2011 at 18:15:

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
This episode is definitely an improvement over the previous two! The idea of the 'killer plants' is something we might have seen in the first series,. and harks back to our 'classic Gatchaman' roots. At least, it does for me... Wink

It does remind me more of the old Gatchaman, but at the same time I feel a littl e bit short-changed by how the plot is overthrown. I've been getting that feeling for the last few episodes that the team isn't really doing all that much, the plots seem to resolve themselves too easily.

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun

quote:

Gel Sadra squeals like a little girl

Um, technically she is a little girl...

Lol, I thought about writing "like the little girl that she is".

UnpublishedWriter, we're not? I thought that it was clear from the first episode that she was artificially grown by Sosai X. Did I get that wrong?

Posted by clouddancer on 13-02-2011 at 19:56:

quote:

Originally posted by Crescent_MoonUnpublishedWriter, we're not? I thought that it was clear from the first episode that she was artificially grown by Sosai X. Did I get that wrong?

You have it correct CM.

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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 14-02-2011 at 06:37:

I think I was influenced by TJ's summaries of Eagle Riders. Nobody knew Mallanox (Gel Sadra) was even female until much later in the series.

fishhit

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Posted by Transmute Jun on 14-02-2011 at 16:34:

You're right, UW, that in Eagle Riders they cut out a lot of Mallanox's transformation, casting more doubt upon the gender. It's my understanding that they intended to write Mallanox as a male (and did, for the first half of the series) but then when they discovered the whole 'little girl' storyline they did some quick re-writing and fixes to try to smooth it out.

In Gatchaman, it's very obvious that Gel Sadra is female. In the first episode she definitely grows a womanly figure, albeit with a Barbie doll genitalia-less bent.

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Posted by Crescent_Moon on 14-02-2011 at 16:50:

quote:

Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter
I think I was influenced by TJ's summaries of Eagle Riders.

Very cool, I didn't know there were Eagle Riders summaries! Just read the first one, that cracks me up. It looks like we had a very similar reaction to some of the key chages : )

Posted by Transmute Jun on 14-02-2011 at 21:06:

Glad you liked them, CM!

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Posted by gatchamarie on 16-02-2011 at 08:52:

quote:

Originally posted by Crescent_Moon
I've been getting that feeling for the last few episodes that the team isn't really doing all that much, the plots seem to resolve themselves too easily.

That's the same impression I get, much to Gel Sadra's dishonour as a villain! As is my wondering why any of the Team members sometimes look that surprised whenever something strange happens and Galactor are mentioned as being the supposed culprits!

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