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--- It's Center Neptune Week! (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=2401)
Posted by Condorfan on 18-03-2009 at 20:30:
Barrdwing those things to do at Center Neptune are hiliarious! 
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Posted by lborgia88 on 19-03-2009 at 01:14:
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Me too. In ep. 76, "Bracelets Exposed," Joe ignores a summons from Dr. Nambu and stays to finish a race, rather than go with the others on the God Phoenix, and later he gets hit with the megaziner ray, but escapes. Next we see him, he's at the Crescent Base, with Dr. Nambu demanding to know where he was and telling Joe that the others have already gone. I always wondered how Joe got to the Crescent Base alone (I don't think his car goes under water!) or how he goes to rejoin the rest of the team after.
I assumed that there had to be submarines (like we saw in eps 91 and 92) from Utoland to the Crescent Base, or some kind of aircraft besides the God Phoenix that could transport a member of the team there.
Posted by lborgia88 on 19-03-2009 at 01:22:
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I agree it is quite stark and institutional looking -a contrast to Galactor bases, which if I recall, often have chandeliers on the ceilings.
Doesn't Dr. Nambu have some plants or decor in his office though? (not sure here)
I've always loved the fish! Every time I find myself doing the tourist thing in a big city -if there's an aquarium, I visit it. I've had small aquariums myself for much of my life too.
Posted by lborgia88 on 19-03-2009 at 01:25:
Memo to self: Never get into a practical joke war with Barrdwing; her mind is evil...
Posted by Barrdwing on 19-03-2009 at 02:54:
<blinks innocently>
Posted by Transmute Jun on 19-03-2009 at 03:29:
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Funny... I didn't think Zarks *could* blink....
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Posted by clouddancer on 19-03-2009 at 11:30:
Cloud pretends to not know what TJ is talking about
What would you say those lights on a Zark do then?
I guess you would say flashing lights, instead of blinking lights. 
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Posted by meg on 19-03-2009 at 11:34:
Just few more screen shots of the base
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Posted by SJ_SwanJun on 19-03-2009 at 12:48:
Even more interesting is the question of how the team get their mechas out of there when good old Big Blue is still in her dry dock (wet dock, wherever)...
Or do they just ask Tiny to "Just let me off here" on the way back?
Barrdwing ... you are a crack-up, girl ... I've been chuckling like a moron over here reading all your little ways to beat the boredom at Neptune ...
heh heh ...
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 19-03-2009 at 12:57:
Thanks for the screenshots, Meg! And you even got a shot with some actual *furniture* in it! Amazing!
I have to admit, the God Phoenix looks super cool as they launch it. 
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Posted by lborgia88 on 19-03-2009 at 15:36:
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And Joe is even sitting, not standing (still has the crossed arms though)!
Great pictures, Meg!
Two episodes that are among my favourites are 90 & 91, when the Crescent Base gets destroyed -so sad and angsty!
Made me realize that the place was almost like a character itself.
Posted by tatsunokofan on 19-03-2009 at 23:22:
Hi all!
Crescent Coral Reef, the headquarters of the Science Ninja Team. Their "castle," as it is referred to when it is introduced in episode #8.
There isn't a lot in the way of official stats for it, and the series planning doesn't add much information on it, saying only this regarding it:
"The Headquarters of the "Science Ninja Team"
At one time, they used Dr. Nambu's seaside villa to hide from the eyes of Gallactor, but this is destroyed in Episode 3, "Dr. Nambu Assassination Plan."
After that, their base is established within a giant undersea combinant, an undersea city established for the sake of developing undersea resources."
Obviously, at the point in which this was written, the concept of Crescent Coral Reef was not well developed. It's interesting to note that the concept of the Ninja Team's headquarters being a "giant undersea combinant" is actually fairly close to what the decoy undersea facility used to fool Gallactor in episode #8 looked like. Perhaps that is where they got that notion from.
Despite being titled "The Secret of Crescent Coral Reef," and having the plot of the story centered around completing Crescent Coral Reef, one thing that the episode fails to do is really show the audience just what Crescent Coral Reef looks like. We see a couple of overhead shots of the coral reef, a couple of close-up shots of segments of the exterior of the facility, and a single interior shot from Nambu's Command Room, but no decent establishing shot of the whole structure.
Our first views of Crescent Coral Reef, showing almost nothing
For that, we have to wait until the God Phoenix launches in episode #9, and that shot raises the question of where exactly are they launching from?
Anyway, what else we do know about Crescent Coral Reef comes from the series itself. From that, we know that Crescent Coral Reef is the secret underwater base that was built by Dr. Nambu and the I.S.O. to act as the Science Ninja Team's Headquarters. It floated on the ocean surface, hidden under a camouflage crescent-shaped coral reef that was attached to the upper part of the base (Episode #8), which was where its name came from. It was sometimes referred to as "Crescent Base." It main source of power came from its atomic reactors.
It was mobile, moving by means of four rocket engines attached to its base, in order to keep its location secret from Gallactor. It takes several of the base personnel to operate these rockets (Episode #82).
The Rocket Control Room
Crescent Coral Reef contained the hangar for the God Phoenix (Episode #8). This hangar is located down a long corridor and fills with water after the Science Ninja Team had boarded the God Phoenix to allow it to launch.
Dr. Nambu also maintained a Command Room there (Episode #8, and others). His Command Room contained a desk
a large map on the wall
and a round window to view outside.
Dr. Nambu stored data for the Mantle Plan there (Episode #92).
Crescent Coral Reef also had a Standby Room for the Science Ninja Team to rest and relax in (Episode #9, among others).
Our first view of the Standby Room
Our last view of the Standby Room
There was also a Conference Room used for mission briefings. This Conference Room contained a projection system built into a desk to help Dr. Nambu illustrate his points (Episode #15, among others).
Also located within it were numerous rooms, including the following:
The various laboratories used by Dr. Nambu and I.S.O. engineers to conduct research (Episode #'s 15, 89, and 91, among others)
A conference room for representatives of the I.S.O. to meet (Episode #13)
A film laboratory (Episode #90)
A Communications Room (Episode #'s 9, 17, and numerous others)
At least two Computer Rooms (Episode #92)
The 2nd Computer Room
A medical facility (Episode #'s 20, 34)
And a hangar for the Small Transportation Mecha used by Dr. Nambu to transport his car to shore (Episode #84).
James
Posted by tatsunokofan on 19-03-2009 at 23:23:
Hi all!
Crescent Coral Reef contained equipment that could be used to work on the God Phoenix and the Ninja Team vehicles, whether this work ranged from simple maintenance (Episode #90),
to special modifications to the God Phoenix (Episode #'s 15, 22, and 42),
or even to rebuilding the Ninja Team vehicles from scratch (Episode #67).
The Super Bird Missiles used by the Science Ninja Team were also constructed there (Episode #93).
Crescent Coral Reef included a variety of security measures. These included security cameras mounted inside and outside the structure, with monitors inside Dr. Nambu's Command Room
and alarm buttons located inside the laboratories in case an intruder was spotted.
If anyone managed to sneak inside, they would have a difficult time leaving thanks to the bazookas mounted in the walls of the hangar bays (#91).
In an emergency, it was possible to jettison the coral reef camouflage.
There was an emergency submarine harbored inside it that could be used to evacuate the personnel if the destruction of Crescent Coral Reef was imminent (Episode #92).
The facility also contained a self-destruct switch if it needed to be destroyed (Episode #34).
Because of its importance to the Science Ninja Team and the I.S.O., Crescent Coral Reef was an obvious target for Gallactor. In fact, Gallactor launched several campaigns to locate and attack the facility (Episode #'s 61, 82, 89, and 91) before they finally succeeded in causing it irreparable damage, forcing the Science Ninja Team to destroy it in order to prevent the valuable data stored within from being captured by Gallactor (Episode #92).
While the destruction of Crescent Coral Reef was a cause for celebration among Gallactor, it came as a deep blow to the morale of the Science Ninja Team. Despite the loss, they managed to come back with even greater determination to defeat Gallactor as they went into the final days of their struggle against Berg Katse and his forces.
Annoyingly, virtually all of the rooms seen regularly inside Crescent Coral Reef changed their look and layout throughout the series, with no real consistency beyond maintaining a basic concept of what was in each room. Unlike locations such as the Snack Jun and X's control room, it does not appear that Tatsunoko ever did designs for places like Nambu's Command Room or the Ninja Team's Standy Room.
On the other hand, Tatsunoko did create a cutaway view of Crescent Coral Reef. This view was used as the basis for this image from the series:
The original cutaway view was reprinted (With color added) in the Gatchaman Fantastic TV Collection Volume 1 back in 1978. Here is is, with the labels translated for your convenience.
James
Posted by clouddancer on 19-03-2009 at 23:49:
That is a lot of information and some great screen caps you have found about the Crescent Coral Base.
Thank you James.
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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 19-03-2009 at 23:57:
Heehehheeee
In an AU I have planned involving BOTP the three original members of the team (Ken, Jun and Joe.) Hack into Zarks data base so they can keep track of what the new teams up to. The comments I keep imagining them saying when Zark talks cracks me up. i can see Joe planning to send a virus through the link just to shut him up.
Just something I thought of
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Posted by Springie on 20-03-2009 at 00:00:
Wow, James! Amazing amount of info here! I do notice that there doesn't seem to be any canon that shows that the SNT members have their own sleeping quarters in this base. Is that idea just fic fodder?
I used to think that the scene in the mecha ball ep where Jun and Jinpei went to see Ken was showing Ken's CCB sleeping quarters...but upon closer inspection, it looks like his shack at the airfield...
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Posted by tatsunokofan on 20-03-2009 at 00:07:
Hi all!
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There is no canon reference to the Ninja Team members having their own private rooms inside Crescent Coral Reef, though, if they needed to, there is no reason why they couldn't sleep in the barracks-style Members Room shown in the cutaway view.
James
Posted by Transmute Jun on 20-03-2009 at 01:30:
James, I am blown away by the information you have posted! I love all of the screencaps to demonstrate the different rooms! This is incredible! 
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Posted by clouddancer on 20-03-2009 at 01:57:
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That is funny, because I would have automatically said it was at ken's airfield because I thought you could see his airplane out side of his window. But in this image from Reboekah's site it looks like a building (skyscaper)
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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by lborgia88 on 20-03-2009 at 03:08:
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It's been fodder in my fics!
Thank you, James, for this wealth of information!
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