Gatchaman Episode 49 – The Fearsome Mechadokuga

Gatchaman Episode 49 – The Fearsome Mechadokuga



The episode opens with a shot of a large office building. It’s ISO Headquarters! Inside, a man in a vague semblance of a security guard’s uniform (well, he has a security guard hat, anyway) is carrying a metal briefcase down a long flight of stairs. Reaching what appears to be the basement, he goes through a metal door. Beyond the door is a room full of computer equipment… and a large vault. The vault has a massive wheel on the outside, to use as an opening device.

The man puts down the briefcase and opens the vault, turning the wheel exactly as it needs to be moved, implying that he’s familiar with the opening of this vault.

All seems normal… except for the nasty look on the man’s face, which tells us that something isn’t quite right. Sure enough, the man opens the briefcase and inside we see some kind of bomb.



The man grins and chuckles evilly (See, I was right!) before closing the briefcase again. I guess he was just checking to make sure it was still there. He laughs more as he places it inside of the vault and closes the door.

Now we cut to a sparkling chandelier, hanging high above… the Science Ninja Team! They appear to be in some kind of lobby. All except Jinpei.



Why is Joe staring at the wall?

“Why do we always have to babysit Dr. Nambu?” Ryu yawns. “What kind of meeting are they having, anyway?”



“Apparently a new uranium mine has been discovered. I bet that’s what it’s about.” Jun guesses.



Oh look, Joe isn’t staring at the wall! It’s glass, and he’s watching businessmen file past.



“I’ll bet you Galactor’s going to try to make another move.” Joe says. Wow, if Joe really lives his life this way, it must be rather stressful. How many meetings does Dr. Nambu go to? And Joe expects all of them to involve Galactor? Yikes!

Of course, with what we saw at the beginning of this episode, we know that Joe is right to be suspicious. At least, this time.

“Hey wait! Hold on a second!” Ken shouts, as if this were some kind of emergency. “What happened to little brother?” Clearly Ken has forgotten Jinpei’s tendency to wander.



“He went outside awhile ago.” Jun explains. “He said he couldn’t stand sitting around.”



Of course, you don’t have to ‘stand’ if you’re ‘sitting around’… but I digress.

Outside, Jinpei is mightily impressed by a flashy-looking sports car in the parking lot.



“Whoa! That’s so cool!” he exclaims. “It must be rad to get to drive around in a car like this!” I think the ADV people were overdoing the 70s slang, here. JMHO.

“It even has a TV!” Jinpei drools. “I wanna ride!”

Now, see if you notice anything suspicious in this picture…



In any case, Jinpei is still drooling.

“I wonder who’s lucky enough to own such a bad car!” he exclaims. Ah, such a fitting tribute to Michael Jackson…



“Bet it’s a really pretty girl.” Jinpei chuckles. But he chokes on his words as he notices…



Yep. Did you see it in the earlier shot?

“It’s Galactor!” Jinpei shouts, in case you didn’t know what that devil head symbol meant.



And as he says that, a door to the parking lot opens up, and the man in the security guard hat comes out. Jinpei quickly gets underneath the car.

Hey, wasn’t this a low-slung sports car?



The man stops to open his trunk, tossing his hat inside. Jinpei tosses what looks like a rock at him.



Of course, the rock bounces off of the man’s belt and onto the edge of the trunk, just before it closes. This prevents it from locking.

Jinpei crawls out from underneath the car as the man gets into the driver’s seat.



Then, being the thoughtful, prudent boy that he is, Jinpei hops inside of the trunk.



Fortunately, he does think enough to try and contact the others, as the car speeds away.



Too bad the ‘engine is disrupting the radio transmission’! He can’t get through! And now I have to wonder… what kind of special engine is this? How can Joe use his bracelet in the G-2? How can any of the Science Ninja Team use their bracelets on a moving vehicle or mecha? Hmmm… a little too plot-convenient, if you ask me.

Back inside the lobby, Jun is trying to contact Jinpei.

‘That’s strange, there’s some kind of interference.” she tells Ken.

“Just keep trying to get in touch with him.” Ken orders.



But as Jun tries again, Dr. Nambu arrives.



“Hello! Sorry to keep you all waiting. Let’s go.” Nambu says.

“We can’t.” Ken says. “It looks like Jinpei decided to run off on his own again.”



“Well, he’s at the age where he’s always looking for some fun.” Nambu replies, in an almost fatherly tone. I don’t recall him ever being so magnanimous before!

“I’m sure he was bored waiting here.” the Doctor adds. “We can go ahead. He’ll catch up.”

“Groovy.” Ken replies, but then he starts thinking about Jinpei. “That kid is hopeless. Where in the world could he have run off to?”



And now we see where Jinpei is… it’s a Galactor base!



“I can’t believe I found a Galactor base without even trying!” he crows. “Cool!”



He is just trying to contact the others when he hears voices. Three goons are coming down the hall.

“I hear Lord Katse has a new plan in the works.” says one.

“Oh, really? That’s good news!” says another.

“Let’s hope we can pull it off, this time!” says the third.

Ah yes, casual conversation around the Galactor base.

“Lord Katse is supposed to issue an order soon.” the first goon says again, as the soldiers move away.

High up on the wall, Jinpei has heard everything.

“Galactor scumbags! Sounds like they’re up to something again!” he thinks to himself.



He gasps as he sees an opening into a large cavern, and a barred, but lighted, window in the cavern’s opposite wall.

Inside that room, our Captain of the Week is being briefed by a goon. The Captain is in a red and blue superhero-style costume, complete with mask. His blond hair is teased out beyond belief. I think he fronts a metal band as his secret identity when he’s not working as a Galactor superhero.



Ooh, turns out he’s not a Captain, he’s a Commander! It’s a higher-ranking CotW this time.

“How did the operation go?” Commander Metalhead asks.

“Phase One was a success, Sir!” the goon reports. “The ISO’s Headquarters were surprisingly easy to sneak into.”

“Good work!” Commander Metalhead replies. He has a bad British accent, as does the goon. Maybe they’re both secretly members of Spinal Tap?

“Move onto Phase Two immediately, Nigel!” Commander Metalhead orders.

“Those blimey bastards at the ISO would never even dream that we’d come up with a plan like this, Commander!” replies British goon smugly.

“If this plan is successful, we’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone!” Commander Metalhead replies. But he’s stuttering. And more than just once. Perhaps the ADV writers couldn’t come up with enough filler for him to say while the character was still moving his lips?

“All I have to do is press this little red button and ISO Headquarters goes up in flames!” Commander Metalhead stutters. The goon with him makes a ‘boom’ noise.



“I can’t wait to see Nambu and the Science Ninja Team’s reaction!” Commander Metalhead stutters again, Wow, this is pretty bad. Has he seen a speech therapist about this? Perhaps the Galactor Medical Care Plan doesn’t include such things.

Of course, Jinpei hears all.

“Man, this blows!” he thinks.



Jinpei would really think it blows if he knew that in BOTP, it’s his character who has the speech impediment.

__________________

The goon, terrified, presses a button on the wall, opening the cell door.

“Please turn back! You’re in danger! “ he says into his bare wrist. You knew he didn’t have a second bracelet, didn’t you?



And the next thing you know…



The goon falls to the floor, and Jinpei’s bracelet falls out of his uniform. Strangely, the bracelet is done up into a circle, when a moment before it was undone and flat. Perhaps it went into protective pillbug mode during the fight?



Of course, two other goons hear the commotion.



They race to the cell block, but Jinpei hears them coming.

“Hey, is everything okay?” they ask the guard when they arrive. “We heard some strange noises.”

“Everything’s fine!” says the guard, sounding like Jinpei using a deep voice. “He was acting up, so I slapped him around a bit.” In case you haven’t figured out that Jinpei is wearing the goon’s uniform, they show the former guard naked and gagged in the cell.



“Hey, I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on that beak-faced bozo!” one of the guards admits. “How about we get a few licks in?”

Jinpei isn’t too happy to hear this, and stares silently as the guard approaches.



But just in time, the other guard calls his partner back, telling him that they have to get back to their posts, or their Commander will chew them out.

“Right.” sighs the goon, turning around. But he addresses Jinpei one more time. “You’re looking like a soup bone! Go eat something!”

“Uh yeah, sure thing!” Jinpei replies, relieved to have escaped with his deception.


Meanwhile, the God Phoenix is traveling along underwater, unaware of its fate.

“Ooh, this is dangerous!” comments Ryu. “I’ve never seen a seabed like this!”



“Who knows what kind of traps are out there? This is Galactor we’re talking about.” Ken reminds them.



“Darn straight!” Ryu says. “I mean, for all we know, we could already be trapped!”

Jun seems surprised to hear this.



“If Galactor shows up now, we’re fish food.” Ryu says casually.

And sure enough, Mechadokuga is on its way.



The goons are getting orders from Commander Metalhead.

“Don’t let the God Phoenix surface! Keep them trapped, got that?” Metalhead stutters.



“I’ve got them on radar!” one goon reports.

Once Commander Metalhead hears of this, he orders them to launch the attack.

Underwater, Ryu discovers that the God Phoenix is blocked in by rock formation. He can’t maneuver. Frankly, I wonder what kind of pilot he is if he went into a path with no exit, but hey, it’s a trap, so maybe this fact was well hidden.

“You’d better take us to the surface Ken says. But then he noticed something.



“Stop! Hey, what’s that sound?” he exclaims. And nom he’s not referring to that old song, but the sound of missiles fast approaching! They’re being launched from Mechadokuga, which is above the water.

“Damn it! Take us topside, now!” Ken shouts.



Ryu obliges, but the wing of the God Phoenix his rock overhead, preventing it from moving up. The God Phoenix shakes as it impacts.



They’re stuck!



The missiles start coming in, but amazingly, they are missing the God Phoenix, instead hitting above and below them. Meanwhile, Ryu is frantically pushing at the controls.

“Those jerks are aiming right as\t us!” he shouts.



One of the missiles hits the rock right above the God Phoenix’s wing, actually blasting the ship free. Of course, it is this kind of incompetence that allows the God Phoenix to escape unharmed.

But onboard Mechadokuga, the goons aren’t upset. The goon monitoring the radar says calmly that the God Phoenix ‘isn’t getting away from them this time’.



More missiles are fired at the God Phoenix.



And onboard, they certainly feel the impact!





I love Joe’s face in this shot! He doesn’t seem too happy to have the Swan falling into his arms, does he?

The God Phoenix looks intact, but it crashes on the floor of the ocean.

“Ken, if we don’t do something quick, we’re goners!” Ryu exclaims.



Jun notices water leaking in.



“Damn it! The outer hull must have been breached!” Ken swears. Sure enough, we see a shot of the G-4 pod, and there’s a hole in it, through which water is entering the God Phoenix.

And more missiles are coming…

“Ken!” cries Ryu weakly.



The water is pooling on the floor of the Bridge. Even more missiles are coming. Is this the end of the God Phoenix?



“We haven’t saved Jinpei, and at this rate, we’ll be long dead before Galactor even touches him!” Ken mutters grimly.



And on that sad note, we head to our commercial break. Yum, I feel like some gold-wrapped Ken chocolate…

But back to business. The missiles are still coming and the God Phoenix is still stuck. Everyone is still being thrown around inside the God Phoenix. Yep, it’s the same footage all over again!

Onboard Mechadokuga, Commander Metalhead is complaining.

“What’s the matter? Aren’t those ninjas dead yet?” he asks.

“No worries, Sir, we’re working on it!” replies an Australian goon. “They can’t maneuver through the seabed. It’s just a matter of time.”

And then Commander Metalhead makes his crucial mistake.

“Let them struggle awhile longer.” he grins. “We’ll then make them sleep with the fishes!”

On the God Phoenix, Ken is ordering Ryu to get them out of there.

“If we stay here any longer, we’re all dead meat!” Ken exclaims.

“Got it! I’ll give it a shot!” Ryu says, as if he hasn’t been trying to get them out of there all along.



And it works. They break free and are off again, although still underwater, so that doesn’t solve the leakage problem.

And Galactor pulls out another item from its bag of tricks… Mechadokuga has laser eye beams! Ryu avoids the beams, but Jun isn’t so optimistic.

“It’s no use. They’re right on our tail!” she reports.



“Wait a minute!” Ken is struck with inspiration. “They’re using sonar, right? Ryu, power down the engine.”



Ryu does, and lands the God Phoenix on the ocean floor. Gee, isn’t anyone besides me worried about all of this water that’s leaking in? They should be wading through the Bridge about now!

But the trick works. The God Phoenix disappears off of the Galactor radar, and they surmise that the Science Ninja Team have stopped their engines.

“Now everyone hold still, and keep a lid on it!” Ken instructs his Team.



Onboard Mechadokuga, the Galactor goons listen carefully for any sign of the God Phoenix.

The Science Ninja Team nervously waits them out.



In a whisper, Ken orders Joe to check the hull breach, and orders Jun to find some garbage and debris. They rush off to do as they have been asked, whispering ‘Roger’ as they do so.



Now Ken orders Ryu to find some dirty oil. Ryu wants to know what they’re going to do with this stuff.



“Just hurry up and do it! They could find us any minute!” Ken whispers angrily.



The goons still can’t hear anything.

“I guess they’re keeping quiet so we don’t get a signal.” one says.



“Well eventually they’ll run out of oxygen, and they’ll have to start moving again.” grins another goon evilly.

__________________

Inside the base, Jinpei is staying up high to avoid being spotted.



But the goons are searching the base.



Do you love those Galactor-logo chairs? I think I want some for my home theater room! Right next to a couple of God Phoenix Bridge chairs…

A camera comes out right next to Jinpei’s head.



He’s so startled that he kicks some rocks down to the ground below, and a guards notices.



He begins shooting, as Jinpei screams, “Oh no!”

“Oh yes!” yells back the shooting goon.

But Jinpei dives down, taking out the goon.



The Swallow runs down the hall, but a bunch of goons are coming at him.



Jinpei is trapped!

Commander Metalhead sashays to the front with swinging hips.



“Give up, little man. Your teammates are all dead.” he stutters. But Jinpei doesn’t want to believe it.



“Shame we had to lose the Science Ninja Team, but they were messing with Galactor’s plans for world domination!” Metalhead says. He’d sound a lot more ominous if he weren’t stuttering.

“Sorry you had to find out this way. Hope there’s no ill will.” Metalhead smirks.

“Think again!” shouts a familiar voice. Everyone turns their heads to see…

The big Rock Star Entrance! (tm)



Boy, I’ll bet Commander Spinal Tap is peeing his pants at that one!

“The White Shadow steals close to its prey, never showing its form.” Ken says. Strangely enough, his lips aren’t moving! I guess he’s picked up some skill at ventriloquism.

The goons recognize the supposedly dead Science Ninja Team and raise their guns.

Fight scene!

The boomerang flies:



And the goons say hello to it.



It’s fast and faint, but we get to see the bird shadows on the wall as the Team flies into action. One goon gets a good look at Ken’s boot.



This one got a good look at Jun’s panties.



Jinpei checks to see if this goon is ripe.



Ryu rushes ahead, grabbing for goons…





Then goes looking for more.



Commander Metalhead bravely hides behind a goon.



“What’s that?” he asks.

“The Science Ninja Team.” grunts the goon.

“I know that, you idiot I want to know why they’re still alive!”

“How the hell am I supposed to know that, Commander?”

“Watch your mouth!” And Metalhead deals his own form of Galactor discipline.



Ken fights off three goons at once!



This goon’s a tough nut to crack! Ryu pounds away.



Joe smacks some goons around.





Jinpei plays Ring Around the Rosy.



Joe is still bashing up the goons.



Jun got this guy where it hurts most.



Jinpei avoids gunfire from four different goons.



Aaaaannnnd…. it’s been awhile since we had a really good panchira shot.



Then we get some recycled footage from earlier episodes, where Ken dances on the goon’s butt, and Ryu bounces on his head… the rainbow tunnel stuff.

Jun runs through gunfire.



Everyone moves to leave, but Commander Metalhead is stuttering instructions for the goons to ‘get them’.



The Team runs for the exit, and everyone leaps out of a hole at the top of a cliff.



They land on the waiting God Phoenix.



And they’re off for home!

But all is not well. There are still a few minutes left in the episode, and did we all forget about Mechadokuga? The mad butterfly is on the loose!

The God Phoenix flies by the monitors, and one goon at Mechadokuga’s controls turns to his copilot.

“What the hell was that?” asks the goon. “Oh, was that the God Phoenix?”

“Impossible! We destroyed the God Phoenix! It’s just a heap of scrap metal now!” says the copilot goon.

“Oh, right.” says the first goon.

And so, the Science Ninja Team makes a clean getaway.

On the way home, Ken disciplines Jinpei.



“Hey, Bro, that hurt! What’d you do that for?” Jinpei wants to know.



“Jinpei, the Science Ninja Team is supposed to take on its duties as a five member team!” Ken reminds him. “You’ve got to stop wandering off on your own!”



“I know. I’m sorry.” Jinpei says quietly.

“Well, we failed Dr. Nambu.” Joe points out. “They got the data on the new uranium mine.”

But strangely, Ken is smirking…

“It’ll all work out.” he says confidently.

“But we don’t know when they’re going to detonate that bomb!” Jun reminds everyone. After all, this is loose plot thread wrap-up time.

“The ISO’s in danger!” she tells them. “And what about those Galactor goons seeing Jinpei out of Birdstyle?”



Wow, she’s really picking up on everything here, isn’t she? WTG, Jun!

“Well, it’ll all work out, Sis!” Jinpei smirks.



And back at the Galactor base…

“You must all be bleedin’ blind!” Commander Metalhead screams at a bunch of goons. “They were alive the whole time!”

The goons bow their heads and apologize. This appears to be the Mechadokuga crew.

“But, we totally got the uranium mine data!” one says, offering the briefcase to Metalhead.



“This is the only good to come out of this mess!” Metalhead says. “Maybe Lord Katse will see that.” That’s a big hope. You gave him false information about the Science Ninja Team being dead, and you hope to buy him off with some data about a uranium mine? Fat chance!

In any case, Commander Metalhead opens the case and… it’s empty!

He throws the case at the goons.



“That’s it! I’m blowing those ISO bastards to Kingdom Come!” Metalhead rants. He races toward the big red button on his control panel.

“That’s right, I’m going to waste you all… just watch!” he smirks. He presses the button and…



He just has enough time to scream ‘Bloody hell!’ before the room explodes. Remember Jinpei wiring in the tiny missile? In case you don’t, we see a shot of it heating up before it explodes.

Now we are watching the goons in the base running and dying. And for good measure, Mechadokuga is parked inside the base, and it gets destroyed too.



Katse is trying to communicate with the base via monitor.

“What the heck is going on? What are you doing?” he asks, before his monitor explodes.

And to make it clear that there really is nothing to survive from this base, we see a massive exterior explosion, followed by a mushroom cloud.



And all from the tiny missile in Jinpei’s belt. Really!

__________________

BOTP Episode 44 – Keyop Does It All


Many fathoms beneath the sea, here at Center Neptune, Zark keeps watch on the entire universe, day and night, for any sign of alien intruders from outer space. But Zark does get to go to his Ready Room now and then, for a ten second oil break.

And we see… Zark oiling himself.



Ewwwwww….. good thing it doesn’t look as bad as it sounds! Rover looks about as impressed as I am.

Zark moans loudly, saying that the oil ‘pipes up the old FOSDIC’. Oh no… I am so glad I didn’t understand this as a child!

And to make that FOSDIC worse, Susan calls, giving Zark an antennae erection, complete with accompanying ‘boing’ sound.



Susan hopes she’s not troubling Zark.

“Oh, you never trouble me.” says Zark. “I mean, you always trouble me! I mean… the trouble is, I never get to see you.”

If that weren’t bad enough, Zark goes off on one of his ‘oh poor me’ whines.

“You know, I’ve never seen anybody I work with. In person, I mean.” Um, yeah, isn’t 1-Rover-1 right there at your feet? And don’t you see G-Force and Chief Anderson on the monitors all the time? And what about those badly animated visits that Mark and Princess make to see you?



“Then you will be pleased to know, I have a very important closed-circuit message for you.” Susan announces. “From the Commander of G-Force! He is coming to your control room to see you, after work tonight.” I’m guessing that Mark drew the short straw on the ‘who gets to soothe Zark’s neuroses’ chore.

“Really?” Zark exclaims, in a happy, high-pitched, girlish voice. “Well, that’s quite an honor! Getting to meet the top member of G-Force in person! It must be important. Thank you, Susan.”

1-Rover-1 is now sitting up, and he barks at Zark.



“Well, how about that, 1-Rover-1?” Zark asks. “A private conference with the Commander of G-Force! That’s exciting!”



Zark descends in his elevator tube, musing over what all of this could mean.

“I wonder if it could mean a promotion.” he wonders. “To work with the Team right on the Phoenix! Wouldn’t that be something?”

Yeah, Zark, you’ll have to wait until you’re reincarnated as Pimer. And then you can fly the Gatcharooster.

Zark was wearing his number 7 sweater before, but he comes out of his tube wearing his cape. Yes, it’s the amazing Batpole… uh, I mean, Zarkpole… changing his clothes as he descends to his secret underwater Zarkcave.

Notice how we never see Rover descending the tube, but he’s both in Zark’s work room and his Ready Room, at different times?

“But, maybe it’s something even bigger?” Zark says excitedly, not caring about 1-Rover-1 and his elevation tube usage. “The Intergalactic Federation has been meeting for the last two days, and G-Force is detailed as special guard at the building.”

Zark flies over to his monitors.



Zark gets the Federation on his monitor to ‘see how things are going over there’. He doesn’t want to be in the dark if that’s his new assignment.

Boy, he really is jumping to conclusions about this visit of Mark’s!

We see the headquarters of the Intergalactic Federation. And Zark points out one of ‘our security guards, on the job’. The guard is carrying a briefcase downstairs. Zark wonders why he’s going into the Main Control Room. Now Zark wonders if he’s even one of ‘our’ guards. He doesn’t look familiar to Zark.

Groan… so Zark has solved this entire thing before it begins? Why do we even need an episode?

“No one has the right to open the vault!” Zark gasps in horror, as the man does just that. “It conceals the highly secret Galaxy Controls!”

The man opens his briefcase to reveal a bomb, then laughs evilly and puts it into the vault.

“What is he putting inside the vault?” Zark wonders. I guess he’s too sophisticated to recognize a homemade Spectran bomb?

“I must investigate!” Zark declares.

In the lobby of the Intergalactic Federation Headquarters, Tiny is bored.

“What a comedown!” he complains. “G-Force babysitting a tea party!”

“It’s no tea party! These are all important people from the galaxy.” Princess reminds him.

“Mind telling me just what we’re supposed to be on the lookout for?” Jason asks.

“Anybody or anything even a little suspicious.” Mark answers.

“Every Galaxy Leader is here! What a target for Spectra!” Princess points out.

Outside, Keyop is drooling over a fancy sportscar.

“Super! Great wheels!” he broops. “Bucket seats, stick shift, neat upholstery! Two way TV, Plexiglas canopy…” Then his face takes on an expression of shock.

Yes, it’s a Spectran devil head on the car’s steering wheel!

“Spectra!” gasps Keyop! He ducks under the car as the ‘security guard’ comes into the area. Keyop throws a rock to prevent the trunk from locking, then clambers in when the man gets into the driver’s seat.

“Keyop, calling G-Force!” he burbles into his communicator. “Trailing Spectra! Come in!”

But he gets no response.

“Somebody? Anybody? Nobody listening!” he cries, for once without a hint of burbling.

Oops, I spoke too soon.

Soon enough, Keyop is at the Spectran secret base. He spots the goons and smiles slyly.

“Nice to be small!” he breeps. He tries to call in again on his communicator, but is interrupted when three guards walk by. They don’t say anything.

Keyop is high up on the rocks, above the guards.

“Nice to be even smaller.” he thinks. Yep, his lips don’t move. He’s clearly ‘thinking’ this. And yet, he broops. Yes, Keyop even broops in his thoughts. There’s no hope for this kid.

Keyop spots a lighted, barred window on the wall of a large rock cavern. On the other side of the window, a Spectran CotW is speaking to a goon.

“Have you been briefed?” Commander Metalhead asks.

“Yes, Sir!” replies to goon. “I have just gone over Agent K4’s report. The explosive is in place.”

“It lies in the vault of our enemies.” Commander Metalhead tells him. Thanks for the Zark-free recap!

“And they know nothing of its existence!” the goon says gleefully. “We can strike at our own time, and our own choosing.”

“We can either detonate it, or use it as a threat to get what we want!” Metalhead says evilly. Seriously, with this (deep, harsh, non-stuttering) voice, he’s far more threatening than in the ADV Gatchaman episode.

“When and if I issue the order, you have only to press this button.” Metalhead instructs the goon. The soldier makes an explosion noise.

“That’s right!” Metalhead praises the goon. “That pretty building will be a big pile of matchsticks!”

“Nice guys!” thinks Keyop, as he listens at the window. He jumps down and runs away, but catches sight of a Spectran guard.

“Bad scene!” he says.

Mark’s communicator lights up. It’s Keyop calling!

“Keyop, what’s happening?” Mark asks.

“Spectra… planted bomb… located…” Keyop burbles. But then he realizes that he’s being observed.

“May I be of help?” he broops at a bunch of gun-toting goons.

“You can help yourself a whole lot by telling us how you got in here!” says a goon. He sounds like Mark with a bad Texan accent.

“Then you’d better tell us why!” says another goon, who sounds like a deep, slow-speaking Jason.

Mark’s eyes bug out as he hears this over the communicator.

“That’s it! They’ve just got Keyop!” Mark tells the others. I guess his grammar goes out the window when he’s distressed.

And suddenly they’re all in Anderson’s office.

“You say you don’t know where the bomb is planted?” Anderson asks, slamming his hands down on his desk.

“Sorry, Chief. They grabbed Keyop just as he was about to tell us.” Mark explains.

“We’ll know soon what they’re after.” Anderson says. And sure enough, Zoltar appears in a video communication on one of the Chief’s monitors.

“Greetings, Chief Anderson and friends.” Zoltar says. Hey, does that sounds like a Saturday Morning Cartoon? I can see them now, in the Hall of Zark-stice…

Oops, sorry. Back to Zoltar.

“By now you know we have one of your people in our hands.” Zoltar says. “What you do not know is that we have placed a hydrogen powered explosive in the very building where you stand. We can detonate this explosive remotely at will. You can prevent this from happening by giving us your design for the Viper Direction Finder.”

Viper Direction Finder? Is that like a Viewfinder? I can just see Zoltar with one of those red plastic things at his face, pulling the lever and turning the wheel, looking at secret pictures of Zark oiling himself…

Sorry.

“A small price to pay, for sparing one life and one magnificent building!” Zoltar adds, before signing out.

Chief Anderson pulls a briefcase with a drawing of an atom on it from his desk.

“Here it is. The design for our Viper Detection Finder.” he says, handing the case to Mark.

“Come on!” Mark protests. “You’re not really going to hand it over, just like that, are you, Chief?”

“This is a judgment call, Mark.” Anderson lectures. “If your Team can save Keyop, and halt a bombing disaster without giving up the Viper Detection Finder, fine. If not, you’ll be faced with some very hard decisions.”

“We’ll do all we can to hang onto it.” Mark assures Anderson, as he takes the case. The Team runs out of the room, but Anderson calls Mark back at the last second.

“Just between us… I’m giving nothing away.” Anderson tells him. Mark grins and salutes, before leaving.

We watch footage of the Phoenix launching as Zark voices over and recaps for us. He tells us that G-Force is headed into a ‘very ticklish situation’.

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In the Spectran base, Texan-Mark-goon asks Deep-Slow-Voiced-Jason-goon if he’s seen anything.

“Just false trails.” Jason-goon replies. So the goons put out the cameras, and one nearly bonks Keyop in the head. This causes him to drop rocks onto a goon’s head and next thing you know, Keyop is surrounded by laughing Spectran soldiers.

“So the little bird who flew his cage is back with us.” says Commander Metalhead, sashaying to the front. Keyop appears to be overly shocked and horrified by this statement. Perhaps it’s just getting a good look at Metalhead’s costume that’s doing this to him.

“This time, you may find it a little more difficult to escape.” Metalhead continues. “We have a special cell, not much bigger than yourself. And that will be your new home.”

“I hate to disappoint you, Commander, but we already have a home for our friend Keyop!” Mark’s voice rings out around the area as the G-Force Team makes its rock star entrance.

Fight scene!

Mark throws his boomerang and the sonic wave knocks out a few guards. Keyop bites a goon’s head. Tiny bull-rushes guards and slams them into the wall.

And then everyone is running for the exit! They jump off the cliff and land on the Phoenix, taking off for home. They pass by the Butterfly mecha.

“The Phoenix!” says the piloting goon. “Shouldn’t we go after it?”

“I guess not.” says his co-pilot. “Nobody gave us any orders.”

Onboard the Phoenix, Mark knocks Keyop in the helmet. Wow, corporal punishment, and
BOTP kept it in!

“Hurts!” Keyop broops.

“I should put you on report.” Mark says grimly. “By acting on your own, you almost got yourself a permanent home with Spectra.”

“Sorry.” Keyop mumbles.

“Don’t be too hard on him.” Jason says, although he’s scowling. “He did uncover Spectra for us.”

“True.” Mark smiles.

“You can both say what you like, but I think Keyop showed initiative and bravery.” Princess says. “He should get a medal instead of a lecture.”

In this case, I think Princess is right. Keyop wasn’t described as ‘running off’ or shirking duty in any way. This is different from Jinpei, who was actually goofing off when he got into trouble.

And of course, Keyop agrees with Princess too.

Meanwhile, Commander Metalhead is berating his goons.

“You fools! You let them get away!” he shouts. “You have the Direction Finder?”

“Yes.” says a shamefaced goon, offering up the briefcase. “It rose when we hit the enemy ship.”

“You hit nothing!” Metalhead reminds the goon as he snatches the briefcase. “Don’t you realize the Phoenix got away? This is some trick!” And he opens the briefcase to reveal…

Nothing. Yes, Chief Anderson truly gave ‘nothing’ away.

“They have made fools of us!” Metalhead cries. “Now they will pay dearly for such insolence!” He walks over to the big red button and presses it.

The little missile inside the panel glows and…

We cut to Princess sitting on the Phoenix.

“Someone just blew up Spectra’s base!” she says. What? And the Spectrans didn’t even have time to evacuate? I’m going to keel over in shock!

“Really?” Mark asks. He smiles at Keyop, who pretends to scowl and turn away.

“Our hero!” Tiny says, as the Phoenix flies off into the sunset.

But it’s not really all right. After all, Zoltar knows that Keyop is with G-Force, and it’s quite possible that images of his face made it off of the base and back to Spectra before it was destroyed… not to mention that knowing BOTP, we can be sure that the goon who was guarding Keyop (and ended up in his underwear) made it off alive. Yet none of this is really mentioned… now, or in any other episode.

Zark’s voice comes on, telling us that G-Force has contacted Chief Anderson to say that their mission was successful, and that they are on their way home. This takes a big load off of Zark’s capacitors, because he was never able to contact them once.

And now we get to see Zark. He just doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. But he bends over to talk to Rover.

“Well, 1-Rover-1,” he says, “It’s the zero hour! Commander Mark will be coming up to meet me any second.”

Rover looks on placidly.



“I thought this would be one of my proudest moments, but I just know he’s going to pull my plug and flick off my switch.” Zark moans. Oh, if only I could be so lucky!

“I’ve got an incurable case of malfunction, and I didn’t even feel it coming on!” Zark says. He pets Rover, and Rover licks him.



Ewewwww…..

As this dubiously heartwarming scene is going on, badly-drawn Mark enters the room.



“Hi, Zark!” Mark says. Zark stands straight up, and his antennae shoot into the air. Ewww…. is he having an antennae erection for Mark? I thought it was yucky enough that he did it for Susan!

“I’m honored to meet you, Sir.” Zark says, shaking Mark’s hand.



“If you’re wondering why I came up to see you,” Mark begins, “I think you forgot…”

“No, Sir!” Zark interrupts. “Honestly, I didn’t forget! I know I wasn’t able to contact you on the mission today, but I’m sure it’s just a temporary failure. All my systems are in perfect order, and I never forget.”

“Well then, let’s just say something kind of slipped your mind, today” Mark says.



“I may have just a slight hitch in my oscillator relay, but nothing is slipping. I’m not all washed up! Really!” Zark begs shamelessly.

“Hey, nobody thinks you’re washed up!” Mark replies. “Everybody thinks you’re the greatest!” Which only goes to prove that they’re pumping mind-altering drugs into Center Neptune’s ventilation systems.

“They do?” Zark is shocked. So am I.

“Then, what slipped my mind?” Zark asks.

“Happy birthday, Zark!” Mark says, patting the robot on the head.



“Huh?” Zark is astounded.

Princess comes running in.



“Happy birthday, Zark!” she cries, kissing him. Ugh… I can hardly watch.



Zark giggles girlishly, and the torture is mercifully over.

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OMG! So many funny things here I don't know where to begin! Terrific job on a fun episode, TJ!!

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

Glad you are all enjoying the summaries! Tere was certainly a lot to MST in this one!

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That was great fun to read TJ!
Love that one about Jinpei testing if the goon is ripe
Thanks!

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And the only reason for all the lapses is that the target audience is six-year-olds. And yet, it's rated PG in this country....

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

I think it's just darn obvious that Galactor should have figured out the 'secret identity' thing ages ago. The fact that Katse didn't is testament to the fact that he's nowhere near as smart as they try to make out in later episodes (with his 'combined IQ').

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