Gatchaman Episode 96: “Storm Galactor’s Headquarters!”

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screen caps!]


Gatchaman Episode 96: “Storm Galactor’s Headquarters!”

BOTP Episode: “Vacation on Venus”





Rain is falling heavily in what looks like a town from an old Western, but it’s dark and no one is about. Looming over the town is a tall rock formation (I think “butte” is the term), the result of many thousands of years of erosion and indicative of the terrain of the American southwest.

A bolt of lightning strikes the ground, and then a giant buffalo appears.





As lightning continues to flash, there is suddenly an explosion around the giant buffalo –on one side of its head, in fact. This causes people to appear, rushing out of buildings into the rain to see what’s happened.





The narrator tells us “Deep in Mammoth Canyon, near Break Town in the country of Ameris, a lightning bolt has set off an immense and inexplicable explosion.”





But now the rain has stopped and the sun is back out. We’re seeing a narrow river flowing sinuously through a deep gorge, and lying near it is a mysterious object…





And we switch to a view of this odd, horn-like object being shown on a projection screen, as Dr. Nambu shows it to the Science Ninjas.





“And what do you suppose this might be, everyone?” He asks.

Jinpei thinks it looks like “the horn of a dinosaur that somebody dug up.”

Dr. Nambu agrees it looks like that, but then he brings up some close-up images of the object, revealing that it’s “a sophisticated mecha with rock particles bonded to its surface.”





“It’s impossible for us to make such a finely detailed mecha, even here at the ISO,” continues Dr. Nambu as everyone stares at the close-up, “So we believe it can only be part of a Galactor mecha monster.”

Ken agrees, conceding that Galactor does have the technology to pull it off. Joe notes that, despite the fact that the object was apparently blown off in a large explosion, the mecha doesn’t seem to have sustained too much damage. Dr. Nambu theorizes that “something caused an explosion during the monster’s construction.”

Jinpei laughs, “It’d be just like those dorks to blow themselves up!”

Jun asks Dr. Nambu if he really thinks this explains the explosion at Mammoth Canyon.

He does. “There are witnesses in Break Town who saw a large mushroom cloud,” he says.

Joe concludes there must be a secret Galactor base there, then.

“We had suspected for a while that a base or two was in that area,” acknowledges Dr. Nambu, “It could very well be their headquarters.”

He brings up a map of the region on a screen, as everyone contemplates the exciting import of this statement.




(Hmm, if this region is meant to be akin to the American southwest, the major bodies of water have certainly shifted position.)

In fact, Dr. Nambu tells them that the Intelligence Division at the ISO, based on the examination of the mecha scrap, thinks there is an 80 % likelihood that Galactor’s headquarters are located on the upper waters of the Yellow River.

“Doctor,” says Ken intensely, “This is our chance –just give us the order to move out!”

“But on the other hand,” muses Dr. Nambu, perhaps unwilling to get anyone’s hopes up, “This could just be an elaborate trap. If it was their headquarters, they could have moved, and Mammoth Canyon is too narrow for the God Phoenix to navigate.”

Ryu is disappointed to hear the God Phoenix is too big.

Ken is determined. “We’ll find a way in.”

“I won’t be satisfied until we at least try it,” declares Joe.

So, Dr. Nambu informs them they will have to go up the river then in a canoe powered with an outboard motor.






“Be careful, and good luck,” he concludes and all the Ninjas shout “Roger!” and run from the room.

“I hope it really is Galactor’s headquarters,” thinks Dr. Nambu to himself.

And we cut to a car driving across some barren and rough terrain, amidst more buttes and rocky outcroppings. It proves to contain the Science Ninjas, sans Ryu. I wonder where they got this car? The side that the driver –Joe, naturally- is on is that of a British or Japanese car, for what that’s worth.





Soon they’re driving through very narrow and twisty ravines, where it’s clear the God Phoenix wouldn’t be able to go, and we can see that they’ve got a canoe strapped on top of the car.

Wherever the God Phoenix has been parked, Ryu is there, resting with his feet up on his console.





“Here I am, watching the God Phoenix again,” he says to himself with a yawn, “Oh man, am I getting sick of this. Can’t I have some major action for once and find Galactor’s headquarters?”

“Well, whatever,” he concludes, “This is my job, so that’s what I’ll do.” He yawns again and slumps forward on his console and we get a quick exterior view of where the God Phoenix is parked, at the top of a deep ravine.

Meanwhile, in the car, Jun speculates that poor Ryu is probably sulking, but a smiling Jinpei insists he’s probably “snoring away.”

(In the subs, Jinpei says “he’s probably snoring away with a bubble of snot hanging out his nose,” –a detail we are mercifully spared in the dub!)

“Man, this happens to him all the time,” says Joe, as if he’s feeling bad for Ryu.

“Ryu understands his importance on the Team,” says Ken, acknowledging the sacrifice that the Owl makes –missing out on the action- in his role as pilot of the God Phoenix.

But Joe has just noticed that another vehicle –a jeep- is coming up behind them, and fast.





The road is narrow, and the jeep gets right on their tail, its driver laying on the horn obnoxiously. The road is also bordered on one side by a steep cliff.

“Damn, what’s the hurry with that bozo?” snaps Joe, pressing the gas pedal and speeding up.

But the jeep speeds up too, and manages to pass the Ninjas’ car, bashing against them in the process.

Next we see a staircase cut into the rock, descending from the town down into the deep ravine where the Yellow River flows, and there the Ninjas are setting off in their outboard-motor-powered canoe.





However, a man who is very clearly Galactor –hell, he’s got the logo right on his scarf- is observing their departure. He speaks into a radio, “Agent 2 here, looks like Gatchaman and the others just started making their way upstream.”





“So they waltzed out here just like we suspected,” says Katse, presumably from the secret-base-that-might-be-their-headquarters, “If that scrap was enough to lure them out, then it was a bargain.” He’s accompanied by a goon and a man who can only be a Captain of the week (whose uniform and appearance were seemingly inspired by the traditional garb of Native Americans).





“Just you wait, Science Ninja Team,” snarls Katse, “I’ll finish you off for good!”

Next we see a group of birds, circling in the air, but down below on the river, the Ninjas are still making their way upstream. Ken, Joe and Jinpei are using paddles to keep the canoe from colliding with rocks, while Jun is manning the outboard motor. It must be hot, as they’re all sweating –even Jun wipes her forehead with one hand.

High above them, the blond man who’d been driving the jeep before is running along the edge of the cliff overlooking the ravine, and he’s carrying a rifle. But Ken and the others don’t see him.





There must be spy cameras planted along the ravine, as Katse is watching the canoe’s progress on a screen.




“Here they are, they really did take the bait,” he laughs, “Good, good… Keep coming further in.”

He instructs the Captain not to do anything until he himself gives the word. However, this isn’t preventing the blond man from taking aim at the canoe with his rifle.





“Science Ninja scum,” thinks the blond man to himself as he gets a fix on them through the rifle’s sights. (Unlike the man at the restaurant, he knows they’re not hippies, at least.) He appears to be aiming for Ken.





“Die!” says the blond man, and he fires, but his elbow slips as he does so. Still, he looks like he only just missed hitting either Joe or Jun. The bullet strikes the side of the canoe near them.





Everyone is startled, and in the confusion that ensues, they capsize the canoe.





The blond man, looking angry, reloads his rifle and takes aim again, shooting a hole in the bottom of the canoe. “Damn it, I screwed up!” he mutters as the canoe glides off downstream now, no Ninjas in sight.

“Damn it,” yells Katse, banging his fists down, “Who the hell is out there bird hunting? I told you not to give any orders until I gave the word!”





“It’s strange, Chief,” says the Captain, “None of my people would have done it.”

Katse still wants to know who did it, and a goon tells him there’s “a suspicious looking character on the bluff at Point P.”

“Huh?” says the Captain. He’s not being presented as terribly bright or enterprising and I suspect there’s some rather politically-incorrect stereotyping going on here, but he certainly isn’t the first Galactor Captain or goon to be depicted in an unflattering light.

Katse orders the goon to zoom in on the suspicious character.





“Who’s the kid with the rifle?” asks Katse, who’d clearly been expecting a different sort of character.

“I don’t know, Chief,” says the Captain, “He doesn’t appear to be a member of Galactor.”

“Why,” snarls Katse, “would someone who isn’t one of ours be targeting the Science Ninja Team?” And he smacks the Captain on the head, yelling “Catch him!”





“I’m not letting some pop gun punk get in my way,” sneers Katse.

The blond man is still staring down at the river, whence the canoe went, but we see where it went. It’s now stopped outside a cave-like entrance in the cliff.





And then it’s inside the cave, and four very wet Ninjas are sitting on the rocks near it –clearly they were underneath it as it moved down the river.

“The guy who shot at us was that speed demon from before,” Joe is saying.





Ken is now beginning to think the man really might be an agent for Galactor despite his earlier doubts. Jun agrees he seems to be trying to assassinate them. A glowering Joe now says he thinks the man is probably waiting outside the cave to take another shot at them.

“What should we do now?” asks a somewhat nervous Jinpei.

“We haven’t come this far just to turn back and run away with our tails between our legs,” says Ken grimly.

“I’m not running from jack!” agrees Joe.

“Hey, check it out, Ken,” adds Joe, “It looks like this cavern carries on upstream. What do you think?”





“So if we go through this cave instead, we won’t get shot at anymore!” is what Jinpei happily thinks.

Ken agrees that they should repair the canoe and go that way.

Meanwhile, the blond man is preparing to climb down to the river with a rope.





“So, you’re playing hard to get, huh?” he’s muttering to himself but then he looks up suddenly, startled to see a helicopter approaching him, fast.

The helicopter, naturally, contains Galactor goons and they quickly capture the man with a net and fly away.





The Ninjas are travelling through the underwater stream in the cavern, and the guys are all paddling, though I don’t know why since there aren’t any rocks to avoid here and the motor is propelling them. Maybe they think it looks all manly, for Jun’s appreciation.

And up they go… Joe gets the harder job of bearing Ken and the blond man (who appears to be getting an interesting view of Joe’s physique).





“I won’t let you escape!” yells Katse, as the bullets still fail to stop the Ninjas’ ascent, “Close the ceiling! Do it now!”

A goon rushes out to where the Ninjas were, and pulls a lever on the wall. The blond man sees this.





The doors above start sliding together again, sealing the way out, and only Jinpei, yelling “Hey, watch out!” as he sees this, is able to make it through before they close completely.





He goes rolling, coming to a stop when he hits the wall, but everyone else falls back towards the water.





Manacles now coming flying at them and latch onto the wrists of Ken, Jun and Joe. The blond man, unwanted, lands in the water below.





Then the manacles’ chains retract and pull the three of them up against the wall. Bondage fetishists, enjoy!

Now Katse really laughs evilly, declaring “I’ve hooked you real good now, and you’re too meaty to toss back in the ocean. I think I’ll debone you, scale you and cook you up good!”

“I’m sick of listening to your blithering speeches,” says a defiant Ken, “Shut up and get it over with!”

Katse declares those will be his last words and aims flame throwers at the three of them.





“Now, set the flame guns to extra crispy,” Katse informs a goon.

Captain Wampum reminds him that “midget boy” is not there, but Katse isn’t concerned about him escaping very far. “Not even a gnat could escape this base.”

Well, “midget boy” is currently crouched behind a boulder. Realizing he’ll need help to mount a rescue, he tries to contact Ryu.





“Ryu, this is G-4 –come in!” Much to his distress and disgust, all he hears is Ryu snoring (and maybe there is a bubble of snot hanging out his nose.)

“He’s snoring away as usual!” wails Jinpei, clutching his helmet, “Damn it! What am I going to do now?”

“Calling Shorty Pants! Attention, Shorty Pants!” calls Katse’s voice from a speaker system.

“I’m not short, you pointy-eared rat!” yells Jinpei, looking around the empty chamber.

(Yes you are, kid, and you’ll still be short in the last episode of Gatch F!)

“Sorry, but the cavalry ain’t coming,” continues Katse’s voice, “If you don’t give yourself up quietly, your friends will be char-grilled.”

Jinpei is horrified.





“Now be a good boy –give up and I’ll cancel the barbecue,” concludes Katse.

“Don’t listen, Jinpei,” shouts the ever-defiant Ken, “Never mind about us –just get away from here!”





“That’s right, Jinpei,” adds Jun more melodramatically, “You need to live so that you can come back to avenge our deaths!”

Right, no pressure or anything, kid!





“Don’t be fooled,” shouts Joe, pragmatically, “If you waltz out into the open you’ll just end up like us!”





It’s Joe’s response that Katse seems to dislike the most –a large whip comes flying out and lashes Joe, making him yell in pain. S&M fetishists, enjoy!

“The glare in your stare deserves a reward, boy,” snarls Katse, holding the controls to the mechanical whips, “Think I’ll execute you first!”

“Go on,” says Joe in a low, intense voice, “I grew up to be what I am now thinking only of how much I want to kill you, so it’s no surprise you can see the hatred in my eyes, you rat.”

Definitely a cool Condor moment!





Katse’s lip curls in fury. “That’s it, tough guy! Let’s see how much you can take!”





The whips come flying, and Joe is screaming in pain as his whole body gets lashed half a dozen more times.

“Show yourself, Shorty Pants! This is the last time I’ll tell you!” yells Katse.





“Jinpei, don’t let Katse provoke you!” Joe yells, defiant in his anguish.

“Even if we’re killed,” adds Ken, “You live on with Ryu and defeat Galactor!”

“Jinpei, listen to us,” implores Jun.

“Hang tough, Sis,” wails Jinpei into his bracelet, tears streaming down his face.





No one, however, is paying attention to what the blond man is doing –in fact, he’s staggered over to the lever that the goon had pulled to close the doors above.





“I can’t wait any more,” growls Katse, “Just torch the three of them.” However, a goon wearing headphones looks up and says “Lord Katse, the radar’s picked up something that could be the God Phoenix.”

“What?” demands Katse, “That’s strange.” He holds his chin, puzzled. “From the signal we captured, it sounded as if he didn’t make contact.”

After a pause, Katse concludes, “Whatever. We’ll just torch the God Phoenix too while we’re at it.”

And we see the God Phoenix flying through air over the rocky terrain. On its bridge, a wide-awake Ryu is staring grimly ahead and thinking “Jinpei, forgive me. It would be bad if Galactor overheard us, so I pretended to be asleep. Just be safe.”

Hurray for Ryu!

BOTP Episode: “Vacation on Venus”

Okay, I laughed as soon as I saw this title, realizing that new heights of astronomical inaccuracy were about to be achieved in this episode.

We start with the usual view of Center Neptune, as Zark –dispenser of scientific misinformation to children everywhere- tells us “Here at Center Neptune, deep beneath the sea, we keep a constant eye on the entire universe. Of course, our first concern is our own solar system.”

Zark is apparently checking out the solar system’s planets, one by one, and now he’s doing Venus.

“Uh oh,” he says, “It looks like they have a very serious weather condition up there.”

Gee, let’s see… According to Wikipedia, “Venus has an extremely dense atmosphere, which consists mainly of carbon dioxide and a small amount of nitrogen. The atmospheric mass is 93 times that of Earth's atmosphere while the pressure at the planet's surface is about 92 times that at Earth's surface—a pressure equivalent to that at a depth of nearly 1 kilometer under Earth's oceans. The CO2-rich atmosphere, along with thick clouds of sulfur dioxide, generates the strongest greenhouse effect in the Solar System, creating surface temperatures of over 460 °C (860 °F).”

Yes, I can see how this might qualify as “a very serious weather condition”!

Yet, somehow, there is a town on Venus and there it is currently raining heavily. Lightning flashes in the sky as we see a butte-like rock formation looming behind the town –and then the head of a giant buffalo also comes into view. But the lightning strikes one of its horns and this causes an explosion. People in the town come running outside, despite the rain, to see what’s going on. Flames are spewing high into the air now up on top of the butte.

“Volcanic action on Venus!” Zark voice-overs, “What could have happened to our warning system? I’d better alert Security immediately.”

“I’ve given Chief Anderson these telecom pictures,” Zark is saying next as we see views of a twisty river flowing through a deep gorge in bleak and rocky terrain.

It would have been slightly more plausible if the BOTP people had tried to pass this off as Mars, I think. Heck, they could have called the episode “Mission to Mars” or “Mischief on Mars” and even kept the alliteration going.

“-and analytical read outs on the disturbance,” continues Zark, “And he’s conferring with the G-Force Team right now.” Our final telecom picture is of a strange horn-shaped object lying near the edge of the river.

“That strange object,” says Zark, “Looks like the horn of some strange, incredibly huge animal.”

And it’s an image of this horn that Chief Anderson is showing to G-Force. “Zark’s coordinates center the blast right here,” he tells them.

Keyop burbles and says “Funny volcano… barbecue?”

“We think it was supposed to look like a volcano,” says Anderson, “But we’re pretty sure there’s something else behind it.”

He shows them some close ups of the horn, and it clearly looks mechanical in nature.

“Zark has done some remote spectrographic analyses of the material, and it doesn’t come from Venus. Neither does it come from any of the other planets in our solar system, which means only one thing and I think you can guess what that is.”

“We don’t have to guess,” says Mark, “Trouble comes from only one place.”

“Right,” says Jason, “It has to be Spectra. That little stunt has all the earmarks of a Zoltar special.”

“And if it continues,” continues Anderson, “I don’t have to tell you what could happen to the planet Venus.”

Keyop laughs unaccountably, burbles some more and says “Long ride,”

“Don’t pay any attention to him, Chief,” says Princess, “He gets some strange ideas.”

“In this case, he might be right,” says Anderson, “Spectra could knock Venus completely out of orbit!”

My, my –that would be quite something.

“That’s it –they’re trying to destroy our solar system,” concludes Jason. “And us!” adds Tiny.

That certainly is a more ambitious plan than Spectra’s usual schemes!

“Well, we’re going to stop them –and fast,” concludes Anderson gravely, “Or rather, you are –you’re going on a little vacation… to Venus.”

He brings up a map on the screen. Mark stares, and everyone else looks taken aback by this announcement.

“And you will be going as regular tourists,” continues Anderson, “To cover up your investigation, pretend to be doing a little boating, mountain climbing, fishing –that sort of thing.”

“Right, it’s a good cover,” says Mark. “We’ll play it like real ecology freaks,” agrees Jason.

“All right, G-Force, that’s your assignment,” finishes Anderson, “Off to Venus, and stop the Spectran invaders.”

Everyone goes running from the room.

They’re at the bottom of some stairs cut into the rock and descending from the town down into the river gorge, preparing to set off upstream in a canoe powered by an outboard motor. No fishing gear in sight and they’re still in their G-Force uniforms –not doing a very good job posing as tourists.

“All set? Shove off!” says Mark and they’re on their way. As they disappear around a bend in the river upstream, a sinister looking man, with a Spectra logo on his scarf, steps into view, having observed their departure.

“Spectra Control, this is station three,” he says into a radio, “G-Force is heading up river.”

Elsewhere, in the secret base, we see Zoltar, a goon and a Captain whose uniform seems to be modeled after the traditional garb of Native Americans –but surely that’s just coincidence, as this is Venus, not Earth!

“Excellent, excellent,” Zoltar is saying, “Do nothing to frighten them off. They are on vacation without their usual protection. [What is that exactly?] This is the ideal time to make certain of their capture –do you understand?”

We get a quick view of some birds circling in the sky (Venus’ birds look just like Earth birds) and then we’re back to G-Force in their canoe. Mark, Jason and Keyop are wielding paddles to keep the canoe from hitting rocks and Princess is manning the outboard motor.

Everyone is sweating –after all, it’s 460 °C on Venus! Princess dabs her forehead with one hand. High above, on the cliffs overlooking the gorge, the young blond man runs by, carrying a rifle.

No one in the canoe seems to have spotted him.

Zoltar is watching the canoe on a view screen. He laughs and says “Earth-born fools, see how they struggle to enter my trap. I will not disappoint you, my Earthling friends. Soon you will meet the one you came so far to see –the great Taura!” He looks to the nearby Spectran captain as he says this, but I don’t think the captain is the great Taura.

“Are your men in position?” Zoltar asks him. “Yes,” says the captain.

And we cut back to G-Force, in their canoe. Up atop the cliffs, the blond man is hunkered down and taking aim at them with his rifle…

But before he can do anything, Mark cries “Hit the water!” and the canoe flips over –apparently he spotted the man about to shoot them and flipped it himself.

The blond man, seeing the upside down canoe going downstream now, growls “Next time I won’t slip,” waving one fist in anger. And maybe next time, he’ll manage to fire his rifle, because he sure didn’t this time.

Meanwhile, Zoltar bangs his fists down angrily on a console, demanding “What happened? They’re getting away! Oneida, answer me, why did they turn the boat over?”

Yup, the captain is “Oneida” and while I can’t verify the spelling of this, somehow I’m willing to bet it’s the same as that of a certain Native American tribe of the Iroquois Nation.

“I do not know,” says Oneida, “It looks as though something frightened them.”

“I can see that, you fool,” retorts Zoltar, “But what was it?”

“There’s your answer,” pipes up a Spectran soldier, “Somebody’s hiding on top of that cliff.”

“Who is it? Who is that man?” demands Zoltar, as they all look at an image of the blond man, still holding his rifle, on a view screen.

“I’ll get a close up,” says the soldier, bringing up a better view of the blond man’s face.

“Well, who is it?” demands Zoltar again.

“I do not know; he is not one of our men,” says Oneida.

“If G-Force escapes because of this, you will pay dearly, Oneida,” says Zoltar, fists clenched in anger, but we cut quickly to the blond man himself and certainly Zoltar wouldn’t smack his captain, Oneida, in the head or anything like that, because that wouldn’t be nice.

The blond man is just staring down at the river, where G-Force is nowhere in sight now. But then we see where they are –just inside a cave at the side of the river, downstream from where they were.

Inside the cave, everyone is very wet and huddled near the still-upside-down canoe.

“This isn’t the most fun I’ve ever had on vacation,” says Jason witheringly.

“I think it’s the greatest,” says Mark, deadpan, “I’m going to come back every year.”

“When you two comics are through, how about us getting out?” says Princess.

“That’s the end of my routine,” glowers Jason, “Let’s go.”

“I have a feeling we’re about to get some of the answers we’ve been looking for,” says Mark, frowning.

And the canoe pitches as the water starts swirling and moving around them –it’s all pouring out of the bottom of the “lake” they’re on and they and their canoe get pulled along with it.

The canoe plummets down, and they all fall out of it, landing in a large net that then surrounds them like a bag, trapping them suspended in the air.

“Okay…” says Mark.

“Ooh, ooh, caught like a fish,” says Keyop, adding “Creep… in the jeep,” as he spots the blond man down below, tied to a post in waist-high water and apparently unconscious.

“He’s also the gunman we saw on top of that cliff,” notes Mark.

Zoltar’s evil laughter causes him and Keyop to look up suddenly. Panels on the walls rise to reveal windows, behind which stand Zoltar, Oneida and various Spectran soldiers, inside a control room.

“At last I’ve hooked the little fishes of G-Force,” mocks Zoltar, “The Luminous One will be pleased with my catch.”

“Not over yet!” shouts Keyop.

“You’re fishing out of season,” is Princess’ blistering retort.

“Here’s something for your Luminous One!” declares Mark, brandishing his boomerang.

“Oh no!” says Zoltar at this sight, and hits a switch to send electric current coursing through the net.

I guess it’s only mildly uncomfortable though, because certainly none of the G-Force members are screaming in agony or anything like that.

Nevertheless, Zoltar feels this merits a peal of evil laughter, saying “Your feeble toys will not work here –now you shall feel the mighty wrath of Spectra!” He apparently increases the electric current, but this just prompts Mark to say “Whirlwind pyramid, go!” in a voice that suggests he’s not feeling any pain at all.

They immediately begin to spin, and the net is instantly shredded to bits.

“Quick!” snaps Zoltar, “Stop them! They’re getting away!”

The four of them drop down to the water (and no wall-mounted guns are shooting at them, or anything like that) landing near the blond man, who’s still slumped, seemingly unconscious. Guess he’s just been using his captivity as a chance to catch up on sleep –very sensible of him.

“Listen, can you hear me?” says Mark to the man, lifting the man’s head as the man stares blearily at him.

“They must not escape again, Oneida!” snarls Zoltar. “They will not escape this time, I promise you,” he replies.

Jason and Princess shoot cable gun and yoyo up at the sides of the doors far above that had opened to drain all the water out before. Then, with Keyop hanging on to Princess and Mark and the blond man hanging on to Jason, they start ascending.

“Close the hatch, quickly!” orders Zoltar and a soldier runs out into the main chamber and pulls a lever on the wall –an action the blond man is looking down in time to observe.

“Closing!” cries Keyop, looking up, and he springs from Princess just in the nick of time to get through the hatch before it shuts –no one else makes it through.

Keyop tumbles and rolls over to a wall, and Mark, Jason, Princess and the blond man all fall back down towards the water in the main chamber.

Manacles come flying out of nowhere and latch on to the wrists of everyone except the blond man, who continues to fall to the water, while Mark, Jason and Princess get pulled up against the wall of the chamber as the manacles’ chains retract.

“The little one,” asks Zoltar, “Where did he disappear to?”

“He slipped through the barrier before we could get it fully closed,” admits Oneida.

“He will not leave his companions,” says Zoltar, “Our thermal detector will find him.”

Keyop is still in the room that had previously contained the underground lake, and he’s crouching behind a boulder. “Get Tiny,” he says, calling “Come in, come in!” into his wrist communicator.

But all he hears in response is snoring.

“Asleep!” cries Keyop, clutching his helmet in frustration, “Big dummy! No use!”

“Listen carefully, small one,” says Zoltar’s voice, “You will return here at once.”

“No chance!” says Keyop defiantly, looking around the room.

“Phoenix, this is G-Force Commander,” says Mark into his wrist communicator (I guess “Tiny, this is Mark” won’t do when there’s a stranger standing right there), “If you read me, it’s a red alert. Red alert, Tiny!”

“Big ten, Skipper,” says Tiny from the bridge of the Phoenix, adding “Heads up, Taura, here I come!” and reaching for the red missile-launching button.

He fires a missile at Taura’s head and it goes in right through the hole where horn had broken off and lodges in the floor of the control room.

Yup, everyone except Tiny is inside the Great Taura, it seems.

“We’ve got to get out!” cries a soldier, seeing the missile. He and Oneida turn to flee, only to be stopped by Zoltar, who yells “A Spectra soldier does not run! You will remain and fight!”

“The Great Taura is finished,” says Oneida, “It fails us.”

Oh, well, when you put it that way… Zoltar turns and immediately dashes from the room himself, calling “Okay, hit the escape hatches!”

Elsewhere, Mark grabs some explosive charges from his belt compartment and throws them at a door to the exterior, blowing it apart. Then he, Jason, Princess, Keyop and the blond man all run towards the opening and, as the Phoenix comes by and hovers outside, they all jump to its dome.

The Great Taura’s one remaining horn crumbles, revealing an escape rocket which then blasts off in the opposite direction of the Phoenix.

Inside the Great Taura, the missile Tiny launched finally explodes and the Great Taura is obliterated (with no sign of dying soldiers –clearly they were all able to evacuate in time).

Now the Phoenix is parked on some high terrain overlooking the burning remains of the Great Taura in the distance and everyone is standing outside watching.

“It’s finally al over,” the blond man is saying, “Spectra and the Great Taura have been defeated.”

“It’s all over, but you don’t look too happy,” notes Mark, “Why not?”

“I’ve been waiting too long for this moment,” he replies, staring off into the distance, “I guess it’s hard to believe it’s finally come true.”

Just how long has Spectra been on Venus anyway? He makes it sound like years.

“You see, when Spectra first attacked Venus,” says the blond man, pointing towards the flames in the distance or possibly to the town in the foreground of the flames, “They killed my people and I swore I’d avenge them. I’ve been trying to hunt them down ever since.”

Everyone looks utterly shocked to hear this.

“For a while there,” continues the man, “I thought you were with them. I guess my folks can rest in peace now and my mountains are free again.”

“Sorry about your folks,” says Jason, bowing his head gravely. “Me too,” adds a somber Tiny. “Anything we can do?” asks Princess sadly as Keyop burbles “Name it,” dolefully.

“You’ve done enough already,” says the blond man, “Just by destroying that monster and driving Spectra away.”

Mark listens, eyes closed.

“I’m grateful and all Venus is grateful,” continues the blond man, “Guess I’ll be getting back to my mountains now.” He puts a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “It won’t be the same but it’s still my home.”

So, with a wave and a “Good bye, my friends,” he walks away. Mark looks very moved by all this.

Oddly, for BOTP, we never did learn what this blond man’s name is.

Now Zark starts voice-overing as everyone else stands and watches the sunset and the flames in the distance, “A very sad story, but one that’s going to have a happy ending –I feel it in my precognitive node. That young man is going to meet a nice young lady –maybe like Princess- and they’ll start a new family. Take my word for it!”

So, it’s not so bad, kiddies, if your family dies, according to this robot, as you can just make some babies with a pretty girl and replace them.

“Well, it’s a relief to know that once again, thanks to G-Force, Earth and our entire solar system are safe and secure,” says Zark, back at Center Neptune, “The Team must be well on its way back home now, so I’d better get on monitor and guide them along.”

Right, they can't even go between two adjacent planets without your guidance, Zark.

He flaps his cape and flies over to his monitors.

“7-Zark-7 to G-Force,” he says, once there, “Do you read me?”

We see a glowing dot traversing space and hear Mark saying “We read you loud and clear, Zark.”

“I have you cleared for reentry,” says Zark, “Estimate touch down at 02:00. Did you enjoy your vacation on Venus, Commander?”

“Thanks a lot, Zark,” says Mark’s voice drily, “We’re coming home for a vacation.”

The glowing dot is nearing Earth now.

“There’s a good deal to that old saying ‘Always keep your feet firmly planted on Earth,’” says Zark, “But there’s another old saying, ‘Hitch your wagon to a star!’ and that’s the motto of those five incredible young people in… G-Force!”

He salutes.

The End.

Ooh, and I was inspired...

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There are a few reasons for Native Americans to be annoyed by this episode. I think you can spot most of them. (And since Native Americans are still misrepresented in media of all sorts, they're entitled to it. It's not any one depiction, but the cumulative effect of incorrect, anachronistic and silly portrayals that causes the trouble.)

Well, more confirmation that Ameris is an expy of the United States.

In the subs, the Galactor captain utters the stereotypical 'How' a few times, and you might have noticed that he raises his right hand in the stereotypical gesture as well. The Japanese were plainly running with that instead of doing any research.

'Underwater farm' - I think the writers were trying to be different. But it does suggest that the ISO (or someone) might have been promoting underwater activities, and the young man was one of those who made a stab at an underwater farm. Then the SNT mixed it up with Galactor, and his farm was a casualty.

As for BotP: no reason for that nonsense with Venus. In 1978, word was out that Venus was not habitable by humans. They could have made it another planet, and invented a McGuffin to draw the team there.

'Vacationing' in Birdstyle happened in Panic of the Peacock, also. The scriptwriters just weren't trying very hard.

I think Katse's lines about cooking the SNT must have been an in-joke, given the voice actor. He must have laughed his ass off whenever he came across those in his scripts.

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

LOL, glad you liked the captioning! It just came to me when I saw that pic... it was crying out for some 'additions'!

Yes, Springie, I totally remember that Brady Bunch episode! It was the first episode of the 'Grand Canyon' 3-part story! And the guy who captured them was Thurston Howell III !!!!

Yeah, that spaghetti-eating scene is hilarious! You have to wonder why they couldn't have just gone into the restaurant in civvies. I'm guessing they had to be driving in Birdstyle so that the Blond Guy could figure out who they were. Plot necessity, you know...

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