“Who’s in there with you?” asks the thug outside the door. He breaks the door down and runs inside. He catches Maria (back in her towel) with Jinpei.

“Who are you?” the thug asks, pointing his gun at Jinpei. But Jinpei doesn’t give any answers. He simply jumps up and kicks the thug in the face, and then punches him out.



“Straight jab! Uppercut! Neck throw!” Jinpei calls out his moves like an amateur martial arts student. But his technique is flawless, and the man is out in a hurry. But Jinpei is ready for more!



Startled, all Maria can do is turn on the shower.



The thug is burned by the hot water, and he stumbles away, running into a closed door, before finally falling into unconsciousness.

“You’re so strong!” Maria gasps, stars in her eyes. “Groovy! Tell me your name!”

“The name’s, uh…. I mean… my name is Jinpei!” Jinpei stutters.



“Please get dressed quickly!” he says, turning his back.

Next thing you know, Jinpei is climbing down the wall, with Maria hanging on his back.

“Listen, hold on tight, okay?” Jinpei instructs her.

“Oh, I won’t let go.” Maria coos. Jinpei blushes.



Meanwhile, yet another thug (this one’s smoking a pipe) comes across the one outside who was brained with the flowerpot.

“Oh my goodness!” yells pipe-smoking thug. “Hey, what’s happened? What’s this?” And of course, he notices Jinpei and Maria climbing down the wall.

“This will get you!” He produces a knife, and throws it. The knife cuts the vine.



Jinpei and Maria fall to the ground. Maria doesn’t look so good, but of course, Jinpei lands on his feet.



“Hey, what’s going on?” Two more thugs run out of the house.

“Come on, hurry up!” Jinpei urges Maria.

“I can’t! My leg hurts!” Maria complains. The men start shooting, and immediately Jinpei steps protectively in front of her.

“We give up!” he throws his hands into the air. “Please don’t shoot!”



“You’re not just some ordinary brat, are you, kid?” asks Pipe Thug.

“Honestly, I’m just Mr. Nobody, man!” Jinpei tries to charm his way out of the situation, and he approaches the goons.

“Tell me your name and don’t get smart again with me, you little bastard!” Pipe Thug demands.



“Bastard, bastard!” Pipe Thug makes to pistol-whip Jinpei. But Jinpei kicks dirt into his face.



Jinpei jumps up and kicks another goon.



He lands and kicks another goon, calling out his moves again.

“Roundhouse kick! Back kick!”



The remaining two thugs start shooting at Jinpei with their guns, but Jinpei picks up a couple of rocks and throws them.



The rocks hit the thugs in the faces, knocking them out in front of an astonished Maria.



“Finished already? That wasn’t even worth the effort!” Jinpei brags, dusting off his hands. Maria is super impressed.

“That was so far out! I love really strong men like you, Jinpei!” And she kisses him.



“Be my friend!” she demands.

“Uh… I bet the guys are worried.” Jinpei says goofily. “Guess I’d better get a move-on, now…”



Now we see what looks like an important building in the city.

“Thanks to Jinpei’s unexpected feat of bravery, the young heiress, Maria Roberts, daughter of world-famous millionaire Atticus Roberts, was safely returned to the embrace of her family.” the narrator tells us.



Doesn’t Maria’s mother look a lot like the ‘female commander’? Just narrow those eyes a bit… maybe it’s the hairdo. And the shirt.

“However, the case took an unforeseen turn.” the narrator says ominously.

The Chief of Police walks into an interrogation room, where the thugs from the villa are being questioned by officers.

“Is it them? The nefarious kidnappers who caused all of the commotion?” the Chief asks.

“Yep.” replies an officer.

“What about the boy who helped rescue the girl?” the Chief wants to know.

“He disappeared before we could question him.” the officer admits.

“I see. Disappeared, huh?” the Chief sighs. “When a person does a heroic deed like that, it’s human nature for him to want to show off in front of other people. But the kid disappeared? Why do you think that is?”

“Uh….” the officer doesn’t have an answer.



“Okay, dismissed! I’ll do the interrogation!” the Chief orders.

“Isn’t that a little irregular, Chief?” the officer asks.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said, leave!” the Chief growls angrily.

“Yes, Sir!” The two officers leave.

Pipe thug stands up, approaching the Chief.

“Just a little longer, and we would have had a billion smackers! That was no ordinary brat! I told you in my report…”

But the Chief smacks him.



“I know he wasn’t ordinary!” the Chief shouts. “No ordinary kid could have beaten up six thugs like you and taken Maria, even if you are all muscle and no brains! Now you’re going to spill everything you know, punk!”

Pipe Thug doesn’t look too happy, and we see…. wait for it… real blood!



“Well… uh, for one thing… he was nimble as a bird!” Pipe Thug cooperates immediately. “Like a… how do I put it…?”

“What are you trying to say? He was like one of those Science Ninjas?” the Chief demands.

“Now that you mention it, I did see some sort of strange vehicle flying the villa.” another thug offers. This is the mean-looking man who pulled Maria away from her sunbathing.

“Huh… I suppose this Bird Boy is worth investigating.” the Chief evilly strokes his mustache. “Who knows just what we may find?”



Now we cut to the Chief’s office. We hear someone call for him. The Chief turns around, startled. The sound seems to be coming from… the Mona Lisa!

I kid you not.



“It was painful to lose that billion in ransom money that we had planned to use as capital for Galactor!” Mona Lisa speaks in Berg Katse’s voice.

“I regret we didn’t succeed, even though I oversaw it, Lord Katse.” the Chief bows.

“But according to your report, you may be able to uncover the identity of one of the Science Ninja Team.” Katse Lisa goes on.

“Yes, Sire.” the Chief replies. “If that kid is on the Science Ninja Team, then my subordinates have seen his face.” He turns the ring on Mona Lisa’s hand, and the painting rises to reveal a communications monitor.



“Good work.” Katse says. “Find out everything about that kid. You can even deploy Patogiller if you need to.”

“Just leave it to me, my Lord.” the Chief answers. “In fact, I have deployed a city-wide dragnet for him. So it’s only a matter of time before we find out where the runt is hiding!”

And where is he hiding? Why, at the Snack J, of course!

“Oh, Maria.” Jinpei sighs, looking at a picture of her reuniting with her father in the newspaper.



“Oh, how heartbreaking!” he cries, clutching the newspaper to his chest. He makes kissy faces at the paper, and then cuddles with it.



“Maria…” he says dreamily.

“Jinpei?” Maria asks. She’s there, at the Snack!



“Jinpei, what’s wrong with you?” she says.

“Oh, Maria! I’ve missed you!” Jinpei gasps. He runs over and leaps onto her, kissing…

Jun.



Jun isn’t too impressed, and she smacks him down.



“Get off!” she shouts.

“Oh, it’s you, Sis.” Jinpei grumbles. “Man, that hurt!”



“Hey, what’s up with you, Jinpei?” Jun asks. “You’re acting stranger than usual.”



“It’s nothing.” Jinpei replies testily.

“I don’t think I buy that.” Jun muses.

__________________

But Ken isn’t too happy with this comment. He raps Ryu on the helmet.



“Shut up and drive!” Ken orders.

Back at the amusement park, we see that Jinpei and Maria are on a roller coaster track, high above.

“Jinpei, I’m scared.” Maria says.

“It’s going to be okay. Just hold onto me real tight!” Jinpei promises.

“Heh, heh, heh… stupid kids!” says a guard. “I’ll run them off the tracks!” He pulls a giant switch, Sure enough, the roller coaster car begins to move.

“Oh no!” Jinpei cries.

“It’s coming this way!” Maria sobs.



“Nowhere to run! What are we going to do now?” Maria asks.

“Damn! If I transform, she’ll know that I’m part of the Science Ninja Team!” Jinpei thinks to himself. “What should I do?”

“This has gotten very interesting.” Katse comments casually to he Chief, as if he were watching the Young and the Restless. “Think I’ll sit back and watch.”

“Meanwhile,” the narrator picks up the action, “Ken and the others chased the crayfish mecha deep into the sea, unaware that Jinpei is in mortal peril!”

“What’s that ahead?” Ken wonders.



Why… it’s an army of squid!



But the squid turn out to be missiles. They explode, and the God Phoenix rocks.



“Squid missiles! Aaaah!” Ryu cries.



“This is weird… it’s just like they’re luring us somewhere.” Ken is suspicious.



“Those Galactor scum are probably plotting something again.” Joe suggests.

“Now that I think about it, it’s strange that I can’t contact Jinpei.” Jun adds. “It’s like they’re trying to buy time…”



“Oh no!” Ken stands up. “Jun, you said a letter came for Jinpei, right?”



“Huh?” Jun, who seemed so bright just a second before, is now clueless in the face of Ken.

“It’s a trap!” Ken declares. “There’s no way Jinpei would give out his address. Superheroes don’t do that!”



Superheroes don’t do that? What, did Ken read a manual or something? 101 Rules a Superhero must Follow by Clark Kent?

Jun is just as shocked by this revelation as I am.



I guess she’s also feeling guilty… guilty of giving out her address to the electric company, the phone company, the beverage suppliers…

“Bring us about, Ryu. We’ve got trouble!” Ken orders.

So Ryu does, growling for effect.

But they are passing by a patch of seaweed. The seaweed grows, entangling the God Phoenix in its grasp!



Jun screams.



Yup, things are looking bad for the God Phoenix about now.



“Great Scott! The crayfish mecha!” Ken sees their enemy approaching.

“Do it now! Power us up! Go!” Ken calls.



And Ryu does. But no growling this time.



The God Phoenix breaks out of the seaweed and zooms right by the approaching claw of the crayfish mecha!



The goons inside are taken aback by this maneuver.



And the giant crayfish slams into a rock wall and explodes. Easy come, easy go.

And the God Phoenix bursts out of the water and turns around.

“Jun, don’t take your eyes off the radar.” Ken orders. “If Galactor is using a mecha, it should give you a blip.” Um, didn’t they already destroy the mecha, albeit in a lame way? So you’re saying that to make up for this half-assed battle, there’s another mecha in this story?

“Right!” Jun agrees.

Meanwhile, back at the amusement park, Jinpei stares down the approaching roller coaster.

“Dang it! I don’t have any other choice!” he thinks to himself. He swings his arm.

“Bird…”



But then he sees Berg Katse and the Police Chief watching him from the nearby tower.



“It’s Katse!” Jinpei thinks, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “What a dirty trick! He’s watching!”

“Listen, just close your eyes and hold on tight!” Jinpei tells Maria. She moans.



Just as the coaster gets to them, they jump. This surprises the goons below.



Katse is surprised as well. Jinpei and Maria are jumping up into the sky, and we even get a little panchira.



They fall a great distance. Maria screams, but they bounce on a giant umbrella. Maybe it’s a circus tent?

“No doubt now!” Katse cackles. “That stunt proves he’s one of the Science Ninja Team! Don’t let the little runt get away! Close in on him, Galactor troops, and expose him!”



The goons chase the young couple, but they get away on an elevator just as the Galactor soldiers approach.



Convenient how the elevator is in a glass tube.

“Come on, people, let’s go now!” Katse says in a bored tone. “Unite Patogiller!”



Get that? The crayfish mecha wasn’t Patogiller (for whom the episode is named). We do have two mecha in this episode!

All of the Police (uh… Porice) cars line up together and connect.



They join together to create the ultimate, terrifying…

Caterpillar of Doom!



Yeah, it’s a caterpillar. Give Katse a break. I’m sure by this point in the series, he’s running out of animal mecha ideas.

Patogiller starts smashing up the amusement park, then after it’s warmed up, it goes after Jinpei and Maria.



Maria gets hit with showers of glass, and collapses in Jinpei’s arms.





“Oh, I can’t wait!” Katse gloats. “We’re finally going to find out the true identities of the Science Ninja Team isn’t that right?”



The Chief puts a congenial arm around Katse. This appears to distress the Galactor Leader.



“Even if they are just children, right?” the Police Chief laughs and laughs. Suddenly, he realizes that Katse is not amused.

“Oh, forgive me, Lord!” he quickly pulls away and salutes.

Patogiller is still taunting Jinpei, and an unconscious Maria.

“Help, Big Bro, do something!” Jinpei says.

And sure enough, the God Phoenix is on the scene!

“My Big Bro is here!” Jinpei calls happily.



“Geez, though, what in the world took you so long?” Jinpei wonders.

The God Phoenix says ‘hello’ to Patogiller.



Before saying ‘hello’ to Katse.



And now we see… Jinpei is on the God Phoenix! Boy, that was fast!



But it’s not Jinpei.

“So what’s up with the pipsqueak dummy?” Ryu wants to know.

“We’ll just use the same trick we did on old Gezora.” Ken says. “We’ll let Katse get a good look, so he can see there’re five of us in here, since he’s already seen Jinpei’s face.”



“Find out how many people are in there! There should only be four onboard, now!” Katse shouts.

And very obligingly, the Science Ninja Team rises up on the elevation platform, just so Katse can see.

__________________

BOTP Episode 29 – Cupid Does It To Keyop

Far beneath the sea, here at Center Neptune, Zark’s attention is constantly focused on everything that happens within ‘our’ security perimeters. This is so very stressful that Zark is pacing.



“That may no sound very impressive,” Zark admits, “until you know that ‘security perimeters’, as defined in Cosmic Manual 8B, include the entire universe.”

Suddenly, Zark has stopped pacing and he is at his workstation, with 1-Rover-1 beside him.



“So you see, my job means guarding Earth against alien invaders from all of outer space.” Zark brags. “Maximus longorum, or ‘far out’, as we say.” Ugh. I don’t think I need Zark to quote me 70s slang in Latin.

1-Rover-1 yaps.



“Are you hungry again, 1-Rover-1?” Zark is surprised. “What an appetite!” Rover yaps again.

“All right, I put out a nice bowl of crunchy nuts and bolts for you, all covered with oil gravy.” Zark says. “Get fat!” Like a robot shaped like a sausage is one to talk about ‘getting fat’.

Besides… can a robot even get fat? They don’t grow in that way. And why does 1-Rover-1 even need to eat? Does that mean he poops too? Ewww…. I don’t even want to think about that…

“He’s just one of my smaller worries.” Zark admits. “Another small worry is Keyop.” So let me get this straight… Keyop ranks up there with 1-Rover-1 on Zark’s scale of importance and they’re both ‘small’. Niiiice.

“G-Force is taking a few days’ vacation, in a distant mountain city.” Zark informs us. “And right now, Keyop is off, all by himself, flitting over the unfamiliar country in his Space Bubble.” Well knock me down with a feather shuriken! A Space Bubble? That’s a new one on me. I thought it was the Space Buggy…

“He’s so impulsive!” Zark complains. “Inclined to think the world is his oyster! And I try to keep him out of any oyster stew.” Like that time you sent him chasing off after butterflies that didn’t exist, and he ended up being swallowed by a giant mecha beetle? Riiight….

“Was that a bit of wit?” Zark wonders. Oh, Zark, you’re only half right.

“I wish I were programmed for humor so that I could appreciate myself.” Oh, trust me, Zark, you appreciate yourself far too much already. Enough for everyone in the audience combined!

Now we see Keyop’s ‘Space Bubble’ flying through the air. Inside, Keyop is yawning.

“Nothing new…” he burbles in a bored manner. A castle appears below him.

“That’s new.” he broops. “And that!” His eyes boggle as he sees a pretty girl in a bikini sunbathing.

“For real?” he asks, with far too much unnecessary burbling. “So what? No… once more!” Seriously, this is like 90% brooping noises and 10% words. It’s extremely frustrating to watch.

‘Once more!’ means that Keyop has decided to take another pass over the castle. A mean-looking man comes out onto the roof and sees the Space Buggy. Now Keyop is perplexed.

“Gone.” he broops. And yes, the girl is gone, but we don’t know where. Still, Keyop puts on a dreamy expression and burbles endlessly, no real words in sight.

Now we cut to a newscaster on a TV.

“The family of Julie Leslie remains in seclusion, making no statements to the press.” the announcer says. You can tell it’s the narrator, but his voice sounds sufficiently different from when you hear him do all of the preview promos.

“There has been no word yet from the men who are holding the girl.” the announcer goes on. So if there’s been no word, how do you know they’re men? Or that she’s been kidnapped? Maybe she’s been killed. Ah, but I forgot, such a thing doesn’t happen in the BOTP universe.

“But the fact that her father represents Earth in the Intergalactic Federation had led to speculation that Julie may be in the hands of the outlaw planet, Spectra.”

Wait just a freaking minute here! Since when is Spectra an ‘outlaw’ planet? I thought they were at war with Spectra? That would make them enemies, not criminals!

“Will the girl be used to force the Federation to give Spectra a seat in that august body, a seat that has been denied it?” the announcer wonders. So… Spectra wants to be part of the Federation? I had no idea…

Meanwhile, we can see that this television is playing at Jill’s and that the entire G-Force Team is present. As Keyop sees a picture of Julie Leslie, he realizes that she is the girl he saw sunbathing earlier.

“That’s her!” he gasps.

“That’s the girl you saw today?” Tiny is astonished. “Hey, you’re living in a dreamworld, little buddy.”

“A kidnapped girl, sunning herself in a bikini?” Princess giggles. But Keyop simply gets up and walks away.

“Leaving?” Princess is surprised.

“See ya.” Keyop broops.

“You take care, okay?” is Princess’ farewell.

We are now back at the castle, with the strains of harpsichord music playing in the background. Keyop is behind a tree, looking up at a window. Hw looks up, and sees Julie closing the sheer curtains. And to make sure we know he’s infatuated with her, we hear that ‘twinkly’ music.

“Broot… right now!” Keyop says. He sneaks across the way and climbs the wall, up to her balcony. He peeks through the window, and we can hear sounds of the shower running.

But we don’t know what he sees. He simply leaps back, knocking a flowerpot off of the balcony. A thug comes up to investigate, and gets beaned with the falling flowerpot.

Frankly, given how oversexed this show is, I’m surprised they didn’t just keep the nude shower scene in!

“Get out of here!” Julie says, opening the balcony door. She is swathed in a towel that looks like Princess’ pants. Perhaps that’s why she sounds exactly like Princess.

“You really ought to be ashamed of yourself!” Julie lectures Keyop, after bashing him in the head with a thrown bottle of shampoo. “Peeking in windows!”

“Explain!” Keyop burbles. “Help you… know you…”

“You do?” the girl asks, as Keyop peeks at her nearly-naked state.

“Yup…” Keyop broops. “Kidnapped!”

“Has it been in the newspapers? I haven’t been allowed to see any.” Julie admits. “Can you help me?”

“Better believe!” Keyop broops.

“Hey, is somebody in there with you?” asks an unfamiliar man’s voice. Keyop pulls Julie toward the balcony. “Open this door!” The thug breaks the door down.

“How did you get in here?” he asks Keyop suspiciously. But Keyop’s response is to jump up. There’s a flash of… something… and the thug falls down.

“Thank you! My goodness, you’re strong for such a small person.” Julie gushes.

“Solid muscle” Keyop burbles. “Never mind. Get dressed!” I have to say, this is the worst episode I’ve ever seen for Keyop’s burbling. You’d think that the scriptwriters could have made him a little more talkative for this episode, especially since he’s supposed to be sweeping Julie off her feet. It’s quite disappointing.

Now Keyop and Julie are climbing down the wall.

“Okay?” Keyop broops.

“Better than that!” Julie coos, as Keyop blushes.

But the vine they are on suddenly breaks for no apparent reason, and the two fall to the ground.

“Hold ‘em up!” says a pipe-smoking thug who just happens to be standing right there.

“Broot… okay!” Keyop does as he has been told. He stands protectively in front of Julie.

“Keep ‘em up.” the man snarls, as Keyop approaches him.

“Feet too?” Keyop smirks through his burbles, then he kicks dirt in the man’s face. He falls over right in front of Julie.

“Hold ‘em!” Keyop broops, brushing off his hands, even though it was his feet that did all the work.

“I never saw anything like that!” Julie gushes. “You’re wonderful! I mean, you’re fantastic! I mean it!” And she kisses his cheek.

“Get you home!” Keyop burbles.

“Keyop has returned Julie to her home, to the welcome arms of her parents.” Zark voices over, as we see a fancy building. Julie is being hugged by her parents.

“Reporters from all over the galaxy are there to ask questions.” Zark tells us. “And at the police center, the kidnappers are facing some questions of their own.”

The Chief of Police walks into a room where the thugs are being interrogated.

“No luck, Captain.” reports an officer.

“Not talking much, eh?” the Chief replies. “Well, I think I can handle them. Just leave them with me for a few minutes.” The officers leave, and then Pipe Thug approaches the Chief.

“Listen, it’s all working.” Pipe Thug says. “Nobody knows we’re from Spectra.”

“It’s not all working!” the Chief retorts. “You let the girl get away, after all the trouble I went to in luring the real Chief of Police away and transforming myself to take his place. It was a perfect setup and it’s all gone wrong!”

Now we cut to the Chief’s office. He has a painting of the Mona Lisa!

“Captain! You had the girl, and you let her slip through your fingers!” Mona Lisa berates the Chief. Gee, she sounds a lot like Zoltar!

“I selected you for success, not failure!” Zoltar Lisa rants.

“I have a new plan I know you’ll like.” the Chief replies calmly. “Two birds with one stone.” he turns a ring on the Mona Lisa and it rises up to reveal Zoltar’s face on a communications monitor.

“Sounds intriguing.” Zoltar admits. “Could your plan have anything to do with a small G-Force member?”

“Yes, and the girl. I have it all figured out.” the Chief assures Zoltar. “Each of them should be getting a letter about now. An amusing trap…”

This is a bit of a stretch. Why would they be thinking of Keyop, and assuming he’d have any interest in Julie? And how would they know where to find Keyop to deliver the letter? Weird…

__________________

We cut to the caterpillar robot terrorizing Keyop through the broken glass at the top of the tower. Is this what Princess sees?

“Root toot toot… nowhere to go!” Keyop cries, just before he catches sight of a familiar ship. “The Phoenix!” he shouts happily. He seems to be crying, and his mouth moves, but no words come out.

The Phoenix flies by the caterpillar robot, distracting it, and then passes by Zoltar’s tower, breaking the glass with the force of its passage.

“I hope this is going to work!” Tiny says, as Mark pulls out a Keyop doll.

“If we can make Zoltar believe this dummy is really Keyop, he’ll think he has the wrong boy in the tower.” Mark explains. “And it’s also a way to get Keyop’s uniform to him.” Okay, why do they need to get Keyop’s uniform to him? Don’t his civvies clothes transmute? So isn’t he actually wearing his uniform already? I’m so confused!!!!

“Now that we have one of the G-Force Team, the others will bend to my will.” Zoltar says to the Chief. He watches the Team rise up the elevation platform to stand on the nose of the Phoenix.

“No doubt you are looking for your little friend.” he smirks.

“Why waste time talking, Zoltar? You’ve got the upper hand now.” the false Police Chief prods. For some strange reason, this causes Zoltar to gasp in horror.

“What ‘little friend’, Zoltar?” Mark asks smugly. It seems like he heard Zoltar, despite the fact that they were far apart and Mark was standing on a rapidly-moving plane. Must be those cerebonics. But then, how does Mark expect Zoltar to hear him? Is it the cat ears on his mask?

“Looks like you’ve finally flipped out all the way.” Mark goes on. “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Zoltar asks the Chief angrily.

“I know the boy is…” the Chief answers hastily. “I mean, I thought the boy in the tower was… I mean… I don’t know how this happened.”

“You incompetent fool!” Zoltar rants.

“Princess,” Mark says, “let’s deliver Keyop’s uniform.” I’m not sure why Mark doesn’t think Zoltar can hear him now, but could just a few seconds before.

“Big 10!” Princess replies, throwing the Keyop dummy off of the Phoenix and right to the tower where the real Keyop is standing. Keyop grabs the dummy and leaves the area, only to return… in uniform! But the dummy is still in uniform as well! So much for ‘delivering’ Keyop’s uniform!

“Stop that plane, or you’ll answer to me for it!” Zoltar calls to the men on the caterpillar robot, angered by the sight of the Phoenix flying around. The caterpillar shoots its nose/mouth/whatever at a spot in front of the Phoenix, where it explodes. Princess screams again. I guess it was a miss, though, because there doesn’t seem to be any problem for the Phoenix.

“Keyop’s plane is coming in!” Jason reports. “Lower the pickup.”

Keyop enters the Bridge, an unconscious Julie in his arms. He burbles.

“Hey, Keyop!” Jason smirks. He looks happy to see Keyop.

Back with the bad guys…

“Let’s see if you can do anything right!” Zoltar snarls at the Chief. “Hit the button!” So the Chief turns to the control panel nearby and presses a button. A rocket appears inside the tower as it breaks apart. The rocket takes off.

“Keep going, rocket, don’t stop for anything!” Tiny says, as Mark breathes a sigh of relief. “Just take that Zoltar way up and out of our lives forever!”

Keyop burbles and everyone looks back to see him standing shamefaced, next to an unconscious Julie.

“Hospital… not good…” he burbles.

“Don’t worry, we’re on our way.” Mark reassures him. “We’ll have her at the hospital in no time. She’ll be fine. You wait and see! A little rest and she’ll be as good as new.”

“Gotta get well!” Keyop says, looking like he’s the one in extreme agony.

Now we fade in to a scene of the hospital. Julie is in bed, talking to Keyop.

“Thank you for coming to see me every day.” she says. “You’ll always be one of my very best friends, Keyop.”

“Broot… friends.” Keyop grins as she takes his hands. She moves them up and down, and her lips move. But she doesn’t say anything.

“Have to settle.” Keyop blushes.

“It’s awful that Daddy’s been transferred way up to Andromeda Galaxy, but maybe… someday…” Julie sys.

“Sure.” Keyop broops. “Someday.” He walks out the door, burbling a goodbye.

“Remember me!” Julie calls.

The moment the door closes, he is clearly devastated.

“Can’t forget!” he thinks sadly. And yes, he’s burbling in his thoughts too.

The rest of the Team is waiting for him as he walks out of the hospital, but he passes them by.

“Keyop?” Princess calls softly.

“Look, we know how you feel.” Mark says. “Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to. Well, if it helps at all, we were all pulling for you.”

“It’s nothing.” Keyop says, after an unreasonably long string of burbles.

“We know exactly how you’re hurting, Keyop.” Princess smiles.

“Who’s hurting?” Keyop broops. “I’m young! World on a string!” He dances and marches jauntily around the corner, but once out of sight, he is sad again.

“And I’m hurting.” he thinks to himself.

“Keyop grew a foot taller.” Princess comments.

Now we see Keyop sitting dejectedly on a bridge, staring into the sunset, while the romantic voice of Zark explains how this is actually a happy ending, despite its sad appearance.

“Maybe someday Keyop and Julie will meet again.” Zark says. “I understand parting like this is very difficult for humans.”

And now we see Zark, reclining on his oil-changing platform.



“Fortunately, being a robot, I’m above that sort of thing.” Zark says smugly. “We’re always programmed to feel no personal emotion of attachment.” Oh, so ‘keeping a special eye on Princess’ is just you being a pervert then, is it? No special emotional attachment? And I don’t even want to get into what Zark feels for Susan.

And speaking of Susan, a call comes in.

“Center Neptune Control!” Zark answers.

“7-Zark-7.” Susan says, Zark’s antennae popping at the sound.

“Oh, hello, Susan!” Zark titters. “Nice to hear your voice. Is there something I should know?”



“Yes.” Susan replies. “You should know, I’m a robot.”

“Oh, I do. A marvelous one!” Zark replies quickly.

“And you’re a robot.” Susan states the obvious again. “And don’t we feel any personal attachment?” Wow, I guess she was listening in on Zark’s monologue, and decided to call him out in front of the viewers. I’d be cheering for her if the subject of her ‘calling out’ weren’t so nauseating.

“Oh course!” Zark giggles. “But how many other ideally matched robots like us do you know?”

And before my stomach lurches again, the episode fades out.

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Thanks TJ! This is one of my daughter's favorite episodes, she likes this one and 85 (The hippie episode is what she calls it).

The one thing that really stood out to me is the different way nudity among minors is handle in anime versus US cartoons. Cartoons in the US seem to treat the animation as if it were real and apply the same rules as it would to actors, that doesn't seem to happen in anime (though it gets edited out in some US translations).

You know, I think in another twenty years I might get to the point where I won't get Roger Daltry mixed up with Roger Waters. It's not like they have a lot in common besides being 1970's era British Rock icons. I was 10 when the 70's ended. What was worse the 70's or the 80's?

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Perspective Alters Reality

Awesome re-cap TJ!!!

For us "G-Force" fans (all 8 or us or so in the world), this is an important episode, as it is both one of the two "pilot" episodes, and the furthest Gatchaman episode dubbed for "G-Force". That's right, right after Jinpei/PeeWee somberly stares into the sunset.....nothing more, that's the cliffhanger us U.S viewers were left with back in '95, when the nearly decade-old dub premiered on Cartoon Network.

The "G-Force" pilot episodes, as you may or may not know, are most notable for having been stripped of the Gatchaman music score, which was replaced with an original , synthy score by theme song compser Dean Andre. Dean intended to do this with the other 83 episodes, but there was little time for that in the production schedule (the "G-Force" team had to hammer out those 85 eps in about three months time according to him), so the rest of the eps retained most of the Gatchaman score, supplemented with the droning drumbeat in silent parts of course.

There exist two revisions of the "G-Force version of this episode, each with a distinctly different musical score. I'm still trying to find out why the earlier version has different music from the final/broadcast version. Content wise, the only cuts this episode faced on "G-Force" were obviously the shots of Maria nude, and other negligible cuts for time constraints ("fluff" scenes). Otherwise, the episode is virtually identical to the original Gatch ep. Maria (voiced by Barbara Goodson, who voiced ALL female roles and nearly all children roles in "G-Force", very versatile actress!) still goes by the same name, but her last name was changed from "Roberts" to "Van Schekel" or "Van Shekel", "daughter of Dr. & Mrs Jekyll Van Schekel".

This ep was one of the, if not the most memorable "G-Force" ep I've seen, and the one I have the most fondest memory of seeing. I first saw it during a late night re-run on CN, around July 1995 (15 years to the month!), 2AMish. I recall being hooked by the story and rooting for Pee Wee and his squeeze. Even as a youngster, I noticed that this ep had different music from the rest of the eps. I was going on vacation the following morning, and my mother kept nagging me to go to sleep, but I just had to see the whole ep through! Most fondest "G-Force" memory for sure, and one I'll always remember......because I've uploaded the ep to my YT account!

Unaired Pilot #2 (Episode 85):

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T170DEfm8UI

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bdpMt9hZlQ

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzHXp8vogfQ


Broadcast Pilot #2 (Episode 85):

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN0tCSlzogQ

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZAOG5F19Kk

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUb7Ehl1ZpU

Thanks Nuni and Dirk! And Dirk, I love the Youtube links! Those are really helpful, and work so well with this episode! I agree, I thought it was a weird place to end the series, but I guess they just had a specific number in mind, to qualify for syndication?

I agree, Nuni, the last scene does show how much they support each other... even if it means leaving someone alone so they can grieve.

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Now why does this picture remind me of a certain naughty fanfic?
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy15/...VOL_15-23-1.jpg

(Oops, I don't know how to post pictures)

Jinpei would be about 12 by the time of this episode (depending on when his birthday was, and what the 'dates' are in the series). Most boys are still 'Circle, dot, cootie shot!', but always the chance of being hit with one of Cupid's arrows.

Those with boys in that age range: is acting like a total dork par for the course?

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

once again wonderful description, happy flashbacks, love the still pictures, Jinpei such a little cutie
Mona Lisa interesting - other artist showing what they like
Secret identities mmmh (yes I know it's written into the script, but why can we see their faces under their visors (flash back- I think I've said that before) no matter its written in the script, that explains everything)

ps thank you for the picture of 7-zark-7 & 1-rover1 , I have evil non-spectra things to do with those two and the dart board in the back just confirmed everthing - (oh I love it when the universe confirms and supports your idears)

Igor she call. break out the mad scientist equipment, she is going to create life - ha ha
(All views expressed by LW can neither be confirmed or denied by the typist)

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May the bad things get lost on the way to you door!