Gatchaman episode 34: “The Evil Aurora Operation”

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screencaps!]




Gatchaman episode 34: “The Evil Aurora Operation”






Whatever its proper title is, to me this will always be “the episode where Joe hits everyone.”

It begins with Ryu, fishing from a small boat in a peaceful little bay somewhere. He doesn’t seem to be having much success, as he yawns with boredom.





But suddenly he gets a bite, and excitedly begins trying to reel in his catch. However, the fish puts up a fight, Ryu’s line snaps, and the fish escapes. “Man, that’s no fun,” he says, sighing the sigh of one who has given up. With that, he stretches out and prepares to take a nap as a few seagulls fly past in the sky.





Now, time has passed and it’s dark. Something strange is moving through the sky. It’s a rippling band of purplish light, but within it is something that resembles some sort of giant, legless aquatic reptile.





Now its light is shining on Ryu, who is still in his boat and still napping. He wakes up and quickly sits up. “I’ve never seen an aurora in these parts. That’s kind of weird,” he says. Now two little lights, like eyes, flash briefly from within the “aurora” and then are replaced by two intense beams of energy that fire on Ryu.





Caught in their intense light, he screams in agony and clutches his head but then he looks up with a savage expression on his face, growling instead of screaming.







Now we cut to a yacht cruising through a sea elsewhere, piloted by two men. Just as with Ryu, the aurora appears and just as they react, it hits their yacht with two beams of energy and they too scream and clutch their heads. But quickly, they are grunting, making animal noises and randomly yanking on the yacht’s steering controls.





This causes them to sail their yacht at high speed straight into the side of another, much larger, ship and there is an explosion.





Now, a passenger train is moving quickly through a large city.





Just as with Ryu, and the yacht, the aurora appears and the train’s conductor is hit with its energy beams.





The train heads into a station, and a voice is announcing that the “train is pulling into line number three,” but the train whizzes right by all the people waiting on the station platform, without stopping. It smashes through a barrier at the track’s end and then into a wall. The collision causes the train to derail and to explode into flames.

With sea and land covered, that leaves air. So now we see a large passenger plane flying in for a landing. Just as the pilot contacts the control tower, the copilot yells “What the hell’s that?” as the aurora looms in the sky before them. Like Ryu, the men on the yacht and the train conductor, they get bathed in the aurora’s energy beams. They grimace in pain, but keep flying the plane.






However, a man in the airport’s control tower is watching the plane come in for a landing and he yells “Hey, what are you doing? You’re landing on the wrong runway!” That they are; the plane smashes into another parked plane and a massive fiery explosion ensues.





Now we’re seeing a television screen, but it’s getting very poor reception and wavy lines are all over the screen. It’s a news broadcast, showing images of the destruction, and in each case, an aurora is visible in the background. “The cause of the major accidents today is unknown. Unthinkable equipment failures are concurrently happening in planes, trains and ships. The government has begun an investigation into today’s incidents, but as-”

The signal cuts out completely and the TV screen becomes nothing but static. We can now see that the TV is in a lab of some kind, and that Dr. Nambu, Ken, Joe, Jun and Jinpei are watching it. Jinpei assumes that the TV is broken and is indignant, as it’s a new one. Dr. Nambu explains that the problem isn’t with the TV though. “This is all being caused by a surge of electric energy.” “A surge of electric energy?” says Ken. So, Dr. Nambu goes on that “It seems that an electric surge of at least five million volts is being emitted and I can think of only one organization that would be capable of such a thing.” Ken concurs, declaring that it must be Galactor, but he wonders what they’re up to this time. Dr. Nambu doesn’t know, but he can only assume that it’s something “outrageous.” I guess that no one noticed the aurora in the sky in the footage shown on the news broadcast, but then, the broadcast did have poor image quality.





As if suddenly remembering something, Dr. Nambu says to himself, “Right,” and then he goes and opens a small panel in the wall and pushes up a lever behind it.





Jinpei asks what the lever is for and is told that “It’s a self destruct control, which when detonated will destroy the Crescent Coral Base within the blink of an eye.” Everyone reacts with some consternation to learn about this, and Jinpei says “That’s kind of scary!”





But Dr. Nambu explains that he’s turning it off, lest it be accidently triggered by the electric surges.

Now, strange noises are coming from behind them. Everyone turns, and they’re all surprised to see that Ryu is there, squatting near the wall and clutching his head while making strange, grunt-like noises.





Jun approaches him, worriedly asking him if he’s okay. Suddenly Ryu turns to face them all, still hunkered down and with a sort of squinting grimace on his face, and he reaches out one hand and hisses “mouse!”





Jun is startled, and she and Jinpei are trying to figure out what’s going on with him, but Ryu licks his hand briefly and then crouches down, growling. “It’s almost like he thinks he’s a cat or something,” says Jun. Ken’s fed up and approaches Ryu, saying “Okay, that’s enough, Ryu.”





But Ryu leaps past him, launching himself at Jinpei.






Jinpei runs, yelling he’s not a mouse, as Ryu chases after him while running on all fours and snarling.





I’m laughing here, but Dr. Nambu is not amused though. “Take Ryu to the hospital immediately!” he orders. In the state he’s in, I wonder how on earth Ryu made it back to the Base from his boat.

We don’t get to see exactly how they accomplish that, as next we see Ryu he’s strapped down on a table and is wearing some type of oxygen mask and a helmet from which numerous wires connect to some piece of diagnostic equipment.





A doctor (for once, not Dr. Nambu) is standing by, taking notes as he watches a screen.

The doctor opens the door and lets in Dr. Nambu and the other Science Ninjas. Asked about Ryu’s condition this doctor replies “I’m at a loss for words. His brain waves are equivalent to those of a cat,” while examining some charts.

“How can that be?” asks Dr. Nambu while a wide-eyed Jinpei murmurs “Ryu the cat…”

The doctor hands Dr. Nambu the charts so he can see for himself and says he doesn’t know what caused it, but also adds that this isn’t the first case like this that he’s seen today.






A nurse wheels in another man, strapped to a hospital bed, and the doctor explains that he has the brain waves of a dog. At that, the man begins to thrash and strain against the straps, growling.

Now as we are shown a montage of various other random victims.

Well I guess Ryu probably can’t remember that you just insulted him and then decked him, Joe -which is likely a good thing, I suppose. But Ryu’s face brightens now and he says “I saw this strange looking aurora in the sky and then… well, I can’t remember anything after that.” Ken and Joe decide that the aurora must be what’s emitting the electrical waves that have been creating global interference, and that this means that the aurora must also have something to do with Galactor’s new insanity-inducing weapon.

Now Ryu is puzzled. “But how on Earth did you guys get me back to normal?” he asks.

Ken has a sudden flash of inspiration and says “Hell yeah, we’re going to fry that monkey right off his back!” I guess this means no reprimand for Joe, as his punch is what cured Ryu and might, indirectly, cure Dr. Nambu too.

Now we’re back at Dr. Nambu’s bedside, and his doctor is there along with all the Science Ninjas.







Ken is telling the doctor that they have to send a strong electric current through Dr. Nambu’s brain –“fighting poison with poison” says Joe- but the doctor is having nothing to do with this plan. Jun tries to persuade the doctor too, but he says that “Dr. Nambu’s brain is currently being controlled by the electrical waves being emitted. His brain waves are cycling vigorously, so who knows what could happen if we gave him electroshock therapy.” Ken demands to know what they should do instead, and the doctor suggests they destroy whatever is creating the electric emissions.

Ken’s okay with that plan too, and tells everyone they’re going to head out in the God Phoenix to look for the aurora that Ryu saw. Next, they’re all in birdstyle and running down the corridor to the God Phoenix’s launching bay. “If it’s what will save the Doctor, we’ll find Galactor no matter what,” says Ken, while running.







“Hell yeah,” replies Joe, “I can’t wait to blast them away with bird missiles!”






Jun isn’t so impressed with all this bravado though. “Listen, you two really need to take it easy,” she says, frowning slightly while running, “We aren’t going to be able to defeat Galactor with just bird missiles this time around, so look, I think I have a good idea. Just leave it all up to me, you dig?”

Go Jun!





They all leap up on top of the God Phoenix, but Jun doesn’t accompany the others on the dome to descend to the bridge. Rather she goes and jumps down the opening where the bird missiles are fired from, and attaches one of her little round explosive devices to a missile.





She reports to Ken that “Everything’s all set,” before heading to the bridge herself and we get the stock footage of the God Phoenix leaving the Crescent Coral Base and breaking the sea’s surface to fly into the air.

Because this is television and there’s only so much time in an episode, we immediately have Jun informing Ken that she’s located the aurora on the radar. So they head for it, and soon they get their first sight of it. Thundersaurus is faintly visible within, but I think we’re to assume the Science Ninjas can’t really see it.





On board it, Katse is berating his Captain because Dr. Nambu is still alive, and “The Science Ninja Team picked up our frequency while trying to save him!” The Captain is all apologies, and explains they couldn’t finish off Dr. Nambu because “he’s hidden in a secret base somewhere.” “I see,” says Katse, and he orders them to keep emitting the electrical waves.

Meanwhile, on the God Phoenix, they can tell that there’s something inside the aurora, using it as camouflage. “Damn it, show yourselves you filthy maggots!” says Joe. He is in true Condor form in this episode, alright. He heads straight for the red button and launches a bird missile.





“Ah damn! What the hell, it didn’t even scratch it!” he says, glaring and with his hand in a fist. Jun then notes that the aurora is acting as an electrical barrier and that the missiles can’t get through it.

Over on Thundersaurus, Katse laughs to see that the God Phoenix is out there. “They’ve got their bird missiles aimed at us,” points out the Captain, but Katse is unconcerned. “Their puny missiles can’t do any harm to the mighty Thundersaurus.”

Back on the God Phoenix, Joe isn’t listening to Jun. He angrily fires three more bird missiles (none of which do any damage) before snarling “You bastards,” and going for the button again. This time, Ken grabs his wrist. “Cool it, Joe! No matter how many we shoot, it won’t work. We’ve got to save our last shot.” Joe isn’t happy at all, but he complies.





“Thundersaurus can’t be fazed by their scrawny bird missiles,” gloats Katse, “Now it’s our turn. Prepare to attack!” he tells the Captain.

On the God Phoenix, they see that Thundersaurus is up to something and Ken quickly tells Ryu “Full stop!” What’s happening is that Thundersaurus is uncloaking from the aurora camouflage and now they can all see it clearly.





“Oh man, it looks like a lamprey eel monster!” cries Ryu. (I’ve seen many lamprey eels in Nova Scotia rivers and, no, it doesn’t look like one at all to me!)

“So you’ve finally decided to show yourselves, you Galactor freaks!” says Ken, as Joe suddenly notices that Thundersaurus’s eyes are emitting the energy beams of animal insanity. The light fills the bridge and everyone reacts with pain and discomfort.

“This is what happened when I lost it,” says Ryu, clutching his head, “It was this light that did it!”

Ken is telling Ryu to get the God Phoenix away from the beams and Ryu tries, but then gasps “I can’t control the ship because of the strong magnetic field!”

Joe’s really angry now and he wants to fire a bird missile again, but Ken argues that the beams will just block the missile, and that they have to get closer to Thundersaurus and shoot it from behind.

Now Jinpei is succumbing to the beams. As Jun anxiously tells him to “get a hold of yourself,” she tells Ken to hurry up on firing that bird missile.





Joe’s ready. He tells Ryu to charge towards Thundersaurus, “Like we’re going to ram it,” and Ryu about to do just that but suddenly Jinpei, now clearly crazed, leaps at Joe and grabs onto him. Joe actually looks frightened, but then, Jinpei looks pretty damned creepy! (Not sure what animal he is, though.)





“Jinpei, what the hell are you doing?” he says, and then Ken looks over and realizes that Jinpei’s gone crazy. But Ken’s struggling too to resist the beams power. Meanwhile, Jinpei is still clinging to Joe, kicking him frantically with his legs and snarling gibberish, and Joe is exhibiting remarkable restraint here and just taking it, but it’s not helping him fire a bird missile…





“Joe, I’m afraid we don’t have a choice!” says Ken, still straining to not succumb, “Go ahead and sock it to him!”

So, Joe punches Jinpei in the head and sends him flying.






Jinpei’s head then hits the wall, and he slumps to the floor, unconscious.





Well, Joe, at least you had permission this time. The God Phoenix, still within the beams, flies quickly towards Thundersaurus and at the last minute, Ryu is able to duck under its head, out of the beams, and slip past Thundersaurus. Out of the beams, Joe fires a missile at one of its eyes (Ken’s instructions) and this time it hits and pierces Thundersauraus, and the goons (and the Captain) in its control room are most distressed to see it and begin to flee. But, the missile doesn’t explode –it just stays lodged in Thundersaurus’s eye.

Great job as usual, LB and Saturn!

Ah yes, the 'fists of healing' episode... it's amazing how Joe cna cure everyone just by belting them once or twice!

I agree, I think it's Joe hitting everyone that caused this to be bypassed for a BOTP episode, not to mention some of the unsettling 'animal' scenes.

It is interesting to note that we are now aware of a 'self-destruct' mechanism for the Crescent Base.

Is is just me, or in the beginning of this episode are Joe's pants *way* too high?

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I couldn't stop giggling all through this episode! Your comments were hilarious, LB and it also was quite an insane episode in itself! At least, Joe must have been more than happy to give all those punches without being corrected! And Jun saved the day ... go girl!

Thanks again LB and Saturn!

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To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!

LB, and Saturn your recap makes me want to watch this episode today. What I found that I was rather about is, where the bruises are after they get clobbered by Joe? Even Ken and Joe looked more beat up after they belted each other once or twice (in another episode).



TJ, your high water comment made me go look again, and yes his pants do seem a little too high.

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" No gratitude needs to be voiced, your mind speaks to us!"


Racer by day, Feather Thrower all the time!