Gatchaman episode 6: The Great Mini Robot Operation

Wow, I'm starting the thread this week...

The episode begins with a view of a bank, at night.




The narrator tells us that the World Bank controls the world's economy, and is kept under strict guard. However, don't expect to actually see any guards. We're shown an armored door of a vault. But, the floor near this vault begins to crack as something begins breaking through -a large, drill-shaped cylinder.





A door in the cylinder opens and we see two small robots inside it, one of whom approaches the vault door and fires a laser beam at it.





It must be a powerful laser indeed, as the door quickly melts and collapses.





The little robot stops its laser beam, and now we see that that the vault is filled with glowing gold bars -literally glowing! Now, a large mechanical arm extends from the cylinder into the vault and it begins to scoop up all the gold bars and drop them into the cylinder. "With the mini robots, called 'micros,'" the narrator informs us, "Galactor has made it their mission to attack the World Bank's vaults."





Now the scene changes to Ken, at his airfield, reading a book. Dr. Nambu contacts Ken on his bracelet, informs him that someone has broken into the World Bank and stolen all its gold bars, and instructs him to launch the God Phoenix. So, we get the recycled footage of Ken dashing to his plane (without closing his door!) and taking off.

Once well in the air, he transmutes and then we see the God Phoenix flying as well. So, we get the recycled footage of Ken docking his jet in the God Phoenix, and Jun, Jinpei and Joe (and why does he have to be so badly drawn here?) leaving their vehicles inside the God Phoenix to head for the bridge.

On screen in the bridge, Dr. Nambu delivers his exposition-of-the-week, namely that criminals are trying to throw the world's economy into chaos and also thwart "our plans for peace" by cutting off their funding from the World Bank, and that these criminals must be Galactor. Ken asks if there are any clues and Dr. Nambu tells him that a boat on watch detected the sound of a submarine heading for the Barelli Sea. Thus, their mission is to investigate all the islands in the Barelli Sea to see if one of them is Galactor's headquarters, or a base, and to recover the gold bars. Oh, and he prays for their success too.

With Dr. Nambu gone from the screen, Jun is concerned the mission will be hard, as there are more than 50 islands in the Barelli Sea, but Joe is confident it will be easy to "run them over with a fine tooth comb." Ryu sighs happily, "The Barelli Sea..." and says "beautiful blue water, white sandy beaches -I wouldn't mind taking a nice relaxing nap under a palm tree with a cutie too. Ah, that'd be better than cheese." (I love this line! But, in the subbed version, Ryu just says "Oh man, that would be awesome" so I guess it's ADV's humour that I'm appreciating here.)





Ken isn't at all impressed, and declares "We're not going for fun!" The God Phoenix flies on, and soon we see the islands of the Barelli Sea.





Next, Ken, Jun and Jinpei are walking, in a peculiar tip-toeing way, through the lush forest of one of the islands, in their civvies.





Jinpei is ready to leave and head for the next island, but Ken wants to look around some more. Naturally it is at that moment that they are suddenly surrounded by Galactor goons carrying guns. One goon demands to know what they're doing on the island, and Jun (as if being confronted in such a manner is quite the norm) says they are there on vacation. The goon isn't buying this, and he pushes the barrel of his gun close to her face. Ken doesn't like this one bit (aww, he cares about Jun!) and he grabs the gun and tosses it aside and launches himself at the goon. A kick to the head takes the goon down, but another just points his gun at Ken instead. But, having made his point (and with a slight smirk), Ken says "Whoa, I can't fight a machine gun" (but Ken, you just did!) and surrenders.





But, as the goon declares that he's taking them to "the Captain," Ken and Jun exchange cute winks.

Now we see the God Phoenix parked elsewhere in the forest. Inside, Joe is watching a screen that shows Ken, Jun and Jinpei with their hands in the air, being led away by goons.





"Doctor," Joe says into his bracelet, as Dr. Nambu appears on screen, "Everything went according to plan." Dr. Nambu is pleased, and tells Joe that he and Ryu are to recover the gold bars while Ken, Jun and Jinpei "distract the enemy," and then they are all to leave immediately. Joe is not pleased, and argues that this could be Galactor's headquarters, and that they should attack and destroy it before leaving. However, Dr. Nambu insists the Team's mission is only to find Galactor's headquarters, not to attack it. As soon as Dr. Nambu cuts out, Joe glares a true Condor glare and growls "Damn it!"




Then he adds "This is stupid!" and bangs his fist down on the back of Ryu's chair. (In the subbed version, Joe says "This is no fun!" which I really think might better reflect Joe's perspective!) This abruptly wakes a snoozing Ryu, who rightly asks Joe what's the matter, only to have Joe snap "Shut up, Ryu!" at him, rather nastily, to Ryu's dismay.

Next, we see a Galactor commander who looks just like the one from episode 5 (hey, didn't he die in that ep? Did he have a twin?).





He's questioning Ken, Jun and Jinpei, wanting to know how they even got to the island. He receives rather insolent replies of "We don't have to tell you jack," "How about you try to guess?" and "Yeah right, we swam here, old man!" from Ken, Jun and Jinpei respectively. However, it's Jinpei's reply that irks this commander the most, and he retorts that he's not an old man, but rather "the Captain of a Galactor Base!"

"A base..." thinks Ken, as the commander (I should probably call him "Captain" but I'm too accustomed to calling them all commanders...) instructs a goon to turn on the observation cameras to see "if they can find more of them."

All over the island, cameras begin popping out of secret compartments in trees, rocks and even underwater. However, the God Phoenix is no longer in the forest, but it is now underwater and clearly visible to the underwater camera.





You would think that a Galactor commander would recognize the God Phoenix, but it is only episode 6 so perhaps he hasn't received that memo yet. However, even though he doesn't know who the God Phoenix belongs to, he wants a goon to fire a missile at it. This alarms Ken, who thinks "Ryu!"

Now we cut to Joe walking along a rocky face beside the sea.





Joe sees a missile, clearly about to be fired, emerge from a door in the rock and he too thinks "Ryu!" but when he tries to contact him to warn him, Ryu is asleep and doesn't answer.





Meanwhile inside the base, Ken, Jun and Jinpei look on in horror as a goon begins targeting the missile to the God Phoenix's position.





Joe is continuing to try to get Ryu, yelling "Wake up you sleeping idiot!" into his bracelet. Finally he yells "There's a missile aimed right at you!" and Ryu wakes up just in time to hear this. "A missile?" gasps Ryu, just as we see the missile launch into the water and then detonate.








Inside the base, Ken, Jun and Jinpei are still horrified that Ryu might have been killed but the commander is smug. "We'll kill anyone who comes near this island. Micros, after them!"



Just then, the mini robots come into the base's control room. Ken stares and says, a bit unnecessarily, "Micros? They're miniature robots!"




The commander confirms that they are indeed miniature robots, but shouldn't be underestimated because they have "powerful, man-killing lasers," and he orders three micros to "take them all to the gas chamber and execute them!"

But, now we see a decidedly not-blown-up God Phoenix moving underwater. Yay, Ryu moved it just in time!

Now, we see a large cave that opens onto the sea, with a Galactor goon on guard, patrolling it. But, Joe is peering around the entrance to the cave.





As soon as the goon's back is turned, Joe jumps down into the cave and punches out the goon as he turns around in surprise, and the goon's gun falls into the water. Having dispatched the goon, Joe quickly looks around to verify there aren't any more before running deeper into the cave...

Joe heads straight through the door, but inside is a room, with a second door to the vault at the far end.

[Saturn: "Joe is taking the stairs to go to the vault. At first, I wondered why Galactor needs to have stairs but after I realized that hundreds of gold bars are definitely tremendously heavy and having stairs discourages robbery. I mean, who in their right mind would want to carry all those bars while taking the stairs? Genius, Galactor, just pure genius."]




At the second door, Joe thinks "That must be where the gold is," and he attaches a drill bit to his cable gun, and beging drilling.


[Saturn: Joe uses his drill attachment to drill the vault's main door. I am just wondering where exactly he puts all of his cable gun's attachments in his bird suit. "]



Meanwhile, back to Ken, Jun and Jinpei. We see Ken leaping through the air, evading a hail of gunfire, and then he and Jun take down more goons with blows wihile Jinpei uses his bolas.

Back to Joe, he has somehow completely cut out a huge hole in a several-inches-thick metal door, with only a drill bit. But, he finds the gold inside.


[Saturn: "Joe is finally able to get into the vault and retrieve the gold bars (complete with all the sickening shine and glittery sounds). Have people in Tatsunoko ever heard the saying 'all that is gold does not glitter' and do they know that gold bars don't actually make any glittery sounds?"]




Meanwhile, the God Phoenix moves underwater and surfaces inside a docking bay inside the Galactor base. We see Joe appear and he runs onto the dome and enters the God Phoenix as the narrator explains that it was Dr. Nambu's orders that Joe and Ryu get the gold while the others distracted Galactor. Joe's car is lowered from the nose of the God Phoenix, and Joe drives it into the base.


[Saturn: "The God Phoenix arrives and Joe takes the G2 to retrieve all the gold bars (as if the G2 could accomodate all the hundreds of gold bars. There will be lots of backtracking, Joe!"]





Back with Ken, Jun and Jinpei, they're still fighting (or "distracting") goons. Jun seems to hurt her leg and gives a cry of pain, which immediately draws Ken's attention (aw, he cares!) and he gets in front of her, asking if she's okay. "I'm alright," she says. That all cleared up, they continue fighting.


[Saturn: "Back with the trio and Galactor goons, a stumbling Jun is protected by Ken from... INVISIBLE GOONS? I mean, judding by the shooting direction, Ken does not actually face whoever keeps shooting at them, and can the shooters please check their eyes too, because they miss every part of Ken's body -who by the way, is standing like a King Kong trying to protect his mate."]




[Saturn: "Ken (in the middle of an intimate conversation with one lucky goon) gets a call from Joe, saying that he is done with all the gold bars and Ken (definitely annoyed to be disturbed, judging from his facial expression) confirms that they are going to leave soon too."]




The Galactor commander, seeing that the fight isn't going well for him, yells "release the micros!"


[Saturn: "Knowing that the SNT is going to leave, the Galactor captain comes out with his most powerful hidden weapons, more of the mini robots, which left me wondering why the captain waited until the last minute to let the mini robots out. Those stupid goons would appreciate all the help beforehand."]



Instead of immediately firing their lasers, the micros merely walk towards the Science Ninjas, giving them time to assemble their tornado fighter (minus the bottom layer).


[Saturn: No problems for the trio. They are going to perform the trionado, ahem, tornado fighter."]



This, apparently, blows the micros away, but not the heavier goons or commander. So, Ken throws his birdrang and takes down several goons in one sweep before all three Science Ninjas run away.

Next, Katse's face is on a screen before the cowering commander. "You imbecile! You underestimated the Science Ninja Team." The commander apologizes and Katse orders him to transport all the gold to Galactor's headquarters immediately.


[Saturn: "The trio wins and gets away. Later, Katse blasts the captain for letting the SNT get away. The captain must be so scared that he is covered in sweat, which might expain his missing glove."]



We now see the God Phoenix moving undersea, having left the base behind. On board, the Team is laughing in triumph and Joe is standing beside a stack of cases that, presumably, contain the gold.


[Saturn: "The team celebrates their victory in the God Phoenix, all silently hoping that each of them will get some share from the retrieved gold bars. "]



But the gloating is interrupted when Ryu calls their attention to a Galactor submarine.


[Saturn: "A very sleepy looking Ryu (but apparently still very observant) reports to Ken that he sees a submarine."]




"They must be looking for us!" exclaims Jinpei.

"Alright, Galactor scum, here comes a Condor special," thinks Joe and he goes for the shiny red button, as usual. Also as usual, Ken stops him, reminding him that they can't use bird missiles without permission. "I know, I know," says Joe, "I'm sick of hearing you say it!" (heh, me too!) and he fires a missile anyway. "He did it?" says Ken, strangely surprised.


[Saturn: "The usual fight between Ken and Joe ensues, which might explain Joe's poor marksmanship. The environmentalists will not be happy to see all those coral reefs destroyed for nothing, oh dear."]




Somehow, Joe misses the submarine completely!

But the commander on board the submarine realizes the Science Ninja Team is after him and he assumes they must be after the gold bars (ooh, something's up here!) He gives the order to surface, fast!



[Saturn: "The Galactor captain freaks out when he knows that the God Phoenix is after him, so he instructs his mini robot to push a button to speed to the surface. At first I wondered why he doesn't push the button but then I remembered that the doesn't wear his gloves anymore, and being a Michael Jackson type (proven by his fashion sense too) he will not touch anything without wearing gloves."]



We see structural beams, inside the submarine, straining as the commander nervously orders the submarine to surface still faster, lest he be executed if he loses the gold to the Science Ninja Team. But, the beams break, cases fall to the floor of the submarine and break open. Gold bars spill out, falling on the floor, and many of them break apart too, revealing decidedly non-gold interior. The commander is appalled to realize they're fake.


[Saturn: "The sub goes to the surface, which causes cases to fall and break, and only by then does the captain realize that all the bars are just gold plated bars."]





Berg katse appears on screen, and tells the commander that, as the commander has failed, he is ordering a micro to press its self destruct button. The commander pleads for forgiveness, to no avail.

[Saturn: Seeing that the captain has failed in his mission, Katse instructs one of the mini robots to activate its self destruct switch (which is located in its chest, of all places). Perhaps for someone who has a fetish for robots, this scene will be as erotic as a scene where a human female takes off her bra and shows her nipple. "]



The micro complies, and the sub explodes spectacularly.


[Saturn: "The sub explodes, much to the horror of the team. Ryu seems to be very happy though, perhaps he thinks that he can finally go back to sleep now, hehe."]




On board the God Phoenix, everyone goes "ohhh!" as they see the explosion. Strangely, no one comments on either why Joe's missile missed, or why the sub just exploded now.

They break the surface and fly through the air, as the entire island that contained the Galactor base also explodes.


[Saturn: "To annoy the environmentalists even more, we later see that the island is destroyed too."]


"Our mission is complete," says Ken, "Let's boogie!" (Hee!) So, no discussion either of why or how the island and the base just exploded -they must be on to the fact that all failed Galactor commanders and bases get destroyed by Galactor!



[Saturn: "But not to worry, to make amends with all the environmentalists that have been sending death threats to Tatsunoko, we later see shots of other beautiful, intact islands, as if Tatsunoko is saying 'all is well that ends well.'"]



The God Phoenix flies over the remaining islands, and off into a lovely sunset.

In the ADV commentary they say that the fake gold bars should have been filled with chocolate, so it wouldn't have been all bad for the Galactor Captain. I agree! Katse might have let him live if he'd been bringing back bars of chocolate!

This was a great recap, LB, and thanks Saturn and Shamrokchick for the screencaps!

Does the whole 'stealing gold' plot remind anyone of the movie Goldfinger? That might account for the 'James Bond style' introductions.

And I have to say this, because I was recently watching the 'fake Red Impulse' episode (I think it's episode 60). In that episode, the SNT are behind bars, trapped by Katse, and Joe takes FOREVER to drill through one teeny metal bar with his cablegun attachment. Yet in this episode he drilled through a HUGE, thick hole? I guess Galactor improves their steel/metal strength in base construction in later episodes!

Or perhaps Joe just used his drill bit so much in these episodes that it needed sharpening in that later episode.

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quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun In the ADV commentary they say that the fake gold bars should have been filled with chocolate, so it wouldn't have been all bad for the Galactor Captain. I agree! Katse might have let him live if he'd been bringing back bars of chocolate! This was a great recap, LB, and thanks Saturn and Shamrokchick for the screencaps! And I have to say this, because I was recently watching the 'fake Red Impulse' episode (I think it's episode 60). In that episode, the SNT are behind bars, trapped by Katse, and Joe takes FOREVER to drill through one teeny metal bar with his cablegun attachment. Yet in this episode he drilled through a HUGE, thick hole? I guess Galactor improves their steel/metal strength in base construction in later episodes! Or perhaps Joe just used his drill bit so much in these episodes that it needed sharpening in that later episode.

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Sorry it's late ..... Here's the BotP breakdown...

SJ


...

The whole universe knows of the existence of Centre Neptune, but onlya priveleged few know of its location.

Oh he knows what we're thinking: He's in there 24/7, wearing his smart G-Force uniform surrounded by the latest in technology and we say to ourselves "That's living. How do I get to be a Zark?" Well don't envy him because it's not all that it seems.

Off to the FOSDIC he flies ... He can easily zip to anywhere in a flash (uh, not really if he insists on using the cape all the time) but only within the room....

Oh but what is so wrong? Worries, my friends. Antenna curling worries. Always trying to keep one step ahead of Spectra... It's enough to ...

oh I can't be bothered repeating it...

Just know that he is blowing his own horn, yet whining at the same time.

Apparently G-Force has it easy compared to him...

The latest technology seems to be failing him somewhat because the screen won't show him what the problem is now.

But he knows that Spectra is about to rob a bank.

Spectra won't rob just any bank... No ... this bank is special, although it looks like a bank -- that's the security. This bank is where all the intergalactic federation gold is held. Gold that keeps the economy stable, so yes, this is where Spectra will strike.

Enter the little robots and their evil illegal activities.

They steal all the gold...

Gosh I love this music.

Zark calls an emergency code red to Mark and tells him to use any available means to get to the Phoenix.

Mark is all "Big Ten, Zark." And then obviously takes the plane ... Zark should know Mark has the plane ... He is all knowing after all. So why tell him to use any means???? A choice for the Commander of G-Force.

I wonder if all the team are so lucky as to choose... If they were, they were all good and opted to use their G-vehicles.

Anderson tells them that Spectra used underwater means to ram the bank's vaults. Even though it was built to be far from the water, some of it is still visible... That part is the vault. Confused? Yeah so am I ... but I'm also sick so...yeah.

Mark asks if they have a lead yet, and of course they do -- a good one. There is a sonar report of a submarine heading for the Paya Archipelago (Yes I spelled it wrong, but I don't have a script here, so go with my phonetics, okay?)

Oh but Mark is thorough. He queries as to previous Spectran movement in the area, to which Anderson claims there hasn't been before that night, but there has been since. Spectra must have just moved in. Hang on. Just how much time has elapsed here and why did they wait so long to pull the G-Team in?

Their assignment is for them to snoop and look for evidence of a base, but their #1 concern is the gold. The Federation wants every piece of gold back -- which means no stealy by Eagles wanting to make jewelry for swans.

Princess thinks Anderson makes it all sound so easy but he doesn't know the archipelago has over fifty islands in it.

Jason says it's easy, just look for an island with recently disturbed trees ... Tiny chirps in that they should look for girls in grass shirts too.

Oh the last time he was in the south seas there was this native girl that did a hula in the moonlight under a palm tree just for him ....

And did she come on .... ooohhh did she come on. am so trying to work that out without it being smutty

Mark tells Tiny to close his scrap book and take them to the archipelago.

Princess asks if there have been any disturbed trees, but Tiny says no. Not even a hula skirt...

But all of a sudden we see Mark, Prin and Keyop walking civilian through the jungle. Princess asks just how many islands have they looked at to which Keyop broops that he lost count after a million.

Mark quips that "It's always the last one."

And indeed it is

Enter goons, who ask who they are.

Princess says they're just browsing, looking for a home in the country -- Oh she wishes.

But ... but ... but, what?? Huh? Did we miss something? Now they're in custody -- Apparently the plan (there as a plan???) is for Mark to stall them by being captured while Jase and Tiny search for the gold. Jase thinks they should go in there and surprise them, but Anderson thinks they may lose some of the gold -- or maybe a birdie.

Jason insists, though. But Anderson reminds him that the gold is the first priority and he isn't to forget that.

Something tells me that Jason views his team as first priority, though...

HAHA The CotW sounds suspiciously like the G-Force Commander -- I KNEW he was looking for extra funds for a ring for Swannie -- and asks who sent them.

Mark explains that they've already told them. Princess asks if the commander wants them to lie..

And I stand here confused. So Princess said something whimsically stupid when they were first approached, that was an obvious line of bullshit even a deaf man could have heard. Is Mark really thinking to stick with that? Or was there a discussion that we missed out on? Is my copy of the Rhino DVD missing something vital to the plot???


Oh, but Keyop claims that they are part of a hangglider club.. Yuh huh...

The CotW then informs the trio that they are addressing the Commander of the base and must therefore show some respect! Now they will do a scan and see if they can find any more intruders.

Perhaps Mark should snidely inform CotW that he is dealing with the Commander of G-Force and must therefore show him some level of respect -- but that would hardly be distracting now, would it??

We see some hidden camera's pop out of hidden areas of the island that would make the Viet Cong jealous Only i would get the reference there I think.. But we see nothing until camera #4 ... which shows the tail fins of the Phoenix!!

Mark says "Oh no, trouble."

We flash to Jason sneaking around a cave. He sees a missile appear from over his head and realization strikes -- the Phoenix!!

Back to the command deck in the base. The trio gasp in horror as the missile fires.

The missile explodes...

The Commander chuckles and says "So that was your transportation -- never mind, you weren't going anywhere anyway."

In walk the mini-robots. "Don't let their size lull you into overconfidence," he warns "They are among the most lethal cerebal (huh?) mechanisms in Spectra's arsenal." He then orders the robots to take the "spies" to the observation room.

We then fash to the Phoenix -- she's OKAY!!

Then to Jason and the cave. He snoops. He watches. He waits until the guard has passed and swoops down and sneaks in to the base.

It is obvious here that there is a scene snipped to rid it of violence...It is very disjointed.


Now we return to Centre Neptune and a worried Zark. He asks us if we'd still like to be like him -- like a Zark.

Oh I never suggested I wanted to be like him ... did you?

He is claiming that his best friends -- his only friends are in the clutches of those feindish Spectrans. That
would mess up your whoosit whatzit thingie whatever, wouldn't it... (I've rolled back about three times to work out the myriad of technical words, but couldn't quite remember them all, so you got my version.)

He wipes at the screen and wonders about Tiny and whether or not the Phoenix was deep wnough to protect it from the missile blast... He then abruptly changes the subject as he is wiping the screen and says "It's so hard to get someone to clean the high windows these days."

Obviously his entire focus is on the mission and the safety of the team, eh...

But ... Zark is also worried about Jason. Jase ran in to that underground cave and now Zark has no idea what he's up to. Why oh why can't he reach them? Anybody, why can't he reach anybody?

Flash to Zoltar. He explains to the Luminous one that the gold is safe on the archipelago. But the Luminous one is not so eager to believe that. Until the gold is on Spectra it will never be safe. If even one bar of that gold goes missing -- the man responsible will be required to activate his self destruct mechanism!!

Oh harsh!! I love this guy!!

The captured trio are led down to the cellar? They see a door and Keyop suggests that it might be where the gold is. Mark agrees so KEyop asks if Mark has any ideas. The Commander simply says "transmute!"

And so they do and destroy all the robots.

The CotW runs down the stairs, see them all in birdstyle glory and proves that he never read the Spectran Intel on their foes by asking "Who are you?"

Mark gets all shifty cute and looks over his winged shoulder "We're Galaxy Security."

Princess adds "We're G-Force."

Keyop asks "Have you heard of us?"

CotW points at them "After them, sound the alarms!"

But there's no fight, just a bunch of goons running down the corridor.

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Sighhh

Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.

Great summary, LB and thanks to Shamrokchick for the wonderful screencaps and SJ for the BOTP summary

I just want to add that in the first part of this episode, when the Narrator starts this episode by saying that The World Bank is the center of the economy, bla bla bla, however we can clearly see that the name of the bank (which suspiciously looks like it is modeled after The White House) is actually "Inte.national Bank" .
I guess the animators omitted the "R" to spare me, (who like most Asians, cannot pronounce "R" easily) the torture of rolling my tongue,



This might seem irrellevant, but since one of the subject that I teach in colleges is Macroeconomics (Yes, I am THAT boring), I just want to add that there is indeed a real World Bank, which is made up of IBRD & IDA. However, unlike what is portrayed here that the World Bank seems to function like a normal Bank (with facilities for Current Accounts, Certificates of Deposits, etc) , the real World Bank is actually more like an institution that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries (like my country, ) . The real World Bank definitely does not have counters to help people to open up Bank Accounts,



Well, in the end, who really cares anyway? I will always enjoy Gatchaman with all my heart,

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