tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
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Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
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Hi all!
Well, as Heather mentioned, things have been a bit busy lately, but I finally had a little time to spare to delve into Dr. Pandora.
Dr. Pandora is definitely a more difficult character to get detailed information on. As was speculated earlier in this thread, Pandora was not a character who was created for the series when it began, but was one that was added as the series was in production. For a major character like her, this is quite unusual, but there's a reason for it.
You see, when Gatchaman II was first being plotted out, it was only intended to run for 26 episodes. Then, when the series was being broadcast, it had the good fortune of being a winner in the ratings, making Fuji TV happy, and the Gatchaman II merchandise sold well, making the sponsors happy. As a result, it was decided to extend the run of the series, which I would assume made Tatsunoko happy.
This extension did present a problem, though. The sequence of events planned for a 26 episode series didn't necessarily provide enough material for a good 52 episode series. So, the studio took another look at things and made some modifications to rectify this situation. One of those modifications was the addition of a new character, Dr. Pandora.
Along with her creation, they also added the element of Pandora's connection to Gel Sadra. As originally conceived, Gel Sadra wouldn't have ever had any contact with her past life. By making Pandora her mother, something known to the staff but wasn't revealed until episode #50 of the series, this allowed them to add an element of mystery through the mental connection felt between Pandora and Sadra whenever they were in close proximity to each other. Though, to be honest, this element is ignored for quite a while after Pandora's first appearance in episode #26. The next time it comes into play is in episode #38. One possible explanation for this may be that the episodes between those two points were almost all written by Yu Yamamoto and Hirohisa Soda. While these gentlemen were certainly talented enough, the majority of the "key" episodes of the series were written by Jinzo Toriumi and Satoshi Suyama, who had previously done the same for the first Gatchaman series. These two gentlemen wrote all but two of the episodes from episode #38 (With the return of Pandora's link to Sadra) through the end of the series (For those who care, the two episode they didn't write were #39, written by Yu Yamamoto, and Pandora's farewell in #50, written by another first series writing veteran, Akiyoshi Sakai).
Along with the changes involved by adding Pandora to the mix, the series also needed to tie up some loose ends that were hanging around from the earlier planning, but were no longer needed with the new direction they were taking the story. The most obvious one of these was the entire "Joe, the Secret Cyborg" storyline. As originally intended, Jun would have been the first to uncover Joe's secret (Revealing the truth to viewers at the same time). This would likely have happened with the events of episode #16, had the direction for the series not been undergoing some changes. While Jun would have kept Joe's secret, Dr. Raphael would have later revealed the truth to everyone else, just before the build-up to the series conclusion. So, the studio took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by introducing Pandora into the series and having her reveal to everyone that Joe was a cyborg.
I know some people don't care for her revealing Joe's secret, but going strictly from the Japanese version, it's obvious that this was done without malice. For Pandora, it was simply commenting on something that was so painfully obvious that she wouldn't have thought that the others were unaware of it. It would be like you or I making a comment about the sky being blue and only then discovering that the people you were speaking to had never noticed this detail. So, I wouldn't be too hard on her about it. Besides, she was just being used as a means to an end desired by the writers.
As for what information we have regarding her, the show itself doesn't provide a whole lot. We know from what Dr. Nambu says when she's introduced that she has knowledge in a variety of sciences, with a specialty in robotics and cybernetics (Episode #26). She used these skills to create such devices as the Shin-Radar (Which, in Japanese, would be phonetically transliterated into "shinreda," and is a combination of the words "shinrei," meaning spirit or soul, and "reda," which is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "radar"), which allowed people to use mental power to create energy beings from their imaginations (Episode #27), and the Brainwave Deciphering System, which allowed humans to communicate with animals (Episode #40).
She had a deep concern regarding the strange mental flashes she experienced with Gel Sadra, allowing both to know where the other was and what they were doing (Episode #'s 26, 38, 42, 48). It is this concern that led to her insisting on accompanying Joe when he went to Dragon Island (#38), and to her sneaking alone into the observatory owned by Richman III (Episode #42).
Prior to her appearance on the series, she was married to Domenico Pandora, a robotics technician for the I.S.O.. The couple had a 3-year-old daughter, Sami. Roughly six months before her first appearance, she and her family were on the cruise ship that was sank by Governor X when he returned to Earth, killing Domenico. Dr. Pandora had thought that Sami had perished as well, but as she found out on the one year anniversary of the sinking of the ship, Sami had survived and been changed by Governor X into Gel Sadra. Governor X hoped to use the bond between mother and daughter to sway Dr. Pandora to Gallactor's side. When this didn't work, X had her executed (Episode #50). It was during this same episode that we found out that Dr. Pandora's first name was Silvie.
When Dr. Pandora was first introduced, her addition to the series was mentioned as part of articles on Gatchaman II in both the Tatsunoko-produced Tatsunoko Fan Club News and an article in the May, 1979 issue of Animage.
The Tatsunoko Fan Club News write-up included a few stats for her that never appeared elsewhere. According to what they printed there, she is approximately 21~23 years of age. She is 168cm tall (5', 6"), and weighs 47kg (104 lbs). Her measurements are Bust: 88cm (34 3/4"), Waist: 58cm (22 3/4"), and Hips: 92cm (35 1/4").
The Animage article featured the following comment from Gatchaman II's Chief Director, Hiroshi Sasagawa:
"The original idea for Dr. Pandora, when Part II was announced, a fan in Osaka asked if Dr. Nambu could be given a private secretary. And, rather than simply putting her in, she will be given an important role, even though she appears after two segments have passed.
For the establishment of Dr. Pandora, she is a woman with vast knowledge, including speaking many languages, physics, chemistry, as well as medicine and robotic engineering, and even literature and history. She is even supposed to possess extrasensory perception. Her name is taken from one of the foremost female names in Greek mythology. Concerning her face and style, it was decided upon by the entire staff. (Laughs)"
The reference to "two segments" having passed is in reference to the production of the series being broken into segments that ran roughly 13 episodes each. Dr. Pandora's appearance in episode #26 (And the end of the Secret Cyborg Joe storyline) marked the beginning of the third segment in the production run.
It is thought that the unnamed fan who suggested a private secretary for Nambu was the President of the now-defunct Osaka-based Dr. Nambu Fan Club.
That same Animage article also included two images of Dr. Pandora. One of these was an early design image of Pandora wearing the outfit she eventually wore in episode #42, only colored in shades of pink instead of the black and purple it was colored in #42.
By the way, you might be interested to know that Miyuki Ueda, the actress who provided the voice for Dr. Pandora, is now married to Isao Sasaki, the voice of Joe, the Condor. The two first met when Ms. Ueda was a guest actress on Gatchaman II, playing Cathy in Gatchaman II #13, and married on February 1, 1981.
I hope this helps!
James
This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by tatsunokofan on 19-09-2008 at 22:02.
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19-09-2008 21:57
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Transmute Jun
Queen of the Bird Missiles
I am a Swan.
40 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 04-04-2007
Posts: 20978
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21-09-2008 17:26
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I can just hear it now...Mr. Sasaki sees Ms. Ueada walking down the aisle, gets all misty eyed, and shouts, "KASHIIII!" One more time just for Old Time's sake...LOL (For those of you who haven't heard him in the infamous "Cathy" episode, it sounds like he is wailing, "KASHIII!" in that deep voice of his...) TJ, CD and I were cracking up at it this summer...poor Joe...
at Springie's description of the bride coming down the aisle and the groom yelling out 'Kaaaassssshhhhhheeeeeeee'! 