lborgia88
Gatchamaniac
I am a Condor.
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 27-06-2007
Posts: 5991
|
|
| quote: | Originally posted by trideegurl2
except when we used to write our storues for Gatchaman, we wondered how anyone got to that base without the Phoenix.....
|
|
Me too. In ep. 76, "Bracelets Exposed," Joe ignores a summons from Dr. Nambu and stays to finish a race, rather than go with the others on the God Phoenix, and later he gets hit with the megaziner ray, but escapes. Next we see him, he's at the Crescent Base, with Dr. Nambu demanding to know where he was and telling Joe that the others have already gone. I always wondered how Joe got to the Crescent Base alone (I don't think his car goes under water!) or how he goes to rejoin the rest of the team after.
I assumed that there had to be submarines (like we saw in eps 91 and 92) from Utoland to the Crescent Base, or some kind of aircraft besides the God Phoenix that could transport a member of the team there.
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by lborgia88 on 19-03-2009 at 01:14.
|
|
19-03-2009 01:14
|
|
Barrdwing
Exalted Member
I am a Zark.
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 11-08-2008
Posts: 232
|
|
|
|
19-03-2009 02:54
|
|
meg
Boardie
I am a Swan.
Registration Date: 06-02-2008
Posts: 335
|
|
|
|
19-03-2009 11:34
|
|
tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
|
|
Hi all!
Crescent Coral Reef, the headquarters of the Science Ninja Team. Their "castle," as it is referred to when it is introduced in episode #8.
There isn't a lot in the way of official stats for it, and the series planning doesn't add much information on it, saying only this regarding it:
"The Headquarters of the "Science Ninja Team"
At one time, they used Dr. Nambu's seaside villa to hide from the eyes of Gallactor, but this is destroyed in Episode 3, "Dr. Nambu Assassination Plan."
After that, their base is established within a giant undersea combinant, an undersea city established for the sake of developing undersea resources."
Obviously, at the point in which this was written, the concept of Crescent Coral Reef was not well developed. It's interesting to note that the concept of the Ninja Team's headquarters being a "giant undersea combinant" is actually fairly close to what the decoy undersea facility used to fool Gallactor in episode #8 looked like. Perhaps that is where they got that notion from.
Despite being titled "The Secret of Crescent Coral Reef," and having the plot of the story centered around completing Crescent Coral Reef, one thing that the episode fails to do is really show the audience just what Crescent Coral Reef looks like. We see a couple of overhead shots of the coral reef, a couple of close-up shots of segments of the exterior of the facility, and a single interior shot from Nambu's Command Room, but no decent establishing shot of the whole structure.
Our first views of Crescent Coral Reef, showing almost nothing
For that, we have to wait until the God Phoenix launches in episode #9, and that shot raises the question of where exactly are they launching from?
Anyway, what else we do know about Crescent Coral Reef comes from the series itself. From that, we know that Crescent Coral Reef is the secret underwater base that was built by Dr. Nambu and the I.S.O. to act as the Science Ninja Team's Headquarters. It floated on the ocean surface, hidden under a camouflage crescent-shaped coral reef that was attached to the upper part of the base (Episode #8), which was where its name came from. It was sometimes referred to as "Crescent Base." It main source of power came from its atomic reactors.
It was mobile, moving by means of four rocket engines attached to its base, in order to keep its location secret from Gallactor. It takes several of the base personnel to operate these rockets (Episode #82).
The Rocket Control Room
Crescent Coral Reef contained the hangar for the God Phoenix (Episode #8). This hangar is located down a long corridor and fills with water after the Science Ninja Team had boarded the God Phoenix to allow it to launch.
Dr. Nambu also maintained a Command Room there (Episode #8, and others). His Command Room contained a desk
a large map on the wall
and a round window to view outside.
Dr. Nambu stored data for the Mantle Plan there (Episode #92).
Crescent Coral Reef also had a Standby Room for the Science Ninja Team to rest and relax in (Episode #9, among others).
Our first view of the Standby Room
Our last view of the Standby Room
There was also a Conference Room used for mission briefings. This Conference Room contained a projection system built into a desk to help Dr. Nambu illustrate his points (Episode #15, among others).
Also located within it were numerous rooms, including the following:
The various laboratories used by Dr. Nambu and I.S.O. engineers to conduct research (Episode #'s 15, 89, and 91, among others)
A conference room for representatives of the I.S.O. to meet (Episode #13)
A film laboratory (Episode #90)
A Communications Room (Episode #'s 9, 17, and numerous others)
At least two Computer Rooms (Episode #92)
The 2nd Computer Room
A medical facility (Episode #'s 20, 34)
And a hangar for the Small Transportation Mecha used by Dr. Nambu to transport his car to shore (Episode #84).
James
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by tatsunokofan on 19-03-2009 at 23:25.
|
|
|
19-03-2009 23:22
|
|
tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
|
|
Hi all!
Crescent Coral Reef contained equipment that could be used to work on the God Phoenix and the Ninja Team vehicles, whether this work ranged from simple maintenance (Episode #90),
to special modifications to the God Phoenix (Episode #'s 15, 22, and 42),
or even to rebuilding the Ninja Team vehicles from scratch (Episode #67).
The Super Bird Missiles used by the Science Ninja Team were also constructed there (Episode #93).
Crescent Coral Reef included a variety of security measures. These included security cameras mounted inside and outside the structure, with monitors inside Dr. Nambu's Command Room
and alarm buttons located inside the laboratories in case an intruder was spotted.
If anyone managed to sneak inside, they would have a difficult time leaving thanks to the bazookas mounted in the walls of the hangar bays (#91).
In an emergency, it was possible to jettison the coral reef camouflage.
There was an emergency submarine harbored inside it that could be used to evacuate the personnel if the destruction of Crescent Coral Reef was imminent (Episode #92).
The facility also contained a self-destruct switch if it needed to be destroyed (Episode #34).
Because of its importance to the Science Ninja Team and the I.S.O., Crescent Coral Reef was an obvious target for Gallactor. In fact, Gallactor launched several campaigns to locate and attack the facility (Episode #'s 61, 82, 89, and 91) before they finally succeeded in causing it irreparable damage, forcing the Science Ninja Team to destroy it in order to prevent the valuable data stored within from being captured by Gallactor (Episode #92).
While the destruction of Crescent Coral Reef was a cause for celebration among Gallactor, it came as a deep blow to the morale of the Science Ninja Team. Despite the loss, they managed to come back with even greater determination to defeat Gallactor as they went into the final days of their struggle against Berg Katse and his forces.
Annoyingly, virtually all of the rooms seen regularly inside Crescent Coral Reef changed their look and layout throughout the series, with no real consistency beyond maintaining a basic concept of what was in each room. Unlike locations such as the Snack Jun and X's control room, it does not appear that Tatsunoko ever did designs for places like Nambu's Command Room or the Ninja Team's Standy Room.
On the other hand, Tatsunoko did create a cutaway view of Crescent Coral Reef. This view was used as the basis for this image from the series:
The original cutaway view was reprinted (With color added) in the Gatchaman Fantastic TV Collection Volume 1 back in 1978. Here is is, with the labels translated for your convenience.
James
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by tatsunokofan on 19-03-2009 at 23:29.
|
|
|
19-03-2009 23:23
|
|
|
|
|
