Hail to the Gatchaman Base!

This week is our final 'Honoree of the Week' before we begin the 'Episodes of the Week' discussions next week. And this week, we are remembering the Gatchaman Base.

Gatchaman Base was the name of the Science Ninja Team's Base during the Gatchaman Fighter series. Yes, it's hardly an inventive name, but at least it's better than G-Spot... uh... G-Town.

Gatchaman Base is the only Ninja Team Base to be above ground. In fact, Gatchaman Base was built inside of a mountain and underground. This base housed the individual parts of the Gatchaspartan and was a command base for the Science Ninja Team, among other things.

A formal briefing with Nambu and Kamo. Nambu is participating remotely, as his new duties (replacing Director Anderson, who died toward the end of Gatchaman II) often kept him away.



The Gatchaman base had control rooms, like this one:



And even a communications station with a CB radio. (10-4 good buddy. This is Eagle Ken, a BTO breakin' the ol' needle.)

(Okay, I had to throw this in: did you know that the CB slang for a 'VIP CB'er' is 'Ace'? I kid you not...)



The Gatchaspartan launched in pieces from the top/side of the base. The Science Ninja Team had to take special elevators to get to their vehicles.





It seems that Joe and Jun switched vehicle positions after awhile.

And this is the 'runway' where the pieces of the Gatchaspartan would launch.



Unfortunately I don't have screencaps of this, but the Gatchaman Base was destroyed toward the end of the Gatchaman Fighter series. Count Egobossler placed a nurse spy at ISO Headquarters who spilled water on Ken 'accidentally'. The water contained a sparkling tracking dust. When Ken returned to Gatchaman Base, Ego was able to track him. He sent out signals of a false emergency away from the base to lure the Science Ninja Team away, then attacked with everything he had, destroying the base, and even capturing Dr. Nambu in the process.

So I guess in those last few episodes of Gatchaman Fighter, they had to dock at ISO Headquarters, or maybe back at the old G-Town...

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Thanks Boeke! Those are some great shots of the Base's destruction!

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This is great. Thank you for the information and screen shots.
I am looking forward to the info. James will be adding as well.

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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Hi all!

A couple quick notes and corrections.

The "Kamo holds an informal briefing at Gatchaman Base" photo was not at Gatchaman Base. This footage was taken from Gatchaman Fighter #47, and any effort to make it appear to be inside Gatchaman Base is the result of Eagle Riders' penchant for using footage from otherwise unused episodes to fill time.

The same also applies to the photo captioned "There was also a medical center at the Gatchaman Base, where Ken was treated (many times) for Hypershoot illness." This scene was taken from Gatchaman Fighter #46. Only once was Ken receiving any sort of examination regarding his cellular disruption at Gatchaman Base, in episode #38. All other treatments and examinations were done at other I.S.O. locations.

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Hi all!

The third and final secret base used by the Science Ninja Team. Of all of their bases, Gatchaman Base really is the one with the least to say about it. Regardless, let's start with what little we learn about it from the series Planning Establishment. In it, there are only three references to the facility.


Art Establishment drawing if Gatchaman Base

The first, in the section giving the basic story premise, it says, "As before, to make their independent actions possible, a Gatchaman Base has been made from a submergible aircraft carrier, where all of the Science Ninja Team live."



Then, in the section describing the main cast, we get a mention of it in Kens portion, where it states, "Moving into the new Gatchaman Base, he leads the rest of the Ninja Team."

Lastly, in Kamo's portion, it says, "Under the authority of the ISO's Nambu, he has been placed as the Chief Engineer for the new 'Gatchaman Base.'"

From this, we can tell that Tatsunoko had originally intended for Gatchaman Base to continue the trend of being an undersea base, but somewhere along the line it was decided to move it inside a gigantic cave hidden inside a seaside cliff.





Regardless, the overall look of Gatchaman Base is meant to give overall the impression of an aircraft carrier, even though to was in an immobile land-based location.

The information we gain from Ken and Kamo's descriptions did carry through intact, as Kamo was indeed in charge of Gatchaman Base, and Ken, along with the rest of the Science Ninja Team, did move into Gatchaman Base as their home for the majority of the series.

When the series was airing, very little appeared in books and magazines regarding Gatchaman Base, as most of the attention was devoted to the G-Mecha, the Gatcha Spartan, or the new Ninja Team weapons. One of the few decent descriptions for it that I found was in the Gatchaman Fighter volume of the Perfect Memoir book series, where they described it as, "The new secret base of Gatchaman and the others, it is located in a deep large cavern inside a coastal cavern. When they receive news of the appearance of an Iron Beast mecha, the rocks making up the cliff slide apart, and the Gatcha-Mecha launch from this opening. The shape of Gatchaman Base is meant to resemble that of a gigantic aircraft carrier. When the 5 Gatcha Mecha launch, they rushing down the 5 step-like runways."

All accurate, even though it really doesn't tell us a whole lot. So, for any other information, we have to look at the series itself to see what we can learn.



Gatchaman Base is was built inside a cave located in the northern part of Irope (Episode #41).







The Science Ninja Team was unaware of Gatchaman Base until they were taken there by Kamo. Once there, Kamo took the Ninja team to a Computer Room and gave them a quick introduction to their new vehicles and weapons, and the Science Ninja Team was off to battle Egobossler and his forces (Episode #2).

For such a large facility, we only see a small portion of Gatchaman Base.








For the most part, we only saw two areas inside the structure. One of these is the Command Room, to which Director Nambu communicates with the Science Ninja Team and most of the data regarding their activities are coordinated. It is here that the majority of the scenes inside Gatchaman base took place (Episode #'s 4 and up).


Art Establishment drawing of the Command Room








The latest in computer technology in evident in the Command Room...



The equipment in the Command Room can also be used to tap into the signals from I.S.O. satellites, allowing them to take a detailed look at various stellar objects (Episode #22).



This room also houses radio equipment (Episode #7).









The second part of Gatchaman Base that we see a lot of is the hangar for the G-Mecha, as well as their runways.


Art Establishment drawing of the Hangar























Their vehicles are reached via elevator platforms that are accessed from the Command Room.







This area was seen mostly in the stock footage of the G-Mecha launching (Episode #'s 2 and up).









James

Hi all!

Gatchaman Base had several means of security, the most obvious being the wall of rock covering the cave entrance (Episode #2).


Art Establishment drawing of the open cave















It is also possible for the entire structure to be raised or lowered inside the cave, by means of the large pole that supports it from beneath (Episode #6).



Anyone approaching the facility must pass a voice analysis before they are allowed to land there (Episode #10).











When attacked, Gatchaman Base can defend itself by means of gun emplacements built into the wall of the cliff around it (Episode #41).



Gatchaman Base itself also has a missile launcher mounted on the top of it's tower (Episode #41).





If all these defenses should fail, there is an escape tunnel that can be used as a last-ditch means to evacuate (Episode #41).





The greatest defense Gatchaman Base had was that its location was kept secret. However, this didn't stop Gallactor from trying to destroy it. On one occasion, Gallactor placed Director Nambu under a form of mind control with orders to destroy Gatchaman Base (Episode #10).











Later, Gallactor managed to sneak a traceable chemical onto Ken, and the Ninja Team Leader unwittingly led Gallactor to the hidden location of Gatchaman Base. When the Science Ninja Team was away, Egobossler attacked with the Iron Beast Missiler, and succeeded in destroying Gatchaman Base.



























I hope this helps a little in understanding more about Gatchaman Base!

James

Hi all!

James, you said that there was nothing to say about the Gatchaman Base, but then you have all of these incredible posts with the most awesome screenshots!

I think this is your best presentation yet!

I had no idea that the base raised and lowered on the pole, although it makes a lot of sense.

I too thought it was amusing that the guys were all missing their targets in the shooting range, but I can see why the writers/animators did that.... I wonder if the Condor took a shot at them later, for showing him with such poor aim.

I'm curious... why are Ken, Joe and Jun so startled to be woken up in their quarters? Was there an emergency call?

I'm still surprised that they didn't have medical facilities on the base, but I guess since Nambu was officially Ken's doctor, the facilites had to be closer to Nambu's work location.

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Hi all!