Gatchaman episode 10: "The Great Underground Monster War"

Gatchaman Episode 10: "The Great Underground Monster War"

BOTP Episode: "A Swarm of Robot Ants"


"The Great Underground Monster War" is the title of this episode, though I rarely remember that, always thinking of it as "that episode with the ants."

"The city is sullied by smog during the day, but at night the neon lights glow and it becomes a quiet and beautiful place," says the narrator as we see Utoland at night and serene music plays. However, it isn't quiet everywhere -"a party is being held over at Jun's Joint." Now we cut to the Snack J, where Jun and a crowd of young people are all dancing in an interesting style that incorporates a lot of undulating and gesticulating, as the narrator tells us that Jun and Jinpei are enjoying a rare opportunity to "dance up a storm."





No explanation is forthcoming as to why Ken, Joe and Ryu aren't at this party -but then, I don't think I could cope with seeing Joe dancing the way the others here are dancing. At any rate, it's nice to see Jun and Jinpei laughing and having fun.







But of course at that very moment the lights flicker and then all go out.







Now, it has been my experience that in such situations, people go "ooh" and stand around calmly, waiting to see if the power will come back on soon. However here, a young woman screams for no apparent reason, a drink is dropped and smashes on the floor, and everyone runs, flailing in panic, to get out of the building. Are they all on LSD? That would also explain the dancing...





Poor Jinpei gets knocked down and stomped on by several people, but he and Jun locate each other in the dark and they at least are behaving rationally.

Now we see the dark streets of Utoland, where a total blackout seems to have occured. We are shown an intersection where half a dozen cars have all collided, and more cars careen, tires squealing, and smash into each other.





What is wrong with all these Utoland people? They still have functioning headlights on their cars, and doesn't everyone know that an intersection becomes a four-way stop if the traffic lights aren't functioning? Sheesh.

But, like Jun and Jinpei, Joe is immune to the insanity afflicting everyone else in Utoland, and as he approaches an intersection clogged with wrecked and burning cars he actually comprehends the situation and then stops his car.





Next we are shown the airport, where pilots seem to be reacting similarly to the dancers and the drivers. A plane lands in the dark and immediately smashes into another plane on the ground and they both explode into flames. At least one person in the ATC tower has the sense to tell all planes in the air to "stand by," and not to land.




Now we see Ken flying his plane, surprised that even the airport has lost all power. He wonders if something has happened at the power plant.





Naturally, we next see the power plant in question.





It's being invaded by hordes of ants that can spit some substance that instantly burns holes through any barrier they encounter.





A warning alarm sounds as the ants overwhelm the entire complex, chewing through electric cables, and swarming the main nuclear reactor.





Still in his plane, Ken is contacted by Dr. Nambu, who tells him to "assemble everyone immediately."





Then we see Joe, still in his car, being instructed to "move out" by Dr. Nambu.





Jun and Jinpei, still in the midst of the rout at the Snack J, receive similar orders. Jun zooms down the street on her bike just as Jinpei leaps onto its back. Wait -where's his vehicle?





We see Ken's jet docking with the God Phoenix, and then on the bridge, Dr. Nambu is on screen telling them that the nuclear power plant is under attack by a swarm of ants.





He fears the nuclear reactor will rupture and cause a dangerous radiation leak. He adds there's "mass confusion throughout the city" (no kidding!) and that "it's terrible." He orders the Team to subdue the ants (and he prays for their success.)

Meanwhile, at the power plant, a crazed and desperate worker, covered in ants, wails that they've destroyed the reactor, as the alarms continue to blare.





Kaboom! The reactor explodes just as the God Phoenix arrives. Watching the devastation on a viewscreen, Ken and Jun are puzzled as to why ants would attack a power plant and Ryu notes that a bird missile won't be of any use against an ant swarm. (I guess that means Jinpei's vehicle was already on the God Phoenix -or wait, has the "no BMs unless all five vehicles are together" rule even been created yet? -I'm so confused...) Joe is the "bright idea guy" for this week's episode and he points out that they could "cause a flood and wash them away," as he calls everyone's attention to the fact that a river flows right by the power plant.





Ken decides to have Joe fire a bird missile at a dike holding the river back from the power plant, and in this episode Ken actually asks Dr. Nambu for permission to do so, and receives it (is that a first?).





Joe's plan works, and the ants are all swept away by the water (which is probably now contaminated with, and spreading, radioactivity, but oh well.





Now, it is the following morning and the sun is up again as the Team inspects the devastated power plant, the flood water having receded.





The ants are gone, and Ken speculates that they might have gone underground but he tells everyone to nevertheless be on the lookout for ants, and radiation . I would think that the whole place would be dangerously irradiated by now, but who knows...

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screencaps and comments!]


Of course, like all villains, Ant-Katse doesn't actually stick around to ensure that his death plan works as it should. Next we see Ken, Joe, Jun and Jinpei, they are still trapped inside the dome, but no one is around at all. They're clearly beginning to suffer oxygen deprivation now.


[Saturn: "The team (sans Ryu, as usual) is trapped inside the capsule and are all short of breath."]



Ken tries hitting the glass with his birdrang, to no avail. This time it's Jinpei, not Joe, who gets an idea (maybe as he's smaller, he needs less oxygen and is able to think more clearly).


[Saturn: "Jinpei (with a very cute facial expression, perhaps due to shortness of breath) gets an inspiration to use his weapon. Note that in this picture, Ken is facing him, while if we look at the above screenshot, it should have been Joe who is facing him."]



Jinpei sprinkles explosive powder inside his bolas.


[Saturn: "Jinpei puts explosives (only now do I know he always brings explosives in his pocket) into his American clackers."]



Jun shows consternation at what Jinpei's doing, but Joe says "it's a good idea." (Does Joe ever carry explosives? I'm not coming up with any memories of that...) As the timers on Jinpei's bolas count down on the floor beside the glass dome, the others prepare by huddling together beneath their wings on the other side of the dome (also Jinpei's idea).


[Saturn: "The team huddle beneath their capes as the bomb goes off. (I wonder if I can have a cape like this to play peek-a-boo or hide&seek with my nephews and nieces )"]



The resulting explosion blows a hole in the dome's glass, but the Team is unharmed, and now re-oxygenated.


[Saturn: "The Team escape from a hole made by the explosion. Jinpei goes first. Unfortunately (SMUTTY MIND ALERT!) we are not shown who goes next and we cannot know whether Ken and Joe purposefully let Jun go out first in order to take a glimpse of her butt. "]



Jinpei can't resist crowing that "I'm a lot smarter than you thought!"

Next we see the ants pretty much destroying Utoland, and the Red Impulse Team's jets fly through the sky and add to the destruction by blasting missiles at the ants (hey, didn't Ryu note that missiles don't work well against ant swarms?)


[Saturn: "Cut to the city, Red Impulse and his squadron are firing at the ants."]





"Give it all you've got, men!" says Red Impulse (with some excessive drama), "Stake your very honor on not allowing a single robot ant into the city!" (It sure looks like they're already in the city, but maybe it's just the suburbs.) The RI Team fire more missiles, which burst into flaming explosions and bake many of the ants.

Ant-Katse is watching this on a screen, presumably at the ant nest base, and he's not pleased at the damage Red Impulse is inflicting on his robot ants, so he declares it's time to launch Galactor's "newest super weapon!"


[Saturn: "The Queen Ant or the King Ant (I am not really sure about the gender, but judging from the voice, we can know already that it is Katse (nice costume, BTW, such details!). Katse is angry that RI are destroying her ants, and sends out the "supposedly" best Galactor weapon ever (drum roll..........) THE GIANT ANT!!!!, fresh out of the cocoon."]




Meanwhile, Ken, Joe, Jun and Jinpei are sneaking through the ant nest base, undetected, but they see a giant white ant larva. We cut to Ryu, hovering in the air near the ant nests in the God Phoenix (worrying about the others and feeling lonely) as he sees the giant larva emerge from the ground, spinning rapidly. As Ryu watches, the top of the larva breaks off and a giant ant mecha emerges. It attempts to spit some something at the God Phoenix, but Ryu gets the God Phoenix out of the way in time, nervously remarking that he "couldn't step on" this ant.

From inside the base, Ken contacts Ryu, and we can see the four Team members standing victoriously, weapons in hand, as the floor around them is strewn with dead goons (aww, we didn't get to see the big fight scene!). Ken wants Ryu to come pick them up, and Ryu obliges by lowering a rope that they all cling to as the God Phoenix lifts them away from the ant nest base.


[Saturn: "The Team is pulled up by a line to the God Phoenix, and (SMUTTY MIND ALERT!) judging by Ken's facial expression, perhaps Jun is holding on to a 'sensitive part' of his body ?"]



All on board the God Phoenix, Dr. Nambu is on screen, thanking them for locating the robot ants' base, and announcing that he's determined that the robot ants are especially vulnerable to external heat, which is why the attack when the sun is down and why RI's flaming missiles were effective. Ken is ready to go and blast the ant mecha with missiles too, but Dr. Nambu tells him that they must wait until morning to attack it (as it'll be more vulnerable then).


[Saturn: "Dr. Nambu informs the team that the Giant Ant mecha weakness is external heat, and they will have to wait for the sun to come out."]



Ken does point out that while they delay, there will probably be more casualties as a result of the ant mecha. Dr. Nambu, however, gravely says "this is the only choice we have."

Boy, was Ken right! In the night, the ant mecha destroys an entire subway train full of passengers (and we learn that the stuff that it spits makes its target instantly burst into flames) and then it heads above ground to destroy buildings and spread fires there too.

Then, the Red Impulse jets appear (as they don't take orders from Dr. Nambu) and fire missiles at the ant mecha. As we cut to the interior of the mecha, Ant-Katse is there, angrily ordering the mecha to go into a nearby underwater tunnel to evade the RI missiles. The ant mecha smashes a few cars out of the way and heads into the tunnel as Red Impulse calls off his team's attack as they can't follow the mecha in there.


[Saturn: "Katse instructs the goons to take the mecha into a tunnel to avoid RI and his squadron. BTW, a little bit Out Of Context here, but after looking at the full ant costume of Katse, I can't help but notice that Katse's ant costume reminds me of a common clothing in the Reaissance era. Perhaps the animator wanted to add some nobility to Katse, because come on, nobody is going to take someone in an ant costume seriously!"]




[Saturn: "The ant mecha escapes into the tunnel and wreaks havoc inside the tunnel."]


On board the God Phoenix, Dr. Nambu explains that the tunnel is the world's longest underwater tunnel, built by the ISO (and judging from the image he shows, it goes under a wide river or a bay). He orders the Team to mobilize at the other end of the tunnel and await the ant mecha there. As they fly towards the other end of the tunnel, Jinpei notes that the sun is up outiside. Inside the tunnel, the ant mecha is destroying cars and passengers with its flaming spit and stomping on them too.

Waiting impatiently for the ant mecha to emerge, Ken asks Jinpei for a weather forecast. Jinpei tells him that it's sunny, but that there are a lot of clouds around. "We need you now, sun. Shine bright for us," says Ken as we once again see the sun shining in the sky. As a glimmer of light in the tunnel suggests the mecha's emergence in imminent, Ken instructs Ryu to initiate "Operation Sun" -okay, not the most imaginative name. It entails using a dish-shaped screen that extends from the nose of the God Phoenix (making me wonder why Joe's car isn't in its way).

The ant mecha crawls out of the tunnel. A very nervous Dr. Nambu is watching it all from a nearby ATC tower. As he gives the word, Ken tells Ryu to focus the dish-shaped screen at the ant mecha. It turns out that it collects and concentrates heat from the sun and directs it all at the mecha.

[Saturn: "The mecha finally emerges from the tunnel. Ryu focuses the giant parabola on the Giant Ant."]




(the rest soon!)

The plan is working great, and the mecha (and its occupants, including Ant-Katse) is in distress but of course, at that moment, clouds move in front of the sun and the ant mecha recovers and rallies. An irate Ant-Katse orders the mecha to "knock the God Phoenix out of the sky!" Yes, this ant mecha has wings too, and can fly.


[Saturn: "The damage is not enough though because clouds cover the sun. The God Phoenix is now attacked by the FLYING Giant Ant instead."]



Airborne, it closes in on the now vulnerable God Phoenix and Ryu dodges the mecha's attempt to shoot its flaming spit at them. The God Phoenix is also hampered by the dish-shaped screen on its nose which prevents it from flying fast. Dr. Nambu orders them to retreat. Just then, the Red Impulse Team (again, who don't take orders from Nambu) shows up yet again and RI himself tells Ken, condescendingly, to "leave this to Red Impulse!"


[Saturn: "No worries because RI and his squadron come to the rescue, and blast some missiles at the Giant Ant."]




Ken complies but declares he won't just sit by and watch (you tell him, Ken!). Joe wants to fire some bird missiles at the mecha but Ken wants to try waiting for the clouds to move away from the sun. Of course, the sun understands a hero's dramatic timing needs, and at that moment it shines bright again.


[Saturn: "The sun finally comes out. Ryu re-focuses the giant parabola on the mecha."]



They turn the heat on the mecha once again, and this time as they all watch nervously, they succeed and the mecha falls from the sky in flames and explodes (but not before an escape rocket bears Ant-Katse to safety, vowing revenge.)


[Saturn: "The giant ant is destroyed, and Katse, in an escape pod, swears revenge to the SNT and says that she will be back (perhaps in a cockroach costume next time, "]




[Saturn: "Dr. Nambe is relieved that the mission is a success and wipes his sweat off with his handkerchief (which has mysteriously changed its color from the usual brown to white)"]



"Gatchaman, you've done well. Just know that we are watching, until we meet again..." says Red Impulse.


[Saturn: "RI says that he admires the SNT's skills and salutes them."]



Yes, we will be seeing Red Impulse again. On board the God Phoenix, the Team all rejoice and congratulate each other.


[Saturn: "Everyone in the God Phoenix is in a happy mood, including Joe, who is very sweet towards Jinpei, that Jinpei blushes -how cute!"]



Dr. Nambu says this victory over Galactor represents the teamwork of the ISO and the Science Ninja Team. Jun then says that they should recognize another team member too -the sun. With that, the God Phoenix flies off towards the shining sun.


[Saturn: "As if to remind us about the importance of the sun in this episode, instead of the usual sunset in the ending shot of every Gatchaman episode, we are now given the shot of the Sun in its shining glory. In fact, I am so touched that I am going straight to my karaoke set now and belt out 'You are my sunshine'. Wonder if my singing can work as an insect repellent in my house ?"]



THE END.

This is awesome as usual, LB! I was when you mentioned Katse's renaissance ant costume! It's quite ridiculous, but actually, I think the mask is rather distinguished. At least it kind of looks *scary*, and not just ridiculous.

In Saturn's screenshot:



What is that on his butt? Is is a scabbard or quiver? It looks like a quiver, but it's more in scabbard position... And where is the weapon that's supposed to be in there?

Another question: I know the ant captain is supposed to be Katse, but I don't recall if they ever *say*/confirm that Katse is the ant captain in the episode. What did you see?

Oh and Saturn, I think that Ken is yelping on the rope because he just realized that it's *Joe* who is beneath Jun (and therefore getting the awesome panchira view).

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Another thing... how can that alarm keep going off when there's no power?

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Mark is cool with that and shuts off communications without further ado.

More ant mayhem.

Mark is totally not sure if their missiles will do much good, as there are zillions of those things down there...

Princess finds the noise horrible and wonders out loud where those things could have come from. Tiny is more concerned about where they're going to send them.. Jason is more concerned about how ... So is Keyop.

But Jason has the answer! He thinks they should flood them out. The aquaduct runs right by the solar fusion plant.

Mark thinks it's risky, but at this point they have to take the chance -- and so Jason gets to press the big red button!

WHOOSH ... floody floody ...

"Yay G-Force," Zark says to us as we watch the ants get washed away..

Insert puns here ...

Tiny: Down the tubes

Princess: That should cool them off

When the water subsides the team begin reconnaissance on the ground. Mark wants them to all split up and look around. "Remember, we don't know what to expect from these freaky things so stay on your toes."

Yes, Mark said freaky -- which I always thought was a chick's word.

Princess let's out a gasp and says "oh look!"

Mark seems more shocked and gingerly picks up the creature in his hands.

Back to Centre Neptune and Anderson's analysis. This is an elaborate little creature. Powered by a tiny turbo engine it is highly advanced technology. Why they've never encountered anything like it. Zark cross referenced the metals and determined that it came from the distant planet of Trimulus (thank god for the DVD cover spelling that one out for me).

Mark seems somewhat shocked that Earth has another enemy. Anderson isn't though, and informs them that this time it is a planet other than Spectra that is attacking! Oh gosh!

Keyop has the right idea though. When Anderson says he doesn't know how much more it will cripple the city, he suggests bug spray -- Tiny totally agrees, but they'll need a really big can...

Jason has a better idea. Go to Trimulus and prevent anymore from coming.

Keyop seems somewhat timid when he asks "space shot?" Anderson nods and tells them to go and good luck.

Cue awesome 70's disco music ... I could groove to this forever!!!

Mark sets the little buggy on the ground and tells the ant that now he's on his home planet he should go home.

They will follow.

Princess wants to know the plan -- you know, what will they do once they find it? Mark has no plan as yet, obviously, as he just says "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it". (so much to tactical brilliance, eh?)

Jason's worried they'll get led into a trap, but before they can discuss, the ant's antenna's pop up ... he's received the signal for home!!

The follow behind, but hide behind rocks ... and then lose it. GAH!

But they find anthill towers that would make the Kimberly Region Ant Hill farms envious.

Mark says "we've found their base." To which Jason snarks that they've found the bridge ... you know, the one they were going to come to later...

Keyop broops an awful lot only to get out something like "a pack of gum" (I'm still trying to work that one out)

But Mark is all smiles as he says they need to get in there somehow.

Jason gets all condorish (well he is the Condor, right) and says they should just bust in on there. But Mark
doesn't like that idea. He thinks that force is sometimes counter-productive, so they should just wait.

And they do ... into the night, even...

Out doth come the ants. Mark thinks they must be setting out on a raid so everyone just hold on. And so they scoot to the base when the ants have all disappeared. But ARGGGHHHHHH the ground begins to open up and I get flashbacks again to the outback and a litle bugger known as the "antlion" that actually does burrow like that...

And they all slide down into the abyss. Mark orders them to activate their tranformers and transmute to full G-Force (There is a half G-Force?)

They all drop relatively safely, and the CotW introduces himself... he is the mighty Antov, soon to be emporer of Earth. See he made a deal with Zoltar, who promised him that title if he destroyed G-Force...

Mark tries to shatter the glass cylinder that has dropped on them with his sonic boomerrang and admits defeat.

They're trapped. Keyop doesn't think so, however and pulls something nifty from his belt.

As he fills the charge, Princess warns him not to overload the charges. Jason tells her the kid knows what he's doing, and they all take cover.

Boom Boom, shake the room ... and they're free! Atta boy Keyop!

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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.

Thank you SJ.
When I watch BOTP now when ever I hear Zark and Susan I shudder, and unfortunately when I show BOTP to my class, I really can not scan through the Zark scenes, as the kids do not see the under elements that are going on. Just as we did not seem to when we were watching as kids. (Or maybe it was just me who did not catch the hidden elements.)

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

Another great episode review! I loved the breakdown by Saturn and LB and I agree, this Captain may be the winner of the series when it comes to crazy costumes! What I really like is when Katse/the Captain speaks and the big buck teeth move...almost like they clack together!

And SJ, your BOTP review was great, too! I haven't watched BOTP in a while...and I am cracking up at the phrases and puns they use!! And the Zark/Susan comments at the end were truly disturbing!

Thanks for all your hard work!

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

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