Gatchman Episode 22: "The Firebird Versus the Fire-breathing Dragon"

(Thank you, Saturn for the screencaps! )


The Firebird Versus the Fire-breathing Dragon

(BOTP episode “The Sea Dragon”)







We open with a scene of an underwater ISO uranium mining facility, the largest of its kind in the world. However, what we’re seeing isn’t underwater –it’s the part that’s on the sea’s surface, where numerous ships are docked, or coming and going. “Wary of a Galactor attack,” the narrator tells us, “The scientists have employed the Mammoth Tigers to guard the facility.”





We can now see a few large flying aircraft carriers (with tigers painted on their sides) hovering near the mining facility.





There’s also a fleet of jets hovering in the sky above them. “They are a threatening security force,” the narrator continues, “Far stronger than even the God Phoenix.”

What, how can this be? How are they stronger than the God Phoenix?

Well, no explanation of any kind is forthcoming. Maybe it’s just the fact that there are three of them but only one God Phoenix. However, dark clouds have moved in over the mining facility, lightning is flashing and wind is churning up the sea below.





“What’s going on?” asks a crewman on board one of the ships, failing to understand the standard indications of imminent doom, as his ship pitches in the waves and sends some of his fellow crewmen tumbling across the deck.





Now, some kind of mecha is rising from the sea. On board the ships, crewmen are panicking and running around, as waves wash over the ships’ decks. Suddenly, one ship is smashed by what appears to be a massive claw, and it capsizes.





Now, we get a good look at the mecha, as it takes fully to the sky –it’s shaped like a dragon, with a long, narrow body, and it’s clutching an orb with one of its front feet.
Quickly, more jets take off from the hovering Mammoth Tiger aircraft carriers and they all confront this dragon mecha, firing missiles.





Their missiles don’t damage this dragon mecha at all, and it begins to smash them out of the sky with its tail, and shoot them with laser beams fired from its claws.





On board one of the hovering aircraft carriers, men look on in horror as the jets are destroyed, and one man says “I can’t believe this, the Mammoth Tigers are the strongest in the world and our attacks aren’t fazing them!” Still more jets get obliterated, before one man yells “Fire the Tiger missiles!” Now, all the hovering aircraft carriers simultaneously fire large missiles at the dragon mecha’s underbelly, but when the smoke clears, the mecha is undamaged. “It can’t be, it was hit by six Tiger missiles and it’s still going strong!” the man says, despairingly.

So now the dragon mecha begins firing large energy beams from its eyes, at the Tiger Mammoth aircraft carriers, and they are all destroyed, and their burning debris rains down on the mining facility and ships below. With all the mining facility’s defenses utterly vanquished, the dragon mecha now plunges back into the sea and wraps its long body around the underwater portion of the mining facility, gripping with its clawed feet.





Now we cut to Berg Katse, inside the dragon mecha. “Send out the bulldozer crabs and bring back all of their uranium ore!” he orders. “Kill any workers you find –don’t leave anyone alive. This uranium mine is now the property of Galacator!” Sure enough, a horde of little crab tanks leave the mecha and infiltrate the mining factility. Up on the sea’s surface, the ships that had been docked or coming and going are all on fire, sending long trails of black smoke into the sky.

We cut to the ISO’s headquarters, where twelve men are sitting at a round table.





One of the men is Director Anderson. He is appalled at what happened to the underwater uranium mining facility and he asks Dr. Nambu to send out the Science Ninja Team.





But, Dr. Nambu says “I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” setting off a flurry of shocked comments around him. Director Anderson is most put out that he’s refusing, but Dr. Nambu says “I’m afraid the chance of the God Phoenix winning is less than one in a hundred.” “But the Science Ninja Team has always defeated Galactor’s creations,” protests another man.

“Have you all forgotten?” replies Dr. Nambu, “The three Mammoth Tigers that were guarding the mine were large aircraft carriers that are much stronger than the God Phoenix. All three were defeated instantly. I know that if I ordered Gatchaman and the Science Ninja Team to fight, I’d be ordering them to their deaths.” No one at the table is satisfied with his answer, but as an anxious conversation ensues around the table, Dr. Nambu can only fold his arms and closes his eyes.

Okay, we now cut to the uranium mining facility again. Someone –definitely not Dr. Nambu- has ordered in a fleet of UN jets, and they begin firing missiles into the water, aimed at the dragon mecha that is still wrapped around the mining facility, underwater.





None of the missiles that strike the mecha do any damage to it at all. What did they expect? However, Berg Katse is annoyed enough to order the mecha to “Burn them to ashes –destroy them!” So, the dragon mecha now fires the large energy beams from its eyes, straight through the water and up into the sky, destroying the UN jets.

Now, we’re at the Crescent Coral Base, and Dr. Nambu is staring broodingly out an undersea window as Ken (in civvies) comes up behind him and demands “Doctor, why haven’t you ordered the Science Ninja Team to attack yet?”





Dr. Nambu tells him that the ISO has already asked him to, and that he’s turned them down. Ken can’t believe it, and Dr. Nambu goes on that “the Mammoth Tigers that were instantaneously destroyed were much stronger than the God Phoenix. The King Dragon is a fierce enemy.”

No one seems to want to explain just exactly what these Mammoth Tigers had that made them stronger, or why the reputedly-state-of-the-art God Phoenix hasn’t then also been equipped with these same mysterious strengths.

“So we’re not going to do anything to help them?” asks Ken, getting angry now. Dr. Nambu turns to face him, with a somewhat worried and compassionate look on his face, saying “Ken, I’m sure they’ll come up a plan, but the Science Ninja Team is not to deploy until they’re ordered.” Ken closes his eyes for a moment, frustrated, and he insists that the Science Ninja Team will deploy. So, now Dr. Nambu is frowning, and looking a lot less compassionate, accusing Ken of disobedience. But Ken is vehement that he just wants the Team to do its job –protecting world peace and defending against Galactor. “Just let us do our job here!” he finishes. Dr. Nambu sighs sadly, and relents, but not without saying “You may be throwing your lives away.” Ken doesn’t appear to be deterred at all by that. “We don’t have a choice; the Science Ninja Team is here to protect.” With that, Ken turns and walks off, leaving us with a view of Dr. Nambu’s tense face. “God speed,” he whispers.

So, we’re one third through this episode, and it’s sure looking like this one isn’t exactly one of the more fun or light-hearted ones.

We’re shown Ken’s G-1 jet linking up with the God Phoenix in a night sky, and then Ken enters the bridge.

Apparently the others know that something’s not quite right, because Joe immediately asks, “So, did we get orders from Dr. Nambu?”

“No,” says Ken, both defiant and a tad defensive, “We’re disobeying orders because I refuse to stand by and watch!”





“He’s right!” chimes in Jinpei, “We’re the Science Ninja Team; we can’t just sit around waiting and twiddling our thumbs!”

“Listen, everyone,” says Ken, looking now very serious, “There is a chance that we could die on this mission. Dr. Nambu refused to give us orders for that reason. But if we don’t at least try to fight, who else would attack Galactor? I didn’t want to take everyone’s lives into my hands but I went ahead and ordered deployment.” I give Ken credit here for his complete candor (though Dr. Nambu knew what he was going to do and didn’t really try to stop him).

Well, Joe certainly has no qualms about “disobeying orders,” and he says “Don’t worry about it, Ken. I’ll die happy as long as I take Galactor down with me.”





Ken looks quite moved by this show of support, and then Jun adds “You know I trust you with my life, Ken.”





Jinpei and Ryu both concur, and now Ken looks very touched and enthused by this unanimous confidence in his leadership (as if, perhaps, he wasn’t completely certain he’d receive it).

“You know, that’s really far out, everyone!” says Ken, with a confident “Ha ha!”

However, that won’t be enough, and Dr. Nambu says they must also launch a “minus bomb” into the King Dragon, as “we need the chemical reaction between the Freon gas from the God Phoenix and a minus bomb to destroy the Dragon.” Ken absorbs all this, eyes closed, and then he looks up and says “We can do this!” He turns to the others, fist in the air, and says confidently “Trust me with your lives once again, Ninja Team!”

Obviously, they do, and the God Phoenix launches from the Crescent Base, to the upbeat “Shupa, shupa” tune. Dr. Nambu watches the departing God Phoenix from an underwater window, and prays for their success. The God Phoenix swoops along a very scenic sea floor, on its way to the uranium mining facility.

There, the King Dragon is once again wrapped around the underwater facility. As the God Phoenix gets close, still underwater, Ken instructs Ryu to stop right behind a rocky outcrop and shut down all non-essential systems in order to make as little noise as possible. Ken announces that he’s going to go out alone to set up the minus bomb.
“Ken, you don’t have to go out by yourself,” says Joe, “Let us help you,” and Jun looks rather worried, but Ken stares adamantly and says he has to do it alone, and that when he gives the signal, they are to “carry out the operation as planned.”

He finishes with “Hesitate, and we all die!” before dashing from the bridge. Joe tells Ryu to “Rig the God Phoenix for silent running.”

On board the King Dragon, a Galactor goon is certain that he’d heard an underwater noise, but now it’s gone. Another goon says they should check it out, and he turns on a view screen. However, all they see is a school of large fish approaching.





So, now the goon decides that fish is just the thing he wants for dinner, and he instructs some other goons to send out a signal that will lure the fish in. Sure enough, a large bay in the belly of the King Dragon opens up, and the school of fish swims inside before it shuts again. Now we’re in that room inside the mecha, where some goons are staring down into the water at the fish. One of the fish, though, has been completely gutted and is just a head with skin, fins and tail attached. Ken is hiding inside (Yuck!) but now he emerges and swims, still below the surface, to the water’s edge.





A goon sees something moving in the water and walks closer, but now Ken’s hand reaches up from the water, grabs the goon’s leg and pulls him in with a cry and a splash. This draws the attention of numerous other goons, as Ken leaps from the water and high into the air.

Cue the big fight scene!

And this is indeed quite the fight scene! Ken runs along narrow cables stretched high above the room, tosses some explosive charges from a pouch on his belt, somersaults in the air, kicks goons in the face, punches them, picks them up and throws them into walls, and turns back handsprings to dodge bullets.







Elsewhere in the mecha, Katse has been informed that Gatchaman is here, and he’s not at all pleased to learn he’s actually alive. He orders the goons to kill him, and to seal the doors to the engine room.

Meanwhile, Ken runs down a corridor, tosses more explosive charges at the pursuing goons behind him, leaps up to avoid the resulting explosion and briefly runs across the ceiling, upside down, before returning to the floor to turn cartwheels to dodge bullets from yet more pursuing goons.







Now, he punches out and kicks two more goons, but even as more goons are rushing up behind him, Ken’s looking far down the corridor ahead and sees that the door to the engine room is indeed lowering from the ceiling and will soon cut off his access to that room. So Ken grabs the first goon who catches up to him, spins him around in the air and hurls him forward along the floor such that the goon ends up directly beneath the lowering door, and prevents it from closing completely.





Kind of sick, but also very cool!

The goon doesn’t fare too well as a door stop and goes “Aughh!” as the door’s weight crushes him, but Ken has enough time to dash forward and slide himself beneath the door.





Now inside the engine room, he finishes off the goons there with more kicks and punches.





Alone with just the massive engine now, Ken raises his bracelet and instructs the others to “Carry out the operation, now!”

With that, we see the God Phoenix lift off from its sea floor hiding place. However, the King Dragon is now unwrapping itself from around the underwater mining facility. Inside, an irate Katse is yelling that he wants Gatchaman dead “no matter what,” and the God Phoenix burned to ashes.

Inside the engine room, Ken plants the minus bomb on the side of the engine. As he pauses, a door to the engine room reopens, and a horde of armed goons run in. Ken glares at them fiercely and says “Come on!”

The God Phoenix and the King Dragon have both now left the sea and taken to the air. “Burn them all to death,” commands Katse, “Fire!” On the God Phoenix, Joe tells Ryu “Now’s the time, Big Guy!” Ryu answers with a “Roger!” and pulls a lever.

So now the King Dragon is belching fire, and the God Phoenix is zooming straight towards it. The God Phoenix, however, looks like it’s gone firebird, except that it’s icy white instead of the usual glowing red –clearly the work of Dr. Nambu’s Freon alterations.





Inside the King Dragon’s engine room, Ken verifies the minus bomb is counting down correctly before hurling himself at the mob of goons swarming the engine room now. But, he doesn’t waste any time fighting them –rather he just runs over them -literally- stepping along their heads and shoulders to get away from the minus bomb.





The area around the minus bomb is now freezing and changing to an icy bluish color, and this freezing effect is spreading outwards rapidly. The mob of goons turns to pursue Ken but they’re not fast enough –the freezing effect of the minus bomb reaches them first, and then they’re all still, frozen stiff where they stand.





Now, with its engine frozen, the King Dragon is no longer breathing fire. In fact, one of its legs crumbles, and soon the whole mecha is plummeting to the sea.





The God Phoenix has emerged from its own “Freonbird” technique, and on board, everyone is anxious that Ken hasn’t gotten out of the King Dragon yet.

Another terrific job LB and Saturn---Thank You! (I loved the comment about the threesome!)

I liked this episode because it's another one of those where the KNT don't win at first but come back fighting even harder. It shows their dedication and fearlessness in the face of danger. I really liked the small interactions between Jun and Joe. I agree with LB it is nice to see since they don't have much interaction with each other during the series.

(LB your new avatar is smokin hot!)

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Old age is a high price to pay for maturity.

I agree with you about Ken's final thoughts! Why on earth was he thinking about Red Impulse?? I liked the BOTP version of this part better...at least Mark responds to Princess in his final thoughts...

and I love this ending where Joe comforts Jun...so sweet! I just adore seeing a glimpse of his warm side...if you listen closely to that part he says, "There, there..." to her...teehee...

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

oh yeah...and here's the Fan Page...

Fan Page #22

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

You're right!! Unless they did a lot of moving while they were unconscious! Good find, LB!

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

I can't believe all those bloopers that you found LB.... Loved the recap of this episode... I so remember it from childhood and the angst that it created in my mind.... MUWAWAWAWA

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" No gratitude needs to be voiced, your mind speaks to us!"


Racer by day, Feather Thrower all the time!

LB, you did a terrifc job on this one, and Saturn, I love your screenshots! I was the entire time when I red this, because you've basically done my job for me on Monday... the next episode is virtually identical to this one! You'll see what I mean when I post my review...

And LB, I love this...

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quote:

Originally posted by lborgia88 quote: And LB, I love this... quote: [I’ll caption this one, “Damn, a threesome really tires a guy out!”] Should we use that screenshot for Night at the J? Or for a sequel -"A Night on the God Phoenix"

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

quote:

Originally posted by lborgia88 Or for a sequel -"A Night on the God Phoenix"

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