Gatchaman Episode 62: “The Snow Demon King, Blizzarder”

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screencaps!]


Gatchaman Episode 62: “The Snow Demon King, Blizzarder”

BOTP Episode: “Decoys of Doom”







The episode begins with Ken, in birdstyle, standing beneath a spotlight.







There appears to be two lines running down his chin, one on each side of his mouth. Whatever could this mean? Did he-

Suddenly guns protrude from the walls all around the room. Bullets fly at Ken from all directions. For an instant, he drops to a crouch, shielding himself with his cape.







But then he leaps high into the air with a cry of “Bird run!” His boomerang flies in an arc, slicing through the guns and destroying them.

But a new weapon now emerges from another hole in the wall and this one shoots a blast of flames straight at… Joe –he’s here too. Joe also shields himself with his cape and leaps into the air.







Still in the air, he turns and fires his cablegun at the flamethrower and it explodes and is destroyed.

Elsewhere in this same large room, Jun soars through the air, dodging bullets.









She throws her yoyo such that it wraps around another weapon protruding from the wall and detonates it, making another fiery explosion. We don’t get a good look and her or Joe’s chins.

On the floor, Jinpei is readying his bolas as a missile zooms towards him. He throws them such that they wrap around the missile and slow its flight such that he catches it carefully in his arms.







Hmm, Jinpei has the same lines as Ken on his chin-

Now Jinpei hurls the missile back into the hole in the wall from whence it came, where it explodes.

Now, a massive ball covered in very large spikes drops from the ceiling above Ryu. But he catches it with his arms over his head –not without some straining, though, as it’s clearly very heavy. He drops to his knees-

Say, he’s got lines on his chin too.

But Ryu is able to stand again, even though the spiked ball he’s holding is so heavy that Ryu’s feet are now causing the floor under them to crack and break.






He lifts the ball aloft and then brings it down on his own back, causing it to break into pieces. Quite the major feat, even for the mighty Owl!

Having vanquished all the weapons massed against them, the victorious Ninjas all hastily convene in the middle of the room, illuminated by spotlights and lined up according to rank. And now, they all recite their ranks –G-1, G-2 etc.- aloud.

We get a clue as to why this whole scene seems not-quite-right when two panels in the wall slide away to reveal windows –behind one stands Dr. Nambu and behind the other, the Ninjas in their civvies (and without any lines on any of their chins).












“The test results are passable,” says Dr. Nambu, “Now we just have to install memory circuits into their electronic brains.”

Yes, we’ve been watching robots.

Jinpei is excited and impressed with this “Kick-butt team of Wonder Twins!” but Ryu is worried that they’ve just been superseded (and considering what his robot double accomplished with that massive ball of spikes, he might have good cause to be worried –he’s probably praying that it’s lousy at flying the God Phoenix.)

Joe has his arms folded and an interesting expression on his face –sort of a cross between amused and skeptical- as he says “So we’re finally going to get the axe, huh?”

Joe doesn’t really sound worried but Dr. Nambu says “No,” and proceeds to explain that the robot doubles are intended just for a particular mission.

We get a good look at all the robot doubles’ faces now, and they all look just like the human Ninjas except for the lines they all have on their chins.






“Their electronic brains enable them to act on their own will,” continues Dr. Nambu, “With these, we can kill two birds at once by locating a secret Galactor base while also protecting the lives of the Team.”

Ken doesn’t like this implication that the Team needs help, and demands to know if Dr. Nambu thinks they’re no longer up to snuff. Jun interjects, insisting that Dr. Nambu is merely concerned about their safety.

“I know that,” replies Ken, frowning, “But we’ve already agreed that we’re ready to die for the cause, so come on!”







Really, Ken, the frequency with which you make such declarations leaves me wondering sometimes if you actually want to die!

But Dr. Nambu insists that there’s plenty of danger to go around and that the human Ninjas have an important mission too.

“We’ll let Galactor capture these decoys,” explains Dr. Nambu as the floor immediately beneath the said decoys begins descending down, taking them away with it, “So that their electronic brains can transmit their secret base’s location back to us.” Then, explains Dr. Nambu, the real Ninjas will move in and take action.

Ken is somewhat mollified by this assurance that he will get a chance to risk his life for the cause.

Dr. Nambu announces that the decoys will be deployed immediately in a “sting operation.” Everyone salutes and says “Roger!” but Ken is not in unison with the others –he lags a second behind with his “Roger!”







Now we cut to scenes of ordinary people standing around watching news broadcasts, radio towers transmitting and computers churning out printed messages.








The narrator explains “A few days later, the International Police Federation announced that they would hold a ceremony to pay tribute to the Science Ninja Team’s outstanding achievements,” and that the Ninjas, previously veiled in secrecy, would be making their first public appearance. The news, continues the narrator, “was spread worldwide in a great public campaign, sure to attract Galactor’s attention.”

As the narrator concludes, “Anticipation was high –heroes on parade!” we see what is seemingly a publicity photo of the Science Ninjas. In it, Jinpei has clearly just committed a gaffe of some kind; Ken and Joe look annoyed, Jun is clutching her head in dismay and Ryu looks amused. Couldn’t Dr. Nambu have released a more dignified and heroic looking group image than this one?








But now we cut to Leader X, who is intoning “The perfect opportunity to test the power of our new mecha has arrived, Berg Katse!” Katse, of course, is standing before him, and nervously asking what Leader X means, explaining that he’s been “working round the clock” and hasn’t “been able to watch any news.”

So, Leader X (who must not be working as hard) has to explain that the Science Ninjas will be making a public appearance in New City.









Katse at least grasps immediately what Leader X is getting at, saying “So if we release our new mecha, we can get that obnoxious Gatchaman and his feathered freaks!”

“Exactly,” replies Leader X, adding “The new mecha is complete, correct?” in a tone that implies it had better be, or else…

Katse hastily assures Leader X that the mecha has been completed, but admits that its performance tests have not.

“I don’t care!” declares Leader X, “Deploy it now! Destroy the Science Ninja Team!”

Katse says “Sire,” and does one of his sweeping bows to Leader X before pausing, hand on chin, to happily contemplate the demise of the Science Ninjas.

Next, we cut to New City and the streets are lined with spectators watching a parade as confetti flies everywhere.

As part of the parade, a chauffer is driving a red convertible car and standing in the back of it are all five decoy Ninjas looking stiff and solemn as the crowds cheer -I guess their programming doesn’t include “smile and wave graciously.”









Meanwhile, in an observation room high above the street, the real Ninjas are watching the parade and their decoy counterparts.









Jinpei declares “We look pretty cool, huh?” while Jun wishes they could really be down there in the parade. Joe is wondering if Galactor will really be fooled by the decoys and abduct them, but Ryu feels that the decoys resemble them enough for the plan to work.

Ken, conspicuously silent and unimpressed-looking, turns away from the window and makes for the door. Jun, concerned, wants to know where he’s going and he claims that he’s “just going to take a little walk.”








Jinpei jokes that Ken must be feeling self-conscious, watching “himself,” and Jun laughs, accepting this as the reason for Ken’s departure.

But Ken’s not taking a walk at all –he’s taking a run. As soon as he’s out of the room, he pauses a moment and then goes dashing down the hallway.

At a stadium in New City, 80,000 people, according to an announcer, have gathered to see the Science Ninja Team. A circular stage has been set up in the center of the stadium and Dr. Nambu and other dignitaries are also in attendance.

Once they’re gone, Jinpei remarks “Big Bro’s been acting a little strange but now even Sis is tripping out.” Ryu looks unconcerned but Joe is staring after Jun and “Ken” as though he too thinks something’s going on.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nambu paces impatiently while some ISO techs or scientists continue to monitor the path taken by Blizzarder and its decoy prisoners. “Come on,” he demands, “Can’t we zero in on the location of Galactor’s secret base yet? Try running the circuit again!”

This time, it yields results.

“Latitude is still 90 degrees. It looks like it’s stopped at the North Pole,” says the ISO tech.






Dr. Nambu ponders the significance of a latitude of 90 degrees and has an “aha!” moment.

“Galactor’s secret base must be buried somewhere beneath the polar ice cap!” he declares, with grim triumph.


Commercial break!


Now, at the secret base, the frozen car and its Ninja occupants have been placed in the center of a large, round high-ceilinged room and the Captain of the Week and numerous goons are watching from a balcony that circles the room as the car (confined beneath a small glass dome) gets thawed out with some kind of heat beam from an overhead device.







All the goons have their rifles aimed at the car, clearly expecting the Ninjas might be moving around again very soon…

The decoys and Ken are soon freed from the ice. The decoys blink their eyes but make no moves. Ken, however, surreptitiously taps his bracelet against the steering wheel to transmit a birdscramble signal –having apparently decided to reveal his little place-swapping deception to the rest of the Team, if they haven’t already figured it out (as Jun indeed has).







On board the God Phoenix, Jun picks up Ken’s signal and says as much to the others.








Joe, Ryu and Jinpei, who are all up at the front of the bridge, turn and stare at her, wondering what’s going on.

Jun decides it’s confession time now, and admits that “Ken isn’t here.”

“What do you mean?” demands a confused Jinpei, pointing at “Ken,” “Isn’t that… Bro?”

“Ken disobeyed Dr. Nambu,” admits Jun, walking over to the Ken decoy, “And switched places with the robot. See.”

She taps the decoy on the shoulder and it raises its head up and repeats “Our orders are to stand by and wait,” in a monotone voice.






“That bastard!” growls Joe, banging a fist on his console, “He’s out there being a hot shot!”







“I’m sorry,” says Jun, “I thought if we all started acting on our own, we’d jeopardize the operation.”

That’s a somewhat unwarranted claim on her part, that the others would have all gone haring off on their own too if they’d realized that Ken had –I think it’s mostly her loyalty to Ken that kept her from revealing his swap with the decoy.

Ryu sees where she’s really coming from.

“I know. Don’t worry,” says Ryu calmly, “We won’t tell anyone either.”

And “anyone,” of course, can only mean Dr. Nambu.

Jun looks relieved.

“Hey Sis,” says Jinpei, running up to her, “First things first –we have to find out where Big Bro is now!”

This reminder gets Jun’s mind back on the immediate matter at hand and she takes off her bracelet and tracks the origin point of the birdscramble signal.









“Ninety degrees latitude –the North Pole!” she says as the radar screen shows exactly what Dr. Nambu’s learned.

This is all news to them. Okay… Dr. Nambu hasn’t told them yet where the mecha has taken the decoys.

Meanwhile, the decoys are standing in the car at the Galactor base, punching out the goons who’ve tried to approach them.

“They’re still alive, Captain!” cries one goon. Hmm, so humans don’t usually survive the freeze ray. I guess Ken lived because of his birdstyle and/or anti-electricity suit.

“What?” demands the Captain, “Stubborn bastards! Open fire!”

So the goons do, but the Joe, Jun and Jinpei decoys take to the air and dispatch them with cablegun, yoyo and bolas respectively. The Ryu decoy picks up the entire car and hurls it at some other goons, whereupon it crushes them and makes a big explosion.

Decoy-Ryu is lethal!

However, the Captain of the Week pulls a lever on the wall just as the Joe, Jun and Jinpei decoys are landing on the railing that lines the balcony. Powerful electric current surges through it, them and even Ryu.











Ken is lying still on the floor and either the electricity isn’t hitting him or (more likely) he’s protected by his anti-electricity suit –amazing prescience there, Ken, wearing that suit today!







“Even the toughest birds will fry when given five million volts!” yells the Captain of the Week, now shutting off the electric current.

The four decoys fall to the floor, crumbled into charred scraps. Fortunately for Ken, he’s covered now by these scraps and what appears to be the Jun-decoy’s cape (it’s red) so the Captain and goons don’t see him.

“Captain, they’re just robots!” declares a goon, staring at the decoys’ remains.

“Oh, I see. So the Science Ninja Team, who we all thought were invincible, were just robots. What a juicy secret! Lord Katse will be delighted to hear the good news!” gloats the Captain cheerfully. Poor guy...


“You imbecile!” yells Katse.







“You’re telling me the Science Ninja Team are robots? All of the data we have accumulated on them thus far has proven that they are living human beings!”

“Huh?” gasps the Captain.

“Be careful!” yells Katse, “Those robots are decoys trying to locate our secret base. The God Phoenix will be arriving here before we know it! Prepare to attack at once!”

So now we see Blizzarder being prepared for battle.

Okay, I don’t know what’s wrong with me today but the wicked little part of my mind is thinking that this stairway is positioned somewhat… suggestively.








Maybe the goons think so too –none of them seem to want to step on it.

The Captain is informing them that the Science Ninjas have located the base, and orders them to go shoot down the God Phoenix with the mammoth Blizzarder.


“And while you’re at it,” adds the Captain, “Pick up those damned robot scraps [he points at the pile that conceals Ken] and shoot them at the God Phoenix!”

So, the goons run up Blizzarder’s… stairway.

Now we see that all the decoy scraps have been put on a little flatbed on wheels and a vacuum hose-like device extends down from Blizzarder and sucks them up. Ken, however, is able to conceal himself underneath the flatbed, but once the scraps have all been sucked up, he too leaps up and hides inside the end of the vacuum device as it’s retracted back into Blizzarder. Just before it’s fully inside Blizzarder, though, he unscrews one of the pointy ends of his boomerang, puts something inside, and then closes it up again. Then he throws his boomerang such that it hits the top of a console down below and sticks there…







Then the vacuum is pulled fully inside of Blizzarder and its opening is sealed. Ken is inside the mecha.

Meanwhile, the God Phoenix is nearing the North Pole “on orders from Dr. Nambu” –I guess he got around to telling the Team what location the decoys had been tracked to. Not that they didn’t already know where to go, but as the narrator reminds us, Dr. Nambu hasn’t been told that Ken and his decoy swapped places.

Jun is watching the dot that marks their destination on the radar screen.







Back at the secret base, Ken’s boomerang detonates and a massive explosion erupts into the air.







Jun, startled, wonders what the explosion could be. Joe, sounding very pleased, speculates that it’s Galactor’s base.

But, they still have Blizzarder to deal with.

A swirling tornado of black clouds now engulfs the God Phoenix, sending it spinning and out of control as Blizzarder bursts from the ice below. The tornado dissipates and Ryu gets the God Phoenix steady again –just in time to face off with Blizzarder.








Joe instructs Ryu to put some distance between them and it! Ryu complies but Blizzarder still manages to hit them with the freeze ray.







Which causes some damage.





Getting away from Blizzarder seems to be their current main plan, and Joe concludes that their firebird technique is the best way to accomplish it. Jun gets the idea of buying themselves some extra time by ordering the Ken decoy to his doom.

Battle of Planets episode “Decoys of Doom”

Zark is in his room at Center Neptune –“a secret and extremely important world defense base” and he explains that its purpose is to guard Earth from attacks, especially those of “that villainous Zoltar and his evil conspirators from planet Spectra.”

And he explains G-Force too –“An incredible, highly specialized team of five young people. They’ve been trained almost since birth and all have cerebonic implants which give them super skills and powers.”

And finally he explains himself -“Computerized coordinator for G-Force”- and adds “All vital information clears through me,” before making a joke that he’s at the top (despite being outranked by Mark and Chief Anderson) because his room is located at the top of Center Neptune. Groan.


Of course, as every episode must feature Zark obsessing about his components and his well-being, he has to mention that he is, some day, due for a complete overhaul and reprogramming –but he’s looking forward to that.

Apparently, being made taller is his idea of a vital upgrade though. Will that help you “clear” vital information, Zark? Ha ha.

“I monitor G-Force day and night,” says Zark-the-pervy-voyeur. He admits that G-Force is currently on “Security Level” with Anderson –the Chief of Security- but apparently that isn’t sufficient assurance for Zark that they’re in no danger –he likes to watch.

“Time to check!” he says eagerly.

What he sees horrifies him. G-Force –specifically Mark and Jason- is under attack by “our own people!” So he calls Anderson –and takes another look.

Princess is taking out a big gun with her yoyo, Keyop is thwarting a missile attack and Tiny is catching and smashing a giant spiky ball that someone dropped on him.

But having successfully defended themselves from traitorous attacks by their own people, the G-Force members decide to stand in a line.

Windows are opened in the walls and Chief Anderson and the real G-Force members are standing there.

“Don’t need another me,” burbles Keyop –you’ve got that right, kid!

Zark is sooo relieved to learn that “those are only machines that look like G-Force,” and exhibits passive-aggressive resentment that Anderson did something without first informing him.

Anderson is now telling G-Force that Spectra has been able to establish a secret base somewhere on Earth again –no one knows where. “Spectra is dying,” he adds, “Its leaders are desperate. Its previous raids on us for desperately needed resources haven’t succeeded and they’re planning an all-out attack this time.”

He hopes the robots, or “humanoids” can be used to lure them out of their hidden base.

Mark doesn’t like the idea that a machine can do a better job than he can (I guess he thinks he can do a better job than Zark –no doubt he could) and Princess thinks it’s creepy and says “I don’t enjoy looking at myself standing down there like that.”

“I’ve always enjoyed looking at you, Princess,” says Mark –except he’s frowning crossly as he says it. Maybe because he’s realizing that Zark does too.

Chief Anderson explains that the humanoids are expendable decoys and will work as a separate unit from G-Force. Tomorrow, when G-Force will be honored at the coliseum –helpless and exposed before thousands of people- Anderson thinks that Spectra will take the opportunity to attack. Except they will be attacking the decoys.

“They don’t fool easily,” says Mark, frowning again, but he seems to be on board with the plan and joins in the G-Force salute.

Meanwhile, around the world and on other planets, news is being spread of the upcoming holiday and ceremony to honor G-Force.

The Luminous One is surprised that G-Force would put itself in such a vulnerable situation. Zoltar, however, thinks this is their chance to destroy G-Force “Once and for all.” “It may be a trap,” points out the Luminous One, warning Zoltar not to underestimate them, but Zoltar declares that “After today, Spectra will rule the Earth!”

Now, something is moving through the depths of space, and passing Saturn, as Zark explains in a voice over that the Cosmic Patrol has alerted him that an alien craft is approaching Earth, and that he will “alert all defenses” to the situation.

Meanwhile, it’s the holiday in honor of G-Force, and a parade is taking place in which the G-Force humanoids are riding in the back of a red convertible car. The real G-Force team is watching from a private observation room high above the street.

“Hooray us,” says Keyop.

“Hey, Team,” says Princess, “Don’t we look important?”

“Not to me,” says Jason, “My double is acting like a big hero –I’ve got to talk to him.”

“I kind of like my double,” says Tiny, “He’s got my strong, macho character.”

Mark stares in distaste and says nothing. Then he turns to walk out of the room and when Princess remarks “Leaving, Mark?” he says he feels silly watching himself.

“To the shower,” adds Keyop (why, I have no idea) as Mark leaves, and Princess laughs.

Outside the observation room, Mark pauses briefly and then takes off down the hallway running. But of course Zark has been monitoring him.

“But I warned Mark of the approaching invaders,” Zark is saying in a voice over as we get a look at the stage in the center of the coliseum, “But why has he made a sudden change in plans without advising me? Things like this really disturb my programming.”

Zark goes on, as we see excited people in the stands and Chief Anderson sitting with other VIP types, that the G-Force decoys will be arriving at any moment.

Underground, below the stage, the humanoids are on a conveyor belt that leads to an elevator up to the stage in the center of the coliseum. At the last moment, Mark pulls his double off of the belt and covers its mouth.

“Sorry pal, I don’t know how to say this to myself, but I’m taking over,” he says.

“I read you. I am programmed to obey,” it replies in a flat monotone voice and Mark orders it to go “Join the real G-Force.”

“I don’t understand,” sighs Zark as Mark and the humanoids appear on the stage in the coliseum, “Why is Mark going out into the coliseum in the place of his double? He knows the space invaders are on their way and he’ll be completely alone out there.”

Well, right now, Chief Anderson is out there too, shaking hands with the decoys. Mark averts his face (so I guess Zark –who complains when no one tells him what’s going on- doesn’t feel obligated to keep Anderson in the loop. Does he want to “cover” for Mark?).

“Those humanoids are only decoys,” continues Zark, and before Anderson can shake Mark’s hand and realize he’s not a decoy, a big dark cloud moves in above the coliseum.

The cloud clears, to reveal a giant horned and winged demon-like ship. Mark, Anderson and the decoys stare in alarm. It opens its mouth and shoots a beam of something, somewhere –we don’t actually get to see what this beam hits or what effect it has when it does. What we do see is Anderson running away while contacting G-Force on a walkie talkie.

“The decoys are being attacked –pick it up on your monitor” he tells Jason, Princess, Keyop and Tiny, still in the observation room.

“Sounds like Spectra has taken the bait,” says Jason, turning the monitor on. They see some people encased in ice, and beyond them, the demon ship is standing there, waving its arms menacingly. Then they see Anderson himself, with the demon ship still visible in the distance, moving around inside the coliseum.

Anderson tells them to go to the tracking room and stand by for further orders.

“We can’t,” says Tiny, “We’re waiting for Mark to get back.”

“Never mind Mark,” says Anderson, while the coliseum behind him becomes coated in ice (though we can’t tell how that’s happening), “Get over to the tracking room right away and stand by.”

And Anderson cuts out and the screen goes blank.

“Zoltar,” yells Jason, bringing a fist down on the table.

“Give up!” adds Keyop

But now “Mark” has entered the room, in uniform. “Welcome home, Commander,” says Princess in a sultry voice. “Take charge,” says Keyop (Why? Because Jason’s unfit to lead them to the tracking room?)

“Mark” just stands there, head bowed, and says nothing.

Jason informs him he’s picked a good time to come back, as Spectra’s attacking. He, Tiny and Keyop go running out. Princess follows but pauses in front of “Mark.”

“You look like you just lost your best friend,” she says.

“Mark” raises his head now and says “I have no friend,” in the flat, monotone voice.

Princess gasps, and then touches the humanoid’s face.

“You’re not Mark,” she realizes with alarm, “That means he’s out there alone with those humanoids.”

Now, some tanks show up and fire at the demon ship, and we finally see that it is the beam it shoots from its mouth that covers everything with ice –including the tanks. Some fighter jets fly by and shoot at the demon ship too. The demon ship fires its freezing beam at them too, but we don’t actually get to see what happens to the jets after that.

However, Zark is telling us “This new Spectra spaceship seems impregnable. Our forces are helpless against it.” “Oh, why,” he complains, “Is Mark with those decoys and not back leading his team?”

We abruptly cut to the bridge of the Spectran demon spaceship, where its human/frog/insect Captain is bragging that “All Earth is ours to plunder!” But one soldier points out that “The G-Force team has strange powers.” And then they notice that G-Force is currently driving away from the coliseum in that red car from the parade. “Get them!” orders the Captain.

Meanwhile Mark comes across a giant spinning rotor inside the demon ship, realizes he’s found the ship’s main power plant and decides he will sabotage it before the ship can overtake the Phoenix.

The Phoenix is still in fiery mode, and a soldier says he’s never seen anything like it, and that their cosmic laser is useless against it. The Captain orders him to raise it to “full warp” and keep firing on the Phoenix as “nothing can hold out against that power!”

So the soldier pulls a lever all the way to the right, and we see the giant rotor in the power plant stop spinning. Then Mark dumps the cryptolite into the rotor before it starts spinning again.

“Generator in reverse –warp power building,” reports the soldier on the bridge to the Captain. G-Force is in sight and the Captain orders “Don’t miss.”

The Phoenix is still fiery and the Spectrans are about to shoot it. The Captain is laughing in anticipation of its destruction, but suddenly the soldier informs him that “Something happened to the great turbine –I’m not getting full power.”

The Captain is ranting that nothing works unless he checks it, and he’s about to leave the bridge when Mark makes a dramatic appearance.

“You again?” snarls the Captain, “I thought we got rid of you!”

“We keep saying the same thing about you!” declares Mark –a good line.

He orders the soldiers to deal with Mark, but Mark runs from the bridge, throws himself face down on the floor, and a circular door in the demon ship is shown closing.

On the bridge, the Captain has decided he’ll fire the full warp cosmic laser himself.

Except, before he can, the giant turbine in the power plant explodes and we see the demon ship, trailing smoke, crash behind some snowy peaks.

No massive explosion of any kind results from this.

The Phoenix has come out of fiery mode and everyone is recovering from the ordeal.

“I’m glad that’s all over,” says Princess.

“We’ll circle around and see if there’s any sign of Mark,” says Tiny.

They see some burning wreckage on the ground, and instantly Keyop is crying.

“Don’t worry,” says Princess, “That’s the end of the Spectran spaceship, but I’m sure Mark made it in time.”

And just then, they see him descending from on high, casting off, one by one, the capes that the decoys had been wearing.

“Load off my mind!” says Keyop, seeing this, as Princess stares with eyes full of love.

“Pick him up, Tiny,” says Jason.

“Big ten, that’s the best order you’ve given all day,” replies Tiny. Man, Jason really doesn’t get much credit, does he?

As soon as Mark is on the bridge, Princess runs to him and throws her arms around his neck. “Did I do something?” asks Mark, looking confused.

“You had us all worried stiff!” says Princess, pummeling him with her fists for emphasis.

Keyop insists now that he was “Not worried one minute!”

“It’s okay, Keyop” says Tiny, as if trying to comfort him.

Princess keeps her arms around Mark, who stares ahead intently as Zark goes on about how they’re heading home now that Zoltar has been defeated again, and complains what a toll all the stress of this mission has taken on his grids.

Back at Center Neptune, Zark is wondering where he will go on his vacation this year.

“Now why did I ask a silly question like that,” he says, “Is it possible I have a defect in my audio phaser?”

I suspect Zark has many defects.

The End.

Thanks for another great recap, LB, and for such fabulous screencaps, Saturn ... especially the animated ones concerning Jun and Ken!

LB, I enjoyed so much reading your comments which were hilarious and to the point! You know ... I too thought the same thing about what Jun could have done with a robot that resembled Ken and that obeyed all commands! Wonder what commands she would have inflicted upon him!

And I so wish I could have lived in a movie or cartoon in which the characters are always conveniently prepared for whatever happens! LOL ... life would be so much easier! On the other hand, this aspect sometimes really bugs me when I watch it as it doesn't depict reality but, at the end, most of the fun in a movie/cartoon featuring heroes is attained with such conveniences and actions!

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To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!

Thank you for the review LB and Saturn!

One thing I always wondered about in this episode both Gatch and BOTP why is it Mark/Ken drives? If the robots are supposed to be equally capable in skill why would the Eagle choose to take the wheel when he knows the Condor is the better driver.

Okay so it could be argued that Ken may not know the Condor robot would be as good a driver as Joe the Condor but I am sure the robot would have done a better job than Ken did in this scene. That would have given Ken time to think tactically rather than defensively.

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

And of course, we need a few of Sosai Tim's Gatchafunnies...





I'm not sure what episode this one is from, but it's appropriate, given your review of Decoys of Doom, LB!

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LB and Saturn- Thank you for such a fabulous episode review! This ep is one of my favorites! I am cracking up at the idea of Jun keeping the Ken robot for her own personal use! Can't you just see her trying to explain why they found him in her closet? LOL

And Tim's funnies are perfect! The "multiple vibration" one is hilarious!

I always loved the flirtatious comments in the BOTP version of this ep, too. They really had a good time with it.

And the animations are awesome! This was one of the first scenes I did an animation for when I first started making them.

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

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun quote: Originally posted by clouddancer quote: Originally posted by Transmute Jun Ken drove a red convertible before, in the Gatchaman Burns With Rage episode, chasing the Atariian delegate/Galactor spy out of the ISO Conference. I am not saying Ken doesn't drive. What I am pointing out is that Joe is the "driver" on the team that is his "skill set", so why not USE that skill? All i meant was that maybe Ken just likes red convertibles.

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

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To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!