Gatchaman episode 30: "Kamisoral, the Guillotine Iron Beast"

Gatchaman Episode 30: “Kamisoral, the Guillotine Iron Beast”

BOTP Episode: “The Ghostly Grasshopper”





This is an episode that I believe that I, until very recently, had only ever watched once. Looking at the title stirred no memories, and even watching it, the mecha was vaguely familiar but that was about it. It was almost like watching an episode for the first time –I did not know what was going to happen.

This episode begins in a similar fashion to others, in that we are shown a location that appears safe and quiet, until…





In this case, the location in question is some kind of industrial complex, at night. No one is in sight. But, suddenly an explosion rips through the night’s tranquility! Some sort of dark liquid is pouring from sliced-up pipes.





Is it oil? It definitely seems to be flammable!





But now, a new explosion erupts, and this time we’re somewhere else and it’s a bridge over a harbour that’s being destroyed, and cars are falling into the water below.





Yet another explosion occurs, but this time at some other industrial complex, and now water is spraying from pipes there.

Large ships docked at a port, somewhere else, now also explode into balls of flame.







Another explosion elsewhere, and more industrial pipes are broken and spraying water.





“An invisible monster is on the prowl,” the narrator informs us as we see frightened people fleeing some kind of office building (in flames), “Turning Earth into a living hell.”





As we see a parched desert, the narrator continues, “At the same time, the planet is suffering from severe water shortages.” Now we’re shown a destroyed dam, and the reservoir that it once held in place is nearly all gone.





More scenes of devastation follow, as the narrator explains that the mysterious explosions are causing serious wildfires, and that drinking water is becoming scarce.

Now, Berg Katse is watching one of the wildfires on a screen.





“Never underestimate Galactor’s power!” he laughs. The Captain of the Week appears on his screen next. He’s blue and sort of grimly robotic looking, but the yellow collar of his cape rises up high behind his head, rather making him look as if he has big, blond hair. He informs Katse that his creation is a success, and Katse then gloats that he will obliterate the Earth with “Kamisoral, the iron guillotine beast.”





That’s a pretty grim name, but fortunately the previous scenes of destruction didn’t feature bloody decapitations, so I will assume the name refers merely to the mecha’s ability to slice up industrial machinery. “We are preparing to attack the nuclear power plant,” announces the Captain.

We’re shown the nuclear power plant now.





But suddenly the view on Katse’s screen cuts out momentarily. He demands to know what’s happening, and the Captain (presumably inside Kamisoral itself) falls to the floor as everything shakes around him.





A whirlwind seems to be forming in the air over the power plant.





“That area, it’s too dangerous! Get out right away!” orders Berg Katse, “Retreat for today!” So, the nuclear power plant is spared, at least temporarily.

Now, Ken (in civvies) is staring at an airfield filled with rockets as the narrator informs us that the ISO is planning to launch them tomorrow to generate an artificial storm.





Just at that moment, Dr. Nambu contacts Ken and announces there’s an emergency. “Gather the Team, and launch the God Phoenix!”





Ken does just that, and now the God Phoenix is cruising through the sky. On screen, Dr. Nambu tells Ken that “There are mysterious explosions occurring all around the world at important locations,” and that “several chemical refineries, dams and essential trading ports have all come under fire.”





However, he adds that whatever is causing all this must be invisible, as no one “has been able to spot it throughout its entire rampage.”





“Invisible enemy, huh?” says Ken, “Well, this should be easy.” I assume he’s being sarcastic, but maybe after defeating the invisible snail tanks in episode 28, he’s decided it’s not that hard after all. At any rate, Dr. Nambu wants the Team to discover the culprit’s true form and capabilities. Now we see the whole Team on the bridge, as they all say “Roger!” as one.





One might think that it would be hard to find this mysterious, invisible foe, but as the God Phoenix flies along through the sky, something is detected on a radar screen and Jun says “Something freaky just flew in front of the ship, Ken!”





Joe quickly comes up to the main view screen, behind Ken, to get a look too. I guess it won’t be too hard after all…





Something’s definitely out there, but it just looks like wispy clouds, mostly.




Ken instructs Ryu to get them a closer look at it.





Now we cut to the flying wispy cloud formation that is Kamisoral, and on its bridge, the Captain of the Week is watching the God Phoenix on screen. “Amateurs… Now, let’s kill the Science Ninja Team while we have the chance,” he says, as nearby goons run to carry out his orders.





What results is a game of chicken, as the God Phoenix and Kamisoral fly straight at each other. Now, however, the forms of two scythe-like appendages can be seen in the wispy cloud formation that is Kamisoral.







“They’re going to crash into us!” yells Jinpei.





Jun clutches her helmet with her hands and cries out in fear (Yeah, not one of her better moments.) Now, Kamisoral, looking more flaming than cloudy, swoops in front of the God Phoenix’s main screen, and then the entire God Phoenix starts shaking violently.





We see Jinpei fall out of his chair, and Ken’s G-1 jet shaking in its docking bay.





As Kamisoral flies off, Jun stares at something on her console and cries “Ken, it’s terrible, the ship’s gotten a crack in its tail!”





Sure enough, we see the God Phoenix’s tail (which is partly Ken’s G-1 jet) and it’s full of cracks.





Now Ryu is saying that he can’t keep the (still shaking) God Phoenix balanced, because of the damage it’s just sustained.

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screencaps!]


What we’re seeing now is actually a peaceful forest of trees. However, a thing that resembles a giant pray mantis now rising from the ground. Kamisoral!

In its control room, the Captain of the Week is listening to Berg Katse’s on-screen instructions.





Katse wants to turn the Earth “into a fiery hell,” and he informs the Captain that their next target is, just as Dr. Nambu had feared, the nuclear power plant. Kamisoral rises into the air (still all visible).





Next, we cut to the Team at the Crescent Base, running down the corridor to the God Phoenix’s docking bay and we see the rest of the stock footage of them board the God Phoenix via its dome, and the God Phoenix leaving the Crescent Base.

On the bridge of the God Phoenix, Dr. Nambu is telling the Team that he’s sure Galactor will try to attack the ISO’s nuclear power plant, but he wants them to lure the mecha into the rain project area.





And he prays for their success.

Elsewhere, Kamisoral is flying through the sky, once again in its wispy cloud-like appearance. On board the God Phoenix, they realize its approaching them. Ken tells Ryu to activate the special viewscreen filter that Dr. Nambu made for them, and orders everyone else to their stations. With the special filter going, they all get a clear view of Kamisoral.






Jinpei (the bug-lover) cries out “A giant praying mantis!” as everyone else merely goes “Oh!” Ken, however, then orders their operation to begin.





Meanwhile in Kamisoral’s control room, the Captain of the Week says he can’t believe the Science Ninja Team is “back for seconds,” but he wants them all dead.





So, the God Phoenix flies straight up in the air and Kamisoral follows.

Kamisoral swoops past the God Phoenix, with its “slipsteam” effect, and on the God Phoenix, Ryu cries out but keeps the God Phoenix steady.





Jun sees that it’s coming back at them, though.





They’re headed straight at each other. At the last second, Ryu veers the God Phoenix, but nevertheless Kamisoral is able to swipe a gash in the God Phoenix’s tail (and Jinpei falls out of his chair, again).







The God Phoenix is in a dive, towards an island in the sea below.





But Ryu is able to pull the God Phoenix up in time and soar over the trees (well, actually the ends of the wings are whacking into a lot of trees and making for a bumpy ride). On the bridge, everyone recovers from their (literal) brush with disaster.





“Damn it, how long to we have to keep doing stupid assignments like this?” demands Joe, who really hasn’t had enough lines in this episode. “Isn’t the Science Ninja Team supposed to accomplish something? This crap is just a big waste of time, Ken!”





Ken remains firm though, that they have to be patient.

Meanwhile, at the ISO airfield where the rockets are stationed, the Captain there is able to inform Dr. Nambu that preparations are nearly complete.






Now, Dr. Nambu asks about the preparations for protecting people from the typhoon. “The evacuation of citizens in the typhoon’s path has been taken care of by the UN Troops” the Captain is able to inform him. Aww! Zark would be so proud! Dr. Nambu, however, receives this information while stubbing out a cigarette butt in an ashtray filled with many others. Not sure if Zark would be so impressed with that.





He orders the rocket operation to commence, and as the Captain salutes, we see the rockets firing up their engines in preparation for taking off from the airfield.





We quickly cut to the bridge of the God Phoenix, which has just dodged another swipe from Kamiserol (and Jinpei has fallen out of his chair –again!!) As we hear the countdown for the rockets, the God Phoenix and Kamiserol are flying at each other yet again. It takes another swipe (and Jinpei goes tumbling into Jun –someone make that kid wear a seatbelt!) But now all the rockets have launched, and Jun confirms they’re all “coming this way!”





As Ryu says they’ll have to hold out a little longer, Kamisoral manages to grab hold of the God Phoenix with one of its claws, even as Dr. Nambu (seeing his view screen go all static) asks Ken anxiously what’s going on.





In Kamisoral’s control room, the Captain of the Week is so confident of victory, he’s leisurely resting his feet on his console with his legs crossed.





He gives the final order for the God Phoenix to be smashed, and with that, Kamisoral grabs hold of the God Phoenix with both claws now, and makes to cut it to pieces.





“Damn it! We’re all going to be dead soon!” yells Joe, seeing cracks appear in the ceiling of the bridge. He shoves his way past Ryu and begins firing bird missiles at Kamisoral.







They explode on impact, but they don’t do any damage. “Man, it’s just toying with us,” says Joe wearily.

Kamisoral’s claws continue to cut deeper into the God Phoenix’s hull, as Ken stands in the shaking bridge and yells “Just die!” at the view of Kamisoral on the view screen. The ISO rockets are now getting close though, to Ken’s relief. On Kamisoral, a goon asks the Captain of the Week what they should do about the rockets, but he’s still lounging, and thinks the rockets are merely an ISO attempt to distract them. But now all the rockets start spraying some sort of yellow substance into the air all around them.






The narrator informs us that these chemicals sprayed by the rockets react with the cold air to form rain clouds, which then develop into an “enormous tropical cyclone.”

“Look!” cries Ken, pointing at the big storm of whirling wind and lightning forming in the sky.






“The experiment was a success!” The narrator now informs us that the tropical cyclone doesn’t take long to become a gigantic typhoon. Lightning now flashes all around Kamisoral, causing it to lurch (and now the Captain of the Week is the one falling out of his chair!) He immediately speaks to a goon, on screen, and learns there’s a typhoon. “Impossible!” he says, but he orders Kamisoral to withdraw. “Kill the Science Ninja Team and get out of there now!” He pulls a lever, and Kamisoral now begins moving away from the typhoon but it’s still gripping the God Phoenix and trying to cut it apart with its claws.





A claw is starting to cut through the ceiling of the bridge, and everyone is greatly alarmed, but the typhoon continues to rage outside.
Jun notes with alarm that they’re getting pulled into the eye of the typhoon, along with Kamisoral. Jinpei is asking Ken if there’s something they can do. “I’m not afraid of dying in the line of duty, but there’s no way I’m dying with Galactor,” snarls Joe. Ken isn’t responding, and he has his eyes closed. As the storms rages further, goons are tumbling around inside Kamisoral, and everyone on the bridge of the God Phoenix are being shaken around too.

I'm with you. LB...this is usually one of the eps I skim past...pretty uneventful...mecha comes, team gathers on the GP and takes it out...the end. But, there were definitely things I missed...Nambu was a smoker??!?

Another fabulous episode review! Thanks for all of 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.

Maybe they have a missile launching pad on the bottom of the God Phoenix too?

Great recap, LB!

I think what always bothered me about this episode was the way Kamisoral was totally destroyed by the typhoon, but the God Phoenix is relatively unscathed. Okay, I know these things aren't absolutes but basically what we have is:

Kamisoral is capable of destroying the god Phoenix
A typhoon is capable of destroying Kamisoral
Therefore a typhoon should be capable of destroying the God Phoenix?

Well, anyhow, I think I might have appreciated even a throwaway line on this from the narrator, to explain the apparent discrepancy.

And LB, I'm with you... what is with the word Guillotine? I wouldn't put it past Galactor to make a guillotine mecha, but this isn't it!

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The Ghostly Grasshopper
Battle of the Planets, Episode Twenty-Two
Gatchaman Episode #30, Kamisoral, the Guillotine Iron Beast
DVD and Veoh episode #25

Review/Summary: Establishing shot of Center Neptune, and Zark in VO: “Our primary duty, here at Center Neptune, is to monitor and detect any activity by alien invaders from outer space in their never-ending attempts to conquer Earth and its resources.”

And we have Zark at his usual console. “Uh-oh: there’s something mighty disturbing coming at us right now. But what is it? My first read-out indicates a destructive storm.” He pokes at it a couple of times. “7-Zark-7 to Weather Control. Red Alert. A typhoon-like storm is approaching.” [Since when does Weather Control need to be warned of approaching storms?] My sensors indicate its velocity is four times greater than any ever recorded. Evacuate all personnel at Water Storage Unit #5.” [I’ll accept that fudge. It’s not like the scriptwriters had a way to find those numbers right away – and even then, they could end up watching a real-life storm beat the old record.] He requests that they provide data via ‘magnacomp.’

He comments that it’s sometimes difficult to tell if suspicious weather patterns are natural or artificial. He’s interrupted by 1-Rover-1 yarping its mechanical heart out. Seems Rover likes to run out into the rain and come back in covered in rust. [Quanto Tobor too cheap to pony up for some Rust-Oleam?]

As he was saying, he has to play it safe. The current storm could be caused by aliens. He’s receiving video even now.

The destruction has been severe in the vicinity of Cosmic City. [‘Cosmic City’? Sounds like a theme park.]

Gatchaman animation. Of a desert. Zark in VO tells us the world’s largest water reserve center is nearby. [So the desert is what’s left of Cosmic City?]

As the scene shifts to a broken dam, Zark tells us the center provides water desalination and storage to 1/20th of the world’s population. [Anyone care to do the math and thus figure out the most likely location of Cosmic City?] The situation will be critical if it’s hit.

[Really, all that dry desert is not consistent with what Zark is saying. The scriptwriters must have been desperate.]

And now we have some place that does look like some sort of facility with storage tanks and smokestacks. Is this the ‘Cosmic City’ previously mentioned?

Sharp-sounding slashes, and water-pipes are cleanly cut, draining of their contents. Explosions destroy others.

Cut to Zoltar looking at a screen. Apparently, Spectra uses some cut-rate electronics, because there’s a lot of wavy lines before the screen clears and shows the Captain of the Week.

Who is sort of greenish, with a black widow’s peak painted on his head, a yellow-lined black cape with upright collar, reddish pectorals, and what looks like a pink abdomen.

“Dahmbo,” Zoltar says, “you are not disappointing me. The devastation is beautiful to see, even though the attack is not yet completed. Your robot people are good.”

“Will we have our independence, as you promised?” Dahmbo asks.

“If the attack succeeds.” As a firestorm rages, “When Earth surrenders, your robots shall be free.”

[I would be motivated to succeed, under those circumstances. How about you?]

Now Mark’s looking at ranks of rockets. We can’t see his face, but hear his voice as he says (or thinks) that these weather-control missiles were ready to launch and might have deflected the storm. Why weren’t they used? [Ooh, thought-provoking lines! My heart quickens with anticipation.]

Anderson calls him. Get everyone aboard the Phoenix. Instructions will follow. Mark acknowledges.

And now for the transmutation of Mark in his plane.

Cut to aboard the Phoenix. Anderson, on the monitor, says that Zark has no leads, but he himself is convinced the catastrophe was man-made. When Mark asks why the missiles weren’t used, Anderson says they were activated, but electrical interference in the storm’s eye made their use impossible. That’s why he’s sending them to Sector D-10. He needs evidence that the storm was artificial.

Mark notes that D-10 is a long way from the storm site. Anderson tells him that Zark detected unusual activity in the area. He suspects that Zoltar is somewhere around.

An indeterminate period of time later, and Zark calls. He has the location of the unusual activity pinpointed on their radar. Princess looks at the data, and says they’re right in the middle of it.

Everyone looks out the front. A translucent, pale shape appears. It looks sort of like an insect.

Mark figures they’re safer above it. Tiny takes the Phoenix up.

Dahmbo, watching on his monitor, is determined to give them a chase they’ll never forget.

It isn’t a chase: it’s a game of chicken. I can’t tell who blinks first, but the alien ship just misses the Phoenix (or vice versa). The G-Force command ship shakes badly. Princess reports the stress factor gauge is pushing tolerance.

A quick shot of the ship’s tail. All three upper fins (including the rudder of Mark’s plane) are badly cracked.

Then Tiny says they’re flying upside-down. Oh, sh*@.

He gets them straightened out just long enough for the enemy to knock them around again. And again.

And Dahmbo is sitting in his/its chair, arms and legs crossed, as if this is all an annoying waste of time, rather than a battle.

Mark fires missiles. Which are all cut in two. Cleanly.

One last buzz by the enemy, and the Phoenix is going down.

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Maybe they have a missile launching pad on the bottom of the God Phoenix too? Great recap, LB! I think what always bothered me about this episode was the way Kamisoral was totally destroyed by the typhoon, but the God Phoenix is relatively unscathed. Okay, I know these things aren't absolutes but basically what we have is: Kamisoral is capable of destroying the god Phoenix A typhoon is capable of destroying Kamisoral Therefore a typhoon should be capable of destroying the God Phoenix? Well, anyhow, I think I might have appreciated even a throwaway line on this from the narrator, to explain the apparent discrepancy.

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Exaggeration misleads the credulous and offends the perceptive. ~Eliza Cook