Either this track is immediately bordered by a large area of rocky and deserted wasteland or we are to assume some time has passed for we immediately see Joe’s car touching down and speeding through a large area of rocky and deserted wasteland.





Soon, he slows to a stop, having decided that, “since I’m running late, I should transform now.” (Why? Is it easier to violate speed limits as a Science Ninja without ending up with cops chasing after you?)

He does just that, while still wearing his racing helmet –where does it go during the transformation? Will it reappear on his head again when he later de-transforms? I see he’s wearing his racing gloves too, and I’m pretty certain I’ve seen Ken transform more than once while wearing gloves in his plane. So, either Ken and Joe have to frequently purchase new gloves or we can assume that extraneous clothing worn during transformation does in fact reappear upon de-transformation.





“When one of the Ninja Team changes into birdstyle, there is a sudden super-high frequency wave burst at 3600 megahertz,” says the narrator, as we see Katse and a couple goons watching a piece of Dr. Misuno’s detecting equipment that is registering Joe’s wave burst. (This time, the dub puts the frequency at 3600 like the subs, not 36000.)





“We’ve zeroed in on one of the Ninja Team,” says Katse eagerly. He presses a button and orders an on-screen goon to “Activate the megaziner immediately and follow him with the radar!”

Hey, wait a minute Katse, you big wuss –Leader X told you to operate Megaziner!

“This’ll be fun!” enthuses Katse (who is at no risk from self-destructing mechanisms) with an evil laugh, as we see the tracking path on a radar screen homing in on Joe.

Joe, having transformed, is speeding along a road.





“I’ve never seen those cars before,” remarks Joe as two very unusual looking vehicles approach him from behind. A goon in the smaller of the two vehicles reports to Katse that he has the Science Ninja Team member in his sights, and Katse instructs the goons to “Test the awesome power of the Megaziner!”

So, the two Galactor vehicles accelerate and flank Joe.





Joe, glancing side to side quickly, realizes that something’s afoot –especially when the two unusual vehicles start slamming into him on either side and preventing him from altering his course, even as Joe realizes he’s on a collision course with a large bulldozer that’s parked in the road ahead.

Well, he’s Joe, and he’s already demonstrated his talent for leaping his car over other vehicles once in this episode, so he leaps over the bulldozer while the less talented goon driving the smaller Galactor vehicle crashes into it and explodes. Joe leaps the road’s guardrail too and goes tearing down a very steep bank.

Now he’s got at least three more small Galactor vehicles after him, though what’s alarming Joe even more is the fact that he’s now speeding towards a dead end abutted by a very solid and very high cliff wall. He stops his car just before it can smash into the cliff and leaps clear of it in a blur of speed. Two small Galactor vehicles, plus the one bigger one, pull up behind his car and stop.






The goon in the larger vehicle now readies Megaziner, targets Joe’s car and fires upon it.





Joe’s car gets de-transformed.





I’m half expecting one of the goons to say “Hey look, it’s the same vehicle that race car driver, ‘Condor Joe’ drives!” but this doesn’t happen.

Joe, having leaped to the top of the cliff, now looks down from on high and is more than a little disturbed to see what’s happened to his car.





The goons below, carrying machine guns, are out of their vehicle now and surrounding Joe’s car, as they clearly assume that he is still inside it.

“Come out with your hands up! Your birdstyle is ruined!” shouts one goon.

Joe, from his clifftop vantage, laughs cavalierly and calls out “Sorry, but I’m over here! As the goons all turn and look up at him he adds “You guys out playing with your ray guns today?”

The goon in charge addresses a “Shut up!” to Joe and a “Get him!” to the other goons. They open fire with their machine guns but Joe has already jumped down from the cliff. Landing behind one goon, he promptly clobbers him. He then leaps through the air, somersaulting, as the goon operating Megaziner tries to target him but cannot.

“Damn it, stay still, will ya!” he rants.

However, Joe then lands back on top of the cliff and does just that. This time the goon can take a shot.





Joe sees the ray coming, and leaps away but he’s not quite fast enough. His leg is hit.





Judging from the way Joe -no sissy to be sure- is yelling, being hit with Megaziner’s ray is more than a little painful. (Heck, we’re never shown the Ninjas de-transforming of their own accord. Maybe it’s always painful though I can’t believe Dr. Nambu would be that sadistic. I will assume that the Ninjas use a different, milder process of their own to de-transform, or that Megaziner’s ray has been supplemented in some fashion to ensure that it not only de-transforms but also incapacitates its victims.)

Joe topples backwards and disappears from the view of the goons below.

“Shoot, I think I botched it,” mutters the goon operating Megaziner (either in the realization that they have no easy way of getting atop the high cliff to where the presumably de-transformed Ninja is now lying or because he realizes he didn’t hit him squarely with the ray.)

“You fool!” yells an on-screen Katse, who has apparently been watching the whole thing from a safely remote location, while shaking his fists in rage, “He’s just a sitting duck! Take good aim and fire again!”

Um, Katse, I don’t think they can even see him anymore.

This is a moot point, however, as Dr. Misuno now shoves his way on-screen too and warns Katse that he’s “overloading” Megaziner and that he should just call this a successful test and halt the attack.

Katse, lip curled in anger, pauses and very grudgingly agrees “We have to halt for now."

Now, for some very strange reason, it doesn’t occur to Katse or any of the goons as they begin to depart in their vehicles that it might be a good idea to take Joe’s car along with them or, at the very least, destroy it where it sits. Nope, they just leave it where it is, unharmed, and drive away.

Joe, gasping with effort and clearly not in the greatest of shape -even from being hit only in the leg- drags himself back to the edge of the cliff and peers down at his car. Then he looks back at his own leg and is horrified to see that it is still engulfed by the ray’s force and has de-transformed back to his regular shoe and jeans.





And now we cut to the Crescent Coral Base, fish and all.

“You can bet your bell bottoms I’ll give Joe a warning later,” Dr. Nambu is saying to the other Ninjas. (Groan. It’s “There’s no help for it, I”ll give Joe a warning later” in the subs.)





Ken changes the subject, asking what Galactor is doing now.

“An underground city which has just been constructed by the ISO under Ameris’ Ebatta Desert has been destroyed,” says Dr. Nambu as we get a panning shot of the listening Ninjas, “We can be sure it was Galactor, and after investigating it from a variety of angles, we believe the underground city was completely burned out with new special napalm bombs.”

“Special napalm bombs?” repeats Ken.

“Yes, these cruel weapons were made back during the war [what war was that?] to torch the enemy.”

Ken is most indignant, and angrily wonders what Galactor wants this time. Jun thinks it’s another trap to lure out the Science Ninja Team.

“A trap?” says Ken, as if such a thing were completely unheard of.

“After losing my shoe,” explains Jun, looking like she still feels personally guilty about that, “It seems like the timing would be right to launch an assault.”

Ken counters that Galactor might have learned how they transform, but still doesn’t know their identities (though I sometimes wonder how that can be…).

Dr. Nambu comments that once Galactor discovers any weakness, they will seek to exploit it. Jinpei, look apprehensive, now wonders if Galactor has made a new weapon and is coming after them with it.

Ken accuses Katse of “Playing his hand like a coward,” but Katse declares he wants the Ninjas, one by one, to see something interesting. But first, he wants all the small vehicles to try to crush Ken by all converging on him at high speed.

This doesn’t work, as Ken leaps into the air and the small vehicles all smash together. Still in the air, Ken hurls his boomerang at Katse, but the dome cover of the larger, Megaziner vehicle opens and Katse leaps quickly into it.

For once, Katse is willing to operate Megaziner. In fact, he rather rudely shoves out the goon who’s in the front seat and takes his place. As Katse readies the ray gun, Ken is leaping across the roofs of the other small vehicles, so that they can’t run him down. He reaches into his belt compartment and pulls out a handful of explosive charges. Just as Katse is almost getting a fix on Ken…





Ken throws the charges at the small vehicles and in the confusion and explosions that ensue, with debris flying around, Katse can’t get a good fix on Ken’s position.

But then Ken leaps up in the air, and Katse takes a shot with Megaziner. He hits Ken, dead on. Ken screams in pain and falls to the ground, some distance away, landing flat on his back.





Still in agony, he begins to de-transform.





Ken ends up unconscious and in his civvies –definitely not invincible now.





But as he lies there, the shadows of two people fall across him. And there’s something familiar about the shape of their hats…

But, we cut to Jun and Jinpei, still walking around and listening to their bracelets’ locators beep. Heh, Jinpei is so disturbed by the city’s apocalyptic aura, he’s holding on to the edge of Jun’s cape for reassurance.





They are approaching a van.





As had happened with Ken, their bracelets’ beeps seem to be getting faster and higher pitched. Jun concludes the van is suspicious and that they should investigate it. So Jinpei now, rather casually, pulls its back doors open and gets an unpleasant sight –it’s full of machine gun-toting goons.





Once again, he takes refuge with Jun, hurling himself at her with a cry of “Sis!”





Elsewhere, Ryu is in a similarly dire predicament –though it’s unclear how he got into it.





Ryu seems to be in some sort of central control room for the goons, and one goon now contacts Katse and tells him they’ve captured the rest of the Science Ninja Team.

I guess they can’t count too well –surely they know there are five Ninjas, not four, on the Team.

“Peachy, bring them right away,” replies Katse sourly before leaning out of the Megaziner vehicle to yell angrily at a nearby goon “Haven’t you found Gatchaman yet?”

The nervous goon admits that, no, they have not, but they’re “sure he fell around here somewhere.”

Katse orders them to find him, muttering “Without the use of your birdstyle, I’ll be sending you to hell, where I sent your father!”

Speaking of Red Impulse, we now see a silhouette, spinning, and the shape of the hat is just like his was…

Except it’s not Red Impulse –it’s Masaki.

“Gatchaman,” he says, “Gatchaman!”

Ken, lying in a bed suddenly opens his eyes and sits up.





“You’re with Red Impulse!” cries Ken. Masaki is glad to see him, and Ken wants to know how they saved him from Katse,

Masaki explains that “We picked up where our late Captain left off and keep tracking those Galactor scumbags.”

Now we can see Oniishi standing further back. Maybe Ken never met either of them, though I know the other Ninjas certainly met Masaki in episode 44; at any rate, Masaki introduces himself and Oniishi.

“You know, I’d forgotten all about you two after my father died,” says Ken, apparently oblivious to just how inconsiderate this sounds. Then again, they haven’t exactly been making their presence known. Masaki explains that Dr. Nambu asked him and Oniishi to come and provide support for the Ninjas.

Ken, wide-eyed, realizes that this means Dr. Nambu must have known about Galactor’s new de-transforming weapon. Now, although Dr. Nambu hadn’t been able to contact him, Ken raises his bracelet and is able to contact Dr. Nambu –maybe because Ken has now shut off his bracelet’s locator?

Dr. Nambu is glad to hear from him and glad he’s all right. Ken still wants to know how he knew what was going on.

So, Dr. Nambu has to explain how he learned from Joe that Galactor has, from Jun’s shoe, unraveled the secret of the birdstyles and made a machine to control their transformations.

Ken’s instantly worried about the others now. Dr. Nambu continues to explain that Galactor must know about the frequency they use for their transformations but couldn’t know that they shout “Bird go!” in order to complete their transformations and de-transformations.





(I don’t know about that… They haven’t always been too discreet about it. There was that kid at the amusement park in episode 28 pretending to be Gatchaman and shouting “Bird go!”)

Ken, more than a little perturbed to learn his “invincibility” is at risk, wants to know if there’s anything they can do about this. Dr. Nambu says that Megaziner must operate by nullifying the transformations by emitting the same high frequency but with the timing stunted. We see two waves on a screen, as he’s saying this, with their phases shifting to cancel each other out –basically, it’s what Dr. Misuno had explained to Leader X at the beginning of this episode.






Dr. Nambu explains that to do this, the weapon must emit a tremendous amount of power (and we get a view of Megaziner firing as he says this) and therefore “if they use it too much –more than once or twice- it will probably redline, overload and cause the transmitter to explode.”

So now Ken is clear on what Megziner’s weakness is, and even though it’s dangerous, Dr. Nambu wants him to work with the Red Impulse members to “pulverize that mecha!”

Ken is all keen to do just that, and jumps out of bed… only to stumble in pain. And, now we see there’s a bandage on his right leg.





Masaki asks if he’s okay and Ken insists “It’s nothing.” Masaki explains that he must have hurt his leg in the fight, and that Oniishi treated it.

Ken looks over at Oniishi and thanks him, extending his hand towards him. Oniishi says nothing.





Now Masaki explains to Ken that Galactor “punctured his throat a long time ago, so he can’t talk. Ever since then, he’s devoted his life to defeating Galactor as a member of Red Impulse.”

Ken looks very moved by this news (and perhaps feels bad that he’d forgotten all about the other Red Impulse men once his own father was gone.)





Meanwhile, Jun, Jinpei and Ryu have been strung up in manacles.





Katse is standing before them, along with a bunch of armed goons, and the Megaziner is there too. Katse’s plan is to shoot them all with it and “reveal the identities of these losers!”

He starts to say “ready, aim, fire” and the goon at Megaziner’s controls is ready to fire.

“Blast the lady first!” shouts Katse, and the goon laughs nastily and zeroes in on Jun.





It’s not looking good for the Ninjas here but as the goon is just about to fire, he cries out and falls back with a shuriken embedded in his neck.





Katse, who’d had his back to this, turns around angrily demanding to know why the goon hasn’t fired yet. He gasps in alarm.

Another shuriken flies through the air and breaks free one of Jun’s and one of Jinpei’s wrist manacles. She, Ryu and Jinpei all gasp in surprise too, but are very happy to now see Joe standing some distance away, holding his gun in one hand.





“Katse, I came to thank you for before!” declares Joe as Jinpei shouts happily “Yeah, it’s about time you showed, Joe!”


With a “How dare you interfere!” Katse orders the goons to open fire on Joe. They try, but Joe leaps up and manages to shoot some of the goons with his cable gun. Katse leaps into the seat at the controls for Megaziner, callously shoving out the dead, shuriken-pierced goon with an “Out of my way!”

Katse closes the glass dome over himself now and tries to get a fix on Joe to shoot him with Megaziner again, but he’s busy clobbering goons and Katse’s not having an easy time of it.

Battle of the Planets Episode: The Awesome Ray Force

“Here at Center Neptune,” says Zark, far [based on what we’re seeing, not that far!] beneath the sea, I constantly scan the universe for any sign of trouble in outer space or any threat to Earth’s security.”

Now we see this all-seeing guardian, and he’s reclining on his oil-break table with 1-Rover-1 sitting nearby.

“All work and no play makes Zark a rusty robot,” he says now, and this shift in tone makes me realize that Susan is probably about to call him, “So I do get a ten second oil break now and the n.”

But no, he picks up a little can and begins squirting himself, commenting that it’s “delightful” and a “simple domestic peanut oil that I picked up on sale –but it hits the spot.”

I find myself wondering if this is some oblique reference to Jimmy Carter’s administration. Gah, I’m over-thinking this show…

1-Rover-1 yaps, only to be informed by Zark that he can’t play with him right now.

Why not, Zark? It’s not like you’re doing anything else important at the moment.

Oh, but he is. “I’ve got to turn on my monitor and look in on planet Spectra.”

1-Rover-1 yaps again, apparently asking “Why?”

Because they’re the bad guys, 1-Rover-1! A robot who can apparently speak (albeit in “Dog”) ought to have figured that out by now.

But Zark currently has a more specific reason why –“Zoltar has put his leading scientist, the evil Dr. Glock [not to be confused with the good Dr. Glock], to work constructing another terrifying invention to be used against Earth.”

“I’ll zero in on this frequency,” he continues, “It should pick up Dr. Glock’s laboratory.”

Now we’re seeing that old footage of Princess’ shoe being bombarded with radiation and transmuted into her G-Force boot, while Zark reminds us of when Zoltar “recreated a complete image of Princess from her boot, using an atomic replicator.”

Now, he says, “Dr. Glock is working on an adaptation of that device, for a new and terrible reason,” and we see Dr. Glock and some other scientists and soldiers gathered around a table bearing what looks like a giant screw driver.

If Zark knows what Dr. Glock is doing and apparently knows why he’s doing it, why isn’t he immediately contacting G-Force to tell them about it?

Who knows? We cut to the Luminous One.

“Why did you allow the underground city to be evacuated before the attack?” he demands of Zoltar (while Dr. Glock stands further back, beside a dome-topped gurney.)

But Zoltar doesn’t launch into an explanation of the rules governing children’s TV shows in the late ‘70s; he declares that was “unfortunate” and complains that “Earth security forces anticipated our offensive.”

Apparently they don’t know they’ve got a little Earth robot spying on them all the time.

But he hastens to assure the Luminous One that Dr. Glock has good news for him.

“Yes, most radiant one,” says Dr. Glock, with a bow.

“It is the masterpiece of his career,” adds Zoltar.

So, Dr. Glock pushes a button on the gurney and the dome retracts to reveal… the giant screw driver.

L. O. thinks it’s beautiful to look upon but also wants assurance that it will do what he wants it to do.

“It is a triumph!” says Zoltar, positively but not very specifically.

It falls to Dr. Glock to explain that this device’s rays will reverse the G-Force transmutation process.

“Splendid, splendid,” says Zoltar, holding his chin as if puzzled by this, “Go on, tell me more.”

“This weapon is effective beyond our expectations,” declares Dr. Glock but adds that the final test will be using it on one of the members of the G-Force team. “Then and only then can we know if it is completely successful.”

The Luminous One is optimistic, saying “At last we have the ultimate weapon to use against G-Force! It must be put to the test at once –see to it!” His eyes narrow, apparently in anticipation.

Zoltar does a sweeping bow.

And now we cut to a race track where a race is in progress. Jason is in the race.

“Mark is out at the race track, and I’ve got to reach him to round up G-Force,” says Zark’s voice. Ah, so he is on the ball about warning G-Force.

Mark, Princess, Keyop and Tiny are watching the race from the sidelines, not sitting in the stands. “Push it, Jason, show em your dust!” cheers Keyop before falling inside the stack of tires he’s sitting on. Tiny looks at Keyop and smiles, saying “Racing is dangerous.” I assume he’s referring to Keyop’s difficulties with sitting on tires, and not hoping that Jason will crash.

Jason is speeding along (but no one crashes trying to pass him –maybe racing really isn’t dangerous). Tiny, holding a sign with 1s and 2s on it, says that Jason’s got the race “in the bag.” “Don’t cheer until you see the chequered flag,” cautions Princess cheerfully.

“Boy, I got em going now,” says Jason happily, glancing around to evaluate his position. Then, his wrist communicator begins beeping. It’s Mark, saying “Jason, you’ve got to drop out of the race.”

Jason frowns and protests “I’ve got this race in my pocket!”

Mark declares it’s urgent they get back to Center Neptune but Jason insists the race is almost over and “I’m not going to stop now!”

“You wouldn’t go against Anderson’s orders, would you?” asks Mark disapprovingly.

“Man, give me a break, will you? I’ll be there as soon as the race is over,” declares Jason.

“A few minutes,” chirps Keyop to Mark, interceding on Jason’s behalf.

“An order is an order,” says Mark sternly, “A few minutes can make a lot of difference. The Chief won’t like this.” Princess points out “If we’re all late he’ll like it even less.”

“Poor Jason,” sighs Keyop, staring closely at his wrist communicator before hastily vacating his stack of tires to follow the others.

Jason, frowning, decides he needs to get the race over with quickly so that he can “Give the Chief the trophy.” His tone suggests he might be imagining hitting him over the head with it.

He accelerates and leaves the other cars behind, crossing the finish line first. “Number Two wins!” calls the announcer as everyone in the stands cheers.

Jason is relieved by his victory. “Now to face Chief Anderson,” he adds, turning his car to head in the opposite direction, with cars still finishing the race speeding towards him.

“Here we go,” he says calmly, and he jumps his car right over another one he was about to collide with, as if this were a perfectly ordinary way to exit a track after a race, and then goes soaring right over the outside wall of the track too.

He speeds along a barren-looking road, but then stops, saying “I’ve got to go faster. I’d better transmute.” So he does.

Elsewhere, someone is informing Zoltar that a signal has been picked up on the radar scanner, but he can’t tell what it is. “Could it be a G-Force vehicle?” asks Zoltar.

Zoltar contacts an on-screen Spectran soldier, informs him that a “G-Force vehicle” is in his sector and tells him to go after it.

“And when you find it, you know what to do!” declares Zoltar as the soldier salutes.

Zoltar laughs evilly while watching a radar screen track the vehicle in question.

Meanwhile, Jason has transmuted and is speeding along when two odd-looking vehicles come up behind him. Jason scowls and says “I don’t like the looks of those cars.”

The Spectran soldier driving one of the vehicles informs Zoltar that he sees the G-Force vehicle. “Don’t let him get away!” orders Zoltar.

So, the two Spectran vehicles, one small and one large, flank Jason’s car and start banging into him from either side. “I’m trapped!” realizes Jason as he sees a bull dozer in the road ahead that he now has no way to avoid. Well, no way except by jumping his car over it –which he does. The smaller Spectran vehicle crashes into the bull dozer and explodes but we cut away very quickly (surely the driver survives, somehow), and now Jason is taking his car over the guardrail and down a steep bank.

Several more of the small variety of Spectran vehicle are following him though. Jason, alarmed, realizes he’s now driven into a dead end. He screeches to a halt at the bottom of a high cliff and immediately leaps out of his car, high into the air.

Mark follows her at a run, and eventually catches up to her. She’s kneeling over her “baby,” with her back to Mark, at the remains of a cemetery. Mark, asking her not to be afraid and saying he wants to help her and her baby, leans towards her and then he sees that the baby is really just a doll.

“Would you like to play with my baby?” asks the woman, but with Zoltar’s voice (and this line sounds really creepy in Zoltar’s voice!)

Mark is shocked, saying “Oh no, not you!”

Now Zoltar is revealed (and doesn’t feel compelled to step on the doll’s neck or do anything unpleasant-looking like that) and retorts “We meet again!”

Then he adds “Surround him!” and we see that Mark is now indeed surrounded by Spectran vehicles, including the one that houses the ray gun.

“Use the anti-transmute ray on him!” orders Zoltar. But Mark leaps high in the air and throws his boomerang. It misses Zoltar, who leaps into the ray gun vehicle and shoves aside its driver to take his place. He takes aim with the ray gun, targeting Mark who is still in the air (and hasn’t been evading getting crushed, attacking Spectrans with his boomerang or blowing up their vehicles.)

He hits Mark dead on, and Mark falls towards the ground. Again, no cries of pain or discomfort; Mark merely lands on his back and detransmutes. But he is unconscious. Two unseen figures approach Mark and their shadows (of a rather familiar shape) fall across him.

But we cut to Princess and Keyop, still walking around. But they spot a van, and their communicators start beeping faster and more high-pitched. Princess wonders if a survivor could be inside the van and Keyop pulls open its back doors.

Surprise! It’s full of gun-toting Spectran soldiers! “Big mistake!” cries Keyop, leaping back to grab onto Princess. Elsewhere, in what looks like a control room, a soldier is now reporting to Zoltar that “We just caught two more.”

“That’s all well and good,” complains Zoltar, “But what happened to the one we used the ray on? Where is he?”

“He seems to have disappeared into thin air,” replies a soldier who’s with Zoltar.

“I am surrounded by fools!” rants Zoltar, “I want that man found, and now!”

Now, we see the spinning image of a Rigan Red Ranger, saying “Mark, can you hear me?”

Mark is lying on a bed but he opens his eyes now. “Cronus, it’s you!” he says, sitting up suddenly.

Yup, did everyone get that? This is Cronus, not some other Red Ranger, even though he’s not looking quite like he usually does.

A comparison:





Mark asks what’s happened to the others and is informed that Zoltar has captured them. He explains to Mark that “We headed out for Lulo as soon as we got Chief Anderson’s call, but we were too late.”

Mark is ready to begin the rescue, but Cronus insists he contact Chief Anderson first. Mark reaches Anderson, who says “I’ve got some good news.” He proceeds to explain that the “energy field of the ray gun can be reversed,” and that “Zoltar himself can be tricked into doing it.” Mark likes the sound of this and requests details.

“It’s simple,” replies Anderson, “Push the ray force into the ultra-synch range and it will blow up.”

Mark gets out of bed quickly (and has no problems with his leg) and Cronus tells him that he and the other Red Ranger (who hasn’t said a word) will be around if Mark should need them.

Elsewhere, Princess, Keyop and Tiny have been strung up with manacles. Standing before them, with the ray gun vehicle beside him, Zoltar gloats and laughs evilly and tells them that “Soon, you will be G-Force no more,” and they “will then be powerless to thwart my plans!”

“Prepare to fire!” cries Zoltar. The goon at the ray gun’s controls smiles nastily.

Suddenly a feather stunner (or whatever they call them in BOTP) comes flying through the air and breaks the manacles holding Princess’ left and Keyop’s right hands.

“I think I got here just in time!” declares Jason, standing dramatically and holding his gun in one hand.

“Say that again!” burbles Keyop.

Suddenly, Zoltar is the one inside the ray gun vehicle (no idea where the previous guy went but surely Jason didn’t kill him).

Zoltar fires the ray gun at the four G-Force members, now gathered together and all manacle-free. Jason grabs Princess and Keyop, plows into Tiny and sends them all tumbling behind a rock ledge as the ray gun’s beam goes over them and misses.

Keyop briefly pops his head up and sticks out his tongue mockingly, but Jason’s arm shoves him back down behind the ledge –just as another shot from the ray gun was about to hit Keyop in the head.

The four of them stay hunkered down as Zoltar complains “They’re slippery as eels.”

Confident he’ll get them very soon, Zoltar drives the ray gun vehicle slowly towards the ledge behind which they’re all hiding.

But suddenly, a couple missiles strike near him and explode. Zoltar looks about in alarm and sees a Red Ranger jet driving towards him.

Its driver now appears atop it, and it’s a Red Ranger.

“To what do we owe this honor, Colonel Cronus?” sneers Zoltar but he doesn’t order any of the nearby soldiers to open fire on him. “Cronus” leaps high into the air, does a flip and, as the red uniform shreds away, he’s revealed to be Mark, re-transmuted.

“Right on time, old buddy,” remarks Jason happily, now standing with the others and observing all this. “I’ll say!” adds Keyop.

Zoltar now yells at his soldiers “Get him this time or you’ll pay for it!” But they don’t try to “get him” by shooting at him.

We see the ray gun being aimed…

“Why can’t those bumbling fools stop him?” demands Zoltar, jerking the ray gun’s barrel side to side.

Jason and the others suddenly leap from their location behind the ledge to join Mark on top of the remains of a ruined building.

Zoltar is pleased, thinking that now he can “get them, all together!” but Mark declares, “Team, let’s give them the full treatment.”

This “treatment” entails them all scattering and leaping and soaring about in erratic and unpredictable ways, though pausing to join hands briefly and form a spinning circle in the air.

Zoltar snarls and grimaces in frustration, unable to get a fix on any one of them as they all continue to leap about, to the accompaniment of some funky 70s music.

Zoltar fires the ray gun, and misses. Dr. Glock appears on screen, frantically saying that he’s “pushing the ray force too high!”

Zoltar is offended that Dr. Glock dares to interrupt him “at a time such as this!”

Now, as the ray gun is clearly not faring well, Dr. Glock wails that he’s pushed it into the ultra-synch range.

“I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen!” are Dr. Glock’s parting words as the ray gun and its vehicle explode.

But Zoltar cries “Time to go!” and drops down inside the body of the vehicle even as the rest of it explodes.

“Good riddance,” says Mark. “Hurray!” adds Jason. “End of old Zoltar!” cheers Keyop, but Princess and Tiny are skeptical.

Sure enough, we get a brief look at Zoltar (apparently trying to salvage some of the ray gun’s innards) before there’s an even bigger explosion. But Zoltar’s escape rocket comes shooting out of the flames and flies off.

“Back to Spectra,” says Jason, scowling, “Till next time,” adds Mark.

But, the two Red Rangers pursue Zoltar in their jets and Mark concludes there’s still a chance Cronus will catch him.

Jason hands him a Red Ranger hat and tells Mark to hold it until Cronus gets back.

Zark voice-overs that Mark is holding the hat of “a brave man, who saved his life” as we see G-Force still watching the ray gun burn and as Zark tells us that they’re all making silent vows that Zoltar “will never again wreak his evil destruction on Earth.”

Now, we cut to Zark himself. He’s “glad G-Force was able to reverse the force of the anti-transmute ray.”

“But I can’t help worrying about Jason,” he adds.

1-Rover-1 yaps.

Zark is happy that he thinks that everything’s going to be all right, but continues “Jason disobeyed orders, and you know how strict Chief Anderson can be about rules and discipline.”

Yes, bad, bad Jason.

Suddenly, awkwardly drawn versions of Mark and Princess appear and greet him.

Zark is excited and honored by their visit, though he worries this means there’s a new problem of some sort.

No problem, they’re there to convey word from Chief Anderson that it’s up to Zark to decide what punishment should be handed out to Jason “for infraction of the rules.”

Uh, right…

Zark ponders. “Jason certainly proved his loyalty to G-Force today, you know,” and he begins to babble about the calculations of his “multiplex discontinuity filters” and that “X equals Y,” etc.

So, Zark decides that Jason's punishment is that he must “represent Center Neptune in the Interstellar 500 stock car race next month!”

“That’s really giving it to him,” remarks Mark with amused sarcasm, “You know how Jason hates to drive racing cars.”

“A Supreme Court justice couldn’t have come up with a better decision,” says Princess.

Ugh, I can believe they think they ought to humor the neurotic little tin can, but that is laying it on too thick!

“You’re a genius, Zark,” she adds, and kisses him on the head.

Zark giggles, agrees he has “a knack for diplomacy,” and wonders if, despite being manufactured, he isn’t “becoming a little bit human.”

Now, (mercifully) the episode ends.

Great review, LB! You really did a great job with this important episode! And Saturn, you got some great screenshots!

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quote:

Originally posted by lborgia88

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

I believe (and I know he'll correct me if I'm wrong) that James once mentioned that during series planning, Red Impulse was supposed to be a veteran of WWII. Of course, then he would be far too old, given his portrayal in the series, so it seems natural that they're assuming some kind of WWIII.

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Love the funny, LB! I can just see Jun whacking them...

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Jun thought-balloon: I still can't take these two anywhere.

Ryu: I can hold the caber above my head before tossing it!

Jinpei: Gimme a minute! Almost have this one.

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features