“So who’s the fox, Doc?” Ken asks. I should point out that in the subtitles, Ken simply asks, “Who’s this?” without any implication that he’s attracted to her. The ADV voice dub implies some kind of interest on Ken’s part.



“Don’t trifle with me you punk!” Borombo declares. “You’re going to keep your promise, aren’t you?”

“Don’t sweat it, all right?” Ken replies.



“What about my daughter? Are you prepared to guarantee her safety?” Borombo asks.

“Your daughter?” Ken looks down at the picture, and we hear the twinkly music again.

“Yeah, sure, we’ll give her back before you know it.” Ken bluffs. “Don’t worry! You can trust me.” Yeah, like he’s been behaving in a trustworthy manner so far.

“I’ll give you this data in exchange for my daughter. And that was the deal, kid!” Borombo replies. “You promised.”

“I see!” Ken thinks to himself. “Thanks’ how it is, huh?”



“Hey, listen…” Ken starts to speak, but Borombo turns on him, a gun in his hand. Ken is taken aback.



“Don’t even move a muscle, you scumbag! You’re going to be my hostage now!” Borombo says, doing his best Dirty Harry impression.



“That’s not going to work, Doctor.” Ken tries to tell him. “The lives of agents like me don’t mean anything to Galactor.”

“You think I care about that?” Borombo smiles. “If anything happens to my daughter, I’ll just kill you! At least that way I’ll get back at those nasty bastards for what they’ve done!”

“Doctor, you’ve got to listen to me!” Ken protests, but Borombo isn’t hearing it.



“Get back! Just sit down over there!” Borombo directs Ken to his couch. “Now don’t you move, punk.” He turns a not-so-hidden dial on his bookcase, and suddenly Ken is in an electric cage!



“You people should be a little more careful when dealing with scientists, don’t you think?” Borombo brags, putting his gun in his jacket pocket. He throws a handkerchief onto the electric lines, and it is immediately incinerated.



“I wouldn’t make a move if I were you, smart guy!” Borombo crows. “I don’t want to have to scrape up your charred remains!” But just as he says this, the television behind him turns on. It’s Berg Katse!



“Dr. Borombo, listen carefully! There’s been a change in plans.” Katse cackles. “Get to your car and head south! Await further instructions, and don’t forget to bring the data!” The image fades out.

“Doctor! Please wait!” Ken calls, as Borombo leaves. “Doctor! Listen to me! Doctor!”



But of course he doesn’t listen, and he drives off, leaving Ken behind on the electric couch.

“This is Gatchaman. Over.” Ken says into his bracelet.



“What’s going on?” Joe asks.



“Doctor Borombo left the house. I want you to follow him!” Note that Ken doesn’t mention anything about his predicament, or ask for help.

“Okay!” Joe says, standing up and dashing out of the restaurant. “Let’s go!”

“Roger!” everyone calls, leaping over the chairs to get out.



“Hey! You have to pay!” O’Brien calls after them.

“Put it on Dr. Nambu’s tab!” Ryu calls as he exits.



“But what are your names? Hey, come back here right now!” O’Brien calls. Of course, it’s a futile maneuver on his part.

Now we see Borombo driving his car. He appears to be lost in thought. In his mind, he’s seeing rain, and Berg Katse standing next to his captive daughter.



Interesting how he thinks his daughter is a blonde, when in the picture she clearly had reddish-brown hair.

“Daddy! Help me! Daddy!” his daughter screams. Now Borombo remembers taking orders from Katse.

“If you want your daughter back, you must steal top secret documents from the ISO.” Katse orders.

“Rumi, just hang in there a little longer. Daddy’s coming!” Borombo says as he drives.

Meanwhile, back at the Borombo residence…

“This contraption ain’t clever enough to hold Ken the Eagle.” Ken says. He pulls a mini-bomb out of his jeans pocket, then flicks it at the bookcase switch Borombo used to turn on the electric field. The device explodes, and of course the field turns off.

Ken turns into David Cassidy as he realizes that he’s free.



“Oh yeah…” he says to himself as he runs off, like he wants to be a giant jug of Kool-aid.

Now we see the rest of the Science Ninja Team in a parking lot. They are surrounding Dr. Borombo’s car. There’s only one other car in sight, and it’s on some kind of weird platform. Freaky!



Joe picks Ken’s tracking device off of Borombo’s car.

“This goofy ride has to be Dr. Borombo’s.” he says. “Something’s weird.”



“I can’t believe he’s meeting up with Galactor out in the open like this.” Jun observes. “Where’d he go?”



“Yeah!” Ryu agrees. “And after all the driving around we did, here we are, right back by the ISO Building!” I’m not sure, but I think the ISO Building is supposed to be the tallest tower behind Ryu?



“Ryu, come over here! Check out these sweet wheels!” Jinpei calls. And I have to admit, it’s a car to make a Condor drool. Even now, nearly 40 years after the show was made, it still looks cool.



“It says ‘maximum speed, 350 kmph’!” Jinpei exclaims, opening the door. Ooh, it’s got a Don Johnson door that opens from the bottom! Or a Back to the Future door, if you prefer. Either way, I’ve seriously dated myself as an 80s child. If the Kool-Aid reference didn’t clue you in already.

Jinpei eagerly gets in.



“Jinpei! Stop! You shouldn’t be in someone else’s car!” Jun lectures.



But Jinpei is dreaming of himself as the Condor.

It must be a British car, judging by the positioning of the steering wheel. Wait a minute… from the outside, didn’t it look as if the steering wheel was on the opposite side? I’m confused!

“This is awesome! I wish my G-4 was as cool as this!” Jinpei exclaims, turning the wheel with childlike glee.



I’m sorry, but I’m at this screenshot! How can they put so much expression on a face with so few drawn lines? Those Tatsunoko artists were good!

“This is second, third, fourth, and this is reverse!” Jinpei says, moving the stick around. “Hmmm… what’s this?” He puts the stick in ‘G’. Hmmm… G for Gatchaman? Or G for Galactor?

You decide.



Jinpei is shocked when his seat descends!



So is everyone else!



“Jinpei!” Jun cries.

The other three rush over and look down the shaft. Jinpei is sitting at the bottom (still in the car’s chair) in a metal corridor.

“Hey, check it out, man!” he calls.



“All right, let’s get going!” Joe replies. “If we don’t hurry, Galactor will get the secret data!”



And in fact. Katse is looking forward to that very thing.



“I’m glad you made it, Dr. Borombo.” he says pleasantly. “I’ve been expecting you! Now, hand over the secret documents.”

“Where’s my daughter?” Borombo asks suspiciously.

“Don’t worry! You’ll have her as soon as we confirm the data’s authentic.” Katse assures him.

“No, I want my daughter first!” Borombo tries to make a stand.

“Yeah, whatever.” Katse’s pleasantness evaporates as he grabs the briefcase from Borombo’s hands.



“This will give us the knowledge to completely destroy the Science Ninja Team!” Katse says gleefully, pulling the device out of the case. “Every piece of information about their operations is right here.”

__________________

But now goons are falling down to the ground! Seems they’ve gained Bionic Man-esque jumping powers!

But Ryu is ready, and he punches them out as they land.



He grabs the last one and throws him at the wall. The goon lands next to Borombo, who pistol whips the Galactor soldier.



Ken takes out a few more goons.



As does Jun.



Jinpei flips away from gunfire.



Joe punches out a goon.



Ken jumps up to the ceiling to avoid gunfire, then lands on the shooting goons.



He throws his boomerang at a few more, then glances up to see Katse fleeing the scene.

“Look, Ken!” Jun calls. “Katse’s getting away! We can’t let him escape!”



“Take care of the rest!” Ken shouts, going after Katse.

Somehow, Ken dashes to the ladybug mecha, and manages to beat Katse there. He jumps inside.



Then he hides behind the operator’s chair.

Now Katse scrambles inside.



But he doesn’t notice his passenger.



The legs of the ladybug retract and wings come out. The mecha flies off.

Meanwhile the fight is still going on.







Ryu brushes his hands off in relief as he finishes up.



“You know, there’re always so many of these bozos.” he notes. “Such a hassle!”



Borombo collapses to the floor in relief.

“Wait, where did Ken run off to?” Joe asks angrily.



“He went running after Katse.” Jun replies.

“What?” Joe is shocked.

“Damn it! Bro always has to go and steal the show!” Jinpei swears.

“We’ll hear from him soon. Let’s just chill out until then.” Jun smiles.



Meanwhile, Katse has flown to a castle-like mansion on the sea. Underneath is another base.

“Anything suspicious?” he asks his men as he emerges from the ladybug.



“No, Sire!” the men shout in unison. Of course, Ken’s hearing every word.

“All right. You may all rest until I give you your next orders!” Katse says.

“Sire!” they call.

Once everyone is gone, Ken emerges from the ladybug.



“Gentlemen, you should be delighted!” Katse says, showing the briefcase to a half-circle of goons. “Galactor’s victory is finally coming to pass!”



“Lord Katse, how would you like us to send his daughter back to him?” asks one of the goons. I presume he means Borombo.

“Did you just say, ‘send her back’?” Katse sneers. “Are you serious?”



“What do you mean, boss?” Even for a goon, this guy is slooooow.



“We can’t let Borombo find out we’ve killed his daughter!” Katse exclaims. “We must keep him thinking that his daughter’s life still hangs in the balance. That’ll come in handy for us in the future.”

“So his daughter’s going to…?” another goon asks. “Man, he’s ruthless!”

“Did you say something?” Katse snaps.

“No!” the men scream, coming immediately to attention and saluting. “It’s a brilliant idea, Lord Katse! Brilliant!”

“Get rid of her now, we don’t need her anymore!” Katse orders.



But a high-pitched noise is heard.

“What the hell is that?” Katse asks.

Seems Ken tripped the security system.



“An infrared alarm beam!” he cries.

“He’s over there!” cries a goon.

“Let’s get him! Come on!” says another. The two run off. More goons follow.

And Ken, brave man that he is… runs.



“Hold it right there, Bird Boy!” the goons call. “Open fire!”

But Ken gets away, of course. Yet the goons still pursue him.

“Damn it!” Ken curses. He sees a nearby locked door. He throws his boomerang…



And the lock is broken. Ken slips inside the room behind the door.

A mysterious black-robed figure approaches him from behind.

Ken kicks the figure.



The figure slumps to the floor, and its mask falls off. Ken’s eyes bug out!



“It… it’s you!” he exclaims. And yep, we hear the twinkly music again.



“Borombo’s daughter!” he says.



Meanwhile, outside the door, the goons are confused.

“He’s not here!” says one.

“I could have sworn he came this way!” says another. “Find him!”

But one goon has noticed the broken lock, and he calls over the others.

“Check this out!” he says, kicking in the door.

“Not here.” says a goon, as they all point their guns at the black-robed figure inside.

“Might as well finish her off while we’re here.” another goon says, pulling off the black robe. “If you want to blame someone, blame, Katse!”

But Rumi looks more confused than afraid. Perhaps because of her friend…



Needless to say, Ken has no problems taking out the goons.



“Come on!” he calls, pulling Rumi out the door.

Rumi runs in an embarrassingly girlish fashion, and trips.



So of course, Ken has to pick her up to see if she’s all right.



“Let’s go!” he whispers impatiently.

More goons are chasing them, but Ken throws some minibombs at the, They explode, while Ken and Rumi get away.



Sorry, but it just irritates me how dumb and helpless she looks. Very airheaded!

But they arrive at the ladybug just in time to see it taking off.



Katse’s laugh echoes throughout the hangar, and a bomb drops at Ken’s feet.

“Damn it!” he curses.

“I’ll just help myself to this, and you can stay there and have a blast!” Katse taunts Ken.



“We’ve got to get out of here, Quick! It’s too dangerous!” Ken explains to Rumi, pulling he off again.



But more goons appear.

“There he is!” they cry.



“Out of my way!” Ken shouts. “Don’t listen to Katse’s orders! He’s escaped, and left all of you behind to die! This place is going to blow! Get the hell out!”



He shoves forward, taking the goons by surprise, and they let him through.

“Go! Go!” screams Ken.

And the goons do. They run after Ken and Rumi.

Ken and Rumi escape just in time, and Ken covers Rumi with his wings to protect her from the blast.





But once it’s over, he quickly lets her go, and seems to be embarrassed.



“Your father’s worried about you. We’d better go back.” Ken says.

“My hero! I don’t even know how to thank you enough!” Rumi says, stars in her eyes.



“I was so scared, but I’m safe now, right?” she says, hugging Ken. Ken doesn’t know what to do.

__________________

BOTP Episode 76 – Defector to Spectra

When everything is calm and peaceful deep beneath the waves at Center Neptune, Zark tries to sneak a moment for a ‘refreshing ablution’.

And no, we’re not talking about a ‘ten second oil change’. It’s far, far worse than that.



Yep. Zark is taking an oil shower. Shudder…

I have to admit, though, I love that 1-Rover-1 is sitting there patiently with a towel!

“That means a nice, soothing, olive oil shower.” Zark says. I guess he follows the Mediterranean diet.

“Oil drops are falling on my head…” he sings, as he scrubs his armpits. “But that don’t mean I…” And of course, the tune is slightly off, to ensure that no rights infringement takes place.



Fortunately for us, Zark is interrupted by an alert.

“Oh dear.” Zark says, still scrubbing his armpits (How dirty do they get, anyhow?) “That intercom always buzzes when I’m in the shower.” So he grabs his towel from Rover and dries off.



And he emerges from the shower, towel wrapped around his ‘waist’.



“Yes, yes, I’m coming!” he says. “Center Neptune Control! 7-Zark-7!”



“Hello, Zark, this is Susan, at Early Warning, out on Planet Pluto.”

“Oh, Susan!” Zark is shocked and pulls up his towels to hide his ‘naked body’. He seems to have forgotten that he walks around naked half the time anyhow. Sigh…



“I hope you…. Ooooh!” He sighs in frustration.



“Zark, what’s wrong?” asks Susan, sensing something amiss.

“I think I just threw my FOSDIC out of place.” Zark explains. “Ooh!” While getting a call from Susan? Ugh, that brings up an image I’d rather not… ewwwww….. too late.

“Oh, that’s a shame!” Susan replies. “A slipped FOSDIC can be so painful! Do you think it’s age catching up with you?” WTG Susan! Burn, Zark!

“Susan, I’m still under full factory warranty!” Zark insists, clearly miffed.

“Well, you listen to me!” Susan decides to advise Zark. “Just lie prone on your slantboard until your FOSDIC slips back into place!” Wow, I never knew Zark’s reclining platform had a name! A slantboard…

“I can’t lie down! I can’t even move!” Zark exclaims in distress. “Besides! I’ve got the entire galaxy to keep watch over!” And now is the time for 1-Rover-1 to step in and do all of Zark’s work, making it clear that he truly is unnecessary. Go Rover! But unfortunately, Susan doesn’t see it my way.

“All right.” Susan says. “I’ll call Center Neptune Maintenance, and have them send a technician over right away! Hang in there, Zark!”

“Thanks, Susan.” Zark says meekly. “Bye! Oooh….”

“What am I going to do, 1-Rover-1?” Zark asks. “Chief Anderson and G-Force are away form the Center on detached duty! They’re at Intergalactic Federation Headquarters, checking on a lead from my computers about a Spectra spy who seems to be operating within our Central Security Agency.”

As Zark speaks, he moves into his usual voiceover mode, and we see the Security Agency building, both outside and in. A security guard monitors everything on cameras.

“What’s Gregg doing with that?” Chief Anderson asks himself, as he is approached by a man clutching a briefcase. Gregg bears a vague resemblance to Woody Allen.

I admit that Gregg is holding the briefcase in a suspiciously close manner, but is Anderson really alarmed to see him with a briefcase? I guess in the future, no one uses them anymore?

“How come you’re not in your office, Gregg?” Anderson demands, as Gregg walks by. “Where are you going? Gregg? I’m talking to you!”

“Oh, why, I’m sorry!” Gregg turns and smiles. Strangely, he sounds exactly like Zark! Does this mean that he’s actually a robot, programmed by Zark to spy on the Federation from within, and that Zark is really the internal Spectran spy? Makes the mind boggle…

Okay, I’ll get off of my own outlandish plot ideas and back to BOTP’s outlandish plot ideas.

“I was thinking of something else.” Gregg mumbles, before turning away again and continuing on his path. Of course, he never really answered Chief Anderson’s question about why he wasn’t in his office. This makes the Chief suspicious, and rightly so.

“Yeah…” Anderson mutters sarcastically. He decides to follow Gregg.

Gregg uses a small, portable laser to cut through the doorway into a room full of large computers.

“Gregg! A traitor!” Anderson whispers in disbelief as he sees this. The Chief rushes to the security post, only to find it unmanned. Anderson turns on the cameras in time to observe what happens.

Gregg enters the computer room and opens up his briefcase to reveal a strange-looking device. He attaches it to one of the computers and activates it. A data tape starts recording.

Now we can see that Anderson has caught this treachery in a recording, and he is playing it back for the G-Force Team.

“There it is.” Anderson says, obvious disappointment in his voice. “When they go over the wall, they go fast and unexpectedly. You couldn’t ask for a better man than Gregg. He’s been with us for ten years, and always performed with complete integrity! Now he’s about to hand over our Master Code to Spectra!”

Ooh, the Master Code! I wonder what it does… is this like the Conway Tapes?

“What could have happened?” Mark asks. “I haven’t known him as long as you, but he always seemed okay.”

“I don’t know.” Anderson admits. “I can’t believe he finds Spectra’s philosophy of intergalactic domination attractive.”

“You know, some of those brainy guys have mixed-up private lives.” Tiny suggests, casually leaning back on the couch.

“Of course.” the Chief agrees. “You never know. He’s been a widower for years. Maybe he’s seeing a woman! And if he’s fed her any secrets at all… Spectra will never let him up.”

“He never impressed me as the type to give out secrets.” Jason scowls.

“That’s true.” Anderson says. “But we saw with our own eyes! I had a funny…. you might call it a premonition. I looked across the street at the Bry Building: the place Intelligence thinks might be Spectra’s local base. And I felt he was heading there.”

“That’s funny!” Princess exclaims. “I had a premonition he’d be going to Disco Don’s for one of those great chocolate drinks!” Okay, that’s funny, but this is hardly the time for sarcasm, Princess.

“No matter how fond we are of him personally, there is no doubt we’ve got to stop him.” the Chief reprimands her. “It could be Gregg is under some intense pressure, perhaps a ransom demand or blackmail. It’s obviously a rough time in his life, but we must assume he intends to make it rough on us.”

“We’ll talk to him.” Mark says. “Maybe he doesn’t know what he’s getting into.”

And sure enough, now we see the G-Force Team sitting in a restaurant with cups in front of them. Could this be the infamous Disco Don’s, and their great chocolate drinks?

“They’ve got the best hot chocolate in the galaxy, right here!” Tiny says, holding his cup. I guess the BOTP writers didn’t think it was appropriate for teenagers to be drinking coffee?

Tiny gulps down his hot chocolate and tries to lick up the last drops.

“You got… worst manners!” Keyop burblingly berates him.

“How are you going to know if it’s good to the last drop if you don’t get to the last drop?” Tiny wants to know.

“Knock it off!” Jason intervenes. “We’re here on Princess’ hunch!” Wait a minute! They took Princess’ sarcastic comment seriously? And this really is Disco Don’s? Wow!

“But if it’s no better than the Chief’s, it’s a pretty expensive gamble.” Jason admits.

“I’ll pick up the tab.” Princess offers. “Gregg comes here every day.”

“Why should you pay?” Mark’s chivalrous nature comes out. “Even if he doesn’t show up, you took us to a great place! Besides… he’s here.” Oh shoot, and here I thought Mark was actually going to offer to pay! I guess I should have known better. Eagles are always broke!

“I could use better material for this act.” Mark says to himself, as he slips on a pair of sunglasses.

“Just take care of yourself.” Princess urges.

“What’ll you have, Sir?” asks the bartender, as Gregg sits down at the counter.

“I guess the usual.” Gregg replies. “Give me a chocolate.”

“May I check your attaché case for you, Sir?” the bartender asks. He really sounds like a brash Mark, if you can imagine that.

“Certainly not!” Gregg replies, looking horrified.

“Uh… Yes, Sir.” the bartender departs.

Mark walks over and sits down next to Gregg.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Gregg.” he says.

“For what, Mark?” Gregg appears to be startled.

“Shh!” Mark whispers. “I’m defecting!” To emphasize this completely unbelievable point, he holds up a card with an image of the Spectran devil logo on it.

“Why confide in me?” Gregg wants to know.

“Uh… because I’ve always sensed in you a kindred spirit.” Mark lays it on thick. “Someone who might be helpful to me.”

“There’s an ugly word for talk like that!” Gregg retorts angrily. “Treason!” But he stands up quickly, whispering under his breath.

“Follow me.”

The two depart Don’s.

“Hey, who’s going to take care of the chocolate?” asks the bartender.

“Who’s going to take care of Mark?” is what Jason’s more concerned about.

__________________

And catastrophe approaches! Jason is vainly attempting to pull Princess, Tiny and Keyop into the rapidly descending elevator, but it’s not working!

“Broot… get set!” Keyop cowers in fear. But at the bottom of the shaft, a door opens. Standing there is… Mark!

“Don’t just hang there, do something!” Mark urges them all.

“My man!” Keyop leaps up and runs to him.

Now we see Gregg’s feet walking down the hallway. G-Force is in the hallway ahead.

“Somebody…” Mark whispers, and everyone dashes into hiding.

“It’s Gregg. We’d better be on guard.” Mark says. So he… steps out into the corridor, revealing himself. So much for ‘being on guard’.

“Huh!” Gregg is startled. “Why… hello there, Mark.”

“It’s good to see you… without your new friends.” Mark smirks.

“They may not be far behind.” Gregg says, gesturing behind his back. The Team approaches.

“Watch out, Gregg! This thing could be very dangerous!” Mark says, pulling Gregg’s hand out of his pocket. There’s a gun in there! This is a bit of a surprise, because they cut out the shots of Gregg clutching the gun within his jacket.

“You won’t be able to defeat Zoltar and rescue your daughter all by yourself.” Mark tries to convince Gregg. “Let us help you! We’re trained for this kind of work.”

“I must have been mad! Help me, G-Force!” Gregg sobs, dropping the gun and grabbing onto Mark.

Suddenly, we see Zoltar running away!

“Mark, look! There’s Zoltar!” Princess calls.

“Get him!” Mark orders. But he’s the only one who gives chase.

“I’ll get to his spaceship. The rest of you, look after Gregg.” Mark orders. I’m not sure how he’s doing it, though, because he’s using his hands to grab onto the ceiling as he flies off after Zoltar. He can’t possibly be speaking through his communicator?

“Ahh, good!” Mark says, as he reaches the ladybug robot. He leaps up and into the ship and hides behind some controls. Next Zoltar comes running in and boards the ship. He doesn’t notice Mark.

The ladybug takes off and heads form some kind of castle on a cliffside near the ocean. When he arrives at the new base, Zoltar emerges from the ladybug.

“Hail Elite Guard!” he calls to the goons assembled there.

“Zoltar, hail!” they reply, as Mark listens in from his hiding spot.

“Can you be counted on to follow Zoltar?” he asks. Sheesh, it’s a little late to ask this question. What if the answer is ‘no’? But fortunately for Zoltar, it’s not.

“Yes!” the men cry, although not with as much fervor as they shouted ‘hail’.

Now Mark emerges from the ladybug to see an empty room. Zoltar, meanwhile, is in a sitting room somewhere.

“Take a good look at this and don’t forget it!” he says, placing Dr. Gregg’s briefcase on a table. “This will bring us victory over G-Force! Today, G-Force, tomorrow, the universe!”

Mark is apparently outside, listening in. But there’s a strange beeping sound, and Mark appears to be concerned. He looks down the hallways and sees a locked door. He throws his boomerang to break the lock. Mark enters the room, but an ominous, black-hooded figure appears behind him!

“What?” Mark asks, as he turns and sees the figure. “Oh!”

Suddenly the figure is lying on the ground, and the hood is gone. Mark pulls off the rest of the black robes and… we get the twinkly music as Amanda’s face is revealed!

“Well, hello!” Mark says, but his tone of voice makes it sound like he’s trying to pick up Amanda in a bar!

The door is suddenly open (even though Mark clearly closed it behind him upon entering the room).

“Let’s go!” Mark cries, pulling Amanda along behind him. “Hurry, now!” But she trips, and he has to pick her up.

“Almost there!” he says, as they start running again. Then they’re at the ladybug… just in time to see Zoltar take off! A bomb falls down and lands at Mark’s feet.

“A timebomb!” he exclaims.

“Any second now, you will only be a miserable memory!” Zoltar laughs, holding Dr. Gregg’s briefcase triumphantly as the ladybug takes off.

“We’ve got no time to lose!” Mark tells Amanda. Hey, she was supposed to be an intelligent girl. I think she figured that out already!

“Look who’s here!” exclaim Spectran troops as they enter the room, cutting off Mark and Amanda’s escape.

“The biggest bomb I’ve ever seen is right back there, set to go off in fifteen seconds!” Mark shouts. Now I suspect that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The biggest bomb he’s ever seen? I don’t believe that…

“You’d better get out, fast!” Mark urges, pushing through the goons.

“Hey, he’s right!” one of the goons realizes. They prudently decide to follow Mark’s advice.

We see Mark and Amanda escape the building just before it blows up, but there’s no sign of the goons. Mark puts his arms and wings around Amanda to protect her. But once the explosion clears, he’s startled by their position, and quickly lets go.

“Forgive me. I didn’t mean to hold you so closely.” Mark apologizes.

“Forgive you? It’s the nicest thing that ever happened to me.” Amanda gushes. It’s freaky how she sounds just like Princess! And her father sounds just like Zark? Does that mean…? Ewwww…..

“No one has ever made me feel like this!” she declares, snuggling up to Mark again. He looks like he has no idea what to do about it.

“You… mustn’t… say such things.” he protests.

“Poor girl. She’d feel that way about anyone who saved her.” Mark thinks to himself. “I can’t get entangled.”

Hmmm… is he thinking that because of what’s fair to Amanda? Or because of what he feels for Princess?

Meanwhile, back at the previous base, everyone else is just hanging around, doing nothing. So Jason’s ready to jump on the incoming message from Mark.

“G-Force, come in!” Jason answers.

“I’ve got Gregg’s daughter. She’s okay!” Mark reports, and Gregg smiles in relief.

“What about Zoltar? Does he still have the Master Code to the Federation?” Jason asks.

“He split with it, Jason!” Mark admits.

“We’ll have to get it back!” Jason insists. “Or, we’ll have to re-cipher all our codes.” Honestly, that seems like the better move, right now. Who knows what Zoltar’s already seen of the Code?

“That’ll take months!” Keyop burbles.

“No, you won’t!” Gregg interrupts.

“Why not?” Keyop broots.

“I know I look weak, but I never intended Spectra to have our code!” Gregg declares. “I was only trying to get Amanda back safely. The machine I gave Zoltar is rigged to erase as it runs! It’ll do him no good.”

And sure enough, we cut to Zoltar looking horrified.

“Now, for the secret code!” he says, but the tape is erasing!

“What is this? No punch holes…?” he wonders, picking up the device. “It’s coming out blank! What can you expect of a traitor?” He throws the machine at the wall.

You know, when I was a little kid, I didn’t stop to think about how holes could be ‘repaired’ to make paper seem perfectly blank. But it did occur to me (and does now, as well) that Zoltar should just stop the device, extract what’s left of the tape and run it on another device. Simple, isn’t it?

But fortunately for the Federation, Zoltar doesn’t do that. He just watches as the tape continues to erase.

“I never dreamed that things that looked so black yesterday could be so bright today.” Gregg smiles at the G-Force Team.

“I’ve got to apologize to you, Gregg.” Tiny admits. “I thought you were mixed up with Spectra!”

“I could never sell my friends and country down the drain.” Gregg reveals. Oh, so not his country, huh? I guess selling out the rest of the planet, and the other planets in the Federation, is okay?

“I just wanted to save my daughter!” Gregg explains. “I thought I’d have a better chance by myself. I was wrong. I couldn’t have done it without all of you.” Um… what did they do? Find the base? Other than that, it was Mark who did everything this episode!

“I’m so grateful to G-Force.” Gregg finishes.

“We’re happy we were able to help.” Princess gushes.

Back to Mark and Amanda, who are waiting outside the train station.

“Your father will be arriving soon.” Mark tells her. “It’s touching to see how much he loves you!” Ooh, I’ll bet that Amanda wants to touch Mark some other way, too….

“I know it’s not nice to say, because Daddy has gone through a lot for me,” Amana says, putting her hand on Mark’s shoulder and leaning closer, “but I wish someone else would care for me too.”

“Someone else will.” Mark replies cryptically.

“I want you to know how I feel…” Amanda says, but she is interrupted by her father’s call of ‘Mandy!’.

“Mandy! Mandy!” Gregg calls from the station steps. I’m having Barry Manilow flashbacks…

“Daddy! Daddy!” Amanda calls, running to him.

“Oh, my darling baby!” Gregg says, embracing her.

“Daddy! Oh, thank you, Daddy! You must meet the man who… oh!”

Yep, Mark is gone. Amanda moves to follow.

“No, no.” Gregg says, holding her back. “I’m sure he had his reasons for leaving. Maybe you’ll meet him again. Somewhere. Let’s go home.”

As the bullet train heads home, Gregg holds out an orange to Amanda.

“Why don’t you try a piece of fruit?” he suggests.

“Daddy, can’t you see I’m restless, not hungry?” Amanda asks, standing up and holding a flower. “My mind just isn’t on food.”

“No, it’s on that young man, if I had to make a guess.” Gregg says.

“What’s the difference?” Amanda asks. “He obviously isn’t thinking of me.” She tucks the flower into her hair, but she doesn’t seem unhappy.

“Now that’s my sensible girl. We must be realistic.” Gregg says, as Amanda walks away. ”Someone else will come along.”

Seems Mark is on the same train! The door to his compartment opens, and it’s Amanda! And she recognizes him, even though he’s now in civvies.

“Mark, I know there must be someone else.” she thinks to herself. “I only wish it could have been me.”

“I have my duties to G-Force… my affections for Princess.” Mark thinks to himself. “I mustn’t encourage her!” He turns his head away. And my ‘shipper heart does a little happy dance! He’s thinking about Princess!

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Oh, TJ ... I so agree with your comments regarding the girl, Rumi!!! At least Ken kicked her by mistake instead of slapping her like he sometimes knew how to do!!! Sorry, but I was a bit annoyed with the character!! I don't see a feeble girl like her to be fit for the Eagle ... a girl with the Swan's character, now that would have been more appropriate!!

And regarding the ISO's security system ... well ... where I've worked there's a better one for sure and it's not that high-teched as it's supposed to be in a scientific, international organisation like the ISO itself!! I also reckon that the ISO's scientists never had the pleasure to meet the SNT in their civvies ... as you've said, Ken's disguise wasn't that clever!! But well ... if Rumi didn't recognise his face behind the visor, Dr. Borombo wouldn't have recognised it behind the big sunglasses either!

I also don't want to forget and thank you once again for the great recaps!! You did a wonderful job as always!!

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

Glad you enjoyed it, RIGirl!

Well, in Gatch-land, everyone wears the same clothes day in and day out (except the 'female Commander' of Galactor). She wore the same clothes in the picture and in her father's memory. And when she was kidnapped! SO I don't think it was so unusual in that regard. After all, Dr. Nambu never changes clothes,does he?

And Marie, I'm glad you agree with me. I can understand wanting to give the Eagle a potential love interest, but she was just so wishy washy and 'help me'... not doing anything for herself! And that little girly run... Ugh!

In this case though, I liked the way BOTP dealt with it better... Mark actually thinks about his 'affections for Princess' when he's turning Amanda down!

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Great recap! This is an interesting episode, in that for once, it's Ken and not Joe who meets the girl...

But, unlike Joe, she's not with Galactor and she doesn't die. But she doesn't get anywhere with Ken either. I wonder if the writers wanted to remind everyone that Ken, because he's the dutiful leader, has to renounce romance? There were probably a lot of viewers, when this series first ran, wondering if anything openly romantic was ever going to happen between him and Jun, instead of the subtle little hints here and there.

Oh, almost forgot...

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LOL! I've never thought of the guys as minding so much that they have to wear the same clothes all the time. In fact, I suspect that Ken might even be relieved, because he never has to think about what to wear (which might be a chore for someone as clueless as he is).

But I love the idea that Nambu is forced to wear the same thing every day, as a concession!

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