Gatchaman Episode 97 – Leona 3, the Spaceship With No Tomorrow

Gatchaman Episode 97 – Leona 3, the Spaceship With No Tomorrow



Here, at the UN Space Shuttle Launch Base, the third Leona Shuttle Project is underway. We see the shuttle waiting to launch into space, and two happy astronauts, ready for their journey.



The two-man shuttle, Leona 3, is just about to be launched on a mission to explore the mysteries of a galactic nebula. And as the astronauts move toward the shuttle (in their cool, futuristic Leona 3 car) there are some familiar spectators.



“Dig those shuttle pilots!” Ken says in an admiring fashion. “Man, I sure wish I could fly one of those babies.”



“Yeah, me too, Bro!” Jinpei agrees. “They shoot up to the stars and they’re in outer space! Those guys are outta sight!”

“And they’re all so young, like us!” Jun gushes. “I wish I could meet them just once and hear them talk about space flight.”



“Well, I’m sure you could ask Dr. Nambu to arrange it.” Ryu says.



“Yeah, sure.” Joe puts a damper on things. “If they get back to Earth safely.”

“What’s with that, Joe?” Ryu asks angrily. “Are you trying to jinx them, or something?”

“Naw, man.” Joe tries to explain. “I’m just saying, they have a real dangerous job ahead, that’s all.” No, no foreshadowing here. Nuh uh. Just ignore the title of the episode as well.



“Joe’s right!” Ken agrees. “On their mission, they can’t afford to be even a little bit off. It’s all about precision.”



Now we cut to a helicopter, turned on and ready to fly. It’s parked outside of a large mansion. A man with a pointy nose stands outside the mansion and checks his watch. Another man with a blonde beard comes out of the mansion. He looks like a Viking in an old-fashioned suit.

“You must hurry, Sir!” Pointy-Nose Man urges the Viking Suit.



“Right.” Viking Suit replies, moving toward the helicopter. Both men get in. But as the helicopter takes off, the wind its blades generate push away some leaves, and we can see that there are dead bodies concealed within them.

Cut from BOTP:



“Meanwhile, in the Space Shuttle Control Center located underneath the base, there are radar screens, simulators, television monitors, oscillographs, and a variety of other instruments.” the narrator informs us. “All controlled by thousands of state of the art computers.”

“Crew, you are clear to enter the elevator.” a man at the Control Center tells the astronauts. “T minus 7 to launch!” Assistants put helmets on the astronauts. Viking Suit man is watching this on a television screen. Dr. Nambu is with him.

“I pray for your success!” Viking Suit says, stealing Dr. Nambu’s line. I guess you can do that when you outrank somebody.



The astronauts salute and board the Space Shuttle.

“Pilots, so young…” Dr. Nambu thinks to himself. “No different from Ken or Joe. I want to ensure that their first launch is a success. No matter what.”

“T minus 10 seconds!” calls a voice over a loudspeaker. Everyone watches as he counts down to zero.





Inexplicably, the man who counted down starts counting up once the rocket launches. Eventually he announces that they have passed the thirty second mark. I guess these state of the art computers can’t keep track of time?

“It looks like we’re off to a promising start!” says Viking Suit.

“Shall I take you back to your home, Sir?” Pointy-Nose Man asks.

“Dr. Nambu, we will be passing the ISO Headquarters on the way back. I’d be happy to offer you a lift.” Viking Suit says casually.

“Thank you, Mr. President, but I’m afraid I have to remain here.” Nambu replies. Ooh, Viking Suit is the President! President of what?

“Oh, don’t worry.” the President assures Nambu. “You can just leave the rest to the computers and it will be fine. Actually, I was thinking of having a drink to celebrate, and I insist you join me.”

“Yes, if you insist, Mr. President.” Nambu doesn’t look too excited about this whole thing, though. Ah, inter-office politics! It seems even the ISO isn’t immune…



Outside, the ninjas are still present.

“I’m kind of let down now that the shuttle’s taken off.” Jinpei says.



“But I’m glad that there wasn’t any trouble.” Jun adds.

“Well, shall we all get a move-on, guys?” Ken asks. “Dr. Nambu probably still has some work to do here, so we can go on ahead and leave.”

“That’s fine with me, ‘cause I’m starving!” Jinpei cheers. “Let’s hit it!”

“10-4!” Ryu runs after him happily.

Even as they Science Ninja Team is leaving, Dr. Nambu gets into the helicopter with the President. As the helicopter takes off, Pointy-Nose Man smirks and lights a cigarette.

And at that very moment, a secretary walks into the President’s office. She screams as a body falls out from behind the curtain. It is the President!

Elsewhere, Jinpei is licking his plate clean. Yep, literally.



“Delicious!” he exclaims. “I don’t think I could eat another bite! I’m stuffed!”

“Speak for yourself, kid!” Ryu disagrees.



“Eat any more and you’ll probably explode.” Jun appears disgusted with the two of them.



“Doc Nambu sure is late.” Ken worries. “He should have gotten back by now. I wonder what’s up.”

“It’s already been over two hours since we got back from the launch.” Jun notes.



“He probably stopped for some ice cream or something on the way back!” Jinpei jokes.

“I can probably eat some myself!” Ryu laughs.

“Can it!” Joe snaps. “It’s no time for joking around!”



Ryu and Jinpei are so scared by this outburst that they throw their arms around each other in fear.



“Don’t hurt us!” Ryu whimpers.

“Man, I sure do hope nothing’s happened to him.” Ken says quietly.



“It’s just not like him not to contact us.” Joe says, sitting down.



Suddenly, the TV behind them turns on.

“Hey, it’s Director Anderson!” Ken says.



“Gatchaman, have you heard from Dr. Nambu since the launch?” Director Anderson asks. Wow, we sure have come a long way from the days where Anderson wasn’t even allowed to know who the Team were! Now he’s talking to Ken in civvies!

“No, not a word!” Ken replies.



“Then, I have a bad feeling that something terrible has happened to him.” Anderson admits.



“Like what?” Ken gasps.



“We have just discovered that three hours ago, before the shuttle launch, the President’s residence was broken into, and the President was assassinated. Everybody is devastated.” the Director explains.

“Wait, but the President was there at the shuttle launch!” Jun recalls. “We all saw him, Director!”



“I get it!” says the ever-intuitive Gatchaman. “Then that must have been a fake President!”

“Correct.” agrees Anderson. “Which leads us to believe that Dr. Nambu has been abducted by the imposter!” Everyone gasps at this revelation.

“What did you say?” Ken asks.

“Are you sure about that?” Jinpei adds.

“The fact that we’ve had no contact from him seems to confirm this.” Anderson says sadly.

“Right.” Ken agrees. “Okay, Team, let’s start a search!”



“Roger!”

And now the God Phoenix is flying through the sky, looking for Dr. Nambu. But… where? They begin their search at the launching site.



“I’m sure I saw him leave!” a man in a suit tells Ken. “I watched Dr. Nambu fly off with the President in his helicopter form that very spot! And before I knew it, they took off, headed in that direction!”

__________________

“Another 45 minutes and the Science Ninja Team will be dead.” Katse says smugly.



But those Science Ninjas are so good! They have all found Dr. Nambu at the same time!



“You all right?” Ken asks.



“I’m so sorry, everyone.” Nambu says.



“We’re here to save you.” Jun tells him. Ken cuts the Doctor’s bonds with his boomerang,

“Come on, we’ve got to get out of here!” Ken says. But of course, it is at that moment that the doors shut.



“The doors!” Ken cries.

“I got it!” Ryu throws himself underneath a closing door.



“Ryu!” Ken calls. The Owl is clearly struggling.

“Go! Hurry up and get the Doctor out of here!” Ryu shouts.



“Hurry! Hurry!” Ryu urges, but just then the door snaps shut, throwing him backward.



“Couldn’t you have held it for another 5 seconds?” Joe berates him.



“Sorry… but even my strength has its limits.” Ryu admits.

“This is no time for excuses, you fat lout! Get it?” Joe rants.

“Stop it, Joe!” Ken orders. “Come on, it’s no use blaming him!”



“Exactly.” Nambu agrees. “Now, we have to think of another way to escape from this place.”

But before he can, everyone hears Katse’s voice above them.

“That’s impossible!” Katse laughs, standing at an opening waaaaay up at the top of the room. “Gatchaman, this is the end. You might as well consider yourself trapped in a coffin! In 30 more minutes, Leona 3 will turn into a ball of fire, and come crashing down, right here!”



“What? What about Leona 3?” Nambu apparently hasn’t been keeping up with the news during his incarceration.

“That’s right. The Leona 3 has gone off course, and is going to crash in this area.” Ken explains.



“But why?” Nambu asks.

“Because within this nuclear power plant there’s a uranium storage facility!” Jun says.



“Katse has orchestrated this chain of events to cause a nuclear explosion.” Joe adds.



“How could you do this?” Nambu asks Katse angrily. “You’ll not only kill us, but decimate all of Sainon in the blink of an eye!”

“It doesn’t matter what you have to say.” Katse smirks. “You’re still birds trapped in my little cage.”



“We haven’t given up yet, you stinking, dirty rat!” Ken shouts. “Bird run!”



But Ken’s boomerang falls far short of what it needs to hit Katse, who simply mocks this attempt.



Ken’s not happy to hear Katse’s laughter.



“Good, good, looks like they’re finally giving up their useless struggle.” Katse says. “You can do whatever you want to do to them, now.”

“With pleasure, Sire!” replies Clouseau Fly.



He pulls a lever, and the generator starts to turn, creating powerful winds.



“Now, I freeze them in place!” Clouseau Fly says, pulling the lever again. Electricity crackles around the generator. Ken finds it difficult to withstand.



Ryu’s not doing much better.



“Don’t deliberately touch them!” Clouseau Fly orders his men. “I’m going to have a good time killing them myself!”



He looks through his sights…



“I’ll start with Nambu.” he decides.

But something shakes, and he can’t shoot. Why, the top of the building is breaking open! Katse’s Devilstar pod emerges.



“Hey, what was that just now?” Clouseau Fly asks a nearby goon.

“It was Katse. He made his escape in the Devilstar.” the goon replies.

“He what? Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?” Clouseau Fly rants. “We’ve been left behind! That dirty bastard!” He breaks his gun in his rage.

The goons look on, stunned. Clearly Clouseau Fly didn’t read the ‘every man for himself’ part of the CotW contract.



“Don’t just stand there staring! Don’t you see what this means?” Clouseau Fly shouts. “In 20 minutes a space shuttle is going to fall on our heads! And when it does, the uranium storehouse will explode! Boom!”



The goons finally get it now, and they run off in a panic.

“Wait for me, you nincompoops!” Clouseau Fly calls.

And while all this has been going on, we can see that there has been a small explosion down at the bottom of the chamber. The turbine has stopped.

“Okay, good!” Ken says. “It’s Jun’s turn next!”



“Gotcha!” Jun says, throwing her yo-yo at the door.



She sends out the electric charge…



After the explosion, we can see that the door is damaged, but not broken through.

“No good. That door’s construction is too strong for our charges” Ken says. “We need something stronger!” Frankly, I think he’s being a bit of a pessimist. The door was damaged; Jun could try again.



No one has any suggestions to offer.



“I’m sorry, this all happened because I was careless!” Nambu sinks to his knees. “If only I had just been a little more cautious! I can’t believe I let this happen.”

No one can believe what they’re hearing.



But Joe doesn’t give up! He knocks on the walls, finding a hollow spot and turning on his blowtorch.

“Uh, that’s not where the lock is, Joe.” Ryu says.



“Quiet! Just shut up and watch!” Joe snaps. “Leave everything to me!”

“Jeez! What’s with the attitude? I was only trying to be nice and help out!” Ryu says.



Meanwhile, Joe’s blowtorch has made a small circle in the wall. Joe punches it.



He reaches inside.



He’s attempting to fiddle with the mechanism behind the wall.

“Damn it!” he shouts. “Just as I thought! They cut the power to the automatic doors.”



“What’s wrong?” Ken asks. “It’s not going to work?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to give it a shot.” Joe says, moving his blowtorch and starting again.

“See, Joe? Even you can’t do anything.” Ryu says. Well, so much for trying to be helpful!



Joe opens up a panel in the floor and pulls at a thick cable.

“Ken, I need your boomerang!” he says.

“Be extra careful. That has high voltage running through it from the power generator.” Ken says.



“Bird Run!”



Joe now has two sparking cables in his hands.



He struggles and falls down.

“Come on, Joe!” Ken encourages him.



Joe manages to shove a cable inside to give power to the automatic door.



“Get down!” he shouts.

__________________

BOTP Episode 47 – Rockets Out of Control

“Here at Center Neptune, deep beneath the ocean’s surface, we of G-Force are on constant guard against alien invaders from outer space.” Zark tells us. Since when did Zark become a member of G-Force? Did I miss an episode? Please tell me it isn’t true!!!!

As I am terrified by the potential of such a horrifying possibility, Zark arrives in his oil-changing room, via the usual elevation tube.



“But even a robot like me needs a breather now and then.” Zark says. “And today, I’ve been given time off to watch an historic space shot.”

Zark looks rather ‘egg-shaped’ today, as opposed to his usual ‘capsule shape’.



“We’re sending two astronauts to explore sub-planet Zora as a refueling and waystation in our space shuttle program.” Zark informs us. I listened to this line 5 or 6 times, and it still doesn’t make grammatical sense to me.

“So I’m just going to relax in front of my monitor and watch the blast off, and all the excitement!” Zark tells us.



1-Rover-1 suddenly appears (he was nowhere in sight before) and yaps so loudly that his tongue sticks out, and we see sound waves emanating from his mouth.



“Hi, 1-Rover-1! Do you want to watch the launching too?” Zark asks.

Rover yaps again.

“Oh, you’re hungry!” Zark understands now.

Rover yaps more urgently.

“Well, here’s a nice juicy wrench to gnaw on until dinnertime!” Zark says.

I’m hoping that Rover is going to bite off Zark’s hand.



But no such luck. Rover walks away with the wrench in his mouth, and Zark’s hand is still intact.

“I hope he doesn’t bite off more than he can chew!” Zark says.

One of Zark’s monitors starts making those bizarre, meaningless patterns that Zark pretends he can read.

“I think the big moment is almost here!” Zark exclaims happily. And now we see images of a shuttle launch.

“Yes, there’s the launching site!” Zark voices over. “Everything’s ready! The rocket ship is in position, and those are the two astronauts ready to board. The taxi will take them to the boarding area!”

Sure enough, we see the astronauts riding in the ‘taxi’, past some familiar spectators.

“The launch is about to begin!” Zark whispers, and a hush of anticipation falls over the audience. Well, not exactly. I’m just pausing from typing because I’m rolling my eyes.

“It’s kind of interesting watching someone in our own line of work.” Mark says.

“Field is getting… over-crowded!” Keyop burbles.

“I know just how they’re feeling.” Princess says. “All their years of training, leading up to this one big moment.”

“I guess they’ve got a pretty dangerous job.” Tiny says.

“It’s no tougher than the jobs they hand us.” Jason notes.

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean they’re gonna snap!” Tiny retorts.

“Don’t get so uptight!” Jason says. “They get all the glamour and glory.”

“The point is, Jason, we’re all on the same team.” Mark tries his best to smooth everything over. “We just have different assignments.”

Now we cut to a helicopter waiting outside a mansion. A pointy-nosed man is waiting outside and checking his watch. A man who looks like a Viking in an old fashioned suit exits the building.

“You’re a little late, Sir.” Pointy-Nose Man says. Both men get into the helicopter and take off. Nothing untoward happens, and nothing seems amiss, other than Viking Suit being ‘a little late’.

“This is the underground Spaceship Control Center.” Zark voices over to explain what we are now seeing. “Here are all the technicians and equipment for tracking the flight of the Loralei 3. You can see the radar screens, and all the rest of the computerized equipment, ready for action.”

“Clear the area!” calls a man, as he helps the astronauts put on their helmets.

And now we see a room where Viking Suit is watching the launch on a television, surrounded by other important-looking men, including Chief Anderson.

“Success, and a safe return!” Viking Suit wishes the astronauts. The astronauts salute to him.

“They’re so young.” Chief Anderson thinks. “They’re not even aware of the dangers before them. I wonder how I’d feel in their place.”

“Ten seconds to blastoff!” calls an announcer, who sounds like Zark plugging his nose. The announcer counts down to zero. Then he starts counting up.

“Thirty seconds after liftoff and the spaceship is on course!” announces nasal Zark.

“Well, it looks like a successful space launch.” says Viking Suit.

“We can all be proud of our team.” agrees Pointy-Nose Man.

“Anderson, my helicopter’s close by.” Viking Suit points out. “Why don’t you let me drop you off at your security base?”

“Thank you, Mr. Secretary, but I think I should stay here.” Anderson politely declines. So, Viking Suit is only a ‘Secretary’, yet he still seems to be the ‘big man’ in the room. Interesting… I guess in BOTP, we already know that Kane is the President.

“Oh, I’m sure you can be spared, Anderson.” the Secretary. “We see so little of each other! We ought to drink a toast.”

“Thank you, Mr. Secretary.” Anderson says, and then follows him out of the room. I guess the Chief agreed to go with him?

Outside, Keyop is… you guessed it… burbling.

“Another space shot… old news!” he appears to be as bored with his situation as I am of hearing his weird noises.

“Well, I’m happy there was no problem.” Princess says.

“It was a smooth operation.” Mark agrees. “Those astronauts are on their own now… and so are we. What shall we do?”

“Go to Ready Room!” burbles Keyop. “Make music!”

“And eat Spaceburgers!” Tiny adds. Everyone runs off.

We see Anderson and the Secretary get into the helicopter and fly off. Pointy-Nose Man smirks nastily and lights a cigarette.

“There’s something strange about Secretary Claiborne’s assistant.” Zark voices over. “I think I’ll check with the Secretary’s office and enquire about him.”

And in the Secretary’s office, a secretary (no, not Viking Suit, but a girl who is his administrative assistant) opens a curtain and… oh horror! A body falls out! Oh, I’m traumatized by the horror!

“Secretary Claiborne has just been attacked and seriously injured by unknown assailants.” Zark is speaking calmly, but his antennae are popping.



And here I was worried that the Secretary was dead… oh, thank heavens he was just ‘seriously injured’!

“That was an imposter, pretending to be Claiborne, who got on the helicopter with Chief Anderson.” Zark explains. “The Chief is obviously in great danger! I must alert G-Force at once!”

Commercial break!

When we return, G-Force doesn’t look ‘on alert’. They look like they’re just hanging out in the Ready Room.





“That’s my fifth Spaceburger.” Tiny notes, as he reaches for another one. “When we’re between jobs like this, I get a nervous appetite!”



“It’s the music!” Jason explains, as he practices flopping his wrist around. “It’s got a fast beat! If Princess and Keyop played slower, you’d eat slower!”



“Well, the music hasn’t speeded up your game any, Jason.” a bent-over Mark notes. “I need some competition.” Ooh, limp-wristed Jason feels the burn from constipated Mark!

“Okay, dig this!” Keyop says, playing a drum solo.



Poor Mark doesn’t know what to do. Either that, or his constipation just became diarrhea.



And… you guessed it. He hits a wild shot and the ball flies over to Tiny, knocking the Spaceburger out of his hand.



Sorry… must take laughing break… this animation….

Okay, I’ve recovered now. Whew!

“Who won?” Keyop burbles, as his solo comes to an end.

“I lost.” Tiny moans.

“Attention G-Force!” Zark breaks in. “I have a double red alert! I’m worried about Chief Anderson. He’s disappeared! And I suspect foul play. Three hours ago, a full hour before the blastoff, the real Secretary Claiborne was attacked in his office and left unconscious. An office assistant discovered him just a short while ago.”

Jason is so upset by this news that his entire face has leeched of color… and personality!



Sorry… another laughing break…. can’t… type…

Keyop doesn’t look too happy with his animation either.



“He’s been hospitalized, and will recover,” Zark assures anyone who’s still thinking about the Secretary and not the horrible animation, “but we’ve been unable to learn anything from him yet! Now Chief Anderson has disappeared!” Yeah, we got that, Zark. You already mentioned it before.

__________________

“Zoltar is flying away in the Devilstar!” Pompous Fly exclaims. “We’re being abandoned! Left here to be blown up!” Whoa… Zoltar abandoned his own men? Left them to die? Oh, the inhumanity! Wait… maybe he just went off to look for more escape pods for his men. Yeah, that’s gotta be it.

“Well he’s not getting away with it!” Pompous Fly says angrily, breaking his gun. The goons just stare at him blankly.

“You fools!” Pompous Fly lectures. “Why do you just stand there like that? Don’t you realize the rocket’s going to crash here in 20 minutes? You’ll all go up in a huge mushroom cloud!”

“Let’s go!”

“Come on!”

“He deserted us!”

“Scram!”

The goons all run away.

“Wait for me, you runts! I’m leaving too!” calls Pompous Fly, running behind.

Now we see the turbine flaming out. It has stopped.

“Princess, try one of your yo-yo bombs.” Mark orders.

“Okay!” Princess throws her yo-yo, but the explosion, while damaging the door, doesn’t break through it.

“No use. That door’s too strong.” Mark says. “We’re going to have to think of something a whole lot better.”

“Let me handle it.” says Jason. For some reason, Anderson kneels down on the floor. But then we see Jason using his blowtorch attachment to open a hole in the wall. He reaches inside and fiddles with the mechanism behind.

“The power unit for the door is shut off!” he says. “Looks like I’ll have to try a little trick.”

“Hope you try it before we get blown up!” Tiny moans.

“Cut this with your boomerang.” Jason pulls at a cable in the floor.

“Okay, but watch it. That’s a high voltage wire you’re holding.” Mark warns. Um, I suspect he already knew that, Mark.

Mark cuts the cable, and Jason struggles to hold into it. He falls down.

“Another second and I’ll have it.” he says, putting the sparking cables into the wall. “Everyone down!”

Everyone takes cover, and there’s a small explosion. The door opens… just enough.

“Beautiful! The door’s open. Let’s split!” Mark says. “To the Phoenix!”

But Jason is still kneeling on the ground.

“You all right?” Mark asks.

“Let’s go!” Jason says, standing up.

Everyone runs out of the building and the Phoenix takes off. There’s no sign of the goons or Pompous Fly.

“Chief, we’d better contact Space Control and have them get the Loralei 3 back in orbit fast.” Mark suggests.

“I’m afraid it’s too late, Mark.” Anderson says. “There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Nothing?” Princess gasps.

“Broot… gotta be!”

“I don’t buy that.” Jason disagrees. “If Zoltar can throw the spaceship out of orbit, then I say we can put it back in orbit.” Um… I don’t think it was knocked out of orbit. Wasn’t it going to another planet? Or sub-planet. That would mean that it was knocked off its flight path, not its orbit.

“We can’t, because the rocket’s correction system was totally destroyed when it was knocked off its preset, scheduled course.” the Chief explains. “We’re all powerless to control it now.” I’m just wondering how the Chief knows that the correction system was destroyed, given that he only just heard about the fact that the ship was off course a couple of minutes ago.

“You mean, we can’t do anything to prevent that terrible explosion?” Mark asks.

“This is 7-Zark-7!” Yep, Zark has appeared on the monitor to save the day.

“I have an urgent communication from the two astronauts in the rocket which is diving out of control! They request that their ship be exploded before it crashes to Earth.”

“That’s a terrible request to grant.” Anderson bows his head.

“You must give the order to G-Force quickly.” Zark nags. Wow, he’s pushy! Zark is actually pushing Anderson to order G-Force to kill the astronauts! I feel faint…

“They are the only ones within proper range, who can be depended on for absolute accuracy.” Zark adds, as if G-Force weren’t sitting right there, listening in on the entire conversation.

“It’s the only solution.” Anderson agrees. “We must destroy Loralei 3 before it strikes Earth.”

“Oh no!” Mark exclaims.

“There’s a borderline chance they can eject safely during re-entry.” Anderson explains the ‘out’. “But we can’t know before we fire at them. Tiny, get your altitude up to 10,000 feet! Hurry, Tiny!”

“Big 10!”

“Princess, adjust your radio cycle to MXOZ.” Anderson instructs. Hey, that’s the same frequency they used in the Gatch episode! Cool!

“I want to make certain the astronauts have made their decision final.” Anderson adds.

“We’re at 10,000, Chief!” Tiny reports.

“Radio set, Chief!” Princess says.

“Come in Loralei 3, do you read me, Loralei?” Anderson calls on a microphone that has suddenly appeared in front of him. “All we can do to prevent a major tragedy is to explode your rocket before it reaches us, whether or not you have ejected. This is what you have volunteered to do.”

The astronauts hear the Chief, but they turn off the signal and shake hands.

“Well, there goes the spaceship.” Zark voices over. “Loralei 3 plunging to Earth, all because a madman named Zoltar altered its orbit.”

“We all have to do our duty.” Anderson says, as everyone on the team bows their heads. Mark tears up.

“Loralei 3 has just re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere!” Princess announces.

“It will crash in 3 minutes, Mark.” the Chief tells him. “Fire at Loralei 3 with a Phoenix Super Missile.”

“There’s got to be another way!” Mark is having doubts.

“There’s no other way, Mark.” Anderson says. “It’s the only thing we can do to save a terrible crash here on Earth.” Um… Anderson wants to ‘save the crash’? I thought he wanted to ‘save the citizens’?

“This isn’t the way I like to beat Zoltar.” Mark shudders.

“It’s turning into a fireball.” Tiny says calmly, but his face looks alarmed.

“Yes, that’s Loralei 3.” the Chief confirms.

“Only one minute until the crash!” Princess says.

“Mark!” Keyop gulps.

“Fire!” Jason urges.

“Now, Mark!” Tiny cries.

But Mark can’t do it. He pictures Zoltar laughing, super-imposed over the Loralei 3 burning up in the atmosphere.

“It’s our last chance, Commander! You must fire now!” Anderson orders. But Jason is already up and running to the front of the Bridge.

“All right, Zoltar, this is where we draw the line!” Jason says.

Mark pushes Jason out of the way and pounds his fists on the red button. The missile fires, and the Loralei 3 is destroyed.

No one can believe it! But the remains of the Loralei 3 are now falling to Earth.

“That was a tough decision.” Zark voices over. “But it was the right one, and the only one. The borderline chance worked! Although those brave astronauts volunteered to give their lives, if necessary, they manage to eject just in time to safety. And the world’s largest atomic energy center was spared destruction. G-Force has defeated Zoltar again!”

“It’s good to have Chief Anderson safely back here at Center Neptune.” Zark says to Rover. “But that Zoltar! Will his evil mind never stop inventing ways to conquer Earth?”



Zark flies across the room to his station. Uh… make that the middle of the room. For some reason, he stops there. Maybe he needs a rest?

1-Rover-1 flies after him.



“Robots aren’t supposed to have emotions, but something about Zoltar just overheat my Oscillator Reactors!” Zark says. I’m not sure why he had to fly to the center of the room to say that.

In any case, Zark is so mad at Zoltar that he shows off his fighting moves! Cue the strains of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’…







“Oh dear! I get so carried away!” Zark exclaims. “I’ve shorted out my controls and cut off all contact with the Planet Spectra, and Zoltar!” Well I don’t suppose you’re going to do a very good job as a ‘Guardian’, then, are you?

“Wap, wap, wap!

“You’re right, 1-Rover-1. Until the damage is repaired, not seeing or hearing from Zoltar will be the first vacation we’ve ever had.”

And Zark hugs Rover as we fade out.

__________________

RE: Gatchaman Episode 97 – Leona 3, the Spaceship With No Tomorrow

Great recap!

I understand what you're saying, Marie, abut Ken feeling a more personal attachment to the astronauts. Maybe he's still thinking about the man from the previous episode, whose underwater farm was destroyed because of the Science Ninja Team's actions. I don't know. But we're still talking about people he's never met, whose deaths will save millions of other innocent lives. Frankly, I think Joe's attitude of doing it, but cursing Katse at every step, if more in character. JMHO...

LB, I think Anderson had a direct link through the TV because the Team was at Nambu's villa. Presumably this is the 'high security' manner in which Anderson and Nambu speak regularly? As an aside, I love the way this entire scene had to be cut from BOTP, simply because they wanted to go back to Center Neptune... and the windows at Nambu's Villa are clearly *not* part of an underwater complex!

I did wonder if the 'bright lights' of the sparking cables were something that could trigger more of Joe's brain damage. But I assumed that it took a lot of strength to hold the cables... maybe they wanted to thrash around? It was clear that he hadn't been struggling at all until the cables were cut, and then that this was a difficult task.

UW, I agree, it's weird that Joe's blowtorch attachment is so efficient... because his drill bit attachment isn't! In Episode 61 it took him forever just to drill through one bar! You wonder why he didn't use the blowtorch back then...

__________________

I can understand what you're saying about Challenger. I just haven't seen this degree of emotion from Ken about *anything*... except his father, and perhaps Jun in the Jigokillers episode. In that sense, I think he's too emotional over people he didn't even know.

__________________

Great recap, TJ!

Perhaps the emotion with Ken is that rather than killing, directly or indirectly, Galactor goons or faceless people he's never met, he has somehow identified with these astronauts causing the angst. Plus it provides a good contrast to Joe who is as practical as ever with the idea.

However, personally, I didn't think that the astronauts looked as young as Ken or Joe. Especially when you consider that a young astronaut is one in his/her thirties.

Of course, I did have to wonder why they were calling a capsule a shuttle. Huge difference there in the way they look.

With the Challenger, I remember sitting in first year French in my sophomore year of high school. Ms. Davis was the teacher, she was married to Ainslie who was a great English teacher. Anyway, I was shocked, but not devastated. Mostly because we didn't watch it; it was French class and before most of the classrooms had cable and well before satellite or streaming. The office did see fit to break into the classes with an announcement for us though.

I wonder if it was the civilian teacher on board or the fact that it had been over 15 years since NASA had had an accident like that that caused so much grief for so many. I don't remember the reaction to the Columbia destruction being that devastating to so many.

__________________
Perspective Alters Reality