Gatchaman Episode 74: “Secret of the Birdstyles”

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screencaps!]

Gatchaman Episode 74: “Secret of the Birdstyles”

BOTP Episode: “Museum of Mystery”







Interestingly, this episode begins where we left off with episode 73 –the Himalayan Mountains, or “the roof of the world.” Yes, we are getting a lot of hints now that this region is significant…

“Lord Katse,” the narrator tells us, “facing defeat by the Science Ninja Team, fled desperately for his life. Gatchaman pursued, ready and eager to fight.”

Yup, that sounds like the previous episode alright. What we see now is episode 73’s mecha, Mammothoon, bursting forth from all the ice that had buried it at the end of that episode, when “Mammothoon was no match for the God Phoenix and its Super Bird Missile, and down the beast plunged, buried beneath a glacier.”







But, it’s back again now, and Katse is standing in its control room. He is not pleased.

“The Science Ninja Team dares to hunt me down like a moth for their miserable collection!” he rants, “Just you wait, you’ll pay for this insult with your life.”

But now we cut to a seaside amusement park, far from the Himalayas, where serene music is playing and happy children are enjoying the rides –as the excited shrieks of ones riding a roller coaster attest. Jun and Jinpei are on a very tall ferris wheel, enjoying the view.







“Look, you can see the Oceanography Lab from up here,” remarks Jun, as we see the structure she is referring to, but Jinpei prefers to sniff the fresh ocean breeze.

One might think, by this late in the series, that people would feel that scientific installations are prime Galactor targets and that therefore sites adjacent to them are not the safest places in the world for children, but the amusement park is nevertheless crowded.

Jun is enjoying the sound of the ocean waves and sighs “Isn’t peace wonderful?”

Of course now, because she has said that, something decidedly un-peaceful occurs!

There is a disturbance on the ocean’s surface, and a spout of water shoots suddenly into the air.

“Something’s coming up!” cries Jun as she and Jinpei stare in alarm.







What comes up is Mammothoon.







Some other children on the ferris wheel also see it, and are afraid.

Now Mammothoon rises even more from the water, and all sorts of people in the amusement park see it now and react with horror.

“That’s Mammothoon, Sis!” cries Jinpei.

“So Katse’s alive!” gasps Jun. Yes, I guess they did have hopes at the end of the previous episode that he might have been finished off at last.

“Damn it,” yells Jinpei, “He must have somehow managed to get out from under that glacier!”

Jun immediately contacts Ken and tells him that Mammothoon has reappeared at the amusement park at “Point N.”






Ken’s flying his plane.







“What? But I thought we’d finished it off with that Super Bird Missile!” replies Ken, scowling.

“He is one stubborn bastard,” says Joe’s voice, coming through on Ken’s bracelet.

“Tell me about it! He’s a monster!” says Ryu’s voice next.

It’s a conference call!

Ken instructs Joe and Ryu to head to Point N and Jun to keep an eye on Mammothoon until they’re all there.

Jun implores Ken to hurry.

Mammothoon is now fully out of the water and it strides towards the amusement park, smashing its fence with one giant foot. Inside its control room, Katse (pointing dramatically) informs the goons that their target is the Oceanography Lab –no surprise there. He orders them to arm the missile bays and “Fire!”

Two large missiles now shoot from Mammothoon and hit the Oceanography Lab, obliterating it. Katse chuckles smugly, sure that he’ll rattle the Science Ninjas and frustrate them with his apparent immortality.

‘Let them witness my wrath!” he continues (with more dramatic pointing), “Wipe those snots from the face of the Earth!”

Still on the ferris wheel with Jun, Jinpei notes that Mammothoon is now heading straight for the amusement park. Jun declares that saving the children is their first priority and she leaps from the ferris wheel to the ground. Jinpei follows her example (though his landing is far less graceful). Mammothoon is now smashing stuff up as hordes of panicking people are fleeing past Jun, depriving her of the privacy she needs to change into birdstyle.

One of the running children, a little girl, trips and falls, crying in fear. Too far away to do anything, the little girl’s mother gasps in horror as Mammothoon’s enormous foot looms over her daughter, about to crush her…







But Jun, running extremely fast, is able to reach the little girl and whisk her away just before Mammothoon’s foot comes down. But, one of Jun’s shoes is visible, caught between two of Mammothoon’s toes.






A short distance away, Jun is crouched beside the sobbing little girl, shielding her protectively.







Jinpei is highly impressed and alarmed by Jun’s nick-of-time rescue of the girl but Jun, her bare foot prominently in the foreground of the shot (just in case you didn’t notice her shoe stuck between Mammothoon’s toes, I guess) tells him she’s fine and orders him to “go help the others!”

So, while Mammothoon walks along, smashing up some more amusement park rides, Jinpei leads away a herd of more fleeing children, carrying one small boy himself, piggy-back style.

Now, something swoops down from the sky towards Mammothoon –it’s Ken in his G-1 jet.






“He just doesn’t know when to die. Let’s teach him,” thinks Ken, a grim expression on his face.

With that, he blasts Mammothoon’s head with his jet’s laser cannon. Inside the tremoring control room, Katse is outraged and orders more missiles to be fired on Ken. But, a goon then informs him that Ken’s attack has just wiped out Mammothoon’s missile launching system.

Go Ken!

“Then we have no other choice but to withdraw,” realizes Katse in frustrated dismay.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the God Phoenix, Joe declares “Your stomping days are over!” and reaches for the shiny red button.





Unfortunately, his moment of glory comes to an abrupt halt when Ryu points out that their five vehicles aren’t all combined so he can’t fire missiles.

Joe slams both fists on the console, yelling “Katse, you filth!” Hey, at least he’s not blaming Ken for ruining his fun. (Actually, Jun’s and Jinpei’s vehicles probably aren’t on board either.)

Now Ken instructs Ryu and Joe not to chase Mammothoon too far, and to rendez vous at the Crescent Coral Base. I’m not sure why Ken’s saying this, unless it’s because Mammothoon is going back underwater now and Ken realizes that there’s no point in the God Phoenix going after it if Joe can’t fire missiles at it.

So, Mammothoon disappears below the ocean’s surface, a trail of smoke streaming from its head where Ken’s attack damaged it. (Isn’t a lot of water going to leak in there? There must be water-tight interior doors to seal off the damaged section.)





So, next we see an exterior view of the Crescent Base and all the usual accompanying fish activity.

“Don’t despair, Team,” Dr. Nambu tells the assembled Ninjas, “Thanks to Jun and Jinpei’s early warnings, although the lab was destroyed, there were no fatalities. That in itself is to be commended.”

Hooray, no one died! And this isn’t even Battle of the Planets! Oddly, the Ninjas don’t look particularly happy or relieved at this news though. Jun looks downright depressed…

Now, Dr. Nambu tells them all to “go and relax a while” or, in the subs, “All of you go relax in the standby room.” Is a “standby room” like a “ready room”? Will there be ping pong and musical instruments there?

Everyone heads for the door, except Jun. Dr. Nambu, noticing this, mildly asks her what’s wrong.







And now Jun, looking miserable, tells him that she’s lost one of her shoes.







“What?” cries Dr. Nambu, turning to glare at her.

The other Ninjas, forming a conga line of consternation, all turn and stare at her too.






“No!” continues Dr. Nambu, “Did you lose it during combat?”

“Yeah,” she says quietly as he keeps talking.

“Search everywhere for it, no matter what it takes you must get that shoe back!”






In the dub, Dr. Nambu actually sounds a little gentler here than he does in the original Japanese. But either way, Dr. Nambu has never yelled at Jun like this! She was clearly expecting and steeling herself to be reprimanded but now she jerks her head up, eyes wide, in unhappy surprise.

“Find it, all of you!” yells Dr. Nambu in conclusion.

Now we’re looking at Leader X, addressing Katse. Hey, he's not yelling at his subordinant. In fact, Leader X is pleased, saying “Well done, Lord Katse,” and adding “I have devised two missions based on the discovery of the shoe.”




The first, explains Leader X, is for the Galactor scientist, Dr. Misuno, to develop a device that will use what they now know about the shoe to be able to “break off” the Science Ninjas’ transformations, but he will need several days to complete this work.

We get a look at a Galactor scientist staring into a microscope-like device, presumably as part of this mission.

The second mission, declares Leader X, will be carried out by Katse himself. Katse makes a little bow, looking honored. Leader X has a name picked out this second mission too: “Operation Cinderella.” Hmm, the prince in that fairy tale wasn’t trying to track down Cinderella via her shoe in order to kill her and her friends, but otherwise, it’s an apt analogy.

We’re shown a group of diligent Galactor scientists all sitting around a table.






“Immediately afterward, top class specialists in the plastic arts,” explains the narrator, as we’re shown a detailed diagram of Jun’s shoe covered in measurements and then a montage of images of hard-working scientists, “Anthropotomists, sculptors and cosmetic medicine experts were summoned from various Galactor research institutions and a steady stream of data was passed around.”

Now we can see that they’re using all their combined data to generate an image showing the shape of the shoe’s (or the boot’s, really) probable wearer –“age, height, weight, and even the personality of the person who wore it.”

Okay, it’s a stretch to believe that all that could be construed from one boot, but I’m prepared to go along with this ‘cause it makes for a good story.

At last, an eager Katse gets a look at the final result.





“Her face and style of clothing,” are the only things they can’t determine from the shoe, explains a goon, as Katse continues to stare at the image of the Swan. “But we believe her body shape is accurate,” he adds. Really, Jun’s birdstyle doesn’t exactly do much to hide her body shape, and lots of people in Galactor (including Katse) have seen her. But then again, when they see her she’s usually moving very fast and a lot of the goons who see her don’t survive to describe her!

Katse is extremely pleased that he can now begin his mission, and he breaks into triumphant, evil laughter.

Meanwhile, Jun is walking down an empty city street in a somewhat less-than-desirable part of town.






Suddenly she gasps in fear; two men are there and one of the pulls a knife on her.







They grab her and hustle her into a narrow alley…






I think this would be a terrifying nightmare for most women, but fortunately for Jun (and unfortunately for the two men), she is a highly trained fighter.

We hear the men crying out in surprise and pain, and the sounds of blows. Then Jun emerges alone from the alley, brushing off her clothes.






She’s not shaken or traumatized in the least –no, she’s actually disappointed!

“Rats,” she says, “They’re just a couple of street thugs. And I thought they were from Galactor.”


Next, we see a large, vividly coloured blimp.







“This is every girl’s dream!” cries an announcer’s voice over speakers, “The World Beauty Center will make you into the world’s top beauty –free! This offer is limited only to 16 year old girls. Step right up!”

Hmm, if Jun was 16 when the series began, wouldn’t she be at least 17 by episode 74? I guess Galactor’s science isn’t as accurate as they think.

There are definitely a lot of 16 year old girls within earshot of this announcement, and it seems they all want to be a “top beauty.” An eager horde flocks towards the blimp and next we see a long line up of girls, chattering excitedly as they wait to enter a building.





The announcer is standing there, microphone in hand, urging them to wait patiently and explaining that a cut-out silhouette just inside the door “represents the ideal proportions for a 16 year old girl.”

He continues, “Now, only those who can pass through it have what it takes to be a world’s top beauty and receive a free makeover.”

I’d like to think that these girls would feel insulted to be told that there’s only one, precise body shape that represents “top beauty”! But, sigh, they apparently are not.





The first girl who tries to pass through the cut out is too big.






The next girl looks more likely, but she’s a bit too tall and her shoulders are too wide. As the announcer calls for the next girl to step up, we can see that all this is all being covertly observed from inside the building by a woman in a purple dress who’s peering between a window’s blinds.





“That’s so not fair!” cries a girl’s voice, and we must assume that the third girl, whoever she was, also is not Swan-shaped. The watching woman smiles. She has blond hair and a very pointy chin, rather like…

Commercial break!

At the Snack J, Jinpei is bearing a tray with two water glasses to a booth, wherein are seated the first two girls who tried to fit through the cut out.

“Here you go, ladies,” says Jinpei, all charm as he places their glasses on the table.

“I heard someone say that when she got inside,” the first girl is saying to the other, “all they did was stare at her feet and tell her to leave.”






The second girl wonders if perhaps that rejected girl had athletes foot. The first girl doesn’t think much of this theory.

“Then maybe it’s all just a fake,” continues the second girl, as Jun is shown drying dishes over at the bar, “Don’t you think it’s strange that they only wanted 16 year old girls?”

Hearing this, Jun is so shocked she drops the plate she’s drying and it smashes on the floor.





As Jun queries about who is only looking for 16 year old girls, Jinpei explains “they say they’ll make you into the world’s most beautiful girl.”

Smirking and rubbing his face, he adds “So hey, you’re 16 too, Sis. You should go there and have them make you a little better looking.”

“Baka!” says Jun in Japanese (“Smarty pants!” in the dub) as she throws her dish towel over Jinpei’s head, vaults over the counter and takes off.

“Watch the bar for me!” are her parting words. Jinpei, apparently displeased at being stuck with all the work, snarks “You know, as soon as women hear they can be pretty, they freak out. Jeez…” (In the subs, he adds “Women are so shallow” here!)


But Jinpei is momentarily distracted from expressing any more bitter and sweeping female stereotypes when his bracelet begins chiming –he’s still snarky though!

“Ah shut up! I’m busy working!” he yells into his bracelet –and abruptly changes his tone when Dr. Nambu’s voice comes through.

Dr. Nambu (who either didn’t hear or is choosing to ignore Jinpei’s rudeness) informs him that he’s calling a meeting, and in a suddenly sweet and cheerful voice, Jinpei hastily says he’ll be there, throwing the dish towel over his head in dismay at his close call.

Next, we’re at the Crescent Base. Lowering a newspaper he’s reading, Dr. Nambu inquires why everyone is present except Jun.





Jinpei begins rambling nervously, but gives away that he knows something, so Dr. Nambu fixes his scrutiny on him, demanding “So then, where is Jun? Well, Jinpei?”

Finally Jinpei says he’s “pretty certain she went to check out that new beauty center.”

“She went to the beauty center?” demands Dr. Nambu, not at all happy to hear this.

Ken, puzzled, wants to know if there’s something that matter with that as Jinpei, looking worried on Jun’s behalf, asks “Should she not have gone there, Doc?”

Brandishing his newspaper, Dr. Nambu explains there’s a story in it about a fake business exclusively going after 16 year old girls.





“This is only a guess,” he adds, “But I think Galactor used Jun’s shoe to discover her physical features and they’re looking for her.”

Katse is viewing the God Phoenix on a screen, angrily wondering how the God Phoenix found them, and he yells “Get them out of my sky!”

With that, several of the dinosaur skeletons outside now crumble away, revealing interior missile launchers. Ryu is startled to see this looming threat but he quickly rallies, swerving the God Phoenix sharply and avoiding the initial barrage of missiles.

Meanwhile, Ken, Joe and Jinpei have discovered that there is a mammoth in the museum.






Breaking through the skylight, they soar down to land on the mammoth’s head. Jinpei is smug that his hunch has proven correct, but Joe swats him and and says “Don’t let it go to your head.”





What did you do to annoy Joe, Jinpei? He seems to be singling you out for abuse in this episode. Then again, the oft-impudent Jinpei probably needs a little “keeping in line” now and then, lest he become a brat.

Meanwhile, back in the cell, Jun is one Cinderella who is not going to just wait to be rescued. With a karate chop, she takes out the woman as the other four girls gasp in both shock and admiration.





“Come on, girls,” says Jun, and they follow her lead and escape the cell. In fact, she leads them directly behind Katse, but they quickly and quietly run past and he remains oblivious to the jailbreak-in-progress.





They all rush down a corridor, and as it opens into a large room, they’re all startled to see there are two goons with machine guns standing there –who turn on them menacingly.

Well, not for long. Jun kicks one of them in the head, and karate chops the other goon, then flipping him.

Now we see what they were guarding –a little round table upon which rests Jun’s missing shoe (now in its civilian state).






She is both overjoyed and relieved to finally have it back again.





Unfortunately, when she picks it up, an alarm starts sounding.


“Someone is stealing the Ninja Team shoe!” yells Katse, and he starts running. He goes to the cell where he discovers the woman on the floor. She struggles to stand, crying “Lord Katse, please forgive me –the girls have escaped!”

And Katse snaps “Useless!” and kicks her in the face. So, no forgiveness there.

Now Jun is running, leading the other girls. Suddenly, a partition lifts right in front of them, revealing Katse and numerous armed goons.

“Rather rash of you to try to steal the shoe and run away!” sneers Katse, “Which one of you is it?”





The girls stare in dismay, but they don’t try to turn Jun in to save themselves or anything like that (they’ve probably seen enough by now to figure that she’ll deal with this situation!)

And indeed, a confident “It was me!” causes the four girls to turn around in surprise, revealing that it’s the Swan herself, in birdstyle, who now stands behind them.





“I’m the girl you’ve been looking for, Katse,” continues Jun.

“I knew you had to be one of those girls!” retorts Katse, as the goons open fire.

The girls all shriek but Jun shields them with her cape (after seeing what her shoe can endure, I can well believe that her cape is bullet-resistant!)






Next, Jun lashes out with her yoyo, taking out several of the goons. Then there’s an explosion and, as Katse yells “What the hell?” a large chunk of the ceiling collapses onto several more goons.

Standing above by the newly created hole in the ceiling are Ken, Joe and Jinpei.






“Bullying girls? More your speed, but still low, Katse!” declares Ken, glaring down.

With a dramatic “Today will be your last, prepare to die!” Katse orders those goons still standing to open fire now on the boys.

The Eagle, Condor and Swallow instantly scatter, avoiding the gunfire. Ken hurls his boomerang and takes out a swath of goons, then finishes off more of them with kicks and punches.






Joe flies, somersaulting, through the air and then he clobbers several more himself.






And Jinpei kicks a couple of goons, takes down a couple more with his bolas and then uses the rather less dignified (but effective) tactic of biting.









Ken, clearly knowing that Jun must have her shoe back if she’s in birdstyle, informs her that it’s time to go. I will assume that she’s abstained from the big group fight here because she’s chosen to stick by the four girls.







Indeed, next we see, she casts her yoyo up through the hole the other three Ninjas created in the ceiling, and raises herself up, taking two of the girls with her.

Battle of the Planets Episode: “Museum of Mystery”

“Center Neptune,” says Zark as we see Center Neptune, “Hidden from prying eyes, deep beneath the sea, is the tireless guardian of our galaxy, protecting the universe and keeping a watchful eye out for alien invaders who try to plunder it.”

Hmm, so your eyes, Zark, are “watchful” but any eyes trying to watch you are “prying”? A tad hypocritical. Oh, and you’re not that deep beneath the sea either!

Zark informs us that Center Neptune has been his home since he was manufactured and that “I’ve never left it.” Somehow, that’s really rather sad.

Now Zark flaps his cape and flies over to his console, which is emitting sparks.

“Uh oh, I’m getting a red alert” he says, though it more resembles imminent electrical failure.

“An emergency signal from a remote spot right here on Earth,” he adds, “Something strange has been sighted.”

Now we’re being shown a range of tall, snow-covered mountains. But somewhere in their midst, something previously buried in ice and snow and bursting forth.


“It’s an imperial mastodon,” says Zark, “Those creatures became extinct in prehistoric times. They’ve been gone from Planet Earth for millions of years.”

Um, I’m pretty certain they didn’t go extinct until around the end of the Ice Age, roughly 10,000 years ago. Jeez, it’s a good thing my Dad (a geologist) never heard this line of purported science from Zark when I was a kid!

Zark can hardly believe it –“They might as well be sending me a picture of a dinosaur.” He doesn’t seem to have noticed that its trunk is clearly mechanical –maybe robots, mechanical themselves, aren’t so good at noticing such discrepancies. But despite his skepticism, he feels duty-bound to check it out.

Now we cut to Zoltar, standing in some control room with a couple of Spectran soldiers.

“Now listen,” he’s telling them, “The new Earth Resources Center is the white structure behind the amusement park,” and he goes on to explain that when the mastodon appears, there will be such a panic that they will be able to destroy the Center before anyone realizes what’s happening.

Meanwhile, at the seaside amusement park in question, a good time is being had by all, including Princess and Keyop, who are riding together on a ferris wheel and enjoying a good view while on high.

“Have you ever wished you could be a soft white cloud, drifting in a warm blue sky?” asks Princess, who I am sure is merely being fanciful and is not under the influence of any ‘trippy’ substances.

But, there is a disturbance on the ocean’s surface. Princess and Keyop stare in concern.

“Elephant,” says Keyop as a trunk rises from the sea.

“No elephant is that large!” corrects Princess (nice to see someone on this show with a grasp of zoology) and she immediately contacts Mark, telling him to come to the park and that it’s a red alert.

The mastodon’s head is now out of the water, followed by its body…

“Trouble, Tiny. Get Jason and the Phoenix and head for Joyland Park,” says Mark into his wrist communicator. He’s flying in his plane.

Tiny’s voice responds “We’re on our way, Princess. When you know what’s going on, fill us in.”

“Just get here fast!” says Princess’ voice earnestly.

Now we’re seeing the Earth Resources Center and the mastodon, now out of the sea and standing near the shore, starts moving in its direction. What lies between it and its goal is Joyland Park, soon to be not so joyous.

Back to Zark, who is contacting the Earth Resources Center and informing them that they are “a prime target for attack –evacuate all personnel at once.”

Next, the mastodon is firing two missiles at the Center, and it is completely blown to bits. Smirking, Zoltar says “That should teach them a lesson. If these defiant Earthlings will not share their resources willingly, we have ingenious ways to make them change their minds.”

Zoltar decides they should take the mastodon for a stroll through the amusement park too.

Watching from the ferris wheel car, Keyop sees the mastodon heading their way now and says “Let’s jet.”

“Be careful you don’t land on your head,” Princess tells him, to no avail as he pretty much does exactly that.

Using its trunk, the mastodon smashes an elevated walkway that, fortunately, has no people on it.

Next we see Princess’ feet running extremely fast… somewhere, and then the mastodon’s massive foot… and now one of Princess’ shoes is stuck between two of the mastodon’s toes. I guess she was running so fast one of her shoes went flying and just happened to embed itself there?

Now Mark, in his jet, swoops in towards the mastodon’s head as we hear Princess’ voice asking him “What’s holding you? This is urgent!”

“That’s one of Zoltar’s lovable pets,” thinks Mark and he fires his jet’s lasers at its head as he flies past it, causing an explosion.

“G-Force again!” snarls Zoltar, from the mastodon’s tremor-wracked control room, “How can they respond so quickly?”

Now the Phoenix is swooping in too. Jason is standing over the missile launching button, saying “Too late to do any good, but at least Mark got there.”

He starts reaching for the button, and we cut to Tiny, saying “That critter was unreal! Where’d it come from?”

“Where else,” says a scowling Jason, banging his fists on the console now, “Spectra!”

And the mastodon, now trailing smoke from its head, disappears back underwater, whence it came.

“It’s getting away, and there’s nothing more I can do –I’m heading back to Center Neptune,” announces Mark into his wrist communicator (overlooking the fact, apparently, that the Phoenix can go underwater and could pursue the mastodon).

“Check you there,” replies Jason.

So now we’re back at Center Neptune, and everyone is standing before Chief Anderson.

“Zark reports that everyone from Earth Resources Center and Joyland Park got away safely,” he says (and it’s really bizarre that, for once, this is what happened in the Gatchaman version too). According to Anderson, Zark also reports that Zoltar is responsible for the attack and “is determined to harass us in every way until we give him what he wants.” They could probably figure that part out for themselves, Zark.

“And that will be?” asks Tiny. “Never!” replies Anderson, turning towards the undersea window.

“Chief,” says Princess apprehensively (and the only one now still standing near his desk), “I don’t know how to tell you –I’ve lost my G-Force shoe.”

“You what?” gasps a horrified Chief Anderson. All the others, about to file out of the room, gasp too.

“Without your complete uniform, you can’t transmute,” barks Chief Anderson, glaring at her, “That makes you useless to G-Force until you find that shoe!”

“Oh,” cries Princess softly, looking stricken. Now, while she can clearly do a lot more for G-Force while she’s transmuted, I think she’d be far from useless in her civvies. She could stay on the Phoenix -flying it or doing radar surveillance- or do on-the-ground reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering while posing as a civilian etc.

“Get that shoe!” yells Chief Anderson, just in case she hadn’t figured that out from his first words.

Now we’re back to the mastodon, now at a Spectran secret base somewhere, and Princess’ shoe is still stuck between its toes. Zoltar’s voice is ordering repairs of the mastodon to be completed at once and indeed, there’s a crew working busily doing just that. One Spectran soldier finds the shoe, moves his mouth though saying nothing, and then the shoe is hurled into an incinerator’s chute.

The shoe falls… until it lands on a heap of rubbish. Flames ignite now as incineration conmmences, but Princess’ shoe appears unaffected.


Back at Center Neptune, Chief Anderson, angrily banging two fists on his desk, says “We face a greater problem should anyone submit your G-Force shoe to atomic radiation. It would act as an electronic replicator.”

All of the assembled G-Force member look concerned to hear this.

“Replicator?” repeats Princess. “What?” asks Tiny.

“A three-dimensional figure reproducing Princess perfectly, could be derived from that shoe,” declares Chief Anderson, glaring at them all.

“Oh no!” cries Princess (though we don’t see her).

Anderson stands and turns to the window. “If that shoe has fallen into the wrong hands, Princess” he adds, “Your cover has been blown.” He bows his head, closing his eyes.

Back at the Spectran base, Zoltar is annoyed that he’s being bothered with reports of an “indestructible shoe.”

“Do you expect me to believe that?” he demands of an on-screen Spectran soldier, who replies “See for yourself.”

“If what you say is true, it’s made from an element about which I know nothing,” says Zoltar, sounding marginally more intrigued now.

Zoltar agrees to come to the lab and instructs the on-screen soldier to prepare to subject the shoe “to all destructive forces.”

“A substance that cannot be destroyed, and made into a shoe?” says Zoltar, fists clenched, “Nonsense.”

“What happened to that signal you were getting from Princess?” Jason asks Mark.

“It faded,” says Mark, looking like he’s willing himself to remain calm, “Why did she answer in code instead of voice?”

“Prisoner,” say Keyop, looking frightened.

“You may be right, Keyop,” says Jason, banging his fist on the console beside Keyop (causing Keyop to cringe and duck), “We’d better find her, fast!”

A distressed looking Keyop glances up at him.

Mark decides they’ll fly back over the area where they first detected her signal and try again. Then he instructs Keyop to put his “cosmic communicator” on the “detector panel.” Doing this, Keyop starts trying to track her via the radar screen.

Next, we’re seeing a large building that appears to be a scientific museum as it’s surrounded outside by exhibits of dinosaur skeletons. Inside, we see the Mastodon, (now disguised with fur) and the blimp, parked beside it.


Princess and the other unconscious girls are still in a cell, but now Madame Dumaine is there, holding a whip, and so is Zoltar.

Now that he knows the G-Force female’s shape, Zoltar wants to get a look at the “pretty creatures” in the cell, to see if any seem “familiar.” Madame Dumaine enters the cell and forces the reluctant girls to show their faces to Zoltar.

He emphatically rejects the first two girls, while Princess subtly removes her wrist communicator and puts it in her pocket.

On the Phoenix, Keyop is staring at a blank radar screen, but he says “Big bleeps!”

“This could be it!” says Jason.

“We’ll go down and look around,” agrees Mark, and he tells Tiny to keep the Phoenix circling, close, in case of emergencies, as “This could be Spectra’s new secret base.”

Mark, Jason and Keyop all leave the Phoenix through its dome and soar down towards the dinosaur museum below, landing on its roof.

Meanwhile, in the cell, it’s Princess’ turn to show her face to Zoltar and she’s not cooperating at all, keeping her face averted.

But before Zoltar can get the “good look” that he wants, a soldier’s voice cries out “Intruders! G-Force!” and that makes Zoltar (and Madame Dumaine) forget about Princess for the moment and run for the control room.

Princess, thinking to herself, is sure that it must really be G-Force.

Zoltar is now watching the Phoenix on a screen and complains “How did they find us? Quickly, the anti-aircraft missiles!”

Outside, some of the dinosaur skeleton exhibits crumble to reveal missile launchers hidden within. Two missiles are fired at the Phoenix, but Tiny sees them coming and is able to swerve to avoid being hit.

Now, from the roof, Mark, Jason and Keyop jump down to land on the mastodon’s head.

“Let’s go,” preens Keyop, apparently pleased with his landing (he didn’t land on his head this time) but Jason gives him a swat and says “Steady, tiger.”

Now, Princess is on her feet and able to escape the cell –Madame Dumaine must have been too distracted by the apparent arrival of G-Force to remember to lock it when she left. She calls to the other girls to come with her.


She and five girls are able to sneak right behind Zoltar’s back and run down a corridor. The corridor opens into a room, where Princess’ shoe is resting on a little table, completely unguarded. Looking moved almost to tears to have found it (and to be useful again, I suppose) she picks it up.

This causes an alarm to sound and instantly Zoltar realizes that someone has taken the shoe. He sets off at a run.

Princess and the girls are running down a corridor again, but suddenly a wall is raised up and behind it is Zoltar and a whole bunch of gun-toting soldiers.

“Going somewhere, ladies?” asks Zoltar, “Allow my men and I to escort you.”

What a gentleman.

“Hold it, Zoltar!” says Mark, “G-Force will do the escorting!” He and Jason and Keyop are a floor above, looking down through a ragged hole in the ceiling that exists for no apparent reason.

“Ever G-Force, always G-Force, eternally G-Force!” snarls Zoltar, exasperated, “Rout them!”

Suddenly, Princess appears near Mark, in her G-Force uniform.

“Princess!” he says. “And both shoes!” she replies.

Suddenly she’s back down on Zoltar’s level and she casts her yoyo up through the ragged hole in the ceiling above and lifts herself up through it, carrying two of the girls with her. Jason likes this plan (and now he too is suddenly on the lower level), and he uses his cable gun in a similar fashion as two more (lucky) girls cling to him.

Zoltar, who has apparently just been standing there alone (wherever did all those soldiers go –they were just here a minute ago?) watching all this escaping, now turns to flee himself.

Mark sends Keyop to “get Tiny” and he chases after Zoltar. He throws his boomerang, but a partition barrier drops down just after Zoltar has run beneath it, and Mark can’t follow him. Nor does he like his consolation prize –a piece of Zoltar’s cape that didn’t make it through on time either. Clutching it and his boomerang, he pounds on the barrier in frustration.

He’s contacted by Tiny, who’s ready to pick everyone up.

“Everything under control?” asks Tiny.

“One last touch,” replies Mark, and he removes a tracking beacon from his belt compartment and throws it so it sticks to the ceiling.

“There’ll be a little surprise when this attracts their own missiles back to them,” he thinks. Then he runs for the Phoenix.

Tiny smashes the Phoenix through the wall and into the museum’s main exhibit room, where the mastodon is.

Everyone –or Jason, Princess, Keyop and the girls- slides down the mastodon’s trunk and to the Phoenix. Inside the mastodon’s control room, Zoltar orders that it be prepared for “all-out attack.”

This entails it losing all its fur and the skin on its trunk.

Now, Mark finally leaps clear of the mastodon too and lands on the Phoenix’s dome where the others are all crouched. It descends, taking them all into the Phoenix.

Tiny initiates lift off, smashing the Phoenix through the large skylight in the museum’s roof, and then high into the air.

But Zoltar calls for a missile strike, and two missiles are fired at the Phoenix.

Zoltar laughs triumphantly, until a soldier informs him that the missiles are turning around and are now coming towards the museum.

“Everyone onto the escape ship!” cries Zoltar.

So nice that he has an escape plan for all the crew members.

Now, drawn by Mark’s beacon, the missiles home in on and strike the mastodon, and there is an explosion.

We must assume that the escape ship got away in time.

But the Phoenix is flying along now, and on its bridge, the four original girls plus the fifth one that appeared while they were in the cell on the blimp, are all kneeling and slumping on the floor, apparently overcome by their day’s traumatic experiences.

Mark notes that they destroyed Spectra’s base but that Zoltar and his men escaped, and will be back at some point. “He’s a glutton for punishment.”

“Hey,” says Jason, “we got our big contest winner back safely anyway.” This is perceived as a reference to Princess, even though Jason glances at the other girls when he says it.

She looks rather embarrassed.

“Stick to G-Force, tomorrow’s woman,” Keyop informs her sternly.

“Don’t you start needling me, or you’ll be yesterday’s Keyop,” she informs him, grabbing both sides of his face in her hands.

“Oh no,” says Keyop.

The Phoenix flies on, as Zark’s voice tells us that “we’re making plans to welcome Princess back to the G-Force team.”

“There’s going to be a big party,” enthuses Zark, now on his “oil break” bed, “And I’m invited.”

He decides he will chance wearing a paper party hat, even though robots look strange in them, and “Susan may be there,” he sighs.

1-Rover-1 yaps something.

Apparently he’s not invited to the party, as Zark instructs him to watch the monitors and contact him if anything comes up.

He yaps again –probably a form of “no fair!”

“I’ll bring you a nice tidbit from the party,” says Zark, “Maybe a knife or a fork to chew on. You’re in charge now.”

1-Rover-1 yaps happily at that.

The end.

Well, I'm sure that many of you know that this is my favorite episode, and one I recall watching over and over again in BOTP as a child. LB and Saturn, thank you so much for doing a wonderful job with it!

LB, I hope I do as good a job with the upcoming Condor episode (that I think is your favorite).

Even as a child, I always wondered how Zoltar knew Princess' hair. I could see (from what Chief Anderson said) that he might be able to construct the uniform, I could see the body height, shape and weight... but her hairdo? That just didn't seem right. And they never really explained it in Gatchaman either.

I also wondered, as you did, LB, in Gatchaman, how Jun can be 16 years old, when they've been fighting Galactor for well over a year... close to 2 years!

But here's what boggled my mind the most when I first watched this episode as an adult. This is the 'Oceanography Lab'.





When I saw it, my eyes boggled! I recognized the building! DH and I spent our honeymoon in Europe, and we went to Monaco, where we visited the Jacques Cousteau Oceanographic Museum.



It's too much of a coincidence for me to push aside. I'm wondering if the Tatsunoko animators used the Monaco Museum as inspiration.

The Museum later in the episode seems like it might be based on the Page Museum at the La Brea Tarpits in Los Angeles (I have also been to that museum) but unfortunately it doesn't bear a real resemblance, unlike the Oceanographic Museum.

In any case, in neither the Gatch nor the BOTP episode did I ever notice the disappearing/reappearing girl. Good catch, LB!

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

Maybe... but I'm going to go with the idea that they were still fuddled by the gas. Yes, they ran down the hallway after Jun, but that could have been a short burst of adrenaline, which (once gone) left them even more exhausted than before.

Or, they could all just be incredibly embarrassed at being caught. They were vain, after all. Or maybe they think they're in trouble, for knowing what the Swan looks like?

Just trying to make it work within the canon...

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