| Galactor's Giant Airshow | |
| Gatchaman, Episode 07 | |
| Air date November 11, 1972 | |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous The Great Mini Robot Operation |
next The Secret of the Crescent Coral Reef |
Galactor's Giant Airshow is the seventh episode of Gatchaman.
Plot Summary[]
Dr. Nambu has designed and constructed a non-polluting aircraft, which he asks Ken to test. While Ken is flying, he encounters an unidentified craft that attacks him. The craft then proceeds to destroy the airport using various whips, but everybody evacuates quickly. A masked man identifies himself as Lord Katzenberg. The Science Ninja Team eventually discover Lord Katzenberg is another disguise used by Berg Katse, the one running Galactor. The Science Ninja Team launch the God Phoenix and chase Katzenberg.
Katzenberg toys with The Science Ninja Team every moment they try to pursue him. Joe fires the bird missiles, but finds they do not even scratch the enemy craft. Katzenberg uses a whip to slice the God Phoenix, leaving the Science Ninja Team unable to catch him.
Upon examining the damage of the God Phoenix, Dr. Nambu realizes that the weapon is made of "Whisker" which is a very strong supermetal. Whisker is over 1,000 times stronger than the strongest of any other supermetals that were being researched. Dr. Nambu also reveals that no scientist had any success with manufacturing Whisker, which gives Galactor a very dangerous advantage. The only option is to slow them down by finding their secret facility, steal the formula, and to destroy the factory.
After three days of searching for undiscovered mines, the God Phoenix stumbles over Galactor's secret facility, but the Galactor men are aware of this and fire upon the Phoenix. The aircraft is struck, and Ryu pretends to crash.
Ken and Jun head to the base's computer, while Joe and Jinpei headto the reactor but are ambushed by Katzenberg, who also sends a mecha after Ken and Jun. They dodge the mecha with the Ninja Technique: Tornado Fighter which leads to the mecha accidentally destroying the computer. Jinpei teases Joe for being jealous of Ken's success, before sabotaging the reactor.
Ken and Jun's efforts are not flawless after all, since Katzenberg cuts off their ladder of escape. They are still able to jump out before the reactor becomes critical, while Katzenberg escapes the very moment Ken attacks him.
The Whisker melts and the heat causes the defense missiles to detonate, effectively finishing off the factory. Ryu is docked on top of the factory and can't escape by hovering up, but Ken has him thrust the ship forward instead. The God Phoenix escapes, leading to another victory while Ken throws Katzenberg's Whisker whip into the ocean.
Staff[]
- Screenplay: Takeo Matsuura and Hirohisa Soda
- Director: Hideo Nishimaki
- Mecha Design: Kunio Okawara
- Animation: Tsuneo Ninomiya, Norio Hirayama, Koji Sugii
- Art Setting: Kimie Izushima
- Backgrounds: Teiichi Akashi
- Finishing: Minoru Mukai
- Special Effects: Kiyoshi Asanuma
- Photography: Tadashi Hosono
- Editing: Hajime Taniguchi
- Production Progress: Kazumasa Imanishi
- Production Manager: Mitsuo Sato, Minoru Uchima (Yomiko)
Voice Cast[]
- Ken: Katsuji Mori
- Joe: Isao Sasaki
- Jun: Kazuko Sugiyama
- Jinpei: Yoku Shioya
- Ryu: Shingo Kanemoto
- Dr.Nambu: Toru Ohira
- Katzenberg (Berg Katse): Mikio Terashima
- Commander: Kazuya Tatekabe
- Galactor Soldier, Air Traffic Controller: Tessho Genda (as Mitsuo Yokoi)
- Narrator: Hideo Kinoshita
Trivia[]
Development Period[]
- As seen in the scenario for this episode, Red Impulse was originally slated to appear in a cameo but was cut through further rewrites.[1] The episode was also conceptualized as being titled "The Magician Katzenberg", before quickly settling to this finalized title.
- In the scenario, Joe would not be among the audience at the airport but would be observing from afar in his car. When Ken would be attacked by Katzenberg, this would necessitate Joe to transform and Dr. Nambu to order the team to launch the God Phoenix, with Jun bringing Ken's own usual plane for him. The team would then attempt to fight Katzenberg, but experience an early defeat and his escape. They would then learn that while they were distracted, Galactor attacked the air show venue. Joe would want to fire Bird Missiles, but Ken would insist that they should leave the job to the Red Impulse fighter jets that arrived, only to see that the jets are also ineffective against Galactor. Over time, the script was shortened to remove this part, likely for time and budget constraints.
- The team infiltrating the base was also somewhat different, with the four members using the Ninja Technique "Lightning Kick" against the henchmen, but suffering from Katzenberg's lashing of his Whisker whip. Jinpei would manage to get the upper hand by entangling Katzenberg's hands with his clackers, and Joe would use his utility gun to knock the whip out of his hand. However, Katzenberg would use his chance to quickly flee in his escape craft. The injured team would watch him leave, with Joe angrily throwing the whip into a crater. Jinpei would be upset, as he wanted to use the whip as a toy, only to be told that it's no good to have something like that. Jun would ask Ken if he was okay, and Ken would remark that they were lucky that their capes protected them from the worst of Katzenberg's whip, otherwise "There'd be no life for us". Jun would agree "Yes, they're real lifesavers!", and the episode would end with that final declaration.