Speed Race From Hell is the 19th episode of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
Plot Summary[]
The LuMan Kingdom is known as the "Gambling Kingdom". Galactor, guaranteeing the king's position, is channeling millions in riches out of the country. However, the king's son Prince Lukor's heart is torn by the people in poverty with the high taxes imposed by the kingdom. So he contacts the ISO and offers to hand over a microfilm containing the location of the Galactor bases and headquarters to them. He does this knowing that it's against his father's orders.
In order to obtain the film, the Science Ninja Team take part in a race sponsored by the prince in which everybody can participate. But they encounter obstacles set by Galactor, who knows the prince's plans. The team winds up lure, together with the prince, into a base located in the interior of the kingdom.
Katse aims to force the Ninja Team into exchanging the film to spare the king's life. But the prince has already handed over the film to Ken. Katse gets angry and shoots the king. The prince, clinging to his father's body, cries but must fulfill his duty towards the people of the kingdom. Jinpei pretends to swallow the film, which gets Katse intending to operate on him to cut him open.
In the ensuing brawl, Joe has Katse cornered and is about to take away his mask, but Katse gets away again by a hair's breadth. Despite the fact that the team saved the prince's life, the microfilm, which cost a huge sacrifice, was burned and useless.
Staff[]
- Screenplay: Satoshi Suyama
- Director: Fumio Kurokawa
- Mecha Design: Mitsuki Nakamura
- Animation: Tomonori Kogawa, Tatsuo Hoshikawa, Tsukasa Abe
- Art Setting: Tsunehito Nonomiya
- Backgrounds: Seiji Miyamoto
- Finishing: Yukio Inagaki
- Special Effects: Kiyoshi Asanuma
- Photography: Tadashi Hosono
- Editing: Hajime Taniguchi
- Production Progress: Masaharu Kamata
- 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
- Berg Katse: Mikio Terashima
- Leader X: Nobuo Tanaka
- The King of LuMan: Koichi Chiba
- Prince Lukor: Ikuo Nishikawa
- Narrator: Hideo Kinoshita
Trivia[]
- This episode was one of the 20 not dubbed into Battle of the Planets.
Development Period[]
- A notable difference in the scenario for the episode, omitted in the final product, includes the presence of a young blonde woman named Melphis that accompanies the King of LuMan through the plot[1]. She is revealed to be a Galactor agent, and is the one responsible for shooting the king on Katse's orders. She would then fight the Ninja Team for the microfilm, but would be shot full of holes by Joe and exposed as an android (leaving Joe to blow her head off after).