Disclaimer: If you read this entry of the Production Diaries, you will find out what happens in episode 3 of the TV animation series "Gatchaman". If you do not want to see what happens, please do not read this entry. If you worship the stated television series and are offended by any and all criticism directed at it, please do not read the Diary. The author is not associated with or related to Tatsunoko or Sandy Frank or Saban or Turner or any other of those places. The views stated in the Diaries are those of the author, unless otherwise stated. I do this for fun and not profit. All input including flames and death threats are welcome here but please no viruses or hacking as I also use my laptop for work at the hospital, and you may be endangering lives if you do so.

 Mostly written on January 25, 1998 with tiny revisions during lunch breaks.
 
 

Since I actually got to go home before nine on Friday night, I decide to hit that bookstore, return OAV #1, and rent Gatch vol.1, which is what I wanted to rent in the first place. This time when I find the package, I take out the video and check the label to make sure that this is indeed what I'm looking for. (I do this all very quickly because I am still in Denial Phase, like "I am not OTAKU!!").

After my parents are asleep, I put the video on the VCR. The tape contains episodes 1, 2 and 3. Good. I got it right this time. (Please refer to Production Diaries entry OAV vol.1.)

I go through eps 1 and 2 first, of course, and I have to say that the animation is not very good, but I suppose that is kind of to be expected from something almost as old as I am. Another thing of note is that the entire format of the narrator, heros that look like (for the 70's... I don't think the white bell bottoms and the long hair would be so inconspicuous today) normal everyday (teenage) people but have other identities as protectors of Good, Powerful Evil Organization, is a great deal like the old jidaigeki, or period play shows that my grandmother is so fond of (and I like them too! ^-^).

I am not going to make an entry on eps 1 and 2... maybe someday...

So ep 3 begins with a plane flying, and we have the captain saying that they'll be in Japan soon and that he'll be able to see Makoto soon, and the co-pilot says that he must really love Makoto, and the captain says that Makoto is too spoiled, because he is afraid to be too hard on him because the poor kid's mother is dead, and let me just say that this is like SOOOO typical of the Japanese parent to not just smile and say thank you when someone compliments their kid, like when I was little I was pretty much an overachiever and knew it but when other parents told my mom and dad that they thought I was clever they would say something to the effect of "but her Japanese is not very good" or "she seems to find spelling difficult" and I used to wish that they would be like my American friends' parents and look like they were about to burst with pride when someone complimented their kids. (Of course now I know that they were and are proud of what I was and what I've become, but as a little kid I didn't.)

Okay, enough personal regression. So the plane is flying and the sky is a clear blue but suddenly we see this funky black cloud and hear funky menacing music, and since this is the third episode we kind of know that this is the Galactor whatever-it-is-of-the-week, but since the captain and his co-pilot aren't the Gatchaman audience they do not know this. And the cloud envelopes them, and their radar malfunctions, and they send out a distress signal to the Control Tower, but of course they crash, and the last words the control tower hears from them are "Oh no, a big white..."

Cut to Dr. Nambu's office, where he and Ken are looking at a map marked with big red X's, and we find out that the plane crash we just saw wasn't the first but the most recent of many, and the sites are all in a straight line on the map. And Ken and Dr. Nambu are saying that it is weird because there was no funky weather patterns at those locations at the times of the crashes. Dr. Nambu mentions that the captain of the last plane that crashed clearly said "cloud" and "big white" something. So Ken is leaving, and Dr. Nambu is reminding him that they "are not done yet" and Ken says that he already knows that Dr. Nambu wants him to investigate the connection between the cloud and the big white whatever and leaves. Dr. Nambu is pleased that Ken is so like his father and that he instinctively knew what Dr. Nambu wanted, but if I were Dr. Nambu I would be wanting to teach Ken-chan some old fashioned Japanese manners about how you're not supposed to walk out on your superior until he excuses you, like not even I, a rude Americanized (relatively) young person, would never mess with my assistant department head (whose given name is Jun, by the way, but he is male) like that!

Cut to the airport. And something is rolling on the ground at Ken's feet and he picks it up, then this little kid comes and starts yelling at him to give it back because it is his and that Ken is a thief. Then a man with glasses and a mustache comes and asks Ken if the kid did anything, and Ken says no. The man tells the boy, whose name is apparently Makoto, that he must be good or his father won't come back. We see a plane coming in about to land, and Makoto starts yelling that Daddy's coming back. Ken asks the man if the boy's father is returning from abroad, and the man says that the father is dead, and Ken says "Oh, the crash from the other day." And the man says that Makoto believes his father is still alive, and that he insists on coming to the airport every day to wait for his father, and we find out the man's name is Tetsuro Takagawa, and Ken introduces himself as Oowashi no Ken, which I suppose gets translated as Eagle Ken, but if I were a member of a secret team I would not be giving out my alias but my civilian name, like Ken should be saying that his name was Ken Washio, and if anyone ever introduced himself as Oowashi no Ken to me, I would be bolting and running because I surely must be dealing with some kind of pothead. But that's just me and this is not real life so Takagawa-san lets that pass. The boy looks for his father among the people getting off the plane, but of course he doesn't find him.

Cut to Ken in civvies in plane, flying over some kind of desert/ mountain area. He is talking to himself out loud that this was the crash site from the other day. Then we see the same black cloud and hear the same menacing music, but since Ken isn't part of the audience and he is more daring than any of us will ever be he flies into the cloud and there is lightening and there is a giant mummy flying, (where do they get these ideas?) and Ken says Oh you've come out of hiding and shown yourself and the mummy is trying to grab at the Cessna and Ken almost crashes while getting away but he does get away, and when he is safely flying a cruising altitude in blue sky, he says "Shimatta! I let him get away!" in true Japanese I-should-have-done-better fashion.

Ken and Dr. Nambu in a coffee shop sitting facing each other. (I wonder if the fanfic people had fun with this one?) Dr. Nambu says that the data Ken gathered detected the substance "Platonium X", which is some kind of cousin to plutonium I suppose, because Ken is asking if that is the stuff no one will touch because it emits such strong energy, and Dr. Nambu says that Galactor is using the stuff illegally, (like since when did terrorist organizations care about legal), and the only way to counteract Platonium X is Uranless (where do they come up with these names?) which was invented by Dr. Takahara Testuro, and Ken is remembering where he heard that name.

Cut to rainy day at the airport. Ken and Makoto say hi to each other. Ken telling Makoto that he's going to catch cold. Dr. Takahara saying that the boy insisted on coming today, which kind of gets me wondering how good of an idea it is from a psychological standpoint to let the kid think his father is alive. Makoto says he had a dream that his dad would come back on a rainy day so he was going to come back today, and Dr. Takahara says to Ken that since the boy believes that his father is still alive he simply hasn't the heart to tell him that Dad is dead. Then we see a plane coming in to land and the passengers and crew are getting off, and the last person off the plane is the Captain we saw at the beginning of the episode, and Makoto runs to him yelling Daddy Daddy and father and son embrace and Dr. Takahara can't believe it. Ken says in an aside that "just like a mummy that came back to life, the Captain who everyone thought was dead has come back..." and all I can think is that it is Zombies and not Mummies that come back from the dead.

Cut to airport lobby where Captain Takahara and Dr. Takahara and Makoto are surrounded by reporters. Captain T is telling how he was rescued by a cargo ship and how he feels guilty that he alone was saved when everyone else has died. The reporters ask Dr. T how he feels as his brother to have him back, and if I were Dr. T I would be resorting to violent measures and shouting "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU DOOFUS OF COURSE I AM GLAD TO HAVE HIM BACK ARE YOU SOME KIND OF AN IDIOT" if a reporter asked me that when MY little brother whom I had given up for dead came back safe and sound, but Dr. T is a much more mature, much more courteous person than I will ever be so he simply says that he still cannot believe it, but no one is happier than Makoto, and Makoto is asleep on Capt. T's lap, and then Dr.T notices a ring on Capt. T's finger and looks at it real hard.

Rainy night. Ken on a motorcycle wearing the infamous numbered jersey stops in front of a house. (Were numbered jerseys fashionable back then? I suppose they are, kind of, now...) All the lights are out, but we see that there is a light moving in one of the first floor rooms.

Cut to inside of house. Capt. T is searching the room with a flashlight, trying to open a safe, when Dr. T startles him by turning on the light. Dr. T says that Capt. T is an impostor pretending to be his brother, and Capt. T(who isn't really, but I'll continue to call him that because we know the real Capt. T is dead so there shouldn't be much confusion) laughs and asks how he knew. Dr. T says the ring gave it away, because his brother hated men wearing rings, and I suppose this is typical of the Japanese male in those days, because when my dad was first transferred to the US in '75, shortly before he was supposed to leave he realized that he did not own a wedding ring, and someone had told him that all married American men wear wedding rings (which we now know isn't true but we didn't back then) but there wasn't enough time to get one so my mom, who did wear a wedding ring, gave him hers to wear (I get my tiny hands from Dad), so for the couple of months between my dad's departure and my mom's getting a new wedding ring she was a ringless woman with two little kids in tow (me and the little brother). Capt. T laughs and says that that was foolish of him, which I would have to agree with. Dr. T demands to know who he really is and Capt. T announces that he is the leader of Galactor Berg Katze and breaks though the window then climbs up the outer wall of the house to an upstairs room.

Dr. T runs up the stairs to Makoto's room, and Capt. T has a gun against Makoto's head. Makoto is still asleep. Capt. T says to hand over the Uranless or else he will kill the boy. Then something hits Capt. T's gun out of his hand, and someone hits Capt. T, and it is Ken (still in civvies) who says "Galactor! You have to deal with me first!" and Ken is hitting Capt. T really hard lots of times (I wonder if the fanfic people had fun with this one?). Makoto wakes up and yells at Ken not to hurt his daddy, but Daddy (who is of course not Daddy) escapes though the window and Makoto is crying for him to come back. Then Makoto turns on Ken and says "It's all your fault! He's gone because you hit him! You dummy! Dummy! Dummy!" and Ken is all apologetic, and explains to an incredulous Dr. T that Dr. Nambu sent him for the Uranless. Dr. T hands Ken Makoto's button and says the Uranless is hidden inside the button because he figured that the bad guys would never think to look in an innocent child's toy. Makoto of course wants it back because his father gave it to him, and Dr. T says that he has to be a good boy or his father won't come back and I am thinking WILL YOU PLEASE STOP USING THE KID'S DEAD DAD AS A DISCIPLINARY TOOL ALREADY DR.T and Ken tries to explain to him that he needs the button to get his father back, and Makoto makes Ken promise that he will bring back his father.

Then Ken is standing outside the house in the rain and the bracelet is flashing and it is Dr. Nambu telling him that the Mummy Monster has appeared at the airport and that they will "Launch the Godpheonix!" (^o^)/

The Mummy is breaking things and blowing things up at the airport. Fighter jets and tanks shoot at the thing with no effect, except burning the bandages to reveal a purple monster with fangs. And the bandages are all burnt except the ones wrapped around the (ahem) underwear area, in a censorship effort, perhaps.

 Dr. T returning to Makoto's room to tell him about the airport. Dr. T noticing that Makoto's bed is empty. Makoto running and crying for his dad to not leave on the plane. Dr. T saying "No, Makoto, that man is not your father!" to no one in particular since Ken is already on his way to rendez-vous with his Team and Makoto is already running out in the rain. And I suppose it would be out of line to ask how this under-elementary-school-age-boy can get to the airport by himself.

The Team in the Godpheonix, approaching the airport, which is totally engulfed in flames. Joe wanting (of course ^-^) to fire Bird Missiles. Ken reminding him of the UN forces attack, and saying that the Uranless is their only hope of getting the monster. Ryu says that he can't get any closer. Ken wonders out loud where the Platonium X is loaded.

Katze is very happy with his handiwork.

Ken notices the flames of the engine (or whatever...I'm not an engineer...Someone help me? ^^;;;) and says the Platonium X must be in his back. Jun says that there's a little boy in the airport, and we see Makoto right in the Mummy's path. Dr. T is trying to get to him, but is being held back by security guard/ policemen types who are telling him it is too dangerous.

Ken crushes Makoto's button/ Uranless and stuffs it into his Birdrang. He goes to the deck of the Godpheonix and gliding toward the Mummy, throws the Birdrang at the Mummy's back, which is strangely, covered in bandages again, because I could have sworn the bandages there were burnt by the missiles from the tanks and fighter jets. The Birdrang sinks itself into the Mummy's back, and the Mummy stops with its foot in midair and starts to crumble. Jinpei is like way to go and Joe says "Our job is done, let's go," like there's camaraderie for you, leave poor Ken-chan out there to WALK home, perhaps? (Do the Birdstyles have pockets for cab fare? I sure hope the airport is Haneda airport because Narita is just about in the middle of nowhere.)

Katze is like curses, foiled again and runs to the escape rocket which was hidden in the Mummy's back, now exposed because of all the crumbling. Makoto is crying for "Daddy" to come back. Katze boards the rocket and takes off his mask, but of course Makoto can't see. Ken says "Shimatta! There was an escape rocket in the back of the craft," and Makoto turns on Ken and yells "It's all your fault he's gone, it's because you hit him, you dummy!". Dr. T begins to say "that man wasn't your father, he was Galactor..." but Ken cuts him off and says "he's been hurt enough, let him hate me, let him believe his father is alive". Dr. T wants to know why he is doing this and Ken answers, "because he is just like me. My father was a pilot, too. His plane crashed ten years ago. But I've never believed that he died. I believe that he'll come back someday."

(I suppose all this may difficult for the non-Japanese audience to understand, but this is the ultimate Japanese tearjerker, the innocent little child waiting for his mother/ father, who everyone else knows is dead.)

Makoto is looking at the sunset, crying, "You'll be back, won't you, Daddy?"

Ken leaves, wishing the child happiness. We hear the narrator say that there is a renewed anger burning against Galactor inside Ken for taking away the boy's father.

And I am thinking, how long is Dr. Takahara going to keep using the dead father to make the boy behave?

(^-^)/))