Mostly written on March 8, 1998, with revision on March 21^st because the little sister came home and I watched it with her, and I wanted to share what she said with everyone.
 
 

Disclaimer: If you read this entry of the Production Diaries, you will find out what happens in episode 4 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 at here but please no viruses or hacking as I use the laptop for work at the hospital and you may be endangering lives if you do so.

And most important, do not take me too seriously. What's a 26-year old doing venting about a 25-year old show made to sell toys to 8-year-olds, anyway? (^.�`)
 
 
 
 

So the episode begins with earthquake scenes, complete with sinister Galactor-Mecha-Will-Arrive-Soon-and-Make-a-Great-Big-Nuicanse-of-Himself music. And there is a Mecha shaped like a centipede or a caterpillar, I am not yet sure which, and it breaks things, and then its antennae extend to the big oil tanks and SUCKS OUT THE PETROLEUM. The oil refinery explodes in true Galactor Mecha victim tradition, and the mecha disappears by...rapidly twisting into the ground...then we get an oil tanker in sea, and the captain and his officer are dressed in white uniforms with gold buttons and bars, but the crew looks like they just stepped off the set of Treasure Island. They see a whirlpool, and then there's that centipede/ caterpillar again, and there's the antennae again, and it suctions out the petroleum again, and there's an explosion again, and why does everything explode so easily on this show?

 The Narrator from H*ll informs us that Galactor's newest attempt at world domination was the Iron Beast Mekadegon, so now I am reasonably sure it is supposed to be a centipede because the word for centipede is "mukade", but it is too late because I already have flashbacks from kindergarten and the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, that picture book where there is a Very Hungry Caterpillar that eats all these leaves and apples and what not, and it has pictures of the things the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate, complete with the hole he made when he ate them, and at the very end of the book he becomes a cocoon and turns into a Beautiful Butterfly. The Very Hungry Caterpillar commander proudly reports to Berg Katze through the monitor that they have sucked up all of the world's petroleum. The Purple Doberman on Speed (copyright Lori McDonald-sama), who looks strangely pale today, orders him to proceed to the next target and gets all googly saying that with Mekadegon he will rule the world by stealing all the world's underground resources. I hope he fails because I do NOT want to be ruled by The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Cut to Dr. Nambu's office at the ISO. Ken enters and says, It's me, did you want me, which I am not even going to comment on. Dr. N says that natural resources are disappearing one by one, and every time it happens, there is an earthquake. Ken is like so what you are saying is that you want us to find what is behind the quakes and the lost fossil fuels, and I am hoping Dr. Nambu teaches him some manners and makes him stop putting words into his superior's mouth. Unfortunately, all he says is Galactor is likely the one responsible. Ken says all right and this time he will find Galactor Headquarters, and I am thinking that probably won't happen yet because there are still 101 more episodes to go. Ken turns to leave (there you go again leaving before you are excused) and Dr. N asks where he is going. Ken says that he will go to the Toyo Earthquake Research Center to speak to the chairman there, and see if he can provide some insight about the origin of the quakes and the disappearance of the resources.

Cut to the Earthquake Research Center Chairman's office. The Chairman, who is true to Tatsunoko (read "Japanese sexist") tradition, a middle-aged male, apologizes to Ken to have kept him waiting. Ken says nice to meet you, I'm Oowashi no Ken, like there he goes again introducing himself by Birdstyle INSTEAD OF HIS FAMILY NAME, like for someone convinced your father's alive against all real life (but not anime ^.�`) odds, you sure do NOT use the name you share with him very often, do you?? Instead of bolting and running and getting AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE from this wacko that calls himself a bird, the chairman introduces himself by his last name, which is Nakahara. Since this is episode 4, the one after episode 3, the episode with the mummy and the kid hankering after his dead dad, and in ep 3 the kid's uncle's name was Dr. Takahara, you'd think they'd come up with a more distinctive name. But that's not the case, so Oowashi no Ken and Dr. Takahara, I mean Nakahara, introduce themselves. Dr. Nakahara asks what Ken wants, and instead of answering "Dr. Nambu" or "Joe", he says he wants to know about the earthquakes. Dr. Nakahara lights a cigarette and takes a long puff, (and let me just say that I fortunately work in a department where hardly anyone smokes and the people who do smoke in a designated area, but most other departments everyone smokes. Once I left a half-finished soda sitting on a table in one of the call rooms in internal medicine and when I returned there were cigarette ashes on the opening of the can, and although I wasn't about to make a big fuss about the remaining soda, I still shudder thinking of what might have happened if I hadn't noticed the ashes on the can.) and replies that though they've been trying, they don't even know where the epicenter is, and for some mysterious reason every time right before the quakes happen the seisometers are broken. He does, however, offer the suggestion that the quakes are not ordinary quakes but caused by some kind of man-made object.

Ken begins to ask what he means by that, but just then a quake hits. Dr. Nakahara hollers it's a quake and that they should leave the building, so I assume the room is on the first floor because you aren't suppose to leave buildings during quakes unless you are on the first floor, you're supposed to dive under a table or other sturdy piece of furniture. Dr. Nakahara hollers at everyone to evacuate to the forest, and I have visions of hundreds of seismologists and technicians trapped under fallen trees. The ground cracks open, and Dr. Nakahara and Ken fall in, and we see The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Sinister Glowing Eyes and its graspers. Ken goes to Birdstyle, and tries to save Dr. Nakahara, and grabs him by the wrist, but he loses grip and all that is left in his hand is Dr. Nakahara's wristwatch. Ken says "shimatta" and that it was Galactor after all, and I am thinking so Dr. Nakahara gets to be killed by the Very Hungry Caterpillar, as opposed to dying of lung cancer, and having seen lots of lung cancer patients in their last days, it is kind of hard to say which would be worse.

Cut to the cemetery, and apparently the good doctor was one of the nation's 1% of Christians, because we see all these crosses as gravestones. Ken is standing in front of what is apparently Dr. Nakahara's grave and speaking to him, saying that he entered the SNT thinking that it would all be worthwhile if he could bring even just a little happiness into people's lives, but he couldn't save Dr. Nakahara and that he died, but he did his best, and that he wants Dr. Nakahara to understand, and I am thinking Dr. Nakahara probably didn't expect very much from someone who goes around introducing himself as a bird.

Then we see a girl running in Ken's direction screaming, Galactor! I am going to kill you for killing Daddy, and Ken is like Galactor? I am not Galactor. The girl says then why did you have Daddy's watch, which Ken cannot answer, because, I suppose, that would mean giving away that he is Gatchaman, but I wonder why he would bother when he goes around introducing himself as Oowashi no Ken. But he does bother, and the girl is see, you are Galactor, I'm going to avenge Daddy, and starts to attack Ken UNARMED, like I know firearms are illegal in Japan but hasn't this kid ever heard of switchblades? Ken is hollering stop, I'm not the enemy, but of course the girl doesn't believe him, so Ken goes and retaliates by PUNCHING THE GIRL IN THE STOMACH and knocking her out, and I really, really wish that the girl would have thrown up on him before passing out because he would have totally deserved it. Ken mumbles something about not knowing the Chairman had such a pretty little girl and not letting his death be in vain, and picks her up and carries her away, like don't call a medical professional or anything to make sure you haven't ruptured her liver or spleen.

Cut to Jun's room, (I suppose that's who this room belongs to). The girl is either asleep or unconscious in bed, you can't tell which, and Ken and Jun are standing beside the bed, and the little sister comments on how the numbered jerseys don't look so awful apart, but when you have two of the numbers right next to each other it really looks pretty idiotic, to which I would like to add, why did PDOS have such a hard time finding a bunch of kids in NUMBERED JERSEYS?? Ken says it's my fault he couldn't save her father, to which Jun disagrees but adds that she understands how he feels. Ken goes on to say that she is probably more hurt right now than he is, and I am thinking that would be a pretty good guess considering she JUST LOST HER FATHER. Ken continues that he wants to help her avenge her father's death and asks Jun to take care of the girl until then. Jun says she'll do it gladly for him. Ken says he'll get back to her and leaves. Jun hollers at him to wait and complains that he doesn't understand how she feels about him and words describing his lack of intelligence, and I wonder, 1) what does Jun see in this self-centered, insensitive guy, and 2) could we please re-cast the voice actor who played Lucy in the Sorceress Racer Episode (27) as Jun so we can have a nice mature voice instead of this annoying flirty-goody-goody voice for another 100 episodes?

The Narrator from H*ll tells us that Ken receives orders from Dr. Nambu to search for The Object seen at the Earthquake Research Center with infrared rays. Then we get Ken saying he's about to begin, and Dr. N saying whatever, and we see the Cessna flying over fields and we see spots of light where the infrared rays are hitting the ground, but IIRC, you can't see infrared rays, although you can feel them, and wasn't the concept of infrared scopes based on the rays emitted from the targets in question as opposed to by the scopes? Ken looks a little and says he hasn't found anything yet. Dr. N tells him to scan the area closer to the mountains, and Ken says Roger, and the other day when I asked one of my co-workers to do something for me he said "roger" and I kind of looked at him with a blank expression for at least five seconds before I snapped out of it.

Ken ponders if he should try going another way. Then we get a very clear shadow of a large centipede shaped thing moving under the ground. Ken says he thinks he has something, and that it may be the cause of the quakes, and I am sure anyone who has worked with infrared or thermography knows that you aren't going to get that sharp lines the way Ken is with his visible infrared rays.

Cut to the cockpit of the The Very Hungry Caterpillar. A GreenGuy tells his commander that there's a strange plane following them from above, so I guess emitting infrared rays wasn't such a good idea. The Commander, who is wearing a Halloween mask of a skeleton with horns, and I am beginning to wonder if Galactor has an especially employed mask maker that makes all these goofy masks, tells him to fire missiles. GreenGuy obliges. Ken is happy that he's made them unhappy, until a missile grazes his Cessna and causes his plane to malfunction. And (as the little sister pointed out) the so-called malfunctioning plane turns a flip in midair before Ken goes to Birdstyle and the Cessna turns into G-1. Ken is saying that they've shown their true selves at last and I would like to remind Ken-chan that changing the Cessna to the G-1 in full view of Galactor is probably not a very good idea, what with all the secrecy that is supposed to be going on. The Very Hungry Caterpillar escapes, and Ken tells Dr. Nambu he's sorry that he let them escape and then howls that it's not fair, but who cares about fair in love and war? And why doesn't Ken turn on the infrared rays again and start searching? The Very Hungry Caterpillar couldn't have gotten that far.

Cut to Dr. Nambu's office again, with Ken and Dr. Nambu alone in a dark room with a slide projector, and I am wondering if the fanfic people had fun with this one. Dr. Nambu says he thinks The Very Hungry Caterpillar is the largest mecha in history, so Galactor has built a centipede larger than a turtle or a mummy, I think they need to work on their zoology knowledge a little more. Dr. N adds that Galactor must be using this mecha to transport all the fossil fuels to their headquarters. Ken is like told you I was right. Dr. N points to the location on the map where Ken lost sight of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and says the next target will likely be someplace close by. Ken says there's a chemical research center near there. Dr. Nambu says Ken is right and Galactor is probably after the ions stored there in the underground vaults, and I am wondering what are ions, and I kind of look at the little sister and she kind of looks at me and we rewind, and I say that maybe he said "iou", which would be "sulfur", but the little sister swears that Dr. N said "ion", and we listen to it about three times again before agreeing that she is correct and I heard wrong, but we are both still wondering what kind of ions they are, like maybe it was sodium ions and chloride ions, and PDOS wants to make...table salt? So now I have seen the Earthquake Research Center and the Chemical Research Center and then there's the Volcanic Research Center in the Flaming Lava Jesus (Read "Giant Nudist Hippie Covered With Orange Goo") episode, and all the "scientists" in all the "research centers" are...

Never mind.

Dr. N says he will notify the United Nations and the Police Special Forces, and that Ken and the rest of the Science Ninja Team fly immediately to the Chemical Research Center. Ken says all right and that his time, they're not getting away. Dr. Nambu says wait, even though he's the one that said Ken should leave immediately. He says he has heard the story from Jun, and that he is only saying this to Ken as a reminder, but the Science Ninja Team must not let their emotions control them because someone who lets emotion take control is no longer a ninja.

Cut to Ken flying his Cessna. Ken is hearing voices, starting with Dr. Nambu's talking about the bad relationship between ninjas and emotion, then the girl saying Daddy's revenge, and I am wondering if Ken needs a prescription for Haldol. Then we get Jun's voice over the radio asking what he wants to do with the girl, which I am not even going to comment on, and Jun's flirty-goody-goody voice asking Ken what is wrong, if they bring her along on the mission, she'll know that they're the SNT, and I am wondering why Jun is freaking, I mean, just hire a high school student, and offer her 800 yen an hour to babysit the kid. But then Ken tells Jun to bring the girl along and that he'll assume full responsibility, and goes to Birdstyle.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is making a nuisance of himself, breaking apart into little pieces and melting tanks and melting chain link fences.

The UN says that the enemy is going to invade the Chemical Research Center, and that all planes should commence attack, and then we get a shot of fighters labeled "U.N." and they all get burnt by the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

PDOS is exasperated that his people let the SNT know where and when they were going to attack, and the Skeleton is all apologetic, and I am thinking if you got a couple of nice pictures of the Cessna PDOS might stop being angry. PDOS tells GreenGuy to blast the GP out of the sky immediately. Skeleton brags that Iron Beast Mechadegon is invincible. PDOS says you wish 'cause if it isn't, you die. Skeleton orders everyone to battle stations.

Ken says Galactor, you are not getting away this time, and I am thinking you wish, but only because I am a part of the viewing audience and know that I have about 100 more episodes I have to watch, not including Gatch 2 and Gatch Fighter. The Girl is all apologetic about not knowing that Ken was Gatchaman, and I am thinking that she's probably the only one who doesn't the way he goes around introducing himself by Birdstyle, and then the little sister goes and points out that this girl bears a strong resemblance to Betty Boop. Ken is probably happy that at least one person is ignorant of the situation because he says that it's all right and points at The Very Hungry Caterpillar and tells the girl that was what killed her father. The Girl is like so it was Galactor after all, poor Daddy, and she tries to cover her face with her hands, but we see that she has hands the size of her eyes, so she can't, and the entire Team looks down for a long time, and I really wish that Ryu at least would keep his eyes on the road...I mean air. Then after what seems like an eternity Ken says all right, let's go kick some backside.

Then we get the GP giving The Very Hungry Caterpillar a hard time, only the thing falls apart into those little sections a Centipede's body is made of, and every time the GP tries to hit it, it falls apart and then joins back together again. Ryu goes hey, it's back the way it was, and Ken says no fair, and Ryu says he doesn't have a clue how to deal with the Mecha, and Jinpei says "Pesky Galactor" and I want to know since when do Terrorist Organizations, especially anime Terrorist Organizations, care about fair.

The Mecha Breaking Apart Only to Regroup Later reminds me of an episode of Spectraman (yes, I kid you not, that was his name, and he was a good guy, kind of like Ultraman. The original Japanese name was "Mira-man", which I think was supposed to be "Mirror-man".) where the Monster of the Week was made up of all these little sections that would fall apart when Spectraman fired that laser/ energy beam from his arm and then join back together again as if nothing had happened. So Spectraman would fire and then look for the piece that was the monster's heart because it can't live without his heat, and it was so funny watching him pick up pieces and examine them closely before the Monster pieces joined back up to make Monster again, and with McGuyver's First Law in full gear he found the piece that was the heart and defeated the monster.

Joe loses his patience and wants to put a Bird Missile in The Very Hungry Caterpillar's head. Jinpei hollers no. Jun is like Ken don't let him. Ken tells Joe to stop and Joe says what, more lectures, and I am thinking GO JOE. Ken points to the girl and says the job of launching the missiles belongs to (very long pause for effect before insertion of music for effect) Betty Boop. The Team is like "what is our so-called-leader smoking???" Ken contacts Dr. Nambu and says they're at the scene and that they're going to launch the Bird Missiles. Dr. N freaks and starts to rattle off about how the BM's are for emergency situations only, they are not for attack, Ken is (unfortunately) the leader of the SNT and that he has to adhere to regulations, the purpose of the SNT is to pursue as far as it takes (which I am not even going to comment on)�Elah blah blah, and Ken turns off the monitor. Joe is like hey and Jun asks Ken if he is serious and Ken says of course he is, and tells Betty Boop, who, by the way, still doesn't get called by a name, to fire the BM's and avenge her father's death. Betty Boop freezes, and Ken is like, do it now, like score real high on the sensitivity scale, Ken-chan?? Ken tells Ryu to head straight for the Centipede, and Ryu says "roger" again, and I wish they would stop saying roger. Ken pressures the girl to fire the missiles some more, like Ken, the girl JUST LOST HER FATHER so I think she's a little wary of killing other people, thank you very much, could you please cut her a little slack?? The Girl With No Name freaks some more.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar commander says to close in on the GP and then blast them out of the sky with lasers.

Ryu starts to read off distances to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, 1000m, 800m, so I guess they are travelling at about 200 m per second. Ken says not to worry about him and to remember the courage she had when she attacked him thinking he was Galactor, and I am thinking this is like a real step up in ammunition, from bare hands to Bird Missiles.

Ken pressures her some more, and then, I cannot believe this, but SLAPS THE GIRL IN THE FACE, and if I were Jun or Joe or Jinpei or Ryu I would kick Ken's backside to a non-geographic location for that, but instead we just get more of Ryu counting off distances, like 500m, 400m, 300m, 100m, 80m, 50m, and I stop thinking about where Ken can put his rear end and start worrying about when the GP is going to stall, since it is travelling at something like 20 m per second.

Girl shakes, and I am wondering if she needs an MRI of the brain to rule out some kind of funky neurological disorder, but there weren't MRI's in the early 70's ,but wait, this show is set in the Future, so maybe there are MRI's, but I am not sure. And it took all my strength to not put my foot through my parents' TV, because Ken grabs Girl With No Name's hand, drags her to the control panel, pulls her finger to the BM button, and the little sister points out that the BM button is different so we rewind and she is right, it was square with a white circle when Ken was pointing at it and saying that it was the Girl With No Name's job to fire that thing, but now it is a plain red square. Then Ken presses her finger against the BM button, and the BM goes flying and hits the head of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Jinpei is like all right. Ken asks the Girl With No Name if she is all right and tells her that she did well and that her father is proud of her, and instead of slapping him back for slapping her while she is grieving for her father, taking out his personal agressions by making her fire the missiles, and them SPEAK FOR HER DECEASED FATHER, she says thank you, Gatchaman.

The Team and the Girl With No (given) Name and Dr. Nambu are at the cemetery. Dr. N says Ken. Ken says, "Dr. Nambu, I understand. I let the Girl (With No Name) know the true identities of the Science Ninja Team, and made her fire the Bird Missiles. I am no longer worthy of the Science Ninja Team. But I had to do it. As Gatchaman, protector of good. Goodbye," and takes off the Bracelet and places it on the ground and turns and leaves. I start to hope that someone is going to step on the bracelet and break it so that this self rightious, self centered, insensitive, CHILD BEATING JERK can't ever, ever, ever return to the SNT..but it is not to be because Dr. N stops Ken, and says he is not the one who needs Ken, (which I am not even going to comment on), it is the people of the world who wish for peace are the ones who need him, and that Ken should never forget that. Ken is all googly that he gets off scott free for 1) breach of regulations (letting Girl With No Name on the GP), 2) disobeying direct order (firing BM when Dr. N told him no), 3) assault and battery (slapping Girl With No Name in the face).

Girl With No Name says "I won't tell anyone who the Science Ninja team is. I promise," and picks up the bracelet and hands it to him. (And shout out to Shana-sama for telling me that the girl, whose name is "Tonya", asks Ace Goodheart if she can be his girlfriend when she grows up in the G-Force version of the episode. That doesn't happen in Gatchaman original, which is somewhat of a relief, but at least "Tonya" got a name, and this girl doesn't.) Ken thanks the girl for making the promise, and Jinpei is all happy for Ken and Ken thanks the Team for their support, and the Narrator from H*ll says in the hearts of Gatchaman and his friends blew a fresh breeze as they savored the almost forgotten taste of peace, but it was not likely to last (insert Ayako's standard excuse for bad translation of narration here).

And then we see the closing credits, and I watch the voice credits roll by and only now do I see that the Girl With No Name actually had a name, and that it was "Naomi"..but it is a little late for that, don't you think?

Cool things about this episode?

I can't think of any...well, maybe establishment of the fact that Jun has a crush on Ken, though I really can't understand what she sees in the guy.

So Ayako still ranks the Lucy Episode (ep 27) as her favorite, but this episode makes the top of "Worst Gatch Ep" list. But there is one good thing about it.

No Giant Blue Chicken. How else could I have possibly translated the thing in an hour and a half??

(^-^)/))