The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears

The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears
Episode 02
Episode guide
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The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears (Ma no Obake Kūbo Arawaru 魔のお化け空母現わる) is the second episode of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.

Plot Summary

A spaceship disappears, along with a device that can report and record the location of the Earth's resources.

The Science Ninja Team receives Nambu's instructions and heads towards the bottom of the sea, in the vicinity of the spot where contact with the spaceship was lost. There, prawn-shaped bulldozers leave a huge aircraft carrier located on the sea bottom to build a uranium factory. Ken stops Ryu who wants to fire a Bird Missile, and sneaks into the aircraft carrier alone.

Ken discovers the spaceship's capsule inside the aircraft carrier, but the astronauts have been taken hostage. Ken is caught then too. In reality however, the pilots have already been murdered. Showing them as if they were still alive has been a trap.

Jinpei has sneaked into the aircraft carrier following Ken on Joe's orders. He is able to rescue Ken as he is being led underground. The two of them collect the device and escape, destroying the computer in the aircraft carrier. The commander of the carrier gets blamed by Katse, and he gets into the head of the Turtle King to hurl himself at the God Phoenix. But due to Ken's quick thinking, the God Phoenix becomes the Firebird and the flames consume everything.

Staff

• Screenplay: Satoshi Suyama
• Director: Hisayuki Toriumi
• Mecha Design, Art Setting: Mitsuki Nakamura
• Animation: Eiji Tanaka, Takashi Saijo, Akio Kikuchi

Voice Cast

• Ken: Katsuji Mori
• Joe: Isao Sasaki
• Jun: Kazuko Sugiyama
• Jinpei: Yoku Shioya
• Ryu: Shingo Kanemoto
• Dr.Nambu: Toru Ohira
• Berg Katse, Astronaut A: Mikio Terashima
• Leader X, Space Controller: Nobuo Tanaka
• Turtle King Commander: Yuzuru Fujimoto
• Staff Officer, Astronaut B: Akira Maruyama
• Narrator: Hideo Kinoshita

ADV Films dub (2005)

• Ken: Leraldo Anzaldua
• Joe: Brian Jepson
• Jun: Kim Prause
• Jinpei: Luci Christian
• Ryu: Victor Carsrud
• Dr.Nambu: Andy McAvin
• Berg Katse: Edwin Neal
• Leader X: Winston Parish
• Turtle King Commander: Rob Mungle
• Narrator: George Manley

• Additional Voices: Edwin Neal, Rob Mungle, Vic Mignogna, Mike Vance, Charles Campbell, Eden J. Barrera

"Battle of the Planets" (1978)

• Mark, Astronaut#1: Casey Kasem
• Jason, Astronaut#2: Ronnie Schell
• Princess, Susan: Janet Waldo
• Keyop, 7-Zark-7: Alan Young
• Tiny, Chief Anderson: Alan Dinehart
• Zoltar, The Spirit, Okto: Keye Luke

"G-Force" (1987)

• Ace: Sam Fontana
• Dirk: Cam Clarke
• Aggie, Peewee: Barbara Goodson
• Hooty, Dr. Brighthead, Computor, Stegosaur Commander: Gregg Berger
• Galactor: Bill Capizzi

Trivia

Development Period

• In the original scenario, there was additional dialogue when Ken left the rest of the team behind to go in the base. Ryu would rant that he should've come along since he specializes in everything related to the sea, while Jun would worry over Ken. Joe would snap that the rest are fools, and that it's important for them to stand there. He would then equate Jinpei to Ishimatsu no Mori, in being the biggest fool of them all, but would then give him the cue to ahead, winking and stating "Even if you die, you won't be cured of being a fool".
• Ken was envisioned as continuing to wear his wetsuit into the Turtle King and then transform into Bird Style. This seems to have been modified to link the civilian clothes to the Bird Style as intended, although the series will still contain some early oddities where the link between the clothes is not as defined.
• After the destruction of the Turtle King's head, the Science Ninja Team would see three red fighter jets destroy the underwater base. The Red Impulse leader would introduce himself and cryptically laugh, with Ken wondering if Red Impulse are their enemies or allies. A similar scene was utilized instead for The Ghost Fleet from Hell.

Animation Errors

• When Ken detransforms, he is depicted without a belt.

Edits in English Adaptations

Battle of the Planets: "Rescue of the Astronauts

• This episode was actually translated sixteenth in line, due to Tatsunoko sending reels to Sandy Frank out of order. As a result, there is a lapse in continuity when it is viewed in the Gatchaman order. The Turtle King commander from the previous episode winds up intended to be viewed as an entirely separate character in this adaptation; While voiced by Alan Oppenheimer in "Attack of the Space Terrapin", he is instead seemingly voiced by Keye Luke. The scripts for the Battle version of these episodes also label the green commander by different names in each. The commander in the script for episode 1 was named "Commander Gorok", while he is named "Okto" in the script for this episode.
• The flashback explaining the events of the last episode was cut, in part due to the above reason.
• Stock footage of the Phoenix flying and leaving Earth is added, as Zark explains that it can fly through outer space.
• Rather than the operator telling the astronauts to move to the splashdown site, he tells the astronauts "You don't need us to pick you up anymore, you can swim home."
• When the Galactor ships drag the ejection pod under the water, the shot of a fire breaking out inside was cut, along with the astronauts panicking.
• Ken's thought about not capturing the Turtle King is changed to a voice-over of Zark contacting him (rather than Nambu).
• While Joe asks Ken why Nambu called them together, Jason sarcastically tells Mark that they're honored he finally decided to join them. Ken's response is that Nambu's orders were to go to the ocean and stand by, while in this version, Mark's retort is that Jason and the others are "lucky" he didn't try to let them go on the job alone and that it was his day off.
• Instead of Nambu explaining the Earth Compact device's functions to Ken, Chief Anderson tells Mark that the astronauts were electronically surveying Mars and found alien bases there. Instead of Jinpei mistaking "compact" for being the same thing as a makeup compact and Jun ridiculing him, Keyop stammers something about underwater and Princess tells him that there's no water on Mars (while scientific evidence shows that the ice on the planet would suggest that there actually was water at some point). The G-Force team, rather than being told to simply rescue the astronauts and ship, are told to recover the cassette for proof of the aliens' plans.
• A brief stock footage shot of the Phoenix flying (from a later part of the episode) was added to precede the shot of the ocean. Zark's narration claims that the team must find the cassette, and that the astronauts' kidnapping is likely the work of the Martians.
• Rather than X ordering Katse to find the largest uranium deposit and to build an uranium plant, "The Great Spirit" chastises Zoltar for his failures and tells him to build a base, as the information on the astronauts' cassette tape may be intercepted.
• The shot of the Phoenix flying down to the ocean was cut and moved (see above). When the team are dragged into the whirlpool, Ken states for Jinpei to "leave this to me!" and Jinpei leaves his seat. In this version, Mark instead snaps at Keyop "get out of there!", causing Keyop to yelp as he leaves. Ken telling the rest of the team to buckle up is changed to Mark ordering Tiny to pull up, and for Jason to turn on the turbo jets.
• The shots of the team distressed during the whirlpool pulling the ship were cut/shortened (Jun and Jinpei's shots being entirely edited out).
• The sequence where the Phoenix emerges from the ocean was shortened some, and a shot of Joe sighing in relief was cut. Rather than Ken telling Jun to give him the radioactivity measurements, Princess hands Mark a tape of coordinates that Zark supposedly took. Instead of Ken realizing that a nuclear bomb was detonated underwater (leading to abnormal levels of radioactivity), Mark concludes that their ship is in the area where the astronauts vanished. Further talk of the nuclear bomb was changed to the team realizing they have to go back under to retrieve the men. The explosion underwater is explained away as being from a volcanic eruption.
• A long sequence with Zark resting was added in place of the Gatchaman eyecatch. Zark gets a call from another robot named Susan, who tells him to contact G-Force and help them locate the aliens' base. Zark tells the team to project infrared light rays to find the base.
• As a result of the above, Jun's shocked reaction to seeing a moving rock underwater was cut, with Ken realizing that the rock must have caused the tidal wave.
• Ken realizes that the giant aircraft carrier was what took the spaceship and that Galactor's plan is to find a uranium deposit, while Mark deems the carrier the biggest threat to Earth's security and that they'll have to get inside.
• A shot was excised of one of Galactor's underwater ships loading up, presumably for time purposes.
• Shots of Galactor soldiers firing their guns at Ken were excised, along with one shot of Ken kicking a goon in the neck. Ken sneaking up on a goon and strangling them was also cut, with the BOTP version jumping to the "Sonic Boomerang" being used to break a spotlight after Mark tries to hide behind one of the ships. The boomerang also does not stab a goon in the back, as Ken's Birdrang did, and the entire sequence of Ken beating up goons is cut for violence reasons.
• The sequence of Ken vs. the Galactor's drill weapon is shortened slightly. A shot of the Galactors' giant hook smashing upon one of their ships was cut as well, although the scene afterwards (where Ken is revealed to be standing on it) is kept.
• The hook smashing through the office is cut.
• The scene where the Turtle King commander displays the hostage astronauts to Ken is cut. Instead, the commander in BOTP simply tells Mark "Surrender or you'll never see the astronauts again!, leading him to reluctantly agree. Another shot was cut out, showing that the astronauts are already dead, with the commander commenting "Even corpses can have their uses sometimes". The BOTP commander simply tells Mark "Goodbye and good riddance, we shall not meet again!", then orders his soldiers to lock Mark in the room with the astronauts (rather than telling them to search for the rest of the team).
• Ken attacking the elevator goons is shortened, while a lingering shot of one goon's body is completely cut.
• Ken meeting up with Jinpei is cut and shortened significantly, with Mark telling Keyop to "get the cassette" and the scene jumping to Keyop grabbing the cassette from a computer. This is due to the fact that the original sequence involved Ken violently interrogating the ship's commander by repeatedly beating him up against the wall. A voice-over is added of Mark telling Keyop that he'll go get the astronauts.
• The scene of Jinpei and an overheated ship computer is cut, as the computer winds up exploding and killing a few nearby goons. Further explosions in the ship were also trimmed, with a voice-over of one goon yelling "Abandon ship!" being added to remove the suggestion of any dying. Zark then explains that "Mark, Keyop, and the two astronauts" have managed to safely get away, although no astronauts are shown.
• The shot of the commander's office on fire is shortened to remove any outright shots of the flames.
• Rather than Joe telling Ken that the team informed Nambu of what happened, Jason asks Mark where the astronauts are, to which Mark claims that they're in the ship's sick bay.
• A shot of the Turtle King commander being incinerated by the Phoenix's Firebird Mode is cut, with the BOTP version jumping to show the Turtle King ship's head glowing from the heat. The resulting explosion was also cut.
• The ending narration is changed to Zark being happy that Mark and Princess "are friends again" and going about how quarrels get forgotten when things get rough, and that the secret to G-Force's success would be their strong bond. Zark then assures the viewers that most robots aren't programmed to feel friendship except for him, but that he's not programmed to feel hate (although his feelings about Zoltar come close). He then states that the alien base was abandoned and shall never be used again.

G-Force: Guardians of Space: "The Blast at the Bottom of the Sea"

• The narrator of the flashback is Ace (Ken).
• The two astronauts are given British accents.
• Rather than Ken musing about not capturing the Turtle King, Ace thinks about how Galactor's ship resembled a cross between a turtle and a stegosaur.
• Narration is added to Ace's transformation, with him saying that with the help of his amulet, he once again became "G-Force Agent 1". Narration was also added to the Phoenix loading scene, with Ace musing about how he needs to maneuver his plane into the bay.
• Ken's line to Jinpei about his seat is changed to Ace saying "Peewee, let me sit there for a moment, please!", with Peewee responding "mmhmm!".
• Dialogue is added to the shots of the team looking stressed, with Aggie saying "Did you say bumpy?" (in reference to an earlier line from Ace about the team being in for a bumpy ride).
• Ace yells "Boomerang, do your stuff!" instead of "Bird Run!". Dialogue is added to him fighting the goons, with him saying "Don't mind me fellas, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop in!"
• When Ace is dodging the drill, he thinks "Too bad I don't have a giant toothache, or that thing would be great!". Ace then thinks "It can't decide which way to go!".
• The death of the astronauts is removed via dialogue. When their bodies drop to the ground, the commander assures Ace that the two will be all right once a serum wears off. Ace responds "Look, if you've harmed those two...!".
• After Ace grabs hold of a goon, dialogue is added as they ride up the elevator. The goon remarks that "Galactor won't see you!", while Ace responds "He better, for YOUR sake."
• Ace does not beat up and interrogate the Galactor commander for information. Instead, after he and Peewee meet, the scene jumps to Peewee finding the cassette tape. When Peewee plays at the overheating computer, dialogue was added with him saying "Button, button, who's got the button?".
• The Stegosaur commander thinks "If Galactor says I must crash into the Phoenix, that is what I must do".
• The ending narrator is changed to Ace once again.

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