The Gatchaman II Episode Guide: Version 2.2

written by Alara Rogers and Pat Munson-Siter; or else translated from OUT Magazine Gatchaman II Special by Alara Rogers, where noted. Typed and edited by Alara Rogers; this is who to blame for mistakes!

Who Did What

KEY: PAMS-- Author Pat Munson-Siter

AJER-- Author Alara Rogers

OUT-- Translated from OUT special

On a passenger liner, people are laughing and partying, and a small blonde girl searches for her mother. Then an eerie golden light fills the sky. The shockwave of the approaching spaceship makes the craft pitch back and forth, and the girl huddles against a basket on the deck. "Mama, mama!" she whimpers. Despite the crew's attempt to take evasive action, the spaceship plows into the liner, splitting it in half, and the girl is thrown into the water, screaming, "Mama!"

Unconscious and half-drowned, she is captured by a mecha, and taken to an underwater base-- the new home of Overlord X. In a glass capsule, she grows older in moments, her hair lengthening, her breasts developing, her face taking on an adult features, as her body grows to the height of a tall man. X's voice addresses her. "I am X, from space. Your special genes made it possible for me to grow you into an adult, a mutant. Now you will go into the human world as a new breed of human. Open your eyes! Be my loyal servant! From this day forth, you will do everything I command, and be the most powerful in Galactor. From this day forth, I name you-- Gel Sadra. Go forth, Gel Sadra!"

Months later, in a bizarre costume, and with an equally bizarre voice, the new leader of Galactor kidnaps a Dr. Kawa. This is only one in a series of such kidnappings-- military men and scientists alike have vanished. At ISO, Nambu announces his belief that the culprit is the returned Overlord X and Galactor. But the Science Ninja Team have not been resting on their laurels-- they are all trained and ready to go into battle, equipped with new mecha and new weapons. They are summoned to their new underwater base, G-Town, and told that Galactor has come back.

Jinpei says that Joe would hate this if he were alive, to which Nambu replies, "Joe is dead... He fought nobly and died. Forget about him now." Jun protests that they can never forget Joe-- "he lives on in all our hearts. He'll never die." Nambu says, "I didn't mean to say you should forget your feelings for Joe, but I'm putting in a new G-2 in his place."

The team is shocked speechless. "In Joe's place?" Ryu asks incredulously, and Jinpei complains, "But we all decided G-2 should be our missing number forever..." Nevertheless, it is done, and an ISO intelligence agent named Getz is named as the Hawk, given Joe's costume, and given the position of G-2.

En route to Easton Island, to investigate the appearance of some of the missing military men's equipment there, Getz manages to antagonize Jinpei by calling him a "kid," impugns the scientific ability of ISO in comparison with Galactor, and says that the unity of the Science Ninja Team won't be enough against Galactor this time. Nevertheless, as one of ISO's intelligence corps, it falls to him to be the Ninja Team's guide, since he was on Easton Island three years ago. Ryu uncovers Piemur, the robotic pilot of the New God Phoenix, who will free him up to do other things. Jinpei cracks that it can only be an improvement over Ryu's piloting, for which Ryu pounds him, and they set off.

Arriving at a temple on Easton Island, they manage to get stuck in a cul-de-sac. Getz vanishes, and a mecha attacks them. Ken destroys the mecha, and Getz attacks, turning out to be a Galactor. (Based on his appearance and his behavior, absolutely no one should be surprised by this.) More Galactors turn up, as does Gel Sadra, who they figure is the new head of Galactor. They beat the Galactors, but Gel Sadra traps them in a room with no exits, and Getz escapes. A second mecha attacks. This one will cut them down if they move, and it will destroy them once it opens its eyes whether they move or not...

Ken tries to solve the problem by having everyone throw their weapons, providing too many things for it to track on, as he shoots into its open eye. This doesn't do any good, though, and they all prepare to die, Ken calling Joe's name...

Then the mecha blows up. Somebody planted a time bomb on it-- they don't know who. Now free of the room, they see Getz, and follow him. Around a corner, they find him with a feather shuriken in his throat, and begin to wonder if perhaps Joe is alive. Following a trail of footprints, they see a mysterious winged shape, which only adds more fuel to the fire. Another winged shadow turns up, and they chase that, but Ken says, "It can't be Joe. If it were, he'd have shown himself to us." In a broken-hearted whisper, he says, "Jun, forget Joe. He's dead. He's not here any more." They leave through a string of caves, and hear the sound of machinery. Following it up, they find a large Galactor base, dominated by the dish/cannon complexes that are to become the main staple of Galactor bases in this series. They infiltrate, and Ken summons Piemur to pick them up in the New God Phoenix. Once united, they leave again, this time in their personal mecha. Gel Sadra, meanwhile, is informed that they are approaching the base. At first she doesn't believe it, protesting that they couldn't have escaped her death, but when she sees the proof, she sends out the new mecha, the Galandar. All the Science Ninjas attack it, but they do no good. Then Ken notes the control booth and divebombs it. He summons the others to go in and destroy it, but the others are being attacked. Ken decides to do it himself. The resulting firestorm catches him and spins his craft out of control, and he crashes in a burning forest. The base starts massively exploding, and we see a golden "flying saucer" leave, transporting a very irritated Gel Sadra.

The team search for Ken. Unconscious in his plane, Ken is roused by Joe's voice, telling him to hang on, to open the top of his plane. But it won't move, and it hurts too much to keep trying. He hears his teammates' voices, but hallucinates that it's on a happier day that they're calling him, when they were all together. Then he hears Joe's voice telling to hang on again, and thinks he sees Joe outside his craft. He tries to respond, but faints. We see a blue-gloved hand pull him from the craft, and then it blows up.

The mysterious bird-shape appears again, but this time it belongs to a robed old man and his pet bird, watching over the unconscious Ken as his teammates take care of him. The old man claims that he rescued Ken, but Ken remembers seeing Joe... was it a hallucination? The man tells them he is Dr. Rafael, a former Galactor scientist, but now he is on their side, trying to destroy Galactor. He lets them think that he was the man who killed Getz, as well, but Ken is not sure.

On the way home, Ken apologizes to Nambu for not finding the missing persons. Nambu tells them that the original Getz was attacked on his way to G-Town and replaced by a Galactor impostor. As a result, Nambu is not going to try to put in another G-2. The New God Phoenix heads for G-Town, and Ken remembers Joe...

(Old synopsis by Pat, not revised)

X is consoling Gel Sadra, telling her that although they should not take the Science Ninja Team lightly, that without Joe they are just four, and not as powerful. Then they discuss their latest plan, to take over San Frangeles, especially the maze of tunnels beneath it. They are interrupted by alarms announcing an intruder. A guard is discovered with a feather shuriken in his throat, and although several shots from both Gel Sadra's and the guards' guns hit the black-clad intruder, he appears to be unhurt, and escapes. Nambu receives a tape warning him of the Galactor plan against San Frangeles. It sounds like Joe's voice, but...

Galactor is making their first moves against the city as the Science Ninja Team arrive, attacking Alamo Prison (something like Alcatraz) to recruit the most dangerous prisoners. Dressed in black armor, named the Black Knights, they attack the city. The Science Ninja Team arrive as a uranium shipment is attacked. Discovering that one of the Knights is an infamous prisoner, they decide that the new enemy base must be under Alamo Prison. They find no clues above ground, but Jinpei notices the sea water around the island is murky. Ken tells him to investigate; perhaps the enemy is dumping soil from their excavations into the ocean? Jinpei does so, but it's so murky he can't see anything. Then a mysterious voice speaks, guiding him. Is it Ken's voice? No, but it's familiar...

Jinpei finds the base and leads the others there. Trapped after they have set the bombs, they escape by using a new form of Whirlwind Fighter, generated by their belt buckles. Ken is hurt, and recovers at HQ. Was it he who spoke to Jinpei? He denies doing so. Was it Joe's voice on the tape? Nambu says the voice was mechanically reproduced...

Galactor is building new secret bases all over the world. Gel Sadra, presiding over a base in the desert between New Jork and Scrapton in Ameria (New York and Scranton in America?)-- a base considered to be very important, due to large quantities of titanium and uranium nearby (I *live* in this area-- this has *got* to be an alternate universe), chuckles to herself about Galactor's acquistion of new blood. "There are those who can be dazzled by a little bit of gold, and then those who won't comply can be kidnapped... so there are many ways..." Overlord X questions her regarding the construction, and she says that it's a month ahead of schedule, but there is at that point an explosion, and a good portion of the base ends up destroyed. Gel Sadra herself gets out just in time. In New Jork, the earthquake caused by the explosion demolishes part of the city, and Nambu shows the team a tape of the destruction. What is worse, the earthquakes are continuing. He shows them slides of the magma under the Dera Desert, between New Jork and Scrapton, and suggests that there is something stirring it up, causing the quakes. The team go to New Jork to investigate.

Gel Sadra explains her failure to X by saying, "Failure is the root of the greatest successes" (you would not believe how much she overuses this expression in the series to follow), and travels in her mecha above the city, announcing to the people that the quakes will continue until the Earth surrenders. The people are naturally upset. In another part of the city, the team launch a probe drill into the earth, where it begins transmitting information to Nambu. They are about to leave when they are ambushed by Galactors. The Galactor's captain is just about to kill Ken when a helmeted man in a one-man helicopter appears and saves them. Jun is positive it's Joe. But if it's Joe, why hasn't he come to them and told them he's alive?

In the Dera Desert, the team wonder where Nambu is. He arrives (driving like a wild man, with sunglasses on) in the G-2 mecha, the Condor Attacker. His plan to stop the shocks to the mantle involves going underground with the Condor Attacker and firing the Condor Missile, a bird-shaped missile that can undergo the Firebird effect. He also plans to undertake this plan personally, as they have no G-2. Ken thinks it would be far too difficult for him, and insists on undertaking the mission himself. (Actually, this is unclear-- according to one of my references, Nambu said he would do it, but according to the show itself, it sounds like Nambu was telling them to wait until ISO got a racer to do it.) As they argue, they hear a familiar whistling, and see an even more familiar figure come up over the dunes toward them.

He comes out of the sunlight, close enough that they can see him. Dressed in a racing outfit, with sunglasses on-- it's Joe. Jinpei is the first to break the ice, and they all run to him, but he shows no emotional reaction at first-- merely, after a silence, takes off the glasses and says, "I've got to be the one to use that machine."

*Then* there's an emotional reunion. Everyone hugs him, except for Ken, who slugs him for not telling them he was alive. Joe gets up, holding his jaw, and says, "You haven't changed a bit, Ken." He offers Ken his hand, and when Ken takes it, throws him across the sand. Ken answers, "Neither have you," and they finally embrace, laughing and insulting each other.

Finally, Jinpei asks where he's been. Nambu seconds it-- sounding about as emotional as he ever gets, he puts a hand on Joe's shoulder and says, "I don't want to make judgments. But why *didn't* you tell us you were alive-- not even one word?" Joe cannot answer, so Nambu shakes his hand and says, "At any rate, I'm very happy that you're alive."

At this point, a Galactor mecha heaves out of the ground. Joe gets into the Condor Attacker, saying "I'll take care of the mantle, you take care of the Galactors!" The team take on the Galactor mecha separately, giving Joe his chance to escape into the earth. After a hair-raising journey through the underground caves just above the mantle layer, he finds the location of the disorder and fires the Condor Missile at it, causing a vast explosion that drops the Galactor mecha into a chasm and hurls the Condor Attacker back out into open air. (Or at least into sand next to the open air.)

Ken is happy that Joe's all right, but somewhat surprised, considering that the Attacker is totalled. Joe replies that he's too tough to kill, and Ken asks him the question on everybody's mind-- "Why haven't you come to us before? Why did you rescue us without showing yourself?"

Joe is quiet for a moment, then replies that Dr. Rafael had saved his life. He hadn't wanted to return to the team at all, and had wanted to keep his existence secret as long as he could. But this time, since the problem was his fault, he had to show up. (It was his blowing up the Galactor base that gave the Galactors the idea in the first place. He doesn't say that, but we who saw the episode can figure it out.) What he *does* say, when they ask him to elaborate, is that he will destroy Overlord X himself. Ken tells him that he understands his feelings-- but Joe can't go off and try to do it himself. First and foremost, he is a member of the Science Ninja Team.

(Old synopsis by Pat, not revised)

Galactor captures a bunch of settlers of the country of Fulginia, and, using a special ray, regresses them into cavemen, who thereafter attack the nearest city. The Science Ninja Team arrive and discover a young child. They try to rescue him, but he escapes, and runs straight into the arms of one of the cavemen... who can't seem to bring himself to hurt the child. The level of radiation is increased. The mutant tries to hit the child, who calls him "Daddy" and starts to cry. More energy is poured into the change ray... and the device explodes. X's plan has been thwarted by the love of a father for his son...

The episode opens with both UN fighter jets and a jumbo aircraft liner being caught in a strange energy field and crashing. Somewhere, Gel Sadra's voice gloats that now they've felt Galactor's new "pyramid power". En route to base, Jinpei's helicobuggy is damaged, and he is forced to land on a privately owned island, where he tries to repair his craft. A young girl finds him and helps him, using a strange pyramid her father invented. They play for a while, until Jinpei has to leave and the girl's father calls her.

Gatchaman is dispatched to "Egypt II", an experimental town of pyramidal structure, built by a Dr. Sugata. There, Dr. Sugata is demonstrating his new, pyramid-derived powers to a crowd. Galactor attacks in a huge, pyramid-shaped mecha, stealing all the "pyramid power" and sucking out the lives of the VIPs inside the city. But Sugata's daughter Yukari-- the girl Jinpei met earlier-- is inside. Sugata escapes, admitting that Gel Sadra had been backing him all along, and had used his plans to build the mecha-- "And the only thing that can defeat it is a larger pyramid, and we haven't got time to build one!" Jinpei suggests a pyramid formed by the five Gatchaman vehicles, connected by lines of energy. They succeed, destroying the Galactor pyramid. Jinpei blames Dr. Sugata for the hurt done his daughter, and hits him. But Yukari intervenes, for she still sees only the good in him.

(Note from Pat: How many of you remember the "Pyramid Power" fad that was taking place in the late 1970s? Without knowledge of that fad, some of this show won't make a lot of sense...)

(Note from Alara: All I have to say about this episode is, as far as I'm concerned, it didn't happen.)

(Old synopsis by Pat, not revised)

Jinpei and Jun are taking a bunch of youngsters camping. Meanwhile, Galactor is developing a new, genetically altered plant, Reddar, to menace the ISO. A spore of the altered plant escapes, and is caught by a boy Jinpei meets, who helps him carry some of the camping equipment of the party. The boy shows Jinpei his find. Later, Jinpei brings some caterpillars to his new friend in thanks, and asks how the seed is doing. The boy opens up a door, and is knocked down by an enraged, mobile vine-- which also releases the caterpillars by knocking their box to the floor. The caterpillars in turn eat the vine, become pupae, and moments later emerge as huge, mutant butterflies which then fly off.

When Jinpei returns to the Snack J and tells the others his tale, no one believes his story except for Joe, who says it sounds like something Galactor might be doing. Then a city is attacked by huge Reddar vines, and Jinpei tells his story to Nambu. The New God Phoenix arrives, dropping canisters of caterpillars onto the wounded city. As the plants die before the insect onslaught, the New God Phoenix fights an enemy mecha and wins. Then they watch as the butterflies fly out to sea and die.

Several satellites-- including the Martian Research satellite, a communications satellite, an orbital connecting ship and a weather observation satellite-- have been attacked and vanished. Nambu sends Jun and Jinpei aboard the Stellar Observation satellite in order to find out what's happening. This satellite is attacked as well, and Jinpei is captured, and brought aboard Gel Sadra's Meteor Fortress. The New God Phoenix is dispatched. Joe volunteers to try and infiltrate the Meteor Fortress, but is nearly killed when his "space buggy" fails. On the second try, he succeeds, and finds the cell where Jinpei and the scientists from the satellite have been imprisoned. The New God Phoenix follows the ship to its base, and the team distracts the Galactor troops while Joe effects a rescue. They blow up the base, and the Meteor Fortress follows them into space. Using the Firebird effect (yes, it works in space-- it's plasma, not fire), they explode the Galactor vessel, and return home with the rescued ISO scientists on board.

(NOTE: Really old synopsis-- not revised!)

Gel Sadra is telling X about her hopes for this new mecha of hers, with which she plans to destroy the New God Phoenix. She gets more and more energetically defensive of her plan until X tells her she's acting like "that fool, Berg Katse," at which point she responds with the brilliant, "But I'm not like him, Overlord." X then proceeds to educate her in the past mistakes of her predecessor. With scenes from eps. 8 and 44 of the first series, he demonstrates some of Katse's failures, making Gel Sadra remark, "What a stupid person Berg Katse was, wasn't he?" (As if she's much better.) Afterwards, she still insists she's different and that she'll do better than "that fool."

Later, the New God Phoenix is attacked underwater by Gel Sadra's new mecha, which beams freeze rays at them, and, losing control of the NGP, they plunge into an iceberg. They are stuck in the iceberg, unable to pull free, and a Firebird connection in the G-2 has been broken. Joe tells them to use the Firebird anyway, that he'll take care of the broken connection. Unbeknownst to the others, Joe accomplishes this by taking the wires in hand and conducting the current through his cyborg body. The freeze ray hits, but the Firebird melts its way out, and causes the Galactor mecha to crash into the ice. Jun, noting the cut wire and the burns on Joe's hand, wonders exactly what happened.

Meanwhile, Overlord X demands to know what happened to Gel Sadra's "certain" plan. Gel Sadra pleads, "But this is an uncertain age! In an uncertain age, things that are certain of are uncertain! That a certain thing will certainly work is uncertain!" X tells her to shut up, and orders her not to underestimate Gatchaman.

(NOTE: Really old synopsis-- not revised!)

On a small tropical island, a sudden snowstorm terrifies and freezes the peaceful villagers. At the ISO, Nambu reveals that it is part of a plan to cause a new Ice Age on Earth-- masterminded, of course, by Galactor. Gatchaman is dispatched, and Ryu goes out in his tank to examine matters. He immediately gets caught in acurrent and beaches himself on the island, losing contact with the others. When he attempts to shoot some sharks with his gun, a harpoon knocks the gun out of his hand. The harpoon's thrower, an old man, introduces himself as Rokko.

At the Galactor base, Gel Sadra, depressed by being yelled at by X, sets in motion the second part of her plan. Back at the island, Rokko helps Ryu get his tank out of the water, although he scorns technology himself. Ryu introduces himself as G-5, the Horned Owl, and over fish he listens to Rokko's story.

With the morning, Galactor "sunflowers" come out of the center of the island and collect solar power. Back at ISO's mainland base, Ken is startled by a snowflake, which becomes a full-fledged snowstorm. The New God Phoenix heads back to the island. Meanhwile, Rokko is dying of the cold. Ryu tries to tend him in a hut with a fire, but it doesn't seem to be doing much good. Ken and Jun show up, telling Ryu to come with them, but Ryu explains that "Rokko jiisan" needs him more. Rokko takes his hand and tells him that he's dying anyway, that Ryu should go to his team. He then lapses into a coma. Ryu tries to insist on staying with the dying man, but Ken insists that the Ninja Team needs him.

The New God Phoenix flies into the snowstorm surrounding the Galactor mecha, directly into a strong magnetic field, which shorts out their panels, trashes Piemur, and causes Joe not inconsiderable pain. Gel Sadra, seeing them trapped in her force field, laughs hysterically. But Ryu finds the harpoon Rokko threw at him in his tank, and in Rokko's memory, finds the strength to go out on top of the NGP amd hurl the harpoon at the monstermech (with a bomb attached, of course.) The mech starts blowing up, and the force field drops, enabling the NGP to escape. Galactors rush for the exits in desperate terror, and Gel Sadra escapes yet again.

The sun once more beats down on the island, where Ryu goes to mourn Rokko.

(NOTE: Really old synopsis-- not revised!)

By a wharfside, a parade is attacked by hordes of birds, à la Hitchcock. Elsewhere, Ken and Jinpei attempt to repair their car. That doesn't work, so they hitchhike with a blond girl named Julia to the wharfside, where they notice that the expected parade has vanished. Puzzled, they look around. Jinpei yells out, and a man runs out of a building, shouting at him to hurry up inside. The reason for this quickly becomes apparent as the birds attack again. By the time the three get in, Julia has been badly hurt. Ken watches as the birds cause explosions and vanish, until Jinpei calls his attention to Julia's condition.

Julia is wheeled into the hospital, while her older brother, Jeff, Ken and Jinpei follow. Jeff, distraught at Julia's condition, is upset that Ken and Jinpei survived unscathed. Meanwhile, Gel Sadra tells X about the success of her new plan so far, and X replies that now they can go after Hypernium 600, a source of great energy. At G-Town, Nambu reveals that the birds were mecha, and displays scenes of bird attacks at other locations. Earlier, Gel Sadra had transmitted her demands on all TV channels, and Nambu plays a tape of that, too-- she announces that the Black Rooks' next target will be the refugees' hospital, unless the Hypernium 600 is given up to Galactor. Gatchaman leaves in the NGP to handle matters.

At the hospital, Julia is in critical condition. Her brother, sick with worry, decides to take matters into his own hands to prevent the Rooks from attacking again. As an employee of ISO, he knows where the Hypernium is kept-- he goes to the secret base and steals it. Nambu and Anderson are conferring when they receive a report-- the Hypernium has been stolen. Jeff flees in a truck, and the team zero in on him. A visual scan confirms that he's the man they met before, and so Ken decides to handle this personally. He leaps down onto the truck and climbs in, fighting the man for control of the truck. Ken takes Jeff out, causing the truck to crash-- and near the crash site, a Galactor mecha burrows its way out of the ground, releasing Black Rooks against Ken. The NGP sees this, and they release a magnetic missile, which pulls all the birds in-- but a new flock is on the way, and it transforms into a deadly balck bird form, swarming over the NGP. They can't use the Firebird, so Joe takes them down in a steep dive, shearing the birds away, at the Galactor base, releasing a missile at it. Gel Sadra escapes as the NGP lands.

Ken tells Jeff that it's all over, at which point Jeff tries to kill himself, thinking Julia dead. Ken knocks the gun out of his hands, and later, at the hospital, Julia turns out to have pulled through. She smiles at her brother.

Galactor had always devoted all its resources to the conquest of the Earth. But when they began destroying stellar communication bases, and killing the researchers there one by one, even Dr. Nambu could see no motive other than cruelty.

Actually, the truth was that Overlord X, fearing that his secret would be revealed, was attempting to extinguish the source of the subspace communication, known as the Leap Wave, that was carrying a message to outer space. But the only person that could be sending the Leap Wave was the mysterious old man who had rescued Joe, the former Galactor Dr. Rafael. Learning this, Overlord X became insane with rage. He ordered Gel Sadra to zero in on the Leap Wave, and when it was caught, he ordered that it be pulled into their base. Then he reversed it, and sent along it the order for the discharge mechanisms on all the world's nuclear missiles to read GO.

Without any warning, the whole world was plunged into danger, as the nuclear missiles were preparing for launch. Rafael muttered to himself about the situation. "I'm the one who called Overlord X down from space. I'll take the responsibility," he said. Then he asked Joe to go in an antigrav car-missile and eliminate the housing mechanisms of the nuclear missiles.

And so, by a hairsbreadth, the world was saved.

ISO has recently established an underground city near a volcano, with the apt name of Vesuvius-- apt because Galactor unleashes magma on one of the subway lines, threatening to destroy the city. They have a base in the area, one of the holdover bases from Katse's time, and are trying to protect it (despite Gel Sadra being generally unimpressed with Berg Katse's taste.) Joe sneaks into the base with a magma solidification device, which he essentially stole from Ken (who was going to use it and get himself killed-- as usual, Joe has decided that he's more expendable than Ken.) In the base, he meets Kathy, a young woman who he may or may not have known before. She fights alongside him for most of the episode. Her parents were also killed by Galactor-- and as it turns out at the end, she is also a cyborg. Dr. Rafael made her into a cyborg so she could get revenge on Galactor. "I enjoyed our time together... short as it was..." she says, and takes the device from Joe, because *she's* more expendable than *he* is-- Rafael has something special planned for him. Then she sacrifices her life, diving into the lava with the solidification device, and saves the day.

Ken shows up, somewhat annoyed that Joe would try to risk his own life so cavalierly. But Joe says in a desolate voice, "Ken... do you believe that someone can fall in love, in only half a day?"

Investigating tales of a gold-colored UFO, ISO scientists see one land-- and Major Borg, lost months before, emerges from it before it flies off. He tells them of a man dressed like Red Impulse who was its pilot. Ken convinces Nambu to let him accompany Borg back to the UFO site. Meanwhile, Joe is chasing clues of his own in the man's home town. As Ken tells Borg about his love for his father, and how Red Impulse sacrificed himself to save the Earth, the man remembers his own son... and as Ken approaches the UFO and sees what he thinks is his father, the man knocks him to the ground, telling him it's a Galactor trap. Ken destroys the ship, and Borg tells him his own son is hostage to Galactor, but he couldn't let another man's son be killed, even if it meant his own son's death. Meanwhile, Joe has discovered the kidnapped boy, and rescues him before Galactor can kill him. Father and son are reunited, and Ken, heart heavy with memories, goes off to be alone for a while.

The New God Phoenix goes out to deal with another menace, the five members of the team traveling separately in their vehicles. Ryu arrives first at a somewhat beaten-up tropical seaside village and runs into an attractive young damsel in distress, Yuka, who is being pursued by 3 villager men. She was apparently the only witness to the destruction of most of the village, and the only survivor- and they suspect her of

having something to do with it, mainly since she is something of a "bad girl" and they don't put anything past her. But although they don't believe her, all she has to do is bat her eyes at Ryu to get an eternal champion. He defends her, and she walks off on him without so much as a "thank you."

The rest of the team arrives, and Ken discovers evidence that the destruction was caused by some device- probably Galactor's. The villagers are not real appreciative. Meanwhile, Ryu and Yuka stand on the side, watching, and Yuka asks, spellbound, "Who's that guy in the white?" Ryu tells her Ken's entire title, and she is fascinated. Late that night, she and Ken sit by the beach and have a talk, Ken trying to get infor-mation and Yuka trying to get something entirely different, with Jun and Ryu hiding behind the rocks to chaperone them. This is a good idea, as it turns out, because she leaps on Ken and attempts to kiss him. Ken, ever the romantic, responds by throwing her off and stalking away with all the wounded pride he can muster. Yuka glares after Ken with all the fury of a woman scorned. Ryu comes out and tries to explain Ken's actions, but she simply says bitterly that he's just like everyone else-- they all ignore her feelings and treat her like dirt. Ryu disputes that, and offers to prove it to her- so she sets him the challenge of diving off the cliff to find a ruby she supposedly lost, never expecting him to take it.

Ryu explores underwater and sees a Galactor mecha, staying under long enough to worry Yuka. He tells her when he comes up that he found memory circuits of a Galactor missile. He aplogizes that he could not find her ruby, and gives her a pearl in exchange. She is moved to tears by his consideration for her-- apparently something she hasn't often gotten-- and confesses to him the truth about that night-- she did see something, a plane-like machine in fact. Ryu is very upset-- this could mean the destruction of the rest of her village. He reports to the rest of the team and Nambu. They examine a map of the area. Nambu tells them that Galactor intends to launch a cruise missile at an astronomical observatory on the coast.

At the underwater base, Galactor lauches the missile, though Gel Sadra finds herself wondering whatever for the Overlord wants this done. This comes to Gatchaman's attention, and they take off after it. It grows into a dragonfly-like plane by the time the team has caught up with it. Ken and Joe go out with grapples and land on the missile to change its course. Joe falls off- he lands safely, but can no longer help Ken. Ken climbs inside the thing and starts changing the course tape- but it tilts, and a control panel falls on him. His only hope lies in Ryu's strength.

Ryu slides down the grapples and saves Ken, as the NGP releases the grapples and lets the missile go. Ken and Ryu leap to safety as the missile turns around, seconds from striking the ISO base, and heads directly back to the Galactor base that launched it. The base explodes, and Yuka thanks Ryu, much to his happiness and everyone else's amusement.

(In fact, the reason for the destruction of the village- never given in the show-- is the fact that the observatory had been getting information on Overlord X, and so X decided to wipe out the witnesses...)

(Old synopsis by Pat-- not revised)

While driving, Joe becomes very dizzy, and is pursued by Galactors. He is also transporting some information important to the ISO, so the team arrives to help out. Jun jumps from her cycle to Joe's car when she sees that he's not doing too well. The car flips over, and Jun has to drag the unconscious Joe to a cave, where she finds a tracking device in the message pouch. Meanwhile, Joe is half-conscious, thinking, "What's wrong with me? I thought this wasn't supposed to happen to me ever again..." We see flashbacks to the first season-- the death of his parents, his illness, his "death", and Dr. Rafael saving him by making him a cyborg. When Jun shows him the tracking device, he realizes the signal is interfering with a cybernetic component in his brain, the one that compensates for the brain damage he suffered in the first season, and that's why he's suffering a relapse. Jun is wounded by the Galactors, and Joe goes berserk, destroying a tank and all the enemy before he's done, carrying Jun out of the fire and into Ken's arms at the end of the episode.

An air traffic controller named Millie is working at Seatown, an underwater complex similar in design to Crescent Coral. Suddenly, a Galactor mecha attacks, destroying the complex and stealing the main dome with all its inhabitants. The complex is taken to a location beneath the sea, and Gel Sadra laughs, explaining her plan to Overlord X. He finds a hole in it, and reinstructs her.

The Gatchaman team, dispatched to investigate, discovers a gutted husk where Seatown used to be. Nambu tells them that they are to work with Dr. Shisky, who designed Seatown, and Jun asks about her friend Millie, Shisky's daughter. She is upset to hear that Millie is one of the ones who disappeared in the attack. The NGP goes in to inspect more closely and pick up Dr. Shisky, but they can't find him- he's not answering them. Jun defends him, explaining that he is probably upset about his daughter's disappearance. She finds him in a control room, with Gel Sadra gloating at him on the screen and showing him that Millie is her hostage. He will deliver his monopolar magnetic field equations to her, or else....

Shisky finds Jun outside his office, after Gel Sadra has cut transmission. Jun informs him that the rest of the Science Ninja Team has gone on another mission- she alone will go with him. She has decided to try to rescue Millie without involving the others. The rest of the team were unaware of this, and discuss it, somewhat worried. Ken decides they will go after Jun- he suspects that she is in great danger...

Shisky and Jun head into the depths in a submarine. They enter the trench that is their destination, and he explains to her that they're not in danger- but Jun is suspicious. She sees a Galactor base beneath them- and then Shisky knocks her out.

Jun awakens in a large room ringed by zillions of Galactors, with Gel Sadra seated at a throne at the far end. Gel Sadra explains that Shisky did her bidding because she has his daughter, when a goon announces that the New God Phoenix is approaching. Even this does not faze Gel Sadra, who orders the launch of a jellyfish mecha (it looks like the creature in ep. 1 of Star Trek: The New Generation.) She then orders 3 men to take care of Jun. Instead, Jun takes care of them, leaping across the room to take Gel Sadra hostage. "Where is Millie?" she demands, and Gel Sadra tells Shisky to open the door next to him. He does so, and his daughter screams, "Papa! Don't come in!" It's too late, as a grinning Galactor fires and he drops. Jun is shocked, and the distraction gives Gel Sadra a chance to hurl her to the floor. Jun watches helpless as Shisky dies.

"Gel Sadra, you will pay for this! Demon!" Jun says, and stands, ready for a final battle, as Galactors surround her.

The New God Phoenix struggles against the jellyfish mecha, to no avail, and water begins pouring in. Elsewhere, the Galactors begin to fire- and fall, in bunches, to white-gloved fists and a pink whip (as well as their own stupidity.) Jun turns and confronts Gel Sadra, who flees- and the base begins to shake and explode, as Gel Sadra's voice gloats that Jun's victory avails her nothing.

The jellyfish loses control of the NGP as its home base begins to explode, and the Gatchamen rush to Jun's aid- she and Millie have escaped in the submarine. Millie vows to continue her work at Seatown in her father's memory, and gives the NGP the countdown to blast off for home.

A geological observation satellite is attacked by Galactor. Jinpei and Jun, unaware of this, are in the process of repairing a satellite. Jun has Jinpei hold down a button to prevent launch while she goes and works outside the ship. Then a small robot comes up behind Jinpei and points a gun at him. Startled, he lets go of the button-- and the rocket launches.

It turns out that the "robot" was a little girl in a small suit of body armor. Sachiko Yumura is the only daughter of one of the researchers on the geological observation satellite, Tetsutaro Yumura, and she misses him-- so she's hijacked the spaceship, and Jinpei, to see him. When they arrive at the station, they discover Gel Sadra, who is tearing the station apart looking for the tapes of the Mantle Project research. Meanwhile, the Science Ninja Team have followed, trying to rescue Jinpei. They chase Gel Sadra off, and she is left with only one volume of tape to give to Overlord X. Needless to say, the Overlord is not happy. Sachiko is reunited with her father, and all the researchers are saved.

Ryu gets suspicious of Joe, who keeps disappearing for days on end, and follows him out into the desert. Joe is headed for a volcano, where he proceeds to stick his hand into the lava just to prove that he can do it. He is not very happy about being able to do so, since it indicates just how far from human he is. Meanwhile, Ryu gets lost, and sees a weird effect in the desert. He gets sucked into it, his last words on the bracelet being, "The spiral nebula.."

It turns out that there is a Galactor weapon, Galamaybar, which generates a subspace dimension. The New God Phoenix gets sucked inside, and sees Ryu floating in the weird space beyond. Joe goes out in his car and rescues Ryu, but then gets stuck. The New God Phoenix attacks the "lining" of this subspace dimension, and the five members of the Science Ninja Team break free, destroying Galamaybar in the process.

(NOTE: Old synopsis-- not revised!)

Gatchaman is being briefed by Nambu when Jinpei notices that Jun looks sick. Nambu suggests she go lay down. She leaves, half-staggering from the room-- but as soon as she turns a corner, she looks around and starts running. She arrives in apower chamber, removes a plate from some circuitry, and wires in a bomb. Then she pulls out a communicator and contacts Gel Sadra-- in a totally different voice. This is *not* Jun.

The real Jun awakens in a stone cell, and a wall flares to life with a gigantic image of Gel Sadra, laughing at her. Gel Sadra gloats to her that an impostor of Jun will bring about the destruction of G-Town. Jun is horrified. She tries to awaken a man sharing her cell, but he stays unconscious, and her communicator refuses to respond.

Meanwhile, Jinpei and Ryu have discovered that Jun's not in her room. Ken contacts the impostor, and realizes that she is in fact not Jun. Nambu discovers that G-Town is headed for a whirlpool and orders course to be changed as "Jun" plants another bomb. Joe catches her this time, and she attacks him. The rest of the team arrive, and the impostor flings herself to the top of a generator. Her voice shifts, becoming deeper and unlike Jun's, and she announces that G-Town has been caught in a Galactor whirlpool. Nambu runs into the control room, but the operators tell him it's useless-- something is interfering with the controls-- and Gel Sadra, watching the whirlpool on her viewscreen, laughs. A goon interrupts her gloating to report that G-3 seems to have disappeared. Gel Sadra checks the cell with her viewscreen-- it does look that way. When the Galactors check the cell, however, it turns out that Jun was hiding. She attacks them and flees, stealing a Galactor's scuba equipment to swim to G-Town's rescue. As she passes a mountain, it splits open and a nasty looking mecha rises from the sea bed, firing on G-Town.

Meanwhile, Ken brings the impostor down with his bird disk. Joe pulls off her helmet, and Jun's face vanishes in a bird-style-like transformation, revealing a blond woman. She tells them it's useless to try to stop the destruction of G-Town. Joe demands to know who she is, and she tells them she's Eva Douglas, daughter of Bill Douglas, who designed G-Town-- and who the Science Ninja Team killed. They are puzzled-- they *didn't* kill Douglas. Then Jun arrives, and tells Eva that her father was in fact killed by Galactor. She gives Eva a pendant with Eva's picture, and recounts how the man in her cell gave it to her as he was dying. Then she tells the team that G-Town is on the verge of destruction by Galactor missiles, and they go out to the NGP, leaving Eva to her grief. She sees the image of her father, and says, "I'm sorry... I've been such a fool... Galactor, I hate you!"

The NGP flies out to do battle with the Galactor mecha, which much upsets Gel Sadra. Eva meanwhile is swimming to the Galactor base with a bomb. The team sees her, and Jun cries out her name as the mecha explodes. G-Town is saved.

(NOTE: Really old synopsis-- not revised!)

Ken is flying to a meeting with old friends, Carl and Lisa Roman from the flying academy, when a plane dives at him. They play chicken for a while, flying upside down, sideways, along mountainsides and through people's laundry, until his opponent finally contacts him, and they set down on the runway. It's Carl. Ken runs up and demands an explanation, and Carl nearly attacks him before Lisa intervenes.

Carl and Lisa own a lovely large estate in Europe, and a large number of uniformed men seem to have personal fealty to Carl. At this estate, the Romans are holding a formal ball. Lisa leaves the ballroom and goes out to Ken, who's leaning out over the balcony. They talk about old days-- Lisa says that Ken used to be so happy, when they were young...

Later that night, Carl's men pursue a fugitive-- it's Ken, still in his white tux. They chase him up the stairs and off the roof. On an adjacent roof, Ken lies in shadow as the search goes on above him-- until a guard finds him and pulls a gun on him. Ken takes him out, and sees a Galactor symbol on the gun. The next day, on a bridge over a pond, Ken questions Lisa about Carl's work. She asks him why he wants to know, but he tells her only vaguenesses.

Later, Ken searches Carl's study for incriminating papers. Lisa slips in, and demands to know what he's doing. He tells her, and she tells him to stop, leaning her head against the bookcase in anguish. "Everyone's changed-- you, Carl--" The bookcase next to her glides up, revealing a secret passage, which shocks both of them. They head down the passage and discover Carl, exhorting his men in the name of Galactor. Lisa, horrified, shouts from the balcony, "Carl! Stop this!", and she and Ken are unceremoniously dumped on the floor beneath. Carl confronts them, and Ken attacks him, hitting him until someone puts a gun to his head, and a burly man holds him as Carl hits him back. Carl wants to know what Lisa was doing with Ken. Ken replies hotly, "She was worried about you!" Carl tells Lisa about the plan, and she hits him-- at which point Gel Sadra arrives with a contigent of guards, vastly amused. Carl's own men turn on him-- Gel Sadra has betrayed him. He runs-- guns level-- and Lisa throws herself into the bullets' path to save Carl. Ken struggles free and gets stunned for his trouble, while Carl runs back to Lisa-- and discovers her dead. Horrified and enraged, he goes for Gel Sadra, and is machine-gunned by Galactor. Dying, he activates a radio-controlled time bomb on his property, causing Gel Sadra and her men to depart swiftly in search of the bomb. Ken wakes up and tries to help Carl, who tells him there's nothing Ken can do-- to hurry up and leave-- and then dies. Ken, overcome by emotion, puts Carl's hand on Lisa's. He takes the picture of the three of them together at the Flight Academy, and places it next to their hands. Then he leaves in bird style.

At the power plant, the Galactors search frantically for the bomb, while Gel Sadra moans about it. Her plans get considerably more ruined when Ken comes on the scene and proceeds to take the Galactors apart. Gel Sadra pulls a laser and, terrified, tries to shoot Ken, but her hand is shaking so badly she can't hit him. He grabs her and begins to beat her, filled with rage at Carl's and Lisa's deaths. But he is overcome with emotion, and Gel Sadra, seizing her opportunity, escapes. Ken gets out before the place blows and stands outside, watching the estate burn.

Galactor is building a Solar Shifter at Stonehenge (or at someplace they're claiming is Stonehenge-- it doesn't look like Stonehenge to *me*). They have been collecting geothermal energy and firing it at the Van Allen belt, where it returns as hard radiation and has been killing people mysteriously. The Science Ninja Team are dispatched, and Jinpei and Ryu meet up with a group of boys who are amateur astronomers and Stonehenge observers. The boys have discovered evidence of the Galactor presence. All of them go to investigate, and the mecha comes to life, swallowing up everyone but Ryu.

Inside, Jinpei and the other boys are taken captive. Jinpei, apparently realizing how childish Gel Sadra is, tricks her into releasing him and the others. One little boy escapes and tells Ryu the situation, and Ryu tells the rest of the team. The Science Ninja Team come in and rescue Jinpei and the others.

A team of scientists is investigating unusual phenomena at the North Pole when their camp is destroyed. At G-Town, all the team with the exception of Joe are working on their vehicles. Joe, unbeknownest to the team, is getting his periodic checkup from Dr. Rafael. Then both Rafael and Nambu receive information that Galactor is involved. Joe is late for the briefing, causing Ken to punch him out.

One of the scientists, Shitamori, Ken's old elementary school teacher, is heading for the Pole with a team of dogs to find out what's happening. Ken sees him off, but 3 days later there is a vast fluctuation of the Earth's magnetic field, and they lose contact with Shitamori-- who is killed by Galactors. One of his dogs, Marc, returns, injured. Ken goes with the dog in an attempt to find Shitamori-- and finds him, dead. Ken finds a Galactor base as well, and attacks without waiting for the rest of the team, since the magnetic fluctuation is preventing him from signaling them. Only the arrival of the rest of the team saves his bacon. After destroying the base, they find the rest of the missing scientists-- all dead, killed by Galactor.

The team has been dispatched to locate a Galactor base off the northern Canadian West Coast, which is dotted with islands. They are hit by a signal that messes up all the mechanical and electronic equipment on board-- including, though the rest of the team doesn't know it, Joe's cybernetics. The New God Phoenix is badly affected, and Ken, Joe, Jun and Jinpei leave to fight the Galactors while Ryu nurses the damaged ship home. All but Joe successfully beat off their attackers. Joe also finally manages to defeat his foes, but the draining and scrambling effect of the Galactor weapon has taken its toll on his system, and he passes out.

Rafael has a base in the area and comes after him. He repairs Joe and tells him, "You can't function inside that field." Rafael tries to persuade him to stay at his base-- what Rafael wants him for is more important than this limited objective, and if Joe is killed now, all Rafael's work goes to waste. But Joe tells him that he can't stand by and watch his friends get killed without helping out. He goes back into battle, against Rafael's protests. Meanwhile, the team has come back as well, this time better protected against the effect of the weapon. In a two-pronged attack, Joe manages to shoot the base's main computer, which causes an explosion, allowing the New God Phoenix to tear into the base and complete its destruction. Seeing Joe treading water in the sea nearby, the team pick him up and are reunited.

An ISO exploration craft is destroyed by a swarm of meteors, which then impact on Earth. Gatchaman is sent to investigate the sea bottom where they fell, and discover a large number of Galactor robots infesting the area. Leaving the New God Phoenix, each one takes his or her craft and goes out to investigate. Joe finds a cove, and when he follows it is attacked by a group of cyborgs. When one of their leaders recognizes Joe, he intervenes. These cyborgs are escaped Galactor experimental subjects who have all come to a distant island to live as normal lives as they can. Rafael has been trying to help them, and Joe feels almost at home among them. Then Rafael gives Joe more information on what Galactor is up to. Joe goes out when Ken contacts him and rejoins the team.

While Nambu is debriefing them, it is reported that explosions have occurred in the area. Joe runs off to investigate, and discovers that Galactor has destroyed the cyborg city. Rafael persuades Joe to accept remodeling to become stronger, in order to avenge the dead cyborgs, despite Joe's misgivings ("I don't *want* to be a perfect cyborg like that. I want to be *human!*") Meanwhile, Gatchaman has followed his trail, and has run into Galactor opposition. Bird missiles take care of most of the fighters, and the New God Phoenix follows the survivors to their home base. Ken attacks in the Eagle Sharp II, and nearly kills himself. Only Joe's arrival saves hi life, and G-2 carries the Eagle to safety after destroying the enemy base.

One of the ISO's geothermal collection plants blows up in a mysterious accident. Nambu is slated to go investigate personally with the assistance of a Dr. Pandora, who he tells the Science Ninja Team will be his private secretary. (The implications of this are "personal assistant", not "decorative notes-taker.") The team are to go incognito a certain location, Joe in civilian guise by truck and the rest aboard a special chartered flight, and pick Pandora up. (Possible reasons for the secrecy: no one's supposed to know Pandora has got the job? Perhaps she has connections to protect?) They arrive at the warehouse, and Jinpei, grinning hugely, points out a woman applying lipstick by a yellow Beetle. Ken stares. Joe whistles. Both Ryu and Jinpei giggle and grin. Jun says to Ken, "Let's go find Dr. Pandora," and expresses disgust when for several seconds he doesn't seem to quite remember what's going on. They ask the loader captain, "Where's Dr. Pandora?" and are terribly surprised when the man replies, "Over there," and points to the woman. The sex of Dr. Pandora had never been previously specified, and the assumption had been that a doctor would be a man.

They go over to Pandora, Ryu expressing his extreme surprise and getting the comment, "Are you saying a woman can't be a Ph. D.?" He hastily backtracks, but Pandora has no hard feelings. She shakes with him and Jinpei (who is in seventh heaven,) calls Jun a "lovely warrior", to which Jun makes flattered and embarrassed denials, and acknowledges Ken and Joe, Joe going for the ultra-cool. Then they leave, packing the Volks into the truck, along with the four Bird-Styled team memebers, Joe up front driving. The loader turns out to be a Galactor, and alerts a squadron.

In the car, Dr. Pandora has apparently hit it off rather well with the team, chatting amiably with them-- but then she freezes. "We're going to be attacked! Galactor's going to attack!" she cries. Though she can give no good explanation for how she knows, they don't waste time questioning her, and so they all survive when Galactor blows up the truck, apparently sending Joe to his death in the cab. Pandora's Beetle is armed with missiles, which she and Ken put to good use. Joe, of course, turns up alive. The Beetle gets stuck, with the Galactors closing in. Joe tells Ken to drive, he'll unstick the car. He does it by having the car run over his foot. Pandora sees it in the side-view mirror and is astonished. Eventually Galactor is defeated, and we hear how the members of the team have come to view Pandora-- a mother figure to Jinpei, an older sister to Ken and Jun, a beautiful woman to Ryu... but then there's Joe...

Back at G-Town, Joe expresses his belief that Pandora is a Galactor. How did Galactor know where to find them? How did Pandora know about the upcoming attack? Ken points out that Pandora helped them against Galactor, but Joe replies that that could have been staged, to throw suspicion off her and make them like her faster. Dr. Nambu arrives and tells them that he and Pandora are going alone to the site, and that Pandora is a cybernetics expert. Joe is, understandably, less than thrilled to hear this. He argues with Ken that they should go, that Pandora is untrustworthy, but Ken insists, "Dr. Pandora is the person Dr. Nambu's hand-picked to assist him. We should trust in his judgment."

Gel Sadra reports her failure to Overlord X, and he tells her he has a new plan-- to use the power of her superhuman mind as a weapon..

Later, Joe's misgivings come home to roost. A panicked technician tells the team Dr. Nambu's been shot. He's in intensive care. And as we see a replay of the incident, we see a woman's shadow holding the gun...

In the last episode, Dr. Pandora, Dr. Nambu's hand-picked personal assistant, arrived. A beautiful woman and expert in cybernetics, she quickly won the hearts of all the team, except Joe. Then Dr. Nambu was shot, and to Joe, at least, Pandora is the prime suspect.

The team go to the hospital where Nambu is in intensive care, and learn he was shot in the head. They see him wheeled into surgery, and cry out in anguish. Pandora puts in an appearance, and Ken and Joe all but accuse her of having done it. "Where were you when the Doctor was shot?" She replies, "I'm sorry, but I wasn't in the room. Dr. Nambu was by himself." This cuts no ice with Joe, who heads after her as she reaches her car and prepares to shoot. Ken stops him. The gun goes off, but it only hits the windshield. Dr. Pandora looks up. "Joe, I'm not trying to hide or run away," she says, irritated, and takes them to a special room in the hospital, where a complex machine rests. "This is the Brain Wave Booster," she tells them, a device she developed in her psi researches. Unusual psi energy is emanating from a certain location, probably Galactor in origin. As Dr. Nambu's hand-picked assistant and their acting coordinator, she orders them to investigate.

En route, they learn Dr. Nambu has died. They are stunned with grief. Joe takes off, intending to kill Pandora, and Jun tries to persuade Ken to turn them around and join in, for which Ken hits her. "We'll trust in the Doctor's judgment of Dr. Pandora," he insists, anguished. "We'll carry out our mission."

Gel Sadra, seated at the Galactor base in a machine much like Pandora's, transforms her mental energy into a psionic creature that goes in search of Nambu. Laughing hysterically, she destroys a statue and murders a barking dog. Then she invades the hospital and telekinetically hurls some guards through a window. Roaming through the hospital as people scream and run away, she calls. "Nambu! Nambu, where are you?"

Her progress is arrested by Dr. Pandora, using the other device. "It's useless," Pandora tells her. "You can't sense Dr. Nambu. Therefore you can't harm him." To Gel Sadra's demand for her name, she replies, "Nambu's personal assistant, Pandora." But Nambu is beginning to stir, Pandora senses in horror-- the artificial suprression of his brain waves generated by her shooting him is wearing off, and when his mind begins to function again, Gel Sadra will sense his brain waves, and kill him.. "Hurry, Science Ninja Team, hurry!"

Gel Sadra manifests as a monster, and Pandora screams, recognizing that she is outmatched by the other's sheer mental power. "I'll be defeated and killed!" At the base, the Science Ninja Team are making inroads on the Galactors, but haven't found Gel Sadra yet-- and when Joe arrives and sees Pandora in the machine as the monster menaces Nambu's body, he assumes Pandora is generating it. He runs to the attack, his gun having been snatched up by the monster.

"Joe, NO!" Pandora screams, running to meet him. Joe slugs her in the stomach, but apparently pulls the punch at the last minute, since she's not unconscious, just a little stunned. "The monster-- it's Gel Sadra," she gasps. "Dr. Nambu's going to reawaken, and she'll destroy him.. I was going to use that machine to protect him..."

"All right," Joe says, and puts the machine on himself, to battle Gel Sadra. At first Pandora protests, but then she says, "No, maybe you can do it. With your cybernetically enhanced brain..." Joe manifests a warrior out of European mythology, with loincloth and sword, who does battle with the monster.

The Science Ninja Team arrive in Gel Sadra's chamber, distracting her for a crucial second-- and that gives Joe his chance. He stabs the monster in the throat, causing it to vanish and Gel Sadra to fall out of her chair, screaming in agony. "NOOO!! My head, my head, oh no, I don't understand, how could there be anybody as powerful as me?" she howls. X's voice booms out, calling her a fool, but he still takes her away in one of his capsules, as the Science Ninja Team stare bemusedly, then run as the base explodes.

Joe is in the hospital, and everyone is gathered around his bed. Dr. Pandora explains why she shot Dr. Nambu-- brain death, the clinical measure of death, is caused by a cessation of brain waves, and since it was mental activity that the Brain Wave Spider was picking up on, to save Nambu's life he had to become temporarily brain-dead. She explains that Joe, as a cyborg, was able to boost the power of his own brain waves to a point sufficient to fight Gel Sadra with.

Nambu does not act surprised at the revelation. Everyone else is shocked. They hadn't known Joe was a cyborg-- but now that they know, it makes no difference. Joe is their comrade, their teammate, and to them, he's as human as he ever was.

Getz's girlfriend, a biker named Mako, comes after Joe, believing that Joe killed her lover. Her first attempt fails, but Galactor gives her a special weapon to use. After seeing Joe throw around motorcycles and such, Galactor is beginning to suspect that he's no longer quite human. Mako attempts to shoot Joe, but fails, due to abominably lousy aim, and Joe explains to her that the guy he killed *wasn't* Getz-- it was a Galactor impostor, who had killed the real Getz. Joe had come upon the real Getz dying in his apartment, and had learned from him that his teammates were endangered by the impostor. Then Joe kills the Galactor who had used Mako to try to get at him.

Galactor's newest weapon, the Magma Maze Ray, is being prepared on the K-3 mountain peak of the Himalayas. Climate and defenses combine to make all but the north wall unapproachable, and the north wall is a straight vertical face, supposedly unclimbable by human beings. On the logic that Joe isn't human, Nambu assigns him to do it. The rest of the Science Ninja Team are irritated by this-- the Science Ninja Team are a *team*, and they refuse to let Joe go do everything just because he's a cyborg. Jun is so insist on this point that she stubbornly accompanies him. Neither of them make it much further than the top, but the rest of the team shows up and saves them from Galactor, destroying the base as well.

Learning that his father is injured, Ryu takes leave and returns to his hometown. Gel Sadra is building a secret base nearby, and wants Ryu assassinated, believing (correctly) that he's G-5. Ryu narrowly escapes getting shot. Then two Galactors show up and beat the crap out of him in front of his brother and father. Ryu can't fight back, because to do so would be to confirm their suspicion that he's G-5, and then Seiji and his father's lives would be forfeit. But since Seiji and Mr. Nakanishi don't *know* that Ryu's G-5, they think he's a coward, and insult him after the Galactors leave.

Later, Ryu infiltrates the Galactor base. The two men who had beaten him up had taken his brother and father captive. Gel Sadra kills the men for no good reason, and then orders Ryu to come out and give himself up, or his father and brother will be killed. On the one hand, if Ryu obeys, Gel Sadra will know for sure that he *is* G-5, and may well kill his family anyway. And he has his mission to complete. On the other hand, he can't allow his family to die. Ryu reveals himself, but his father shouts, "G-5, you have your duty to the Science Ninja Team. Don't worry about me!"

At this point the rest of the team show up and rescue everyone. Seiji and Mr. Nakanishi apologize to Ryu for what they said before, now that they know he's truly a hero.

G-Town's engineering department gave the G-1 an improvement to decrease Mach resistance. The test flight was promising, and Ken lost himself in the pleasure of flying the open sky.

But good things are too often ruined, and when one's guard is down, the fire of one's enemies comes most thickly. Galactor's advance drive spotted the G-1, and Ken was shot down.

A young boy from a village and his older sister Michi saved the wounded Ken, and so they were hunted down by Galactor. Then a giant, ominous bird flew down. It was the New God Phoenix. Flames claimed Galactor's mountain base.

Gel Sadra ground her teeth in frustration at having missed out on this excellent chance.

In the Andes, a water supply has been poisoned. Gatchaman is dispatched to meet a contact-- Joe, Jun and Jinpei go to a city called Lapaz, while Ken and Ryu travel by llama-back up into the mountains. They eat with a group of village men having a fireside party, laughing and playing music-- until the poisoned sake catches up with them, and they drop. Ken, conscious longer than the others, sees Galactors approach the camp...

Ken wakes in a field of tall grass, suffering from amnesia. "Where is this...who am I?" He comes out into a clearing and sees a sick man carrying another (his contact, but he doesn't remember that.) The sick man, dying, gives Ken the dead man's coin, to give to his family. Then he dies. Ken attempts to make his way across the desert, and faints of heat and exhaustion within sight of a house. A young Indian girl named Keina

runs to him- she is the daughter of his contact. He gives her the coin and collapses. She takes him home, where her family feeds him, and he is forced to tell the women that the man of the house is dead. He tries to leave, to leave them alone with their grief. Keina comes out and asks him where he's going to go, what his name is. He doesn't know, he says-- he's forgotten everything. They offer him their home, and he accepts.

Ken is working for the family, breaking the ground for planting, and Keina comes out to him with lunch. She tells him that she's decided to name him Chichicaca. As he eats, he sees her staring at him-- "Is there something on my face?" he asks, confused. She shakes her head, smiling, continuing to stare-- and then leaps on him, knocking him to the ground. "I love you, Chichicaca," she tells him softly. "I love you very much! Will you marry me?" Ken extricates himself, drawn by the call of a bird. "I'm sorry but...I think I need to fly away," he says.

Elsewhere, Joe, Jun and Jinpei come upon the fallen body of Ryu and examine him for poison. They come to the conclusion that Galactor is involved...

Keina follows Ken as he leaves, begging him to take her with him-- and he eventually relents and does. They share blankets that night, and a scorpion creeps under and bites Ken. Keina binds it up for him, but he is feverish... As she tries to take care of him, a strange bird leaps down from the sky-- a bird with a human face. It's Joe. Keina's afraid, and attacks Joe to protect Ken, but he stops her and treats Ken for his amnesia. Ken wakes, remembering everything. He tells Joe that their contact is dead, but that he gave them a coin-- and, taking the coin from Keina, he opens it and finds a miniaturized map of the Galactor base inside.

Once more leader of his team, Ken orders them into the base. A group of Galactors attack them. They defeat them, steal a transport, and head through corridors as weird Indian statues attack. They reach the New God Phoenix and blow up the base with their missiles, destroying the beam cannon installation.

Later, Ken says his farewells to Keina. His life is too dangerous for a lover to share, but had the situation been different, he could have loved her, he says. He will never forget her...Then the NGP takes off, as Keina watches.

(Note-- Chichicaca might be Titicaca, a location in the Andes. The Japanese letter "ti" is pronounced "chi".)

A great earthquake occurred in New Jork City, because of an earth-quake inducement device in a Galactor base beneath Rhode Island. [I'm pretty sure they must mean Long Island-- I used to get the two mixed up, and I live in New York State, stands to reason the Japanese might. Rhode Island is pretty far away from New York City-- I can't see it generating earthquakes that appear there.-- trans. Note] But the people living there weren't the only ones who were surprised at this. Gel Sadra was, too-- she hadn't given any order like that! The person who did it was a Galactor captain with a steel hand, Panther.

Gel Sadra said, "You aren't allowed to just do things arbitrarily!"

"Gel Sadra-sama, if you wait a little while, you'll be able to show my work to Overlord X as the result of your power. Wouldn't you like that?"

Giving in to Panther's cajolery, Gel Sadra told him to continue with his operations.

Panther faced Gatchaman in the Mecha-Saturn, but at the height of his personal combat with Ken, his own steel hand set off a bomb, and not only the Mecha-Saturn, but the Solar Shifter as well, were lost to a self-destruct explosion.

It was because Gel Sadra had overstepped her boundaries, Overlord X raged. Gel Sadra prostrated herself before him, a thin layer of sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Peaceful swimmers off the coast of Brazil and a submarine are destroyed by underwater Galactor attacks, and Gatchaman is dispatched to the Amazon river, where a Galactor plot to steal hypertonium is hatched between X and Gel Sadra...The team travel along the river, and a spray nozzle (probably Galactor in origin) knocks Jinpei's buggy into the water. Jinpei swims desperately as piranhas attack him, one knocking off his bracelet. A group of kids on the shore- among them a very pretty little girl- throw him a vine and pull him to shore. When the little girl asks Jinpei his name, he blushes, then tries to put on an impressive demeanor and announces himself as "G-4 of the Science Ninja Team, Jinpei the Swallow!" They break into hysterical laughter- compounded by the fact that his pants have fallen down- until a group of men arrive and tell them all to clear out. Later, on a dock, the boys tell him about a patch of lovely blue flowers in the jungle, that the little girl likes a lot. Jinpei is entranced- but the kids aren't allowed in the jungle. Jinpei decides that he'll lead an expedition into the jungle, to pick one of the flowers for the girl, which causes them to laugh again. "I really am G-4 of the Science Ninja Team!" he says, which just makes them laugh harder.

Jinpei's PR is not improved any by the arrival of the rest of the team, as Jun comes on shore and starts whacking him for making her worry. Ken stops her- "Don't hit him in front of the other kids," he says, and gives Jinpei back his bracelet, telling him that it's broken. Because of this, when the rest of the team trek out into the jungle later on, Jinpei is left behind. The little girl shows up and invites him to the clubhouse, where the boys are preparing an expedition to pick a blue flower. Jinpei is leery of the idea- he knows now that Galactor controls territory in the jungle- but they say, "Well, hey, you're a member of the Science Ninja Team, right? Are you scared?" Stung, he agrees to go.

The other four make their way through the jungle, and are attacked by mecha leaves and trees. They change to Bird Style and dodge the threats, traveling further into the jungle. Meanwhile, Jinpei and the others have located the blue flowers. They are thrilled- until a Galactor tank comes through and mows the beautiful flowers down. Horrified and angry, the boys follow the tank tracks, under Jinpei's lead, and discover a giant Galactor mecha in the middle of the river. The tank delivers the hypertonium to Gel Sadra, after which she has the driver eliminated, under the horrified eyes of the boys. Gel Sadra hears them, and orders them captured. They run, but a tentacle from the mecha grabs them all and suspends them over the piranha-infested water as Gel Sadra laughs. Jinpei yells, "The Science Ninja Team will rescue us!" and Gel Sadra gets upset, especially when the ninja team shows up and does just that, cutting the children free and dropping them onto a log.

The four leap down onto the mecha and begin taking Galactors out. The boys paddle to safety, but Jinpei leaves them, leaping up onto the mecha and taking a fat Galactor out as Gel Sadra vanishes into the mecha body. The 3 boys begin to think that perhaps Jinpei is a member of Gatchaman- but then the mecha starts sinking. The few remaining Galactors pound on Gel Sadra's escape hatch. "Gel Sadra, please! Let us in!" But she doesn't, and they are consumed by the piranhas, as the Gatchamen leap to the safety of the New God Phoenix. The mecha is delivered to the main underwater Galactor base, and Gel Sadra gloats that the hypertonium will ensure the success of the Overlord's plans. The New God Phoenix, unable to go underwater for now, fires bird missiles into the water- but they do nothing, and the Galactor base lifts out of the river, tearing up a good portion of the land as well.

The base fires strange energy rays at the NGP, beginning to melt it. The Gatchamen eject as the NGP crashes...And then the Galactor base crashes as well. Inside, frightened men tell Gel Sadra that the hypertonium is unstable- it's going to blow! Gel Sadra flees, seeking the dubious comfort of Overlord X, as the base blows up.

The Science Ninja Team leaves the area, and the children wave, as the little girl holds the last blue flower in her hands.

X is chewing Gel Sadra out for screwing up. She tries to use Gatchaman's Firebird effect as an excuse, and so X informs her of a mecha Berg Katse had designed, Mecha-Bolton. There is only one man left alive who knows how to operate it, and so Gel Sadra decides to find him...

In a park, a little boy named Biku is playing soccer as his father, and Joe, watch. Biku runs out into the road to get his ball- and a car comes barreling down at him. Joe leaps and brings the boy to safety on the other side of the road, and the grateful father thanks him. Biku and Joe play ball as the father-- whose name is Kaiser-- sketches Joe, and Joe invites him to the Snack J- as men with binoculars watch...

Later, a car pulls up outside Kaiser's place of work. He shuts down the computers for the night, walks out- and encounters 3 Galactors in plainclothes, who tell him to report to Galactor as soon as possible.

Gel Sadra examines the mecha- "For Katse, it looks as if it was designed unexpectedly well..." She gloats that it will mean the destruction of Gatchaman. Elsewhere, Kaiser tells his wife some story, and goes in to look at his sleeping son. He will not allow his son to be hurt...

He reports to a Galactor transport, where the 3 men he met before pick him up- and they toss him a uniform. "Biku, forgive me," he thinks. "It seems I can't escape from Galactor..."

Biku and his mother come to the Snack J to talk to Joe and give him the picture of himself. Meanwhile, Kaiser arrives in front of Gel Sadra, to begin his work as a Galactor once again- however reluctantly, he must implement the plan to destroy the Firebird and the Science Ninja Team.

The mecha destroys various buildings to get the Gatchamen's attention. The team is at the Snack J, talking about the picture of Joe now hanging on the wall, when Nambu contacts them to tell them about the menace. They shut down the Snack J and head out in the New God Phoenix. They are surprised to see that the mecha flees, rather than trying to fight them- "This isn't like Galactor," Jun says- but they decide to pursue anyway- and are caught in the mecha's ice beam. The bird missiles freeze over, and now the nature of this operation becomes clear. A mountainside moves aside, and the Mecha-Bolton comes out. Gel Sadra cries out, "Hurry, hurry! Go to Firebird!" And, despite Jun's warning of danger, they do. They dive at the mecha, destroying it- and in the Galactor base, at Gel Sadra's order, Kaiser presses the button. A ray of light strikes the NGP, and the Firebird screams in agony. Then the NGP crashes, and Gel Sadra laughs gleefully- but five winged shapes drift down from the sky...

Kaiser attempts to leave, but Gel Sadra, still laughing, tells him that he will never leave Galactor again. Then laughter behind her shuts her up- Ken has arrived.

As Ken fights the Galactors, Gel Sadra and Kaiser run down a passage toward Gel Sadra's escape ship- but a feather shuriken blocks them. Gel Sadra shouts to Kaiser, "Take him out, or your son will be killed!" Kaiser leaps at Joe, who pulls his mask off- and sees the man he'd befriended before. "Why? Why are you a Galactor?" he demands. Kaiser tries to pull a gun on him. Joe shouts, "I'm Joe!" and Kaiser stops,

stunned. "Joe, you have to die- they'll kill my son!" The bird disk knocks the gun out of his hand- Ken again. Kaiser stands up- "You've defeated me, Joe-" and pulls a switch. "This is the end. Joe, Gatchaman, hurry! Get out of here!" Joe slugs him in the stomach and carries him out of the base as it begins to explode.

On a ridge overlooking the explosion, Kaiser asks, "Joe. Why did you save me?" Joe replies, "Why were you a Galactor? For the sake of your son, wasn't it?" Walking toward the setting sun, he says, "I was once the son of a Galactor also..."

An egg is incubated in a machine and hatches an antlike creature. Gel Sadra watches it on a screen as X tells her the creature will grow to giant size, and they will use it to obtain the fuel they seek.

A futuristic underground city beneath Siberia (Chitei Town- literally "Under- ground Town") is attacked by the creature, and Ken is sent by himself to investigate. Nambu tells him that his contact is to be Dr. Horling, which surprises Ken tremen-dously-- he had heard Dr. Horling was dead. Nambu informs him that the famous Dr. Horling-- Dr. Mary Horling, one of the founders and designers of Chitei Town-- *is* dead; it's her husband Dr. Horling that Ken is to meet with.

Once there, he helps the male Dr. Horling and a group of scientists load up a transport (rather like an aircar) with various boxes and an experimental gun, and they head into the city. Somewhere along the way, they discover that the Drs. Horling's young son Mark has stowed away in the back. (He looks like a 12- or 13-year-old version of Ken.) Mark stowed away because he wants to help destroy the thing that killed his mother...

As they fly into the city, Mark investigates the gun in the back. His father stops him angrily. Mark seems to feel he has a right to the thing; it was his mother's creation, and his mother loved science and research more than him.... They fly through a park named after Mark (Mark Park), designed by Dr. Mary Horling. There is a statue of Dr. Mary holding a baby Mark, and Mark's father points that out as proof that Mary loved him..

In the outer city, the ant thing continues to destroy. The group see it, and Ken reports to Nambu that a giant monster is ravaging the city. The New God Phoenix with the rest of the Ninja Team is dispatched. They fly into the city to battle the monster as Ken and the others go through an airlock and enter the inner city proper. Evacuees, injured and bandaged, fill the room. One little boy cries that the monster killed his family, he's scared...Ken comforts him, but on the viewscreen the monster is attacking the city. It heads into Mark Park, and before Mark's horrified eyes smashes the statue in half. Mark runs back to the transport, fires it up and takes off. Ken puts on a helmet, gets another transport and pursues, leaping onto Mark's vehicle- but Mark bangs into the ground, knocking Ken off, and flies off toward the monster. The Science Ninjas see the monster, and Joe prepares to fire- but Ken calls, and tells him to stop. Bird missiles will do no good- only the experimental gun will work...

Mark approaches the beast with determination- but it belches flame at him, stunning him and causing him to lose control. His transport remains still as the monster prepares to step on it- but the NGP dives at it, distracting it and giving Mark a chance to escape. Mark climbs into the backseat and aims the gun at the creature, but it kicks the transport into nearby bushes. Ken runs and presses himself against the glass, shouting to Mark. There's no decent air out here- he can't open the transport and fire the gun himself, Mark is their only hope. He wakes Mark up, and Mark goes back to the gun and fires it. The creature is damaged, and that's all Joe needs to blow it up with. Ken and Mark are thrown from the site of the blast- and there, in the bushes, is the top half of the statue, intact.

Gel Sadra throws a fit at her men, but Mark is reunited with his father- and the city his mother gave her life to has been saved...

Deep in the Rocky Mountains, an International Science Organization secret laboratory waited fr G-4, who was supposed to arrive with a detection device. Throughout the whole area, mysterious earthquakes were happening frequently. But Jinpei stopped to rescue an orphaned puma, and so never got there.

Right then, the ISO lab was partially destroyed by an earthquake, and an emergency communication came in, that it had been discovered that poisonous Sarin Gas was flowing out. It was decided that Ryu and Joe would go first, and Ken and the others would follow after them with the antidote, but in order to return the puma to where he found it [after listening to Joe calling him a soft-hearted weakling and a little kid for saving it], Jinpei headed for the Rocky Mountains alone.

As Gel Sadra's disc circled high in the sky, she looked down at the scene of carnage on the ground and laughed. But Jinpei, without regard for his own life, acted to overcome the emergency. When Jun told him he'd done well, Jinpei replied, "Jun..."

This, from Jinpei, who always called her "onechan?" Joe, too, recognized that Jinpei had grown up.

Legend had it that dragons dwelled on Dragon Island. Then a report came in that an actual dragon had been sighted there.

Dr. Nambu told Joe to go investigate Dragon Island, while the rest of the team would wait in the New God Phoenix.

Meanwhile, the Doctor's female private secretary [the fact that they say "female" here seems to indicate that private secretaries are not usually female in Japan-- she's not quite "Nambu's secretary" in the American sense-- trans.] Pandora followed after Joe and secretly infiltrated the base. [She was actually asked to do so by Nambu-- trans.] Why would she do such a dangerous thing? More mysterious than that were the words Gel Sadra said when Pandora was captured and brought before

her.

"You...! I know somehow, somewhere, I've met you..."

As the two of them stared at each other, there was suddenly a giant explosion. It was Joe!

Meanwhile, the New God Phoenix, which had been waiting on the ocean surface, was attacked by the dragon. It was a Galactor mecha-beast. But because Joe had destroyed their electromagnetic source, their greatest weapon was taken from them, and the Galactors vanished into the depths of the sea.

But what was it between Pandora and Gel Sadra? The Science Ninja Team had no idea...

It was observed that a vast nuclear experiment was taking place near the straits of Gibraltar. This was an experiment into a special kind of atomic energy, designed personally by Gel Sadra.

The Science Ninja Team headed there to investigate. The New God Phoenix was caught in the experiment and disappeared beneath the waves, leaving only Joe, riding in the G-2 mecha, to infiltrate the area that was under Galactor control. Gel Sadra offered a reward for Joe, and used all her power to try to find him, but a gypsy girl named Chinita, who was aware of Galactor's habits of foul play, sheltered him and helped him escape from his predicament. Ironically, it was by the last ace up Chinita's sleeve that they were able to hunt down the secret base and sneak in. Meanwhile, by using the autofilter on the New God Phoenix, Ken and the others barely managed to escape a nuclear reaction. Responding to Joe, they attacked Gel Sadra incessantly.

"Eeeiii! It had to be during this stage just now, too!"

So saying, Gel Sadra pressed a button and fled. Chinita was whirled up in a vast explosion. A single red rose scattered. But perhaps new fighting spirit had exploded in the Science Ninja Team as well...

Pandora was developing a device to communicate with animals. The Gatchaman team were enjoying a moment of peace, in a nature park with animals and children, but for Joe it was useless. He received a message from Dr. Rafael that Overlord X was commencing work toward its final purpose.

But Joe went missing, and when the Science Ninja Team went to look for him, they too were captured. [Actually, it was just Jun and Jinpei-- trans.]

Pandora, left behind, went out to look for the secret base, using the animals' instinctive power of prediction. A large herd of giant elephants destroyed the wall and were killed. [There were two elephants, and only one was killed.-- trans.] Gel Sadra was totally confused, until Overlord X ordered her to press the switch to the Main Beam Cannon. The Beam Cannon began to blink crazily.

"Overlord, please, take me too!!"

Gel Sadra's form melted into the light, until she could no longer be seen.

Joe was clenching his teeth in frustration. Ken said to him [after slugging him-- trans], "Why the hell did you take off like that? You know you're not allowed to take action by yourself."

"Well... sorry," Joe replied, but in his heart he muttered to himself.

"I'm the one who must destroy Overlord X. I can't permit you, my lifelong friends, to be sacrificed..."

The central device for the Main Beam Cannon, which was required for the Solar Shift Plan, was being carried through the earth by rocket from Galactor headquarters to the secret base Gel Sadra was at. But when the rocket hit the crash zone, it lost control and flew into the ground.

"It must have been on your part, Overlord X-sama... you can't blame anybody else."

"Don't put on airs with me. Get that central device back before you do anything else!"

Somehow, Gel Sadra did manage to get it back, but fuel that had spilled from the rocket caught fire and there was an explosion, leaving her all by herself in the jungle. At the same time, Ken had headed there to deal with matters, and since for some reason his communicator wouldn't work, he was forced to operate by himself. Thus a bare-handed [bare-handed? The woman's a walking arsenal!-- trans.] battle between G-1 and Gel Sadra played itself out in the middle of the jungle. As Gel Sadra ran about, fleeing, she gradually got nearer to her secret base. Finally she saw the forms of her men, and her courage multiplied hundredfold. [This makes Gel Sadra look a lot less competent than she actually was-- she beat Ken, at least once!-- trans.]

"Hahahaha... finally, you stupid turkey. You've come all this way just to die," she laughed loudly. But then 4 white shadows fluttered down. The Science Ninja Team had been following Ken's footprints. While Gel Sadra was fleeing away, she forgot her essential control device. [They used the Whirlwind Pyramid and knocked it out of her shirt-- trans.] The day when the secret of the Main Beam Cannon would be revealed was getting closer!

At ISO, Ritchman III, world-famous millionaire and builder of a giant observatory, is being honored with one of ISO's greatest awards for his support of science. He is worried, he says, about Galactor's using solar energy for evil purposes, but Director Anderson assures him that Gatchaman will protect them. "Oh, of course," he says, laughing. "We have Gatchaman."

In the car, outside, Pandora is putting on lipstick- and sees Ritchman in her mirror compact. She is shocked- and when he sees her he appears to be equally stunned. As he drives off, she asks herself, "Who is he? Who is that man?" Somehow she recognizes him, but doesn't know how, or why. She asks Nambu who he is, and he answers, "Ritchman III," which doesn't help much...who is he? Why did she recognize him?

Gel Sadra and X discuss the new plan, X being frankly skeptical that it will work, considering Gel Sadra's track record, and yelling at her about it. At Ritchman's observatory, Pandora slips in under cover of darkness and discovers a secret Galactor installation under the floor. She leaps down and explores, finding plans left on a table. As she photographs them, a man sneaks up behind her with a gun. She dodges, pretending to be shot- and when he goes to kick her, takes him down. Then she calls Nambu- and is interrupted by the arrival of more Galactors. They do manage to shoot her, bringing her down, and one of them crushes her communicator.

Gatchaman is dispatched, upset about Pandora's fate and the fact that the observatory is a Galactor base. Ken decides to go ahead in his plane. Meanwhile, Ritchman has arrived to greet Pandora- "That feeling again," she murmurs, before he even comes in sight. Ritchman pulls a gun- but drops it, unable to fire. "I can't shoot this woman...why?" he asks himself, upset. One of his men decides that he'll do it then- but the bird disk stops that. Ken reveals himself, and demands to know why Ritchman is with Galactor. Ritchman orders him shot, and after Ken takes them all out, reveals herself to be Gel Sadra in disguise. Pandora is frozen, staring at Gel Sadra... More Galactors arrive, and Ken deals with them, escaping with Pandora. "After them!" Gel Sadra shouts, and dozens of Galactors converge on them.

Ken is shot a few times, but he and Pandora escape over a cliff, and Pandora gives him the microfilm of the plans she obtained. Then the New God Phoenix arrives, and Gel Sadra orders the mecha launched- the whole observatory transforms into a mecha, which begins blasting at the NGP. The bird missiles aren't doing any good (so what else is new?), so Ken decides to use the Firebird. Jun cries that they can't, Dr. Pandora is aboard- but Pandora shouts that she'll be all right, to go ahead. They all cluster around Pandora, sheltering her from the worst of the heat, as Paimer launches the Firebird at the mecha. It explodes nicely, and Gel Sadra flees.

Aboard the NGP, they all relax in the sudden absence of the heat. Pandora's alive but hurt, and so she wakes in the hospital, surrounded by roses. Ken and Nambu are there, and Nambu tells her that the plans she got for them indicate that X plans to shift the sun out of orbit. She's upset, but Ken tells her that right now, she should only worry about getting well. As the episode ends, she sees Gel Sadra's face, and the narrator asks, "What is the secret between Gel Sadra and Dr. Pandora? And what is the meaning of this new plan by Overlord X?"

The observation bases above Mars were being destroyed by somebody, one by one. Was it Galactor? But this time Gel Sadra wasn't the offender. Overlord X praised the skill with which the bases were being destroyed as a pointed hint against Gel Sadra. Gel Sadra, her pride stung, responded by heading for Mars to destroy the next base herself. But once more, another base was completely destroyed before Galactor's eyes. Who in the world could it be...

Gel Sadra reported to Overlord X that a strong enemy had appeared, and he replied that in fact, that was one of her own men. [His name was Marstora-- probably Mars Tiger. trans.] X had ordered him to prepare bases on Mars in order to destroy Earth's Mars bases. Then he instructed her, "Gel Sadra, I'm borrowing his power to build bases on Earth as well."

Gel Sadra was not interested, but once again Overlord X's ambition was growing, and spreading eerie works.

A Main Beam Cannon from the base that Galactor built on Mars fired at the Sun. Unusual explosions occurred on the Sun's surface, giving rise to numerous catastrophes on Earth. Furthermore, this was just the first, experimental phase of the Solar Shift Plan. If Main Beam Cannons were to be completed on Venus and Earth, terrible things would happen. Dr. Nambu ordered Gatchaman, Ken, to attack the Mars Base, and so Ken took off from Earth in Orbiter-G.

But the systems that protected the Mars Base were much tougher than Gel Sadra's usually were, and the time of Overlord X's Solar Shift Plan's final initiation was approaching. Was everything lost?

Then, Ken suddenly had an idea. He separated the head of Orbiter-G, the device he was riding in, and sent it at the base. His gamble was successful.

But Orbiter-G lost control, and would wander through space until it became space dust, while on Earth, the climatological disasters continued.

Ken's selfless attack destroyed the Mars Base, but since Overlord X's Solar Shift Plan had not been explosed, he ordered the Mars Base commander Marstora to repair the base within 3 days.

"In 3 days, Mars, Earth and Venus will form a triangle, and then we will fire simultaneously. The Earth base is already completed!"

Gel Sadra returned, just like that. [Returned? Where did she go?]

Meanwhile, the Orbiter-G Ken was in had only oxygen for 2 days.

Also, it was too soon to possibly find Earth's Main Beam Cannon within three days.

Tension grew over the 3 days, until finally a violently powerful beam was fired at the Sun from the Main Beam Cannon.

In consequence, there were violent explosions on the Sun, and all over the Earth, bizarre phenomena happened in rapid succession. But, just as the Mars Base Beam Cannon was about to fire, it self-destructed, and so once more Overlord X's purpose was not completed. What on Earth could its frightening purpose be?... [One assumes that Ken survived, and Marstora got away, since he turns up in G-Fighter, but I wish they would explain how.]

Director Anderson goes to an ISO base, to review what they've learned about the Solar Shift Plan. A Galactor mecha also goes to this base and releases several destructive blocks of metal, crushing him.

A young man observes the destruction from a distance, angrily. Ken comes to join him, saying how horrible it is and asking why he's here. The young man replies that his grandfather was killed. Ken replies that many good men were killed, among them Director Anderson, to which the young man replies, "That's my grandfather!", asks how Ken knew his grandfather, and swears revenge on Galactor.

Meanwhile, Galactor starts killing off young men, in the hope of getting the Eagle. Nambu and Anderson's grandson, Sam, have a discussion, with Sam vowing revenge on Galactor, and a Galactor plant in the lobby, observing the tail end of the conversation, suspects him of being Gatchaman (as in Ken, G-1, the Eagle, etc.) Ken is sickened and guilty at the killings, and goes to a lonely beach to be by himself. Joe comes to talk to him, and Ken tells him that he's thinking of giving himself up to Galactor, at which point Joe attempts to knock some sense into him. (With his fists- so what else is new?)

Sam Anderson, in a jet, is pursued by Galactors, who still think he's Ken. Captured, he is brought before Gel Sadra, who accuses him of being Gatchaman. He attacks his guards and puts a gun to Gel Sadra's head, demanding, "Do you think I'm Gatchaman? Why? What are you laughing at?" She drops him into a pit, calling him Gatchaman again.

Ken tracks a Galactor spy into an ISO base and attacks him, learning that "Gatchaman has been captured." Understandably startled by this bit of information, Ken demands to know where "Gatchaman" is being held. At the Galactor base, Gel Sadra is torturing the poor guy when she notices a man she doesn't recognize in Galactor uniform. She has his mask pulled off and demands to know who he is and why he's here. He replies, "That man is not Gatchaman. I came to save his life." Sam recognizes him as Ken, the man he met on the beach, and yells, "Ken! It was stupid of you to come save me!" as Gel Sadra demands to know once more who he is. Ken leaps, announcing, "I am Gatchaman!" and proceeds to prove it by changing to Bird Style, leaping back down. Gel Sadra goes for him with a light saber, and he kicks it out of her hands, where

it slices through Sam's chains. Sam helps Ken fight, taking several Galactors out with his chain, but Gel Sadra escapes and activates the mecha monster they're inside. The New God Phoenix comes to the assist as Ken and Sam enter a bomb room with an exit to the outside. They leap out, Ken catching Sam and both landing on the NGP. Sam is upset that, because of him, Galactor now knows what Ken looks like, but Ken assures him not to worry. Then Ken goes back out in the Eagle Sharp II and leads the Galactors' own missiles back to the bomb room, blowing up the mecha.

As Gel Sadra flies away, she says that knowing Ken's face, she will surely destroy him next time...Meanwhile, Sam, inspired by Ken's example, vows to spend his life fighting to defend the Earth as well. (They'd have done a lot better to put him in Getz's place...)

translated from OUT Magazine's Gatchaman II Special

Because of the abnormal climate caused by the Solar Shift Plan, the icebergs of the North Pole had begun to drift away, one by one. While this was happening, one of them floated over G-Town and blocked the exits. This was actually another plan of Gel Sadra's, the Sea Fang plan.

Pandora, the only one outside G-Town, took the old God Phoenix, and, inexperienced woman that she was, undertook the severity of the Science Ninja Firebird in order to challenge Galactor. While she was making a hole in the iceberg, the New God Phoenix would attempt to get free. The dangerous gamble paid off, and Gel Sadra's Sea Fang plan ended in failure.

But Galactor's attack seemed to be growing more and more violent.

At the ISO headquarters, large numbers of scientists have arrived to help study the Solar Shift Plan and try to triangulate the location of Galactor headquarters. The Solar Shift Plan has already started screwing up Earth's weather patterns, and a huge tidal wave is discovered to be heading for Utoland. Meanwhile, Galactor has found out about this project, and arrive in a large burrowing mecha showing up in the basement. As the mecha's presence is announced to the scientists upstairs, Pandora experiences "that feeling" again-- a strange, quasi-telepathic sensation of recognition that has, in the past, presaged the arrival of Gel Sadra...

Downstairs, Gel Sadra and soldiers leave the mecha, Gel Sadra snickering at the ease of ISO's defenders' defeat. "So this is the great International Science Organization, ha?" she laughs, and gives the order for her men to find Nambu and companions. No sooner does she do this, however, than she experiences a clairvoyant flash, revealing the location of Nambu and Pandora, who are together on the 31st floor. She is confused, but doesn't question her sensation, ordering her men to head there.

The Galactors burst in on the room with the scientists. Gel Sadra tells Nambu that she wants the special radar they're doing their research with. Later, aboard the New God Phoenix, Piemur reports an "all-world broadcast" coming from ISO headquarters.

"People of the world," Gel Sadra's visage announces. "I am Gel Sadra, ruler of Galactor-- no, of the world." She demonstrates that she has Nambu and co. captive, and so her victory is inevitable. The broadcast literally appears all over the world, preempting every other broadcast and frightening the populace. The Ninja Team immediately decide to go save the day.

Back at ISO headquarters, Nambu tells her that if she doesn't care about her men's lives, she should worry about her own-- a giant tidal wave is on its way. She refuses to believe it, and when Nambu tries to explain what the Solar Shift Plan really will do, she throws a tantrum. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! Shut Nambu up!" One of her men belts him to the floor, and Gel Sadra, reasonable again, tells Nambu that the Solar Shift Plan is actually rather like ISO's Mantle Project in its purposes. Nambu tries to tell her that X is deceiving her, for which she stomps on his hand. Nambu offers to tell her what she wants to know if she'll release the technicians and scientists in the room, but they beg him not to, that they'll sacrifice their lives to save the

radar. She shrugs. "You want to die? Fine. Kill them." Nambu cries out as she has them murdered-- "Damn you, you--" and she interrupts him. "Don't say it-- demon, right?" and laughs. Galactor, she says, is above questions of good and evil, by right of being Galactor...

Meanwhile, the tidal wave has built up. It washes over the city, causing untold damage. Gel Sadra, seeing this, decides to leave. Pandora fires a warning shot past her, stopping her and ordering her to have her men drop their weapons. She approaches Gel Sadra, and the two of them are overwhelmed by "that feeling", as the tsunami breaks over ISO and enables Gel Sadra to escape. Nambu, Pandora and the remaining technicians are left behind in a rapidly filling chamber.

Aboard the mecha downstairs, Gel Sadra, who's decided to look for the special radar herself, swears at the thought of Pandora, wondering why that woman has the power to affect her this way. She experiences another clairvoyant flash, seeing Pandora with Nambu and the techs in a room above the waterline, with the special radar. She orders the mecha to begin searching the floors above the 31st, to find the waterline and the special radar with its precious data.

Elsewhere, the Ninja Team have arrived. They slip in through an elevator shaft and attempt to break into Nambu's floor, 31. Water pouring out makes them decide to look elsewhere, like upstairs further. On the 41st floor, the refugees are gathered in the room with the special radar. Galactor's mecha arrives, bringing a lot of water with it, and the Science Ninja Team come in seconds later. Ken, Joe and Jun attack the Galactors, as Ryu and Jinpei help the scientists swim to the New God Phoenix. The Galactor mecha pulls the radar in, and takes off, the Gatchamen slipping in at the last minute.

Gel Sadra laughs, enjoying her success-- but Ken breaks in on her self- congratulation, announcing the arrival of the Science Ninja Team. Joe's feather shuriken flies out of one exit, and when Gel Sadra heads for the third, Jun asks, "Where do you think you're going?" They trap her in the center of the room-- but she tells them, "This is my mecha," implying that she cannot be so easily defeated on her home turf, and activates a personal force field, which she flies out in.

Aboard the NGP, Nambu thanks the Ninjas for rescuing the data from the special radar. Ken expresses his regret that Gel Sadra got away-- and then, they all watch in grief as the water swallows the remains of the ISO headquarters.

What Overlord X most feared were G-2, Joe, and the existence of Dr. Rafael. Before its plan could be executed, first those two had to be eliminated.

Overlord X had Joe attacked in his civilian guise [if they knew what Joe looked like, why the hell did they wait this long?-- trans.], while at the same time it had Dr. Rafael's laboratory blasted. Then Rafael himself was felled by a Galacon's bullet. [I think Galacons are those Galactors that wear blue outfits and hats with their masks-- trans.] Joe had not only been wounded, but he could no longer replenish

his energy supply. Now how could he survive...?

Meanwhile, the dying Dr. Rafael, with his last breath, had said that no one but Joe could destroy Overlord X. Why...? The tension of the battle between the Science Ninja Team and Overlord X is growing!

An ocean liner plows through the water, and a small girl runs down a staircase, calling, "Mama!" Dr. Pandora and her husband run through the corridors, shouting, "Sammie! Sammie, where are you?" Then the ship lurches, and Pandora is thrown against a bulkhead. Horrified, she watches as a brilliant light cleaves the ship, and the child, drowning, screams...

Dr. Pandora wakes, screaming "Sammie!" and hears a knocking at the door. Ken's calling, "Dr. Pandora! Are you all right? She tells him it was nothing, and he leaves. Still with the grief of her memories fresh in her mind, she picks up the picture of her daughter, Sammie. It is the anniversary of the day her husband and little Sammie died, but she still cannot make herself believe that Sammie is dead...

At the same time, Gel Sadra is tortured by the same dream. Over and over, in her mind's eye, she sees Dr. Pandora's outline reaching over the rim of a boat, crying, "Sammie!" She wakes, telling herself it was only a dream--but knows it was more. Who is this woman? When did this happen? She decides that the image must be her mother's, and that it is a memory of her infancy--but why can't she remember anything else of her childhood?

She goes to Overlord X, and asks for the truth about herself. Where are her childhood memories? So X shows her her own transformation to adulthood, explaining that she didn't have a childhood. She begs for information on her mother, who she wants to find, but X tells her that even if her mother lived, she would not recognize Gel Sadra. He orders her to forget the matter, but she cannot...

At G-Town, in a conference with Nambu, the Ninja Team, sans Joe, are discussing going to investigate weird happenings in the country of Ibet, when they observe a ship leaving. They are quite surprised when Nambu tells them it is Dr. Pandora, gone to visit the gravesite of her husband and child. None of them had realized Pandora had such a grief in her past... Joe, who was weakened by a Galactor attack in the previous episode, enters then, declaring that they-- including him-- have all taken Pandora for granted. Ken says that they must all be as strongwilled as Pandora if they are to win this war...

In the NGP, an odd energy flux catches Jun's attention, and they head for it. At the Seaside Police Station someplace, a very mannish looking Gel Sadra in civilian clothes searches for information on her parents. She insists to the clerk that there were survivors of the sinking of the Elizabeth Moore, and he finds one, the mother of a small child-- but that can't possibly be who Gel Sadra wants, the child is only three. When Gel Sadra insists that that is she, he laughs and asks her if she's quite all right in the head. Humoring her, he reads the name of the family-- Pandora. Mr. Domingo Pandora, famed ISO cyberneticist, and his widow Mrs. Sylvie Pandora. Photographs of the three decorate the page. In shock and horror, Gel Sadra examines the photographs, and sees the child's picture on the bottom. "This Sammie Pandora--that's me!" she cries, slamming her fists on the table. "I must have known this all the time, all the time!"

At a secluded base in the Ibet Mountains, Gel Sadra has an audience in front of a large idol with glowing eyes that speaks with Overlord X's voice. She tells him she found her mother, and nearly sobbing, says, "She's Dr. Nambu's assistant-- Pandora! What am I going to do?" X suggests to her that they can kidnap her mother and bring her here, and then they can tell her who Gel Sadra is and recruit her into Galactor. Gel Sadra sees herself and her mother ruling the world together, and, relieved and happy, thanks X as she leaves-- but X laughs and calls Gel Sadra a fool as she leaves earshot. She still thinks she will be ruler of the world...

An old man approaches Pandora at her daughter's grave, as she is weeping, and tells her that her child lives. He promises to take her there, and she gets into his helicopter. At the Galactor base, Gatchaman are very startled to see Pandora disembarking... In an audience chamber, Pandora, realizing she has been deceived, asks bitterly why they lied about her daughter-- and then Gel Sadra, in a long blue gown and with only the face piece to her mask, arrives. Once more, Pandora senses a feeling she cannot describe. For a moment, the two stand, tensely facing each other; then Gel Sadra tosses aside her mask and says "Mother. You are my mother!"

Pandora does not believe her. Gel Sadra insists, "You are my mother! I'm Sammie!" But Pandora cries, "How do you know my daughter's name? I won't call a devil by my daughter's name, you filthy.." and tries to deny it even after Overlord X shows her the truth. Gel Sadra, wanting desperately to persuade her, tells her that they can share power- they could rule the world together, the two of them, mother and daughter- and Pandora tells her she's being deceived. X's aim is not to rule the world, but to throw the sun out of orbit. As she begins to tell Gel Sadra the truth about the Solar Shift Plan, a wall comes slamming down between them. Gel Sadra pounds on the wall ineffectually, and Pandora bitterly accepts the truth. "Gel Sadra used to be Sammie," she whispers. "My poor Sammie, made a fool of by science... Sammie!!" A cylinder slams down around her, stunning her, and when Gel Sadra demands an explanation from X, he tells her that Gatchaman is in the base.

Gatchaman is causing their usual chaos, and Gel Sadra comes out on a scene of total destruction. They pull guns on her, Jun demanding, "Where is Dr. Pandora?" But Gel Sadra, realizing she has been deceived, ignores them as she runs back down the corridor, crying, "Mother!" The team stare in disbelief- Dr. Pandora is Gel Sadra's mother?

Gel Sadra attempts to stop two Galactors from loading Pandora into a rocket and shooting her into the sky. She runs up the ramp, shrieking, "Mother! Mother, stop! Stop!" The Ninja Team get outside in time to see Pandora's rocket explode, and they cry out in fury and grief.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Gel Sadra asks, "What were you trying to tell me, mama? What was it you were trying to say? Mama? Mama..." Crying out, "Overlord X, what have you done to me?!" she falls to her knees, sobbing.

Gel Sadra remembers her mother's death, sitting in a control booth with her mask off. She displays a picture of Pandora with the child Sammie on a screen, and remembers running, laughing, across a meadow, leaping into her mother's arms as her father, smiling, watches. But the dream turns back to nightmare, as she sees once more her own transformation to adult, and she turns the screen off.

Crying out at the cruelness of fate, that separated her from her mother, she sinks into a sobbing heap. But when X's manifestation appears on the screen, she composes herself and puts her mask back on to face him. He tells her that she shouldn't grieve for her mother-- and when she asks him about Pandora's last words, he tells her not to think for herself, that she is nothing but his tool and she should be happy that the Solar Shift Plan is so near to completion. She manages a weak laugh in response. "After all, I will be empress of the Earth..."

The Gatchaman team is totally demoralized by Dr. Pandora's death. Why is it that Pandora, who was such a kind, sweet person, should have had to die? She was like an older sister to them... Ken tells the weeping Jun that they should not lose their spirits because of Pandora's death. Instead, they should avenge her by destroying the Main Beam Cannon in her memory. He goes to prepare the New God Phoenix.

Nambu is examining Joe, who is steadily weakening from lack of energy to power his circuits, and discovers the antimatter bomb in his heart. Ken comes in, to tell Nambu that the team is leaving to try to destroy the Solar Shift Plan, and Joe tries to go with him. Ken hits him, saying, "You stupid bastard! In your condition, you'd drag us down!" Joe gets up, swearing, and tries to attack Ken, but Nambu intervenes. The New God Phoenix leaves, with Joe left behind.

Aboard the NGP, Nambu calls and tells them that Joe has departed. He tells them the full story-- that when Joe gets near Overlord X, there will be a destructive reaction, and both X and Joe will be blown to pieces. This was Rafael's plan, and the reason why Joe said once, "you can't destroy Overlord X without me." Ken vows to Nambu that the team will find Joe, whatever it takes.

In a Galactor base, Gel Sadra, warned by her mother, begins to study the Solar Shift Plan in detail. She learns that X intended, not to conquer the Earth, but to drive the sun out of orbit and send it into a collision course with another planet. This is the true purpose of the Main Beam Cannon she has been building for him. Shocked, she realizes for the first time how she has been deceived by Overlord X. If not for her mother's warning, she would have destroyed Earth unknowingly. Knocking her globe over, she laughs hysterically. "Fool, fool!"

Joe, meanwhile, is beginning to feel more and more ill, and is having trouble piloting his craft. He starts to faint, and the side of his flyer- buggy is ripped off by a mountain, causing him to crashland in the sandy dunes of a beach. He seems to be unconscious even before he hits...

Underwater, in a location that resembles the scene of Gel Sadra's creation, is the Main Beam Cannon. She stares at it emptily, not really seeing it, or anything. A guard comes in and informs her that the Main Beam Cannon is ready for operation. She ignores him. He shakes her, saying, "Gel Sadra-sama, what's wrong?" She turns, even now barely noticing him. "Hmm?" He stares as she walks past him, murmuring, "Mother... Oh, it's a beautiful sunset... Empress of the world?" She laughs in self-mockery as she leaves the room, leaving the Galactor completely astonished.

The countdown begins for operation of the Main Beam Cannon, and Galactors are running to battle stations. The New God Phoenix is sighted coming in, and a mecha is sent to deal with it. Jun announces the base, ahead, at which point the mecha comes out of the water. Ryu dodges it, but it comes in again, using twin beams to envelop the NGP in flame. The NGP flies out of the thing's range, but it keeps coming.

At the site of the Main Beam Cannon, the plan is begun. Beam Cannons, built at various Galactor bases all over the world, are activated, transmitting to satellites, which broadcast concentrated beams at Earth. Aboard the NGP, Jun sees this activity and is horrified by it. Ken replies that they can still solve the problem if they destroy the Main Beam Cannon. But they are struck again by the mecha's energy beam, sending everyone flying. Ken scans the surface of the mecha, finding the weak point-- right between the twin beams-- and orders Ryu to go in at it. Ryu replies that the NGP is too big and can't manuever in there. Ken decides that perhaps the NGP can't, but his own plane might. He goes out to dare the firestorm.

In a chamber filled with light, a robot arm controlled by X comes out and hovers over a button.

Ken flies out in his plane, dodging a blow from the mecha.

A countdown at the Galactor base-- the energy is building up in the Main Beam Cannon, and X's robot arm is preparing to fire. Zero-- the button is pressed.

Once more, Ken dodges a blast from the Galactor mecha. The two zoom at each other. The button is pressed again. Nothing happens. X wonders at this, and then Gel Sadra enters the light-filled room. "Who is it?" X demands. "Gel Sadra, what's going on?"

"How do you like this, Overlord X?" she replies sardonically. She has never called him that before-- to use his name, X, at all without -sama indicates a lack of respect on her part. X wonders about this. "Why isn't my machine working?"

"Don't you know yet?" she laughs, holding up a set of wires. "I removed these from the system."

"Gel Sadra! Why did you-- Gel Sadra. Aren't you my loyal servant?"

"I'm not your servant any more!" she shouts and hurls the wires at the viewscreen with X's manifestation. Laughing, she turns and runs. In the cavernous room housing the main portion of the Main Beam Cannon, Gel Sadra pulls her laser and shoots the Cannon, causing it to explode. She and the Galactors in the room run. X announces that Gel Sadra is a traitor and must be killed as she runs for her golden escape craft. A Galactor manages to shoot her in the arm as she flees.

Ken fires at the mecha's weak spot, and it goes down. Then, for no reason known to Ken, Galactor's underwater base starts blowing up. As he wonders about this, he sees Gel Sadra's craft flying away, trailing smoke. He pursues...

Joe's craft has been wrecked on a beach. He is running out of energy, and in desperation finds a power station, ripping a wire in two and channeling the energy into himself, to recharge him. Gel Sadra appears to have wrecked her craft somewhere else on the same beach. As she is crawling out of the wreckage, Ken confronts her. She tells him that Dr. Pandora was her mother and that she is now fighting Overlord X. She offers to take Ken to Overlord X, if he will let her come as well. A Galactor attempts to shoot the both of them, but Joe's shuriken puts an end to that. Joe feigns a pain attack, and when Ken goes to help him, slugs him in the stomach, to Gel Sadra's surprise. Joe was made for the destruction of Overlord X, and he will not allow Ken risk his life in this battle...

Joe and Gel Sadra make their way through snow-covered mountains to a large mecha, which is Overlord X's headquarters. The guards to X's chambers are very surprised to see Gel Sadra step out of the shadows and laugh at them. They're even more surprised when Joe kills them. One of them has time to throw a knife, though, and it hits Gel Sadra. Joe tries to help her, and she tells him to go on into X's chamber and leave her there. He enters, a dark chamber full of weird floating objects and bizarre spires. A hologram of X appears to reply to Joe's challenge, and then vanishes, as the floor begins to twist and reshape and a brilliant light blinds Joe.

Meanwhile, Ken has awakened. Finding a trail of blood, he calls the rest of the team, and they fly to Overlord X's headquarters. A fight starts, and Jun tells Ken that she and the others will handle the Galactors, Ken should find Joe. He goes to do just that, and arrives at the chamber, finding Gel Sadra's crumpled form against the wall. She tells him that this is X's room, and X puts in an appearance, showing Ken first Joe's fallen form, then X's core self, a semi-spherical glass/mechanical device, connected by tubes and wires to a pedestal. As Ken confronts X, Gel Sadra hits a button, moving the floor to reveal a deep pit. X's pedestal is the top of a pillar in the center of the pit, and a glowing square is revealed. Gel Sadra tells Ken that that is X's weak spot, that destroying that place will destroy X- and X shoots her for her trouble, dropping her to the bottom of the pit.

The rest of the team arrive on the scene as Ken attacks X, trying to land on the weak spot. A laser shears off part of his wing, and he falls to the bottom of the pit. He tries to shoot X, but magnetism pulls his gun out of his hands- so he takes a bomb out of his shoe, lets the magnetic pull take it, and it blows out one of X's laser units. Ken begins to leap up the cables, dodging laser fire from the turret, but the cables on the sides of the pit turn into lasers, and aim at him. He leaps, bird saucer in hand, dodging-- but some of the rays strike him, and he falls. The bird saucer flies wild.

Joe gets up at this point, shouting, "Overlord X, die!!!" He runs toward the glowing sphere that is X, and leaps, landing on the weak spot and shattering the glass. Lights flash. X screams in agony, as X-rays flash and reveal the bomb inside Joe. X's voice, slow and distorted, speaks, telling how his homeworld was destroyed, how he had intended to use the Sun as a weapon against the world that destroyed Selectro. Then a thin whine fills the air, and the holograms and sound cut off. The glass around X turns brittle and shatters, then explodes.

Outside, much of the snow on the mountain has been melted by the force of the blast. Jun, Jinpei and Ryu are overjoyed to see Ken regain consciousness. Ken asks a badly battered Joe why the bomb didn't go off, and Joe shows him that the bird saucer had buried itself in a part of X's circuitry, preventing the chain reaction from happening.

Meanwhile, Gel Sadra, dying, is making her way up the mountainside, sobbing, "Mama, mama..." She reaches the top, and looks down into a field of beautiful flowers, gasping. "I never knew... the Earth.. was so beautiful," she whispers. "My crimes were terrible... for I would have replaced this beautiful Earth with ugliness... If it could be permitted... when I am next born I want to make up for what I did. I want to work for the sake of this beautiful Earth! Will the Earth be safe, the beauty remain, until then?..."

Dr. Pandora's voice calls to her from the sky. "Don't worry, my Sammie," she says. "Gatchaman will ensure the beauty remains..."

Gel Sadra lifts her head, an expression of joy on her face. "Mama?"

"Yes. Come to mama's side," Pandora says. "Your suffering has come to an end..."

Gel Sadra staggers forward and falls, dying. Her body falls among the flowers and shrinks back to her child-form. Then the spirit of Sammie Pandora, smiling, leaves her body and runs to her mother. They walk up into the sky on a sunbeam, hand in hand, as the Gatchamen watch.

Aboard the New God Phoenix, Nambu tells them that the Earth has been saved. X's Solar Shift Plan has been defeated, and the sun is perfectly normal. They fly home...but in the wreckage of Overlord X, one small piece starts to glow...

Author Credits:

Pat Munson-Siter: Founder of "Bird Scramble!", the Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets APA, Pat has been active in anime fandom for years. She was responsible for the first Gatchaman Overview, which disseminated Gatch information to many hungry young fans, among them Alara Rogers. She has also written extensive overviews and episode guides for St. Seiya, Samurai Troopers, Sonic Soldier Borgman, Real Ghostbusters, and Tekkaman Blade.

Alara Rogers: Professional translator who has done "Roots Search" and "The Ultimate Teacher" for U.S. Manga Corps, Alara has had a Gatchaman overview article, based on Pat's, published in Animenominous. She learned Japanese in order to understand Gatchaman, and has an extensive library of translated Gatchaman scripts. Alara can be reached on the net at aleph@netcom.com.

Warning: This document contains some old synopses from Version 1.0 and 1.2, from before either Alara or Pat knew what they were doing with regards to the Japanese language... Synopses that have not been checked since Alara became reasonably proficient are marked as such. I wouldn't trust 'em farther than I could throw them-- AJER