Early warning robot 7-Zark-7 observes as a huge, turtle-shaped alien spacecraft from the planet Spectra attacks a heavily guarded facility to steal the formula for a substance that Earth shares freely with many other worlds to ease famine. G-Force, a team of five young people whose cerebonic implants give them amazing strength and endurance, is called into action. But when the vehicle vanishes without a trace, G-Force leader Mark decides that the team needs to forgo destroying their target so they can find its base of operations on Earth. His second-in-command, Jason, disagrees… but with Spectra’s forces constantly stepping up their attacks on Earth, he’ll have plenty of opportunities for the action he craves. Aboard their spacecraft, the Phoenix, G-Force works to destroy the Spectra vehicle from the inside… but escaping won’t be so easy.
written by Jameson Brewer
directed by Alan Dinehart
music by Hoyt Curtin and Bob SakumaVoice Cast: Casey Kasem (Mark), Janet Waldo (Princess / Susan), Alan Young (7-Zark-7 / Keyop), Ronnie Schell (Tiny), Alan Dinehart Jr. (Chief Anderson), Keye Luke (Zoltar / The Luminous One)
Note: For this episode only – the first one produced – Ronnie Schell plays Tiny, but the actor says he did not provide the voice of Jason for this first episode. The voice actor for Jason remains unknown for this episode alone. 7-Zark-7 says that Center Neptune is “900 fathoms beneath the surface of the sea” off of America’s west coast – or just a little over a mile undersea. All of Dr. Nambu’s appearances in this episode are replaced by narration or orders delivered by radio from 7-Zark-7. Dr. Nambu would appear in later episodes, but he was given the name of Chief Anderson – a name that, in the original Gatchaman episodes, belonged to a completely different character.
For the corresponding episode of Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman, click here.
LogBook entry by Earl Green