Galactor

Galactor

Galactor (ギャラクター, Gyarakutā) is a group of fictional characters in the popular anime franchise Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.^[1]

History

The organization's exact origins are unknown except for that it apparently worked conventionally for years and kept such a low profile that it escaped the notice of any intelligence agency.

That changed dramatically with Galactor suddenly using its war machines, beginning with the Turtle King mecha, to stage spectacular open attacks and more secretive ones. Although conventional defenses proved ineffective, Galactor found itself continually frustrated by the Science Ninja Team, a group of superhero ninjas, that is typically sent in to investigate and combat the menace.^[2]

Organization

The Overlord of the organization is an alien named Sōsai (translates in English as "Leader", "Overlord", or "Governor", but used "Leader" in the ADV dub) X, who regenerated as Sosai Zeddo in Gatchaman F. He always has a human subordinate, designated as "Commander", who carries out his orders and is typically the only member who interacts with Sosai X directly. His first two were children he manipulated into his adult minions such as Berg Katse in the original series and Gel Sadora in Gatchaman II. In Gatchaman F, he chose to deal with an established human leader, Egobossler, in a much more tenuous relationship. Typically, all members are masked as part of their standard uniforms.

Below are the captains who typically wore individual costumes and are responsible overall for individual schemes that the leader prefers not to handle personally. The captains are supported by minions in cat-like costumes with sergeants whose costumes are yellow, who in turn to are served by troopers who wear green-colored uniforms.

In addition, they have special forces available, such as ninja units that are similarly themed bird-like units like the Science Ninja Team with roughly equivalent fighting skills. However, these teams are apparently inferior to their enemy counterpart, considering that Gatchaman faces such a unit at least once alone and still more than holds his own in battle. Typically the captains only last one episode, either being killed in the final battle or by the Leader for failure.

All personnel below Sōsai, including the Commander to a lesser degree, are considered strictly expendable and controlled with ruthless discipline with failure being punished with death. As such, only the Commander typically has access to the war machines' escape vehicles.

It's been estimated the organization has about one million personnel around the world. Furthermore, the organization has apparently limitless resources to attempt dozens of schemes with massive war machines that are a match for any conventional force on Earth, although the Science Ninja Team is able to destroy or capture almost all of them. Furthermore, the organization eventually learned to develop more sophisticated plots in which conventional countermeasures by the enemy would often further the plans' objectives, although again the Science Ninja Team is able to thwart the vast majority of them.

Notable personnel

Sōsai X

The alien mastermind behind Galactor, he turned it from a mafia into a worldwide terrorist group in its attempts to conquer Earth for his race. However, learning that his homeworld was destroyed prior to his reawakening, he decided to destroy Earth instead by creating a black hole in the center of the planet. Gatchaman's interference forced Sōsai to retreat and return to Earth two years later to execute a new plan to destroy humanity; his master plan failed and he was destroyed by Gatchaman, but a fragment of his body remained and regenerated into Sōsai Z, a more sinister version of the original, who recruited Egobossurā to rebuild his army while setting up Poison Apple, where an antimatter asteroid would decimate the planet. In the end, the Gatchaman team sacrificed itself to destroy Sōsai for good. It was never explained why the destruction of his planet prompted him to switch his plans from dominating the Earth to destroying it. He was voiced by Nobuo Tanaka in all appearances except Gatchaman F, where he was voiced by Seizō Katō. In the English-language adaptions, he was voiced by Keye Luke in Battle of the Planets (where he was known as the Great Spirit and the Luminous One), Jan Rabson and Gregg Berger in G-Force: Guardians of Space, Peter Spellos in Eagle Riders, Ralph Votrais in the OVA, and Winston Parish in the ADV dub of the series.

Berg Kattse

Berg Kattse was created by the alien Sōsai X to lead the terrorist organization Galactor in its quest to take over the world. He is a gestalt entity created through the fusion of fraternal twins while still in the womb.^[3] Because his component parts were male and female, Berg Kattse was prone to switch sexes numerous times in his life, forcing him to hide his identity until he could control it in his adulthood, becoming a master of disguise as a result. This bizarre burden led him to be easily recruited and manipulated by Sōsai X when he contacted Kattse and convinced him that he was a superior being. Eventually, Kattse learned that Sōsai X was only using him and had no more need for him or the Earth; he committed suicide rather than live with the knowledge that he was just a freak of nature. In the OVA remake, he is fatally stabbed by Ken. He is voiced by Mikio Terashima in the original series and Kaneto Shiozawa in the OVA. In English-language versions, he is voiced by Keye Luke in Battle of the Planets, Bill Capizzi in G-Force: Guardians of Space, R. Martin Klein in the OVA, and Edwin Neal in the ADV dub of the series.

Kattse was also called Zoltar in Battle of the Planets, Galactor in G-Force and Lukan in Eagle Riders. In the English-language dub of the Gatchaman ’94 OVA, he was called Solaris.

In some English-language versions of the series, Kattse's female form was identified as a separate figure, his sister.

Geru Sadora

Geru Sadora was originally a little girl named Sammie Pandora until the ocean liner she was in was sunk by Sōsai X, who forced her growth into an adult to replace Kattse in leading Galactor.^[4] Although she pulled the act of pretending to be a man to conceal her true identity, Sadora was prone to childish fits and being in the presence of her mother, who was supporting Gatchaman. But when Sadora learned that she was a pawn in Sōsai X's new doomsday scheme, she betrayed him out of spite. Mortally wounded as a result, Sadora eventually died and reunited with her mother in the afterlife. She is voiced by Masaru Ikeda in Japanese and R. Martin Klein in English.

Sadora/Sammie Aikens was also called Mallanox/Nancy Aikens in Eagle Riders.

Count Egobossurā

Recruited by the revived Sōsai Z, he is a dictator, ruling with an iron fist.^[5] Originally the illegitimate son of the previous count who murdered his mother, he kills his father before usurping his brother's place as heir to the throne. Unlike his predecessors, Egobossurā has no trust in Sōsai Z's intentions in spite of it offering his aid. He is voiced by Kōji Nakata.

Egobossler was also called Happy Boy in Eagle Riders, rewritten as a new form of Mallanox.

Technology

Galactor boasts some of the most advanced technology on its universe's Earth. The organization can with seeming ease create gigantic mecha, which are often based on animals and are always gigantic. Inside the mecha are weapons systems and enough room to very comfortably house an army. Often the mecha is commanded by a senior officer, although seldom the leader.

Differences in Battle of the Planets and G-Force

In the series Battle of the Planets, Galactor is re-explained as invaders from the planet Spectra, whose intention is the plundering of all planets that have any kind of valuable or useful resource. Spectra's ruler, known mostly as the Luminous One (Sōsai X) directs operations from offworld by communication with Zoltar (Bergu Kattse). Any failure of Spectra is seen by the Luminous One as a failure of Zoltar. As such, Zoltar's frequent failures are the cause for many barbed comments and warnings of dire consequences of further failures. The appearances of Katse's female form were explained away as Zoltar's sister Mala and, in one instance, Agent S-9, who looked like Mala, was never named as such.^[6]

In G-Force: Guardians of Space, Galactor is both the name of the organization and Bergu Kattse himself, and his origin was re-imagined as an alien from space who has come to conquer the earth. Most notably, the relationship between Katse and Sōsai X (now known as "Computor") was altered in G-Force, as X/Computor was relegated to more of a consultant or wise sage while Katse/Galactor became the leader of the organization.^[7] Also of note, both Computor and Galactor's voices were digitally altered to make them seem as alien and outworldly as possible (especially in the case of Katse/Galactor). As for the organization itself, it was rarely referred to as "Galactor" or as an entity overall and rather as "Galactor's men" or in the case of the mechs "Galactor's robots". Lastly, Katse's hermaphrodite nature was never addressed or alluded to in G-Force, but was worked around (rather cleverly) whenever his two halves made appearances throughout the show as two entirely unrelated characters, with Katse's female half usually becoming an unnamed Galactor captain or high-ranking subordinate depending on the episode. However, as in Battle of the Planets, eventually the female form was explained away as the sister of the main villain, this time with the name Veronica. The last Gatchaman episodes which delve into and revealed Katse's true identity and nature were never adapted for G-Force, as the dub stopped at Episode 87 (Episode 85 for G-Force) out of 105. The reasons why these important episodes were not adapted for G-Force are still unknown, but it is assumed that the strong content and violence in them (compared to the rest of the series) would have made it difficult and/or impossible to dub for 1980's television. Neither Battle of the Planets or G-Force adapted the original Gatchaman's ending and were left at cliffhangers, and as a result neither adaptation featured the final fate of Berg Katse.

References