Galactor
Encyclopedia
is a group of fictional characters in the popular anime
franchise Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
.
.
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
ninja
s, that is typically sent in to investigate and combat the menace.
. He always has a human subordinate, designated as "Leader", who carries out his orders and is the only member who interacts with Sosai X directly. His first two were children he manipulated into his adult minions such as Bergu Kattse in the original series and Geru Sadora in Gatchaman II. In Gatchaman F, he chose to deal with an established human leader, Egobossurā, 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 highest subordinate to a lesser degree, are considered strictly expendable and controlled with ruthless discipline with failure being punished with death. As such, only the Leader 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.
, 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.
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.
in Japanese and R. Martin Klein
in English.
Sadora/Sammie Aikens was also called Mallanox/Nancy Aikens in Eagle Riders.
.
Egobossler was also called Happy Boy in Eagle Riders, rewritten as a new form of Mallanox.
, 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.
, 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.
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. 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.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
franchise Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
is a 5-member superhero team that is composed of the main characters in several Japanese anime created by Tatsuo Yoshida and originally produced in Japan by Tatsunoko Productions and later adapted into several English-language versions...
.
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 agencyIntelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
.
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
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
s, that is typically sent in to investigate and combat the menace.
Organization
The Overlord of the organization is an alien named Sōsai (translates in English as Leader or Overlord) X, who regenerated as Sosai Zeddo in Gatchaman FGatchaman F
is the direct sequel to Gatchaman II. In the continuing saga, a surviving fragment of Leader X mutates into Leader Z, and recruits megalomaniac Count Egobossler to create an army to conquer the world...
. He always has a human subordinate, designated as "Leader", who carries out his orders and is the only member who interacts with Sosai X directly. His first two were children he manipulated into his adult minions such as Bergu Kattse in the original series and Geru Sadora in Gatchaman II. In Gatchaman F, he chose to deal with an established human leader, Egobossurā, 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
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
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 highest subordinate to a lesser degree, are considered strictly expendable and controlled with ruthless discipline with failure being punished with death. As such, only the Leader 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.
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 FGatchaman F
is the direct sequel to Gatchaman II. In the continuing saga, a surviving fragment of Leader X mutates into Leader Z, and recruits megalomaniac Count Egobossler to create an army to conquer the world...
, where he was voiced by Seizō Katō. In the English-language adaptions, he was voiced by Keye Luke
Keye Luke
Keye Luke was a Chinese-born American actor. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed with RKO, Universal and, later, MGM and is generally acknowledged as the leading Asian-American actor of this era of American cinema.-Background:...
in Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets is an American animated television adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment...
(where he was known as the Great Spirit and the Luminous One), Jan Rabson
Jan Rabson
Jan Rabson is an American actor and voice actor.Rabson was born in East Meadow, New York. Jan's voice has been heard on thousands of commercials, films, TV shows and animated films and series...
and Gregg Berger
Gregg Berger
Greggory "Gregg" Berger is an American voice actor, who is known for his longtime role as Odie the dog from the Garfield franchise...
in G-Force: Guardians of Space, Peter Spellos
Peter Spellos
Peter Spellos is a voice actor who is also known as G. Gordon Baer, Gordon Baer, G. Gordon Bear, David Conrad, and Orville Ketchum.-Anime:* Black Jack - Mr. Brane* Bleach - Koganehiko, Dordonii...
in Eagle Riders, Ralph Votrais in the OVA
Gatchaman (OVA)
is a three-part original video animation based on the popular 1970s anime Gatchaman. It was released in Japan and the United States during the mid-1990s. This version of Gatchaman is set in the year 2066 where the evil leader of the nation of Hontwall is threatening to take over the planet...
, and Winston Parish in the ADV
A.D. Vision
A.D. Vision was an American international multimedia entertainment company headquartered in Houston, Texas, prior to its collapse and distress sale to four other Houston-based companies in 2009...
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. Because his component parts were male and female, Bergu 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 disguiseDisguise
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, costume or other ways. Camouflage is one type of disguise for people, animals and objects...
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
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
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
Kaneto Shiozawa
Kaneto Shiozawa , real name was a Japanese voice actor from Tokyo affiliated with Aoni Production. He had a distinctive cold, calm voice which usually typecast him in roles as villains or anti-heroes....
in the OVA. In English-language versions, he is voiced by Keye Luke
Keye Luke
Keye Luke was a Chinese-born American actor. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed with RKO, Universal and, later, MGM and is generally acknowledged as the leading Asian-American actor of this era of American cinema.-Background:...
in Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets is an American animated television adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment...
, Bill Capizzi
Bill Capizzi
Bill Capizzi was a voice actor who is also known as Bill Capeze and Bill Kapezi. He was born in North Hollywood, California.-Anime:* Digimon Adventure - Frigimon* G-Force: Guardians of Space - Galactor...
in G-Force: Guardians of Space, R. Martin Klein
R. Martin Klein
Robert Martin Klein is a voice actor who is known to play characters in Japanese animation and video games. He is also known as Bob Marx...
in the OVA
Gatchaman (OVA)
is a three-part original video animation based on the popular 1970s anime Gatchaman. It was released in Japan and the United States during the mid-1990s. This version of Gatchaman is set in the year 2066 where the evil leader of the nation of Hontwall is threatening to take over the planet...
, and Edwin Neal
Edwin Neal
Edwin Neal is an American actor, perhaps best known for his role as the Hitchhiker in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or his role as Lord Zedd in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. He has been a top voice talent and actor for years appearing on screen and off in such diverse projects as The Lord of the...
in the ADV
A.D. Vision
A.D. Vision was an American international multimedia entertainment company headquartered in Houston, Texas, prior to its collapse and distress sale to four other Houston-based companies in 2009...
dub of the series.
Kattse was also called Zoltar in Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets is an American animated television adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment...
, 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. 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 IkedaMasaru Ikeda
is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Tokyo. He is a graduate of the Tokyo Metro Fifth Commerce Senior High School and is currently affiliated with the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society...
in Japanese and R. Martin Klein
R. Martin Klein
Robert Martin Klein is a voice actor who is known to play characters in Japanese animation and video games. He is also known as Bob Marx...
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. 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 NakataKoji Nakata
Kōji Nakata is a Japanese football player who played at both the Football World Cup 2002, and the Football World Cup 2006. He currently plays for Kashima Antlers in the J...
.
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 Earth. The organization can with seeming ease create gigantic mechaMecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
, 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 & G-Force
In the series Battle of the PlanetsBattle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets is an American animated television adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment...
, 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.
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. 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.