On today’s episode of CCR, we reviewed Gatchaman Episode 13 The Mysterious Red Sand. And we got silly. Very silly. Very, very, very silly.  As I said in the episode, I had been up for 12 hours before we recorded and running on two pots of coffee as well as inappropriate thoughts. 

This is the first episode of Gatchaman that did not also become an episode of Battle of the Planets. This episode has old guys who speak in riddles, dodgy science, scatological humor, and, well, let’s just address the elephant in the room.

The Commander of the Week

What can I say about Captain BlackFace McSadist?  He’s a racially offensive stereotype who speaks in the same voice as the guy from those 1970s 7-Up ads (“These are cola nuts. These are un-cola nuts.”). I’m not sure if those are supposed to be rabbit ears or a weak attempt at dreadlocks. He’s even wearing a dashiki. 

Back when blackface was considered “socially acceptable”, the black make-up actually was this dark. The wearer would also paint his lips very red and paint rings around his eyes that were very white. 

Wow. What makes this even more racist is that at one point, we see his bare arm. 

Gaze thine eyes upon his bare arm and see how lily white it is. 

If being an offensive racist stereotype wasn’t bad enough, the dude is sadistic. He’s got a whip and he’s whipping this old, toothless guy to get the secrets out of him. At one point, he even starts to strangle the old guy while demanding he spill his secrets. He was so sadistic, even the Goons looked appalled at one point. 

I don’t see any possible way that 7-Zark-7 could Zark-splain his way out of this one. 

Basically, this is how I feel about the Commander of the Week: 

via GIPHY

Then there’s the matter of the Mecha…

The mecha has an ass like a water canon. Literally. 

 

That Lake In China…

Is for real. It’s called Lop Nor and it was discovered by Sven Hedin in 1899. Here’s the Wikipedia entry for it, if you wish to read more. 

It still sounded to me like they said “Loch Nor”.