Queen of the Primitive Planet

Queen of the Primeval Planet

Manga Chapters 3-4 and 3-5

TV Episode 23

Manga Chapter Summary:

The 999 heads to what is just half of a planet! Maetel tells Tetsuro this planet once had a different shape and something made it this way. He’ll understand when they arrive. The Conductor announces the next stop as Separation and says they will be there for 6 hours. The current temperature is 102 degrees! Upon stepping outside into what looks like a tropical forest, Tetsuro finds it to be as hot as a sauna. Maetel tells Tetsuro the planet still has inhabitants; descendants of the transformers of the planet and that the planet once had seasons as Earth does. 

 

Tetsuro and Maetel find several abandoned advanced hovercrafts and Maetel says they’re at the crossroads of the ancient towns once built here. Tetsuro speculates if a war occurred here and Maetel says no. Suddenly the sound of drums echoes from around them. A club flies out of the jungle and Tetsuro is knocked out. He finds himself in a caged area, with blood dripping down and Maetel’s boots nearby. Tetsuro finds a ladder which he climbs, and finds a bizarre deceased creature, with no head, but a giant eye on top of and on the front of its torso. Maetel appears behind Tetsuro, with numerous living versions of these Cyclops-like creatures there. Maetel says she desires blood and flesh, and wants to take his life.

Tetsuro is tied up and hung above a pit of bubbling water and Maetel cuts the rope, causing him to fall. Tetsuro passes out again and wakes up in a cave with Maetel tending to him. Maetel shows him a net that she had set up to catch him. She claims she did this because of this planet’s separation. The Cyclops-like creatures she was with are the lowest form of the ancient citizens from this planet and they named her queen. Their legends say a queen descends from the sky and sacrifices a boy. She says they could change their mind and any time and kill her, as they spend their time choosing humans to hang and kill. Making it back to the 999 will be difficult due to the creatures good eyesight. 

Night falls and drums from the creatures echo out. Maetel tells Tetsuro to try not to save her and run away from here. What matters most is that he not die here. A large group of the creatures arrive and take Maetel with them. Tetsuro follows and realizes they are going to eat Maetel. One of the creatures grabs him and Tetsuro once again passes out. When he wakes up the ground is completely collapsing underneath him. Maetel is now free and claims the planet is on the verge of exploding due to its increasing internal pressure. She claims they won’t be able to save the creatures here and they flee to the 999. After the 999 departs, the planet explodes. 

 

Maetel explains to Tetsuro that the planet was once split between futurists and the naturals. They couldn’t agree on anything, other than to split their planet in half on the equator. The futurists covered their planet in metal and because they could freely move in space, took off, with no one knowing where they went to. Tetsuro says it’s better to live together on good terms than to fight to the extent of splitting up. Tetsuro thinks of how the planet exploded right in time to save Maetel and wonders if there’s some force that protected her and caused its destruction. He thinks of the strange voice he heard in the bathroom back on Earth and how she was able to survive getting stabbed by a spear. Getting his machine body is of utmost importance though, so he feels that it doesn’t matter who Maetel is and she is deeply kind to him.

TV Episode Summary:

This episode is quite faithful to the original manga chapter; the one significant addition is that at the start of the episode we see a flashback of the planets breaking apart, and the advanced side of the planet doesn’t get too far before it blows up. As such the reveal of the planet’s split occurs at the start of the episode rather than the end. The planet is called the Battle Torn Planet rather than the Planet of Separation and the layover is only 3 hours rather than 6. When Maetel is captured and about to be executed, Tetsuro fears she may be eaten by them. Tetsuro saves Maetel from falling in a chasm as they try to make their escape. Lastly, Tetsuro’s inner monologue thinking of the mysteries occurring over Maetel is cut.

 

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Primitive Man A – Seiji Sato

Primitive Man B – Naoko Tatsuta

Primitive Man C – Kouji Totani

Primitive Man D – Banjou Ginga

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

In this chapter Tetsuro and Maetel arrive on a very primitive planet, encountering humans that have evolved (or perhaps devolved) to a bizarre state where they look like headless Cyclops! My recollection from originally seeing the TV version of this episode years ago was that it was quite the mess, and that is the case in both the manga chapter and episode. The plot point of Tetsuro being knocked out and waking up in different places occurs many times and appears to be a crutch of Matsumoto to be able to move things forward with little explanation. Maetel becomes the queen of these primitive beings off page, then off page they also decide to no longer treat her as their queen. Then the planet suddenly starts shaking, they are gone, and she is free. It’s like we’re skipping around all over the place, just getting the highlights of scenes without any of the in between. Then to top it all off, the planet starts blowing up, Tetsuro and Maetel make it to the 999 just in time and it explodes behind them. What a crazy chapter! 

 

We do get the rather interesting explanation about how those on this planet disagreed with each other so much that they literally split the planet in two, with half the planet becoming surrounded by metal and taking off elsewhere into space. This remaining part of the planet seems to have completely devolved into this really primitive state as if it was prehistoric times. I wonder whatever happened to the rest of those on the planet? In the TV episode we do see those who depart the planet blow up shortly afterwards, although no reason is given. This chapter also brings up more mystery about Maetel. Tetsuro speculates that she may have been behind the destruction of the planet, and well, it did happen at a very convenient time, didn’t it? Although how can a single person cause an entire planet to explode? It seems crazy. I do appreciate the fact that Tetsuro is at least asking the question, and also thinking back to other mysteries about her.

One thing I will give the episode credit for is pulling off a fairly effective scary scene when Tetsuro wakes up after the first time he is knocked out. The dark atmosphere, the silence around him, the body he finds, and all the eyeballs of the Cyclops-creatures is a really effective moment to frighten you.

 

Anyway, this chapter is arguably as over the top and ridiculous as “The Planet Named Curiosity” although nowhere as fun to me. It remains in my eyes one of the weakest storylines from the entire series.

Spoiler Analysis:

We will see a bit later, in chapters 4-7 and 5-1 (Laura of the Dual Planets) that Maetel indeed can arrange to have an entire planet blown up if she desires. In the TV order that episode occurs before this one, so we already have proof it can happen. The setting of the primitive environment occurs again in chapter 4-6 (The Sakezan Continent), as does the annoying plot point of having Tetsuro get knocked out to move the plot along.