The Cold Blooded Empire

The Cold Blooded Empire

Manga Chapter 10-4

TV Episodes 56 - 57

Manga Chapter Summary:

The Conductor announces their next stop as the “Cold Blooded Empire”, with a stop time of 16 hours. Maetel tells Tetsuro it is a young planet with lively volcanoes, which they are able to see from out in space. There is a serious amount of sulfur on the planet, but it still has human inhabitants. The Conductor thinks it would be a good idea to stay on the train, but Maetel thinks they will be okay. The Conductor warns Tetsuro not to get in any fights with animals or shoot his gun. Tetsuro wonders if they’ll see dinosaurs on this planet and Maetel says there are dinosaurs here. After the 999 lands, Tetsuro notices that people in the area of the station are calm, even though there are no walls around. He is disappointed to see a rather ordinary looking hotel.

In the hotel room Tetsuro is surprised to find the bathroom has glass walls. Maetel gets in the shower and Tetsuro pleads for a hotel employee to not look when he stops by to mention the availability of food on the first floor. Due to the walls all being made of glass, Tetsuro can see another, groaning guest as well as the entire landscape around them outside. He feels rather uncomfortable and decides to rest with his pants on. Soon, Tetsuro is able to spot a dinosaur in the distance, frightening him. Eventually the sun goes down, producing a beautiful landscape outside. Tetsuro says things aren’t as bad here as the Conductor had been saying. Tetsuro starts hearing noises from outside and Maetel claims it is the dinosaurs, talking to each other. Tetsuro has difficulty at first but thinks he’ll be able to fall asleep.
 

Suddenly a dinosaur appears, right outside of their window! Tetsuro draws his gun but Maetel tells him to calm down; the dinosaur is simply asking how to board the 999. The next day, Tetsuro and Maetel eat. Tetsuro says he’s surprised dinosaurs are well educated here and can talk to humans. Maetel tells him the dinosaur who visited them is a young one named Tiny and he wants to talk to Tetsuro later. Tetsuro heads outside later and starts having second thoughts due to being frightened and the weight of the translation device. Suddenly a shadow appears over Tetsuro; it is a giant piece of fruit!

Tetsuro dives just out of the way as the fruit crashes into the ground. It is Tiny who brought it. Tetsuro switches on the translation device and Tiny says he is happy to meet him and brought him the fruit as a gift. Tetsuro tells him it’s too big to eat. Tiny claims that he doesn’t eat much and is still considered small as a dinosaur, which is how he got his name. Being short as well, Tiny thinks Tetsuro knows how he feels. Tetsuro says he doesn’t mind his short height though. Tiny asks Tetsuro if he travels on the 999 in order to get a free mechanical body, and Tetsuro says yes. Tiny says he wants to get a mechanical body himself. He wants to ride the 999 and asks Tetsuro how he can get a pass. Tiny is confused by Tetsuro’s surprised reaction to his request. He heads off saying he’s going to go pack up his luggage.

Maetel comes across Tetsuro shortly later, finding Tetsuro on the ground saying he can’t move after eating too much of Tiny’s gift. Maetel suddenly realizes they are surrounded and a large number of clubs are thrown at them. We next see Tetsuro and Maetel tied up to a pole above a pile of the clubs. Tetsuro is worried that the prehistoric humans here are going to eat them. What appears to be the chief of the prehistoric humans and his wife approach. Tetsuro notices the woman, unlike the men, has no tail. After the wife shouts out to them, the men in the crowd throw flaming clubs by Tetsuro and Maetel, lighting a fire around them. All of a sudden another dinosaur approaches, this time a female one. She swings her tail, putting out the fire, them bites off the ropes binding Tetsuro and Maetel.

The dinosaur explains that she’s Lady, Tiny’s girlfriend. She tells Tetsuro that Tiny won’t ride the 999 after all due to the small size of the 999, but she wants to ride someday. Tiny has left to the mountains to study. Tetsuro feels a little disappointed that Tiny won’t be coming, viewing Tiny as someone like himself. Tetsuro and Maetel return to the 999. Suddenly Tetsuro sees Tiny approaching in the distance. Fearing that Tiny wants to board the 999 again, Tetsuro asks the Conductor for them to leave early. The Conductor refuses to change the train’s departure time, sticking strictly to the schedule. Tiny approaches the window and says farewell to Tetsuro. He says that it’s time to build a train for dinosaurs! He’ll do his best until the day such a train is ready. The 999 takes off into space. Tetsuro and Maetel talk about how humans aren’t the only exceptional creatures on this planet and the dinosaurs have evolved more than them.

TV Episode Summary:

This chapter is split across two TV episodes. Early on we see prehistoric humans spot Maetel and Tetsuro when they get off the train. The leader, named Bobambo claims those on the 999 will steal what is theirs in front of a large crowd of prehistoric men. That night we see debris from a volcano land in the forest. An astronomer wants to research the debris the next day but the prehistoric men scare him off. Bobambo’s wife Papamba makes similar claims in front of the crowd. She and Bobambo are worried about Tiny and claim they need to keep a close eye on him. One of the prehistoric men watches as Tetsuro and Maetel enter the hotel.

We have more dialogue when Tiny first approaches the hotel room. Maetel tells Tetsuro that she has a translation device enabling her to understand him. She tells him about Tiny’s request here rather than at a meal later. She warns Tetsuro about the humans in the area. After Tiny first goes to the hotel, one of the prehistoric men reports this to Bobambo. Bobambo later tells Tiny that the 999 passengers can’t be trusted. Tiny says he just wants to make friends. Tiny goes to play with his girlfriend Lady in the water and Bobambo tells Papamba they need to keep a close eye on him. Tiny tells Lady he has to leave. She understands, since it is his dream. The humans spot Tetsuro as he heads outside the next day to meet with Tiny. They want to ensure that Tiny and Tetsuro are unable to meet. Tetsuro imagines Tiny trying to eat him. Later, the prehistoric humans spot Maetel walking outside looking for Tetsuro, worried about what will happen to their planet. The first episode ends with the natives throwing their clubs at Tetsuro and Maetel.

In the start of the second episode we see Tiny and Lady talking. Tiny says he gave up on traveling the 999 until they can go together. Tiny flashbacks to his conversation with Tetsuro in the prior episode. Tiny claims he also has things to do, such as studying in the mountain. Later, after Lady rescues Tetsuro and Maetel, we see Tiny heading up the eastern mountain. After they talk for a bit, Maetel asks Lady why the humans on this planet hate human visitors so much. In the woods, the prehistoric humans continue to be angry and now want to expel Tiny and Lady. Tetsuro and Maetel suddenly arrive before them. They want to clear up any misunderstanding, but Bobambo wants to set them aflame again! Tetsuro brings up the astronomer who showed up earlier and asks if they have any proof that he wanted to steal the debris that landed there. Tetsuro pulls out a gun and shoots Bobambo’s club. This just makes them even angrier as he’s destroyed something of theirs.

Up in the eastern mountain we see that Lady has run up the mountain and caught up with Tiny. She tells him Tetsuro and Meatel are in trouble. Tiny has some hesitancy; it will be hard to say goodbye to Tetsuro if he sees him again. Lady tells him about Tetsuro being frustrated at Tiny not being a good friend for leaving, which motivates Tiny to head back down the mountain. Bobambo and the other prehistoric men are about to grab Tetsuro and Maetel, so Maetel uses an earring to light up the sky and temporarily blind them so they can escape. The prehistoric men chase them through the jungle. Tetsuro shoots down some giant fruit to try and block their path. Tetsuro and Maetel eventually reach a dead end at a cliff. They are able to swing across the chasm by swinging on a vine. Bobambo tells his men to beat them to the station, but Tiny blocks their way. Lady keeps them there so Tiny can go back to the station and say farewell to Tetsuro.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Bobambo – Jouji Yanami

Papamba – Yoshiko Asai

Tailed Man A – Kouji Totani

Tailed Man B – Seiji Sato

Tiny – Hiroko Maruyama

Lady – Michiko Nomura

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Jouji Yanami previously appeared as the Dark Night in episode 15, Father in episode 31 and Inn Owner in episode 49. Kouji Totani has voiced a variety of minor characters, as has Seiji Sato. Totani also started voicing the 999’s Locomotive with episode 50.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This is another one of those chapters with a rather funny concept, a dinosaur who wants to board the 999! The 999 has headed to a prehistoric planet where we find that humans and dinosaurs live together. When the 999 lands, one of the dinosaurs, named Tiny, approaches the hotel and tries to befriend Tetsuro. He tells him that he wants to board the 999 himself and get a mechanical body! While we’re used to humans boarding the 999, it makes sense that other types of creatures would want to as well. Unfortunately for Tiny the 999 is just too small for him! Despite his large size in comparison to Tetsuro, he is a kid just like him. If anything, Tiny comes off a bit less mature than Tetsuro, quickly stopping their conversation so he can get some luggage, then suddenly deciding to go into the mountains to study instead until he comes back and says farewell to Tetsuro. Of course he’d never be able to board the 999 in the first place. As the chapter ends he talks about his planet creating their own train someday, and it would be a fun sight to see at that point, a train that can board dinosaurs!

We also encounter the native human populace on this planet, who briefly capture Tetsuro and Maetel, reminding me much of the earlier chapter “Queen of the Primitive Planet”. The tossing of clubs also reminds me of the chapter “The Sakezan Contintent”. The men on this planet look quite devolved, and are short and ugly with tails (albeit not so much as those in the Queen of the Primitive Planet chapter). In what probably shouldn’t have been a surprise the one native woman we see has none of such traits and is the typical tall and slender Matsumoto beauty. The role of the natives is greatly expanded in the TV episode adaption where they are quite fearful of any visitors stealing their things, causing them to go after Tetsuro and Maetel multiple times. They came off as considerably stupid to me, going on and on about how visitors would steal their things while, as Tetsuro told them to their face, they never had proof that this would happen. The natives also have a relationship with Tiny and Lady, although you wonder how they communicate with them without a translation device. The native leader, Bobambo is made considerably more tall and handsome in the TV episode, while the remaining native men continue to look rather ugly.

One oddity of the chapter was the all glass rooms at the hotel; while that helps explain how Tiny is able to come and initially say hello to Tetsuro it doesn’t make much sense to me why there needs to be glass walls around the bathroom or interior hallways. Do guests not care about privacy on this planet? Anyway, it’s not the densest chapter or episode, but has some rather light fun for those who like dinosaurs.