The Planet of the Giant Elephant

The Planet of the Giant Elephant

TV Episode 84

TV Episode Summary:

A message in a bottle floats away from a planet into space. Tetsuro, looking out the window of the 999 spots the bottle approaching. Tetsuro shouts to the Conductor to grab a net for him. Tetsuro is able to catch it with his hat instead. They open up the bottle and pull out the message. Maetel reads the message, which is from a man named J.F. Stanley, who is on the continent Arcadia on the Planet of the Giant Elephant. All companions and porters with him couldn’t stand the jungle’s conditions and abandoned him. The only ones left are his wife and assistant, Narru. We see Stanley finish his note and fire the bottle out into space via a rocket. He is insistent on continuing west, in search of “The Flame”. The Conductor is surprised anyone is looking for the Flame. Maetel tells Tetsuro the Flame is a giant elephant controlled by a queen in the jungle that posses golden tusks. This gets Tetsuro excited, but the Conductor warns him no one who has gone after the Flame has come back alive.

The Conductor tells Tetsuro they used to stop on the planet of the Giant Elephant but there is no station there anymore and the planet has become overcome by the jungle. Tetsuro wants to stop there, worried about Stanley. Seeing how insistent Tetsuro is, Maetel makes the same request; that they stop on the planet for a day. The Conductor is still very hesitant, but Maetel tells him the 999 has a duty to rescue those in distress. The Conductor goes to the Locomotive to request they stop there and the Locomotive agrees to the special stop on the planet. The 999 makes its way down to the planet, to the abandoned station. Tetsuro is still insistent they go out to help Stanley even though the Conductor thinks it will take more than a day. Maetel spots some speedboats on a river by the train which she and Tetsuro get on and head out in.

As they head down the river Tetsuro finds some giant footprints on the ground by the shore, causing them to realize the Flame is real. Meanwhile Narru works on chopping down a tree to build a raft but the tree is too hard and breaks the axe. It is clear that he as well as Stanley’s wife want to leave the jungle and are afraid of dying out here. The two of them hear Tetsuro and Maetel’s boat coming and shout out to them. Narru greets Tetsuro while Stanley’s wife, Merusa goes to get him. Tetsuro tells them they are here to rescue them. Narru and Stanley’s wife are quite thankful. Stanley says he’s appreciative of their kindness, but he doesn’t want them to be rescued. He wrote the message in the bottle so he’d be remembered if he died, not to ask for help. Merusa pleads with him but Stanley insists he doesn’t want to go.

Narru knocks Stanley out from behind and he and Merusa get into the boat. Tetsuro doesn’t want to leave without Stanley so he and Maetel go get him. While they do so, Narru and Merusa head off in the boa without them. Noise emits from the jungle and the Flame appears before them. The Flame is then seen walking through the water in front of Narru and Merusa. It flings at the boat with its trunk, knocking it back to the shore. Narru flees form the boat leaving Merusa there. Maetel throws one of her explosive earrings at the Flame just as it is about to step on Merusa. Combined with Stanley and Tetsuro shooting, this is enough to cause the Flame to depart. It storms into the jungle and ends up crushing Narru instead.

Later, Merusa wakes up in the tent with Maetel and Tetsuro before them. Stanley says they are leaving. He plans on following the Flame into the jungle further and finding the Queen. Merusa laughs, asking what she is to him now after betraying him. Regardless she doesn’t feel like she means anything to him; all he cares about is the Flame. Stanley says she used to have the same dream and she admits it, but claims that she has realized dreams and love is not the same thing. She wants to be loved as if she’s his wife, not his assistant. Stanley puts down his pack of food saying he doesn’t need it and departs the tent. . Merusa tells Tetsuro and Maetel she still wants to see how Stanley’s quest turns out. Maetel tells Tetsuro they shouldn’t interfere any further and should return to the 999.

As they depart the tent, Tetsuro says he wants to accompany Stanley. They both have their dreams and he doesn’t want Stanley to lose out on his. Stanley realizes that Merusa is following him. Tetsuro quickly catches up with them. The Flame makes its way through the jungle and Stanley approaches it. The Flame makes a noise and a dark haired woman comes out of a cave on a cliff above it. She says that the Flame has attracted evil humans here who sully their sacred lands and she can’t allow them to live. Stanley tells Merusa to flee. The Queen orders the Flame to crush them. Stanley tells Merusa the fact that she came was enough for him and he again tells her and Tetsuro to flee. Stanley gets in front of the Flame and fires at it, but quickly runs out of ammo. He charges the Flame with the butt of his gun and is quickly tossed aside by it. Merusa worries about Stanley and runs up to him. He tells her to escape.

Merusa helps lead the injured Stanley away while the Flame pursues them. Tetsuro looks at the Queen and knows she is directing the flame. He climbs the cliff and points his gun at her. He tells her to stop controlling the Flame. The Queen claims there is a spring on this mountain providing eternal life and beauty and it becomes more effective the more deaths there are. She says more and more will be lured here by the Flame and die. A beam shoots out of her forehead when Tetsuro objects. The Flame catches up to Stanley and Merusa. The Flame is about to stomp on them but a shot hits the Queen as Tetsuro is about to fall off the cliff. The Queen stumbles back towards the spring. Tetsuro realizes Maetel fired the shot. The Queen falls into the spring and the cave collapses on her shortly afterwards. The Flame turns around and leaves.

Stanley tells Merusa she sacrificed everything for his dream and to forgive him, passing away seconds later.  Later, Merusa prays before Stanley’s grave. She is staying on the planet, claiming her husband threw away his dream to protect her at the end and it’s her turn to protect him. She asks Tetsuro and Maetel to tell the world that the Flame has died, feeling that will help her husband’s dream live forever. We cut to the 999, continuing through space. Tetsuro says he has to learn from Stanley, who followed his dream. Tetsuro is a bit puzzled by relationships though and Maetel says he’ll understand once he has a girlfriend. Tetsuro says all he needs is Maetel and flees, embarrassed. 

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Stanley – Jouji Yanami

Mechanical Car Voice- Kouji Totani

Narru – Kazuyuki Sogabe

Merusa – Yumi Nakatani

Queen – Nana Yamaguchi

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Jouji Yanami is quite the veteran voicing characters by now, with his most significant being the Dark Knight (episode 15), Bombambo (episodes 56 – 57) and the Ramen Shopkeep (episodes 60 – 61). He also appeared in episodes 31, 49 and 77. Yumi Nakatani played the dentist in episode 67. Nana Yamaguchi appeared as Horohoro’s Girlfriend in episode 26 and minor characters in episodes 6 and 66.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This is another episode that is not based on the Galaxy Express 999 manga, but another manga by Matsumoto, “The Tale of a Time Gone By”, the chapter “Go West to the Giant Elephant” in particular.

While I’m a big fan of the Galaxy Express 999 manga, I will admit a certain level of enjoyment out of these episodes that aren’t based on it as I see more of them. I suppose it’s the sense of something new and unspoiled, as I typically read the manga chapters before I watch the episode and know what is going to happen. While I’ve seen all of the TV show before, it has been so many years that I don’t really have any memory of those episodes that weren’t based on the Galaxy Express 999 manga itself. This episode begins with a message in a bottle floating through space. I was immediately brought back to the original Planet of the Apes novel by Pierre Boulle, as a message in a bottle floating through space is the framing device for that story (which was never included in any of its subsequent adaptions). Part of me wondered as the episode began if the entire episode would be that way, as that novel was, but instead of being a mere framing device it acts as a way to get Tetsuro and Maetel involved in Stanley’s adventure.

As I saw the dynamic down on the planet of Stanley, his wife and assistant, my initial predictions went back to similar dynamics in stories I’ve seen over the years in other stories, particularly anthology stories. Stanley gets obsessed with his quest, his wife gets sick of it and carries on an affair with the assistant, possibly the two of them even kill Stanley to take his glory or get away. Stanley looks like he’s in his 50s or 60s while Merusa looks like she’s in her 20s which made me think that all the more likely. Although this could again just come down to another flaw with Matsumoto’s female designs where they’re typically either young women or old ladies, with nothing in between; who knows how old Merusa really is. And as Tetsuro and Maetel arrive it initially looks like its going to be just what I predicted, with Narru and Merusa clearly wanting to escape and going as far as to steal the boat from Tetsuro and Maetel. This was particularly devious and cruel; Tetsuro and Maetel had come to rescue them, there was no need to abandon them. It seems like this was principally Narru’s idea and he gets exactly what he deserves as the Flame kills him soon afterwards. Beyond that, my prediction of how the episode would go down is for the most part avoided, which makes me happy. The one thing I did think would happen that ultimately did was Stanley dying. If he wasn’t going to be killed by his wife and assistant, he’d probably end up going down fighting the Flame and that’s exactly what happened.

Anyway, the episode does spice things up in a few ways. The Flame truly is a giant and scary elephant; the fact that it is a Cyclops adds to the effect. We also have the Queen controlling it and claiming she lures people here to kill so she can use a nearby spring that keeps her alive eternally. I was thinking to myself that the twist would be she was a mechanical person, but yet again my prediction was wrong which I was happy to see (or at the very least we never find out). Maetel coming out to the rescue wasn’t the biggest surprise given how often she has done it before, but I will say I really love the shot when it is revealed she shot the queen. While this is a very old show that went through its entire 113 episode run before I was even born, I will say the animation has improved a bit as it has gone along, with this shot of Maetel being a great example.

Overall it’s not a groundbreaking or amazing episode, but it was better and less predictable than I thought it would be so it was an enjoyable viewing experience. I look forward to continuing to see what we have in these episodes that were not based on the original Galaxy Express 999 manga.