"I'll bet he's got a huge head!" -- Conroy
A Gamilon pilot is captured.
Derek Wildstar, whose whole family was killed by the Gamilons,
struggles to overcome his personal resentment of the prisoner.
Derek attacks the Gamilon in the infirmary (with a scalpal if you
are lucky enough to see the orginal Japanese footage).
We are then shown a flashback from Derek's past, when his
family is killed.
As if the Gamilon himself has actually seen
the flashback, the captured pilot himself begins to weep!
We learn that, except for the blue skin, Gamilons are just like
Earthers. The greater ramifications of this fact are that human
life may not have originated on Earth (or on Gamilon).
We are told that Gamilon pilots personal memories are erased or otherwise blocked so that they can reveal nothing if captured. Realising this, Captain Avatar orders the prisoner released.
Back on Gamilon, General Lysis is decorated and commissioned to defeat the Star Force.
Note: As in this episode, we learn later in the Second Season that Comet Empire people are essentially the same as humans too. This is explained in Final Yamato to be due to planet Aquarius's intergalactic orbit.
"RUBBISH! You have terrible taste in everything!
Since this is now going to be MY office, Vulgar,
you'd better clean up this MESS!" -- Lysis
A space storm holds the Star Force from completing its mission, and Derek makes a daring attempt to find a path through its eye. We get to see a bubble shield over the Argo's top deck for the first (and last) time.
Lysis arrives to take over control of operations at the Gamilon base on planet Balan. Jealous junior officer, Vulgar, resentfully hands command over to Lysis.
Note: It was a common practise in Japanese animation to show a brief caption indicating a character's name when introducing him for the first time. Yamato, First Season, was no exception, and so the American editors of Star Blazers, not wanting Japanese writing showing on the screen, simply superimposed English captions (with opaque black background) which covered up the Japanese names with American ones. This episode contains the one exception wherein Vulgar's name in Japanese (Gehru) appears, uncovered. And, it is because of this that we cannot be sure of the proper English spelling of the name. Is it "Vulgar" or "Volgar"?
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