ROJ Episode 11 Notes

RETURN OF JETMAN

"The Nexus Of The Crisis"
(Episode 11)
Production Notes
by Christopher Elam
© 2008-2010 Christopher Elam

 

Episode 11 - "The Nexus Of The Crisis" wrapped principal writing on April 1, 2003. The title is inspired by a line from the Blue Öyster Cult song "Astronomy", and was chosen after completion of the story. What's most interesting about this story is that I had no strong idea at the outset about what exactly it would involve - except for its ending. It evolved as I went, and what felt like a series of disconnected vignettes seemed to blend together into a seamless whole. At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

• The meditation on flying in the opening was an offbeat idea of mine that found its way into the narrative. I also used it as an opportunity to review the arc of Green Wyvern's character to refresh everyone's memories. This worked out rather well, because her efforts to fit into the Jetman dynamic end up being the entire theme of the story.
  
  
  
• Toranza's revelation in Episode 8 that Jetman had defeated all of the Chaos Beasts sets up the introduction of the Chaos Myth Beasts in this episode. As it turns out, changing monster-types in mid-stream is far from unknown in the Japanese superhero genre. In JETMAN, for example, the "Jigen Ju" ("Dimension Beasts") were replaced by "Bio Jigen Ju" ("Bio Dimension Beasts") during the series. I opted to switch to "Chaos Myth Beasts" to add a little variety to my rogues gallery.
  
  
  
• Speaking as I was of Toranza, this episode is our first glimpse of him since his rescue from certain death (excepting his "dream" encounter with Green Wyvern in Ep. 9). I'll own up to the fact that Lord Xenotos using him as a yes man/puppet is something born from a cruel sense of whimsy on my part. The "stand in the corner" routine is a special favorite in that regard.
  
  
  
• Gohan's adventures of Tiger Burai return for the first time since Episode 6. This particular excerpt (spread throughout a scene between Ken and Gohan) expands our insight into that universe, with more glimpses of its characters. This Tiger Burai snippet also serves as foreshadowing, but for what will only become clear by the very end of the episode.
  
  
  
• It's worth noting that the Ken/Gohan and Etsuko/Reiko scenes are again intended to parallel each other, much like how a similar pair of scenes paralleled one another in Ep. 8. They still play out far differently, including the reactions to Kei when she enters each.
  
  
  
• The Mazinger Z keychain that plays a small part in the story came about because I was watching that series heavily at the time and had just received a similar keychain of the title character from the ROBOT KEIJI ("Robot Detective") series. Indulgent, much?
  
  
  
• Reiko's reference to being in counseling is a vague reminder of the traumatic events of Ep. 5. Though that incident shaped her character development to some degree, it also sort of fell by the wayside as things progressed. I just wanted to acknowledge here that it is not forgotten.
  
  
  
• Though it "appeared" in Episode 9, this is the first mention of Dragon Wyvern's fate since it was shot down in Episode 8.
  
  
  
• Jet Phoenix's "finger across the visor" bit and his reference to the number of times he had quit the original Jetman are both callbacks to Gai Yuki. And yes, Yuki did quit the team more than once. This sequence deals with the fact that the line between "Jet Phoenix" and "Gai Yuki" is a blurry one for everyone involved. That includes authors, by the way.
  
  
  
• The passing mention of Skyforce's "Pacific base" is a hint of things to come.
  
  
  
• In the JETMAN TV series, there was only one Jet Speeder motorcycle, and Black Condor rode it. I decided to instead go the route of having a cycle for each team member.
  
  
  
• Green Wyvern's disappearance during the big fight is both perfectly in character (seeing as how she is a loner) and exactly the kind of thing that feeds suspicions about her true intentions. Those suspicions already existed, but were exacerbated by certain "revelations" in Ep. 8.
  
  
  
• I really considered a modification of the Hawk Fighter to "Wyvern Fighter" before deciding to leave things well enough alone.
  
  
  
• Though I enjoyed Chaos Chimera a great deal, Chaos Gemini is probably the more ingenious monster concept of this piece. Castor and Pollux (from Greek mythology, natch) are parodies of the titular heroes of the 1970s series UCHU TETSUJIN KYODAIN.
  
  
  
• Well, that ending was out of left field, wasn't it? If you'll recall my discussion of GALAXYMAN in earlier notes, I mentioned a couple of aspects of that proposal which I thought were remarkable. What I didn't mention was my third concept for it - that one of the Galaxyman members would turn traitor. I still feel that was perhaps the best twist of all in my homebrew sentai.
  

  When it came time to resurrect ROJ, I decided to incorporate the traitor storyline into the mix. After mulling it over, it seemed that Etsuko was the best candidate for the role. I planted some subtle hints here and there, but nothing was truly blatant.
  

  To add to the potential drama, I threw a grave injury to Gohan and the theft of Jet Icarus into the proceedings. This leads to what is probably the best cliffhanger ending in the entire series. We'll talk more about this in the notes for the next episode!
  

 

© Christopher Elam.