SYNOPSIS

The Solo Ship has arrived at a planet mainly inhabited by humanoid apes. With Cosmo and Kasha imprisoned, the colonists are having trouble finding pilots for the Ideon. Lou has fallen ill with measles, and the colonists are unable to treat him themselves. Elsewhere, Gije meets up with Harulu, having completed his research on Solo. He found the planet to be full of traces of Ide energy, all emanating from where the Solo Ship and Ideon were buried. Between them, they contain enough Ide energy to destroy the universe. Gije sets off to capture part of the Ideon for further analysis. His force arrives just as the Solo Ship has made contact with a colony called Ajian. The Ideon units launch in response, but the stand-in pilots are no match for the Buff Clan.

Sheryl realises the Gauge is not reacting to the unfamiliar, older stand-in pilots. Karala realises they need to get Cosmo and Kasha back into the Ideon in order to escape. The pair are released, while Karala beams a laser projection of herself to the Buff Clan, explaining about Lou and trying to appeal to Gije's samurai honour. It doesn't work, but it does by time to get the Ideon units back on board, allowing Cosmo and Kasha to get to the controls. While this improves their fortunes, the Gauge still won't react, due to Gije having released some particles found on Solo that counteract it. His troops capture the Ideo-Nova, but Kasha is finally able to dock with it and rescue the craft. Cosmo arrives, and Ideon is finally formed. Although the Gauge still isn't rising, they're able to damage Gije's remaining Zigg Mack and force the Buff Clan to retreat. They return to the Solo Ship, which heads for Ajian to treat Lou.

NOTES

Harulu Ajiba: Harulu is an excellent fencer, defeating all f her challengers except Gije, with whom she draws.

Rapoh Famu: Rapoh, the Solo Ship's nurse (and seemingly sole surviving medic) makes her debut. She does wish she could help out in the fighting, which makes her more badass than the Formosa girls for starters...

The Ideon: One thing that's always bothered me is why two extras are roped in to fly the Ideo-Delta and Ideo-Buster. Allowing for Hatari being kept on station at the Solo Ship, Bes has experience flying Ideon units (albeit the Ideo-Nova), while you'd think both Bento and Tekuno, who have each co-piloted the now vacant machines at least once, would be more qualified than that pair of random mooks - instead they're kept on simply as co-pilots.

Gije Zaral: Gije's time away on Solo has focused his quest for the Ide, and seen him get over Karala (demonstrated when he ignores her hologram appeal for a withdrawal). He's the equal of Harulu at fencing.

Kasha Imhof: Kasha was taken away from her parents to be settled on a colony named A92, where there were only two seasons, winter and summer - it's unclear why she was sent there, and beyond the Earth authorities being a bunch of bastards, I'm struggling to come up with reasons... she's not military, so it's not a posting thing, and she doesn't seem to have any special skills that would make her useful to the new colony. All I'm coming up with is that she's omitting bits of the story, and possibly committed some sort of mild crime.

Solo: The planet has two moons, as demonstrated in Gije's presentation to Harulu.

REVIEW:

Again there's just too much repetition. Gije is fresher for his return and for the character having been moved on from Karala, but his strategy is the same as always.

There's never any doubt that Cosmo and Kasha will win out once they're back in the Ideon, though at least the Gauge's connection with the stricken Lou is a nice touch.

It's still rather dull, though, especially the endless irrelevant shots of the ape-people - one of the frequent things seen in the show is cutaway scenes of a planet's native life, but here they seem intrusive. Maybe they're more noticeable when there's not much else interesting happening?