The White Base has finally made it to Earth, but in order to reunite with the Earth Federation command, they must cross Zeon territory. While Amuro puts together a daring plan, the refugees of Side 7 have a plan to ensure their voices are head.
Join us as we put together our Five Thoughts on Mobile Suit Gundam‘s “The Core Fighter’s Escape!” Will you be able to survive?
1. A Focus On The Elderly
This is kind of the first episode to really have an A and B story, honestly. Most of the episodes so far have only really focused on the story of the rest of the refugees on the White Base as footnotes to whatever is happening with Amuro. Generally, the refugees show up in the opening scene and are ignored for the rest of the episode. But here, we see the elderly refugees launch a full scale riot, taking crew members hostage and demanding that they be allowed to set foot on Earth. It’s a very sci-fi plotline and reminds you that these are people who have not been on their home planet for years or maybe have never been on Earth at all.
Meanwhile, Reed and Bright genuinely debate the weight of human life. Reed is all but ready to dump the refugees in Zeon controlled territory in order to establish a link with Federation command, placing the White Base and it’s technology over the lives of its passengers. Bright meanwhile argues to keep on the move, dwindling their much needed resources, in order to keep them alive. It’s a moral conundrum with no clear cut answer and I appreciate that the show doesn’t present an easy right or wrong.
2. Math Makes The Dream Work
One of the things I love about this show so far is how it takes time to showcase elements most stories would overlook. Amuro has a plan to launch the core fighter over the Zeon base because the White Base can’t accomplish it alone and so it shows a moment of Amuro having to work out the mathematical equation of the core fighter’s trajectory to ensure that his idea can be accomplished. And even then he’s shown afterwards eating in order to prepare for the launch and being told to prepare for the excessive g-forces. Reed even asks him how many hours he’s logged in the core fighter prior to launch to make sure he’s prepared. This is a genuine military operation and is treated as such with the prep shown accordingly instead of just rushing into it.
Turns out, when you fire yourself in a tin can at a ballistic velocity, you fuck your body up. I love the hard sci-fi sensibilities of this show and while I’m not qualified enough to know if the show’s physics are sound, I appreciate the consideration that goes into incorporating an idea of real world physics into the story. Amuro’s plan is a sound one and, in keeping with his character, works perfectly on a mechanical level, but is let down by the human element. He simply could not withstand the g-forces created on launch and passed out and that’s what allowed char to intercept his core fighter.
3. Observing Gundam
A tidbit I liked about this episode is that Garma and Char have been collecting observational data about the Gundam. Char has faced the Gundam in combat a few times now and while his attempts to capture the Mobile Suit has failed, he’s been able to get a solid idea of the schematics and power of the Suit’s capabilities through observation alone. It’s an impressive way of showcasing the tactical thinking of the Zeon forces. They’re still able to get a sense of the Gundam and it’s abilities just from facing it in combat.that They weren’t able to steal it or its plans (yet) was only a small setback in the grand scheme of things.
4. Respect Goes Both Ways
Now, back to that B-plot I mentioned. We get to see that what the elderly refugees want is very simple: the truth. If they’re on Earth, why can’t they land? It brings up the notion that while the main cast has been up on the bridge making life or death decisions, no one’s thought to keep the people on board the White Base informed of any of this. And the show even pokes a hole in Bright Noa’s idealistic notions when he advances on a room full of old people with his sidearm drawn. He’s talking big on the bridge about how he needs to protect them, but won’t actually listen to them. I’m interested to see how this show develops this.
5. A Battle In Freefall
In this episode’s cool action scene, Amuro and Char battle it out in their Mobile Suits in freefall to Earth. It’s maybe not the most impressive due to it being a largely repurposed idea from ‘Re-Entry To Earth’ and I should probably stop expecting each episode to have wholly unique action sequences, but this show can make magic out of anything, seemingly. Even a repurposed idea makes a for a great sequence and provides a major plot point as Char finds out about the modular nature of the Federation’s Mobile Suit.
