Princess enjoying some downtime


An ant attacks the Solar Fusion Plant


The ants are revealed to be mechanical


Antoff rails against G-Force


The Phoenix fires the Electroblast

 


A Swarm of Robot Ants

Written by: Kevin Coates
Alternate Title: A Swarm of Army Ants, also Raid of the Robot Ants
Production Number: 10
Airing Number: 28
Script Completion Date: 9/3/78
Episode Completion Date: 10/5/78
Preview / Trailer: None
Credit Version: A
Title Card Version: A
Official episode synopsis

..To defeat Earth with Antoff's technology..
..To stop Antoff's invasion of Earth.

 
..........

7-Zark-7’s monitors begin to show thousands of unidentified objects heading toward Earth. They turn out to be a swarm of robot ants sent from an unknown alien galaxy. The ants land on Earth and begin causing massive destruction at the Solar Fusion Plant by secreting an acidic substance that eats through metal. G-Force is called in to defeat the ants. When they realize traditional explosives won't work on such a massive number of small creatures, Jason comes up with the idea to blow a hole in a nearby aqueduct to release a torrent of water to wash all of the bugs away. The plan works and afterward they locate one of the insects and take it to Center Neptune for analysis by Chief Anderson. It is discovered the ant is a highly-developed mechanical device and the metal it is made of comes from the planet Tramulus.

G-Force takes the creature to its home planet to see if it will return to its base. On Tramulus, the tiny ant leads G-Force to two gigantic anthills. Mark, Jason, Princess and Keyop watch the anthills to see if the ants appear again while Tiny maintains his post on board the Phoenix. Sure enough, the ants come back out in the middle of the night, but before G-Force can do anything about them, the four of them are sucked down into a quicksand pit into the base of the mighty Antoff. When he meets G-Force face-to-face, Antoff reveals he has made a pact with Spectra that if he kills G-Force, then he will be given the Earth to rule. Antoff traps Mark, Jason, Princess and Keyop inside a seemingly impenetrable glass dome and sets off on his conquest. But Keyop comes up with the idea of adding some explosive powder to his bolos. He does this, sets the timer and blows a hole in the side of the dome allowing the team to escape.

On their way back to the Phoenix they discover a giant cocoon that hatches to reveal a single massive ant robot. The ant takes off with Antoff and his crew on board and immediately heads for Civic Center on Earth. Before G-Force can arrive, Earth's fighter jets manage to drive the massive ant robot into a tunnel.

G-Force shows with a new sunlight-powered weapon they're going to use called the Electroblast. They deploy the Phoenix's Solar Refractor Screen to gather sunlight, then fire the Electroblast which begins to fry the monster. But sudden cloudy weather decreases the effectiveness of the weapon and the ant lifts off to come after the Phoenix. As Tiny tries to get the Phoenix above the clouds so they can use their weapon again, Earth's fighter planes reappear and assault the ant with a barrage of missiles. This is all the time G-Force needs to get more sunlight and finally roast the ant robot completely. Antoff and his crew escape, only to be picked up and imprisoned by Earth authorities.

The pact between Spectra and Tramulus is broken, and G-Force are able to return to their base and relax with some disco dancing.


 

 

Name: Giant Ant
Type: Giant Mechanical Monster
Body Shape: Ant
Origin: Planet Tramulus
Sighting: Planet Earth

Weapons: Unknown liquid fired from the mouth
Flight Capable: Yes
Crew: Yes
Status: Destroyed

An initial attack of zillions of miniature electronic space bugs that resembled ants preceded the arrival of this Giant Ant machine. The Giant Ant was housed in a cocoon in an underground base on Planet Tramulus before it was launched to Earth. It was able to travel underground and it fired an unknown liquid from its mouth. It was impervious to rocket attacks from Earth's air fighters. It was equipped with an aerial life raft escape ship. Antoff and his crew used it when G-Force destroyed the machine with the Phoenix's Electroblast weapon.

This is the first time Antoff has ever invaded Earth

FOSDIC stands for Film Optical Sensing Device for Input to Computers

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Unless otherwise stated, all program material, situations, descriptions and depictions are copyright © Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd.