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Phase
14: Within Endless Time
Review by Chris April 10, 2003 As is inevitably the case with most other Gundam series, it's time for a space-filling clip show. This particular one is narrated by Rau and recaps some of the major events from episode 1-10 in no logical order whatsoever. There is also some new footage here, though it is mostly at the end. Athrun's report to the PLANT Supreme Council on the Gundams is shown, and this wasn't originally seen in episode 7. Rau also explains the origin of Coordinators and the conflict with Naturals. Long before, there was a man named George Glenn who graduated from MIT, became a star American football player, Air Force pilot and scientist. For his next feat, Glenn designed a spaceship called the Tsiolkovsky for a seven year journey to explore Jupiter. While in Earth orbit, Glenn broadcasted a message stating that he was not born naturally and was the result of genetic manipulation. This manipulation is what gave him more intelligence and physical strength to allow humanity to reach its full potential. Glenn described himself as a Coordinator between humanity's past and future, and he left behind the plans of his genetic manipulation in the hopes that others would become like him. While he was gone, Earth fell into chaos with many demonstrations over genetic engineering. Fourteen years later, Glenn returned with the fossils of a winged space whale identified as Evidence 01. As tensions rose, Glenn was assassinated, which set off a wave of anti-Coordinator violence. That's the gist of this clip episode, and I have to say that overall I'm not too impressed with it. I also don't like clip shows so early in the run of a series, and most other series manage to make clip shows fit into their main story. Here, scenes from many episodes are shown randomly out of order with no chronological structure. On a side note, it should be mentioned that Glenn's ship the Tsiolkovsky is an exact copy of the Jupitris from Zeta Gundam. What connection is implied by this is unknown. Though some of the history of the Natural/Coordinator is explained, most of this episode is a waste. It would have been interesting to learn more about the origin of the conflict rather than just have clips of episodes that aired not too long before this. Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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