Gel Shocker Destroyed! The Leader's End!!

This article is about an episode in Kamen Rider, the original series.

Gel Shocker Destroyed! The Leader's End!!
Kamen Rider, Episode 98
Air Date	February 10, 1973
Production Information
Writer(s)	Masaru Igami
Director	Masaki Tsukada
Episode Guide
Previous	Takeshi Hongo, Transformation Impossible
Next	Kamen Rider Episode 99
Next	Rider No. 3: His Name is V3!

Gel-Shocker Annihilated! The End of the Leader!! (ゲルショッカー全滅！首領の最後！！, Gerushokkā Zenmetsu! Shuryō no Saigo!!) is the ninety-eighth and final episode of the original Kamen Rider series. While not initially intended to be the end of the show, it ended up as such when the introduction of the third Kamen Rider, occuring over the next two episodes, evolved into a second Kamen Rider show as episodes 99 and 100 became the first two episodes of Kamen Rider V3.

Synopsis

to be added

Plot

Main Timeline

Trying to rescue his friends from Gel-Shocker, Takeshi raid in and tried to transform but frozen by Hiruchameleon. As one of them about to be modified into a Gel-Shocker Monster, Kamen Rider 2 returns and defeats the Gel-Shocker troops, rescuing the Rider Squad members and Hongo himself. They proceed to capture Hiruchameleon and ask him about General Black's location, but he refuses to speak. General Black's voice through the speakers tells them to bring Hiruchamelon to him and so the Double Riders follow their only lead, taking Hiruchameleon to the arranged place, only to see themselves surrounded by revived Gel-Shocker monsters. General Black's voice comes from Hiruchameleon himself, who leads them to that trap and reveals itself to be General Black himself. However, to his surprise, the two Riders were already expecting that. Hongo and Hayato go after General Black, while Taki tells them that he'll handle the monsters, which escape in a truck. Hiruchameleon can't keep up with the Riders, and attempts to escape by using his invisibility. However, Rider 1 and 2 sense his presence and hit him with a double chop, which finishes off the Gel-Shocker commander. Taki catches up with the monsters, just to be captured. Using a digital voice mimicking Taki's, the Great Leader sends Rider 1 and 2 towards Gel-Shocker's headquarters. They're surrounded by the Gel-Shocker monster troops, but managed to destroy all of them once again. Afterwards, the Rider Squad members are used by the Great Leader as hostages, and the Riders run through a minefield to reach them. The Riders seemingly fall, only to surprise the Great Leader by appearing in his command room. The Great Leader was covered by a mantle, and Rider 2 grabs it, only to reveal a head full of snakes. Promising to send them to hell for destroying Gel-Shocker, the Riders are hit by powerful waves of energy, but managed to run through them and grab the Great Leader's head, and pulling the snakes of his head, only to reveal a plaid featureless cyclops underneath. The Great Leader tells them that this is the end of Gel-Shocker, and they'll all die together, before falling on the ground just as the explosions start. Hayato notices the Great Leader's supposedly real form fallen on the ground, and attempts to approach it, but when they're about to do that the explosions just increase and the entire underground headquarters, and even the lake above it, explode.

With Gel-Shocker destroyed, Taki's mission is complete, and he returns to the USA. Hongo and the others watch his plane's departure, believing for a moment that peace has returned and the days of fighting finally have ended.

Altered Timeline

Main article: Who Can Stop the Hoax Smile?

While Rider 1 and 2 were on their way back home after defeating the Great Leader of Shocker, suddenly a mysterious car blocks their path. A figure approached and declared himself as Kamen Rider 3, created to eliminate Kamen Rider 1 and 2. He easily overpowered and killed them in an explosion. Due to his existence, the timeline was now greatly altered, with Shocker having achieved total world domination and the majority of succeeding Kamen Riders brainwashed to serve them as their loyal soldiers. ^{[Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider 3]}

Note: This alteration to the events of the finale is unwritten at the climax of Super Hero Taisen GP by the destruction of Shocker's History Modifying Machine.

Cast

• Takeshi Hongo (本郷 猛, Hongō Takeshi): Hiroshi Fujioka (藤岡 弘, Fujioka Hiroshi)
• Hayato Ichimonji (一文字 隼人, Ichimonji Hayato): Takeshi Sasaki (佐々木 剛, Sasaki Takeshi)
• Tobee Tachibana (立花 藤兵衛, Tachibana Tobee): Akiji Kobayashi (小林 昭二, Kobayashi Akiji)
• Kazuya Taki (滝 和也, Taki Kazuya): Jirō Chiba (千葉 治郎, Chiba Jirō)
• The Great Leader of Shocker/Gel-Shocker (ショッカー/ゲルショッカー首領, Shokkā/Geru Shokkā Shuryō, Voice): Gorō Naya (納谷 悟朗, Naya Gorō)
• Narrator (ナレーター, Narētā): Shinji Nakae (中江 真司, Nakae Shinji)

Errors

to be added

Notes

• This episode aired on NET alongside episode 31 of Android Kikaider, Octopus Gold Calls for Jiro's Death.
• This is the only episode which doesn't have the ending theme.
• This was the first episode where the Double Riders were called "Rider #1" and "Rider #2", which they would be known as in their appearances in later Rider series and movies.
• Takeshi Hongo, Tobee Tachibana, and the Great Leader of Shocker (voice only in his case) are the only characters to appear in both the first and final episodes of Kamen Rider. Of these, Tachibana and the Great Leader are the only characters to have remained a constant presence throughout the entire series.
• Footage from this episode, featuring the Double Riders' showdown against both General Black and the Great Leader, is featured as part of Tobee Tachibana's retrospective in episode 27 of Kamen Rider X.
• This episode would receive an additional follow-up 41 years after its premiere in the form of the SIC Hero Saga story, Kamen Rider: Episode 99, taking place before the first episode of Kamen Rider V3 with its title based on that episode's initial number. Following Takeshi Hongo and Hayato Ichimonji after the destruction of Shocker as well as introducing Destron cyborg Scissors Jaguar and never-before seen Shocker cyborgs Kenji/Macrophandes and Mieko/Hidoragen.
• The scene where the Riders defeat the Great Leader of Shocker was reused and redubbed for Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider 3 (2015), which centers around an alteration to history made in 1973.
  • A similar re-enactment of the Double Riders' showdown with the Great Leader previously appeared in the 2011 movie, which also featured a change to the timeline, only that time it was stated to be in 1971 despite appearing more similar to 1973. ^{[OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders#Continuity and Placement]}.

Digital Releases

• Kamen Rider DVD Volume 16 features episodes 92-98.
• Kamen Rider Blu-ray Volume 4 features episodes 80-98.

Kamen Rider Volume 16, DVD cover

Kamen Rider Box 4, Blu-ray cover