Episode 8

**"Messengers From Space! Am I Really Pretty?"** is the 8th episode of **Chikkun Takkun**. It originally aired on Fuji TV on June 11, 1984.

## Synopsis

A ruthless debt collector is dispatched from Star R, searching for Dr. Bell to repay his overdue rehabilitation grant. He asks Chikkun for help, and the Kyunkyuns decide to organize an aerobics fundraiser to save the earth from being repossessed.

## Characters

* Loan Princess
* Dr. Bell
* Giji-Giji
* Waruchin Encyclopedia
* Miko Nanda
* Chikkun Duck
* Takkun Hat
* Maki
* Mukko
* Meko
* Moko

## Plot summary

One morning deep in space, an enormous spacecraft shaped like a credit card is headed towards earth. Its internal computers issue a wake-up call, and the ship's pilot begins to emerge from within an enormous rose. While this pilot appears tall in silhouette, she emerges as a small chibi creature. She goes to one of the ship's computers, addressing it as "Mirror, Mirror", and demands that it tell her she's the most beautiful creature in the galaxy. After holding a bazooka to it, the computer complies. The computer also takes care to show her what she'll soon be repossessing: the planet Earth.

That evening, down in the Nazumar, Dr. Bell is sulking while rewatching footage of the Kyunkyuns winning against him in combat. Giji-Giji suggests they move on from Earth, but Bell refuses, having already set his sights on conquering the planet - all he feel he needs is more strength. Giji-Giji interrupts his monologuing to let him know the Waruchin Encyclopedia is flashing an alert.

The Waruchin angrily asks Dr. Bell if he remembers how far away he is from Star R: he does not, but Giji-Giji recalls it's been little over one light year. The Waruchin begins to remind them how most financial debts on Star R aren't due for one calendar year, after which the loan probation ends and it must immediately be repaid. Bell realizes what the Waruchin has been implying, and both Bell and Giji-Giji panic upon realizing Bell has a massive unpaid debt. The Waruchin suggests they could conquer the Earth within the next 24 hours, which would give them access to financial institutions around the world...otherwise they'll both go to jail and Dr. Bell will immediately lose his reputation of being the baddest in the universe. However, as the Waruchin begins to suggest, there is another option involving Chikkun.

Dressed as a mailman, Dr. Bell bicycles down to the Nanda house with a letter. He rings the bell twice, waits, and then is struck with the door. Miko is less than thrilled to find Bell on her doorstep, while Bell becomes terribly lovestruck and struggles to focus on the mission. He hands Miko the letter, asks her to take it to Chikkun, and then runs back down the street crying.

Chikkun soon reads the letter, which has a vague message within:

> *It's already been a thousand days since we left Star R. I want to work with you on something dire. The planet is in great danger, and I can't handle on my own. Meet me at the landfill by 3PM tomorrow. From the evil hand of Dr. Bell.*
>
>

Takkun assumes this means Dr. Bell wants to fight Chikkun, but slowly, the two realize they've been away from Star R long enough for Bell's loan probation to run out. Meanwhile, up in Earth's exosphere, the Loan Princess excitedly surveys the planet. Her computer shows her the two Star R denizens she has been sent to recover - Chikkun and Dr. Bell - and is immediately lovestruck by Dr. Bell's face.

The Kyunkyuns assemble at Miko's house that night, ready to help Chikkun and Takkun. Takkun explains to the girls that Dr. Bell was such a miscreant on Star R that he was granted a hefty financial loan to cover his living costs, aid in his rehabilitation as a law-abiding citizen, and keep him from committing crimes, but most of all it was *Chikkun* who granted it to him. Now a thousand lightdays have passed, with 1000 days being one year on Star R, and that money is now due back. Takkun explains a debt collector may repossess Earth, pull the Star R denizens across the universe to appear in court, or both. The girls begin to worry, but Chikkun swears as the Prince of Star R that he'll get things sorted out.

Maki decides they should start raising money, and suggests Mukko take the lead, doing something with her audio-visual equipment. The group heads over to Mukko's house. There, Mukko explains how videos about young women are a lucrative market, and to illustrate her point, she turns on her TV to an aerobics program. Takkun is horrified by all the women gyrating in spandex, and tries to cover Chikkun's eyes - while across town, Dr. Bell is watching the same channel, ogling the performers. Mukko causes a broadcast intrusion that hijacks the channel, sending a short transmission city-wide, of Meko, Maki, Miko, and Moko in leotards. The girls announce that they'll be cheering on an "alien vs. alien battle of the century" at the shoreline the next day, inviting paying spectators to come down and watch. Dr. Bell is overjoyed, in spite of the realization that Chikkun is inviting him to a death match.

That following afternoon, most of the spectators are leering weirdos and food vendors, crowded around the Kyunkyuns' stage. A baffled Chikkun and Dr. Bell nearly begin a fist fight, but the sun is suddenly blocked out by an incoming spacecraft. It's the Loan Princess, and she addresses Chikkun and Dr. Bell by name: "The bank's patience has worn thin, and I will get their money back! I don't care which one of you does it, but you will pay up! Otherwise, I'll be taking earth right to Star R!" Dr. Bell and Chikkun decide to make a run for it. This proves futile, as the Loan Princess sends out tractor beams that pull both aliens onto the Kyunkyuns' stage.

The Loan Princess gets ready to step off her ship, and hypes up herself as "the most beautiful being in the galaxy". A blinding white light pours from her ship, and soon, the Loan Princess stands on stage before a shocked and confused crowd. She assumes they are all merely stunned by her beauty, but then notices the Kyunkyuns. She begins to loudly retch, declaring each of them "ugly". Miko insists she can't repossess Earth because it belongs to all Earthlings collectively; the Loan Princess refuses to listen, saying loan brokers will turn the planet into a real estate development. Mukko brings forth the money the Kyunkyuns made from the alien death match's entrance fee - which the Loan Princess then vaporizes with her laser pistol. The Kyunkyuns, having had enough of the Loan Princess calling them "ugly" and making all of their efforts for naught, jump the Loan Princess and begin to pummel her. She stumbles away from the fight, with a strange crack emerging across her back, gushing white light. Loan Princess begs everyone to look away, but when the light clears, they stare in shock.

The Loan Princess turns out to actually be a tall, delicate humanoid who was encasing herself in a computer-generated shell. The spectators go wild, TV cameras are turned to her, and Miko assures the Loan Princess that she's actually very pretty. However, on her home planet, the standard of beauty is to be small, pudgy, and chibi - for which she points to Dr. Bell as an example. The Loan Princess is shocked to discover she's the height of beauty on Earth. TV agents and reporters swarm her for questions. However, the Loan Princess doesn't yet want to leave her line of work; she frees Chikkun and Dr. Bell from their beams, and gives them one more year to make up the money. With that, she boards her ship and heads away from Earth, putting her shell back on as she leaves.

Chikkun and the Kyunkyuns are relieved by the peaceful turn of events. They suddenly realize Dr. Bell has fled the area while they were watching the Loan Princess leave. Bell has made it back to the Nazumar with Giji-Giji and is cruising away. Giji-Giji laments having to end another day retreating from Chikkun, but Dr. Bell sees the events of that day as a victory instead: "I just found out I'm a stud somewhere in space! That gives me more than enough strength to deal with Chikkun again tomorrow-beru!" Bell flaps his hands in joy, having found his strength again, while Giji-Giji watches in confusion.

## Allusions

The way the Loan Princess calls on her ship's computer is an homage to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, in which the queen would call on her enchanted mirror to assure her of her beauty.

When Dr. Bell rings the Nanda house doorbell and says, "The postman always rings twice," this is a reference to the eponymous 1946 American film. However, there is not actually a mailman in that movie.