One of the most well-known names when it comes to comic book strips is King Features Syndicate. Some of the most well-known figures in comic book pop culture, like Mandrake the Magician, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Dennis the Menace, the Amazing Spider-Man, and others, are featured in its arsenal.
The combination of Flash Gordon, the Phantom, Mandrake, and Lothar in the American animated series “Defenders Of The Earth” makes the spectacle even more stunning. They are then forced to face up against Ming the Merciless as a group.
The series, which ran for 65 episodes, also featured a large cast of supporting actors, some of the most significant of whom were the offspring of the protagonists. We will discuss how some of the most well-known heroes teamed up to battle alongside the characters in this video, along with some other amusing anecdotes.
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What The Cartoon Television Series Is All About
Defenders Of The Earth aired from 1986 to 1991. The story is set in the distant future of 2015 (creators of fantasy stories had higher hopes for the future and overestimated us maybe, but then the internet is nothing short of magic for most). The show exposes the premise and the plot in its energetic and fast-paced pilot episode known as ‘Escape from Mongo’. This episode brings forward every individual character for their first quest together, the result of which ends up with them banding up and creating their formidable team.
Comic strip hero Flash Gordon, who plays a very important role in the series, had defeated Ming the Merciless from Planet Mongo years ago. He now has a wife and a son but his old headache returns to him in the pilot episode.
Ming has exhausted Mongo’s natural resources so he has locked on to Earth as his new target. Flash Gordon and his son Rick manage get away from him but Flash’s wife is not so lucky. After getting captured by the villain, her life force is drained via a device, resulting in her death.
Later, a computer called Dynac X becomes the central computer for the Defenders Of The Earth. And this computer contains the psyche of Flash Gordon’s wife. To understand what led to these events, it is necessary to get into the details of the pilot episode.
The episode begins with Flash Gordon arriving to the residence of Mandrake the Magician and his powerful bodyguard Lothar in his spacecraft. He notifies them about the threat Ming poses to Earth. Three of Ming’s ice robots arrive to the residence in pursuit of Flash. But with Mandrake hypnotizing them to not notice Flash, they leave as they realize that their target is unavailable.
Meanwhile, Flash’s son Rick Gordon and his mother try to escape Ming’s headquarters but his mother is seemingly captured by one of the robots. Rick is reluctant to escape without his mother and soon meets a tiny, friendly creature. Meanwhile, Flash Gordon heads out to rescue his family with the help of Mandrake and Lothar.
Flash’s wife falls prey to Ming’s machine as it drains her knowledge and her life force. She tries her level best to resist from giving away any information but unfortunately, she cannot stop herself from dying (which is a pretty dark thing to show in the pilot episode of a children’s cartoon). Rick Gordon tries to save his mother and stop Ming and his reptilian pet Mongor with his gun but, he fails. The new creature Rick had just befriended finds a crystal in the hands of Rick’s mother’s body and takes it with himself.
Flash arrives to Planet Mongo in his jet and Ming takes notice of this. He sends his forces against him as Flash takes several planes down as an expert pilot. But with an overwhelming number of foes, Mandrake comes to the rescue as he pulls off a mass hypnosis feat which creates the illusion that Flash and his allies have arrived in five airships. This causes Ming’s men to shoot down Ming’s palace under the assumption that they are shooting down the enemy airships. Ming is baffled by this and prepares his departure to Earth immediately while Flash, Lothar, and Mandrake infiltrate the palace. They manage to save Rick and his new friend Zuffy (that is the cute creature) but Flash is obviously heartbroken by the death of his wife.
In the airship, Zuffy shows the crystal he has taken. Rick recognizes it as the crystal that was part of Ming’s Inquisitor (that is the device that took his mother’s life). Meanwhile, Ming lands in the Arctic which he chooses as the location for his new base, mainly because the weather will sustain Mongo’s icy technology. While he orders his ice robots to create their headquarters, Ming also reveals new icy humans with frozen hearts and minds that are his to command. All because he plans to abduct Rick Gordon from his school to use as bait to bring in Flash Gordon.
Back in Mandrake and Lothar’s residence, Flash decides to seek out Phantom for his superior senses that rival wild animals. And so, they leave for Africa where they get captured by the Bandar natives. But Phantom’s daughter Jedda finds them soon and frees them as the Bandar natives as her friends.
Flash, Mandrake, and Lothar head to the Skull Cave to meet with Phantom, who agrees to help them out against Ming. Back in Central City on Earth, Jedda joins the same school as Rick and Lothar’s son L.J., with L.J. also being Rick’s best friend. She talks to her panther Kisa who cannot enter her school when three mysterious men abduct the boys. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that these were the men sent by Ming. Jedda notices what’s going on and sends her panther telepathic signals to trail the van that is carrying Rick and L.J.
The rest of the team arrive to Ming’s new base with help from Jedda who is psychically connected to Kisa. Phantom calls upon the power of ten tigers to get them in but Ming has set up a trap after luring Flash in with his bait. Flash, Lothar, Mandrake, and Phantom are intercepted by Ming the Merciless and some of his crew. They are then tied to posts that are meant to electrocute them via the power from the power generators.
Rick and L.J. notice the commotion from the windows of the room they have been locked in. L.J. breaks the door and they run to the power generator as the crystal from the Inquisitor shows the way. Rick stops the flow of the power and reverses the power generator to overload. So when Ming tries to electrocute the allies, the system falters and he sends his men to check what’s wrong. Soon, Rick and L.J. free the four heroes and ask them to leave immediately as the overloading of the generator will cause the whole place to explode.
They all escape and regroup with Zuffy, Jedda, and Mandrake’s apprentice Kshin. Rick also tells the others about the crystal showing him the way, causing Mandrake to theorize that it has taken his mother’s personality. And soon after, the heroes join hands and call their alliance the ‘Defenders Of The Earth’.
Having some of the most popular heroes band together for the same adventures and quests is a tried and tested method. Needless to say it is often quite the success – look at the Avengers and the Justice League. And the Defenders Of The Earth are no exception to this.
This also means that the members of the group already come from amazing backgrounds, since many of us have loved the comic strip heroes who appear in this cartoon.
Starting off with the man Flash Gordon himself, he was an exceptional athlete and a pilot. He was the leader of the Defenders Of The Earth.
His character was voiced by Lou Richards, who has also voiced Galtar in ‘Galtar and the Golden Lance’.
Then there is Mandrake the Magician. He is a mystic who excels in hypnosis, creating illusions, astral projection, and telekinetically manipulating objects. He can also manipulate the perceptions of other people and takes the lead among the Defenders from time to time.
His character was voiced by Peter Renaday, who has popularly voiced Hamato Yoshi or Master Splinter from the original ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’.
Mandrake’s strong bodyguard and assistant Lothar is crucial to the Defenders as well. He excels at being a mechanic and is a master strategist and tactician.
He was voiced by Buster Jones, who is the man behind Blaster in the 80s animated series known as ‘The Transformers’.
Fourth, we have The Phantom, also known as Kit Walker. He is the 27th Phantom according to the end credits. Unlike the comic strips by Lee Falk (who has also created Mandrake the Magician), this Phantom attains a temporary boost or superhuman strength by chanting, “By jungle law, the Ghost Who Walks calls forth the power of ten tigers”.
He was voiced by Peter Mark Richman, who has played Nicholas ‘Nick’ Cain in ‘The Murder Men’ and ‘The Crimebusters’.
There’s also Jedda Walker, who is the Phantom’s daughter. She has psychic powers which she generally uses to communicate with Kisa, her pet black panther. She can connect with Kisa via telepathy and also has limited extrasensory abilities. She was originally supposed to appear as Flash Gordon’s daughter.
Her character was voiced by Sarah Partridge, who is the woman behind Wind Whistler in ‘My Little Pony’.
We have Flash Gordon’s son Richard or Rick Gordon, a computer genius. He attended a school known as Central High in Central City alongside Jedda and Lothar’s son L.J. He was supposed to be Phantom’s son but turns out his role was flipped with Jedda’s.
He was voiced by Loren Lester, who has often voiced Nightwing and Robin for DC’s Animated Universe.
Finally, on the primary hero front, we have Lothar’s son L.J. which is short for Lothar Jr. He is best friends with Rick Gordon and is excellent when is comes to street-wise martial arts. One of his primary desires is to defeat Octon, an octopus-like artificial intelligence that works under Ming the Merciless.
He was voiced by Dion Williams, who has played Jimmy O’Connor in ‘Murder, She Wrote’.
On the side of the villains, let’s start with the primary antagonist, the supervillain known as Ming the Merciless, who originally hails from the Flash Gordon comic strips. He is a warlord with pointy ears and green skin. His goal is simple – after exploiting the resources of his own planet Mongo, he has set his eyes on Earth and its bountiful resources. After having his original headquarters destroyed in the pilot, he gets his new base or the Ice Station Earth in the Arctic to sustain his ice-based technology.
He was voiced by Ron Feinberg, who has also voiced Vladimir Goudenov Grizzlikof in ‘Darkwing Duck’.
Ming is joined by his son Prince Kro-Tan, who has been voiced by Hal Rayle, that is the one behind Raphael in ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’. Similar to his father, he has green skin and pointy ears.
His daughter Princess Castra is no friend to the Defenders either. She is voiced by Jennifer Darling, who has voiced Mama in ‘Hello Kitty’.
Ming the Merciless also has a big, serpentine pet known as Mongor who always sides with him.
There’s the octopus-like circular artificial intelligence machine thingie known as Octon. It advises Ming the Merciless with his plans to destroy the Defenders and taking over the Earth. He is the one L.J. wants to fight.
He was voiced by Willaim Callaway, who is famous for voicing Aquaman in ‘Super Friends’.
The same voice actor has also given his voice to Garax, that is the one who leads the Ice Robots or Ming’s mechanical army.
Other Interesting Facts About The Cartoon
With some of the most popular characters present in the show, it definitely has some interesting behind the scenes tidbits. With the most obvious one being Ming the Merciless getting green skin and pointed ears for the showrunners to avoid complaints of racial stereotyping.
Since the original character had an appearance that was close to that of the Mongolians, many considered Ming’s villainous portrayal to be racist, as a result of which, this animated series pursued a slightly different path with the design.
Meanwhile, his Artificial Intelligence Octon is named after a crime lord enemy of Mandrake the Magician’s. Mandrake’s villain arsenal is incomplete without the powerful crime organization known as 8. Their leader was known as Octon and with the mystery surrounding him, he has only appeared as a menacing image on computer screens.
A Failed Comic Series?
Defenders Of The Earth also had its run as a comic series which was published under Star Comics in 1987, which is the children’s imprint of Marvel Comics. The first issue was written by Stan Lee while Michael Higgins wrote the next three issues, after which it was discontinued.
Not too long ago, in 2013, Dynamite Comics released a series known as Kings Watch which featured another team up between Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar, and The Phantom. And this time, the villains ranged beyond Ming the Merciless and included several antagonists from the King Features Syndicate, that is the company that owns all these heroes.
The 80s were a great era for Western animation. And Defenders Of The Earth does this title justice. Apart from the spectacular action and characters, the show also has amazing music. Many believe that the show would have been more popular if it came out in the 60s instead of the 80s when more people were reading these comic strips.
But what do you think of Defenders Of The Earth? Did you enjoy this video? If yes, then don’t forget to like and comment on this video. Till then, goodbye. And have a nice one!