Defenders of the Earth Defenders of the Earth is a 80’s Children’s TV cartoon that was created by Marvel Productions using characters owned by the ‘King Features Syndicate’. Some of the characters of the show have a long history. Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless were created by Alex Raymond, in 1934, for the Hurst Corporation's Sunday Papers. The Phantom (1936), Mandrake and Lothar (both 1934) were created by Lee Falk for various comic strips.   The characters were brought into the same time period (the future) and the children of the superheroes were introduced to attract a younger audience. This in turn would ensure they became acquainted with the previously established superheroes, and thus exploit their past history.   Defenders of the Earth was directed by Bill Hutton and produced by David J. Corbett. The Music & Theme were created by Rob Welsh and Tony Pastor, with the lyrics written by Stan Lee (Spiderman creator). It’s one of those songs that will get in your head, but never leave!   Loren Lester, who voiced Rick Gordon, was the same age as Lou Richards, who played his father, Flash, in the series. Loren went on in real life to marry Peter Mark Richman's (The Phantom) daughter, after Peter introduced him to his her (he was doing a bit of matchmaking). Loren has voiced numerous  characters over the years, including Dick Grayson in ‘Batman the Animated Series’, and Barbecue from ‘G.I. Joe’.   Peter Mark Richman (The Phantom) is a well known actor, and has even starred in the hit 80's soap, Dynasty, where he played Andrew Laird. The voice he created at the auditions for Defenders of the Earth was the one they used. As Peter's career progressed he was typecast as a villain, but remembers fondly the time he was the hero, The Phantom.   The show was recorded like a radio show, where the cast met in a studio to record their lines together and interact as the story progressed. Unlike today where most lines are recorded separately.   A total of 65 episodes were made. Story The planet of ‘Ming the Merciless’ is dying, so Ming chooses Earth to be his next home, and to enslave its people. There is one man that has persistently stood up to Ming and that is Flash Gordon. He heads to Earth to warn everyone of this new threat, but just as he arrives his spacecraft is shot down by Ming’s ‘Ice Robots’. Luckily he crashed near the home of Mandrake, a Magician and Illusionist. He rescues Flash from the burning remains of his craft and hypnotises the Ice Robots into thinking that Flash has taken off in his spacecraft. They follow in hot pursuit. Flash tells Mandrake and his friend Lothar about the impending invasion and that Ming has kidnapped his son (Rick) and his wife (Dale).   Mandrake and Lothar offer to help rescue Flash’s family, by returning to Ming’s home planet of Mongo. During the rescue attempt, Dale was killed by Ming, who escaped to Earth, where he would co- ordinate his plans to take over the Earth.   A new organisation was setup to stop this from happening - The Defenders of the Earth. This consisted of Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom, Lothar and their children.   A new base was built, called Monitor, which was housed inside of a volcano and used geothermal power to run it. Monitor also housed a Super Computer called Dynak X.   Defender of the Earth Characters Flash Gordon     (voiced by Lou Richards) He is a hero on Earth, who battles against Ming the Merciless to save the planet. Flash is a fantastic pilot who flies into battle even when outnumbered. He was devastated by the death of his wife at the hands of Ming, and has vowed to stop Ming at any cost. Mandrake     (voiced by Peter Renaday) He is a famous magician who appears on television. He is the master of magic and illusion, and can hypnotises people into imagining things are really there, when they aren't. Mandrake can also detect the presence of evil.   The Phantom     (voiced by Peter Mark Richman) He is known as 'The Lord of the Jungle' or 'The Ghost that Walks'. He is very agile and can call on the power of 10 tigers when needed. His real name is Kit Walker.   He used to live in Skull Cave, which was located deep in the African jungle, until he was asked to help Flash track down Ming.   The Phantom saw that Ming was a threat to all the inhabitants of Earth, so agreed to become one of the founders of 'The Defenders of the Earth' (much to the annoyance of his daughter Jedda). Because of this new responsibility he has had to move from Skull Cave to the Headquarters of The Defenders of the Earth (Monitor). Lothar     (voiced by Buster Jones) He is a strong man, but became stronger when Rick Gordon created him some electronic bracelets. Since receiving them, he can shoot energy bolts from his hands and create energy fields. He is good at fixing things and has a knowledge of astro-mechanics. Ming the Merciless     (voiced by Ron Feinberg /                                     William Callaway) He is a Dictator and ruler of galaxies. His home planet Mongo is dying because of the lack of natural resources, so he has decided that Earth will be his new home planet and that he will invade it and enslave the planet's population.   He has a pet serpent called Mongor, who he like to set loose on people.   Ming commands an army of Ice Robots to enforce his rule throughout the galaxy. On Earth he decides that he will setup base in the Arctic, where conditions are favourable for his Ice Robots.   Ming is constantly trying to destroy the Headquarters of the Defenders of the Earth (Monitor). He keeps coming close, just not close enough.  Rick Gordon     (voiced by Loren Lester) He is the son of Flash Gordon. It was Rick who escaped on Mongo from Ming’s clutches and disrupted the Inquisitor’s process of draining his mother’s life force. But he was too late to save her. But he used the crystal that the Inquisitor created, which contained her essence, in the Super Computer that he designed and built (Dynak X). Maybe he was hoping his mother could live on? Dynak X became the first computer to have a personality, which would enable it to come the best.   Kshin     (voiced by Adam Carl) He is the adopted son of Mandrake and is currently studying at high school in Central City. He had some problems with bullies, but instead of defending himself he said that he couldn't fight them as the Defender of the Earth code of practice says he shouldn't fight.   So instead he read Mandrake's magic books and brought a demon to life, called Shogoth, to teach the bullies a lesson (I think it would have been better to have fought them). Of course once the demon taught the bullies a lesson it wanted to continue to do similar things, and ignored Kshin’s attempts to control it.   Eventually Ming captured the demon to help him defeat the Defenders of the Earth, but didn't take into consideration that it wouldn't follow his orders and instead would cause chaos (shame!). It was Kshin that found the caves under Mandrake's mansion, which would later be used to house the HQ of The Defenders of the Earth (Monitor).  Jedda Walker     (voiced by Sara Partridge) She is the daughter of The Phantom. She has a bond with a black panther called Kisa and can talk to it telepathically. She learnt telepathy from the Bandar Tribe, and how to establish a link with Kisa and others.   Ever since they moved to the Defenders of the Earth HQ (monitor) she has constantly been complaining. Jedda wants her father and herself to return to Skull Cave in Africa and to the humidity she was used to. Also she misses the excitement of the jungle.   Only when a cave was discovered, in Monitor, that had 80% humidity was she happy, as they could create Skull Cave 2 there. LJ     (voiced by Dion Williams) LJ stands for Lothar Junior, named after his father (Lothar, if you hadn’t guessed). He is friends with Rick Gordon and loves to put into practice his martial arts skills (especially if there are bad guys on the receiving end). Zuffy He is a Zuffiod who helped Rick to hide from Ming, on the Planet Mongo.   When Flash came to rescue his wife from Ming's machine, The Inquisitor, it was destroyed. Luckily Zuffy rescued the crystal that had Dale's personality downloaded into it.   It seems that Zuffy became more attached to Kshin, rather than Rick, and they became great friends.  Dale Gordon / Dynak X     (voiced by Diane Pershing) Dale Arden is the wife of Flash Gordon, and the mother of Rick. She was captured, along with her son, by Ming, and used as bait to capture Flash Gordon. Ming tried to get her to tell him where Flash was hiding, or face the Inquisitor, a machine that drains the life force from a person into a crystal. She refused and so Ming let it loose on her, and she died during the process. The machine had downloaded the personality elements of Dale into a crystal (which even showed Rick which way to go, when trying to rescue his father and friends). This crystal was used to give Rick's supercomputer (Dynak X) a personality. Ice Robots They are Ming's army and are lead by Garak. They have 4 arms and are made out of Ice. They have the ability to fix themselves and have ice machines that are capable of building ice bridges instantly.   Ming is always using them to try to destroy Monitor. Krill They are a race that have encountered Flash Gordon previously and have embraced him as a friend. They have promised to help Flash whenever they can, and even came to Earth to build the Defenders of the Earth HQ, Monitor, for him. Defenders of the Earth Episodes Series 1 (1986)  1. Escape from Mongo  2. The Creation of Monitor  3. A Demon in His Pocket  4. A House Divided  5. Bits and Chips  6. The Root of Evil  7. Cold War  8. The Sleeper Awakers  9. The Revenge of Astra  10. The Hall of Wisdom  11. The Mind Warriors - Part 1  12. The Mind Warriors - Part 2  13. The Lost Jewels of Tibet  14. The Evil of Doctor Dark  15. Diamonds Are Ming's Best Friends  16. The Men of Frost  17. Battleground  18. The Panther Peril  19. Fury of the Deep  20. Family Reunion  21. The Defense Never Rests  22. Like Father, Like Daughter  23. The Would Be Defender  24. Doorways into Darkness  25. Deal with the Devil  26. Terror in Time  27. Ming's Household Help  28. The Starboy  29. The Gods Awake  30. The Ghost Walks Again  31. The Book of Mysteries  32. The Future Comes But Once  33. Kshin and the Ghost Ship  34. The Carnival of Dr. Kalihari  35. The Mystery of the Book  36. Flash Times Four  37. The Frozen Heart  38. Rick Gordon, One Man Army  39. The Rites of Zesnan  40. Audie the Tweak  41. Return of the Sky Band  42. Dracula's Potion  43. One of the Guys  44. 100 Proof Highway  45. The Time Freezer  46. The Prince Makes His Move  47. Prince Triumphant  48. The Prince Weds  49. The Prince's Royal Hunt  50. The Prince Is Dethroned  51. Lothar's Homecoming  52. Suspended Sabotage  53. The Call of the Eternals  54. The Return of Doctor Dark  55. The Deadliest Battle  56. The Necklace of Oros  57. Torn Space  58. Ming Winter  59. The Golden Queen - Part 1  60. The Golden Queen - Part 2  61. Flesh and Blood  62. Drowning World  63. The Adoption of Kshin  64. Street Smarts  65. 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