|
THE
STORY BEGINS
True
to its title, "The Story Begins" introduces the audience to the
Defenders Of The Earth's colorfully animated cast of characters.
It is Flash Gordon, whose spaceship crashes near Mandrake and Lothar's
mansion, who tells us of evil Ming's plan to destroy the earth.
In addition to being panicked over Ming's plans for the destruction
of earth, he is anguished over the well-being of his wife and son
Rick whom he was forced to leave behind.
At this point the audience is transported to Ming's kingdom of Mongo,
from which Flash narrowly escaped. We first see Rick, Flash's adolescent
son. Like his two intergalactic hero parents, Rick is both courageous
and resourceful. Yet while the bravest of young men, Rick is still
not able to escape Ming's prison without the help of an adorable
animal named Zuffy. Zuffy later becomes the mascot of the Defenders.
With Zuffy's help, Rick escapes but unfortunately his mother does
not. She dies in the hands of Ming's evil Inquisitor robot.
In this first battle between good and evil, the death of Rick's
mom emphasizes the fact that the good guys don't always win. But
while Rick's mother was dying she was holding onto a crystal which
absorbs her essence. Rick later incorporates this crystal into his
computer, Dynak X and it becomes its soul.
Back to Flash who along with Lothar, a wonderfully kind and strong
man and Mandrake, the master of illusion, go off to recruit the
Phantom to their team. The Phantom has the ability to call upon
the strength of 10 tigers and uses that strength to ward off evil.
In addition there's L.J., Lothar's 18 year old son and Jedda the
Phantom's exotic daughter who possesses an inner world of telekinetic
powers.
While in search of Rick, Ming captures the team. At this point they
bond together against him and vow to defend the earth forevermore...
thus the name Defenders.
Kshin, a 10-year old orphan joins in and becomes Mandrake's stepchild.
He is the youngest apprentice of the Defenders. He and Zuffy become
bosom buddies and, in fact, are together when Ming's full-scale
attack takes the group by surprise. Kshin and Zuffy fall into a
huge cavern from which they are rescued by the Defenders -- once
the group is safe from Ming's advances.The computer Dynak X tells
them it's a great place to hide and this complex, known as the Monitor,
becomes the new headquarters for the group.
Ming, unhappy with the Defenders being so well hidden, dredges up
Kurt Walker, Kit's older brother, to aid in his attack upon them.
Kurt had always vowed revenge upon Kit since it was Kit, the youngest,
who received the birthright to become the new Phantom and not Kurt.
Giving Kurt 24 hours worth of super powers of N'Dama, The Weather
Demon, Kurt forces Phantom out of hiding and challenges him to a
race for the Jewel of Zandoon. If he wins he will claim the title
of Phantom.
It is against this backdrop that the brightly colored world of the
Defenders is pitted against a graying, muted atmospheric energy
of evil. The players are all clearly defined, their powers delineated,
their allegiances prioritized and their backgrounds richly imbued.
As exciting as the characters is the high tech spaceage world in
which they live where robots and computers have a life all their
own.
PRINCE OF KRO-TAN
Kro-Tan overtakes his father only to fall prey to his own greediness.
Kro-Tan, Ming's son, wants to take over his father's kingdom. He
pays a visit to Zorelda, an old ugly witch with magical powers and
asks for her support. Zorelda complies and gives Kro-Tan three powers:
teleportation, telekenesis and disguise. It is through the use of
these powers that Kro-Tan disguises himself as a handsome earthling
and begins a flirtation with Jedda, Phantom's gorgeous redheaded
daughter. Getting the Defenders on his side to destroy Ming is not
difficult for Kro-Tan, especially with Jedda on his side. Kro-Tan
also charms Jedda into moleculizing (destroy and turn into molecules)
Ming. Now that their arch enemy is destroyed (and unaware of just
who Kro-Tan is) the Defenders take a vacation. They go off to Africa
to help an old friend of Jedda's -- Ted Walton --who is trying to
save the earth. Ted is a brilliant young scientist who desparately
needs funds to help his project. But Kro-Tan has other plans. He
disguises himself as a sponsor of Ted's project and tries to get
him to help him transport the Earth to Mongo. In the process, Kro-Tan
also hooks a tiny mind-control bomb to Ted so that he can control
his thoughts. Kro-Tan places the same mind-control bombs on 6 of
the Defenders and also manages to capture Jedda and take her back
to Mongo to be his bride. Naturally she refuses his advances but
Kro-Tan threatens the Defender's destruction if she doesn't give
in. Jedda is forced to marry the scoundral. But wait! She manages
to get a message to Flash, the only one without a mind bomb. The
landscape is particularly beautiful to her. Mongo in winter is blue
with snow. There is a mystical quality that draws one in. Tones
are muted and soft as Lothar and L.D. learn of Kro-Tan's plan to
launch a missle towards earth. Mandrake, Phantom and Jedda are attacked
by snowbeasts and Zuffy and Kshin are tracked down by Zuffoid-killing
robots. Meanwhile we find out what it is that Zorelda really wants.
It seems that she wants Ming's molecules for a stew that holds Suramong,
the first emperor of Mongo and Zorelda's love. It is only when Kro-Tan's
back is up against the wall (the Defenders are right on his tail)
that he forfeits the molecules which of course releases Suramong
who takes over Kro-Tan. Suramong, assured that he can never again
lose, gets rid of Zorelda and starts to reign over Mongo. Ah! But
there's a catch. There is one who can stop him. A zuffoid. Only
a zuffoid has the power to destroy Suramong and of course, Zuffy
does that which automatically restores Ming to his former power.
Now the evil Ming is back and newly aware of his son's ultimate
plans to overthrow him. The Defenders, in tact, return home awaiting
some new unknown horror that Ming will attempt to bestow upon the
earth.
NECKLACE OF OROS
The necklace of Oros would give Ming his long-awaited wish of knowing
the secret of gravity. Knowing that it is Jedda's birthday and,
on that day, she gets to select a gift from the family jewels Ming
arranges through Gravitron that she select the necklace. Thus begins
another splendid episode in which the forces of good and evil are
colorfully depicted through luxurious landscapes and terrifying
aliens.
Once Jedda selects the necklace she is fair game for Gravitron,
an evil alien reptilian/humanoid. It is Mandrake who suspects some
dirty deed is going on and hypnotizes her. Under hypnosis she reveals
the power of the necklace --- and Gravitron's role in it.
Once all this is known the fight is underway. Taking us through
the Skull Palace, the Phantom's Family Room, Ming's Palace and earth
we are led on an inter galactic war which in fact, almost destroys
the earth.
Still the fight is on for the necklace and Jedda, caught in the
battle, is almost pulled out of this galaxy only to be rescued by
Rick and L.J. But has she really been rescued? She's in a coma.
Kro-Tan builds a wall around the earth. The wall keeps out all sunlight,
plunging the earth into a deep freeze. Flash and Prince Barin (a
good guy) manage to infiltrate Mongo and start a slave uprising
and a rebellion against Ming. Flash is caught and tortured by the
Inquistor (robot) but the hero never gives in. Ultimately the defenders
escape.
The issue of the necklace hasn't been resolved, though. This time
Ming turns to Hadea, goddess of the Underworld to maintain his anti-gravity
device while he seeks out Jedda's necklace. Jedda, still in a coma,
is taken off to Africa in search of medical help. While there the
Phantom, Rick, L.J. and Jedda fall into Hadea's web who transports
them to another visually splendid environ. This time it is the Phantom
who is the prized partner and in agreement for letting Jedda go,
the Phantom promises to marry Hadea.
It is after the Phantom escapes from Hadea's underworld and stealing
the necklace in the process that warring factions develop between
Ming, Graviton and Hadae. Each wants the necklace for their own
purposes but ultimately the Defenders get it back and Jedda, in
a state of true consciousness throws it into the the atmosphere
so that it can never be possessed by evil forces again.
BOOK OF MYSTERIES
We start off in Morocco when the Defenders learn that a part of
that ancient land has disappeared! Kshin wants to go but can't because
he hasn't done his homework. Well, Kshin is not about to be left
out of the action. In fact, when Mandrake tells Kshin he may read
any book in his library for his book report, other than the Book
of Enigmas, we know that that is exactly the book that Kshin will
read.
The adventure unfolds simultaneously when the heroes try to find
the reason for the loss of part of Morocco and Kshin opens up the
forbidden volume. Through Dynak X, Kshin is able to instruct the
Defenders to find the lost city and, once they find it, how to unjam
the field surrounding the lost area.
Once inside they accidentally awaken the Sleeping God. Upon seeing
them he holds them responsible for removing the stone eye of the
dragon.Whomever stole it has imprisoned him.He can't return home
until it is returned. Punishment for this is death - boiling in
oil - but Kshin rescues them in the nick of time. He explains to
the now awake Sleeping God that they are not responsible for this
transgression. After letting the Defenders retrieve the Eye for
him the Sleeping God returns home, as do our champion Defenders.
Meanwhile, Ming is attempting to find an obelisk which would give
him the power to travel 4 times the speed of light and thus enable
him to foretell the future.
It is by accident, while in North Africa battling Ming's roboships,
that Flash discovers the obelisk. Unaware of its power but curious
as to its significance Flash takes it back with him to his fellow
Defenders. When Rick and L.J. touch it they see the future, one
in which they defeat Octon, another dreaded enemy. Although confused,
it is clear to them that this is a powerful object.
Ming gets wind of the fact that the Defender's possess the obelisk
and goes after them via Scavanger, the desert Arab whose home Ming
uses as a base for his search. But it is Mandrake, whose magical
powers are too much for Ming, who defeats the emperor and sends
the obelisk beyond the reach of mortals. Ming goes off to ice station
earth.
Away from it all, Kshin is on vacation with his good buddies. After
seeing a ghost ship, no one believes him so in an attempt to show
them that it's not a fantasy he goes out to the ship. He soon realizes
he's the only one who can see it. The ship and its crew are ghosts
and they cannot 'go off to their proper resting place because of
a missing compass which locks them into the earth's atmosphere.
While Kshin is trying to do the good deed of rescuing the compass
at the bottom of the sea Ming spots him and sends a freezebeam onto
the ship. Just in time, the Defenders catch sight of this and blast
Ming out of the sky. Kshin gives the ghost crew Morgan's Compass
and sets them free and another visually stimulating adventure ends
only to have another begin.
Innocently enough the Defenders decide to go to see a traveling
carnival. Nothing serious.... until Dr. Kalihari (who is not really
the owner but a shyster) begins to find the Defender's top notch
quality acts annoying. When Kshin pays the magic store a visit Dr.
Kalihari sells him a truly old item -- one which shrinks his fellow
Defenders and renders them practically powerless. But good does
triumph over evil and they regain their stature once again and lock
up Dr. Kalihari and return the carnival to it's rightful owners.
The Defenders triumph once again.
|
