The Defenders of the Earth Cartoon featured the eight members of the DOTE team, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar, the Phantom and their four children, Rick Gordon, Jedda Walker, L.J and Kshin. The cartoon was first aired in September 1986 and was a vehicle to bring together all of the King Features Heroes together. The show is set in 2015, where the DOTE are charged with stopping the evil Ming the Merciless from attacking and taking over Planet Earth.
King Features teamed up with Marvel to produce the sixty-six episodes that were made, and the story-lines were quite good (considering how difficult it must have been to credibly hook-up Flash Gordon, an intergalactic space pilot, the Phantom, some mystical jungle figure, Mandrake the Magician. a very old-fashioned looking theatrical magician and Lothar some guy from the C20th USA) into any sort of credible storylines. The cartoon has a great intro and I really liked the cartoon as a kid, but to be honest if you were a real big fan of the original comics, e.g. the original Mandrake, or the original Phantom etc. then you may get slightly annoyed by the bizarre changes that the characters have undergone to fit into the Defenders storylines!
Flash Gordon
Flash is probably the most famous of the Defenders of the Earth characters. We've all seen the Flash Gordon film and sung along to the Queen soundtrack! He's pretty much a bog-standard hero type character, good morale fibre, courageous, clean cut, fighter pilot, who leads the DOTE team.
The team are based in a high-tech facility under a water filled volcano. They have a computer (a female computer called Dyna X, which is all that remains of Rik's mother/Flash Gordon's wife after she is attacked by Ming) that helps co-ordinate their defence of the Earth & some pretty hi-tech planes etc (considering this is meant to be set in 2015!)
Rik Gordon
I always thought Rik was a bit of a boring character, he seems to just be a carbon copy of his father. But he does get to wear one of the trendy DOE logo jackets that all of the four young defenders get to sport. The only real way in which Rik is different from his father is that Rik is a computer genius. (Originally the makers of the cartoon were planning on making him the phantom's son and calling him Kit Walker).
Mandrake the Magician
Mandrake has undergone quite a bit of change from his comic book character. In the comics Mandrake was a master of illusion, none of this spells and magic rubbish. However for the cartoon they obviously decided to spice him up a bit and he became a real magician with magical powers!
K'Shin
K'shin was always a bit of a mystery to me. All the other young defenders are direct relatives of their parents, K'Shin just seems to be some random young child Mandrake has snatched from Asia (we never find out his country of birth). He is being trained as Mandrake's apprentice
Phantom
The Phantom is the Lord of the Jungle, the Ghost who walks! In the comic strip he has no magical powers, but in the cartoon you will oft find him saying 'By jungle law the ghost who walks calls forth the power of ten tigers!'
This then gives him super-human strength, I think he could also talk to animals, but I might be imagining this!
Jedda
Jedda is the Phantom's daughter, she has a pet which is a black panther named Kisha, and she also has psychic powers. Originally Jedda was going to be Flash Gordon's daughter (and Rik was going to be the Phantom's son)!
Lothar
The skill that sets Lothar apart is that he is a great engineer, he keeps all of the jets, planes, vehicles etc that the DOTE use in working order and can solve most mechanical problems. He is also the strongest ofthe group and so useful in a fight!
L.J.
LJ, or Lothar Junior takes after his father, he enjoys all things mechanical and is also a karate expert. He attends City High school with Rik and the other young Defenders and is Rik's best friend.
Ming the Merciless
Ming the Merciless is all about taking over Planet Earth - he just needs to beat those annoying Defenders. Ming is based at Ice Station Zero and has swarms of ice robots to serve him, Ming also has a pet called Mongor, a weird Dragon thing that is never really fully explained. Ming is from the Planet Mongo and was always Flash Gordon's nemesis in the Flash Gordon comic strips.
Zuffy!?!
Zuffy is one of those annoying creatures they throw into these cartoons from time to time. Zuffy was resuced from Mongo by Flash Gordon and is now KShin's pet.
In case you were wandering Zuffy is a Zuffoid, not the most imaginative names, I expect the writers were getting toward the end of a long day when they got to this character.
Defenders of the Earth: The Lyrics
Out of the sky, his rockets ignite, jets into battle flying faster than light. Flash Gordon. Lord of the Jungle, the hero who stalks the beast call him brother. The ghost who walks. Phantom. Defenders of The Earth.
Master of magic spells and illusion. Enemies crumble in fear and confusion. Mandrake.
Defenders of The Earth.
His strength is a legend, his skill conquers all. On with his power we never will fall. Lothar.
Defenders of the Earth.
With our new young heroes proving their worth, four become eight, defending the Earth
Defenders of The Earth. Defenders. Defenders of The Earth.
Defenders of the Earth Intro Theme
