01x06 - The Root of Evil

[bunniefuu]

- ♪ Defenders of the Earth ♪

Defenders!

[dramatic music]

♪ Out of the sky his rockets ignite ♪

♪ Jets into battle flying faster than light ♪

Flash Gordon!

♪ Lord of the jungle the hero who st*lks ♪

♪ The beasts call him brother The Ghost Who Walks ♪

Phantom!

♪ Defenders of the Earth ♪

Defenders!

♪ Master of magic, spells, and illusion ♪

♪ Enemies crumble in fear and confusion ♪

Mandrake!

♪ Defenders of the Earth ♪

Defenders!

♪ His strength is a legend his skills conquer all ♪

♪ Armed with his power we never will fall ♪

Lothar!

♪ Defenders of the Earth ♪

Defenders!

♪ With our new young heroes proving their worth ♪

♪ Four become eight defending the Earth ♪

♪ Defenders of the Earth ♪

Defenders!

♪ Defenders of the Earth ♪

[thunder echoes]

[dramatic music]

- Imagine feeding the entire world.

No more hunger.

A super plant food will be

the greatest scientific discovery of all time.

I'll perfect it if it takes a hundred more sleepless nights.

I know I'm close to a breakthrough...

I know it.

Oops! Oh, how clumsy of me!

I suppose I really should get some rest.

Wh-what...what's happening?

The formula-- what have I done?

In the wrong hands this powder could destroy the world!

I feel so weak...

- Excellent! [chuckles]

Excellent!

Octon...

[mechanical whirring]

Have Doctor Whitestead and his daughter

brought here to me at once!

- Yes, my lord Ming!

- I'm sure the doctor won't mind

giving us a few gardening tips.

[chuckles]

[engine hums]

- Patience, old buddy.

You'll be home before you know it.

Uh oh! Here comes Ming's boys!

This'll be fun!

- This is your idea of fun? - You bet!

Watch this!

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

[expl*si*n]

♪ ♪

[lasers blasting]

♪ ♪

[expl*si*n]

[expl*si*n]

The devil's keyhole!

- We'll never get through! - It's a piece of cake!

[expl*si*n]

If Ming's boys are on the loose

that can only mean trouble.

I've got to get back to Earth!

- Approaching Professor Whitestead's laboratory.

Prepare to land.

[engine revs]

- Father, I'm home!

Something doesn't feel right.

Father must still be in the lab.

Father?

Father! [glass shatters]

[dramatic music]

- W-what--what do you want?

No! [strains]

- Prepare the other human for the trip to Ice Station Earth.

- Don't you dare touch my father!

- Homework, yuck!

[tuning fork rings]

- I mean, why should I ruin a whole Saturday afternoon

working on some dumb plant experiment for science class?

- Come on, Kshin. Schoolwork's very important.

- You don't become a Defender

just because of your bravery, strength, skill--

- And good looks.

- Kshin, it takes lots of study, too.

- I'd still rather be out saving the world!

- Ah, our guests of honor have arrived.

Welcome to my Room of Inquisition.

Please make yourselves comfortable.

I would question your father,

but unfortunately he's no longer very talkative.
[ … ]

- I demand you release us!

- My inquisitor will soon change your mind, my dear!

- Ooh!

Oh, whatever you do, I'll never tell you what you want to know!

- As you Earthlings say, I wouldn't bet on it.

[electricity crackles]

Now, my dear...

what are the ingredients in your father's formula?

- No! I won't tell you!

- Let's try again, shall we?

[crackling intensifies]

- One part sodium nitrate. One part nitrous oxygen.

And ten parts Loba.

- Loba? What is Loba?

- Secret ingredient. Rare herb.

Only my father and his oldest friend know.

- Oldest friend?

- Mandrake. Mandrake the Magician.

- Mandrake, eh? My old adversary.

Your job, my dear, will be to convince Mandrake

to reveal the location of the herb I need,

unless you want your father to end up as a chef salad!

[cackles]

- I can't believe you forgot, Rick Gordon!

Our first high society function--

the Blue Moon Soiree!

- You remember-- the coming out party

Mandrake and Dad are giving for us.

- Oh, that Blue Moon Soiree. Sure, I-I'll be there.

- Men!

[crickets chirping]

[saxophone plays]

- Good evening, Dad! Mandrake!

- Uh, hi!

- Look! - Wow, it's Jedda!

I almost didn't recognize her.

Hi Jedda. Would you like to, um--

- Dance. The word is dance.

Rick, come on.

- The monitoring device I planted in her tiara

is working perfectly.

- Ouch! - Sorry, Jedda.

- Bridget!

Bridget Whitestead, what a surprise!

I'm so glad you've come. Tell me, how is your father?

- He's on the balcony.

He must speak with you immediately, come!

- Doctor Whitestead?

- Once my robots bring Mandrake to the Inquisitor,

the secret location of the Loba will be mine!

[gas hisses]

- [coughs]

[dramatic music]

- You aren't leaving the party so soon, are you?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

But then, I can't say I'm sorry to see you go.

Don't just stand there, girl! Get some water for the man!

What's the matter, girl? Did you not hear me?

- I'm afraid she can't hear you, old friend.

- Ming? - Unquestionably.

Assemble our group.

[triumphant music]

♪ ♪

- You want me to help her?

- Your telepathic powers should be strong enough

to break Ming's hold on her mind.

Now concentrate, Jedda.

[ethereal reverberations]

- Oh!

Wh-where-- where am I?

- Okay, let's go over the plan one more time.

Bridget, still pretending to be under his mind control,

will tell Ming he can find Loba there.

- Siberia? - Right.

But what Ming doesn't know is that Loba herb only grows here,

in the remote KenKar jungle of Peru.

- And that, my dear friends,

is where the Phantom is now standing guard

as a precautionary measure.

- While Ming is out on his wild goose chase

Mandrake and I are going to take a little trip

to Ice Station Earth.

- We'll get your father back, Bridget, I promise.

- Oh, thank you Mandrake.

- Never make promises you can't keep, Mandrake.

[bird calls]

- Monitor to Phantom. Any sign of trouble?

- No, LJ, it's as quiet as a-- [static]

Come in, Monitor. LJ, can you hear me?

Ming's ice robots...

How did they find out the Loba is here?

By Jungle law, the Ghost Who Walks

calls forth the strength of ten tigers!

[dramatic music]

They've gotten most of the Loba!

- The Phantom! Fire!

[lasers blasting]

- Let's see what you ice robots are really made of.

- Return to Ice Station Earth!
[ … ]

[rockets ignite]

- It's too late.

- It's ready, O Great One!

- We must be sure. Bring me a subject.

- Yes--yes, master?

- I have something for you.

Ah, the formula works perfectly!

Now I have only to cover the Earth with it.

- Now to make us a little less conspicuous.

- Amazing!

My own mother would swear I was one of Ming's men of frost!

- Ming demands our presence.

- Open the gates!

- You've got to teach me that some time.

- I can see through your illusions, Mandrake and Lothar.

I've been expecting you.

Guards, fire!

[lasers blast]

- Guess it's time for plan number two.

[lasers blasting]

- Well, the gentleman did say, "fire."

- Whoa, hey, fire? - What the--

- Stop, you fools! It's only an illusion.

Surrender, magician!

You'll never escape Ice Station Earth!

Never! I promise you that!

- Never make promises you can't keep, Ming!

- If only I could have stopped them.

- You did your best, old friend!

- Father! Thank you.

Thank you for bringing my father back.

- We almost didn't. Ming was expecting us.

- He also knew the real location of the Loba plants.

What's going on?

- I don't know.

But now that Ming has all the ingredients

to Doctor Whitestead's formula, we're in trouble.

That's why we gotta find out what his next step is.

I have an idea involving Dynak X, but it's risky.

- Let me guess.

You want me to interface with Octon, correct?

- Octon could blow Dynak X's microprocessors to bits.

- I am willing to take that chance.

- We'll be with you all the way.

- Ow! - Octon, what is it?

- I--I don't know. Intruder in my memory circuits.

Dynak X!

Dynak, Dynak, Dynak, Dynak, Dynak, Dynak--

- I'm inside Octon's memory now.

My presence has been detected.

- Get out! Get out of there now!

- Internal security at full strength, sire.

I have forced Dynak X to retreat.

- Did she get any information?

- No, sire. I was too fast for her.

- I was too fast for him.

I copied the data before he even knew I was there!

- Good work, Dynak. According to this information

Ming plans to use his robopilots

to blanket Earth with Doctor Whitestead's plant food.

- And everyone coming in contact with the formula will--

- Be like my father!

- We're not beaten yet!

All I've got to do is stop Ming's robopilots

from dumping Doctor Whitestead's formula

in the upper atmosphere.

Ming's robots don't stand a chance against me.

- Okay, Dad.

As soon as Dynak picks up any alien presence--

[alarm beeps]

This is it! Enemy ships headed your way!

- Okay, boys and girls, it's fireworks time!

- Warning.

Laser weapons malfunctioning. All weapons are useless.

- Come on, come on!

- It's no use. All circuits are blocked!

- [gasps] Look!

- Within three hours and minutes

all of earth will be covered

with Doctor Whitestead's formula.

- The Earth is doomed if we can't stop them.

- I'd like to know how Ming is staying one step ahead of us.

- First he found out about the real location of the Loba.

- And now,

sabotaging the Space Station and Monitor's weapons systems.

- I'm getting a weird sensation...

as if there's a... a spy among us.

[gasps]

This explains it!

A transmitter sending every word we've said

directly to Ming!

- But how? - How?

You are a spy!

- Come on, Jedda. That's not fair.

- I don't know how that got in there.

- Excuse the interruption, but the partial analysis

reveals just one way to neutralize the plant food.

- Water, that's brilliant!

If we can dilute the powder before it reaches the ground

it'll be too weak to do any harm!
[ … ]

- How do you propose watering an entire planet?

- Please observe.

Specially charged ion particles

released at a key point

will stimulate rain clouds worldwide.

However, this plan is based upon incomplete data.

It may not work.

- There's only one way to find out!

- Ion tanks filled.

Just remember, you've gotta release the particles

at the exact coordinates.

- Hey, I could do it with my eyes closed.

Don't worry. - Good luck!

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- Ah, just where I like to be-- right on target.

[lasers impact]

- Ming's robopilots!

Oh yeah? Watch this, suckers!

Too bad, fellas. You blew it.

Leaving so soon?

- Look, it's taking effect!

- All right! - Yeah, it worked!

- Why don't you take a closer look?

- What's he talking about?

[rain splatters]

They're sprouting roots! What went wrong?

- Wrong? Everything went right!

Your worldwide rainstorm helped me immeasurably!

It increased the formula's potency!

Give my special thanks to Flash Gordon, won't you?

- So that's why Ming's ice robots turned tail.

They wanted me to drop the ion particles.

- I can't believe it.

We helped Ming take over the world.

- I refuse to believe that!

There's gotta be a way to stop him.

There just has to be!

- Kshin!

these plants from your school experiment...

weren't they the same size this morning?

- Yeah, but when I exposed one

to the sound from this tuning fork it got smaller.

- Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

There's no time to lose.

We'll run the sound wave formula

through Dynak X's emergency system.

Okay, Dynak X has calculated

the exact pitch that might save the world.

- But how do we get this sound to everyone on Earth?

It's impossible.

- Too bad we don't have a gigantic tuning fork.

- We can use Flash's spaceships to form a huge tuning fork.

- And then pass an electrical impulse through them.

It would cause a huge sound wave

covering the entire planet.

- Let's do it!

[triumphant music]

♪ ♪

Everyone ready?

- Ready. - Ready.

- Last chance to bail out. - I wanna help, Jedda.

- We're ready!

♪ ♪

- Octon, what is it?

- My lord, your enemies are attempting to save the Earth.

- No! This time they can't stop me!

Launch the battle fleet.

- Good. We're almost in position.

Brace for the electrical surge.

The impulse will travel from me, to Rick, then over to--

uh-oh.

Don't look now, but we've got company.

- What do you say

we pull the welcome mat right out from under them?

- Count us in!

[lasers blast]

[explosions]

- This is better than video game!

[explosions]

- Way to go, LJ!

- More Ming warships! I don't like the odds!

[explosions]

- Rick, LJ, Jedda, fly above Ming's warships!

I'm going below!

[explosions]

Let's see how well you can take the heat, chumps!

[lasers blast]

- A warship! - Bridget, hold on!

[lasers blasting]

[explosions]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[triumphant music]

♪ ♪

[lasers blasting]

[explosions]

- Girls, you all right?

- Yes, thanks to Bridget.

- Okay, Defenders. Let's get on with it
[ … ]

before Ming sends more of his toy soldiers up here.

I'm generating the electrical impulse...now!

Mission accomplished. Time to head for home.

- Look, look!

- It's working, I can't believe it!

- Check out the White House.

- I want to show you something, my dear.

- Father, you're all right! You're all right!

- Bridget and I owe so much to all of you.

- And I owe you an apology.

- Don't worry, Jedda. I understand.

- Well, I don't.

How come you risked your life for me up there?

- Because you're my friend. - Yes, we're friends.

- Bridget and I will be returning home shortly

to continue our experiments to solve world hunger.

- Doctor Whitestead, I think I speak for all of us

when I offer our assistance in your efforts.

- Me, too.

After all, I got an A-plus on my science project!