Defenders of the Earth Ep. 05 Bits and Chips

Join host Patrick Cadigan as he discusses episode five of Defenders of the Earth, "Bits and Chips," where Ming lures the team to a chess tournament in Paris to infect their computer ally Dynak X with a digital virus, gaining access to Earth's weapons data and turning Monitor's own defenses against the team. To save Dynak X, Rick shrinks himself, LJ, and Jedda inside the computer using his Micronizer invention. After battling the virus and resisting Ming's deceptions, they destroy it and restore Dynak X. The Phantom and Flash then strike Ming's island base, forcing him to retreat. So strap in, flash forward (and back) again!

Links:
Bits and Chips Resource (page)
Toy Collectors Guide - DotE Swordship (Link)
RCA Capacitance Electronic Disc (link)

Transcript

Patrick Cadigan  00:08

You're listening to Flash Forward A Defenders of the Earth Retrospective. I'm your host, Patrick Cadigan, join me as I revisit each episode of the series, breaking down the stories, characters, themes, and maybe digging just a bit into the lore that gave this series its moment in 80s animated television. Whether you're a longtime fan who remembers watching its first run or discovering the show for the first time and wondering how you ever missed it to begin with, this is your chance to flash forward and back into a world of heroes, villains and gloriously 80s retro action adventure. Let's get started. 

Patrick Cadigan  00:45

And here we go. We are back. So for this week, we are going to review episode five bits and chips. Now this episode was written by the team of Dick Robbins, Mark zaslov and Bryce Malik. Now dick and Bryce, you will remember, were the team that brought us the first episode escape from Mongo. Now, Mark zaslov, as a writer in the 80s, is credited with Challenge of the Gobots, New Adventures of Johnny quest and several of the Disney properties, including Ducktales, Winnie the Pooh and Rescue Rangers. I also found it interesting that he was an additional contributor contributor on Disney's Black Cauldron, although, according to IMDB, it was uncredited. Now for the team of Robbins and Malik; Dick Robbins was both writer and story editor in the late 70s for shows like Godzilla and Jenna of the Jungle. As a writer in the 80s, he also did Transformers and Superboy. Bryce Malik, on the other hand, during the 70s and 80s, he was a writer for Scoopy and Scrappy-doo and the Transformers. In the 90s, he was writing for New Adventures of Speed Racer and Conan and the Young Warriors, just to name a few. This episode aired on Friday, September 12, in 1986 and the characters that we're going to run into for this show are Flash Gordon, the Phantom, Mandrake, the magician, Lothar, Rick LJ, Ming the Merciless, Dynak x Octon, Malachek, Kshin, Zuffy (the space alien) and Jedda. 

Patrick Cadigan  02:32

So diving in; Act One. We open to space just outside Earth's orbit in his spaceship, Flash Gordon is surprised when the Phantom can visually spot a damaged satellite before his own on board radar could the two will need to suit up to do a space walk in order to perform repairs in 2015 that means being encased in elastic spray and then environmental and communications armament being attached. However, as they prepare to begin their repair, they are suddenly ambushed by a squadron of Ming Zeiss robots, after a high stakes dog fight where Flash uses his fancy flying to down several ships with the help of some convenient asteroids, the canopy of their ship is destroyed, and even more robot ships approach, evading the oncoming robot ships hail of laser blasts. The previous attack group is destroyed by friendly fire, and the Phantom is able to capitalize in the confusion and destroy even more unfortunately, for an unknown reason, their ship's weapons controls become disabled. The Phantom decides it's a good idea to initiate a manual weapon control to clear a path, and he grabs a readily available laser Gatling gun at the hull of the ship, and single handedly destroys the remaining ships.

Flash Gordon  03:54

Phantom old buddy. You're a man of few words, but lots of firepower.

Patrick Cadigan  03:59

The two then continue repairs to the space station. We find the ensuing battle was being supervised by Ming, who dismisses the destruction of the robot ships as inconsequential. Ming orders Octon to release his throne room, and we watch as it blasts through the sea ice surface and flies off to destination unknown. We then find ourselves at monitor where Lothar is teaching the very unimpressed Kshin and LJ the finer points of chess. Suddenly, a bolt of energy flashes, and the chess board and pieces shrink down to a fraction of their original size. A very impressed Mandrake and crew ask Rick what just happened, and Rick is happy to explain that he is working on his latest gadget, the micronizer. Dynak X questions Rick about the longevity of the effect, and Rick clarifies that the micronization will last about an hour. At that moment, Lothar conveniently gets a message from his friend, Malachek (first or last name unknown) that Lothar and his group have been invited to an international chess tournament in Paris, to which Lothar immediately accepts. Before letting him go. Malachek asks Lothar if he would bring Dynak x with him to test at the tournament's own chess playing computer. Lothar thinks nothing of it and agrees. However, when Malachek turns off the visual communicator, we find that he's being held at gunpoint by Ming's blue skinned henchmen. Next, we find Ming landing his ship on an island and commanding Octon to energize his electronic maggot tentacled power conduits emerge from the ship and connect to a nearby power station and bring the maggot to life, at which point we learn that Ming intends to infect Dynak x with the maggot once she is connected to the chess playing computer, where he intends to steal the access codes for the Earth's weapon systems. Meanwhile, at the international chess competition in Paris, the team consisting of Lothar, Mandrake, Rick and LJ are happy. The tournament appears to be well attended. While Rick wonders aloud where the chess playing computer is, LJ points out a large mainframe like system at the floor center. Rick immediately scoffs and says that there will be no competition. Lothar asks LJ to see if he can find Malachek in the executive offices, but LJ becomes distracted by two hobbies walking by him all of a sudden, LJ hears a scuffling sound, and immediately senses danger. He runs to a locked door, and when he can't open it, kicks it down to discover a tied and gagged Malachek. LJ works to free him, and Malachek warns that Dynak x must not be connected to the chess playing computer. We then see Rick connecting the two computers together, even as LJ tries to stop him, Rick is knocked to the ground by feedback, and Dynak X is instantly aware that there has been an invasion. We then see the maggot chomping through circuitry, and Dynak X's vector representation cries out for Rick as she disappears from view. As Rick pleads to get through to his virtual mother, Ming appears on the screen to let them know he has taken control. 

Patrick Cadigan  07:16

Act Two. We then circle back to the space station, where Flash is making repairs, getting a call from the Phantom. Flash tells him that the repairs will take several hours. Phantom communicates with Monitor, where an on-duty Jedda tells him that Dynak X has been compromised. Suddenly, the transmission is cut off, and we see Dynak X on screen talking about Ming being the ultimate power in the universe. We transition back to Ming's ship, where he is watching his maggots progress through Dynak X's circuits on his screen. When Octon informs Ming that the Defenders have left the tournament to return to monitor, Ming decides that he will have a surprise for them. Upon their return, Rick notes that their security doors are locked. Both Lothar and LJ attempt to use their physical strength to get through the doors, to no avail. It's up to Mandrake, as he uses his mental powers to manipulate the gears in the door into opening. Successful, they are met with a wailing siren sound and Dynak X claiming an intruder alert. Kshin, along with Zuffy (the space alien), are present to call out to the team that Ming intends to use monitors internal defense system against them. LJ jibes Rick about the design of his defense system being so efficient. Lothar reacts to the floor opening and the reveal of a power grid by grabbing his hook and tossing it to the floor edge and tying the end rope to nearby column. The team then uses the rope to safely traverse the dangerous energy grid below. As the team makes their way across, the rope begins to break, but not before LJ, Rick and Lothar make it. Mandrake, on the other hand, is left when the rope snaps, and he seemingly falls over the edge, but manages to maintain his grip. Just as the torn rope edge comes into contact with the power grid and lights a fire, the team pulls Mandrake to safety.

Mandrake  09:13

You pulled me up none too soon.

Lothar  09:16

Sometimes strength works better than magic.

Mandrake  09:20

I have no illusions about that, good friend.

Patrick Cadigan  09:23

Back at the main computer hub, Jedda reiterates to the team that Ming has total control of Dynak X. Mandrake, again, using his mental abilities, attempts to intervene. We then get a glimpse of a human Dale Arden/Dynak X, who pleads with Mandrake for help, but is then overtaken by the maggot virus. When Jedda wonders aloud what Ming might want with the computer, Lothar responds by telling her that Ming knows he can control the defenders through her. Rick, however, sees the larger plan and tells everyone that by controlling Dynak X, Ming has access to an endless. Amount of data, Rick complains that he needs to be inside the machine in order to stop the takeover. At that moment, LJ jumps in to remind Rick of his recent invention, the micronizer, and Jedda and by default, Kisa joins them to attempt a rescue before shrinking them down. Mandrake reminds them of their one hour time limit, and, for good measure, tells them that they will be crushed if they are still inside the computer when they return normal size, having shrunk down atop an animated RCA CED and inserted into the computer, the human thrio Admire the internal structure computer, calling it beautiful. LJ ponders how they'll find the maggot in the system, but Jedda warns that the maggot will most likely find them first. Little do they know that they are both being watched by Ming and the computer's own inherent defense system will attempt to destroy them before they know it. Kisa senses danger, and the group find another three Oh of Dynak X's internal monitoring system. However, Rick, their inventor, is prepared and hurls a debugger at them to shut them down. LJ doesn't appear to be worried, but just then, energy short circuit chains begin to form around them from the wall. Act three as the three are paralyzed within the energy chains. Rick realizes the circuit breakers they need are nearby. However, they're too far away for that knowledge to be useful. Jedda, using her telepathy, tells Kisa what they need her to do and sends her on her way to take care of business. Kisa disables the energy chains and the four are able to make their way to the computer core and find the maggot stopping to admire himself in a reflection. LJ is attacked by the maggot, who then turns its attention to the group coming to a chasm within the computer. Jedda whips out a rope, attaches it to a hanging crystal and uses it to safely swing across the pursuing maggot easily leaps across the chasm and continues its pursuit of the kids. Rick fumbles and drops to the ground, but before being overtaken by the maggot, keesa jumps to his rescue by distracting the maggot. The maggot quickly gets rid of her and continues to chase the kids to the computer core, sliding down a floor opening, Rick is separated from the group and comes face to face with a vision of his mother. However, we discover that it is actually Ming who has created an illusion, hoping that Rick will smash the information crystal himself, thus spraying the Defense Information from the computer for Ming.

Dale Arden/Dynak X  12:33

Help me. Help me, Rick. You can release me.

Rick Gordon  12:42

Mom. How can I free you? 

Dale Arden/Dynak X  12:46

There the crystal within the room center. Smash it and you will free me.

Ming  12:55

Mandrake is not the only one who can create illusions. Obey your mother, smash the crystal and the secret of the Earth's weapon systems will be mine.

Patrick Cadigan  13:09

At first, Rick pulls a pillar from the computer floor and seems to be ready to assist the illusion. However, Mandrake has been monitoring the progress telepathically and warns Rick both of the deception and the fact that he only has a short time left to save the computer. As the three reunite, the maggot crashes the computer core, thus freeing the information to be retrieved by Ming and continues its pursuit of the kids in their flight. Rick is angry, thinking that they have lost their chance to save Dynak X and decides to turn and fight all at once. Kisa shows back up, and LJ and Jedda join the fight with randomly available stun batons inside the computer housing the foursome keep up their attack, and before you know it, the maggot is overwhelmed and melts away immediately, Dynak x returns to herself and tells the kids that they need to leave as they are out of time, out of the computer and back to normal size. Everyone celebrates the victory. We then shift to the Phantom and Flash getting the location of Ming's power source from Lothar, and the two swoop in for an attack still in his ship, though, he's disappointed about losing control of Dynak x. Ming is celebrating his retrieval of the Defense Information. Just then, Octon interjects to tell Ming that the Phantom and Flash are on the attack, and Ming responds with a command to release more robo-ships outgunned, but not outclassed. The Phantom and flash easily destroy their attacking foes with the introduction of their new weapon, the sword ship. Product placement. Ming attempts to throw up a shield around the island base, but the sword ship cuts right through it, and the building explodes, forcing Ming to retreat. Flash inquires about Dynak X, and she is able to respond that all is well. Flash promises that nothing will happen to her again, and she reciprocates the promise the end. 

Patrick Cadigan  15:13

So again, this was another one of those episodes that, in the beginning, I wasn't quite sure how it was going to fit in, or what I was going to think about it. But as I was doing the write up, I actually found myself thinking that this is a good episode. It's fairly clever. One of the things that I appreciated this was one of the first episodes where, now it doesn't include everyone, like again, Kshin and Zuffy (the space alien), really only show up for like a single frame or a single scene. But in general, this episode successfully splits the action amongst both the veterans of the group, but then also, there's a bit of a focus on the kids. If anything, I would think that this is probably a bit more because of the emotional arc within the episode. In terms of Rick and his mom, I feel like that. This is probably more of a Rick focused episode, but in general, it was really nice to see the kids get some of the focus for it. 

Patrick Cadigan  16:16

I also appreciated the theme of the technology as a double edged sword. So of course, this episode highlights the fact that the defenders greatest asset is this super computer created by Rick Dynak X, but it also is now one of their greater vulnerabilities, which you know, Lothar brings up. In this particular case, Ming isn't able to, doesn't defeat them with raw power, but he is essentially corrupting or attempting to corrupt their main core. And of course, that main core is Dynak x, so there is a vulnerability there. But I appreciated that, that concern and that focus, the other thing that I thought was good was, of course, bringing up the whole chess motif, tactical strategies versus, you know what? Like brute force. This pays off, because the younger team has to have tactical patience when they're inside the computer and then Flash and Phantom make that final strategic move against Ming's base. 

Patrick Cadigan  17:37

I really also appreciated the introduction of the sword ship. And this really was like, of course, in the 80s, toy lines were invented, and then cartoons followed to be able to advertise for them. But again, I felt like the outside of the actual action figures themselves from the defenders of the earth toy line. This was one of the those episodes where it was literally product placement. Sword ship, check it out. You can go to the store and you can buy it, and you know, it had such a small place in the overall story. Like, I think it showed up for what, 10, 15, maybe 20 seconds. But it was the, you know, it was the MacGuffin that kind of saved the day. I did even as I was editing, as I was doing the write up, and then editing for the for the show, I even tried to get some visuals of the ship from the episode, and I just couldn't do it. The, the angles were really bad. They didn't really put an emphasis there. There were lots of frames and lots of shots of the ship itself. But then once it, quote, unquote, converted into the sword ship, there really wasn't a whole lot there. So I'm going to try in future episodes to see when the sword ship shows up, if it shows up, to get some visuals for that, because I thought that that would be pretty helpful. 

Patrick Cadigan  19:11

This week's discussion is going to be a little bit different, a little bit shorter. I find myself in travel mode. I brought with me a portable microphone because I'm in North Carolina currently at a soccer tournament for my son. There were some administrative things that I didn't actually get a chance to take care of before leaving, thinking that I had already done them. But of course, found out that I didn't when it comes to the trivia, normally, I go to the Defenders of the Earth disc, and I go to the actual episode, and I'll gather up the trivia. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's, you know, either obvious or not so good. But this time, I didn't actually have any. I did, though, pick up on one piece; there was an animation goof as I was watching the show through and doing my write up. Now, again, you have to remember that I am not watching the discs from the show, start to finish with, you know, the the opening introduction and then the show and then the closing. I'm actually watching it on YouTube, which cuts out the intro. So on the playlist that I use, you know, they have like, 66 videos, you know, one of course, being the introduction. And then they all skip the introduction and just get straight to the story. But in this particular Show, Episode Five, at approximately 4 min. 30 seconds, we see male chick as he is talking to Lothar from the view screen. And the animation piece for Lothar, I kid you not, he straight up looks like a cone head. It was immediately noticeable. I kind of laughed about it, and I had. I did grab a screenshot of it, so there will be a link to it in the show notes. It looks pretty ridiculous, but that was really the only piece that I came across. I did also make a note of for quote, unquote trivia, that this was the first official reference slash appearance of the sword ship. But that is what I have again. I apologize that this is a bit of a shorter show. I will try to make up for it in the next discussion by including back in the trivia or, you know, seeing if it's even worth bringing back up again, and maybe I'll weave some of it into in some of the future episodes, but there you have it. We are finished with defenders of the Earth, bits and chips, Episode Five. In two weeks time, we will come back and we'll have discussion Around episode six, The Root of Evil. Until then.