Defenders of the Earth Ep. 06 The Root of Evil

Join host Patrick Cadigan as he discusses episode six of Defenders of the Earth, "The Root of Evil," where a scientist’s breakthrough accidentally reveals a terrifying side effect. When Ming the Merciless learns of the formula, he kidnaps the scientist and sets into motion a plan to use the invention as a weapon against the Earth. As the Defenders of the Earth race against time, they must combine science, strategy, and teamwork to stop Ming before humanity is consumed forever. So strap in, flash forward (and back) again!

Links:
The Root of Evil Resource (page)

Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:10

You're listening to Flash Forward, a Defenders of the Earth retrospective. I'm your host, Patrick Hadtigan. 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.

Episode Overview

SPEAKER_00 0:46

So this week we are going to be reviewing episode number six, The Root of Evil. The air date for this particular episode was Monday, September 15th, 1986. It was written by the writing team of Ken Cinnamon and Karen Wengrod. I hope that I pronounced both of those correctly. Now looking them up on IMDb, these were writers in animated television shows such as Challenger the Go Bots, He-Man. On the live action front, between the 80s and the 90s, they together, again, are credited with Who's the Boss, Silver Spoons, and Mr. Belvedere, just to name a few. Some of the characters that we're going to be seeing here are the usual suspects: Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar the Phantom, Rick, Gordon, Jedowalker, LJ, and Kishin, along with Dinak X. Blessedly, we will not be seeing Zuffy the Space Alien again. From the villain side, we're going to have Ming the Merciless, Octan, and we're going to get to see an unusual rendition of The Men of Frost. Some of the supporting characters that we're going to be introduced to are Dr. Whitestead and his daughter Bridget. So let's dive in.

Act I

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Act one. We see into a conservatory where a man in a lab coat hunkers over a Bunsen burner with a vial of liquid that he refers to as a super plant food. The man espouses the ability to feed the entire world's population, however, when he pours the liquid into a nearby bowl and attempts to pick it up, he haphazardly spills it on himself. Within moments, horrified roots begin to sprout from his hands and feet. Instantly recognizing his concoction's potential for destruction, he gestures to leave, however, he is unable due to fatigue. We then transition to see the lab as being monitored by none other than Ming the Merciless, who seems pleased with the outcome. Ming calls on Octan to have doctor Whitestead and his daughter brought to him. Meanwhile, Flash Gordon is transporting a friend in his spaceship when they're suddenly attacked by a squadron of Ming's roboships. A daring dogfight ensues, with Flash gliding into a trench in the nearby moon. Using his surroundings to his advantage, Flash manages to destroy the attacking marauders. Flash becomes worried as this can only mean trouble somewhere else and makes a beeline for the Earth. We then cut to see a gaggle of Ming's robot ships descending on the mansion of Dr. Whitestead as his daughter approaches in her car. Upon entering the home, she immediately senses that something is wrong and attempts to locate her father in his lab. When she finds him, he appears to be hunched over, the roots from his hands and feet attached to the floor. Just then, several ice robots break through the conservatory's window wall, grab both the girl and the doctor, and make their return to ice station. Back at Monitor, we see Rick, LJ, Jeddah, and Cashin doing homework in the library. When Kashin voices irritation on having to work on a science project, Jeddah jumps in to remind him of his responsibilities.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Come on, Cushin. Schoolwork's very important.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

We then transport back to Ming's ice station where his robots have successfully captured Dr. Whitestead and his daughter. Ming welcomes his guests, and when the daughter demands to be let go, Ming informs her that his Inquisitor will change her mind. When the daughter protests, telling Ming she will say nothing, Ming clarifies about the role the Inquisitor will play and turns on the machine in a burst of light. Within no time, the struggling young woman succumbs to the mind control apparatus and begins to share the formula of the superplant food. However, she comes to one main herb, Loba, and she tells Ming that it's a secret ingredient known only to the professor and his oldest friend, Mandrake the Magician. Ming tells the daughter that it will be her job to convince Mandrake to reveal the location of the secret herb or else. Back at Monitor, we find Jedda chastising Rick for forgetting their high society function Blue Moon Soire. LJ has to remind Rick that the party is being hosted by his father Lothar and Mandrake for the children. Later on that night, we're taken to the Ruling Hills Country Clib, Members Oini, where we're treated to a fancy dinner party of ball gowns and tuxedos. LJ and Rick enter, and Rick is immediately taken aback by Jeddah as he fumbles to ask her to dance. We then see the doctor's daughter enter the party and find out that Ming has implanted a video monitoring system in her tiara. The daughter approaches Mandrake and he instantly recognizes her as Bridget, his old friend's daughter. Bridget tells Mandrake that her father is on the balcony and must speak with him immediately. As the two find themselves outside, we shift to a view of Ming observing events from the video feed, and he reveals that he wants to put Mandrake in the Inquisitor to learn the location of the Loba. Back on the balcony, Mandrake futilely calls for his friend. Just then a pair of ice robots drop in and spray the magician with a knockout gas. Although he attempts to fight it, Mandrake succumbs to the gas and falls to the ground and the robots move to carry

Act II

SPEAKER_00 6:48

him away. Act two As the robots attempt to steal away Mandrake, Lothar appears and makes quick work of them and attempts to revive his friend. Lothar repeatedly asks Bridget to get some water, but she's as unresponsive to his requests as Mandrake. In the very next frame, a miraculously revived Mandrake tells Lothar that she is incapable of helping, and Lothar, in a seeming burst of clarity, realizes that Ming must have something to do with it, and Mandrake calls for the group to get together. We then find ourselves at Monitor where the group is focusing on breaking Bridget's mind control. Jedda is wondering aloud why she should try to help, but Rick reminds her that her telepathic abilities are probably strong enough to break Ming's hold. Jetta focuses in, and after several seconds, Bridget appears to come out of the mind control, realizing she does not know where she is. Next, the team has gathered in a conference room as Lothar explains a plan to fool Ming into thinking that Bridget is still under his control and have her tell him to look for the Loba plant somewhere in Siberia, when in fact the plant is located in Peru. Mandrake reveals that the Phantom is there standing guard. The final part of the plan is for both Mandrake and Lothar to infiltrate the ice station in order to retrieve Dr. Whitestead. Bridget thanks Mandrake and we then realize that her Tierra is continuing to share video to Ming, thus informing him of their plan. We then find the Phantom in the jungles of Peru where he takes a call from LJ. Immediately the call receives interference and the Phantom turns directly around to see ice robots in a field cutting away the loba plant. The Phantom immediately calls for the strength of ten tigers and attacks the robots, making quick work of a few of them. However, the remaining robots were able to take off with all of the loba plants they need. We're back at Ming's ice station base where we see the men of frost mixing together a liquid in a large vat. One of the ice people tell Ming the concoction is ready and Ming wants to test it out. Ice robots bring in a prisoner, and Ming douses him with the ruby colored plant food. Immediately the prisoner begins to sprout roots out of his hands, arms, and eventually his body. Ming is pleased and now plans to unleash this super plant food on the world. Outside the ice station, Lothar and Mandrake intend to infiltrate the base by disguising themselves as Ming's Men of Frost. They approach the entrance to the base and tell one of the guards Ming wants to see them, and immediately the guard lets them in. In the very next sequence, we see Ming turn his back to find a disguised Lothar and Mandrake attempting to rescue Dr. Whitestead. Unfortunately, Ming can see through their disguises. Ming commands his frostmen to fire as the two defenders duck for cover. Quickly recovering, Mandrake uses his powers to send fire at the attacking soldiers. Ming becomes enraged and tells them not to run, as it's simply an illusion of fire and not the real thing. Ming cries out that they will never be able to escape, but Mandrake warns him not to make promises he can't keep, waves his hands in a flash of light, the three disappear and the base door opens behind them. We're now back at Monitor where the Phantom is bemoaning his inability to have stopped the ice robots, but Flash waves it off, telling his friend he did his best. Mandrake and Lothar then bring in the planted doctor Whitestead, and Bridget is glad to see him. Lothar mentions that they almost didn't make it because Ming knew they were coming. Jeddah points out that Ming also knew the location of the Loba plant. Rick interjects that that means that Ming now has all he needs to replicate the super plant food formula, and that's bad news for the team. However, Rick has a plan, and it involves Dinak X. But it's risky. The AI guesses that Rick is going to want her to interface with Octon. LJ jumps in to say that Octon's compute power would fry Dinak X's microprocessor, but she retorts that she's willing to take the risk. At Ming's ice station, Octan verbalizes discomfort, but it is uncertain about what it is that's happening and it collapses. At Monitor, Dinak X tells the team that she is interfaced with Octan, but that her presence has been detected. Rick pleads with her to disconnect with Octan, announcing its internal security is now up to full capacity. Ming asks if Dinak X was able to garner any information from it, but Octan assures his master that he was too fast for her. At Monitor, however, Dinak X tells the team that she was too fast for Octan and that she copied the necessary information before it knew what she was doing. Using the newly extracted data, Rick informs the team about Ming's plan to blanket the planet with the planet super formula. Flash is quick to interject his own detailed plan to neutralize the threat. In space, Flash is confidently flying his ship when Rick warns him that there are incoming roboships. As Flash prepares to engage them, he gets a message from Dynak X that his onboard lasers have malfunctioned for seemingly no reason. The team from Monitor watch helplessly as the roboships deliver the plant formula to Earth's atmosphere, and Dynak X informs the team that within three plus hours, the Earth will be blanketed with the

Act III

SPEAKER_00 12:43

formula. Act three. Back at Monitor, Flash begins to wonder aloud how Ming has managed to stay one step ahead of the team with both Jeddah and Rick pointing out systemic conveniences that have benefited Ming. All of a sudden, Jedda develops a spider sense and detects a traitor among them. This leads her to Bridget's Tierra, and Jedda reveals the presence of the transmitter. Jeddah is understandably pissed, but Rick is quick to defend Bridget. Then Dinak X interjects with her analysis of the situation and tells the team that there is one way to neutralize the formula with water. Rick seems to understand the intent and tells the team they need to add water to the atmosphere, which in turn will dilute the formula, rendering it inert. Mandrake inquires about watering an entire planet, but Dynac X has a solution with a warning. LJ reminds Flash that the ion particles must be delivered at just the right coordinates, otherwise the plan won't work. As Flash makes his way to the necessary coordinates, he is bombarded by attacking robot ships, but he still manages to release his load. As storm rain clouds appear to form over the entire planet, the team celebrates their apparent success. However, Ming appears on their monitor and tells them to take a closer look. Alarmed, the team watches images from all over the planet of people succumbing to the plant growth as the rainstorms appear to have accelerated the growth of the plant formula, with Ming clarifying that the rain has increased the formula's potency and arrogantly thanks the team for their efforts. Bummed but not defeated, Mandrake takes a moment and recognizes two of Cashin's science experiment plants are on the floor, with one that appears to be fully grown and the other wilting. When he asks Cashin what's going on, Cashin tells him that the second plant was exposed to sonic frequencies from his tuning fork and that reduced the plant's size. Rick immediately puts that information into Dynak X by pulling a simple lever and learns that a sonic frequency might do the trick. However, the Phantom wonders how that would work across the entire planet. Collaborating together, Cashin, Rick, and LJ come up with a plan to use Flash's ships to form a massive tuning fork that will deliver an electrical charge to the entire planet's outer atmosphere. The plan is a go and the team will take to their ships. Jeddah and Bridget are present on a ship together, and Jedda is still suspicious of her. Back at the ice station, Octan tells Ming of the team's plan to attempt to neutralize the formula, and Ming orders him to launch fighter ships. Before the defenders can launch their sonic network, they are attacked by Ming's fleet, and the defenders engage in a dogfight. During the battle, Jeddah becomes incapacitated, causing Bridget to take the helm and take out several ships in her wake. As Jedda comes to, the two are now obviously sympathico. With Ming's immediate fleet destroyed, the defenders employ their sonic electrical network pulse on the planet and return home. At Monitor, they watch as the plants begin to wither and the population become themselves again. Mandrake reunites Dr. Whitestead and his daughter with the doctor pledging to continue his work for the good of the planet. Jeddah apologizes to Bridget for her behavior, but Bridget blows it off telling Jeddah that they are friends. Jeddah tells the doctor that the defenders will support his work, and Kashin is proud of the A he received on his science project, The End.

"Backdoor" pilot

SPEAKER_00 17:11

This was a really interesting episode. As I was doing my research ahead of time, one of the trivia points from the DVD about this episode had commented that this episode is clearly very different from all the others. I didn't think a whole lot of it and went ahead and started watching the episode, and boy, did it become apparent really, really fast. I mean, first off, just doing the write-up for this episode, it is very, very densely packed. Normally, when I'm doing my write-up, it's obviously going to take a while because I'm doing it beat by beat. But with this particular episode, it's almost like I had to stop and really think about what I was writing out and the cadence that I was using, because again, it was just very densely, very densely packed. The other thing, about a quarter of the way through, there were some animation cues, some visual cues that they were using, and I just started to think, you know, this really based on the visual differences and the and the writing style, it really made me think that this was like almost playing like a pilot episode. There were these long, lingering shots on characters, there were character moments that were intended to convey, you know, the characteristics that they were that they were out. Character models were very, very different. As an example, you had Rick, who was blonde. Jedda, instead of short dark hair, had much longer dark hair, and then Lothar's outfit, oh my god, it almost looked like he was it it reminded me of the tan outfit that Belleck wore in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark at the very beginning. But then to of course establish that Lothar is from you know the jungles of Africa or India or wherever he's from, right? They had this like leopard print belt, and it just it was god-awful. So I was glad that they that they kind of changed that out. Now, again, as I'm watching this episode, I kind of started to peruse through the comments section, and sure enough, that there were more than a few people who had commented about the fact that A, not only was the episode very, very different, but then a few people had jumped in and said that that this was secondary, a secondary pilot. So there is out there, and it is on YouTube, I'll have the link in the show notes, there is an unaired pilot of Defenders of the Earth that again, stylistically, there were some similarities, but it was the animation style was very, very different. It was much more detailed. And so that was the and it was only like eight minutes long, so that was the intro. But then they created a backdoor pilot, like a second pilot, if you will, and that and this was this episode, The Root of Evil. It plays funny because as you're watching the episode, I mean, all everything is still there. You have all of the characters, they just look different. Monitor exists, so it's not like they hadn't introduced it yet. Oh, one of the other obviously big changes was, and I remember this from some of the commentary from the episode Escape from Mongo from the producers, that Ming in this episode is blueskin as opposed to green skinned, and that was the original intent for him. And then somewhere along the line, they decided to change it, that he became more green skinned. I like the look of the blueskin, but of course the green skin seems to make more sense to me. If he's alien, therefore it has to be he has to be green skinned.

Perversion of Science

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Some of the themes that they that they cover in this in this episode, the one of the central themes is how technology is intended for humanitarian aid, in this case, ending world hunger. However, technology, of course, can be weaponized. You have the juxtaposition of Dr. Whitestead optimism versely versus the sharply contrasted Ming whose nihilism highly, as far as I was concerned, highlights that that ethical debate and that ethical responsibility of creators to try to do good. But then you have those forces out there that are clearly not interested in doing that, and and they can turn that technological marvel into something really detrimental. As I'm watching the episode, I can't help but think about some of the Discussions around AI right now. You have so many of these large elite companies, very powerful people who are like, oh, hey, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. This is going to change everything. And then you kind of have everyone else kind of looking around going, okay, I mean, I get it. But boy, this can be really, really dangerous. I saw an AI created video the other day. It was a political message. At first, I didn't really pick up on the fact that it was AI, but then, and about midway through, you're like, Yeah, something seems a little bit off. But it was a very well done video, and I was just like, holy crap, this is scary. But on the lighter side, currently there is this whole spate of online AI-created videos of Chuck Norris throwing himself into certain movie scenes. Every time I see one of those, it just I can't help it. Like that to me is like, again, the juxtaposition, world-ending calamity versus just hysterically funny, ridiculous videos that couldn't be created otherwise. The Chuck Norris videos, if you haven't seen them, can check them out. They're

Flash Gordon is supremely confident

SPEAKER_00 23:11

fantastic. One of the other themes that came up here that uh as far as I am concerned, this was a pretty common 80s trip where you had the accidental saboteur. You know, the heroes are attempting to save the day, but of course, that it actually goes back and, you know, furthers the villains' plans. The other thing that uh cracked me up about this episode, I even made a series of shorts about it. Uh Flash Gordon's absolute eagerness to just do pretty much everything. I mean, he just walks through this episode with absolute supreme confidence. He knows what the hell he's doing. Everyone else needs to get out of his way. And I was just, it was really funny. It it kind of made me laugh.

Role of the kids

SPEAKER_00 23:58

In some of the early discussions with the producers, they talked about their concern about the fact that you had these characters, Fling Mash, Fling Mash, Ming, Flash, Lothar, and Mandrake, who are these 1930s properties. These have been around for a really long time. However, kids these days are not necessarily, may not necessarily pick up on that. If any one of them, the one person that they're gonna know is Flash Gordon. But that was a big concern. So that was the primary reason for bringing in and establishing the children. And in this particular episode, it was very, very clear that the kids were part of that central plot. They they were the ones who were moving the plot forward. It really did feel aside from Flash Gordon, who did take a relatively big part in the plot. I it did feel like, especially Phantom, but Phantom, Lothar, Mandrake, they were kind of side characters. They were kind of on the outskirts of what was going on, but it really was the kids who were moving the action forward. Rick, with his technology prowess, was just constantly one thing after the other. I've got a solution, I've got a solution. This is what we're gonna do, this is where we're gonna go. You had LJ Kashin, Jeddah, they were jumping in and working together in order to come up with solutions. They really highlighted Jeddah's mental abilities in this episode. They really, again, backdoor pilot, they really were trying to establish the kids as being a big presence in this particular episode. I thought it was one of the more effective ones. I really kind of liked how they weaved them in and how they were helping to solve the problems. The only thing that threw me off with this particular episode was the voice acting for the character of Bridget. There's no way to say it. It was just irritating. It really did throw me off. So one of the themes in this episode was that legacy and mentorship, emphasizing the relationship between these legendary heroes and their children and the kids really pushing the plot, the plot beats, pushing them forward so that we can get to the inevitable conclusion. One of the other things that I picked up in this episode was

Missing segments?

SPEAKER_00 26:35

that I have made several comments in the past about the time factor where I feel like we jump from one situation to the next and in order to be able to move the plot forward. In this particular episode, though, I felt like that there was literally missing segment. When Lothar is fighting off the ice robots after he goes to help Mandrake, there definitely is a missing sequence there as we go in one frame from Mandrake being on the ground, unconscious, to the very next frame where he is standing up, and Lothar is they've immediately gone to figure out that Ming is a part of this. And it happens again when they infiltrate the ice station because in one sequence they go to the security door, they're talking to the ice robot or the ice the frost men, and they're like, hey, you need to let us in because Ming wants us here, and the guy's like, okay, the very next frame, it's Ming, a shot of Ming, who turns around, and we he finds Lothar and Mandrake trying to pick up the doctor to take him away. So definitely something missing in between. One other thing that I picked up on that I thought was funny. I don't know if this was a goof, it was intentional, or they just didn't care. I don't know. But there was a sound goof. When Lothar was fighting off the ice robots, when his fist comes into contact with the robots, you can clearly hear that stock sound, the ones that we hear on so many of the cartoons at the time, of a contact, you know, when someone is getting punched, essentially, usually anyway, between two people, right? Very clear sound. However, when Andre goes and tosses the robots over the balcony and then they hit the ground, it's an unmistakable sound of breaking glass. So again, just a just an inconsistency there.

Role of the kids

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Some of the other trivia that came out of the video, this episode approved as the sixth episode, but again, the animation style is distinctly different. So clearly it was made in the beginning. I had mentioned earlier about Lothar's design, Ming's design, and if I could articulate it, I would say this was a proof of concept pilot. And then finally, again, this was one episode that was free of Zuffy the Space Alien. So focus on the heroes, focus on the kids, and you have the episode The Root of Evil. I would say that this was not necessarily my favorite episode. I really appreciated the animation that they did for this episode. Again, I know that it was very different than what we've been used to, and I do in general like the animation style that they ultimately settled on for Defenders of the Earth, but there were some really nice animation cues in this particular

Not the best

SPEAKER_00 29:37

episode. With that being said, I just the the plot was just so utterly ridiculous. When I first sat down to watch the show, and it was like the root of evil, and you hit play on the episode, and they come up with the banner, you see Ming kind of standing there hulking over the text, and I'm thinking, okay, this is this is gonna get to the heart of that they're gonna come up with something clever about evil in general. This is gonna be great. And then of course, as soon as they introduce the plants, I'm like, oh, the root of evil. Yeah, okay. So not a terrible episode, but just definitely it was there's a certain level of suspension of disbelief, obviously, when you're watching a show like this, given the early pulp and sci-fi elements, but this was just utterly ridiculous. So I enjoyed it, but again, not my not my favorite episode. So it we're gonna come to a close on episode six, The Root of Evil. The next that we're going to review is going to be Cold War. Until then.