Root of Evil

S1 E6: Dr. Whitestead's plant food formula goes haywire - spilling on him and turning him into a plant! Ming seizes the scientist and his sixteen year old daughter, Bridget, and gets the formula from them. The formula requires a rare herb, Loba, and only Whitestead's friend Mandrake knows where to find it. The Defenders are all attending a Central City high society "soiree". Ming sends a mind-controlled transmitterised Bridget to capture Mandrake. Jedda snaps Bridget out of trance, but not before Ming finds out where the Loba is. Ming's robots harvest the herb and bring it to Ice Station Earth. Mandrake and Lothar use super strength and illusion to spring Dr. Whitestead, but they learn that Ming is about to dust the world with tons of the terrible plant formula - by exploding it from outer space. Dynak X and Flash Gordon work to create world-wide rain to dilute the dust, which only makes things worse. The whole world sprouts roots. In a last ditch effort, Flash, using an idea from Kshin's science project, forms a giant tuning fork in space. It sends a huge sound wave out all over the Earth. All the roots recede - the Earth is saved!