Defenders of the Earth

Flash Gordon's spaceship crash lands near Mandrake and Lothar's mansion. Flash, semi-conscious, tells of Ming's plan to invade Earth, his escape from Ming's dungeons and leaving his wife and son, Rick Gordon, imprisoned. Flash's old friend, the Phantom, and his young daughter, Jedda, join forces to form The Defenders of the Earth. The new Defenders of the Earth swear allegiance to the destruction of Ming and the protection of our planet Earth.

At Mandrake's mansion, Rick is making the final adjustments to the super computer, Dynak X. Meanwhile, Ming intercepts a transmission from the Defenders to a fleet of Cryl ships. After determining the source of the transmission, Ming orders a full scale attack to destroy the team. In the confusion that ensues, Kshin and Zuffy stumble into a hole and find themselves in a huge cavern. Once Ming's offensive has been quelled, Dynak X confirms that although the cavern is buried deep in a dormant volcano, it would make a perfect headquarters for the Defenders. With all in agreement, the complex is named Monitor.

Kshin's run-in with the class bullies moves him to find the right spell from Mandrake's "forbidden" sorcery books. Without any of the other Defenders knowing, and from under his bed covers, Kshin and Zuffy call a pint size demon named Shogoth to "fix those bullies once and for all". Kshin's plan to scare the school yard tyrants works fine but Shogoth, with his size and strength quadrupled, decides to take on Central City. Ming the Merciless, sensing an enormous power surge on Earth, convinces Shogoth that Monitor is the only thing that stands between him and total domination. Flash and the Phantom contain the monster long enough for Mandrake and Lothar to reverse Kshin's spell and shrink Shogoth to his original size. Ming demands that Shogoth give it one more try, but Shogoth has had enough of the Defenders and retreats to his own dimension.

Kurt Walker, Kit Walker's older brother, would have been the Phantom had he lived up to the Phantom name, but he had an evil streak in him. Instead, Kit, the younger son, was made the Phantom by his father. Ming the Merciless finds the vengeful Kurt and gives him 24 hours worth of super powers as N'Dama, The Weather Demon. N'Dama wreaks weather havoc on the Phantom's Bandar People to flush out his brother and niece, Jedda. Once face-to-face, N'Dama challenges the Phantom to a race for the Jewel of Zandoon. In doing so, he recreates the test their father had used, when they were boys; to determine who would be the next Phantom. This time, however, N'Dama (Kurt) plans to win the race.

Dynak X is invited to challenge the World Chess Championship's computer to a game - and Ming gets his hideous Electronic Maggot into the link-up. Dynak X is taken over, attacked and devoured from the inside. Dynak X has only one hour to live - unless the Maggot can be stopped. The Phantom heads for Ice Station Earth to take out Ming's power station, while Rick tries out his new experimental "Micronizer", a device that reduces anything to micro-size. It's not perfected yet; after one hour the effect wears off. The young Defenders, in tiny form, enter Dynak X and fight off the Electronic Maggot. With time running out, they keep the creature at bay until the Phantom hits the power station and cuts the Maggot's lifeline.

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!