Defenders of the Earth - Opening Sequence
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- čas přidán 11. 11. 2019
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Tyrant Ming the Merciless and his vast army of evil accomplices are working overtime to eliminate the human race. But The Defenders of the Earth, led by legendary crime-fighters The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake and his trusted confidant and bodyguard Lothar, join forces with their uniquely talented, teenage children to challenge Ming and his evil followers in a series of great adventures.
DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH © King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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Homie sang this intro like the rent, mortgage, car note, medical bill, and tuition was all due! Killed it!
Dude sung this song with mad passion, like his life and career depended on this shit. Galaxy Rangers, Pole Position, M.A.S.K. and The Littles intro songs could've been top 10 hits back then, it was like reals songs not like songs for a cartoon intro.
Man! He really did!
The Beast call him brother, the ghost who walks part always gives me goosebumps.
hell yeah ;D
Major Ronnie James Dio vibes!
The ghost who walks gives me goosebumps till today
Same
@AkisGD 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
That singer is giving his all for this theme song.
We're loving it still after four decades, so mission accomplished by that singer!
i heard he was so committed in fact, he dropped dead the moment he finished singing,
One of the best, catchy, cartoon themes around. Once you say "Defenders of the Earth", you pretty much have the rest of the theme running through your head. Thank you, Stan Lee, for the lyrics.
Do remember Steele from Phantom 2040?
Defenders of the Earth, Defenders!
Out of the sky his rockets ignite!
Jets into battle, flies faster than light!
Flash Gordon!
Lord of the jungle, the hero who stalks!
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!
Thank you Stan!!!!!
I am somehow not the least bit surprised Stan Lee had a hand in this!
I hope you still listen to this absolute banger from time to time!
These pre-Marvel/DC characters should have their own cinematic universe. They're generally underpowered, but it makes them relatable.
Which is why they work best as a team.
@@KanishQQuotes My little brother loved this show. But he was secretly disappointed, because he once wished that Spider-Man had been apart of the team.
I only seen one episode on a Saturday morning DVD and my thoughts is that it was pretty cool.
@@stephenbyrne2170 Did he know it was collaboration between Marvel and KFS?
The Phantom had a movie
This song lives rent free in my head...I sing it every day to myself... Childhood memories.
I have to look up the meaning of that expression......thank you comment sections
Only a defender of the Earth would do what you do...
...and I'm one too!
The show was just ok,
but that song was 1 of the best cartoon themes Ever!
Flash Gordon - the Leader
Mandrake - the Illusionist
Lothar - the Muscle
Phantom - the Special One
Rick Gordon - the Computer Ace
Jedda - the dangerous Lady
LJ - the Martial Artist
K'shin - Illusionist' apprentice
Dynak-X - JARVIS with a female personality
Zuffy and Kissa - trustful allies
The pre-Avengers from the 80s
Ming - Evil Ruler
The ghost who walks!
They should have added Prince Valiant as well. He's been part of the team in other incarnations.
Jedda was essentially black widow without the dark backstory.
@@angrymanwithsillymoustasche I lmao everytime I hear that line
They gave mandrake his own music beat, nice and chilling to show his not to be messed with.
Yes mandrake is suave and chill.
Always in control, confusing the enemy
Appropriate choice for one of my childhood icons.
Man so true, its a combination of sinister intrigue & its gets you in that special place to make you wonder: this guy has something different about him but what is it.
He deserves it. Him and Lothar carried the team
That's called a bridge.
I love how Mandrake's verse is delivered in a different tone of voice, setting him apart befitting his mystical nature, and then Lothar comes in with the same tone as the first two dudes and brings the song back on track. I also love the unironic masculinity emanating _differently_ from all four men.
Although I was always amused that they decided to accompany the line 'Armed with his power we never shall fall' with footage of Mandrake falling because Lothar's grappling hook cable breaks.
Yeah, but mandrake made it over, so he didn't fail.
Lothar doesn't have a skill, but he's the toughest. Hmm
@@IARECHRISbut doesn't the song say his skills concern all? XD
@@nitehwk88 Dude, it's "his skills conquer all!"
"By jungle law, the ghost who walks, calls forth the power of 10 tigers."
Now you're talking my language. Classic Phantom line 😢
James bloody got us again, mates, my ears are bleeding now
He changed it sadly
Try and lose him sir, asitis he is not ...
So many Wackadoos shouting out in anguish
this still got me singing it at 45..😊
Gotta love the fact that Stan Lee wrote the lyrics for this intro. He wasn't just the biggest name in Marvel during his tenure in that company, but also another guy just like the rest of us that loved comic books in general.
excuse me, hes a white male, the type of person that does not belong anymore
Bloody got'em m8
Mr Scumbag Movies at it again
Awesome 80s theme!
- Awesome music
- Committed vocalist
- Lyrics that tell you everything you need to know
The PERFRCT combo for the kind of theme to get you PUMPED for some damned entertaining television programming!
Sadly, you then had to watch the cartoon, which was awful. It was mainly written by some marketing people from Q5, if I recall.
Actually, kids dont need that much context, it was already too much. I mean the guy was literally dressed like a magician and did magic, did we really need a lyrical description too? Likely not
The late Stan Lee wrote the lyrics to the theme song.
MMMMHMMMMM!!!!!
We were kids of the World didn't bother us time wasn't aswell we only had 2channels could go on the greatest Cartoons etc only 1 or 2 seasons it went for 65episodes it mite have felt like 130 double like time was heart of the 80s perfect wonder if Captain Planet followed had the heroes on similar lines saving and protecting the Earth and Planet
For those who wonder who Lothar is as he was never as well known prior to this cartoon as the other main heroes, he was originally the assistant of Mandrake in both the 1930 serials and the 1979 movie. Where Mandrake used magic to solve problems, Lothar could get through them with his strength and technical know-how.
Assistant my ass. Try his manservant boy.
Awesome
Lothar was also royalty in the comic strip, as I recall. So he was basically an @$$-kicking prince.
thanks for that info i did always wonder
A person can make a case that Lothar was the black superhero. While he started out as Mandrake's assistant, the relationship between the two became increasingly like partners (with Mandrake as the guy whose name was on the comic strip). So the question is when you consider Lothar to have been treated enough as a partner to be a hero all his own. I think Black Panther still gets the win, but Lothar being around for decades and easing into the role certainly counts for something.
Also, they were careful to use Lothar in ways to piss off white supremacists, for example Lothar and his girlfriend hanging out at Mandrake's pool.
They bloody got us!!!!
I understood that reference
Mandrake the Magician, one of my favorite childhood icons.
Agreed. I had a TV station that played near my house that replayed the old 1930s series, Mandrake the Magician, and showed the adventures of him and Lothar (his assistant) against the criminal forces of the Wasp!! Great times to be a kid for watching TV!!
Don’t know why but I feel the sudden edge to hear about some red hot comic book, movie news
This song smells like early Saturday mornings!
Yes, isn't it wonderful?
Out of the sky, his rockets ignite. Jets into battle flying faster than light: *FLASH GORDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Lord of the jungle, the hero who stalks! The beasts call him brother. The ghost who walks. PHANTOM!!!!!!!
@@David315842 Master of magic, spells and illusion....enemies crumble in fear and confusion...MANDRAKE!
@@bigmacrmuk 'grumble'
@@David315842 No time for Grumbles! Come on Dave, lets keep it goin.
@@stephenbyrne2170 Who's grumbling? I was just correcting a minor error in the lyrics and it's usually the job of someone else to type something in to continue this, not one who has all ready commented. I've more or less jinxed it now probably?
The Weekly Planet brought me here.
Amazed that I still remember the lyrics for this at 44. We really were spoilt for choice with good cartoons back in the 80's all of them better than the modern tripe.
I like how the climactic event of the intro, which features spaceships, magic, and panthers, is a simple revolving door. :P
This theme is so badass.
Aaaah, the memories from my little days
Ya. Me too. I's only 7 then!
0:24 master of magic spells and illusions his enemies crumble in fear and confusion. This is the only part and I know by heart.
I loved this when I was a kid. But at the same time I was a little disappointed in secret, because I sometimes wished Spider-Man was on the team.
The Mandrake section was spellbinding! That key change!
It definitely suits the mysticism surrounding the character. :)
They sure did my childhood hero justice just in lyrics for a song.
Just brought a happy tear to my eye. Didn’t realise that I still knew the lyrics 😀
“Bring your kid to work day” the series 😅. I used to LOVE this cartoon
Im only here because Mr Sunday movie from the weekly planet pod cast 😂😂😂 i know Maso likes this
My favorite episode of Westworld
Fun fact: before Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and the rest... Mandrake is the first comic superhero and the Phantom is the first comic costumed hero....
Lothar too, he's weakened on this show though. The original is impervious to all damage from any weapon made by man, he also can easily lift an elephant with one hand🫡👑
never watched this but damn, opening is catchy as hell
Thank you! The entire series is posted on our site, enjoy!
The lyrics = Stan Lee's own tribute to the heroes he grew up with. :)
I used to watch this every Saturday morning with my brother. He was always a little upset, because he wished Spider-Man was apart of the team.
@@stephenbyrne2170 That would have raised so many issues of the non comic vareity. LOL!
@@David315842 What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
@@stephenbyrne2170 That you didn't get the joke. Marvel may have produced this series but they could not use any of their characters to respect King Features Syndicate's source material as the series only focused on their characters. If they tried adding Marvel charcters it would ahve led to LEGAL issues. Comic books come as issues when they are first released to the public. I was doing a play on words. That's what the FUCK it's supposed to mean!
@@David315842 So let me get this straight. Bringin a hero from a different Universe onto the team would be really really good for ratings, but really really bad for lawsuits?
FLASH GORDON, THE PHANTOM, MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN & LOTHAR. Love this show.. this should be out on DVD.
It is out on DVD with some commentary and special features.
A very underrated cartoon series of the 80s. But there was so much great stuff on at the time. This show was almost a precursor to the MCU.
We used to watch all these in India in the late 80s. Really enjoyed my childhood
Glad that you are enjoying Defenders! Please check out the other series we have posted on this channel and our Popeye & Friends Official Channel: czcams.com/channels/qvXAiNyn8pd9SVPclWfJTg.html
One of the best 80's cartoon theme songs ever and a very good cartoon in its own right. 👍
This song still kicks ass!
This song still gets my blood boiling after all these years!
Pumping? “Boiling” would mean it angers you
I need live action films with these beloved characters
Live action dream cast for LIONSGATE/MGM production of
Defenders of the earth
Flash Gordon and the defenders of the earth
Flash Gordon - sam Jones ( returns to save every one of us
Phantom - Billy Zane (back as the ghost who walks
Mandrake the magician - chris helmsworth (thor of the avengers)
Lothar - Michael jai white ( black dynamite)
Think about it and get back at me if agree ,
Peace.
@@tiga92001 Sam Jones, yes, Billy Zane, yes, Chris Hemsworth as Mandrake, no. The reason is he is too big, too tall. He's taller than Malcolm Jai White by two inches. You want someone with a lithe built, someone who could actually pull of being a magician type. The voice actor for Mandrake would have made an excellent Mandrake at the time. Even the voice actor for Rick said so in the commentary. I've seen him, he would have been great. However for current, I'd go with the actor who played (Short part) the Master Codebreaker in "The Last Jedi". Justin Theroux. Look him up in his Master Codebreaker outfit. He looks like a Mandrake type. Malcolm Jai White, definitely yes!
One of the most epic intro songs to an 80's cartoon.
I've had this on loop for 2 hours and not the slightest bit bored of it.
Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Mandrake The Magician, Lothar even Prince Valiant needs their own live action tv shows. ⚡💀🎩💪🏾🗡
Actually, they all originated in old live action TV shows and were updated for this cartoon.
@@danielhaire6677 I do believe they were comic strips first.
I remember that as a kid, during my birthday party I invited a schoolmate who happened to be passing by, and his parents quickly found a trio of VHS tapes of this series for me at the newsstand. Personally it was among the most appreciated gifts. 😄
They found VHS tapes at the newstand!?! That's why I love the 80's!
This deserves a comeback
They could have kept going:
Deadly of aim / bane of revenoors
The master of marksmen / he stops evil-doers!
Snuffy Smith!
Poverty stricken / prematurely bald!
Always quick with rejoinders / to action he's called!
Sluggo!
Sailing the oceans / No storm can diminish
His limitless strength / when he eats his spinach!
Popeye!
Alone in the world / Except for her pluck
She lives for adventure / Leaves foes thunder-struck!
Li'l Orphan Annie!
Roaring out of the swamp / and making a stand
Allegory and gators / are his to command!
Pogo!
"Out of the sky, his rockets ignite. Jets into battle faster than light, FLASH GORDON!
Lord of the jungle, the hero who stalks, the beast call him brother, the ghost who walks, PHANTOM!
Defender 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 conquers all, one with his power he 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!"
Talk about a blast from the past, song still rocks in 2021, oh my childhood 😂🤘one of the catchiest tunes ever
classic show. Marvel needed to keep this going in comic book form. They should produce a movie on this now, seriously.
I am convinced a time traveling Chris Jericho sang this theme song.
This video has even much more resolution than my 14 inch TV back then..
M.A.S.K, Ulysees 31, Defenders of the earth. You look back on all these 1980's cartoon intro's with music. They almost smash you straight in the face like woaaa and straight away they grab your attention with immense power and adrenaline. And this is something you will never see again in cartoons. The music was a status symbol to show you the power of these hero's and how the journeys and adventures came to life. I sometimes play these old themes and intro's to junior school children on a school bus with a boom speaker and they are like what the hell is that? They can't believe we had much cooler themes and cooler cartoons. The boys instantly go wow what is it. It grabs their attention and they want to know where I found it. And they seem even more amazed that they sold cars, vehicles, figures, and buildings of the cartoons and even costumes kids could wear. They run home to shout all about it to their parents and their parents are like that was our childhood didn't you know.
What a legend. It's people like you who are the true heroes. I don't know if you've done it already, but there's some videos showcasing all the intros to the 80's and 90's cartoons. If you had a screen on your bus, perhaps you could blast that for them to watch.
Again, you're a legend and I want to thank you for this selfless act. Keep it up, brother!
This was awesome as a kid. Would be fantastic as a film now.
need a new phantom and mandrake animated series adapting the lee falk stories they are very good :)
This show needs a live action movie!
We agree!
Sam FLASH GORDON Jones and the PHANTOM Billy Zane would make a great comeback
However have chris helmsworth aka thor as MANDRAKE the magician, black dynamite Michael jai white as LOTHAR and you'll have a live action movie team
As longtime comics fan I would see the heck outta this one
C'mon NBC MGM LIONSGATE do SOMETHING with these guys
I dunno about Chris Hemsworth as mandrake there’s too much of a Thor look about him
By jungle law, the ghost who walks calls forth the power of ten tigers.
10/10 for this theme song. My dad ( A fan of serials) , was pleasantly surprised to see mandrake in animated form.
how silly of me, back in the 1986, tried my best to record this very op theme... with my grandmother casette recorder...
yes, it ended in total failure... the op theme recorded all right, only the sound my recording was able to reproduced is an extremely faint..
much like a murmur that were full of intelligible gibberish...
I did the same with the Inhumanoids theme. Same result, too, lol.
As a kid I just couldn't get into it (I was more into He Man , Voltron, and Thundercats) but today I have more respect for these King Features Heroes. Thing it I notice due to Toie Animation doing this cartoon, I saw some recycled buildings/headquarters and vehicles from G.I. Joe.
When coming up with the intro for this show, it was meant to be a green background against the logo, but due to a glitch in their animation program, green along with any other colours they tried to use always showed up as blue. This led to the working title of this show being blue harvest, before they eventually settled upon defenders of the earth, as the creators of the show realised that blue harvest was also the working title for Star Wars a New Hope.
Beasts call him brother. The ghost who walkkkss
A powerful line.
I just found this today and WOW I actually got chills from how mind blowingly awesome this theme is, and how much ass the show must have kicked.
Defendersssss
It was awesome. I watched it repeatedly at the time.
The Phantom was one of my favorite heroes as a kid. I loved the concept of heroics being a family legacy. I watched this show for The Phantom, and stayed for the rest.
This show right away lights my Nostalgic bulb. The characters came into screen mucj before Marvel/DC made their own and this show deserves it's own movie. The charactees deserve their own movies too. I think Phantom got one or two of his own movies but Flash Gordon, Mandrake and the others are like lost to history. I loved the show as a kid ❤️
Flash Gordon has his own movie too, and it's considered a sci-fi classic. Mandrake's the one who never got his movie, which is baffling as he's one of the most popular characters from newspaper comic strips ever. Lothar is a character from Mandrake's lore and he's equalliy ignored too
This just blew my mind. It popped up in my algorithms and I didn’t recognise it, but as soon as the music started I realised I knew it. Probably haven’t thought about this cartoon for over 30 years.
I love this story, as a child, where friends unites and let evil plans goes into dust..... All with diffetent abilities and strenghts, so strong but vulnerable if not together as a team... Your childhood was better than average.... All thank u..... Now what a mess you made of it.... Burden and guilt..... Now see it again love it
This was one of the more chilling of the cartoon shows of my youth. There were some particularly forbidding adversaries.
What a Legendry cartoon show to watch
Fun fact Stan Lee wrote the lyrics for this theme
the end of the song sounds like it says "With powerfull new young heroes proving their worth 4 become 8 Defending the earth." I could be wrong about the powerfull part but that is what it sounds like after going over it many times......... that is the thing of certain songs you hear.....some times it sounds one way but you later learns it was another way. when comes to the lyrics.
Man I got a big smile on my face 😊 the memories. I even remember the Phantom movie and the Mandrake reading cartoon in the newspaper
used to loved this show as a child, Lothar's and Phantom's verse are my fav of the opening
Still waiting for Marvel to reboot this....but I loved Defenders as a kid!!!
Sorry to say this, but they won't. Because Marvel doesn't technically own the characters from Defenders of the Earth, they are all owned by King Features Syndicate. If anyone plans to do some kind of DOTE reboot it would be them. Marvel Productions were only responsible for this one series, after gaining the permission to do so from King Features Syndicate.
They're all King features syndicate characters
Stan only did the theme song
Watching them free on something called Plex right now which I only discovered yesterday. Great concept.
I know there a lot of highly talented session musicians out there but whoever's singing this sounds like he was recruited from an epic AOR/melodic hard rock band.
I would love a live action movie for this cartoon
Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bionic 6 Silverhawks, Power Rangers, Street Sharks, Mummies Alive is Superhero Team from 80s and 90s
Surely a movie is due!
Am I the only one who thinks this sounds like Chris Jericho singing?
I love the concept of this series. The execution ... not so much ... so much potential for greatness not realized.
I love how the singer was feeling himself during Mandrake and just goes full Dave Mustaine blatent Megadeth in there
My favourite musical bit was mandrake, its funny how four more new ones came at the end and they couldn't be bothered to sing them so lumped them all together haha
He really put the emphasize on Mandrake. I actually keep replaying that part lol.
I’m going to tell my kids these where the Avengers
these are better than the avenger
they are true og heroes
@Shin Shaman No the defenders are the first superhero team up
@@supersagarsagar
The Avengers were first 1963 comics
The Defenders of The Earth 1986 cartoon.
I watched this in 1985/86 and yes I remember that theme song
"Defenders of the earth"
DEFENDERS!!! But most of us were still into Transformers, GIJoe, HeMan, Thundercats, Silverhawks, and The Real Ghostbusters.
My grandparents had a DVD set of these I liked the show watched it way past it's death bed
I had the Mandrake action figure. I think I had Phantom and Lothar too but can't remember, Mandrake was my favourite.
Neca has new updated figures with realistic sculpts it just dropped at comic con.
Childhood memories
Lothar had the best entrance of all! Ha ha!
I see what you did there. Haha!
Hard to believe this was posted 4 years ago and no sign of a movie coming, but the figures came out which, by the way, were awesome!
I remembered this. 👍
In a later episode, they travel through time by accident and meet Prince Valiant and his kid, which is the other comic book by King Features Syndicate that was very popular. (and EXTREMELY impressive visually. Prince Valiant must be one of the most beautifully drawn comic books ever.)
It's hard to believe just how much Marvel was doing back then. In addition to this series, they were also doing G.I. Joe and the Transformers, and had recently done three other series, Spider-Man, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and the Incredible Hulk, with the latter two series still airing in re-runs on NBC for one more season when this series, originally aired. (I believe they were setting up for a fourth season of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends for 1984, but ended the series after three seasons and 24 episodes to focus on G.I. Joe, the Transformers, and later this series.)
So Marvel had three different series going on at the same time, though this was the only one of them that Stan Lee himself worked on.
Actually he was the narrator in most of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends series as well.
@@stephenholloway6893 Especially the third season (1983). Narrations for the first two seasons were added later on (possibly at the behest of NBC, which ran re-runs for three seasons) and were not part of the original production of those episodes, and thus were not as seamless as his third season narrations, which were an original part of that 8-episode season.
Frankly, I've always wondered if a fourth season was planned, because you could see in one of the episodes ("Attack of the Arachnoid") a couple of Fantastic Four villains (Blastaar and Klaw, who appeared together in the 1967 FF episode "The Terrible Tribunal") in a prison cell, along with other Spider-Man-centered villains, so I have to believe a fourth season was planned with at least one potential Fantastic Four team-up episode, but if that was the case, it was canned, possibly due to other Marvel projects, including G.I. Joe and Transformers.
this theme has been stuck in my head since 1987
0:04 the weekly planet! the weekly plaNET!
I love how this is a series to sell toys.... based on some C level superheroes.... And yet EVERYONE involved in this intro went HARD! Animation? HARD? Lyrics? HARD! Singer? JOHNNY SINS NEVER WENT THIS HARD!
Man when people put passion in the things they were doing... that no matter what, they had to put out something they were PROUD of.
To be blessed and part of the greatest decade of all time never to forget miss it so much oh hail the 80s atmosphere
How amazing would it be if they made this into a new live action Marvel/DC film
Brings back memories