"Four become eight, defending the Earth!"
Defenders of the Earth
With a Mongo invasion fleet on the way to Earth, formerly individual heroes must unite to ensure the freedom of the entire human race. Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom and Flash Gordon are joined by Lothar, Jedda Walker, King Vultan, Prince Valiant, Princess Aura and Catman to form the Defenders of the Earth to battle Ming.
With a Mongo invasion fleet on the way to Earth, formerly individual heroes must unite to ensure the freedom of the entire human race. Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom and Flash Gordon are joined by Lothar, Jedda Walker, King Vultan, Prince Valiant, Princess Aura and Catman to form the Defenders of the Earth to battle Ming.
Plot
The film begins in media res, with Ice Robots raining down on the kingdom of Prince Valiant, the last holdout on Mongo against Ming's rule. Fleeing the invasion, Princess Aura is being smuggled through secret tunnels and is shoved onto a spaceship just moments before Prince Valiant is surrounded by Ice Robots and everything fades to black.
On Earth, the arrival of Princess Aura is met by Vultan and Flash, she informs them of Ming's plan and asks who will stand against her father. It turns out Kit and Jedda Walker are getting the last recruit, Catman, from Melbourne, where he is a well-know vigilante, inspired by the legend of The Phantom. Lothar, using technology from Vultan's ship, has built himself a suit of armour that increases his strength and durability to superhuman levels. A small light of hope is dawning in the team when crises start to erupt over the planet, Ming's weather control machine is wracking the Earth with Storms, Floods and Hot Hail. It looks like the Earth may fall even before the invaders arrive.
Members of the team are scattered across the globe, dealing with disasters, when Mandrake calls them back together; Princess Aura has a plan. Ming will have to abandon his conquest of Earth if a revolt happens on Mongo. The Hawkmen of King Vultan won't be enough, however, they need the Knights of Prince Valiant, with two rulers of Mongo freed, the other disgruntled Princes will join the fight. It's desperate, but it may work, so Flash, Vultan, Mandrake and Aura head off for Mongo whilst the rest stay behind to do what they can with the continuing natural disasters. The rescue goes according to plan and the kingdoms of Mongo revolt, but Ming's flagship has already left and our heroes are captured and transported to face Ming's wrath.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Doctor Zarkhov has created a teleport device that will take the remaining heroes to the Flagship for a last-ditch attempt to stop Ming. With all the heroes freed, the Defenders of the Earth confront Ming and battle commences against the Emperor of Mongo and his elite guard. The heroes defeat Ming, the flagship is destroyed and the world is saved, but Ming's body is nowhere to be found...
Meanwhile, on Earth, Doctor Zarkhov has created a teleport device that will take the remaining heroes to the Flagship for a last-ditch attempt to stop Ming. With all the heroes freed, the Defenders of the Earth confront Ming and battle commences against the Emperor of Mongo and his elite guard. The heroes defeat Ming, the flagship is destroyed and the world is saved, but Ming's body is nowhere to be found...
A Note
Fans of the old Defenders of the Earth cartoon will notice that I've taken quite a number of liberties with the existing characters and setting, but I hope no one will be too put out by that. Change is necessary in adaptation, not just because some ideas don't translate well between media, but also because new ideas keep the characters fresh and up to date. Changes from the previous films, like Lothar being a tech guy or Mongo being a planet are there to play to a broader audience. In this concept, adding Prince Valiant to the Mongo kingdoms and introducing Frew character Catman are to help expand the team and to provide places to go without jumping straight to having all of the children involved. This is so as to not overload the general audience with too much lore out of the gates; think about how the MCU films didn't start with Infinity Stones and time travel, same deal here.
Fans of the old Defenders of the Earth cartoon will notice that I've taken quite a number of liberties with the existing characters and setting, but I hope no one will be too put out by that. Change is necessary in adaptation, not just because some ideas don't translate well between media, but also because new ideas keep the characters fresh and up to date. Changes from the previous films, like Lothar being a tech guy or Mongo being a planet are there to play to a broader audience. In this concept, adding Prince Valiant to the Mongo kingdoms and introducing Frew character Catman are to help expand the team and to provide places to go without jumping straight to having all of the children involved. This is so as to not overload the general audience with too much lore out of the gates; think about how the MCU films didn't start with Infinity Stones and time travel, same deal here.
Tone
Pretty much the same as the previous Flash Gordon, light and fun, but with serious moments here and there to keep people engaged. Like The Avengers or Godzilla II King of the Monsters, the characters need to play their situation straight, but the audience needs to be allowed to laugh at how ridiculous the situation is from time to time.
Pretty much the same as the previous Flash Gordon, light and fun, but with serious moments here and there to keep people engaged. Like The Avengers or Godzilla II King of the Monsters, the characters need to play their situation straight, but the audience needs to be allowed to laugh at how ridiculous the situation is from time to time.
Cast
At least I only have to cast like three people this time, saves me a lot of work.
At least I only have to cast like three people this time, saves me a lot of work.
Ming the Merciless:
There's no escaping the fact that Ming is kind of a racist caricature that plays on outdated ideas of "Yellow Peril", but is also a necessary part of the franchise. To counteract the unfortunate history of the character, I think casting an Asian actor with good pedigree is a must, and I can only think of one prefect candidate; Ken Watanabe.
There's no escaping the fact that Ming is kind of a racist caricature that plays on outdated ideas of "Yellow Peril", but is also a necessary part of the franchise. To counteract the unfortunate history of the character, I think casting an Asian actor with good pedigree is a must, and I can only think of one prefect candidate; Ken Watanabe.
Worldwide audiences know who this man is, he's a brilliant actor and (when he is permitted) has an excellent grasp of English. Also, he can do the physical acting for when Ming needs to show off just how tough he is by battering Flash around.
Catman:
Frew Publications in Australia is sitting on a whole heap of IP that only every seems to see the light of day in The Phantom Annual reprints, including a whole bunch of Aussie-grown mystery men, like Sir Falcon, The Black Domino and Catman. Catman is basically your standard "caped crusader" type, with guns and a set of night-vision goggles that resemble cat eyes (hence the name). Including him is simply a way to expand the DoE brand in the future and give a nod to Australian comics, and really any of the Frew heroes would work, assuming the rights could be obtained. Anyway, as a friend once said, "When in doubt, hire a Hemsworth";
I think it's high-time Liam got a shot at a superhero franchise, and an Aussie-born Phantom rip-off may just be the role for him. Not much more to this one, I just kind of like the idea.
Frew Publications in Australia is sitting on a whole heap of IP that only every seems to see the light of day in The Phantom Annual reprints, including a whole bunch of Aussie-grown mystery men, like Sir Falcon, The Black Domino and Catman. Catman is basically your standard "caped crusader" type, with guns and a set of night-vision goggles that resemble cat eyes (hence the name). Including him is simply a way to expand the DoE brand in the future and give a nod to Australian comics, and really any of the Frew heroes would work, assuming the rights could be obtained. Anyway, as a friend once said, "When in doubt, hire a Hemsworth";
Prince Valiant:
This version of Prince Valiant is a prince of Mongo, so we can afford to stunt-cast a little and get someone more interesting than another white guy dressed as a knight. Also, I like watching man-babies getting angry on the internet when a character gets a race-change for the film.
Crew
The director is pretty much the big deal for this film, much like how decent direction made The Avengers work, but crummy direction scuppered Justice League. Don't at me, DC fans, you know it's true. Competency is the name of the game, which is why I can't go past Jon Favreau;
This version of Prince Valiant is a prince of Mongo, so we can afford to stunt-cast a little and get someone more interesting than another white guy dressed as a knight. Also, I like watching man-babies getting angry on the internet when a character gets a race-change for the film.
You may know Tony Revolori as the MCU Flash Thompson, but he was also in Grand Budapest Hotel and was brilliant there too. He does quiet arrogance quite well, very princely when he wants to be. I could easily see him swinging a sword and exposing about justice.
Crew
The director is pretty much the big deal for this film, much like how decent direction made The Avengers work, but crummy direction scuppered Justice League. Don't at me, DC fans, you know it's true. Competency is the name of the game, which is why I can't go past Jon Favreau;
Not only did Favreau turn a C-grade Marvel character into the most popular hero in the world, he also has a long history of making solid films outside of the superhero genre.
Where to now?
Obviously, the post-credit sequence reveals that Ming is still alive and that the Defenders of the Earth will return... But what about the franchise? Sequels for Mandrake, Flash and Phantom seem obvious, but we can do better than that. With Ming temporarily displaced on Mongo, how about Vultan and Valiant having to deal with the resulting power-struggle? The Frew characters like Catman, Sir Falcon, Black Domino, Jet Fury and others could well make decent films in their own right, as well as expanding the roster of future Defenders. Introducing more children of the original Defenders will keep things fresh as well, not to mention drawing in fans of the classic cartoon. The sky is very much the limit on this series, adaptations of The Last Phantom or even some kind of Flash multiverse with a digitally reconstituted Buster Crabbe. All I know is, unless a studio starts to pay me for this, I'm done.
Obviously, the post-credit sequence reveals that Ming is still alive and that the Defenders of the Earth will return... But what about the franchise? Sequels for Mandrake, Flash and Phantom seem obvious, but we can do better than that. With Ming temporarily displaced on Mongo, how about Vultan and Valiant having to deal with the resulting power-struggle? The Frew characters like Catman, Sir Falcon, Black Domino, Jet Fury and others could well make decent films in their own right, as well as expanding the roster of future Defenders. Introducing more children of the original Defenders will keep things fresh as well, not to mention drawing in fans of the classic cartoon. The sky is very much the limit on this series, adaptations of The Last Phantom or even some kind of Flash multiverse with a digitally reconstituted Buster Crabbe. All I know is, unless a studio starts to pay me for this, I'm done.
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