DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH! Appreciation AND Continuity Order

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Agreed. Jedda being the only female character, for all the political correctness on the racial front, there was a distinct slip-up on the gender equality front. Then again, that’s hardly unique, boys’ cartoons didn’t have that many female characters anyway, and even when they did, they tended not to have their own action figures. Cheetara (and Pumyra) must have been the major exception! Oh, and come to think of it, April O’Neill!

DotE had no Jedda figure, but then again none of the kids had their own figures, so that’s not gender discrimination as such.

Spiral Zone had no figure for Katarina, but did have a figure for Duchess Dire. And Katarina WOULD have had her figure had the show continued.

Visionaries had no Glaadria/Virulina figures, nor was there any plan to introduce them in the second wave toyline.

C.O.P.S. had no figures for Mainframe, Mirage, Miss Demeanour or Nightshade

Bucky O’Hare had no figure for Jenny the first mate.

Pirates Of Dark Water had no figure for Tula.

I remember C.O.P.S. I never seen it on TV that often but I do recall seeing and recording a couple episodes of CITV in the mornings over the Easter/Summer holidays in the early 90’s. I didn’t see an awful lot of it but I did enjoy what I seen.
I mostly seen C.O.P.S. when I got a compilation video, I had a few I recall getting them in Woolworths. The tapes consisted of three episodes from different Hasbro properties. Mostly Transformers, G.I. Joe and C.O.P.S.
I also had two separate tapes of C.O.P.S. one had 2x episodes (I recall the last episode was all about Sundown) and the other tape, called The Movie, had 4x episodes and the first two on the tape were the two you speak of showing the Origin of the team forming.
I recall the episode showing Bulletproof’s origin was on one of the compilation tapes.

Sounds about right. You probably saw the same airings as me then.

Another episode on the tapes, I can’t recall the name, but I believe when the episode starts they say it’s ‘The case of the bogus justice machines’ in which there are some weird Robocopish machines going around dishing out justice. If I remember correctly Mace and Barricade are tied up and reason with one of them.

That episode doesn’t ring any bells, although looking on websites for the show I think I’ve seen a title that sounds like that.

And of course all the episode titles began with “The Case Of” - a bit like The Man From UNCLE episodes were always called “The … Affair”

I never seen any of the toys from the show in the shops over here, I remember desperately looking Woolworths on one occasion for them. If I had seen any I would have grabbed one. Even after getting back into collecting I never came a cross any or oddly enough never actively sought out to get any of them.

I never thought about that. I was just getting out of collecting the figures at that time, and didn’t even know there was a toyline. Looking back, obviously there was, that’s what these cartoons were there to sell, but then, it didn’t occur to me.

My favourite good guy characters from the show were Bulletproof, Sundown, Barricade and I can’t recall his name but the buy in black that drove a vehicle…going from memory during the opening credits he is sitting whistling in the vehicle when one of the crooks crashes on top of or in front of him and he pursues them.

I think the guy you’re talking about is Hardtop.

This really brought back memories I think I shall start watching some episode of it again…and giving ebay and amazon a look. :wink: :smiley:

There’s only region 1 DVDs, I think.

An interesting thing about the toys is that much like Visionaries were larger than G.I. Joes, C.O.P.S. were larger again as they were at least 6" and had a cap firing feature, much like the Robocop tops that were out at the same time.

You can see they’re made by the same people that did the Visionaries toys (and I guess the GI Joe ones, although I’ve never seen them!).

Another interesting point about C.O.P.S. is that Bulletproof’s name was used for a character in the G.I. Joe toyline and comic, also a black cop who was part of the anti-drug squad. I think it is same to say they are in the same world and once the character was finished with the Joes went back to the force and became a detective and head of C.O.P.S.

Baldwin P. Vess? Interesting.

I just cringe at the joke they did with his name - Bulletproof Vess . . . oh gawd . . .

Also another character is related to Beachhead from G.I. Joe.
Wayne R. “CheckPoint” Sneeden III - A military officer who grew up in Alabama. He works for the United States Army and joins forces with COPS. Very fearful, nervous, anxious, but stays on the case with the team anyway to help get the job done. His toy File Card says his “father was a member of a top-secret military team in the 80’s and 90’s”, referencing G.I. Joe character Beach Head (AKA Wayne R. Sneeden)[

Yeah, I saw that on wikipedia too.

I suppose it’s not that far-fetched to connect characters from different shows like that. After all, it’s the whole concept of DotE!

Count Duckula is another example of this, he first appeared in Danger Mouse (although in a more traditional vampiric guise, leading to the theory that it was the previous incarnation of the count), then got his own show, which in turn spawned Victor And Hugo, who were human versions of Gaston and Pierre.

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I mean the character used the same code name, Bulletproof.
I looked it up and you are right he is Hardtop.
Some DVDs were released here, with I think two episodes on them, I seen a couple volumes in Tesco a few years ago. I seen them one day and I left them then when I went back a day or two after to get them they were all gone. They were only £1-2.

Another example of the female characters being left out would be JB from Bravestarr, Nikko from Galaxy Rangers and Talyn from Skeleton Warriors.
Although all had prototypes made for release in the second series of figures. I almost bought the Nikko prototype a couple years ago on Ebay but I didn’t bother as I decided I could spend £300+ on something better.

I haven’t seen that episode of Dangermouse with Duckula but I know it is on my complete boxset so I will watch it eventually.

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I mean the character used the same code name, Bulletproof.

Right, that makes more sense. The nickname would come first, and the awful pun later!

Some DVDs were released here, with I think two episodes on them, I seen a couple volumes in Tesco a few years ago. I seen them one day and I left them then when I went back a day or two after to get them they were all gone. They were only £1-2.

Ah. Still hardly worth getting.

I haven’t seen that episode of Dangermouse with Duckula but I know it is on my complete boxset so I will watch it eventually.

Apparently he appeared a few times. I don’t remember him in it myself.

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One of my favourite Dangermouse episodes is ‘Dangermouse on the Orient Express’.
I must try and get time this weekend to watch it.

The names in C.O.P.S. are no where near as bad as those in G.I. Joe though.
Bazooka- you guessed it, he uses a Bazooka trooper.
Scoop- the reporter.
Banzai, Slice, Dice, Dojo, Nunchuck, Quick Kick- the ninjas.
Captain Grid Iron- former NFL player.
Altitude- paratrooper.
Ice Cream Soldier-…:eek:
Crystal Ball- Hypnotist, fortune teller etc.

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Don’t leave off Hit n’ Run. Read his file card, it’s just wrong on so many levels.

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I wasn’t having a go at the names in general, just the fact that Bulletproof’s surname is Vess makes for a really bad pun!

That said, some of the COPS names are a bit iffy:

Highway - motorcycle cop
Mainframe - computer specialist
Longarm - has a gimmick of shooting handcuffs out from a compartment strapped to his wrist (a bit like Spiderman)
Mirage - undercover specialist

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I know LOL. It must be the same group of people on the creative team at Hasbro. Also some of the names are reused, it must have been cheaper using names they already had trademarked.
Mainframe in G.I. Joe.
Mirage in G.I. Joe, C.O.P.S. and Transformers.
Longarm in Transformers.
There are some unintentionally funny names as well used for toy/cartoon characters.

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Bet they wish they could have re-used some of their names in Visionaries as well, but it being a completely different world sort of put the kibosh on that plan.

That said, one or two of the names are still a little “obvious” when you put the name with the totem, notably Leoric and Witterquick, who turned into a lion and a cheetah respectively.

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I recall several years back Hasbro used Cyrotek for some Transformers.
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Cryotekridtoy.jpg
He was a pretty cool looking toy but when I was collecting Transformers I never had him.
There was some very good Visionaries names they should use more often instead of always reusing the standard Transformers names.
Darkstorm, Motredd, Cravex, Cindarr, Cryotek and Arzon were especially cool names.

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Interesting!

There was some very good Visionaries names they should use more often instead of always reusing the standard Transformers names.
Darkstorm, Motredd, Cravex, Cindarr, Cryotek and Arzon were especially cool names.

Definitely with you on Darkstorm and Cravex - I’d add Lexor to that list as well. And yes, Arzon would have been a good name to recycle too.

Obviously Mortdredd came from the treacherous son of King Arthur (and apparently he had another son called Leofric - remove one letter and you’ve got the hero!). And it’s been conjectured that Ectar might have come from the Arthurian Hector.

In some cases, we know what characters did before the Age Of Magic began, Ectar was a detective, Reekon a jewel thief, Leoric mayor of Valarak (in the comic version), Virulina was seen reading the news and modelling a jacket in a shop window poster, Cindarr was seen operating both a crane and a drill. In that first episode we see the Sky Claw in its original civvy context being piloted by a bloke who looks like Ectar but has Cravex’s voice!

In other cases, we can theorise what they might have done. Darkstorm would have been either a political rival to Leoric or else a similar leader in the next town. I expect Cryotek worked in the construction business like Cindarr, and Galadria a rival newscaster. Feryl would have still been at school, while there’s been a few theories about Lexor, ranging from Cindarr’s boss to a conman to even a (presumably corrupt) lawyer.

My fanfics gave Witterquick and Cravex a military background, although of late, I’m wondering if the name Witterquick was meant to sound like “quarterback” and that he would have been an American football player. The scene at the end of “Quest For The Dragon’s Eye” supports this. And I don’t like it. For one thing, it’s the American ego when it comes to the word “football” - it’s not a ball and it’s not played with the feet! And secondly, it doesn’t suit his hunting/tracking skills seen in “Horn Of Unicorn, Claw Of Dragon”. I’m going to stick with the military idea - for both of them. I created, by allusion, an incident in which Witterquick caught Cravex selling arms to terrorists. Making those two arch enemies might seem a little odd, but when Cravex jumps out and surprises Witterquick in “The Dark Hand Of Treachery”, it does sound a little personal.

Oh, and I watched that episode of C.O.P.S. with those justice machines last night. Pretty good!

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Your Visionaries fanfics sound very good. I must watch Visionaries it has been a long time. I remember really enjoying the DVD when it came out but I was surprised it only had 13 episodes. It would have been awesome if they had got 25-65 episodes like other shows. There was so much more back story they could have covered and stories exploring their world.

I did notice about Mortredd’s name.

With all the toy sculpting technology today could you imagine what new Visionaries would be like.

As I said before the sci-fi magical knights was and still is far more appealing to me than a bunch of spandex clad superheroes.

Hasbro really should bring them back now instead of keeping trying to flog a new iteration of Transformers. At least they have some what give up on G.I. Joe as even the American market seems to have really lost a lot of interest in the brand.

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There’s a few stories I’ve done, or at least had the idea for.

FULLY WRITTEN:

Foreign Eyes - the old body-swap storyline, but with a twist . . .
Shape Of The Mind - the amnesia storyline, inspired by an episode of King Arthur And The Knights Of Justice
Reign Of Terror - Darkstorm and Mortdredd are overthrown by Cravex (but I might make it Virulina in a rewrite), and have to team up with Witterquick and Ectar to get his authority back after New Valarak falls to the other Darkling Lords.

PARTIALLY WRITTEN:
A Moonlighting Romance - Ectar falls in love with a girl from a nearby village, whom the Darkling Lords seem determined to capture for some reason.
Restoration - a city is discovered that is draining all magic from Prysmos. The Spectral Knights and Darkling Lords must team up to destroy it.
Absolute Power - Merklynn is overthrown, but manages to give his orb to Leoric before being banished. But after an epic battle with the Darkling Lords, in which Leoric is forced to use magic to defeat Darkstorm, even he begins to feel the allure of power. The Spectral Knights must find Merklynn’s old tutor, the one wizard who can help them out of this mess . . .

With all the toy sculpting technology today could you imagine what new Visionaries would be like.

OK, that would tempt me!

As I said before the sci-fi magical knights was and still is far more appealing to me than a bunch of spandex clad superheroes.

Hasbro really should bring them back now instead of keeping trying to flog a new iteration of Transformers. At least they have some what give up on G.I. Joe as even the American market seems to have really lost a lot of interest in the brand.

Visionaries was one of the best concepts of any 80s cartoon. The totems were an amazing gimmick, and the staff spells doubtless inspired a few poets among our generation. Those staff spells would have been great catchphrases all around the playground if the show had caught on. Life-size power staffs would have been a great toy feature, like the swords from Thundercats or He-Man. Although maybe slightly impractical.

I had a Visionaries activity book, and one of the things in it was “make your own power staff”. I did!

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I shall have to read some of them some time.

One of the best programmes on at the minute is The Legend of Korra.
Avatar The Last Airbender and it’s sequel The Legend of Korra are both excellent shows you should check out that I have recently discovered.
If a new Visionaries series was done something similar to them it would work very well as bunch of guys traveling the land with magical powers is quite similar to them. Where as WB basically tried ripping off Avatar with the new series of Thundercats which was a big like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. The concept was a good idea but it just didn’t work that well with the Thundercats characters.

Also Visionaries would make for a brilliant video game. I am no game developer and designer but bare with me.
Travel a massive open world of Prysmos.
Change between knight and totem animal.
Design your own character.
Pick totem animal.
Create your own staff and level up its powers.
Upgrade abilities by training and battling with of spectral knights/darkling lords.
Also ride about in the vehicles.

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I agree whole-heartedly that the changing from human to animal form lends itself perfectly to a video game (from that era at least, not sure what they’re like now).

Don’t forget though, the staffs and vehicles are mutually exclusive, you can’t have both. The vehicle drivers are the ones without staffs, they made a big point of this in the opening 3-parter.

That’s my only quibble. You can pick at the start whether you want a staff or a vehicle.

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Well the vehicle traveling could be a mode of fast transportation to cover ground/air quicker. Like you call for transport and Ectar or Farrel etc could turn up and give you a lift instead of walking the full distance.
In fact you could also call the vehicle driver with their vehicle for assistance during a battle like during a battle to either inflict damage to multiple enemies or more damage in a one on one duel.

I have never played it but I seen a video of a Zelda game called Twilight Princess and in it you could change into a wolf and travel/fight and do different things while in wolf form.

In fact in Dragon Age Origins (excellent rpg game) over the course of the game your character has the ability to transform into an animal when they are in a kind of spirit zone called the fade. I believe mages in the gam have the ability change into an animal form the full way throughout the game.

Maybe a modern Visionaries games would fare better than the recent Transformers and G.I. Joe games. The Transformers games allow you to transform but it is very linear and you don’t have much freedom and most of the combat is basically running around shooting and your ammo keeps running out. Very poor games…the most recent one especially. As for the Joe game, the reviews speak for themselves, it is an absolutely terrible game. Most games that are basically only made to cash tie in on the success of the movie are usually very poor but Rise Of Cobra REALLY sets the bar to a new (lower?) level. The only good thing that can be said for it is when it plays a small bit of the classic cartoon theme. Biggest problem for it is the actual gameplay is awful and not fun in anyway to play…well when you select your character and it starts there is a moment of coolness like oh I am actually playing as Snake Eyes/ Duke/ Shipwreck etc but that coolness only last about 20 seconds until you actually start playing.

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Except that they have no communication devices in Visionaries! The vehicles may have radios that can be used to contact each other, but there was never any mention of such a device - and even if they do exist, then the knights with staffs are still on their own. And I’m not convinced they do, as there’s certain episodes where such a thing might have been used if it existed.

I have never played it but I seen a video of a Zelda game called Twilight Princess and in it you could change into a wolf and travel/fight and do different things while in wolf form.

In fact in Dragon Age Origins (excellent rpg game) over the course of the game your character has the ability to transform into an animal when they are in a kind of spirit zone called the fade. I believe mages in the gam have the ability change into an animal form the full way throughout the game.

Interesting! I’m not much of a video games person myself, but that sounds enjoyable enough.

Maybe a modern Visionaries games would fare better than the recent Transformers and G.I. Joe games. The Transformers games allow you to transform but it is very linear and you don’t have much freedom and most of the combat is basically running around shooting and your ammo keeps running out. Very poor games…the most recent one especially. As for the Joe game, the reviews speak for themselves, it is an absolutely terrible game. Most games that are basically only made to cash tie in on the success of the movie are usually very poor but Rise Of Cobra REALLY sets the bar to a new (lower?) level. The only good thing that can be said for it is when it plays a small bit of the classic cartoon theme. Biggest problem for it is the actual gameplay is awful and not fun in anyway to play…well when you select your character and it starts there is a moment of coolness like oh I am actually playing as Snake Eyes/ Duke/ Shipwreck etc but that coolness only last about 20 seconds until you actually start playing.

Ha! The concept of Visionaries is great full stop, if they had a go making a new version of it, then yes, it probably would do all right.

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I am not overly into video games either. I have a few but I mostly just use my PS3 for downloading episodes and films and watching them. I would honestly say it gets more use as a DVD player than playing games.

They don’t need to communicate when you press a button they will just come as if they are just in the area.
There is a very good game I have called ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ and in it you can call your horse during battle and to travel the vast land to face the next Colossus (Colossi?). It can sometime take him quite a while to reach you LOL. I would actually recommend that game if you want to play a good fantasy action game.

I am going to go and see Guardians of the Galaxy sometime this week. By all accounts it is very good. All the reviews have really praised it. It would be nice if they would do a DOTE movie similar to it. :smiley:

Also DOTE would make a quite good video game.

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Basically, take “Escape From Mongo”, “The Creation Of Monitor” and “Bits ‘N’ Chips” and expand on them a bit, and you’d have a good establishing movie.

There’s also scope to expand a few of the characters from the series. Princess Astra, if handled correctly, would make a good movie, likewise Doctor Dark. And of course Prince Kro-Tan and The Necklace Of Oros, but they have sort of been done already!

As for GotG, let me know. The title always makes me think of DotE, so I’m tempted on that score . . .

Also DOTE would make a quite good video game.

There was one back in the 80s! You could play as Flash, Phantom, Mandrake, Lothar, or, for some reason, Zuffy! I never saw it in action, so don’t know how it worked.

I got the chorus to that song sorted earlier - finally! In a pretty intense place emotionally as a result, I’ve told you it’s the most personal song I’ve ever written, and it’s all flooding back to me.

Now I just need to come up with the words to the pre-chorus. I don’t think it needs a bridge. In any event, it’s this close to completion. With any luck I’ll be able to do it at my next performance in a couple of weeks on tuesday.

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Personally if I were making the movie I would just stick with ‘Escape from Mongo’ and a couple bits from ‘The Creation of Monitor’. Stories like Kro-Tan and Princess Astra…even parts from a ‘Demon in his Pocket’ would make good sequels.

Can’t wait to hear it.

I will let you know what it’s like once I see it.

You should download the emulator and the rom for your PC.
The game looked okay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k65EyMtgbPI

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And “Bits ‘N’ Chips”! There’s a reason it’s episode 3 in my continuity order! Ming’s plan in that episode is bigger than anything he gets up to in the first two, so would provide a fitting climax to the movie.

Stories like Kro-Tan and Princess Astra…even parts from a ‘Demon in his Pocket’ would make good sequels.

Likewise Dr Dark, or the League Of Flesh And Blood.

Can’t wait to hear it.

I think my emotional state was due as much to a depression attack yesterday, I felt it coming on back on friday, I’m still shaking it off now. These attacks can play havoc with my emotional responses to things. Singing that chorus to myself again this morning, yeah, it’s OK, it’s not causing quite such an intense reaction this time.

I will let you know what it’s like once I see it.

You should download the emulator and the rom for your PC.
The game looked okay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k65EyMtgbPI

I might give it a go at that. Not today though; computer is busy doing a scan, and assuming it’s sorted soon enough, I’ll be off on my 15-mile walk again after this.