Map of Amzot (ongoing)

Here's a map of Amzot as of the first episode, so it is so far very small, showing just the desert area we saw in that episode. Also included are some of the things I surmised in that episode. I'll add to this map as I watch more episodes, which should make it more interesting as time goes by.

Desert (Mesas, cliffs, occasional Iron Trees *

*Iron Trees--Large (50 foot or higher) trees that sparsely populate the desert area. These trees have very deep roots to access underground water sources. Their name derives from their extremely tough outer bark, which can withstand violent impacts without showing any damage. Zandor's shield is made from Iron Tree bark.

Ep. 1--The Pirates

Space pirates land on Amzot to bury their stolen treasure. This seems to be an unwise decision by the pirate captain, who knows Amzot is Zandor's planet. Since he and his crew are dead by the end of the episode, we have evidence that it is indeed an unwise decision.

We learn a little about both the Herculoids and the planet in this episode.

THE HERCULOIDS: I think the creatures might have some sort of low-level telepathic link with Zandor, Tara and Dorno. It's not just that they can understand the humans--but that they often seem to be able to communicate information back at them even though they can't themselves speak. (Though I suppose Gleep and Gloop's gibberish might be a language.) For instance, Zandor sends Zok, the laser dragon, back to Tara to tell her what's going on after encountering the pirates. Since Zok can't speak himself, this seems to be evidence of some level of telepathic communication.

We see that Zandor's shield can ward off energy bolts from the pirate's hand blasters. This might mean it's made of some high-tech alloy, but I have another theory about it that I'll get to in a minute.

AMZOT: The action presumably takes place near the Herculoid's home, since Zok flies to get Tara and returns relatively quickly even taking into account his flight. We don't see their home, but when we do get to see it in later episodes, the terrain is very similar to what we see here: cliffs, mesas and occasional large trees. So we have our first glimpse of this local ecosystem. It's an area similar to the American southwest.

The major difference is the trees, some of which are pretty large. That might mean the area gets more rain than the American southwest desert--or perhaps has underground water to feed the trees. On the other hand, the trees are spaced well apart and there's not much other vegetation.

I theorize that the trees have very, very deep roots that allow them to tap particularly deep water sources, allowing them to flourish in the desert environment when other flora can't.

Also, these trees have incredible strong bark. During the fight with the pirates, a one-man hovercraft used by the pirates (called space torpedoes by the captain) crashes directly into a tree without so much as denting it. That's one tough tree!

I think Zandor's shield is made from the wood of these trees, giving it the strength to deflect lasers without being damaged.

So we know the area near the Herculoids' home is desert, with mesas and cliffs, where tall, very strong trees use long, deep roots to find water.

We see no native animal life this time out.

THE PLANET AMZOT

The planet Amzot--home of the Herculoids--is a strange place. Home to a bizarre variety of flora and fauna (including several sentient or semi-sentient species), it is protected from raiders and space pirates by the Herculoids.

The blog is going to take a look at the original Herculoids cartoons--which aired on CBS from 1967 to 1969. I'll be watching those original cartoons in order. As I watch an episode, I'll post an ever-growing list here of the flora and fauna that seems to be native to the planet, then come up with theories involving how the heck the bizarre ecosystem of Amzot actually works. I'm doing this just for fun and anyone who wants to participate via the comment section is more than welcome to do so.

For the purposes of this blog, only those cartoons will be considered canon. Later cartoons, comic book appearances and so on will not count. This is not a criticism of the quality of those stories, which were often quite good. But I'm leaving other stuff out for several reasons:

1) The 1981 Space Stars series renamed the planet of the Herculoids "Quasar," which I take to mean it happened in a different continuity.

2) I don't own DVDs of the later cartoons anyways.

I am, of course, willing to listen to discussions that I SHOULD include the later cartoon and/or comic book appearances. Please comment politely on this in the comment section.

The next post will discuss the first episode. Since this is being done purely for fun, I won't promise how often I'll post. Sometimes, it will be frequently. Sometimes, there might be a few weeks between posts.

 But even before we begin with the actual episodes, we can theorize about the Herculoids themselves. Here are some assumptions I'm making:

1) I don't believe the creatures (Zok, Igoo, Tundro, Gloop and Gleep) are native to Amzot, since we never see or have any hints that other members of their species are present. Of course, it's possible that they are the last of their respective species or that others of their species live in a remote part of the planet we never see in the cartoon.

We also know that Zandor is tech-savvy. He flies a space ship in one episode and seems to have a solid understanding of advanced technology.

I'm going to theorize that Zandor is a geneticist and the Herculoids are his creations. That would explain their odd powers (how many animals have naturally-occurring laser eyes, for instance) and their relatively advanced intelligence.

At some point in his career, Zandor found himself with a desire to get back to nature. Or perhaps he had a moral epiphany about genetic tinkering and decided that he had to care for the creatures he had created. Or maybe his son Dorno was being bullied in school because he's named Dorno.

Whatever the reason, Zandor took his wife Tara and his son Dorno to Amzot and settled there with the Herculoids. He choose Amzot because he could use his creatures to do good--to defend the planet against the many dangers that threaten it.

Now exactly why is Amzot always in such great danger? Why do aliens keep invading the darn place?

One episode (I forget which--but I'll make a note of it when I watch it again) has the villain mentioning the great resources on Amzot that he wants to get. So the planet is resource rich.

What exactly are the resources that apparently make Amzot so valuable? Well, Zandor and his family have an apparently endless supply of energy rocks, which they use as ammunition for their slingshots.

So perhaps the energy rocks are found on Amzot and are a valuable resource. Let's take that a step further--those energy rocks are analogous to dilithium crystals in the Star Trek universe. Dilithium is required to power warp drives in Star Trek--they make faster-than-light travel possible.

Perhaps the energy rocks on Amzot serve a similar purpose. They are the power source for much of the technology of the galactic civilization. So it would be a valuable resource indeed and would be a temptation for any space pirate or mad scientist worth his salt.

So if we go with my theory, then we have NOT yet looked at the native life of Amzot when we look at the Herculoids themselves. We'll begin to do that in the next post, when we see what flora and fauna appear in the first episode.