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.