Around 4000 BC…..

A spaceship lands in the middle of the night on a primitive mountain. Its occupants are highly scientifically advanced beings from Galaxia Kentron. (See HB’s 1974 special “Freedom 2000”).  They offer a primitive human a device, fashioned in the shape of a club, which can cause him to transform into a being of amazing super powers, and instruct him to use it only for good, as they intend to periodically monitor earth.

The man raises the club and his body forms powerful muscles and is given the ability to fly. He finds that it can also transform one other being, and uses it on his pet dinosaur, who gains the power to breathe fire. The man calls himself Mightor, and defends innocent people from powerful raiders and tyrannical menaces for many years.  In his elderly years, he knows that he will soon die, and be unable to continue to wield the device. To find a suitable successor to pass on the club, the old man, now a reclusive hermit, stages a dangerous situation and is rescued by a very young man named Tor and his pet Tog.

The hermit shares his knowledge of the power club with Tor, who succeeds him as the new Mightor, and protects the village of his friends Chief Pondo and his daughter Sheira and son Little Rok.

In time, Tor too, like his wife Sheira becomes elderly. However for him, choosing a successor is easy. He confides his identity in Rok, formerly Little Rok, who has continued to help Mightor whenever possible, riding on Tog rather than Ork, after outgrowing Ork.

“YOU were Mightor all along. No wonder Tog spent so much time with you!” said Rok.

“And now I need someone to take over for me. Your father is gone, and your sister Sheira has been queen of the village for a while. Soon she and I might both be gone, and you will be the reigning chief. Even now, it will need you as the new Mightor.”

“It is funny. I dreamed of being Mightor all those years when I played Mightor to help you when I was a kid. Now I really will be Mightor. I won’t let you down, Tor.”

Ork, Tog and Bolo the elephant had long since died, but Rok’s new pet dinosaur became his assistant. He too operated as Mightor (and eventually as Chief Rok as well) into his old age. However, before he could pass on the Mightor power club, Rok accidentally dropped it into a raging river, and was too weak with old age to find and retrieve it. The river carried it far away, and thus the Mightor legacy came to an end.

Thousands of years later, the descendants of the visitors from Galaxia Kentron returned to earth in the year 1966. Seeing that there was no Mightor, they decided to create not one but two devices of great power this time, and give one to a chosen youth and hide the other to await discovery. The first was a ring infused with great power, although not the same as the Mightor club. This they hid in a cave off the coast of Maine. The second was a pair of wrist bracelets which would also give similar powers to Mightor’s to the user, and enable a similar transformation to Tog’s to be applied to any animal companion the user might have. They chose a boy in his late teens named Tim Matthews.

When Tim, as instructed, struck the bracelets against eachother, he was transformed into an adult man with longer hair and a costume resembling the fashions of ancient Old Testament Bible eras. Discovering that he had super strength, limited leaping or flying ability, the ability to generate a force ring and the brief ability to increase his strength even further, he saw a similarity to what he’d read in the book of Judges about a man named Samson, whom God had empowered with super strength only as long as his hair remained uncut.  (See Hanna-Barbera’s 1991 episode of “Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible” called “Samson and Delilah”.)

Tim called himself Young Samson, and pointed his hands in the direction of his new unnamed dog, struck the bracelets together again and saw the dog transform into a lion with the ability to project power beams from his eyes as well as to give off a super powerful roar and leap significant distances like Young Samson himself. Unable to recall many other Bible names, he chose to call the dog/lion Goliath. Unlike the Philistine giant Goliath (showin in another Greatest Adventure episode called “David and Goliath”), Young Samson’s pet worked to help him perform heroic deeds.

Some time earlier, they had also given similar materials to a man on another planet, which had enabled him to use them as his power bands. These bands could duplicate some of the super strength of Samson and Mightor, the flying ability of Mightor, variations on the power ray discharges of Mightor’s club and Goliath’s eyes, and also enabled the wearer to become invisible. The man went on to call himself Space Ghost, named after the white costume he wore to stand out in the blackness of outer space, and was able to fashion belts for two teenage allies and their pet monkey, that would duplicate only the invisibility, as well as designing a spaceship with the same capacity, which he then dubbed appropriately: The Phantom Cruiser. His teenaged friends were named Jan and Jace, and their pet monkey was called Blip. Using his own planet’s technology, which was not nearly as advanced as that of Galaxia Kentron, he fashioned rocket packs for Jan, Jace and Blip, which would give them the ability to fly, at least for a while. They fought against a number of menaces such as Metallus, Zorak, Moltar, Brak, Spider Woman, Creature King, Lokar, Tansit, Transor, Brago, One-Eye and Lurker; and perhaps the most enigmatic of all, the mysterious Rob Corp.

Rob Corp was in fact a renegade group from Galaxia Kentron, who built a Saucer Crab and sent it to begin gathering information and starting attacks not far from Space Ghost’s Ghost Planet.

1974…

The people from Galaxia Kentron visited earth again, as the more experienced male pilot was interested in teaching his female assistant about the unique properties of earth’s “free market economy”.

At the end of the visit, she asked him if they should give more help to the earthlings. Without telling her about Mightor, Young Samson or the ring, the older alien said, “I think not. Experience has shown that our interference causes as many problems as it fixes.” (See “Freedom 2000” 1974 special again). The rest of this story will explain which of their acts (of leaving advanced technology on earth) led the alien to make the conclusion he did.

1968, Intelligence One Headquarters….

Doctor Benton Quest had been put in charge of a project of investigation, and was now holding a meeting with his most trusted team members: his son Jonny Quest, his adopted son Hadji, field agent Race Bannon, who was also Jonny’s and now Hadji’s constant bodyguard when the team was on dangerous assignments. Also present were Young Samson (currently in his teenage boy form) and Space Ghost, who was making one of his rare visits to earth, the first in fact since his confrontation with the Sandman. Space Ghost’s allies Jan and Jace were there too, while Blip, Goliath the Dog and Jonny’s dog Bandit were exploring together out on the lawn as animals do.

“My superiors at Intelligence One are usually reluctant to call in super powered people from outside the organisation, simply as a matter of national security. Some consider them too much like wild cards or unknowns. However, I persuaded them to let me make this exception, after they persuaded me to take on three similar cases which occurred in the last two years. I think they were playing on my extreme devotion to my kids as a widowed father, because all three cases involve the most extraordinairy disappearances of kids without a trace.”

“I was wondering if I should get involved in earth’s affairs, but since six of my worst enemies have been defeated recently, and since I too have adopted children, I’d be glad to lend my assistance,” said Space Ghost.

“The same goes for us, since we are the kids he’s talking about,” said Jace.

“And I might even serve as bait for whoever or whatever’s responsible, if that’s where this is going,” said Young Samson, “Anyone who kidnapped me wouldn’t know what they were in for.”

“I-1 wouldn’t be interested in finding lost kids, when the conventional authorities can perform searches of their own, but all 3 cases involve kids disappearing without even a trace of a body or any personal effects,” said Benton, “The first was in 1966. A pilot with a lone boy passenger reported that his plane was in trouble, and then his radio went dead. The plane was later found crashed, with the pilot dead at the controls from multiple broken bones and severe fractures. I performed a second autopsy on him myself. There was no trace of the boy named Tod anywhere. The owners of the plane said that the only thing missing was a parachute, but if the boy did parachute to safety, why didn’t he find his way back and let people know? Race, show them the vicinity of the pilot’s last reported position on the poster map.” (See origin theme of Dino Boy in Space Ghost 1966 series for part of this).

“Goliath and I faced a similar situation when our plane was attacked by Baron Von Skull,” said Young Samson, “But that was nowhere near your problem.” (See Young Samson 1967 episode “Baron Von Skull”).

“Tell us about the second,” said Space Ghost.

“That was last year. This time there were two boys, Tom and Tub. They went missing from their Uncle’s endangered boat ‘The Sea Explorer’ and were never seen again. Divers found no traces of the body at the bottom of the sea in that area. (See Moby Dick origin theme in the 1967 “Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor” series).

Race used the wooden pointer to show them the area on the map again.

“That IS near where Goliath and I fought Salamandro, and we have reason to believe that he might have escaped.  He could have built more undersea equipment and abducted those kids if they stumbled upon his attempts to rebuild his criminal operations,” said Samson, “I think I’d better take that one on with Goliath to help me search that area.” (See Young Samson 1967 episode “Salamandro”).

“The area where Tod disappeared is uncharted and largely unexplored,” said Benton Quest, “I propose to load some equipment aboard Questor Two and fly there with Race.”

“Would you like to go with them, kids?” asked Space Ghost, “It’ll give you a chance to study scientific methods under Doctor Quest. We’ve seen so much action, that I haven’t had a chance to teach you what little I know.”

Jan and Jace accepted the suggestion, with Benton’s encouragement.

“I thought mixing at least some of our teams would add new perspectives to our searches and analyses,” said Benton, “Of course Goliath needs to remain with Young Samson in order for his powers to kick in when Samson turns his on. But when I explain what little detail I have of the third disappearance of kids, maybe I can entrust Hadji and Jonny to the safe company of anyone who can surround himself and them with a force field like yours, Space Ghost.”

“I guess that means the third case falls to me to investigate. Tell me what you’ve got,” said Space Ghost.

“It’s the strangest of the lot. No danger, no reported peril. No typhoon affecting a boat at sea. No plane in trouble. Just two teenage twins, Chuck and Nancy, disappeared with no explanation at all after exploring on the coast of Maine. It makes the least sense of all three cases. Well boys, do you want to go on assignment with Space Ghost?” (See the Shazzan origin theme in the 1967 show).

“Do we ever!” said Jonny.

“Then you can take Jan’s and Jace’s seats in the Phantom Cruiser,” said Space Ghost.

“This base has its own animal shelter,” said Race, “We usually take Bandit with us, but in this case we don’t want to risk losing him in a place where a boy can disappear for two years.”

“We’ll still take Blip,” said Jan and Jace, “His inviso-belt has enabled him to rescue all of us, even Space Ghost, in the past.”

“Alright, I need hardly remind you all that security is a very high priority. Samson was cleared by a five star general. Space Ghost was vouched for by the highest authorities who called him to solve their problems with the Sandman. All of you kids, no matter who you work with on this case, must not give anything away to civilians or others you run into in the field,” said Race, “Our superiors have entrusted us with finding out what happened to Tod, Tom, Tub, Chuck and Nancy, and hopefully with returning them unharmed. We don’t want any of our secrets getting back to any criminal element which might be responsible for their disappearances. If the same criminal element is responsible for all three, then we might be up against a global organisation aimed right at our youth.”

“Race is right,” said Benton, “Samson we can lend you a plane, since you won’t need one of our pilots. I can also lend Bandit’s aqualung to Goliath. Hadji and Jonny head for the Phantom Cruiser with Space Ghost. Jane and Jace bring Blip in from outside and join Race and I in Questor Two’s hanger.”

After two years of three cases of disappearing kids, now three search and rescue missions were under way.

Salamandro had survived his encounter with Young Samson and Goliath. However, the teleportation device that he had spent decades perfecting in order to rob ships of their valuable cargo… Well that had been completely destroyed. Now armed only with a submarine equipped with a few weapons of his own design, Salamandro began searching for a place to establish an underwater base and relaunch his advanced piracy of the seas.

Just as he had found the perfect spot, he was surprised and disappointed to find two boys in orange-red diving suits swimming in the same area.

“Could one of them be Samson, after me again?” thought Salamandro, “Here I have an advantage or two. In that diving suit, Samson can’t snap his bracelets together, and without it, he can’t breathe down here.”

He extended the range of his camera to look through the transparent faceplates of the suits and saw that one boy had a broad face with blond hair. That one couldn’t be Samson, but the other had Samson’s black hair and seemed to have his facial features.

“It must be Samson and some new ally of his!” raged Salamandro, “What other boy would be diving way down here? I’m going to capture him and fuse the upper part of that suit shut, removing only the head plate. Then he’ll never be able to use his powers to my detriment again.”

Salamandro activated some of the controls on his submarine. A clamp extended from the front of the vessel and closed around Tom’s body (for Salamandro had mistaken Tom for Young Samson and not known who Tub was).

“Help!” said Tom, as he was yanked away by the clamp, “Tub, Scooby! Go get Moby!”

Tub fled with his pet sea otter Scooby.

“Bah, let the boy get away,” muttered Salamandro, “Once I have disabled Samson, his friend will be of no consequence. He hasn’t even brought that metamorphing mutt of his…. What the blazes is that?”

A huge white whale can swimming towards him at fantastic speed. It stopped just a few meters away from Salamandro’s submarine, bent its head forward and downward, and then blasted an unbelievably powerful spurt of water at the extension arm of the clamp, like a super powerful fire extinguisher. The mechanical arm snapped, and the controls to the clamp were severed in the process. Tom broke free and swam towards Moby.

“Geroni-Moby!” said Tom, “Go get him!”

“Breeble!” said Moby (translated from the whale’s speech with no further explanation of its meaning made possible).

The great white super whale charged at the submarine, smashing into it with his head. Several times he repeated this motion, until the submarine started to crumble, in spite of the superior material that Salamandro had used in its design. With the submarine, Moby Dick and the boys and Scooby all lined up, Salamandro slipped into an ejection capsule and left the ship from the side which was so far undamaged, and kept the ship between him and his opponents as he piloted the jet capsule in a suitable direction to accomplish this.

He had almost eluded them completely, when he saw another boy swimming towards him, accompanied by a dog in an aqualung.

“Goliath, and that’s Samson! That must have been some other kid I grabbed,” thought Salamandro.

Having arrived just in time to witness Moby Dick’s attack on Salamandro, Young Samson struck his bracelets together underwater, just once. His head and body would not enlarge enough to damage his diving gear, but Goliath would shatter his aqualung if he turned into a lion. Young Samson took on his powerful form and grabbed the capsule and swam with it, past the submarine and over to Tom and Tub. He motioned to the surface, and began swimming up.

Tom and Tub climbed aboard Moby Dick and were carried to the surface as well. Samson tore open Salamandro’s capsule and hauled him out.

“This time you’re going to the authorities, and Intelligence One will see to it that you’re put away for your piracy and the attempted abduction of these boys!” said Samson, as Goliath caught him up and dog paddled across the surface of the sea, “They’ve been missing for over a year, thanks to you.”

“I only met them today,” said Salamandro, “In fact all I did was try to take the black haired one, because I thought he was you.”

“That’s true,” said Tub, “We’ve been with Moby since our Uncle’s vessel got hit by a typhoon. We don’t even know the way home, and Moby’s now the only family we’ve got.”

“You could come back with us,” said Samson, “I’ve got a boat I rented floating nearby, and a plane on land. I can fly over the sea, so that Moby can follow and see where we end up, until we can find you a new place to live.”

“We’ll try it, so long as we don’t lose touch with Moby,” said Tom, “He can give you and  your dog a ride back to your boat too.”

“Well apart from his back, I don’t have any solid footing to launch a leap from, and it would be much faster than US swimming back,” said Samson, “Thanks for the offer. Okay Goliath, it’s aboard Moby Dick for you, and also for you, Salamandro.”

When they reached Samson’s boat, he both tied and chained up Salamandro securely, taking no chances.

“Thank your friend Moby for defeating one of my few sea based enemies,” said Samson, “Darvo and the Colossal Coral Creature and the Magnar missile thief of Evil Island were all ultimately foes that I faced on land, only near the water. I couldn’t have done as fast and efficient a job as Moby Dick did on Salamandro’s latest super sub.”

“I’m sure Moby thinks you’re welcome,” said Tub, “Follow our boat as close to shore as you can, Moby!”

With Salamando secured, Samson slapped his bracelets together above his head. To have done so with his arms out in front facing Goliath, would have turned the dog into a super lion. Instead, this motion turned Samson’s super powered long haired form back into a teenage boy. He piloted the boat back to the shore, returned it to the hire company, and then flew over the sea with Tom and Tub in his plane, and Scooby and Moby following below.

Once back in the United States of America, Tom and Tub were placed into the Hanna-Barbera Home For Adventurous Orphans.

Young Samson and Goliath returned to Intelligence One headquarters to contact Questor Two or the Phantom Cruiser for an update on the other teams’ missions.

Questor Two, with Race Bannon at the controls, flew over the position where the plane had been found with Tod not aboard. Studying the positioning of the plane, Benton calculated its trajectory in reverse, to work out where it must have been when it started to crashdive. He directed Race Bannon to fly Questor Two accordingly, back tracking the plane’s movements as best as Benton could estimate. Then they flew very low, and at last understood why the area had remained uncharted.

“There’s such a thick mist that nobody could make out what’s below,” said Jace.

“My advanced scanner on Questor Two can,” said Benton, “It will look through that fog like an X-ray.”

“Jonny calls it the Quest-ray,” laughed Race.

Doctor Quest adjusted the scanner, while Jan accompanied him at the view screen.

“It looks like there’s some sort of unexplored valley down there, and the ground is far deeper, far lower than it was at the spot where we found the plane,” said Jan.

“If someone parachuted into that, Doctor, is it possible he could have survived but been unable to climb out?”

“More than possible, most likely,” said Benton, “He could still be alive, and since no conventional aircraft performing previous searches could see through the mist, its pilot and crew couldn’t expect to go any lower than we are now without blindly crashing into something. We can see how far down the ground really is, and we can use Questor Two’s vertical landing jets to go down slowly through the mist. I’ll have to guide you from the Quest-ray scanner, Race. So go slowly.”

“Maybe we should go down ahead of you on our rocket packs and look out for any hazards,” said Jace.

“Okay kids, but no fancy flying. Just a slow descent only a little ahead of Questor Two,” said Race, opening the side door.

Before Race or Benton could object, Blip turned on his own rocket pack and followed them out.

“Perhaps he always goes with them regardless,” said Benton, “It makes me think about the risks we’ve taken with Bandit along in the past.”

He’s been happier to stay back at headquarters since we subscribed him as a taste test subject for that new dog food coming out on the market soon, and overstocked on it. What was it called again?”

“Scooby Snacks,” said Benton, “If the test dogs like it, they’ll be putting it in stores next year.”

(Well Tom and Tub’s sea otter wouldn’t have eaten it).

Jan and Jace had tuned their uniform radios to Questor Two, rather than the Phantom Cruiser or Space Ghost’s uniform, back at Intelligence One headquarters. When they reached the ground, they located a clearing for Questor Two to land in, and then joined Race and Benton as they alighted. Both Race and Benton armed themselves with rapid fire weapons, and Doctor Quest’s own version of the rocket packs, which his team had used before, and led the kids on a trek through the dense jungle that surrounded the clearing.

Suddenly an enormous reptilian dinosaur charged into view, roaring viciously.

“I don’t believe it! Not in this century!” said Race.

“We have seen surviving pteradactyls before,” said Benton.

Race let off several rounds, but they didn’t phase the beast.

“Bullets are too small to do anything to that guy!” said Race, “Let’s hope it can’t fly. Jet up, kids, Doctor!”

They narrowly avoided a lumbering swipe made by the huge animal, and then flew out of its reach.

“Hey look!” said Jan, “There’s a boy and what looks like a caveman down there riding on ….”

“From my studies, it looks like a small brontosaurus,” said Doctor Quest.

Unable to get at the four flying humans and Blip, the menacing dinosaur turned to the Brontosaurus and its two human passengers. Then the boy raised his club and shouted out an unfamiliar word: “Mightor.”

Before the eyes of the hovering onlookers, the boy turned into a man with a primitive super hero costume. The Brontosaurus turned into a fire breathing reptile and charged the dinosaur. The super hero knocked the dinosaur over with one punch, and then picked it up and flung it way off into the distance, where it fell with a painful thud onto a rocky cliffside and passed out.

“How about you join me on the ground,” said the super hero, and led them down, “My name is Mightor, but only since I found this club.”

He raised it above his head and turned back into the boy. His face was an exact match for the photo that I-1 had been given of Tod, the missing boy from the plane.

“This is Bronty, and my friend Ugh,” said Tod, “We had to get by on my old club and a lot of running until I found this one in a partly underwater cave. It turned out to be completely fireproof when we once tried to burn it for emergency wood. Then Ugh remembered a legend that had been passed down for thousands of years of a caveman super hero named Mightor with a power club. When I held the club above my head and tried saying the name Mightor, the way Ugh had heard of, it turned me into that super hero that you saw. I’ve been Mightor ever since.”

(The Mightor power club, that the elderly Rok had dropped into the raging river thousands of years earlier, had been found by Tod, who had then changed his pseudonym from Dino Boy to Mightor.)

“And boy are we grateful,” said Race, “If you hadn’t stopped that dinosaur before it got to Questor Two, we might never have been able to fly out of here with you.”

“You brought a plane! Did you hear that, Ugh! I can go home now.”

“Ugh miss Dino Boy, but Ugh happy Dino Boy have friends from Dino Boy home,” said the Caveman.

“We came to rescue a boy, and instead we’re bringing back the latest successor to the world’s earliest super hero,” said Jace, “You and Young Samson will have a lot in common.”

“I’d like to study that club and see if I can help you learn more about its powers,” said Benton.

“Now I wonder….” said Dino Boy, “If I leave Bronty behind, then he won’t get his fire breathing powers anymore when I change to Mightor.”

“We thought the Brontosaurus could always breathe fire,” said Benton, “Are you saying that it only happens when you become Mightor?”

“Yes.”

“If you remain as Mightor until we’re far out of this Lost Valley, then your changing back to Tod might not affect Bronty’s powers. He could keep them permanently and help keep Ugh safe.”

“It’s worth a try,” said Tod, raising the club, “Mightor!”

They all flew back to Questor Two and then Race flew them back to I-1 headquarters. Finally Mightor changed back to Tod.

“Somewhere I hope Bronty is still toasting whatever Ugh finds instead of marshmallows,” said Tod.

Benton asked Tod to demonstrate his transformation in a room equipped with a spectroscope and then test his strenght against Samson. Young Samson went into the room with Tod, and let Tod initiate his own change first, allowing Doctor Quest time to study the transformation.

None of them could have anticipated what happened next.

At the same second that Tod turned into Mightor, Young Samson took on his adult super powered Samson form too.

“How did that happen? I didn’t raise my hands, let alone strike the bracelets together,” said Samson.

He then proceeded to do those two things, and turned himself back into his teenaged boy form. Just as it happened, Mightor turned back into Tod.

“I didn’t raise the club or shout the word,” said Tod, “It only works when I do both.”

(Tor’s Mightor did once shout the word Mightor while flying back from a rescue of Lil Rok, but the transformation only occurred when the club was raised by a person in a standing position on solid ground.)

“The spectroscope might be able to ‘throw some light on it’ said Jace.”

“Very funny, brother dear,” said Jan, “But is he right, Doctor Quest?”

“As it turns out, yes. Both the bracelets and the power club are made of the same identical material, alien material composed of elements not found in our periodic table. They both seem to have the same transformative powers on the users and their pets. They must have been given to us by the same aliens. Do you realise that this means the same aliens have visited this planet on two occasions, and both times, it seems that they have been the benefactors of upcoming super heroes?” said Benton.

“It also means that we can’t hang out together unless we’re willing to both be changed to and from super hero forms whenever one of us initiates it,” said Samson.

“That’s not a problem really. It could even be beneficial,” said Race.

“I think we’re missing a more important connection,” said Benton, “Both power source objects have been instrumental in cases involving missing children, although Samson’s bracelets were used by the search party leader and Tod’s were used by the intended rescued party. It’s just possible that they may also be instrumental in solving the third missing kids mystery.”

“Speaking of that, have we heard from Space Ghost yet?” asked Jan.

Space Ghost landed the Phantom Cruiser off the coast of Maine and began searching the area where Chuck and Nancy were last seen. Like the mist around the Lost Valley, he found that a cave entrance was hidden by some power of illusion which only his probing visibeam (the latest addition to his power bands’ capabilities) could penetrate. He walked into the cave entrance, surrounded by his force field, with Jonny and Hadji instructed to wait outside. Just as he seemed about to pass through the illusion, it took on solid form and repelled both his force field and Space Ghost himself out of the cave at dramatic speed.

“Boy does that thing pack a wallop!” said Space Ghost, “It must have some force field capability of its own. I’ll try my power bands’ various settings until I can get through it.”

Space Ghost tried every setting, and even repeated his rare stunt of using all his powers at once. Nothing could pass through the cave entrance.

He contacted I-1 headquarters and filled the others in.

“I’ve been pontificating on a theory of my own back here,” said Benton, “If it holds up, I think our other allies, including one you’ll soon meet, can get through that illusion force field when combining their power with yours. We’re all heading out to join you now. Transmit your exact position from the Phantom Cruiser to Questor Two, when we radio you that we’re getting close.”

Benton, Race, Jace, Jan, Blip, Dino Boy/Tod, Young Samson and Goliath all boarded Questor Two and were flown out to meet with Space Ghost and Jonny Quest and Hadji.

“Could I accompany you with my portable spectroscope, and examine that illusion wall from inside your force field?” asked Benton.

“Yes Doctor, but we don’t get as close as I did before, or we’ll both be knocked back, and the force field won’t save you from the impact when it sends us flying,” said Space Ghost.

“Be careful Dad,” said Jonny.

He watched his father and Space Ghost walk towards the cave. Soon they returned.

“Did you get a good reading, Doctor?” asked Race.

“Not just of the illusion field, but also of Space Ghost’s power bands. Both of them give off the same radiation as Tod’s club and Samson’s bracelets. Whatever powers that illusion field was augmented by the same technology that powered Tod’s and Samson’s transformations and Space Ghost’s power bands.”

“Say, remember what happened back in the spectroscope room at the base?” said Jan, “When either Mightor or Samson initiated their transformation, their devices transformed eachother as well.”

“Exactly,” said Benton, “It stands to reason that if Tod and Young Samson change to Mightor and Samson while away from here in Questor Two with Race, and then Race flies them back here, they can then both initiate their transformation powers right in front of that illusion field. If the theory of shared transformation holds up, then their changing back to their powerless human forms will also remove that illusion field so we can both see through and walk through into the cave.”

“See you soon, Doctor. Hop aboard, Tod and Samson,” said Race.

He soon returned with the others as super heroes. They stepped out, and stood with Space Ghost in front of the illusion field. Space Ghost would be ready with his force field turned on to cushion them from the results if the plan backfired in any way.

This time Tod raised his club and shouted “Mightor” at exactly the same moment that Young Samson raised his bracelets and struck them together.

The illusion field disappeared, but so did Space Ghost’s force field.

“I didn’t switch it off, Doctor,” he called.

“I thought that might happen,” said Benton, “Having the same origin, your power bands’ current application would be turned off too, along with the illusion field.”

“That’s not the only surprise, Dad,” said Jonny, “Just look where we are.”

They looked around to find that they were no longer in an entrance to a cave off the coast of Maine. They were in a place that looked like an ancient Arabian Nights era.

“I’m more convinced than ever that whatever or whoever set up that illusion field is also responsible for the disappearance of Chuck and Nancy,” said Benton, “From what I observed with the spectroscope, I believe that his or its presence has opened a connection to another dimension, just long enough to kidnap two earth children, and then used power from another alien power source object in order to seal it off from our world. The combined power of Samson’s and Mightor’s powering down transformations has broken through both the force field and the illusion, with the result that we’ve been pulled into another dimension that seems to have been modelled off ancient Arabia.”

“I’ve seen this place before,” said Space Ghost, “And not long ago. The Council of Doom, a group of my six most persistent foes, managed to blast me with a dimension ray. It sent me here, where I met two children.”

“Is this what they looked like?” asked Benton, removing a photograph of Chuck and Nancy from his pocket.

“I’m sure that’s the two who saved me,” said Space Ghost, “Or at least, they asked someone called Shazzan to save me.” (See Space Ghost 1967 episode “The Final Encounter”).

“I’m sorry, Space Ghost,” said Benton, “Because of your otherworldly status, I was ordered not to show you Chuck and Nancy’s photographs supplied to I-1 unless it was absolutely necessary. We would have been a lot closer to solving their disappearance sooner, if I’d not been so ordered. How could I-1 have known that you were the key to identifying their location?”

“No offence taken, Doctor Quest, but I don’t get it. How does my experience help?”

“If you came here before because of a dimension ray, then there’s every chance that knowing this would have confirmed that they were in another dimension.”

“I’ve been meaning to mention something else,” said Space Ghost, “I was also caught in a time warp while fighting Creature King. It took me back to the time and place of one of the earlier Mightors. My power bands had absorbed some of the chronal energy discharge from the explosion that sent me back to his time. So I was able to use that energy to reverse it and get back to my own time and place. Although it’s probably of no significance now.” (See 1967 Space Ghost episode “Clutches of Creature King”)

“You have no idea how helpful you’ve just been,” said Doctor Quest, “Have your power bands ever been able to absorb and apply power or energy before that, or since?”

“There was one time when I was fighting one of my enemies, and I was in a tank, being cut off by a Visi-wall and charged by an energy blasting monster at the same time. I used my power bands to absorb the monster’s energy blasts and then used the energy to augment my own power and blasted through the previously impenetrable Visi-wall.”

“And it could help a third time,” said Benton, “You might well have absorbed some otherwise dissipating energy from the illusion field, when Samson and Mightor broke it down. That might well be useful against whatever power is being used to hold Chuck and Nancy in this dimension.”

“Doctor!” said Space Ghost, “Is it possible that I didn’t know that I’d also absorbed some energy from the Council of Doom’s dimension ray, and could have used my power bands to return to my own dimension without waiting for Shazzan’s help?”

“It could well be. Who was this Shazzan?”

“He seemed to be a giant sized  Genie.

“And he accompanied Chuck and Nancy?”

“Not straight away. I was being attacked by a fire demon. They were riding on a flying camel of all things. Then they touched their hands together and summoned Shazzan. He appeared from out of nowhere and they said, ‘Save the stranger from the fire demon.’ When it was all over, I noticed that they were each wearing rings which actually halves of the same ring, with the word Shazzan engraved on it.”

“That could be the the fourth power source object, or at least the third one given to earth, if the pattern we’ve observed continues, and not counting Space Ghost’s other worldly power bands,” said Benton.

“But if this Shazzan has all the power that Space Ghost describes, power to vanquish a fire demon, and power to send a man from one dimension to another, then why doesn’t he just return Chuck and Nancy home too?” asked Race.

“Because he might not want to,” said Benton, “According to some studies, among the few beings with the power to vanquish a demon are God, angels;  and other demons can talk their comrades into retreating to give the illusion of having performed some miraculous exorcism. Who else but a demon could have transported Chuck and Nancy into a pocket dimension, having modelled it in advance to resemble the Arabian Nights tales from the fairy stories that it plucked from their own memories? If a demon found the rings first, used them to augment his own evil powers, booby trapped them to bring Chuck and Nancy here, and then set up that illusion field to keep anyone from earth finding their way through and to keep Chuck and Nancy from realising how close they were to the dimensional rift he caused… if a demon did all that, he could then call himself Shazzan,  manufacture one menace after another and maintain it himself, so that the kids would continue to feel the need for his help and keep summoning him, and then defeat them. They’d never get a chance to leave. I don’t know what else he might have told them in order to get them to want to stay. Demons are known to possess people. In this case, it seems this one simply took over the lives of two people.”

“But why did it only come on demand?” asked Space Ghost.

“Perhaps because it was draining a lot of its power and that of the alien ring to sustain the illusion field and the false ancient Arabian appearance of the demon’s pocket dimension,” said Doctor Quest, “Maybe I’m just a little paranoid since losing Jonny’s mother. But I’ve always felt that there was something big and evil behind all of the disappearances of the children that we were called in to investigate. I still think it might be behind the disappearances of the last two kids.”

“Shazzan can cover his tracks every time we get close, and the kids’ tracks too,” said Jan.

“If we’re going to look for Chuck and Nancy, without arousing this Shazzan’s suspicions, then we need to blend in,” said Race, “And the only one of us who does is Hadji.”

“Questor Two’s back in our own dimension, or some of us kids could put on Hadji’s spare outfits,” said Jonny.

“In our world, Samson’s adult super hero costume and Mightor’s costume stand out. Here it’s their normal clothes that stand out. So they can change. It’ll come in handy if we do have to fight Shazzan in a hurry too.”

“Could he really be that bad, if he saved Space Ghost from the menace he was dropped in front of by the Council of Doom?” asked Jace.

“He didn’t save Chuck and Nancy. We’ve got to be objective. TWO YEARS,” said Race, “That doesn’t sound like a child safety conscious being to me.”

“Genies are only heroes in children’s fairytales,” said Benton, “Legend has it that they can be quite malevolent and self serving, even if they don’t show it.”

Race and Benton pulled their shirts out, so that they were no longer tucked in. Space Ghost asked Hadji’s help to roll his cape up into a makeshift turban.

“I still think it looks ridiculous,” said Jonny.

“Why disguise, when we needn’t be seen at all?” said Jace, and pressed his inviso-belt. Jan and Blip followed suit. Space Ghost gave his turban cape to Jonny Quest, and then turned himself invisible too.

“That’s the best we can do,” said Race, “And let Hadji do the talking whenever possible. He’ll sound like a native citizen of this ersatz Arabia.”

Benton’s sharp mind had come up with all the correct theories. In fact, since Shazzan’s pocket dimension wasn’t really ancient Arabia, it also wasn’t really nearly as large as ancient Arabia. He had managed to program his flying camel creation Kaboobie to fly just slightly, undetectably in a circle all the time, while using Shazzan’s own powers to alter the scenery they’d already flown over when they got around to it again, so that they’d meet new opponents he created for them, when they got to locations which only appeared to be new. The dimension was really just a very small circular territory. Shazzan fed off the admiration of his child ‘masters’, keeping them forever away from their family and their life on earth.

Using sleight of hand to entertain people, Hadji began to perform rope tricks and other feats in the town square of one of Shazzan’s artificial ‘kingdoms’. Using their invisibility, Jan and Jace and Space Ghost assisted the other adults in simulating similar feats, until they drew the attention of Chuck and Nancy.

“You have to come with us,” whispered Race, “We’re from your world, from Intelligence One. Have you heard of it?”

“No,” said Chuck, “But if you’re from our time, how did you get here?”

“By breaking through an illusion field that we believe Shazzan set up in the cave off the coast of Maine,” said Samson, “Doctor Quest thinks he’s been using it to keep you here.”

“And it’s not a matter of time,” said Benton, “Did he tell you that he’d taken you back to the time of the Arabian Nights?”

“Yes,” said Nancy.

“It’s not true,” said Space Ghost, turning visible, “I got there after being hit with a dimension ray. It took me to another dimension, which was a neighbouring dimension to the position of the Council of Doom’s headquarters far out in space, not earth. A dimension ray would not have taken me into the past, let alone earth’s past.”

“But what about all the good things Shazzan’s given us, like our cloak of invisibility?”

“It’s probably something he derived from an invisibility property in your rings, which Benton believes are made from the same alien power source as my power bands,” said Space Ghost.

“And as for the good things, he’s kept you here, when he could easily have sent you back home the day you got here,” said Race, “Did he tell you why?”

“He said he couldn’t return us home until we returned the rings to the Wizard of the Seventh Mountain,” said Nancy.

“That Wizard would be another of Shazzan’s constructs, like this whole dimension, like every villain you’ve fought, including the fire demon that went after Space Ghost,” said Benton, “He sensed Space Ghost had the power to leave without his help, and had to convince you and him that only he could send Space Ghost back to his own dimension. He didn’t want to give Space Ghost time to work out that he could leave all by himself and take you out of here with him.”

“Do you mean to try to tell us that for over a year, we’ve been living out a mad genie’s charade in a time and place that don’t really exist?” asked Chuck.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” said Samson.

“But he was opposed horribly by the Demon in the Bottle,” said Nancy, “And even Shazzan couldn’t get into the kingdom of Neverwas without knowing its secret.” (See the episodes “Demon in the Bottle”, “Demon in the Bottle returns” and “The Land Of Neverwas.”)

“So he told you,” said Benton, “I’m betting it was all just his own props and smoke and mirrors, augmented by the power of the ring. Even with that, he needs to use a lot of energy to maintain the illusion field, which we’ve just broken down today, by the way. Don’t you see that the real power is not in Shazzan, but in the rings themselves. If you renounce him and let us try to get you out of here, he’ll have no more power to keep you here.”

“Ho ho ho ho! Do you think so?” came a voice.

They looked up to see Shazzan towering in giant form.

“Shazzan! Is what they say true?” asked Nancy.

“If their theory even has any merit, then they could be the ones decieving you,” said Shazzan.

“Except for one thing,” said Chuck, “You’re here without us summoning you. That’s never happened before. At least, that’s what you led us to believe was the rule. It means you never actually left us, just hid from us to conserve your power like Benton’s been explaining. When they broke your field, you knew something was up, and you came into view without being called. Magic rope, gag him.”

“I gave you that rope, and the cloak of invisibility,” said Shazzan, “They won’t work against me. From now on, I’ll see to it that they don’t work at all, and I never really had to obey you. That was all part of the window dressing from your stories I read in your memories. I liked the one about Aladdin. That’s why I modelled Baharuum’s new master after him.” (See Shazzan 1967 episodes “Baharuum the Befuddled”  and “Quest for the Magic Lamp”).

“Of course!” said Nancy, “Why didn’t we notice that before? If we’d really gone back in time to the real ancient Arabia, then a fictional storybook character like Aladdin couldn’t possibly have existed. He must have been a construct of Shazzan, just like Doctor Quest has been saying.

Shazzan began laughing again, but now his laugh sounded different, and yet familiar. Chuck and Nancy had heard it twice before.  It was that of the Demon in the Bottle. Shazzan then shed the disguise that they had known all this time and took on his true appearance, that of the Evil Demon.

“I always was the Evil Demon,” he said, “The Evil Demon that I defeated as Shazzan was just one of my constructs. Although its ‘ancient curse of Wazir’ is one of MY own powers, which I shall now unleash on all of you.”

“Your powers are those of a demon, augmented by an alien ring given to earth for someone to use for good,” said Benton, “We don’t yet know how it was meant to be used. I can study that in my lab. Now that Chuck and Nancy know the truth, only they can use the ring. Your use of it was done either before their arrival or through their presence at any given points in time. That’s no longer going to be possible. The powers of the rings belong to them.”

“We don’t even know what powers it would give us,” said Nancy, “We only ever used it to call him.”

“That’s just the illusion he fed you, remember,” said Benton, “But here’s something. I’ll bet demons aren’t normally giant sized.”

“Then he got that power from the ring,” said Nancy, maybe I can get the same power.”

“It’s probably how that ring half works,” said Samson, “It hasn’t given Shazzan the same powers as Mightor and me. Even our devices give us slight variations on our abilities.”

Nancy concentrated on growing and found that the ring enlarged her to giant size, along with itself, so that it still fit on her finger. She hadn’t even needed to touch it to Chuck’s ring in order to experience this influx of super hero growth power. As she grew to Shazzan’s height, he lost the proportionate power and shrank to the height of a normal man.”

“What about invisibility?” said Chuck.

“That came from the cloack, one of his constructs,” said Benton, “The clue to your powers must be in some change that actually occurred in you. The ring would have enabled it, at Shazzan’s command, and he took the credit for it.”

“What about the time we faced Mysterio the Mini-Magi,” said Chuck, “Nancy and I actually shrank to Mysterio’s size. We saw it. We felt it.”

“And when I said I thought Mysterio was mean because he was an imp and asked Shazzan to turn him into a human being, all Shazzan did was turn off his Mysterio construct’s powers and make the wings disappear.” (See 1967 episode “Mysterio the Mini-Magi”).

Chuck concentrated on shrinking, and was reduced to tiny size, even smaller than Mysterio had been.

As this happened, Shazzan began to fade away.

“No, young masters! You can’t! You mustn’t!” said Shazzan, showing the first sign of panic they’d ever seen.

“Demons are normally invisible, and intangible. They can rarely manifest perceptibly,” said Benton, “They rely on mind games and possession to influence people for evil. Shazzan’s giant size and visibility were maintained by his interference with the rings he stole, which the aliens must have meant for you.”

(Benton had deduced all that he’d previously said about the alien benefactor theories by piecing together what Tod told him about the Mightor legend, along with Space Ghost’s having shared his origin story and Young Samson having done likewise).

“Shazzan’s disappearing then,” said Jonny.

“So is this dimension!” said Hadji.

Suddenly their surroundings took on a familiar appearance.

“We’re back in the cave off the coast of Maine,” said Race.

“We always were,” said Benton, “Shazzan used the ring’s growth and reduction power properties to compact a whole ancient counterpart Arabia into one cave. He might well have reduced you both to tiny size right at the start, enabling him to seem like a giant, and his pocket dimension Arabia was really just an illusion which disguised this cave’s natural appearance.”

“So we’re back where it all started,” said Chuck, who was still tiny.

Jan picked him up and sat him on her shoulder.

“You can ride there until you get the hang of restoring your size, little cutie,” she said.

Nancy’s size had already reverted to normal, or had it been normal all the time if the others had all been reduced the moment they entered Shazzan’s pocket dimension in the cave with all its properties. It didn’t matter. She went outside and found that she could grow to a real giant size relative to normal sized earthlings. It would be a valuable power in the future.

For now, she shrank back to normal and boarded The Phantom Cruiser. Some of them went with her and others went in Questor Two. They all met back at I-1 base and agreed that the best report to be made to Benton’s superiors was that they had found the kids (Tod in a misty valley near the plane, Tom and Tub diving near Salamandro’s new base, and Chuck and Nancy lost in a cave off the coast of Maine).
The secrets of the alien power source objects would remain that. Only Samson had been able to name Galaxia Kentron as their origin, being the only surviving earthling who had met the aliens. Space Ghost need not have told his origin on Ghost Planet to I-1.

After some discussion, Samson, Mightor, Chuck, Nancy and Jan agreed to stay together as a team which would not be part of I-1, nor its agents, but would be open to being called on for help by Benton Quest or working with Quest team sometimes. For want of a better name, they tentatively called their team ‘The Kentron Contingency’.

Jace returned to Ghost Planet with Space Ghost, and left Jan the Space Coup, so that she could still visit them from time to time on Ghost Planet.

Chuck and Nancy were keen to meet the other rescued survivors (Tom and Tub), and like Chuck’s blossoming romance with Jan (who would now frequently visit earth), Nancy found herself seeing a lot of Tom.

1975, Galaxia Kentron….

“That’s why we don’t interfere anymore,” said the Kentron leader to his female assistant, shortly after 1974’s visit to earth’s upper atmosphere, “After what we set off in 1967, we won’t take a chance on leaving our power objects on a planet where demons can get hold of them. Samson and Chuck and Nancy and Tod can keep the gifts they have, as long as they use them for good. We will never give any earthling such power again. From now on, they’ll have to find their own way.”

1969…

By now the existence of the new super team known as The Kentron Contingency was well known around the world. Its members included the following super heroes: Mini Lad alias Chuck had acquired the power to shrink while wearing one half of an alien ring from Galaxia Kentron. His sister Nancy alias Enlarging Girl had acquired the power to grow to giant size while wearing the other half of the ring. Young Samson and his dog Goliath used Kentron originated bracelets to gain super powerful forms of adult Samson and a super lion. Tod the Dino Boy had inherited the long lost power club which had once been granted by the first Kentron visitors to the first Mightor, and now carried on the Mightor legacy himself. Jan had left the Space Ghost team to remain on earth and use her inviso-belt and rocket pack as a member of The Kentron Contingency. Honorary members Tom and Tub had a super whale friend named Moby Dick, who would also aid the team.

Jan let the team know that she was going to be away from earth on one of her periodic return visits to Ghost Planet to see Space Ghost and Jace and Blip, as the Herculoids had invited them all to Amzot for Dorno’s birthday party.

The Kentron Contingency were not agents of Intelligence One, but maintained a close friendship with Benton Quest and Race Bannon, and would sometimes help them on request.

This new allegiance had been observed, by means of a spider-like robotic probe, which was sent by Benton Quest’s arch nemesis Doctor Zin. The evil scientist knew that, with so many super heroes now teamed up and willing to assist Doctor Quest and indirectly I-1, there was little chance that his robot spiders would be of any use to him. Samson, Enlarger Girl, Moby Dick and Mightor were each strong enough to smash a robot spider to pieces.

So instead, Zin sent his robot spider probes out on a search for a powerful ally or allies of his own. Deep in a swamp, one robot spider noticed the completion of construction and flight test of a somewhat dome shaped flying building. Zin immediately flew a small plane out to accompany his robot spiders, calling several of them to the swamp, and paid the owner of the flying dome a visit, introduced himself, and explained his problem with I-1 and the Kentron Contingency.

“I am Lex Luthor,” said the other scientist, “And I built this headquarters to recruit super allies of my own, because I’m also having trouble with Superman and his Justice League of America. You could be the first one to join me. I need a scientist to help me perfect this Hall of Doom’s time conveyor. So far I can’t get it to take me out of this time, only to fly the place around in the present.”

Zin studied the schematic diagrams, the Hall of Doom’s computer records, and the building itself, and went to work on the time conveyor.

“Running away to another time doesn’t really help us,” said Zin, “If we go into the past, we have to forsake the modern conveniences. If we go into the future, there might be even more super heroes to deal with by the time we arrive.”

“Don’t you see?” said Luthor, “We’ll go a short time into the past, just as many years as we need to go, to alter the early lives of these super heroes, so that the ordinairy human beings never gain those super powers. Then we’ll have the advantage with our scientific devices. This headquarters, staffed by your robot spiders, would be unstoppable.”

“Well I don’t know if I’ve gotten the bugs out of it enough to go back that far,” said Zin, “But it should take us somewhere if we give it a test.”

Luthor activated the time conveyor, and studied the monitor. They saw the familiar 20th Century swampland outside replaced by the most curious pattern of odd scenery. Then Luthor studied the readings on the instrument panel, and could only make one conclusion.

“According to the instruments, we haven’t moved in time at all, and yet we’ve definitely gone somewhere else. It can only be another dimension,” said Luthor.

“Then how about we go out and meet the natives,” said Zin.

The people of this dimension looked human in appearance, like Caucasian Americans, but shorter, around the size of the pygmies that Race Bannon and Jonny Quest had once tricked by disguising Race with purple berry juice.

“I wish I could understand why this dimension looks so weird,” said Luthor, “Its appearance seems to defy all the laws of physics.”

“That’s because we maintain its appearance by using the Reality Renovator in the Science Museum,” said one of the populace.

“Does it allow for a cycle of nights and days here, like the 24 hour periods where we come from?” asked Zin.

“Yes,” said the little man.

Luthor and Zin returned to the Hall of Doom and waited until nightfall. Then, on Luthor’s recommendation, Zin sent two of his robot spiders out to locate and break into the Science Museum, steal the Reality Renovator and return to the Hall of Doom with it. Then they reversed the controls of the faulty time conveyor, and returned to the swamp on earth.

“I still don’t know how we’re going to use this,” said Luthor, “The Justice League and the Kentron Contingency can still beat us, no matter what we make the scenery of earth look like.”

“We’re not going to use it on the scenery,” said Zin, “When you asked me to steal it, you knew it was powerful, and I agreed because I’ve got the answer to our dilemma. It’s called a Reality Renovator for a reason. My own problems have largely been with Intelligence One in the past, and specifically with Benton Quest and Race Bannon. The two least threatening members of their team are Jonny Quest and his dog Bandit, not to mention Hadji. So we’re going to use the Reality Renovator to replace all of earths super heroes with harmless teams of kids and pets.”

The device took some time to do what they wanted, but over the next few years, all of the members of the Kentron Contingency simply vanished without a trace. This time Intelligence One were not willing to launch search and rescue missions. Last time, they’d been aided by super heroes to find missing kids. This time the super heroes themselves had been taken by something that would therefore make short work of I-1. Intelligence One decided to operate covertly until some time in the mid 1980s, when they’d observed enough developments to see if action could be taken. With her team gone, and her romance with Chuck now impossible, Jan remained with Space Ghost, and eventually met a boy from a team of space based teenage super heroes (The Teen Force) called Kid Comet. Although they would not start dating until 1981.

All around America, groups of kids, usually with pets, were taking on the world’s criminals, somehow finding the means to unmask and defeat them. The Reality Renovator saw several such groups come into existence, none of which were considered to pose any threat to Luthor and Zin:

Mysteries Inc (composed of four kids and a dog called Scooby-Doo, who spent most of their time running or eating or debunking false ghosts).

Josie and the Pussycats (several kids and a cat).

Goober and the Ghost Chasers (several kids and a dog).

Skip, Augie and April and their dog Elmo (who also made the mistake of teaming up with ghosts).

Tinker, Debbie and Mark (and a talking car named Speed Buggy).

Lori, Gater and Lori’s tiny uncle Inch High Private Eye, who worked for the Finkerton Detective Agency with the help of their dog Braveheart.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, and their pet dog Elvis.

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan.

Sue Corwin and her friends, who were preparing to take a flight to explore an uncharted island by the year 1977, but were now in the early stages of constructing a powerful robot named Pops. The Pops project would occupy them for the next few years.

“Now all that remains is to use the Reality Renovator to phase out the newly formed Superfriends, and we’ll start with my biggest headache, namely Superman,” said Luthor.

“Oh no you won’t!” said a purple and orange costumed pygmy sized man who suddenly popped into view and snapped his fingers.

With that, the Reality Renovator shrank to tiny size and appeared on the little man’s shoulder.

“Who are you?”

“I’m from the 5th dimension, the place from whence you stole this device four years ago,” said the man, “My name is pronounced Mxyzptlk. I could have come here and taken this thing back years ago. I was happy to let you phase those boring Kentron Contingency characters out of existence, but nobody takes away my fun of confounding Superman. Why in a few years, I might start on his Super Friends for a new novelty. So you’re not replacing them with powerless teenagers and a dog. I could have used my own advanced scientific powers to take out the Kentron Contingency, but the only trouble is that the effects of whatever I do are gone when I go. So I let you two steal the Reality Renovator just long enough to do it yourselves. From what I’ve observed, Mini Lad’s and Enlarger Girl’s ring halves had absorbed enough dimension traversing energy to just possibly have the power to force me home without getting me to say my name backwards. So I let you take them out of existence with the machine.”

 “So what are you going to do?” asked Zin.

“I’m going to say my name backwards, which will take me home to the 5th dimensional world of Zrrf, and take back our Reality Renovator with me. For once I’ll be a hero there. So I’ll go willingly. Superman won’t even have to trick me into saying Kltpzyxm.”

With the mention of that word, the sounds of the syllables opened the unique dimensional doorway which applied only to the owner of the name (a peculiar property of Zrrf inhabitants) and sucked Mxyzptlk back into his home dimension.

“We were so close!” said Luthor, “Now we’ll have to get the time conveyor working and avert the existence of the Superfriends like I originally planned.”

“You’ll have to do it alone,” said Zin, “My arch enemies’ super allies are all gone now, and the Super Friends don’t have anything about me on their records. Their government liason Colonel Wilcox is not privy to Intelligence One’s files on me. I’m not risking exposure and capture by the Super Friends made more likely by helping you. I’ll take my robot spiders and leave.”

So like I-1, Zin went into hiding and would not clash with Quest Team again until 1986.

Luthor needed another scientific mind to assist him in perfecting the time conveyor. He managed to contact an alien computer android who had briefly teamed up with him in 1967 and 1968: Brainiac. Together they got the time conveyor working and, by 1973, they had recruited two more members to help them deal with the Super Friends. Both were known arch enemies of the second most powerful core member of the Super Friends (Wonder Woman): Cheetah and Giganta.

“We’re going to start by doing a test run into the past and altering the origins of the teenage sidekicks of the Justice Leaguers,” said Luthor, “except for Robin, who doesn’t worry me in the least. With most of the Teen Titans gone, the Justice Leaguers will have to spend a lot of time training ordinairy powerless teenagers to be sidekicks, while we build our team. By 1978, I think we’ll be ready to take on the Justice Leaguers ourselves.”

“I got my power from a chemical dust with enlarging properties, which I stole from a young apache indian,” said Giganta, “Once sprinkled, it’s absorbed into the skin and enables a permanent power of growing to giant size and then shrinking back to normal. Wonder Woman doesn’t know that I have this new power. I once fobbed her off with some ridiculous story about being evolved from an ape, but all this time I’ve been planning. Just before my past confrontations with her, I only grew to 8 feet tall, to let her think that being 8 feet tall was my natural size. I didn’t want to tip my full hand, since she was a founding member of the Justice League. Now that I’m with your team …”

“We’ll call ourselves the Legion of Doom,” said Luthor, “I’ll set the time conveyor to take us back to a time just before young Wally West (whom I’ve observed on the time scope) had an accident that turned him into Kid Flash. I’ll drop Cheetah and Brainiac off in Blue Valley, where they can make sure that Wally never has the chance to experience that accidental acquisition of super speed. That way he’ll never join the Flash. Giganta and I will then go to a time before young Roy Harper met the Green Arrow, one of the less seen Super Friends who occasionally joins them on their adventures. We’ll take care of him too, using the methods Cheetah and Giganta worked out.”

One day, back in the past, Wally West was on his way home from Blue Valley High School, walking through a field, when he came across a green skinned robot and a woman dressed like a cheetah. The robot pointed a ray gun at Wally West, which shrank him to tiny size.

“And now, like a cat, I shall deal with a boy who is now like a mouse,” said Cheetah.

She picked up Wally West and swallowed him whole, making it more than unlikely that he would ever become the super speedster sidekick Kid Flash.

Meanwhile, Luthor sent Giganta to where young Roy Harper was shooting arrows at a target in a field. Giganta grew to giant size, snatched Roy up and gobbled him down to her awaiting stomach as well.

As neither woman wanted to eat a girl, when they reached the time shortly before Wonder Woman saved Donna Troy from a burning building, Brainiac simply shrank Donna Troy out of sight, so that she might well have ended up living on an atom, and would thus never become Wonder Girl.

Brainiac shrank Charlie Parker before he could meet Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Cheetah swallowed the lad, so that he would never become Golden Eagle. Giganta snatched a young water breathing boy from out of the ocean, before he could be met by Aquaman and become his teenaged ally Aqualad and ate him too. Brainiac used gold Kryptonite on the baby Kara Zor-El, just before she reached earth, so that she would never have super powers on earth and never become Superman’s teenage sidekick Supergirl.

The Teen Titans now never existed. Time became realigned. Without having ever acquired their teenage allies, Flash and Green Arrow, although regular Justice Leaguers, didn’t share Batman’s interest in being full time Super Friends, only occasional involvement. Wonder Woman saw the potential for training two fans named Wendy and Marvin, who had named their dog after her. Aquaman was another long term member who stayed with the Super Friends. Green Lantern, Hawkman and Hawkgirl and the Atom would help them on occasional cases.

When time was realigned, other teenagers from the planet Exxor (Zan and Jayna) were taken in by the Superfriends, after Wendy and Marvin had completed their training and moved on.

It was not until 1978, when Luthor had recruited a total of 13 members of his new Legion of Doom, that Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman decided to stick around as regulars. They were joined by the young apache indian who had since used his own growth power to become Apache Chief. Two other non-Justice Leaguers were accepted into the team, as they had considerable powers of their own: Samurai and Black Vulcan. Their origins had only come about as a buttefly effect from the time altering activities of Luthor’s first allies which had prevented the Teen Titans and Supergirl from gaining their powers. Zan and Jayna’s trip to earth to join the Superfriends were also butterfly effects which would otherwise never have happened.

Spoiler Warning: The next few paragraphs are recaps of CHALLENGE OF THE SUPERFRIENDS 1978 episodes “Secret Origins of the Superfriends” and “History of Doom,” and the 1973 Super Friends episode “Professor Goodfellow’s G.E.E.C.”

So the constant war was on between the Legion of Doom and the Superfriends. Keen to take his initial steps further and give the Legion an advantage, Luthor organized another series of attacks on the origins of Superfriends. This time, they went after Baby Kal-El, preventing him from becoming Superman, young amazon Diana, preventing her from becoming Wonder Woman, and young test pilot Hal Jordan, preventing him from becoming Green Lantern. (If they had not been back in the past in the time travelling Hall of Doom, some members of the Legion of Doom would have been retconned out of existence too, by means of negating the three Superfriends’ existences. Bizarro’s origin was derived from Superman’s. Yet a time paradox of being in the past for a while had protected him from the realignment of history. Sinestro’s clashes with Hal Jordan had first brought him to earth).

With the core team of Superfriends down to the eight least powerful members, Luthor flew the Hall of Doom over the Hall of Justice, kidnapped all 8 of them, and put 4 in the dungeon for a while, and used the other 4 to entertain the Legion of Doom by involuntarily fighting eachother.

Down in the Hall of Doom’s dungeon, the Flash vibrated his way out at super speed, and then freed Black Vulcan, Batman and Robin. They took the opportunity to examine the Legion of Doom’s computer files, and learned of the plan to avert the existences of Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, of whom they now had no memory. Using their own individual approaches, the four heroes went back in time and restored that much of the past, so that Superman and Wonder Woman and Green Lantern once again existed and helped free Apache Chief, Samurai, Aquaman and Hawkman from the Legion of Doom.

Shortly after that, they had a few more clashes with the Legion of Doom, the last of which involved a plan that would have backfired on Luthor’s team too and left the whole planet of earth in desolation. But for the timely assistance of some new visitors from Kentron, things could have been very bleak.

Superman called a meeting of the Superfriends, and invited their one time ally Plastic Man to join them, as well as calling in Atom, Hawkgirl, Rima and Green Arrow.

“We’ve been fighting a losing battle to stop the Legion altogether and bring them to justice. The most we’ve done is eventually defeated each of their schemes after it’s first taken us by surprise,” said Superman, “We need to take the fight to them. Since Flash and the other three learned key facts about the Legion of Doom’s tactics by looking at their computer files, I feel that we need to send a team to sneak aboard the Hall of Doom and study their computers in depth.”

“I can vibrate in again,” said Flash, “And Atom’s small enough to slip in, especially if he shrinks even smaller for a while. And we know computers well in our secret identities as scientists.”

“And Plastic Man can alter his shape and get in as well,” said Batman, “It was useful when he helped us get that mouse out of the GEEC, when it was fouling up the computer’s automation of every device on earth.”

So Plastic Man, Atom and Flash secretly snuck into the Hall of Doom’s basement, while the rest of the Superfriends kept the Legion of Doom distracted and busy by foiling their attempted robberies and other publicly criminal acts.

Later the three computer breakers met the rest of the Superfriends in the Hall of Justice.

“Zan and Jayna, Apache Chief, Samurai and Black Vulcan, can you patrol the city for us during our meeting?” asked Flash.

“We’ll be glad to,” said Zan, and they both left.

“Why did you send the Wondertwins and the others away?” asked Robin, “Don’t they need to hear this too?”

“Because they mustn’t hear what we’ve got to tell you. They mustn’t learn that their presence on this team was never meant to be. You won’t believe what we discovered in Luthor’s old files, dating back to before the Legion was formed, when he only had the Hall of Doom and Cheetah and Giganta and Brainiac,” said Flash, “Fill them in, Atom.”

“Their tampering with the origins of Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern wasn’t the first time they’d messed up the past,” said Atom, “According to records, a number of us had teenage sidekicks who no longer exist, because those first four villains disposed of them in ways which will hurt you a lot. The Wondertwins and the others’ presence here is just time’s way of compensating, to coin a phrase. But we can go back and change the past back to its correct history again, as we did before. When we do, the ones patrolling the city right now will never be Superfriends. Although they will still have super hero careers in their own countries or planet.”

Flash and Atom filled the others in on the altered pasts of Kid Flash, Wondergirl, Speedy, Aqualad, Golden Eagle and Supergirl.

“Well it’s a cinch that I can’t help save this cousin I’m supposed to have,” said Superman, “or the gold Kryptonite would permanently remove my powers.”

“And I can’t do anything with gold kryptonite, since it’s coloured yellow,” said Green Lantern.”

“I’ll go with Batman and Robin in the Batrocket, since it can pierce the time barrier, “I’ll snare the kryptonite with my golden lasso, and destroy it with my strength, while Batman and Robin use their devices against Brainiac’s,” said Wonder Woman.

“I’ll go to the point where Giganta ate Aqualad and stop her,” said Superman.

“I’ll time travel under my own power with Atom and save Roy Harper,” said Flash, “But first I’ll use my cosmic treadmill to drop Plastic Man and Green Arrow off at the point where Wonder Girl will need rescuing.”

“Sure. I’ll have a special arrow ready to shoot Brainiac’s shrink gun out of his hand,” said Green Arrow.

“And I’ll wrap him up in my plastic arms before he can regain it,” said Plastic Man.

“Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Rima and I can fix Kid Flash’s and Golden Eagle’s timelines, using my power ring for time travel,” said Green Lantern, “I’ll drop the Hawks off in Blue Valley, and then Rima and I can go for Golden Eagle. That way none of us will be involved in the rescues of our own sidekicks, although I don’t have one. It will avoid any paradoxical meetings.”

So they went back in time and restored the origins of the Teen Titans and Supergirl, with the result that one factor differed from either of the previous two timelines. This time, instead of being a part time member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, by periodically flying into the 30th Century, Supergirl remained in the present all the time as a member of the Teen Titans. Wendy, Marvin, Wonderdog, Zan, Jayna, Gleek, Black Vulcan, Apache Chief and Samurai never joined the Superfriends. The team was now a composite of the Justice League of America and the Teen Titans, still retaining its Gotham based Hall of Justice as a meeting place.

“But can’t Luthor just take his Legion back in time and start wiping out our pasts all over again?” asked Robin.

“Not easily,” said Batman, “Members of the Legion of Doom can’t reappear in the past in the same places and times which they’ve already visited. They mustn’t meet themselves in the past. That’s why we were meticulous about avoiding any run-ins with our own past selves, by not going to the rescue of our own sidekicks but rather each others’.”

“It won’t help them to try anyway,” said Atom, “Flash is familiar with time travel technology because of his cosmic treadmill, and I’ve used professor Hyatt’s time pool many times. We rigged the Hall of Doom’s time conveyor to self destruct and start a chain reaction that will destroy the whole building if they try to use the time conveyor again. I programmed the computer to send them an audible warning to evacuate with a five minute countdown. After that, Bizarro and Sinestro might otherwise be the only ones to survive their not heeding the warning.”

A few other reverse butterfly effects from restoring the timeline to normal were: that a brand new composite super hero named Firestorm would join the Superfriends in 1979 instead of 1984. El Dorado would not join in 1982, and Victor Stone would never have the accident which left him in a Cyborg body, and would thus never join the renamed Super Powers Team in 1985.