[Hanna-Barbera] Worlds of the Galaxy Trio

Of all the Hanna-Barbera shows I've been watching lately, the one that really surprised me was Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. I had not expected much, but interestingly, not only did I find the stories enjoyable, I also felt that they were very inspirational. They are very much a cut-down version of the long, boring stories with interminable story arcs that are so common today, much like comic books from the same era would have two or even three self-contained stories that still moved along the overall story line and character development.

The Galaxy Trio (L to R): Vapor Man, Galaxy Girl, Meteor Man

The inter-galactic milieu of the Galaxy Trio provides a ton of ideas for fantastic space-super-hero adventures. You can use pretty much any system, though it naturally lends itself very well to the classic TSR Marvel Super-Hero RPG. You could even use a mix of Labyrinth Lord and Starships & Spacemen. Characters with abilities like Gravity Girl, Meteor Man, and Vapor Man could be represented by the Elf class, with both combat abilities and special abilities as per spells, but tightly grouped to the proper types. Evil Scientists would be magic-users; doctors and medics would be clerics, and so forth.

Here is a list of the worlds encountered in the Galaxy Trio stories:

Worlds of the Galaxy Trio

Amzot: Humans (Refugees from Quasar), Many Native Races; Primitive; Amzot is the twin of Quasar (below), the two form a Double Planet, revolving around a common point in orbit around their sun; Amzot is 2/3 the size of Quasar but has many metals, especially the rare Organite; they revolve around their barycenter every 24 hours, and as Amzot rotates every 24 hours, almost 1/4 of the planet, the "Dark Side," is always cast in darkness (1/16 twilight, 1/8 darkness, 1/16 twilight); creatures native to the cold, barren Dark Side are either weakened or harmed by the light of the sun; World of the Herculoids, where refugee humans work with primitive native life forms to protect their world from would-be conquerors, pirates, and invaders. Never featured in Galaxy Trio, but easily fits in the same universe.

The Herculoids

Aqueus: Aquatrons (Fish-Folk, Water-Breathers); Super-Science; Advanced Heat Rays, Giant Robots, and Domed Cities; Prince Lotar overthrows his brother, King Neptar, and seeks to melt the Earth’s Polar Icecaps. [2] Later attempts to re-take the throne using a giant robot fire-breathing lizard. [X]

Centauri III: Earthlings (Humans); Super-Science; Home to the Intergalactic Treasury. [12]

Crimson Zone (Stellar/Planetary Region): Frontier on fringes of Unexplored Space; Unnamed world where Elraf used a Molecular Beam to kidnap people from across the galaxies to work in his mines, especially psycho-sodium, used to create ankle-bands that helped keep victims under his power. [15]

Earth: Earthlings (Humans, Homeworld), Many Nations Not all Peaceful; Super-Science, ships can fly using Blur speed (warp-speed, traveling light years in hours or even minutes) and limited use of Displacer Technology (molecular disintegration, transportation through space, and re-integration, usually from near orbit at best); Home of the Galactic Patrol, led by the Chief, and the champions of which are the Galaxy Trio. Once attacked by the Eye of Time (Sends Ships Back in Time, effect usually lasts 24 hours). [8, 10]

Galaxy Trio on the Displacer in Condor I

Gravitas: Gravitons (Gravity-Empowered Humans); Super-Science; Evil Scientist Gralik sought to conquer the planet using his Ultra-Gravitizer Ray, which can increase or eliminate gravity for objects from interplanetary distances; stopped by Galaxy Trio; Gravitons have the ability to manipulate gravity, to a greater or lesser extent, to move people and things as per telekinesis, to move up and down as per levitation; and even to fly. Homeworld of Gravity Girl, who is the daughter of the King of Gravitas, and so is a Planetary Princess. [19]

Magnetron: Magnetrons (Planetary Apes); formerly Super-Science; Destroyed in a war, with only a handful of survivors spread throughout the galaxies. The people had the ability to manufacture advanced exploding androids.

Meteorus: Moltens (Rock-Folk, Subterranean), Meteorans (Density-Empowered Humans); Super-Science; Moltens sought to drive Humans off world using explosions and lava. Meteorans have the ability to increase or decrease their size and manipulate their density and strength, to a greater or lesser extent; the most advanced can even control these abilities by body part(s). Homeworld of Meteor-Man. [3]

Moltens of Subterranean Meteorus

Moonoid-49: None; none; Moonoid in the same stellar system as Gravitas; the Evil Scientist Gralik was exiled here, developed his Ultra-Gravitizer, and deployed it against Gravitas from this moonoid.

Nova: Novans (Alien Space Halflings); Super-Science; the Evil Scientist Growliath uses a gas he developed to increase the size of small creatures to giants to conquer his world, the Galaxy Trio forced him to give them the antidote and they shrank him to a size where he was kept in a cage by the Novan King. [16]

Orbus 4: Orbans (Humans); Super-Science; Advanced Robotics; Robots Revolt led by Computron defeated by Galaxy Trio. [1, 9]

Robot Rebellion on Orbus 4

Outpost A-15: None; Moonoid; Space Ranger Outpost; One of several outposts attacked by an un-intelligent Spore-Monster that uses a Sleep Gas, it is never discovered who sent the monster or why. [18]

Penitentius, the Prison Planet: Various; Super-Science; Use robot drones to track down and capture criminals; Prisoners rebelled, tried to escape but could not figure out how to use the Galaxy Trio’s spaceship in time; now home to three of the galaxy’s remaining Magnetrons. [5, 14]

Planet K-7: Humans; Super-Science; Pirates used paralyzing/sleep gas to render inhabitants into a trance to steal valuables, used robotic vehicles to gather treasure, Galaxy Trio defeated and got antidote. [4]

Planet Z-10: Abandoned; Super-Science; Was home to factories of War Machine Robots re-activated and used by Computron to try to destroy the Galaxy Trio. [9]

Computron directing the War Machine Robots of Planet Z-10

Planet Z-11: Alien Space Halflings; Super-Science; Plastron threatened to freeze the planet by blocking of their sun using the rogue moonoid Plastus (a planet of rubber-like substance filled with gas); the Galaxy Trio popped Plastus, which blasted off into deep space. [20]

Plastus: Unknown; Super-Science; Rogue moonoid consisting of a rubber-like substance filled with gas; Plastron and his followers threatened the people of Planet Z-11 with extinction using the moonoid to blot out their sun; the Galaxy Trio popped Plastus, which blasted off into deep space. [20]

Primevia: Cavemen; Primitive; Natives attacked by men from Vaporus (home to Vapor-Man) and forced to mine gold and gems. [11]

Primevia under the rule of Rogue Vaporions

Quasar: Robots, many Human slaves; Super-Science; Once ruled by an advanced human civilization, the humans of Quasar were overthrown in a robot revolution 10 years ago (if only the Galaxy Trio had been there to help). Since that time the Galactic Patrol have kept the entire system under interdiction, both Quasar and Amzot, the primitive twinned world of Quasar. See Amzot, above, for information on their status as a Double Planet (note that Quasar does not have a Dark Side, as it rotates every 32 hours, but Amzot causes many partial eclipses on a daily basis).

Titan’s World: Uninhabited; Super-Science; Titan the Titanium Man (Scientist) lured Galaxy Trio to destroy them with his Super-Cybernoid Robots to get them out of his way of conquering the galaxy. [7]

Tranquility Belt (Stellar/Planetary Region): Frontier, with human settlers; Primitive Frontier with some Super-Science; Drackmore (unknown alien) captured and enslaved settlers using advanced technology. [6]

Drackmore and his Robot Soldiers

Unknown: Unknown; Super-Science; Home of Specter and his Duplitron Machine (makes doppelgangers of people, under his control). [8]

Vaporus: Vaporions (Gas-Empowered Humans); Super-Science; Vaporions have the ability to transform into and wield various types of vapor (gas), from fiery vapor to freezing vapor, and enabling them to become gaseous and fly, among other power; not all Vaporions have the same range of powers or skill at their use. Homeworld of Vapor-Man of the Galaxy Trio. [11]

Vector V-16 (Stellar/Planetary Region): Frontier; many unexplored worlds, including the unnamed world of the Rock Monsters once used by Braton, a criminal and escaped convict, to try to destroy the Galaxy Trio. [13]

Braton and his Rock Monster servants threaten the Galaxy Trio