ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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I've been enjoying the first Flash Gordon serial during our All Sci-Fi's Saturday Live Chats and we're almost finished with it.

Today I put in my DVD of the second serial . . . and was appalled at how bad it was. The direction (by Ford Bebe) was disappointing, the photography was poor, and the story was inferior to the first serial.

Seeing Jean Rogers with short brown hair and wearing a frumpy 1940s outfit was heartbreaking.

Even Ming is ruined by the treatment he's given, completely devoid of the regal evil characterization he presented in the first serial.

I don't think I'll bother watching any more of the second serial, because it just isn't worth the time.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

If you liked the costumes and realms of Mongo in FLASH GORDON you'll love the adventures of FLESH GORDON!



Special effects are by Harryhausen trained Jim Danforth and based much more on the Buster Crabbe version than the De Laurentis as far as design and style.



There are two movies in the series , FLESH GORDON and FLESH GORDON AND THE COSMIC CHEERLEADERS .



The film's storyline is purposely reminiscent of the first Universal Pictures Flash Gordon multi-chapter movie serial, Flash Gordon (1936), but written and directed with a purposely campy flavor. The planet Porno (in the serial: Mongo) and major characters are suggestive innuendos: the hero Flesh Gordon (Flash Gordon); his love interest Dale Ardor (Dale Arden); the evil Emperor Wang the Perverted (Ming the Merciless); scientist Dr. Flexi Jerkoff (Dr. Alexi Zarkov); seductive Amora, Queen of Magic (Ming's daughter Aura); and effeminate Prince Precious (Prince Barin).



The film features production values comparable to the original serial, as well as stop-motion animation of creatures, and frequent use of gratuitous nudity and brief sex scenes.

The film was first assigned a MPAA rating of X, but was then re-edited, finally receiving a reclassified rating of R. The film's original running time was 78 minutes, but the later, unrated "collector's edition" video release runs 90 minutes.

Flesh Gordon employed special effects artists who would later gain Hollywood fame, including Mike Minor, Greg Jein and Rick Baker. Established effects artists Jim Danforth (listed backward in the film credits as Mij Htrofnad) and Dave Allen also worked on the film.

The film's low-budget special effects were achieved using old-fashioned techniques: For example, the model of Wang's palace was created using everyday objects, such as drinking glasses, and was designed to resemble Griffith Observatory so actual footage shot at the base of the observatory could be easily integrated into the film.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Krel]

The voice of the giant was an uncredited Craig T. Nelson, who was a standup comedian at the time.

Jerkoff's ship, the swan ship, the ladybug flyer, Ming's shark ships and Ming's guard's weapons were made by Greg Jein. They were carved out of foam and sealed. A few years back the Japanese marketed a water gun of Ming's Guard's pistols.

The SPFX were intentionally done low tech (and a little cartoonish, because it's a comedy) to look like the old movie serials.

At one point the SPFX people held hostage the footage they had because the producer hadn't paid them.

I've never seen the unedited version, but a friend and I went see it at a midnight movie (do they still do those?) showing. He told me that the movie was cut. He was in the Navy, and told me that it was shown on a ship he was on, and it was the unedited version! So at one time the U.S. Navy had the original version of the film.

David.

[Gord Green]

David, I've seen (and own) both versions and I can tell you the only difference is the un-edited version has hard core scenes while the "R" version is only soft core and really much better as far as flow of story.



My first viewing was also at a midnight screening and it was great! The audience was really into it and it was definitely like going to a pre-pubescent R rated Saturday matinee with your buddies!



Cheers and boos at all the right places! The battle with the penisaurus and dong monster was cheered as fervently as the skeleton fight in JASON!





And how about those robots?



Some scenes are available on YouTube and the whole movies are on the web. Look for them and laugh your butt off!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[scotpens]

[Gord Green]

I wasn't implying a relationship with the 80's version, I was just pointing out the retro style FLESH GORDON implemented more closely to the serial.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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I've been watching the third serial recently, and I'm extremely impressed — much more so than in all the years since seeing it on television as a kid on Saturday mornings in the early 1950s.

The sets, costumes, and story are significantly better than first two serials (especially the disappointing second one), with concepts geared more towards adults.

The first two chapters of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe focus on the kingdom of Frigia, a northern region of Mongo which is so cold that only the people who have evolved and adapted to the climate can live there without extensive measures to to protect them.

Chapter 2 is quite impressive. Flash, Dale, and Prince Baron journey to Frigia and locate a region which possesses deposits of polarite — the only known antidote to Ming's "death dust, which his ships are seeded Earth's atmosphere with and causubg a global plague!

The scenes of the explorers scaling frozen cliffs and being threatened by avalanches are remarkably well done. I was amazed!

Naturally a large percentage of these scenes are populated by stock footage of Himalayan expeditions, but they are remarkably well integrated with the very convincing shots of the actors on sets of a frozen mountain terrain.

I was extremely surprised by how well these scenes were done.

The first Flash Gordon serial is a highly entertaining "Edgar Rice Burroughs" version of Alex Raymond's famous comics — with dinosaur-like monsters, Hawkmen, Lionmen, and sexy ladies in revealing costumes that would make Frank Frazetta proud.







But the third serial includes true elements of science fiction — blended with high adventure and colorful fantasy. These elements created a sci-fi serial that I haven't truly appreciated since first seeing it when I was just six years old in 1954 on Saturday morning of the floor in front of my family's old TV set.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 29 trivia items total for the three serials, although some of them were repeated for all three. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text.
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~ King Features Syndicate released the three Flash Gordon serials to US TV in 1951.

Note from me: I was only three years old when these first started airing in Atlanta, but when I was about six years old (in 1954) they were showing various serials for several hours on Saturday mornings (three chapters per hour), and I was right there on the living room floor from breakfast 'till lunch, watching them all with big wide eyes and a young mind ablaze with dreams of sci-fi adventures!

~ According to film historian Roy Kinnard, the serial played at evening performances, not just matinées, the usual time period to run "chapter plays".

Note from me: Well, that's surprising! All these years I've imagined thousands of kids on Saturday afternoons in theaters across the nation, gobbling popcorn and watching their hero save the universe. Now I find that my fantasy had a big fat flaw! It ain't fair, I tell ya, it just ain't fair!

~ The opening music for the episodes — as well as some of the music for the action scenes — are excerpts from the classical work "Symphonic Poem, Les Preludes", by Franz Liszt. In Chapter One, Richard Wagner's "Good Friday Prelude" and "Parsifal" is used.

Note from me: I'm not sure if this is entirely accurate. I listened to a few excerpts from YouTube versions of those pieces, and they didn't sound like what I remember from the serials (even when I sampled the Youtube video of the movie version). I do seem to remember that music from The Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man was used.

~ The noises of the rocket ships propulsion sound suspiciously like propeller aircraft of the day. It stands to reason, as rockets and jets didn't yet exist and probably met 1936 audience expectations of propulsion sounds.

Note from me: I wouldn't describe the rocket sounds as propeller engine noises. They're more like a weed eater being run in locker room! But I couldn't find anything online about how the sound effects were done.

~ Much of the background music was originally used in Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Also, the music which played in the background during the sequence recapping the previous chapter's events was the theme for The Invisible Man (1933).

Note from me: Ah-ah. I found this one after commenting about the music above.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)