arthurtuscadero (No fear of a spoiler here. The author assumes that everyone and his brother has seen these shows at least four or five times, so discussion of plot outcomes would be redundant.)The Flash Gordon series is not shown on TV today, mainly because it is completely obsolete scientifically. In its favor, it handled issues much more complicated (read: "adult") than shows like Rocky Jones.) The science is just completely magical.For instance, Gordon travels to distant galaxies with Dale and the Doctor. However, it is not until later in the series "The Lure of Light" that a faster than light drive was developed. So how did they get to these places and return to earth so quickly?The time travel episodes do not fare any better. In "Deadline at Noon," the bomb planted by an enemy agent who traveled to the distant past to bury it, was buried under the rubble of a building in West Berlin. Apparently the very late (compared to the bomb) building was constructed by persons who did not realize they were incorporating a prehistoric bomb into the structure. The so-called deadline is not effective, because with time travel, there is plenty of time to stop anything. You can take as long as you need. The planets Neptune and Saturn are depicted as rocky planets with humans living on them.Asteroids are depicted as very tiny, earth- like planets, with vegetation and breathable atmospheres.Flash Gordon apparently did outdo Start Trek, though with the time travel episode. Since the characters went back centuries to 1954 Germany, the film is able to use the set of local Berlin areas, (As Star Trek used Los Angeles) to give the episode a much more realistic feel as far as the filming is concerned.Finally, the selection of West Germany to film this production was ingenious. Although the aliens are all too humanoid to be completely believable, they have great difficulty speaking English, as if it is a language alien to them. This does add to the realism, since in almost all sci-fi shows, the aliens speak better English than the Earth people do.

John T. Ryan TO BEGIN WITH, let us state upfront, that we had believed, do believe and always will believe that the 3 Cliffhangers/Chapter Plays/Serials from Universal Pictures in the 1930's & early '40's were the quintessential rendering of Alex Raymond's comic strip to the celluloid medium, period. Okay, now we have that out of the way. (Now ain't full disclosure, Schultz?) TO OUR WAY of thinking, attempting to do a FLASH GORDON TV Series, while the local channels were full of FLASH GORDON (Universal, 1936) and FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938)* as tantamount to programming suicide. We remember as young boomer kids that Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Frank Shannon and Charles B. Middleton WERE definitely THE Flash, Dale, Zarkov and Ming.WELL, THE SERIES was made and in spite of our feelings, there were many really good aspects to its fundamental elements.FOR ONE, ALTHOUGH the serials had a rather elderly Irish born actor in Frank Shannon in the role of Dr.Zarkov, this TV series cast a much more youthful Joseph Nash in the role of Dr. Hans Zarkov.** In examining samplings of the comic strip, one finds that this younger version of the brilliant scientist was much more closely molded in the original concept.AS FOR THE choice of Irene Champlin in the role of Dale Arden, we have no real objections. True, she didn't wear any skimpy, sexy burlesque queen outfits; but to be fair, the strip had long abandoned the practice. We figure that Hearst's King Feature Syndicate (the copyright owner) had found a different costume designer.CONCERNING HAVING CAST Mr. Steve Holland as Flash Gordon, we think he was at least adequate in the part. The athletic actor had the proper attitude and a trim physique; but lacked the musculature of the all around Mr. Everything athlete and 1932 Olympic Swimming Champion, Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe.THERE WERE MANY aspects of this telling of FLASH GORDON Saga that strayed over and seemingly 'borrowed' some plot aspects from rival spaceman dean of the comic strip interplanetary genre, BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY. Whereas FLASH GORDON had been set in contemporary USA, Mongo and other worlds, this series opted for the futuristic.WELL, WE KNOW for sure that at least one episode did. It also made reference to the futuristic city below their rocket-ship as Berlin! (Remember, Schultz, that this series was a West German Television production!) NOTE * To the best of our recollection, FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (Universal, 1941) wasn't released to the television market until much later than its two predecessors, circa 1957.NOTE ** Perhaps there was a growing Anti-Nazi Sentiment added to World War I Anti-German feelings in the mid to late 1930's, but rather than calling him Hans Zarkov (as in Alex Raymond's strip) the only given name in the serials was that of Dr. "Alexis Zarkov" in the second serial, FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (1938).

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Flash Gordon, 1954. 'Flash' Gordon, Dale Arden and science adviser Doctor Zarkof are members of the Galactic Bureau of Investigation. This group has become the law enforcement arm of the universal government.*Special Stars- Steve Holland, Irene Champlin, Joseph Nash. *Theme- Planets and their inhabitants can work together in harmony to make things great for all.*Trivia/location/goofs- B&W, German, post WW2 early 60's TV show made from previous theatrical serials released in Europe.*Emotion- A sophisticated science fiction show based on the Flash Gorndon comic book serials. A wonderful 'time capsule' for the post WW2 era and during the Cold War since it was made in Europe. The film is hugely operatic in plot lines and production elements, but top-notch in production values for it's era. Wonderfully fun and campy. Very enjoyable to watch. I find it superior to the Buster Crabb serials of the '30's.

arel_1 "Star Wars" it ain't, to be sure. But for early 50s SFTV it's not that bad, either. Granted, the plots are often dire--but I can recall some episodes of George Reeves' "Superman" series that were real groaners too, and that show had a better budget. Granted, some of the acting wouldn't have made the grade in an elementary school play--but often the inept actors have the saving grace of being unintentionally funny (like the androids in "Return of the Androids", which I first saw excerpted on the "Zacherley's Horrible Horrors" video). Granted, some of the specFX and 'scientific' props are little short of laughable even if you set your mental time machine to the era and 'forget' you ever heard of things like CGI--but so were the ones on many made-in-America SFTV shows of that time. (Remember "Captain Video" checking on his Video Rangers via clips from old low-budget Westerns?) Yet despite all the cheesiness, the old "Flash Gordon" series does have a certain charm to it.