The Flash Gordon comic strip (1934) actually predates all superhero comic books. But the first space hero comic strip was Buck Rogers (1929), which was also adapted (as a TV show) in the 80's.
I also saw somewhere that even before that, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were characters in pulp novels. Around 1980, there was also an animated Flash Gordon series on Saturday mornings, which for a Filmation production wasn't bad (I get that 'good for Filmation' isn't a very high bar, though...)
Flash Gordon was authored by Alex Raymond, and was a newspaper comic strip serial pre-dating comic books by a few years (FG in 1934, Superman in 1938). Timothy Dalton (007 after Roger Moore) was Prince Barin of Arboria.
I'm sure someone has already mentioned this to you, but just in case -- George Lucas tried to acquire the rights to make a Flash Gordon movie, but was rejected by the copyright holder, so Lucas decided to write his own space adventure. Not sure what ever became of that idea... :)
Incorrect. He tried to get the rights to make a DUNE movie. This is how the Bene Gesserit became the Jedi. The Voice became the Force. And for some reason there were princesses in a Galactic Republic. They even make an homage to Dune when C-3P0 references the "Spice mines of Kessel."
Well good thing HE didn't get his hands on it for MY part. I duno about you, but I don't WANT Flash Gordon to be like frigging Star Wars. I like Flash Gordon to be FLASH GORDON.
Just so you know, THIS movie (1980) is three years older than Return of the Jedi (83). So then, if anything, "Endor" was ripped-off from THIS movie. not the other way around.
"Ming's not unbeatable. With all his men, he couldn't even kill Flash." "Gordon's alive?" Fun Fact: Theatrical movie debut of Jim Carter. Twinkie Mania Fact: One of the feast items in the Hawkmen's Kingdom was Twinkies colored with food dye. What Script Fact: Flash jumping towards the camera screaming "YEAH!" was improvised by Sam J. Jones, because no one had a better idea. Airplane Enthusiast Fact: The aircraft used during the beginning scenes is a deHavilland Dove DH.104 fixed wing twin engine (inline six cylinder 400 hp each). Casting Notes Fact: Brian Blessed was an avid fan of Flash Gordon since childhood. His favorite character was Vultan. Blessed revealed in his autobiography that he was paid thirty thousand pounds for his role as Prince Vultan. Music Enthusiast Fact: Dino De Laurentiis had never heard of Queen before making this film. The band was approached for the gig in 1979, and they were immediately interested. Their manager arranged a meeting with De Laurentiis to discuss the opportunity, and he allegedly asked: "Who are the Queens?" Voice Play Fact: Sam J. Jones had a falling out with Dino De Laurentiis over a perceived lack of payment, and was not called back to work during the second unit shoot and post-production. Most of Jones' dialogue was dubbed. For years, the identity of the voice actor who provided the voice was unknown, even to Jones himself. In October 2017, a user on a Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange forum suggested that the voice actor was likely Peter Marinker, based on a compilation of samples of Marinker's work in anime dubs for Manga Entertainment. In a 2020 interview with filmmaker Dominic Hailstone, Marinker confirmed that he was indeed responsible for looping most of Jones' dialogue in secret, but that some of Jones' lines were left intact based on the strength of his performance of them.
As other commentators pointed out, Flash Gordon is from serialized comic strip from the 1930s. It predated Superman who "birthed" the beginning of the traditional superheroes. Flash Gordon was published by I believe King Features, along other 1930s heroes like the Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. NOTE: There is a 1990s cartoon with all three called Defenders of the Earth.
Characters who fit the 'Batman' style superhero niche ( super, but normal ) existed first. The French Fantomax, Irma Vep, and others. 'Sheena Queen of the Jungle' is 1933, 'The Shadow' and 'Crimson Avenger' were both 'evening dress' 'heroes with a gimmick' and Flash Gordon is closer in theme to the white adventurers in exotic climes hero, of which even Tarzan is arguably one. Mongo is clearly Imperial China ( the reign names of deceased emperors of the Ming dynasty include a Ming Martial, Ming Scholarly, you get the picture ), with the moons of Mongo being all the other exotic climes of Earth. The first US example of this trend is likely the protagonist of 'Lieutenant Gullivar Jones, His Vacation on Mars' , which inspired 'John Carter of Mars' ( originally a Western ), and from there things explode rapidly.
A fun film. Played the soundtrack like crazy as a teen. Along with the Flash soundtrack Queen wrote six songs for the film 'Highlander'. A fun fact, poor San Jones had his entire performance dubbed without his knowlenge.
the actor who did dub all his lines is unknown, though there are those who were involved in the film's production who say it was a Canadian voice actor who worked on Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds, most likely Matt Zimmerman or David Graham
@@thomasn3882 I liked the reaction part, I've seen the film many times, so the blurring and sound changes are fine as I know what Christina is looking at.
The lab assistant was played by an actor with the delightful name of William Hootkins. He also played Porkins, or Red Six, the X-Wing pilot in STAR WARS. That's pretty neat.
I have the Flash Gordon pinball machine. It was the first dual level playing field pinball machine. The main actors were signed to do multiple movies, but "Flash Gordon" didn't do well enough to continue the series. The "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" movie serials were George Lucas inspiration for "Star Wars" George Lucas was interested in directing "Flash Gordon" but was turned down. Lucas than created his own "Star Wars"
-Flash was the second iconic modern pop culture space hero, created in 1934 as a direct knockoff of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" created in 1929. Although Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" (1912) is technically a space opera, the hero John Carter is thought of more as a fantasy hero as he mostly fights monsters and tribal/medieval style civilizations with ancient weapons and doesn't fly around in spaceships. -Flash Gordon was first adapted to the big screen in the 13-chapter serial "Flash Gordon" in 1936, and its sequels "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" (1938) and "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" (1940) -George Lucas grew up on these and was inspired by "2001 A Space Odyssey" to reboot it into a big budget feature with modern FX. Unfortunately for George, he worked for Fox and Dino DeLaurentis had the rights to Flash Gordon. George's "Plan B" was to do an adaptation of "Dune" in the style of classic serialized space opera, but then De Laurentis had the rights to that to. So George made his own space opera that is very much a Dune/Flash Gordon mashup. -Ironically, the success of Star Wars enabled DeLaurentis to greenlight Flash Gordon and Dune 1984 -Because Flash Gordon was a Hollywood/Italy co-production, there was some confusion and miscommunication over what the tone should be. There were constant battles over how serious, campy, or full-on comedic it should be, resulting in the oddly uneven tone. -The movie bombed on release, cancelling the planned sequel, but then it quickly found a cult following on cable and video, devloping a word-of-mouth reputation as a sort of anti-Star Wars (the same thing happened with Dune 1984)
This version of flash Gordon is considered to be Camp. When I was a teenager, we used to go to the Midnight Movies to watch Flash Gordon. Midnight Movies is a lost form of entertainment. It was exciting going to a movie theater around 11:30 and not walking out until 5:30 a.m. because it was a triple feature. Watching cult classics like: the harder they come, faster pussycat kill kill kill, killer klowns from outer Space, This Is spinal tap, the warriors, pink flamingos, and plan 9 from outer Space.
5:28 Probably named after Buzz Aldran. 6:23 I think that is Porkins from Star Wars, "Top men!" from Raiders of the Lost Arc, and Eckard from Batman '89. 9:58 Might have been moons. 12:54 In 1979, Filmation made a Flash Gordon animated series. And the voice actor who did the original Skeletor voiced Ming, and it's the SAME EXACT voice. In 1985, Sunbow made "Defenders of the Earth", a series where Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Lothar and other heroes of the old comics were modernized for the 1980's, and Flash has a son.....had a VERY catchy opening and closing theme song. 15:00 Mr. Goldmask there fancies Ming's daughter. 17:34 LOTS of old movies had fast, sudden romances....even in the 80's. 19:33 He probably also would have liked Kissinger and Gates, too. 22:06 KITTEH!!!! :3 23:32 It's not what it sounds like. Though it probably would have been better than that 'prove your manhood!' chest beating macho crap that killed that kid. 27:52 Meh in theaters, but over time, it became a loved cult classic. 28:33 Could be worse, least Flash was not a Japanese school girl. >_> 31:51 Ming: Oh, BITE ME, it's FUN! :P 33:56 DIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!!! 35:35 Huh? 35:45 They like those old xmas lights, one goes out, and they all go out. 36:26 He deserved much, much worse. 37:21 I think Dale drank way too much of that green stuff. Other films you might like are: The Last Starfighter Starman 1953 War of the Worlds, and it's 1988-1990 tv series sequel of the same name. The Black Hole Hanger 18 Robocop 1 and 2 Battle Beyond the Stars
In the comics, Ming is killed many times. Each time he comes back (thus the ring at the end). Flash Gordon did not start as a comic book. It started as a comic strip in newspapers.
"What is it?" 23:42 & 26:44 Well, I'd say it's their version of Russian Roulette hun. Except instead of a gun there's a log and instead of a single bullet there's a "beast".
Flash Gordon even predates comic books. It was originally a Sunday full color comic in the newspapers. It was a big deal - amazing art, COLOR, and cliffhanging scifi adventures. It then became a serial shown as a short before movies (when a movie program was shorts, news, a “B” movie and a main feature). Flash Gordon and the scifi adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs, which inspired Flash Gordon, created the scifi action adventure genre.
Now you're ready to watch 'Ted'. The Ewoks environment on the forest moon. Cloud City, sword fights, evil armoured villain with a mask, rocket ship battles... light fingered George Lucas was here... The effects were cheap looking at the time too, especially the Hawkmen. You might like to watch a couple of chapters of the 1930s serial Flash Gordon
'Who directed this movie?' 'Dunno.' 'Who did the special effects?' 'Dunno.' 'Who played Flash Gordon?' 'Dunno.' 'Who played the soundtrack?' '...' 'FLASH! AHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!'
Flash Gordon was one of the original action hero comics. It was published maybe 4 years before Superman and 5 years before Batman. Later on after Batman and Superman came out they changed the term to superhero.
I once had a cat named Larry. He was the goodest cat. At best, yours can only be tied with Larry for the goodest cat award. I think I'm seeing the goodest princesss in this movie. Me-ow!
Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. who wrote much of the Batman 1966 TV series. It shows: the adult comedy, double meanings, implied relationships, queasy sadistic slapstick. Lots of fun for the 1980s, different standards apply today. Several scenes were clumsily censored before release, ( most notably when Ming strangles the girl Dale left in her place, and is drugged to feel nothing but pleasure, recall ). - and there are versions of this film, the afternoon TV version, the evening TV version, and the two different versions allowed late night. Different versions of what's visible in the dungeon, for example. - and how much of the 'initiation' is allowed.
I kinda admire how you remarked on the Wizard of Oz similarities and parallels. Most numb nuts who react to this flick or review it don't even notice THOSE because they're too fixated and preoccupied with comparing it to Star Wars (of course).
44:55 In the 1979 animated Flash Gordon, Aura looked A LOT like Teela, even her costume was similar. I think they used that Aura as the template to design Teela.
The He Man toy line and the He Man cartoon show were launched at the same time. I think it was the same year they did the same thing with G.I. Joe- G.I. Joe had actually been around as an 11" action figure since at least the 60s- maybe even the 50s- but was re-invented as a series of 3 1/2" figures which also had a cartoon tie-in. Having a toy line and a cartoon series designed to promote it launched at the same time was a novel concept in 1983, but it was so successful, it became the model for every major toy line launched in the 80s.
At the end of the movie you should google it and the actors and answere some of the questions you were asking us, It would be really interesting to get your take on it :)
34: 50 Not quite. Wagner was a bit of an antisemite, but he died long before the Nazi movement. Hitler loved Wagner’s music and the Nazis culturally appropriated him.
I know musicals from that era just by playing in the pit orchestra. It was before the Into the Woods era and only the shows from the 60s and 70s were done --- My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, etc. Golden era for musicals.
@@okchristina a fun musical with Dick Van Dyke not many people do is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's a great fantasy musical written by Roald Dahl based on a story by Ian Fleming
This film kind of revived Topol's film career. He played a prominent character in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only opposite Roger Moore a year later. Timothy Dalton who played Prince Barin (aka the Robin Hood character) was the actor who eventually replaced Roger Moore as James Bond in 1987. Flash Gordon was created by Alex Raymond and was published by Kings Features in 1934. DC later published a re-imagined run of the character in 1988. There were three Flash Gordon movie serials produced from 1936, a live action TV show in the 50's, a cartoon series in 1979 which ran for two seasons. Flash Gordon also featured in an 80's cartoon show called Defenders of the Earth which teamed him up with other Kings Features characters such as Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom and finally there was a re-imagined live action Flash Gordon TV show produced in 2007.
When this was released, it was received as a goofy comic book movie, of course. Now it's a cult film, still goofy, but a wonderful example of the "they don't make them like that any more" school. It's fun. Sam Jones did a spread in Playgirl magazine.
Christina I would love to see you do a reaction to the (1979) movie The Jerk starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters so please comment on How Dirty Navin is when both his Family and Marie find him please.
The costume and set design deliberately modelled the 1930's movie serials. Hence the retro look to everything, the fake-looking hawkmen, etc. There was a very odd SciFi channel Flash Gordon TV series in the 2007. Otherwise there have been various cartoon versions of Flash Gordon over the years. Flash Gordon falls into a subgenre of science fiction called planetary romance. One of the earliest planetary romance characters was John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (as seen in the film John Carter (2012)). King Features Syndicate was in talks with Burroughs to make a comic strip adaptation of John Carter but when an agreement couldn't be reached King Features opted to publish Flash Gordon instead.
This movie is TOTAL camp and takes itself as seriously. Some believe that it was meant to compete with Star Wars. It wasn't. While Star Wars did make this movie possible, it was also meant to parody it, as well as the serials that spawned it. Many of the uniforms and outfits are taken right from the Buster Crabbe "Flash Gordon" from 1936. Ming's most especially. It's damn near a piece for piece copy. While many say that this was meant to spawn more movies, it was actually supposed to spawn a TV series, much like the Buck Rogers movie did in 1979. It seems Buck was a bit luckier in their efforts. They at least got two seasons.
Wrong buddy, Star Wars actually had NOTHING - or very little at any rate - to do with why THIS movie was made. No, THIS movie WAS ORIGINALLY supposed to be Dune. The producers were attempting to make a version of Dune in the early to mid 70s which got CANCELLED. They THEN made THIS flick instead, which happens to recycle and incorporate a lot of stuff from THAT aborted project (including things like set, costumes, and spacecraft designs and character concepts). There's even a documentary film called Alexandro Jodorowsky's Dune which tells you all about it.
Since you enjoyed Flash Gordon, try the 1984 Dune, directed by David Lynch with music composed by Toto. It's also beautifully weird. For something Flash Gordon (the movie) took some style inspiration from - Barbarella, with Jane Fonda
Flash was one of the first scifi adventure comics, back in 1934, and kind of set the standard for them for a couple of decades at least. There were radio shows, tv serials, animated cartoons and Flash was even on a US Postage stamp once. And Sam Jones started the horrible trend of guys parting their hair in the middle for a while.
Excellent reaction yes it is exactly the comic books is old cereals and from the movies in the 20s and 30s and 40s even up to the 50s they tried to make it Jordan Lucas wanted to do Flash Gordon first, but he couldn’t get the right to Flash Gordon so I made his own space opera And queen decided to do their own version of Flash Gordon with the soundtrack 10 songs and then that the bridal theme is queen with guitar course and sequel, but didn’t spend money on it and stuff so the queen helped out a lot so it was about money halfway through the film the actor who never done movie before decided to stay home, went back to America and didn’t go back so change the actor midway to the film they used nobody a stunt doubled. Finish the rest of the movie, what he never worked, but he goes to conventions and talks to people about it but overall when you call John him is Timothy Dalton. He’ll be James Bond for a while. He’s a star the villain on Rocketeer on the Rocketeer. I really was sad about the actor who played Flash Gordon. His agent convinced him to stay home and you know get more money because he thought the movie was half over. There’s been a lot of money on the Movie. He thought he would give in and give him more money and he won’t get more money too, but the Director fooled them like he said he got double to finish the rest of the movie never again except on Ted move talking teddy bear with the guy obsessed with Flash Gordon the guy in the movie has the guy played Flash Gordon. The agents fault. The other actors were sad about it too. They had a documentary about the movie like I said it’s called classic so they still trying to do a sequel now and then but too much time has passed I think but who knows these days when people need ideas they will do anything Hollywood Thanks for the fun until next time.
Yes Flash Gordon is based on a comic book but it's neither to do with DC or Marvel it's long before they even existed going back to the 1920's or 1930's it's more in the line with the comic books of old such as "The Phantom" and "Mandrake the Magician".
"How was this movie received in the 1980s...?" Not well. Like Blade Runner, Flash Gordon was released after Star Wars, and marketed as if it was something similar. Both films flopped massively as a result. Blade Runner was a dark, brooding work of art, while Flash Gordon was a tongue-in-cheek, campy remake of a 1930s film series/comic book, and audiences weren't expecting either. Both are much better regarded now that they can be judged on their own merits, rather than as failed attempts to cash-in on the success of Star Wars.
The reality is the girl in this is a 5 @ Best! From a strictly objective point of view yet, she’s able to pull Flash who’s objectively a 10 in appearance and status as a famous footballer! After Flash is done with her she’ll be set on her highest setting and never be able to date an average guy who’s objectively her equal…
The opening crawl of written narration fading into the background in the Star Wars movies is based on the similar openings of the Flash Gordon serial installments in the thirties and forties. Flash Gordon also inspired the Star Wars concepts of the interplanetary emperor, the city in the sky, and the forest world. The character of Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon comic strips was a shameless ripoff of the character of Dr. Fu Manchu in Sax Rohmer's novels, complete with beautiful, rebellious, amoral daughter.
Too bad they don't make movies like this anymore just a fantasy movie no agendas no swapping characters for rolls because of race or gender just a movie
And yes, a lot of things are inspired by flash Gordon he of course He man I like Shira to myself of the earliest cereals like I said George Lucas tried to get the rights to Flash Gordon, but he couldn’t so that’s why he made Star Wars instead so imagine if he had gotten in the Flash Gordon movie instead of the right of Flash Gordon, instead of Star Wars, the whole world be different Older than Flash Gordon Syfy is Bumck Rogers the same time as Flash Gordon very good series 2 if you wanna see from the 80s with Gill Gerard Rogers, one of the episodes Buck Rogers all about he’s an astronaut who does deep space probe to try to find life on anothe planets and end up getting frozen and wakes up 500 years in the Future back on earth there’s also a cartoon series of Flash Gordon then in the 80s right after the movie, it was good. It’s all about what happened to flash and Dale and Salkov and their adventures in should say And the TV show Rogers they had on the episodes one of the guys who played Buck Rogers in the old serials and Flash Gordon the old guy who was old back then 80s so he says nice to see you young kid. You had a lot of nice moves so you’re not too bad yourself old man he said I’ve been in this long before you were born Buck Rogers I don’t think so because he’s 500 years old, but he meant himself not character because he played Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon in the movie cereals and he was called Gordon Rogers and that was really fun guys who played Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon in the old movie serials the first movie cereals of Flash Gordon and Buck. Rogers were silent, even no sound at all when they first started, sorry I’m trying to give you context. I know you’re great. I’ve seen some other stuff and you’re very knowledgeable and I think it’s great with the kind of stuff you do so Freddie Mercury pays piano in the movie two and queen, also put money in the movie to finish it didn’t remember at the time we had like I think empire strikes back just come out we came outcompetition and people thought it was too funny too sometimes but it works. Thanks for the fun. I hope I didn’t bore you. I’m just trying to help by the way Star Trek and Star Wars are my favorite franchises which wouldn’t have any of those without Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers until next time.
Yes, this was all in the comics. The original comic was serialized, with a new story every few years. This movie is based on the first serialized adventure. A 13-part mini-series was released in 1936 (it is essentially the same story as this movie). I think it was done by Universal Studios. It was followed by two other series - Flash Gordon Goes to Mars and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. I am sorry for commenting so much. I'll stop now :)
Ming is played by Max von Sydow, who appeared in more classic fantasy and sci-fi films than just about anyone else. He also played: King Osric (Conan the Barbarian 1982) Liet-Kynes (Dune 1984) Vigo (Ghostbusters II 1989) Fargo (Judge Dredd 1995) Voice of Zeus (Disney's Hercules 1997) Lor San Tekka (Star Wars VIII 2015) Three-Eyed Raven (Game of Thrones)
Thank you. Flash Gordon was initially quite popular, but while that popularity continued in Italy and the UK, in the US it dropped off quickly over the following month. The movie stars two popular Italian stars, and a large number of British actors, so has remained very popular. Music Trivia: Almost certainly because Queen were involved "Flash Gordon" like "Highlander" for which they also provided music, had a soundtrack release at a time when this still wasn't the norm.
