Flash Gordon was originally a space fantasy adventure comic strip from Alex Raymond in the 1930's.The title character is a courageous handsome athlete, who along with the beautiful Dale Arden and the scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov, had somehow got transported into space, and into the planet Mongo, where they discover that the meteors that have been devastating Earth are weapons devised by Ming the Merciless, the planet's evil ruler. [hit the jump to continue]
The Flash Gordon saga is rife with aspects of sci-fi fantasy and wondrous adventure, as the comics series spans the years of stay of the protagonists on planet Mongo, they journey to the forest kingdom of Arboria, ruled by Prince Barin; the ice kingdom of Frigia, ruled by Queen Fria; the jungle kingdom of Tropica, ruled by Queen Desira; the undersea kingdom of the Shark Men, ruled by King Kala; and the flying city of the Hawkmen, ruled by Prince Vultan. They are joined in several early adventures by Prince Thun of the Lion Men. With such a rich material and the familiarity of such material in classic sci-fi history, plans for a Flash Gordon movie franchise is something that has the promise of a box office goldmine.
There had been several Flash Gordon movie serials from 1936 to 1940 (Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe). There was a Flash Gordon TV series in 1954, an animated feature in 1979, and a bunch of other animated series in the 80s. But it's the 1980 movie adaptation simply titled "Flash Gordon" that is the recently most popular version, and the version that most production executives and filmmakers (presumably theyre in their 30's or 40's) may be best familiar with. The 1980 Flash Gordon may arguably have taken advantage of the popularity of Star Wars suring those times, but it certainly had its own distinct identity, in a way that it was a bit more out-of-control wild and never took itself too seriously. In addition, nothing can compare to its theme music done by classic rock gods; Queen. Younger audiences may have had a a bit of an idea of what this movie about when Sam J. Jones had a special appearance in the movie "Ted" which referenced the Flash Gordon movie a lot (Jones even donned the Flash Gordon costume).
Nothing can be said much about the 2007 adaptation of Flash Gordon as a TV series; nobody seemed to be interested in it. Because it looked boring and awful.
FLASH GORDON would definitely be something to look forward to. I sure do hope they could still use that Queen theme song for Flash. And yes, Ming the Merciless should look like the classic Mandarin-type Ming (because that 2007 adaptation screwed that part up). Who do you think would be best to play the new Flash Gordon? Which director could be best for this movie? Hit the comments to share your thoughts!
Check out the trailer for the 1980's FLASH GORDON...
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