Hollywood is selling out superheroes for the baby boomers right now. Rumors about the adaption of “Antman” won’t stop. I never understood why the ability to shrink to the size of an ant could be labeled as “superhuman” (This from me, the leader of the In-Sect!) Why did no one ever make a real good “Flash Gordon”-movie instead? Yes, we had some adaptions and I went through them. Here is my ranking of the five best:
5. The animated series from 1979
This TV show tried its best to capture the spirit of the original strip. Sadly, in the seventies the art of animating characters was not passed on from father to son. But the scripts were working and a thrilling cliffhanger was part of the concept. And it is the best animated adaption around. Just forget “Defenders of the Earth” or “Flash Gordon” from 1996…
4. Flesh Gordon
This soft porn movie (The pathetic plot: Emperor Wang, the Perverted is leader of the planet Porno and sends his mighty “Sex Rays” towards Earth!) from 1974 earns a place in this collection. Though this is clearly a parody, it keeps up some of the true sci fi values: Great claymation monsters, weird robots, the Emperor’s cheerleaders and penisaurs.
3. Star Wars (aka Episode IV), 1977
Yes, Star Wars is clearly a Flash Gordon movie. Just look at the crawling, distorted text in the beginning, the cheesy cross fadings, the evil Emperor, the city in the clouds, the looks of Han Solo or the simple fact that there is sound in space. Only place three because of one problem: No Flash Gordon in it!
2. Buster Crabbe!
This low budget production from 1936 may not be very true to the original concept of Alex Raymond, but Buster was the first and in my opinion best Flash Gordon of all times. And the winner is:
1. Flash Gordon (1980)
Oh, I hear you protest! And I was your opinion until I recently saw this movie again. It is really fun! It features the best Prince Vultan, James Bond as Prince Barin, Darth Vader’s cousin Klytus, sexy Princess Aura, soundtrack from Queen (Big plus!) and the best Ming, the Merciless of them all! Only Flash is a miscast IMHO. It’s not the fact that Mr. Jones cannot act – Mr. Crabbe couldn’t either – he got this boyish way to look and move, exaggerated mimics and he parts his hair down in the middle!
So, after all this boring text, here’s your YouTube-candy for number 5 (Intro), number 4 (Trailer), number 3 (‘Solo, the Movie’. Satire, funny, must see!), number 2 (Music not from the 30ies) and the winner: Trailer and the Football Fight.
Actually you can buy the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon movies in a well-priced 3 DVD box set at Amazon here.
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