A rogue planet is 'rushing madly toward the earth.' Impending doom creates worldwide pandemonium. But maverick scientist Dr. Zarkov hopes to stay disaster by travelling to the new planet in his experimental rocket. Two chance-met strangers, athletic Flash Gordon and damsel in distress Dale Arden, go with him.

Arrived, the trio find Mongo to be a planet of wonders, warring factions, and deadly perils, its orbit controlled by Emperor Ming who has his own sinister plans for earth. Can our heroes, armed only with science and sex appeal, stop him? Universal put out three Flash Gordon chapter plays, in 1936, 1938 and 1940; but despite the larger budgets of the latter two, the first is the by far the most fun; its successors are pale in comparison, although the Clay People of Series II are certainly worth while. I loved the 1936 serial dearly when I was five years old, seeing it on TV; and I still retain a good deal of affection for it, even now when I am old enough to be aware of the cardboard sets, ridiculous dialogue and frequent lapses of taste. Flash's adventures have nothing to do with outer space and are largely medieval, as this 1930s art deco Siegfried battles shark men, hawk men, and cheesy rubber dragons. Buster Crabbe is ideal, and Charles Middleton positively believes he IS Ming the Merciless.

Then there is Princess Aura. I don't know about the rest of you male types out there, but if I were Flash I would have dumped Dale for Priscilla Lawson's voluptuous princess by Episode Two. Besides the perfectly obvious fact that she would be vastly more fun in bed, consider: When Flash is in horrible danger, what does Dale do? Clip Studio Paint Pro Serial Number more.

The Legacy Character trope as used in popular culture. You just can't keep a good character down. Even in a setting where Death Is a Slap on the Wrist, a. All three Flash Gordon serials in one box! 'Space Soldiers' (1936, 245 min., 13 episodes) - Internationally renowned polo player and Yale graduate Flash Gordon and the lovely Dale Arden are enlisted by Dr. Java 1 6 Mac 10 4 Ppc Lubricants. Hans Zarkov on his quest to save Earth from being destroyed by the runaway planet Mongo. 'Flash Gordon's Trip to.

She faints, or gets hypnotised. Aura, meanwhile, has swiped a rocket ship, bribed the guards, found a cache of weapons, and is actively doing her best to rescue the guy. She saves Flash's butt from certain horrible death about every other episode, but does the big lunk appreciate it? Even when I was five I was dimly aware that there was some reason I wanted her to take me home with her. And above all, there's Frank Shannon's Zarkov.

'You are a remarkable man. I can use you' says Emperor Ming; and what Zarkov doesn't say, but is clearly thinking, is: 'and I can use a blithering mad emperor with unlimited power and a fantastic laboratory'! My favorite dialogue in the whole serial comes in Episode One. Zarkov and Flash have just met, and Zarkov explains that the Earth's only hope of survival is his home built rocket ship. 'Sure this thing will work?' Asks Flash, after they've come aboard. 'I've experimented with models' Zarkov replies.

'Ah,' responds Flash; 'They ever come back?' With perfect equanimity Zarkov says 'They weren't supposed to.' Now, there's a REAL Mad Scientist after my own heart! Zarkov routinely invents the impossible on five minutes notice, from invisibility rays to anti-gravitons. The whole thing is so absurd it's magnificent, so hokey it's colossal.

It's for the precocious five-year-old in us all.

In the 1930s and 1940s, three were made based on the comic strip. They starred Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon, Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless, Jean Rogers as Dale Arden, and Frank Shannon as Dr Hans Zarkov.

The three serials were: • Flash Gordon (1936) • Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938) • Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) The serials were syndicated on US television during the 1950s, under the title Space Soldiers to distinguish them from the 1954 TV series starring Steve Holland. These serials were among those that influenced the style of the movies, particularly their use of an. The 1930s film serials provide examples of: •: Dale is brunette in the comic strip but was made blonde in the first serial — even though this meant bleaching brunette Jean Rogers' hair — because of the power of the trope.

•: Emperor Ming. •: Vultan's pet Urso.

•: Aura and just about every other female character at some point. •: Certainly close to an for. It happens in the very first installment to Flash, leading to him. •: Thun the Lionman joins forces this way. • (in 1936!): The 'Resistoforce' on Barin's ship. •: Ming tasks his High Priest of Tao with uncovering a traitor who provided Flash information.

The Priest is the one who did so. •: Ming's champion swordsman is revealed to be Prince Barin. •: Used as a cliffhanger in the first serial. •: Ming proves to be this for Azura; he backstabs her once he gains possession of her magic sapphire. • • for Dale.

•: Dale, in the first serial. •: Ming tries one on Dale.

•: Flash single-handedly decimates a Lionman fleet. That was en route to assault Ming. •: Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. The final installment features a tortured rationalization of the title that does not involve any actual universe-conquering. •: Only the third serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, utilized this (and it wasn't the first, as Universal had used this recap method in its serials starting in 1939).

The first serial used non-scrolling text to recap the previous chapter, and the second utilized comic book-type art for its recaps. •: Almost twenty years before. •: Besides music cribbed from various previous Hollywood films, the score includes pieces by,,,,, and.

•: A cliffhanger in the first serial involves Flash trapped in a tank with a giant octopus. •: The first of Mongo's denizens Flash faces.

•: Flash and Thun Ming's before the gong is sounded the requisite 13 times. Which amounts to the same thing.

•: Scenes of the destruction wreaked upon Earth by Ming and the resulting pancking crowds were stock footage from newsreels. Conquers the Universe used footage from the 1930 film The White Hell of Pitz Palu for establishing shots of the frozen wastes of Frigia. The second and third serials also made increasing use of recycled footage from earlier in the series. •: In the 1950s the serials were syndicated on TV under the title Space Soldiers (there being an actual made-for-TV series also airing at the time). •: Inverted, as the door works fine on Flash, only Ming's daughter is inadvertently dropped, too.