1979’s The New Adventures of Flash Gordon delivered a faithful adaptation of the Alex Raymond character–in its first season at least–and stands out as a great animated sci fi TV series.
What Is It?
The planet Mongo is on a collision course with Earth so Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Hans Zarkov travel there in a rocketship of Zarkov’s creation to investigate. They find that the planet is ruled by the evil Ming the Merciless and that he plans to conquer the Earth. Flash must convince the people of Mongo, who are split into tribes and who hate each other, to fight against Ming so that Earth can be saved. This show is based on the comic strip created by Alex Raymond.
Aired: NBC, 1979-1982, 2 Seasons Totaling 26 Episodes
Developed By: Filmation
Starring: Robert Ridgely, Diane Pershing, Alan Oppenheimer, Allan Melvin, Melendy Britt, Lou Scheimer
Legacy:
This show–in its first season at least–is a throwback to the original Alex Raymond version of the character and draws much inspiration from the comic strip for its adaptation, delivering quintessential Flash Gordon brought to life in all his space opera/planetary romance glory.
A Closer Look:
When Star Wars burst onto the scene in 1977, sci fi suddenly became big business and the broadcast networks decided they needed to get some space-based genre entries on their schedules pretty quickly. ABC was first in the race with 1978’s Battlestar: Galactica and NBC followed in 1979 with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. But before Buck Rogers hit the small screen, NBC looked to another classic sci fi character to attract genre fans to its programming. An animated TV movie was commissioned by the network to revive Flash Gordon because he seemed like the perfect character to ride the wave of Star Wars popularity. When the network got a look at the film, though, they were pleased with it enough to decide to turn it into an animated series that would air late Saturday mornings and would appeal to younger and older audiences.
The series comes from Filmation, a company known for producing shows on a budget and using limited animation to keep costs down. But they were also good with making the most of what they had (the company did pretty well by Star Trek with the 1973 animated series) and probably had a little bit more budget for the initial movie (the series also featured some early, computer-assisted animation). They utilized what they had from the film when expanding the project into a TV series, and they did an excellent job of capturing the look and feel of the original comic strip while modernizing it enough for contemporary audiences. The animation may have been limited, but that gave it somewhat of a retro feel, and the amazing still art helped bring to life the many races and varied landscapes of Mongo, delivering probably the best version of Flash Gordon since the original Alex Raymond strip. In addition, the serialized format of the first season pays homage to the classic movie serials of the 1930s.
The show is still very much a product of its time with Flash as the All-American good guy in the white savior role. And most of the ethnic representation is found in the villains. But that is what early comic strip/pulp sci fi was about, so it is to be expected. The series delivers mostly an action-adventure story with one cliffhanger after the next, so don’t be looking for grand statements or deep meanings in any of the episodes. This is just a classic, good vs. evil story from a simpler era, and it delivers as close to a grand sci fi epic as you could expect from television at that time. Sadly, NBC execs decided to change things up in the second season and nix the serialized format while adding a cute pet dragon. The quality dropped off notably, and that season does not hold up well. But the first year delivered classic Flash Gordon in all his glory and definitely counts as must-watch sci fi TV.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Sort of. Saturday morning shows did not have long runs and the 26 episodes this one produced was about in line with expectations. But the change in format with the second season was not popular while the show often found itself preempted by sports (Space: 1999 fans remember those days as well), and the network chose not to order a third season of episodes. If that had followed the same pattern as the second year, that is probably for the best.
Should It Be Rebooted?
Flash Gordon has returned to the airwaves several times, in animated form in 1986’s Defenders of the Earth and 1996’s Flash Gordon (both disappointing versions of the character) as well as the 2007 live-action series on the Sci Fi Channel (also a disappointment). The 1979 series did a much better job with the character, and a revival of that would definitely be welcome. An animated series could be created that keeps the retro feel and that carries on directly from that one (though maybe with some more modern sensibilities added) and that would act as the perfect continuation of the adventures of the classic characters created by Alex Raymond.
Interesting Facts:
The original animated film was set during World War II, which was closer to the era of the comic strip, and it had a subplot about Ming supplying weapons to Adolf Hitler. It was changed to a contemporary setting when expanded to a series and the references to Hitler were dropped. But the original film was later restored and aired in Prime Time in 1982 as Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All.
Dino De Laurentis came onboard as an uncredited producer of the series when Filmation ran into money troubles, and he put up the funds to complete the animation of the series. Filmation held the filmed media rights for the Flash Gordon characters and De Laurentis worked out a deal to get the rights for a live action film in return for his assistance on the animated show. This led to the cult classic 1980 movie and you can read more about that one at this link.
Where Can You Watch It?
The entire series has been released on DVD, though it has not received the Blu-ray treatment yet. The first season is available for streaming for free on places like Tubi TV and FreeVee, and you can find all of the episodes on YouTube.
