In yesterday’s blatheration about the new Flash Gordon series, I made several references to previous versions of the story. The best known of these are, of course, the 1930s-vintage movie serials starring Buster Crabbe, and the 1980 feature film with the so-cheesy-it’s-awesome soundtrack by the rock group Queen. However, there have also been a number of Flash television shows over the years, including an animated version that debuted in 1979. Known variously as The New Adventures of Flash Gordon, The Adventures of Flash Gordon, or just plain Flash Gordon, this series was a weekly Saturday-morning must-see for me:

This series is available on DVD, but honestly, I’m half-afraid to watch it again, because it might not hold up to my adult scrutiny and I don’t want to ruin a fond memory. Even so, there are a lot of things in that clip above that still look good to me: rocketships, robots, ray guns, alien creatures, exotic landscapes, giant drilling machines tunneling beneath the ground, and scantily clad women with swords in hand… ah, now that’s Flash Gordon, in all its pulpy, comic-strippy glory! Somehow, I doubt the Sci-Fi Channel’s take on the material will quite live up to this standard…