This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.
Flash Gordon
I guess this was one of the first huge Sci-Fi epics made for the screen. Maybe it was the introduction of Sci-Fi as we think of it into popular culture. This series may even have even shaped how we think about these kinds of fantastical outer space travels with strange creatures, humanoid aliens, and all kinds of fantastical technology or the fact that we even think of these things at all.
At it's time it was the most successful serial ever. And although over time these kinds of movies began to lose less interest and were relegated to smaller budget productions, when Star Wars revitalized this genre it was maybe just recapturing much of what was original created with Flash Gordon.
What is really amusing to see is what passed as special effects in those days. And also what people imagined would be appropriate attire on alien planets and space vessels. We get to see a lot of Frank Shannon's hairy old man legs all the way up to his crotch, and then some kind of saggy looking diaper bottom. But Sci-Fi costuming today is usually just as goofy I suppose.
The cliffhangers from every single episode are resolved without even being resolved. The solutions to every crisis don't even seem to make any sense. At least any kind of assumed rule or established rules of the film universe or character traits are continually ignored. There's absolutely no suspense because you can't invest in anything. Any solution can be made up without any justification by the screenwriters.
It's really bad and silly especially by our standards, and yet you are so intrigued as to what oddity or strange character will appear on screen next that it's actually sufficiently entertaining.
Rating: 7/10