TO BEGIN WITH, let us state upfront, that we had believed, do believe and always will believe that the 3 Cliffhangers/Chapter Plays/Serials from Universal Pictures in the 1930's & early '40's were the quintessential rendering of Alex Raymond's comic strip to the celluloid medium, period. Okay, now we have that out of the way. (Now ain't full disclosure, Schultz?) TO OUR WAY of thinking, attempting to do a FLASH GORDON TV Series, while the local channels were full of FLASH GORDON (Universal, 1936) and FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938)* as tantamount to programming suicide. We remember as young boomer kids that Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Frank Shannon and Charles B. Middleton WERE definitely THE Flash, Dale, Zarkov and Ming.WELL, THE SERIES was made and in spite of our feelings, there were many really good aspects to its fundamental elements.FOR ONE, ALTHOUGH the serials had a rather elderly Irish born actor in Frank Shannon in the role of Dr.Zarkov, this TV series cast a much more youthful Joseph Nash in the role of Dr. Hans Zarkov.** In examining samplings of the comic strip, one finds that this younger version of the brilliant scientist was much more closely molded in the original concept.AS FOR THE choice of Irene Champlin in the role of Dale Arden, we have no real objections. True, she didn't wear any skimpy, sexy burlesque queen outfits; but to be fair, the strip had long abandoned the practice. We figure that Hearst's King Feature Syndicate (the copyright owner) had found a different costume designer.CONCERNING HAVING CAST Mr. Steve Holland as Flash Gordon, we think he was at least adequate in the part. The athletic actor had the proper attitude and a trim physique; but lacked the musculature of the all around Mr. Everything athlete and 1932 Olympic Swimming Champion, Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe.THERE WERE MANY aspects of this telling of FLASH GORDON Saga that strayed over and seemingly 'borrowed' some plot aspects from rival spaceman dean of the comic strip interplanetary genre, BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY. Whereas FLASH GORDON had been set in contemporary USA, Mongo and other worlds, this series opted for the futuristic.WELL, WE KNOW for sure that at least one episode did. It also made reference to the futuristic city below their rocket-ship as Berlin! (Remember, Schultz, that this series was a West German Television production!) NOTE * To the best of our recollection, FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (Universal, 1941) wasn't released to the television market until much later than its two predecessors, circa 1957.NOTE ** Perhaps there was a growing Anti-Nazi Sentiment added to World War I Anti-German feelings in the mid to late 1930's, but rather than calling him Hans Zarkov (as in Alex Raymond's strip) the only given name in the serials was that of Dr. "Alexis Zarkov" in the second serial, FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (1938).

I recently inherited a massive television set with a blown color tube and have been availing myself of the opportunity to watch exclusively B&W productions on it, which inevitably led me to watch the classic "Flash Gordon" serials again. Which in turn led me to watch these marvelous old "Flash Gordon" TV shows as well. Sure, they don't come anywheres near the epic art deco masterpieces of the Buster Crabbe era, but by golly there's something going on here that's pretty darn interesting.The show was apparently a co-production between US, West German and French studios filmed on & around the rubble heaps of a still partially demolished West Berlin in 1953. The series aired in syndication on the old DuMont Television Network, a fascinating chapter of American pop consumerism eating itself. The series doesn't have Ming or Mongo or the Tree Men, but what it does have is an abundance of US issue Cold War era military industrial complex effect going on, crossed with German neo-expressionism and even some good old Sartre inspired French existentialism.It's easy to laugh at the low budget sets, costumes, space helmets, ray guns and cheap model rocketry spaceship effects, but it's always easy to poke fun at past forms that now seem quaint or silly. Dig up some old pictures of yourself & the crew from the early 1980s and you'll see what I mean. Either you guys deliberately dressed like jerks, or you were enmeshed in the times and unable to see how ridiculous you looked because you & I both didn't know any better. Same thing goes for old science fiction props, production design, costuming, and applied science.The only genuine criticism I can find for the series is the awful theme music, but once you get beyond that what you're left with is a deceptively creepy little television show that, as others point out, make the Captain Video type American made SF efforts of the era seem completely vapid by comparison. There is a sophistication to the execution of the show that belies it's cheapness, and the action scenes set amongst the rubble strewn streets of an actual bombed out city have a kind of eerie pathos to them that is at odds with the space opera scripts. I hesitate to say it creates a profound juxtaposition of pop culture semantics set against the actual ravages of dystopian angst, but that's exactly what it amounts to.7/10: Several episodes have turned up on bargain bin public domain DVD sets out at the dollar stores. Buy a couple, they are worth it.

Despite shoestring budget and primitive special effects this very original series still manages to fascinate viewers even today. It's easy to laugh at the cheesy costumes and makeup but to be perfectly honest the early Star-Trek episodes were little better except for being in color. Watching these today, I think the three lead players are terrific, Steve Holland's Flash is like a young but sandy-haired Rory Calhoun, and Irene Champlin's curvaceous but entirely decorous Dale is remindful of a young Ruth Roman. Dr. Zarkov is still distinguished, even if his science is highly suspect. (After all, these are the days when school children were taught to duck under their desks as shelter in case of a nuclear attack.) These were thrilling shows when I watched them on TV at aged six. They disappeared for years after that, and I've now revisited them with fondness via DVDs, but so far I've only found 8 episodes available. Sci-fi fans who haven't yet seen them are in for a real treat.

Digiview Productions has just released three of the series' 39 episodes on DVD, including "Deadline at Noon," "Flash Gordon And The Planet of Death" and "Flash Gordon And The Brain Machine." These are the only episodes I have seen, so keep in mind, all comments are based on this limited exposure. By today's standards, 1954's "Flash Gordon" might not make it to a fan-film awards show. The writing is atrocious, the acting could best be described as forced melodrama and the production values are comical ("Deadline at Noon" includes a lengthy discussion between Flash, Dale and the good Doctor commenting on the wonders of stock footage, for example.) Also, the 'science' behind the fantasy is so dated, it's hilarious (1,200 years in the future, the state-of-the-art still includes Geiger counters.) For all that, Flash Gordon has its good points, one of which has to be Flash's space ship, the Sky Flash, which looks pretty darn good for the early days of television. I'm sure that when "Flash Gordon" was watched through the eyes of a child in the mid 1950s, it had everything a "Star Trek" or a "Battlestar Galactica" had for future generations of young TV fans: plenty of action, adventure, ray guns, space ships and far-flung planets waiting to be explored. In short, if you're a Flash Gordon fan and an all-around sci-fi movie geek like I am, this is some of the best entertainment you can find at the bottom of the DVD bargain bin.