Sunday, December 05, 2010

King of the Impossible: 30 Years And Counting

This is always an odd time of year for me. Depression sets in as the anniversary of my father's death approaches. This year it's been 30 years. So the round numbered anniversaries get worse as they seem to mark milestones.

It also happens to be the 30th Anniversary of the Dino DeLaurentiis produced, Mike Hodges directed, Lorenzo Semple Jr. written film version of Alex Raymond's classic comic strip icon "Flash Gordon". Which does temper my sadness a bit.

I first got introduced to Flash Gordon when I was around 7 or 8 and living in NYC. PBS was airing the old Buster Crabbe serials and my dad got me hooked into them. We watched all three of them as they aired and I loved every minute of them...partially because of their wondrously retro special effects and partially because I was watching them with my dad who had already introduced me to other sci-fi stuff like "Star Trek". I didn't know it at the time, but the story of the outsider who comes to unite a disparate group against a common enemy was a story I would come to love when I eventually saw it again in "Lawrence of Arabia" and then loathe as I saw both "Flash" and "Lawrence" get ripped off in "Dances with Wolves" and more recently "Avatar". "Flash" was there first and even in his bad incarnations (I can't watch the 1950s TV series), he does it better.

We knew the movie was opening in 1980 and I was looking forward to my father taking me to see it. Unfortunately, tragedy took that option away. But in the few weeks that followed his death I did get to see the film and it took me out of myself and my sorrows for two hours. I even saw it a second time in the theaters. It was "Flash Gordon" and it was great...

Well...it wasn't "great" as a film...but it was "great fun"...and 30 years later it still is. The over-the-top cheese and camp of the whole thing just works beautifully. I know you can argue what makes something camp and there are many who say that it has to have a knowing wink at what's going on and that this film doesn't satisfy that...but I say they're wrong, it does and it does it with such glee.

But I'm not here to argue the hows and the whys...just to say how much I love this character, his story and , in particular, this version of it. Is it the best version of Flash Gordon? No. After Alex Raymond's original comic strips (which I've read a few times after tracking down the old Kitchen Sink reprints I had the first few volumes of), the best adaptation has to be the first season of "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon" which aired as a Saturday morning cartoon on NBC in 1979. The first 16 episodes of the series are faithful to the look and feel of Raymond's stories. Unfortunately, NBC mandated an overhaul for the second season that took a serialized story and gave us self-contained episodes that played down to kids and added a cute cuddly dragon named Gremlin.

The animated series actually came about when Filmation did a movie version that got repurposed into the series. The movie version can be seen on YouTube and is probably even more faithful to the material (especially as it's much darker ). The entire NBC series was available on DVD from BCI but is now out of print.

While this was airing and in the wake of the success of "Star Wars" when everyone was going to sci-fi (even James Bond), came this overblown, brightly colored, thunderously scored ball of fun in film form.

Flash is played by Sam J. Jones, former Playgirl playmate, who plays the part as little more than a himbo (he's a football player now instead of Raymond's polo player). Luckily, he and his leading lady (Melody Anderson as travel agent-cum-cheerleader Dale Arden) are surrounded by some really great actors who are not only playing their roles with a "seriousness" you don't find in most sci-fi, but they're obviously having fun doing it. Max Von Sydow, Chaim Topol, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, Ornella Muti, Peter Wyngarde and Mariangella Melato are all in fine scenery chewing form...but not quite of Shatner-esque proportions so as to make things completely ridiculous (check out Ming's chat with Flash in Vultan's Sky City which strikes the right balance of fun and fear).

Between the amazing design of the film (costumes and set design were all by Danilo Donati and look like a cross between Raymond's drawings and schlocky 60's Euro Sci-Fi...just look at the various minions of Ming...we have "ducks," "samurai" and "football players" all looking fantastically ridiculous) and the rousing & rocking score by Queen (aided by some orchestral pieces by Howard Blake) that brought the "iconic" theme that everyone can recognize from the opening drum beats and intermingled "flashes" of thunder throughout, the film is just fun. It was fun for an 11-year-old trying to forget his situation and it is fun for a 41-year-old looking forward to sharing a viewing with his boys as his father did with him using an earlier version of the story.

Of course, I'll also show them the Buster Crabbe versions...and the Filmation version...and Raymond's original comics...

And I'll share with them the DC Comics re-invention from the late 1980s that would have made a great movie in itself (it holds up well enough, but does feel a bit dated for a comic book)...and the more recent re-invention from Ardden Entertainment that seems to have a few sequel comic book mini-series on the way (although they've had "coming attractions" for them with art samples on their website for over a year and nothing has actually hit the shelves). This one is off to a great start and I can't wait (but seem to have to) to see where they're taking it.

I don't know if I'll ever share the Sci-Fi (now SyFy) TV series from a few years ago as it strayed too far from it's roots (even though I really liked some of the acting and characterizations). They could have called it "Buck Rogers" for all the actual connections it had to Raymond's original work.

So we've covered films and comics...but what about my other love? Surely there have got to be "Flash Gordon" toys somewhere in the house? Yes...but not as much as one would think...and some stuff that I had as a kid that are lamentably gone.

Mego had made 4 figures and a playset (Flash, Dale, Zarkov and Ming) back in the 70s...and I loved those...but I have no idea what happened to them...most likely they got played with until they fell apart like the rest of my Megos.

Mattel made a line of figures to go along with the animated series...but that was only 8 figures and two ships...also, played with until they fell apart. I even remember painting the Flash Gordon figure to make him look more like the movie version -- which had no action figures at the time. Luckily, nostalgians of my age who run toy companies have changed that. Bif Bang Pow created a line of "staction figures" three years ago (more statue than action figure since they have limited articulation) that consisted of Flash, Ming, Dale, Barin and Klytus with variations of each (look...Klytus is in his "death pose" with eyes bulging and tongue hanging out) and a second Flash in his "Flash T-Shirt". They also did bobbleheads of Ming & Flash. And just about to hit toy stores, and the ones I'm most excited about, are "Mego-like" figures of Ming & Flash from the film. I'm hoping these do well enough to get us the rest of the main characters in the same 8 inch format. Sure, it's not a 12 inch version that I've always dreamed of, but it'll suffice (you can insert your own phallic jokes here).

A small toy company called Go Hero has also released a 1/6 scale version of Flash Gordon from the Buster Crabbe serials. They have talked about also releasing a Charles Middleton Ming as a companion piece, but it's been over a year since Flash hit the shelves so who knows if Ming will ever see the light of day.

Meanwhile, the movie I love so much hasn't fared as well as I think it should on the home video front. Sure, it's always looked and sounded great. It was one of the first films I ever owned on VHS...which was replaced with a widescreen Laser Disc...which then got replaced by the DVD "Savior of the Universe" edition that contained two rather bland featurettes (one being an interview with screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr. and the other being an interview with comic book artist Alex Ross who loves the film probably more than I do...doesn't mean I should get my own interview on a DVD). This has now been "upgraded" to the Blu-Ray which looks amazing, sounds amazing, but has the same disappointing extras (this is especially disappointing in light of the fact that the Region 2 UK DVD has an interview with director Mike Hodges, a commentary by Hodges and a second commentary by actor Brian Blessed and that there is also a commentary in existence -- done for a radio show -- by Sam Jones & Melody Anderson). Maybe someday, the movie will get the respect it deserves on video in the area of "supplemental extras". hey...I dreamed of eventually have real action figures from the movie and at least we're getting Flash & Ming for now.

Well...I think I've said enough about Flash Gordon. I wish my dad had lived to see the film. I think he would have enjoyed it as much as I have over the years. I hope my sons do as well.

We'll know eventually.

Be seeing you.