Got "The Adventures of Flash Gordon" 1979

[shart2069]

Wow this is a cartoon I had mostly forgotten about (except for Ming's yellow robot-men).

Just watched the opening sequence of the 2 discs and a couple minutes of an episode on each one to make sure they worked.

I think that version of Mongo is sufficiently weird to be discussed here in the MF forum!

I also finally sprang for the "Thundarr the Barbarian" set and watched the opening sequence 4 times, one for each disc... man I seriously felt like I was 11 years old in front of the TV on a Saturday morning!

Next up, have to test my Thundercats and He-Man DVDs too

Will have to schedule my own programing block of watching one episode from each cartoon in the same day.

Wonder if my brain will still do the cross-pollination of ideas like it did when it was still only half-formed.

Lotta switching discs in my future I guess.

(Now if only Blackstar could get reissued; available sets too pricey for my blood for only 13 episodes of a show I barely remember. I think Dreamworks Classics picked up the rights when they got most of the rest of the Filmation back-catalog last year.)

[Malcadon]

I was watching the TV movie of the series on YouTube (scroll down to the bottom), and it was awesome! (It was a pool quality VCR recording from 30-years ago, but it was still watchable, if you have no other source.) It is much better then the big live-action movie. Hell, even the adult-parody Flesh Gorden was much better then that movie! I have to say, I was surprised that this was from the otherwise soft-spoken moral finger-wagers of Filmation (Fat Albert, He-man and Bravestar), but then again, they also did Star Trek TAS. That TV movie is fairly violent and vary sexy. People die, but its done in a way where they disappear (it by ray-gun) or it happens off camera. Ming maintains a large and high-diverse harem, Prince Thun (leader of the Lion-men) talks about loving-making with Lion-women, and all the women are drawn sexy! Shame you don't see that more in western animated shows/movies.

So yeah, I too highly recommend watching the series. I did not know there are DVDs for it, so I will check them out.

[shart2069]

The DVD set I got is of the 14 episode show from 1979-1980. (DVD set from Mill Creek Entertainment.)

It does NOT include the feature-length animated movie they also made though, which is what I think you are referencing.

But STILL! I got it for $2.73 from eBay since I had some eBay Bucks from XMas shopping last month.

There are more copies out there for under $10 US.

PS: My day keeps getting better ! My ISP just increased my bandwidth from 1 MBPS to 3 MBPS today, totally without notice!

[bighara]

haha! I thought you meant

[sniderman]

haha! I thought you meant

Say what you will about the movie...but Queen did the soundtrack so it gets an immediate thumbs up.

[gentleman john]

And it has Brian Blessed in it. You can't go wrong there.

[shart2069]

The thing with the 1980 live-action Flash Gordon movie is: don't take it so seriously.

It's not a work of serious art (despite everything being designed by Italian fashion-designers who thought they WERE making art).

What it is, is a great way to fill a couple hours if it's on TV and nothing else is on. It's a visual and musical experience, not an intellectual exercise. Lotsa chases & deathtraps & explosions - and Max von Sydow as Ming!

(It's on my list of DVDs to get eventually - way WAY down the list! Then again "Time Bandits" is on that list too... actually probably quite a few places above "Flash Gordon.")

I'll give further impressions of the cartoon after I've watched it. (I still think Mongo could work with MF...)

[bighara]

I never said I didn't think FLASH! AH-AHHHH!! was fun! It's just mildy ridiculous in a fun popcorn flick kinda way.

I did like the scene with the tree stump and the scorpion-thingy manhood ritual.

[sniderman]

I did like the scene with the tree stump and the scorpion-thingy manhood ritual.

I thought that was messed up as a kid.

"Prove you're a man by jamming your hand in this stump with nasty-deadly-poison thing. <BITE> And now you gotta shoot the poor bastard?!? And I thought puberty was a pain..."

[bighara]

I did like the scene with the tree stump and the scorpion-thingy manhood ritual.

I thought that was messed up as a kid.

"Prove you're a man by jamming your hand in this stump with nasty-deadly-poison thing. <BITE> And now you gotta shoot the poor bastard?!? And I thought puberty was a pain..."

I'm not saying it's good parenting, just bada$$.