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Flash Gordon 1950's TV [Slim Case]

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Starring: Steve Holland Director: Multi Rating:

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Product Details

• Actors: Steve Holland
• Directors: Multi
• Format: Full Screen, NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: 
• Studio: Digiview
• DVD Release Date: April 4, 2004
• Run Time: 75 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Flash gordon is based on Alex Raymond's comic strip. Flash's job is to keep the galaxy safe. 1950's B/W TV Show.

Episodes

1. Deadline At Noon

2. Flash Gordon And The Planet Of Death

3. Flash gordon and The Brain Machine.

Full Frame, Interactive Menus/Scene Selection/Previews 2004 Digiview DVD.

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Live! From Outer Space!, July 22, 2005

The scripts are loaded with lots of space jargon these 3 episodes are fascinating, and from the golden age of live TV. Based on Alex Raymond's comic strip, this show had 39 episodes during the 1954-55 season, and joined the multi-media history of Flash Gordon, which included a very successful series with Buster Crabbe in the '30s. It was filmed in West Berlin, which was still rubble in portions from the war, and it makes an interesting backdrop for "Deadline at Noon." Square-jawed, clean-cut, and with great hair, ex-model Steve Holland is Gordon, with Irene Champlin as Dale Arden, and Joe Nash plays Dr. Zarkov. The quality of this inexpensive DVD is similar to what watching TV was like in the 50's, so it is surprisingly good, with the audio having deteriorated more than the visual. Total running time is 75 minutes.

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The episodes:

1: "Deadline at Noon," directed by Wallace Worsley. The fearless trio use Dr. Zarkov's time machine to go back 1,250 years, to 1953 Berlin, which still lies partially in ruins from WWII. The bad guy is a suicide bomber (some things never change) who stole the time machine to plant a bomb that will destroy the planet earth, a bomb that is so slow to detonate that it takes 1,250 years to go off!

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2: "Flash Gordon and the Planet of Death," directed by Gunther Fritsch. Dr. Zarkov wants to do his "negative gravity force" experiments on a planet that unfortunately has a death curse, the fault of "His Exalted Mightiness," a god that has a face "carved out of a solid block of evil" and has a single eye that is deadly. There is also the Paralysis Ray Machine, which Dale and Dr. Zarkov must face.

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3: "Flash Gordon and the Brain Machine," directed by Gunther Fritsch. The bad guy is a gal in this one, and she is the Mad Witch of Neptune, exploding a methane bomb, and almost annihilating the population. She has a dreaded machine that wipes out one's memory, and uses it on Dr. Zarkov to get his assistance. This episode has priceless costuming and makeup, and some beefcake from a shirtless Flash Gordon.

It is a bit shocking to see someone other than Buster Crabbe play Flash Gordon, although Steve Holland holds his own as a steely-eyed space ranger. I'm not sure how to classify this DVD. It would be a good stocking-stuffer, last minute gift for a sci-fi geek or film aficionado, a nostalgia piece, a reward for obedient children, or an historical curiosity.

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However you classify it, you need to take these episodes with a grain of salt. They are low-budget scripts, low budget sets, and low budget acting. So anyone under 8 years old will be impressed.

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What these episodes do well is to spark the imagination and sense of wonder. Space is a reality that we, and our descendants for many generations, will have to deal with. Films like this get us thinking in the right direction.  

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These old episodes of Flash Gordon can only be described as extremely quaint. Steve Holland stars as Flash

 There are three episodes on this DVD:

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1. "Deadline at noon" - a bomb has been planted on Earth by an enemy agent and it will explode very soon. It was placed in Berlin a thousand years before on a time detonation and Flash, Dale Arden and Dr. Zharkov must go back in time and defuse it. Using the most simplistic looking time machine to ever appear in film, they go back to Berlin and track it down. The most memorable part of this episode is that some of it was shot in the bombed out sections of Berlin.

2. "Flash Gordon and the planet of death" - a scientific expedition goes to a planet and only one of the members of the expedition returns. He speaks of a curse and a light that is emitted from a statue. If the light shines on a human, they immediately die. Flash, Dale, the sole living member of the expedition and Zharkov travel to the planet and uncover a plot to attack Earth. Flash foils the light weapon and the living member of the expedition redeems himself by sacrificing his life to save Flash, Dale and Zharkov.

3. "Flash Gordon and the brain machine" - this one is one of the most scientifically weak episodes of science fiction ever filmed. The most memorable moments are when the spaceship approaches Saturn and it has no rings and they land on the surface. Amazingly, it is solid and there are trees, green grass, and Earth-like dwellings. The plot is one of the standards where a machine can control the behavior of humans and this time Zharkov is one of the people being controlled. This is the first of a two-part episode, so you don't know how the crisis is resolved.

This DVD is interesting as a retrospective looking back to the quality of some of the television of the 1950's.

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