Rainier Beer "Fresh Gordon" TV Spot (1978)

This 1978 commercial for Rainier Beer manages to "homage" 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars (dig that oh-so-close background music in the cantina) and Flash Gordon... and stars the original Flash, Buster Crabbe, as "Fresh Gordon."

Only in the 1970s.

FLASH GORDON (1980) Hawkmen Teaser Art

I may be mistaken, but I believe that this poster by artist Philip Castle was the first piece of publicity art released for the Mike Hodges-directed Flash Gordon feature film in 1980.

I remember seeing this art of Vultan's Hawkmen attacking the war rocket Ajax, in Starlog and other genre fan magazines months and months before the film's release. I assume that it was a piece of repurposed pre-production art. In any case, I'm glad I finally found a decent scan of it....

FLASH GORDON (1980) Lobby Cards

There's really no such thing as lobby cards anymore. Nowadays theaters have ugly Photoshopped movie posters in backlit frames and gargantuan cardboard displays to preview forthcoming releases. But in the days when you bought your tickets from a boxoffice out in front, many theaters displayed these now-anachronistic cards in their lobbies along with exquisitely-painted one-sheets. I like posting scans of these cards here not only because they often feature lesser-seen photos from familiar films, but also because they're yet another lost aspect of the 70s Star Kid experience.

Today I've got a handful of lobby cards from Mike Hodges' 1980 Flash Gordon feature film, which, as loyal Space: 1970 readers know, is a great favorite of mine. I hope you enjoy them!

FLASH GORDON (1980) Italian Character Posters

Today we've got a selection of very cool Flash Gordon character posters from the 1980 Dino deLaurentis/Mike Hodges film starring Sam J. Jones and Max Von Sydow. 

These were sent to me by an anonymous Star Kid who didn't name the source or the artist, but they appear to be Italian in origin. As always, if anyone has more info (or better scans), please share!

Captain's bLog 0408.13

•  As you may have noticed, March was pretty much a bust as far as maintaining any momentum in posting to this blog. This can be attributed to a number of factors, including a bit of seasonal depression deriving from a seemingly endless winter, a touch of creative burnout, and some now-resolved physical ailments over the last few weeks that had a disastrous effect on my overall productivity. Then, last week, I lost a dear friend, and that really sent me reeling, too.

Anyway, I'll be making a very sincere effort to resume somewhat regular posting here beginning this week, starting with this "Captain's bLog" post, and, over the next few days, some long-promised reviews (Westworld, Futureworld & 1974's Wonder Woman). Stay tuned.

•  Poll Results: Last month, I posted the musical question: "Which 70s "Space Princess" Was The Sexiest?" With 271 votes cast, the clear winner (116 votes!) was Ornelia Muti's smokin' "Princess Aura," from 1980's Flash Gordon.

Making a respectable showing in second place, was Pamela Hensley's sultry "Princess Ardala," from the Buck Rogers television series, with an impressive 92 votes. Carrie Fisher's iconic "Princess Leia," from the original Star Wars trilogy, placed a distant third, with 43 votes. Sorry, Your Worship.

 •  DVD News: Various sites recently reported that the long-awaited Space: 1999 Year Two Blu-rays had gone up for pre-order at Amazon, with a release date of May 17, but this was an error on Amazon's part. In May, Space: 1999 is being re-issued on DVD (again) in Season One and Season Two packages. There's still no confirmed release date for the Second Season Blu-rays.

• Remake News: Disney is still teasing a remake of 1979's The Black Hole, to be directed by TRON Legacy's Joseph Kosinki. This past week, it was announced that Prometheus screenwriter John Spaiht was penning the new script. Hard to get excited about any of this... I didn't hate TRON Legacy, but I wasn't very impressed by it, either, and as for Prometheus.... oh well. We'll always have the original, and if the remake actually gets off the launch pad, maybe we'll finally get a Blu-ray.

• Space: 1970 on the Radio: Well, not exactly - but your humble Captain will be appearing on an upcoming episode of the Earth Station One podcast, where I'll be joining in on a discussion about the character of Buck Rogers - in all his incarnations. No doubt, I'll be talking a lot about Gil Gerard and Erin Gray... and TWIKI, too. Of course, I'll post an announcement here when the episode goes live, later this month. 

•  Blatant Cross-Promotion: First, I want to remind you all again that my new weekly sci-fantasy webcomic, Perils On Planet X, drawn by the talented Gene Gonazles, can be read for free at perilsonplanetx.com.  This serialized interplanetary swashbuckler sees a new page posted every Friday, and chronicles the adventures of modern-day Earth astronaut Donovan Hawke, stranded on the lost planet of Xylos, hundreds of millions of years in the past. The story is packed with monsters, beautiful women and lots of Flash Gordon/Blackstar-styled thrills. I hope you'll check it out, bookmark it, and follow the comic each Friday.

Anyone who enjoys my writing and the DVD reviews on this blog should check out my DVD Late Show site, where I have been reviewing B-movies, cult films and genre television shows on DVD and Blu-ray disc since 2005. Among the over 700 reviews on the site are plenty of Space: 1970-era favorites, like Battle Beyond The Stars, Damnation Alley, Starcrash, The Starlost, the Space: 1999 Blu-rays, and many more.

Cosmic Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

Obit: Mariangela Melato, R.I.P.

More sad news: Italian actress Mariangela Melato, who so memorably portrayed General Kala, Klytus' right-hand woman and head of Mongo's secret police in director Mike Hodges' 1980 film, Flash Gordon, passed away from pancreatic cancer last Friday, January 11. She was 71 years old.

Popular in Europe, Melato starred in a variety of roles in over 60 films and television productions, but is probably best known for her role in 1974's Swept Away.

Rest in peace, Mariangela.

FLASH GORDON (1980) Preview Advertisement

Thirty-two years ago(!) the Dino de Laurentis/Mike Hodges feature film adaptation of the Alex Raymond Flash Gordon comics strip hit U.S. theaters - a holiday treat for genre fans. A colorful, enjoyably campy interplanetary romp, it remains one of my favorites from the era.

Hell, I watched it again Christmas night!

Sure, someday I'd like to see a talented filmmaker craft a more "serious," swashbuckling adventure take on the material, but I've been reading a lot of Flash comics over the last two weeks, and to be honest, they're actually pretty damned "campy" - if unintentionally and un-cynically so - in their own right, so the 1980 film is a legitimate (and faithful, in its way) approach to the material.

Here's a cool newspaper advertisement for an advance preview showing of the film, probably from the first week in December, 1980.

More FLASH GORDON (1980) International Posters

Man, there was a lot of promotional and advertising art created to sell Dino de Laurentis' Flash Gordon movie in the various world markets. The artwork at top is particularly interesting to me because it's an original painting that doesn't use any of the familiar art elements seen on most of the other International posters, but does include the comic strip's Prince Thun of the Lion Men (there is a Thun in the movie - briefly - but he doesn't have a tail) and other characters and creatures that don't appear in the movie at all (including what appears to be the witch queen, Azura).

I wish I had a better scan of the second poster - the rope-swinging Flash is pretty dynamic.

Coming Attractions: FLASH GORDON (1980) TV Spot

Another vintage TV commercial - in this case, a campy, 30-second spot for the theatrical release of Mike Hodges' Flash Gordon feature, from December, 1980.

FLASH GORDON Comic Cover Art by George Wilson

How gorgeous is this? Feast your Star Kid eyes on this beautiful cover painting by the extraordinary George Wilson for Gold Key Comics' Flash Gordon #20, published in late 1978. Wilson painted hundreds of comic book and paperback covers (including the Avon Flash Gordon novels I wrote about a week or so ago). I actually had this issue - by 1978 I was picking up any space-themed comics I could find.

I really love this kind of illustration, and really miss it in modern publishing.

Avon's FLASH GORDON Novels (1974)

In 1974, Avon Books published a half-dozen Flash Gordon novels by "Con Steffanson," a pseudonym of noted science fiction author Ron Goulart. This was part of a publishing program that also included paperback adventure novels chronicling the exploits of King Features' other comic strip heroes, The Phantom and Mandrake The Magician, playing into the wave of nostalgia for Thirties & Forties pop culture that was around at the time.

Unlike the David Hagberg Flash Gordon novels that Tempo Books would publish about a half-decade later, these six volumes followed the continuity and characterizations of the original comic strips fairly closely, with half of the books set on Mongo. The other three, on the other hand, harkened more to the 50s and 60s version of the newspaper strip, with Flash, Dale & Zarkov scooting around to other planets, fighting villains other than Ming and his minions. They're fairly fast reading - obviously aimed at teens - and while they have their moments of Goulart's trademark odd humor, they're also crackin' good space adventure yarns.

I didn't have these books when I was a kid, either*. At ten years-old, I wouldn't have had any idea who Flash Gordon was. If they had seen print just a few years later, around the time of the Filmation cartoon or the Mike Hodges' feature, I'm sure I would have been a lot more interested, especially with those gorgeous cover paintings by veteran paperback and Gold Key Comics artist George Wilson (which explains why it looks a lot like Magnus, Robot Fighter is on cover #2, I guess).

They may not have been on my radar in '74, but their existence does show that even in the years just before the success of Star Wars made Flash (and his comic strip cohort, Buck Rogers) hot cinematic properties again, the iconic interplanetary hero was still a part of the Seventies sci-fi spacescape.

*Instead, I found a copy of #3, The Space Circus, in a used bookstore in Tampa, Florida back around '99, and have been since picking up the other ones online whenever I find affordable copies available. All I need now is #6....

FLASH GORDON (1980) Whitman Comics Cover Gallery

Yeah - another comics art post. I am working on some longer articles - including reviews of the recent DVD release of The Invisible Man and the Outland Blu-ray - but it's taking a while. In the meantime, I'll be continuing with these image-centric posts....

In 1980, Whitman Comics published their three-issue adaptation of the Mike Hodges-directed Flash Gordon feature film, retaining the numbering of the ongoing Flash Gordon comic book series. This adaptation by Bruce Jones and the fantastic Al Williamson was also printed in an over-sized, hardcover treasury edition (pictured below) by Golden Books.

For some reason, on the standard comics, the publishers opted for these unfortunate collages of film stills and Williamson backgrounds rather than commissioning original art. Still, they're great comics with amazing art by Williamson, a long-time fan of the character, and if you don't already own them, they're well-worty hunting down.

FLASH GORDON (1980) Video Game Cartridge

My family didn't have an Atari 2600 or any cartridge video game system when I was a kid. We did get a Pong clone console around 1975 or so, that had a few very simple games pre-programmed in, but within a week or two of Christmas, I don't think it was played very much. So I was always envious of the few of my friends whose families did own the futuristic game machine. This 1980 Flash Gordon cartridge, obviously marketed as a tie-in to the 1979 Mike Hodges film, although the game "story" bears no resemblance to anything in the movie - was manufactured by 20th Century Fox Games and sold through Sears for their own cartridge system - although it was Atari compatible.

FLASH GORDON (1980) German One-Sheet

With a slightly different take on the promotional artwork used to advertise the film elsewhere, here's the German one-sheet for Mike Hodges' Flash Gordon. Although I applaud the prominent placement of Ornelia Muti's Princess Aura, I do wonder at the absences of both Ming the Merciless and Dale Arden on the poster....

Happy Valentine's Day... in Space!

Love is in the stars....

Filmation FLASH GORDON Tribute Art

Art by Frank Cho. Colors by Val Staples.

A few years back, when BCI Entertainment first released the complete Filmation Saturday morning animated Flash Gordon series on DVD, the set came with two collectible "tribute" art cards featuring all-new renditions of the 1979 cartoon version of the characters by "name" comic book artists. The piece above, showcasing Filmation's Flash, Dale and Zarkov, is by Frank Cho, creator of the comic strip Liberty Meadows and artist on various Marvel Comics titles like The Mighty Avengers and Shanna The She-Devil. His famous talent for the sexy rendering of gorgeous women is well demonstrated by that luscious Dale Arden!

Art by Gene Ha.

This piece, by artist Gene Ha, spotlights the lovely Princess Aura, scion of Ming the Merciless, dictator of Mongo, and her huntress pack. Ha has drawn comics for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Malibu and Wildstorm.

These were neat little extras to find in the DVD box; I don't know if subsequent repackagings and reissues of the Flash Gordon cartoon series on disc have included these cards, but as a huge fan of the 1979 cartoon Flash, I love seeing these guys' interpretations of the Filmation designs. Beautiful.

FLASH GORDON (1980) International Posters

Click for larger view

Here are a few foreign theatrical posters for Mike Hodges' 1980 Flash Gordon that I haven't shown here before. The two variations above are (I believe) from Thailand, and each feature somewhat different artwork from the U.S. and U.K. posters... while the Japanese variant below features a unique collage of painted art and publicity photographs.

As I've said many times, Flash Gordon is one of my favorite movies from the Space: 1970 era, and I love discovering new "artifacts" like these from the film.

Oh, and by the way - when I was replacing missing photos here on the site the other night, I added a new pic of Ornelia Muti's Princess Aura to her "Space Babes" post. Check it out!