VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [6] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 09:09:19 10/04/06 Wed
Author: emperorofmongo
Subject: Re: DVD Review of Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars ( 1938 )
In reply to: Rick 's message, "Re: DVD Review of Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars ( 1938 )" on 22:09:22 09/22/06 Fri

I finished my once-daily-dosage of FGTTM last week and I'm now on a titrated (that is a chemical term meaning "dispensed to provide a regulated concentration" -NOT the X-rated meaning you might have thought it meant!) --viewing of FGCTU.
I'm saving FG for the last and best, but after really enjoying FGTTM so much, I'm now surprised how very much I'm
enjoying the costumes and "Les Preludes" music of FGCTU.

But about FGTTM, I was delighted with how many "inventions" were in that. I don't just mean Zarkov's new-ray-as-needed inventions, but the kind of techie, taken-for-granted, everyday-life-in-the-world-of-the-future devices, especially those that were not in the Alex Raymond "Canon".

A list as it occured to me lying in bed in my palace last night:
THE LIGHT BRIDGE -loved it! ("These earthmen must be stupid not to recognize a light bridge" -the attendant Chapter 1)

Backhand rayguns (as a pistol shooter, I think these would be hard to hold steady, and the sight-picture would be too wide for accuracy, but hey look great and were continued in FGCTU)

The "Crystal lamp-chain pull" car on the clay-country to Azura's-Palace stops on the subway

Zig-Zag door closings with wheeled "door-knobs"(adopted for Ming's palace in FGCTU -they weren't in FG were they?)They went with the barred, oval interior windows.

Batwing flying cloaks, issued only to the Death and Nitron flights of the Bomber Squadrons

The clay-curse that allowed people to "melt-through" the earth (or through the mars)

Less impressive and or charming were:
The electrical disintegrator used on the sapphires ("With your knowlege of electricity, the controls should be simple for you to operate")

The Nitron Lamp

Nitron

The Purple Plague

Magic saphires (indeed ANY "magic" that is never given a techno-babble explanation, seems out of place in a Science Fiction story. Also a weakness in Alex Raymond's Blue Magic Kingdom of Mongo in the Canon.)

Televisors (didn't they have these in FG? I saw them in Don Winslow Serials so they may have been common currency in serials)

I don't know what I think of stratosleds. I liked the climb-through hole in the lower flange, though.

The do-everything,two-by-four shaped gun powered by inadequate supplies of Nitron was lame, I thought.(But that is a Zarkov invention, isn't it? So it doesn't belong on this list.)

But even less-than-satisfactory (to me) gear is still part of "the Flash Gordon Experience"

Perhaps others might list some of the devices that I have taken for granted or not even noticed.

Or perhaps that is a new thread.

Thank you. I'm grateful for this chance to babble to anyone(s) about my enjoyment of the FG Serials.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> [> [> [> Re: DVD Review of Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars ( 1938 ) -- Rick, 09:23:28 10/04/06 Wed [1]




What about the Incense of Forgetfullness?




Rick


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> [> [> [> Re: DVD Review of Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars ( 1938 ) -- emperorofmongo, 09:55:16 10/04/06 Wed [1]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great device in FGTTM.
I remember, as a child, feeling so betrayed by Dale, but conflicted because it was not her fault.
Thanks,Rick


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> [> [> [> [> Re: DVD Review of Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars ( 1938 ) -- Traveler, 17:29:47 10/04/06 Wed [1]

I was surprized by the few inventions by Zarkov in this serial. He was prolific in the first one. You can see that each serial has its own style. None of them are similar. Dale changes dramatically. She actually takes some aggressive action, where she would have fainted in the first serial. But you finally see how insane Ming really is. And they never explain how he walks through raging fires. But I think they put that in there to show you Ming has powers that only he alone knows about.


[ Edit | View ]


Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.