14 March 2024

Flash Gordon Thought of the Day 2024-03-14

When the Flash Gordon television show starring Steve Holland first aired in 1954, the original Flash Gordon movie serial from 1936 starring Larry "Buster" Crabbe was renamed Space Soldiers to avoid confusion as the serial was sometimes shown on television, too.

When the Flash Gordon animated television show from Filmation first aired in 1979, it, too, was simply known as Flash Gordon, but it was subsequently renamed The New Adventures of Flash Gordon (presumably when it became available on videocassette or DVD, or perhaps earlier when the Flash Gordon movie starring Sam J. Jones was released in 1980).

Would it not make more sense to give the later projects different titles than to retroactively change the titles of earlier projects? The Flash Gordon television show could have easily been called Flash Gordon: The Television Show or Flash Gordon of the GBI (Galaxy Bureau of Investigation) or Flash Gordon: Space Jerk (because that's how Steve Holland portrayed him). It would have been trivial to call the animated series Flash Gordon: The Animated Series. Why would it be renamed The New Adventures of Flash Gordon when the entire first season was a direct adaptation of the first Flash Gordon comic strips from 1934?

Logic and consistency are sometimes elusive.

22 February 2024

Savage News: Science Fiction Companion

The updated Science Fiction Companion for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition is now being crowdfunded via Kickstarter. You can pledge through 21 March 2024. Click on the link for details.

10 February 2024

08 February 2024

Worst Character Names of Mongo

This week, I may have stumbled upon the highest concentration of terrible character names in the history of the Flash Gordon comic strip (specifically the Sunday strips of late 1945). Don Moore, the ghostwriter for the strips, must have been very tired when he created these:

  • Grusom
  • Evila
  • Dicto
  • Traito
  • Darlia

"Kang flees with two of his inner circle, the torturer, Grusom, and the beautiful, power-mad Evila..." (28 October 1945)

"Dicto, head of the new Mongo Bureau of Investigation, reports to Flash: 'We have a lead. This citizen, Traito, says he saw Kang rocketing toward Deserta.'" (4 November 1945)

"Flash and Dicto race to search Evila's townhouse where they find her lovely twin sister, Darlia." (4 November 1945)

Deserta indeed.

07 January 2024

Flash Gordon's 90th Anniversary

First Flash Gordon comic strip.

Happy Flash Gordon Day!

On this day in 1934, the first Flash Gordon comic strip was published in newspapers. Created by artist Alex Raymond, its influence on comic art and, indeed, on science fiction across all media, is incalculable. Today, we celebrate 90 Earth years of Flash Gordon.

Long live Flash!

01 January 2024

Flash Gordon Holidays

It is the First of January, which is the perfect day to consider what days ought to be considered Flash Gordon holidays as it gives us time to celebrate them this year. There are three obvious choices. All of them will henceforth be known as Flash Gordon Day as far as Savage Arts & Sciences is concerned, but each will have an appendage to their moniker if greater specificity is required. The Flash Gordon Days are:

  • January the 7th: Flash Gordon (Comic Strip) Day
  • April the 6th: Flash Gordon (Serial) Day
  • December the 5th: Flash Gordon (Film) Day

The first Flash Gordon Day commemorates the publication date of the first Flash Gordon comic strip on 7 January 1934. The second commemorates the premiere of the first Flash Gordon serial (starring Larry "Buster" Crabbe) on 6 April 1936. The third commemorates the premiere of the first feature-length Flash Gordon movie (starring Sam J. Jones) on 5 December 1980.

Eventually, other days may be deemed deserving of special attention, but I think these three Flash Gordon Days are a good start.

14 November 2023

Flash Gordon Rules

Flash Gordon Rules is a repository of images of Flash Gordon memorabilia (presumably from the author's collection) with an accompanying blog. It does not seem to have been updated since 2017, but the images offer a glimpse of the various ways Flash Gordon has made a cultural impact throughout the world since the 1930s.

25 October 2023

Alex Raymond Profile

Joshua Burnett has penned "A Profile of Legendary Illustrator Alex Raymond" (otherwise known as the original artist and co-creator of Flash Gordon), which can be found on the Goodman Games site.

21 August 2023

Where Are the Robots?

I find it curious that in the first eight or ten years of the Flash Gordon comic strip, not a single robot makes an appearance. As far as I can tell, the first time a robot appears in any version of Flash Gordon is in the 1940 motion picture serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, which introduces the Annihilatons. I've made it to 7 September 1942 in the dailies and 4 February 1945 in the Sundays, and not a robot is to be seen. All of this causes me to wonder: Was the absence of robots in the comic strip deliberate, or was it an oversight? If the absence was deliberate, what was the reason? And who was the first artist to bring robots to the strip? I can't wait to find out...

The Annihilatons from Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).

15 July 2023

Flash Gordon Thought of the Day 2023-07-15

In my opinion, the following (presented in chronologial order) are the three best examples of Flash Gordon in any media:

  • The Flash Gordon Sunday comic strips drawn by Alex Raymond,
  • The Flash Gordon movie serials starring Larry "Buster" Crabbe, and
  • Flash Gordon, the 1980 movie starring Sam Jones.

There are many other examples that are quite good, but this, for me, is the Flash Gordon trinity.

Flash Gordon Thought of the Day 2024-03-14

When the Flash Gordon television show starring Steve Holland first aired in 1954, the original Flash Gordon movie serial from 1936 starri...