Season 2 of the Flash Gordon animated series was eagerly anticipated by fans of Season 1, but like so many other second seasons of science fiction television shows of that era, it was destined to disappoint us. The cliffhanger endings and overarching plots were abandoned as a matter of convenience, which resulted in a loss of dramatic urgency and purpose. Instead of each episode representing a chapter in a continuing story, it was chopped into two unrelated, self-contained mini-episodes. Scenes were recycled even more heavily than in the first season. Humor was attempted with increasingly lame one-liners and joke endings. And most notoriously of all, it introduced a new main character: Gremlin.
Gremlin was a pink baby dragon that filled the ostensibly cute comedy relief role popularized by R2D2 in Star Wars. At that time, it seemed every science fiction or fantasy television show had a mascot of this sort calculated to appeal to younger viewers and parents. At first, predictably, it was robots: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century had Twiki, Battlestar Galactica had Muffit II, Jason of Star Command had W1K1, Space Academy had Peepo. Soon, it was wee folk: Blackstar had the Trobbits, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe had Orko, She-Ra: Princess of Power had the Twiggets. There are many examples, but Gremlin was one of the earliest in animated shows.
Gremlin didn't appeal to me or anyone I knew. He seemed to be not of the Flash Gordon universe, but rather an obvious intrusion from an entirely different genre. With Gremlin's introduction as a central character, the show was effectively rebranding itself as entertainment for the youngest possible audience and thereby alienating its existing fanbase (at least as far as I knew). The animated series ended upon the second season's conclusion, and it would not surprise me if Gremlin were part of the reason.
I probably stopped watching the animated series after one or two episodes of the second season when it originally aired. I felt betrayed and insulted by its abandonment of what made Flash Gordon great. I've seen them all now, thanks to the DVD collection, but watching Season 2 is a joyless slog. There is nothing inspiring here. My suggestion is to move on or return to Season 1, which may not be perfect, but at least it is Gremlin-free.
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