# Sci fi/adventure serials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289 "2012-01-22T06:33:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/1 "2012-01-22T06:33:04Z")
So I was wondering about these serials that inspired Star Wars and Indiana Jones, they get mentioned a lot but no one ever gives titles or series. Where could I start assuming I wanted to check out some of these? Are there any actually worth watching? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/2 "2012-01-22T13:30:39Z")
Start here: > **[Serial film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_(film))** > > A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, generally advancing weekly, until the series is completed. Usually, each serial involves a single set of characters, protagonistic and antagonistic, involved in a single story, which has been edited into chapters after the fashion of serial fiction and the e... and remember that most of them suck. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/3 "2012-01-22T14:02:26Z")
_Flash Gordon_ played by the ridiculously named ‘Buster Crabbe’ Actually, his full name is Clarence Linden “Buster” Crabbe. It was amazingly bad, but it was what we had. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/4 "2012-01-22T14:35:13Z")
If you watch closely, you see he never got out of the cock-a-doody CAR! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/5 "2012-01-22T15:19:43Z")
None were particularly good. They were designed for kids at a time when no one thought much about making quality stuff for kids. Most were shown at Saturday matinees, which were a place where parents would park their kids for the day. Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were probably the best (along with the Superman serials). They have a goofy charm (I love the buzzing spaceships), but are not good. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/6 "2012-01-23T00:03:08Z")
“Goofy charm” is an excellent description. If you are interested in science fiction, might want to look at the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, just to appreciate how special effects have evolved since then. “Willing suspension of disbelief” was crucial. The Superman serials, starring Kirk Alyn, and _The Adventures of Captain Marvel_, starring Tom Tyler, are interesting to see how the special effects people handled the flying scenes. “Captain Marvel” also does some things that would never be allowed in a kid’s movie today. For “charming, but mind-bendingly goofy”, may I suggest _The Phantom Empire_, starring Gene Autry. As a singing cowboy. In a science fiction story. (No, I am not making this up. And even more bizarre, it was re-made as a TV series in the early 1980s.) If you are a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, try _The New Adventures of Tarzan_, starring Herman Brix, aka Bruce Bennett. Burroughs was one of the producers, and you get to see how the author himself envisioned the character. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/7 "2012-01-23T01:11:42Z")
For Star Wars, also see _Buck Rogers_. Indiana Jones was largely inspired by _The Perils of Nyoka_\* - (although I’ve argued that another big influence was the work of Carl Barks) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-adventure-serials/610289/8 "2012-01-23T03:00:19Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > For “charming, but mind-bendingly goofy”, may I suggest _The Phantom Empire_, starring Gene Autry. As a singing cowboy. In a science fiction story. (No, I am not making this up. And even more bizarre, it was re-made as a TV series in the early 1980s.) Second this one. The TV version was part of a show called **Cliffhangers** , which tried to create the mood of the old serials, including starting the three adventures already in progress (e.g., the **Phantom Empire** pastiche began with Episode 3). They couldn’t recapture things though, and the show flopped. You can watch the original serial at [archive.org.](http://www.archive.org/details/phantom_empire_chapter_1)