# The Old "Flash Gordon" Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334 "2003-08-01T12:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/1 "2003-08-01T12:30:52Z")
Who was the actor who played “Emperor Ming” of the planet Mongo? His costume was really cool! How did they get his collar to stand up like that? I understand that Buster Crabbe (who played Flash) was an Olympic swimming medalist…did he go on to bigger and better acting jobs? Anyway, I like the old series…those rocket ships that sound like an old, out-of-tune radio are a scream! What were the designers thinking-the spaceships all had exposed rivet heads, just like a Civil-War eraironclad warship? Was “Flash Gordon” ever redone in a more modern format? ---
**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:** [August 1, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/2 "2003-08-01T12:36:22Z")
[http://us.imdb.com/Title?0027623](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0027623) Some answers: Charles Middleton played Ming. I assume his collar stayed up because of starch. [Crabbe](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Crabbe,%20Buster) had pretty steady work in Hollywood up until his death in 1982. Next to playing Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, his most famous role was the lead in the TV show “Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion.” Flash Gordon has been redone several times, the last feature film coming in 1980. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/3 "2003-08-01T12:41:15Z")
Ming the Merciless was played by [Charles Middleton](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Middleton,%20Charles%20(I)). [Buster Crabbe](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Crabbe,%20Buster) also played Tarzan, Buck Rogers and a variety of cowboys. The most recent cinema version of Flash Gordon seems to have been [this 1980 version](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080745), whoch was pretty amusing in spite of a hopelessly wooden Sam Jones in the title role. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/4 "2003-08-01T14:02:15Z")
If you look at the paintings of rocket ships in the old pulp magazines, they _all_ looked like that – exposed rivets and bright colors. The makers of Flash Gordon wer just following the style of the times. Actually, they were following more than that. Flash Gordon, like “Brick Bradford” was practically a Xeroc copy of Buck Rogers, the strip which started this cycle, right down to the lovely warrior girlfriend and the vaguely Asaian nemesis. Buck Rogers was based on Francis Nolan’s **Armageddon 2219 A.D.** , in which Rogers’ first name isn’t “Buck”. It’s actually a prettyy good read, with its own imaginary science. It lasted a long time, too, but Flash Gordon was more successful because it had better writing, and Alex Raymond’s wonderful art. (Of course, it All owes a lot to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “A Princess of Mars”, which arguably owes a lot to Edwin Arnold’s “Lt. Gulliver Jones”/“Gulliver of Mars”. But if we keep that up, we get an infinite regress.) ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/5 "2003-08-01T14:17:49Z")
The spacecraft in the “Flash Gordon” serials were actually left over from a 1930 feature film, “Just Imagine,” a musical sci-fi comedy set in the faraway future of 1980… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/6 "2003-08-01T14:19:54Z")
BTW, I saw a short on one TCM one time, and it listed Charles Middleton in the credits. I thought, “Cool! I get to see Ming the Merciless without his makeup.” It was a western, and Middleton played some shady (what a surprise) banker. You would not have recognized him having seen him only as Ming–but that voice. Oh, there was no disguising that. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/7 "2003-08-01T14:25:24Z")
My favorite favorite scene of all was when Dale was trapped in a disable rocketship, and Buck was in anoter, travelling side by side, and he threw a lasso across to rope the other rocket, then climbed hand-over-hand across the rope to get to Dale and bring her back across the rope to safety in his rocketship. Ahhh, the good old days. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/8 "2003-08-01T15:23:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > \*\*My favorite favorite scene of all was when Dale was trapped in a disable rocketship, and Buck was in anoter, travelling side by side, and he threw a lasso across to rope the other rocket, then climbed hand-over-hand across the rope to get to Dale and bring her back across the rope to safety in his rocketship. > > Ahhh, the good old days. \*\* Didn’t they do that in **Air Force One**? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/9 "2003-08-01T17:27:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*Actually, they were following more than that. Flash Gordon, like “Brick Bradford” was practically a Xeroc copy of Buck Rogers, the strip which started this cycle, right down to the lovely warrior girlfriend and the vaguely Asaian nemesis. Buck Rogers was based on Francis Nolan’s **Armageddon 2219 A.D.** , in which Rogers’ first name isn’t “Buck”. It’s actually a prettyy good read, with its own imaginary science. \*\* God, I’m such a geek, but that was **Armageddon 2419 A.D.** His given name was Anthony, but I guess Buck sounded more cool. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/10 "2003-08-01T18:31:06Z")
\<\< Didn’t they do that in Air Force One ? \>\> Yeah, you’re right, they did. So there really ISN’T anything new under the sun. Of course, those planes were in the atmosphere, not in innersteller space… Makes it a heckuva lot easier if you can breathe whilst climbing that rope… ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/11 "2003-08-01T20:48:21Z")
…actually, from what I understand, “Flash Gordon” started out as a comic strip, done by artist Alex Raymond, in the 1920s. He worked for the Hearst syndicate, which still owns the character. “Buck Rogers,” on the other hand, started out as a serialized pulp novel, and was bought by a newspaper syndicate in order to have a “science fiction” comic strip to compete with “Flash Gordon.” I could be wrong about this, though. This led to some weirdness during the making of the serials, in that BOTH serials hired Buster Crabbe to play the hero! He’s basically identical in both, except that in one, his hair is dyed blonde! ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/12 "2003-08-02T18:11:09Z")
The ray guns in the Flash Gordon series were also corny. They called these “stun guns” and they looked like big candy canes. These were also used in “the Phantom Empire” series. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/13 "2003-08-02T19:41:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*The most recent cinema version of Flash Gordon seems to have been [this 1980 version](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080745), whoch was pretty amusing in spite of a hopelessly wooden Sam Jones in the title role. \*\* He can be as wooden as he wants to. All I know is he gave this 9-year-old (at the time) plenty of wood… ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/14 "2003-08-02T19:56:23Z")
I should have explained that my previous posting concerned the **television series Flash Gordon (1954)** that starred Steve Holland as the title character. The filming locations for this series were West Germany and France. [http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0140738](http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0140738) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/15 "2003-08-02T20:08:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wang-Ka \* > \*\*The spacecraft in the “Flash Gordon” serials were actually left over from a 1930 feature film, “Just Imagine,” a musical sci-fi comedy set in the faraway future of 1980… \*\* I’ve seen clips from that film, and I’d _love_ to see the whole thing, even though I _hate_ musicals, but according to [this](http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDJustImagine.htm), it’s never been released on video.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/16 "2003-08-02T20:24:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BMalion \* > \*\*Didn’t they do that in **Air Force One**? \*\* Yes, but Glenn Close’s hair scared most people off. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/17 "2003-08-02T23:33:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > He can be as wooden as he wants to. All I know is he gave this 9-year-old (at the time) plenty of wood… Sam Jones gave you wood when you were nine? Surely that’s either illegal or a biological anomoly? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-flash-gordon-series/192334/18 "2003-08-02T23:50:59Z")
Biological anomaly. I was well into puberty by the time I was 10.