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Flash Gordon vs Star Wars aka A New Hope.

post #1 of 30
11/5/11 at 9:19am
Thread Starter 

   While Star Wars is a great flick, I have always preferred Flash Gordon. Its the more fun of the two. Clearly the whole cast had a ball making the movie. Max Von Sydow and Peter Wingrade enjoy hamming it up as the villains. The look of the film is great, with its borderline obnoxiously bright tones. The soundtrack by Queen; need I say more?

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post #2 of 30
11/5/11 at 9:22am

Somebody needs to re-score STAR WARS with the Queen soundtrack.

 

This is Red 5, I'm going in...

 

 

DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE

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post #3 of 30
11/5/11 at 9:24am
Thread Starter 

Another one bites the dust can play after: HAN SHOOTS FIRST!

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post #4 of 30
11/5/11 at 9:29am

I must admit to being late in the game on appreciating FLASH GORDON.  I was 10 when it came out and I thought it was lame.  I enjoyed Ornella Muti and Melody Anderson (I wasn't THAT dumb), but it didn't meet my expectations of what a space movie could and should be.  I was used to STAR WARS and TESB.  It wasn't until years later, when I got heavily into Queen, that I gave the film another chance.  It was a revelation...I had a blast watching it, and I've made it a goal to champion it to everyone who will listen to me.  It's NOT an easy sell, though.

 

STAR WARS is for the masses, FLASH GORDON is for the elite.  Both are masterpieces.

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post #5 of 30
11/5/11 at 9:45am

Chaz, I...Love both...The Star Wars Saga and Flash Gordon nearly the same.  There is obviously...More Star Wars.  My first Science Fiction series was Filmation's Star Trek.  I also watched Star Trek TOS in repeats, and I am a huge fan of...Filmation's Flash Gordon as well.  Action, Adventure, and a bunch of Lady Leaders, for Flash to get support to break...Ming's...VASE like Grip on Mongo!  I met Melody Anderson at New York Comic Con a couple of times and have an autographed picture of her with a laser gun.  Star Wars expanded my interest in Science Fiction and Space Opera Ten Fold.  Also, because of Star Wars, I knew of...Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Battle Of The Planets, Force Five Grandizer and much much more!  So I give the win to Star Wars, but just by a small percentage over...Flash "Ah Ah" Gordon.  I saw Flash Gordon after the GTE Christmas Party with 6 of my best friends.  It would have been...7, til one of my buddies puked in my dad's car, and he backed out either because of sickness, embarassment or both!  We did see it again, the following week with my sick buddy!  

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post #6 of 30
11/5/11 at 10:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by duke fleed View Post

...Filmation's Flash Gordon as well.   


That was a fantastic cartoon.

 

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post #7 of 30
11/5/11 at 10:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post


That was a fantastic cartoon.


I recently gave the Filmation Flash Gordon DVD set to my 8 year old nephew & I'm happy to report that this animated relic has lost none of it's magic over the years. My nephew ate it up. He watches it just as much, if not more, than his Star Wars & Clone Wars DVDs.

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post #8 of 30
11/5/11 at 10:56am

Art Decade, That is cool!  It is sad, that...season 2, was so much worse than the first one.  Supposedly Season 1 was too violent.  I haven't watched more than...1/4 of an ep, of S2, before turning it off.

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post #9 of 30
11/5/11 at 11:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post

STAR WARS is for the masses, FLASH GORDON is for the elite.


My next tattoo.

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post #10 of 30
11/5/11 at 11:16am

This thread a joke? Only on CHUD. Flash Gordon is pretty terrible saved only by the Queen soundtrack.

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post #11 of 30
11/5/11 at 11:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by User_32 View Post

This thread a joke? Only on CHUD. Flash Gordon is pretty terrible saved only by the Queen soundtrack.



And BRIGH-EHN BLEH-SIDD!!!!!

 

It's a wonderful piece of camp, but it ain't Star Wars. Fun Fact: first movie to use digital matting IINM.

 

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post #12 of 30
11/5/11 at 9:17pm

That soundtrack is GOLD! And the Filmation is great, especially for it's portrayal of THUN: the Lion Man. As....an actual

 

 Lion Man!

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post #13 of 30
11/6/11 at 12:39pm
Thread Starter 

I would never call Flash Gordon a joke. A movie that has lines like,"Flash Gordon. You've saved your Earth. Have a nice day," brilliantly has its tongue planted in its cheek.

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post #14 of 30
11/7/11 at 10:42pm

There's a part in one of the I, Claudius documentaries where Brian Blessed comments about how folks were enamored of the way he said "Gordon's ALIVE!" His enthusiasm and marvelling at the fact were cute. 

 

That being said, Flash Gordon went all awesome fever-dream with its costumes. That is much appreciated. 

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post #15 of 30
11/8/11 at 5:07am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by User_32 View Post

This thread a joke? Only on CHUD. Flash Gordon is pretty terrible saved only by the Queen soundtrack.


BLASPHEMY!

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post #16 of 30
11/8/11 at 5:20am

I don't know that I can argue if FLASH GORDON is actually good, but I don't understand how anyone can find it boring or not entertaining.

 

- Brian Blessed! In hot pants and fake golden wings!

- Pre-Bond Dalton vainly trying to class the joint up with his galactic Errol Flynn impression.

- Riff Raff!

- Hot hail!

- A really, really gay Darth Vader....who gets impaled! (Which is even gayer! Subtext!)

- DINO DE LAURENTIS!!!

- Ornella Muti. Ornella Muti. Ornella Muti.

- Max von Sydow as Ming! "Maybe you should execute their trainer."

- More quotable lines than Star Wars. Yup.

- Lots of miniatures and use of liquids as clouds.

- Topol! 

- "Send out war rocket Ajax to bring back his body!"

- "DIIIIIIIVE!"

- Ornella Muti. Ornella Muti. Ornella Muti.

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post #17 of 30
11/8/11 at 5:27am

MichaelM, Do not forget about the most...MELODYous Ms. Anderson ever, as Dale Arden!

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post #18 of 30
11/8/11 at 9:30am

Flash Gordon was made by filmmakers who aren't afraid of sex. Star Wars wasn't.

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post #19 of 30
11/8/11 at 9:33am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post

Flash Gordon was made by filmmakers who aren't afraid of sex. Star Wars wasn't.


I remember asking my mother as a 4 year old, "what was Flash talking about when he said 'Oh my God, she's turning me on!'". Now that was a stony silent car ride home. 

 

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post #20 of 30
11/8/11 at 9:56am

Does it have to be either/or?

 

What I love about Flash Gordon is a main character that is good for goodness's sake. There isn't anything personal at stake, he's fighting to save the Earth because it needs saving. He's so good, in fact, that he inspires an entire culture that has been predicated on selfishness up until that point. 

 

I compare this to Captain America, in that they both have bold swashbucklers that take action when action is needed. That's how the old pulps were, and sometimes that's all that's necessary.

 

I love The Empire Strikes Back and don't fault it for this, but it takes a story of galactic war and narrows it down to a personal battle against father and son. That's perfect for that movie, but it set a standard that has been mimicked ever since. 

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post #21 of 30
11/8/11 at 12:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bartleby_Scriven View Post

Does it have to be either/or?


YES. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.

 

...Kidding aside, as a kid I preferred Star Wars to Flash Gordon. These days it's the other way around. The fact that there was never a Flash Gordon Episode I with a stupid non-actor kid playing a young Ming the Merciless may play a part in that.

 

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post #22 of 30
11/8/11 at 3:25pm

Martin Blank, Just do not ever watch...SYFY's Flash Gordon!  Almost nothing is worse than that.

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post #23 of 30
11/8/11 at 8:59pm
Thread Starter 

By no means am I saying you can't enjoy both. I just prefer Flash Gordon.

 

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post #24 of 30
11/9/11 at 3:49am

"I'm a wild yeti, I'm an animal sexually."

 

Love. Brian. Blessed.

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post #25 of 30
11/9/11 at 7:23am
I still say that he should have been Odin in THOR. That film, while being decent, lacked some delirious bombast that Brian could have delivered with considerable ease and glee.
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post #26 of 30
11/9/11 at 7:39am

I also would've preferred him as Gimli for LotR, but a less buffoonish Gimli.

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post #27 of 30
11/9/11 at 9:45pm
Thread Starter 

I would have loved to see Brain Blessed say."I take from you, your power, and your hammer!"

 

Wasn't there talk that Blessed was going to play Odin?

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post #28 of 30
11/10/11 at 4:33am

Chaz, To me the obvious place for THOR to travel to next is...OLYMPUS!  Brian Blessed as...ZEUS, would be Awesome.  Then...HERCULES, could be added to the Marvel Movie Universe as well!

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post #29 of 30
11/10/11 at 9:22am

Brian Blessed needs to be in every movie. Citizen Kane is good and all, but what it needs is Brian Blessed reading the newsreel: "FOR FORTY YEARS APPEARED IN KANE NEWSPRINT NO PUBLIC ISSUE ON WHICH KANE PAPERS TOOK NO STAND! HA HA HAAAAA!"

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post #30 of 30
11/10/11 at 1:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post

Brian Blessed needs to be in every movie. Citizen Kane is good and all, but what it needs is Brian Blessed reading the newsreel: "FOR FORTY YEARS APPEARED IN KANE NEWSPRINT NO PUBLIC ISSUE ON WHICH KANE PAPERS TOOK NO STAND! HA HA HAAAAA!"

I would watch the hell out of that.
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