Flash Gordon, the hoary science fiction star of the 1930s, made two comebacks in 1979 (with this animated series) and 1980 (with the campy live-action movie starring Sam Jones, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton and Brian Blessed.
This NBC cartoon series (superbly animated by Filmation) once again found our hero (voiced here by Robert Ridgely) – accompanied by his girlfriend Dale Arden (Diane Pershing) and the wise scientist Dr Hans Zarkov (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) – fighting the evil ruler Ming the Merciless (Oppenheimer again) and his robot army after they landed on his planet Mongo.
Supporting them were King Thun, the somewhat humanoid ruler of the Lion People; Prince Barin, a Robin Hood look-alike and leader of Arboria; and King Vultan, head of the Hawkmen, and Ming’s sexy daughter Aura (voiced by Melendy Britt), who had a thing for Flash.
While the first season of 16 episodes was serialised (you had to tune in the following week to find out what would happen), NBC insisted on changes for the second season. They cut the stories to 12 minutes in duration, removed the episodic storyline, and introduced a cute pink dragon named Gremlin.
The show did not survive.
Flash Gordon/Prince Barin
Robert Ridgely Ming the Merciless/Dr Hans Zarkov/Gundar the Desert Hawk
Alan Oppenheimer Dale Arden/Queen Undina/Queen Fria/Queen Azura/Queen Desira
Diane Pershing King Vultan/Thun the Lion Man
Allan Melvin Princess Aura
Melendy Britt Narrator/Gremlin
Norm Prescott
This NBC cartoon series (superbly animated by Filmation) once again found our hero (voiced here by Robert Ridgely) – accompanied by his girlfriend Dale Arden (Diane Pershing) and the wise scientist Dr Hans Zarkov (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) – fighting the evil ruler Ming the Merciless (Oppenheimer again) and his robot army after they landed on his planet Mongo.
The show did not survive.
