The First Comic Strip Superhero

.

.

Before Star Trek, before Star Wars, and certainly before Battlestar Galactica, there was Flash Gordon. Years before Kal-El rocketed down from Krypton to save Earth as Superman, Flash Gordon rocketed to Mongo to save Earth from afar. Before any of the incarnations of Green Lantern served the omnipotent Guardians, Flash Gordon was working freelance to topple Ming the Merciless. Before-- well, you get the idea.

.

Technically, Flash Gordon wasn't the first interplanetary superhero--he was created in 1934 to compete with Buck Rogers, who had come along two years earlier. Thanks largely to the lush, illustrative style of Alex Raymond, Flash Gordon quickly dominated the Sunday comic strips. Considering its theme was nothing less than saving rescuing both Earth and Mongo from a merciless dictator whose plans involved total domination of the universe, it's small wonder that Flash Gordon still strikes a chord in us.

.

There have been several renditions of Flash Gordon through the decades, from serials to comic books to campy movies, but few captured the essence of the original comic strip the way the 1979 animated series by Filmation did. The first season, at least, more or less faithfully followed the original's storyline. For its time, it was an outstanding piece of animation. Flash Gordon: The Complete Series is a four-disc collection that bridges the gap between the limited animation that had come to dominate television animation at the time, and the computer-generation effects that would later rejuvenate the medium.

.

By making extensive use of rotoscoping (essentially tracing live model movments to cels), the guys at Filmation were able to imbue the characters with a sense of fluid, if redundant movement. It was a technique that had been pioneered in the early thirties, and employed in the classic Popeye cartoons, but had fallen out of favor in the sphere of televison animation. That, coupled with the lavish background art--heavily inspired by the Raymond drawings--lent a sense of excitement to the series. The dialogue was lurid at best, but that only gave it more of a 1930's movie serial.

.

Admittedly, the second season was "juvied" down, with the attention of a cutesy baby dragon sidekick, proving once again that network beancounters are the most effective way to destroy a series, animated or otherwise. Watch the second season (also included here) to see what I mean. Those eight episodes effectively destroyed the series. The network didn't see it that way, though, and proceeded with an updated, pre-teen hip pilot in the mid-eighties called "Defenders of the Universe" (also included here.) Thankfully, it went nowhere.

.

Flash Gordon: The Complete Series offers a wealth of bonus material, geared towards fans and historians alike, including:

.

Commentary by: Executive producer Lou Scheimer, assistant animator Darrel McNeil, story editor & writer Tom Ruegger and writer Michael Reeves Dolby Digital 2.0
"Blasting Off with Flash Gordon" - Documentary featuring interviews with creators and historians
Audio commentary on 3 episodes
Character profiles
Trivia and fun facts
DVD-ROM accessible scripts, storyboards, and series Bible
2 collectible art cards
Fold-out episode guide
Interactive storyboard-to-clip comparison of various stock action sequences
Gallery of original model sheets for the main heroes and villains
Bonus episode: Defenders of the Earth Episode 1: "Escape From Mongo"

.

It's not a perfect package. There's been little attempt to digitally enhance the original series, and the only soundtrack is 2.0. On the other hand, by leaving it pretty much the way it was, we see it the way it was seen in 1979. There's something to be said for that. The naivete of those days shows in every scene, particularly in season one's sixteen episodes. Consider those the last Saturday matinee movie serial, transferred to the small screen and animated for a generation still clinging to Saturday morning cartoons.

.