Fluke_Skywalker Plot; New York Jets quarterback Flash Gordon and his companions are whisked away to Mongo to do battle with the villainous Ming the Merciless. George Lucas famously tried to get the rights to make a Flash Gordon film before having to settle for making his own version which he called Star Wars. Looking at the original Star Wars today it's fun to imagine what his version of Flash Gordon might've been like. My guess is nothing like this. Released the same year as the Empire Strikes Back, 1980's Flash Gordon is stylistically a galaxy far, far away from that galaxy far, far away. High camp is the recipe here, and it's delicious.Dazzling sets, garish costumes, over the top performances and a rock opera soundtrack fuel this rocket ride to the planet Mongo. It's easy to see why it was initially dismissed upon release, but distance gives us perspective, and from this vantage point Flash Gordon is ridiculous... and ridiculously fun.

UofSciFi by some of the reviews I've read, it looks like it doesn't take too much to entertain many of you.This was another one of Universal Studios' late 1970's attempts to throw another out a sci-fi adventure to ride the profiting coat tails of the Star Wars phenomenon that was still red hot. (Other big budget attempts by Universal Studios to ride the coat tails of Star Wars were Battlestar Galactica & Buck Rodgers in the 25 Century- of which both were double released as both a Television Show and Theatrical Movie). The only thing that Univeral Studios did different with Flash Gordon was that they never crossed it over from the big screen and into a TV series like they had done with Buck Rodgers & Battlestar Galactica.Queen's music soundtrack is as silly as this movie.The Good news is that I really believe that somewhere down the road (several years from now) someone is going to re-do this into a major big budget remake, with glorious space battles, great visual effects and lot and lots of action....The Bad new is that was what this 1980 version was supposed to be exactly what I described that the future version should be... and this movie fails on many many levels.The acting is terrible, the plot is okay(could have been better) the action is comical, music stinks and the special effects are the equivalent to a low budget film. - What were they thinking??So what was Universal Studios thinking?? - well I already answered that question with my first paragraph, they(Universal Studios) were thinking that had to get a sci-fi adventure film out into the market as quick as possible to ride the coat tails of the success of Star Wars an turn over a quick and easy profit, Universal Studios only purchased rights to the use name Flash Gordon because of its name recognition (they had done the same thing with Buck Rodgers in 1979)In 1980 Flash Gordon was not the first time in the late 70's/early 80's that Universal Studios tried to ride the coat tails of Star Wars. What is interesting is that it would be their last attempt to do it. After Flash Gordon was released in 1980 it was apparent that Universal Studios were never going to have their own Star Wars.Universal Studios attempts to ride the coat tails of the success of Star Wars1978 Battlestar Galactica (perhaps their best and most noble effort- in some ways it was better than star wars)1979 Buck Rodger in the 25th Century (pure plot less outer space disco)1980 Flash Gordon (you already know)1980 Galactica 1980 (why, O lord Why did they make this god awful show?)1981 Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century (it was revised for season two, only aired on the BBC in Great Britain - it was canceled in the U.S. in 1979

Thunderin' Tim Reviews So the other day my buddy and I got together for our monthly beer, cola, pizza and movie night. After regaling him with stories of my utter failure in life, work and love we selected this movie. I had never seen it, though I knew the Queen song of course, and for him it had been quite a while. It was.....quite the experience, to put it mildly. This flick is utterly bonkers. The acting is atrocious at times, especially the lead Hawkman (yes you read that correctly) who clearly doesn't take it serious; the set design and costumes are way, way over the top (it looks like colorblind aliens are holding a gay pride/carnival where everyone looks as ridiculous as is humanly...well...I guess...alienly possible; the editing and directing falls and fails and flails all over the place; the plot, if I may use that word ever so boldly, is so full with plot holes large enough to swallow a pyramid and coincidences that makes you want to throw stuff at the screen.Yet......is this movie a prime example of "so bad it becomes good again"? You know what, I'm bound to think it is. I was fully entertained and flabbergasted along the way. You can see what's going to happen from a mile away but for once it didn't bother me. It's just so over the top, harmless, trashy, cliché ridden, camp, low budget with big dreams that I cannot help but approve of this movie.Sure, a few annoyances. That may seem an endless list for a movie like this but since I like campy movies and its worst attributes actually make you laugh the most and that's never a bad thing, only a few things stand out.Flash is such a goodie, softie, plastic hero it doesn't always work in his favor. I also didn't like how basically everyone (Flash, the Emperor, the princess, Dale) all fall in love within two minutes. The movie makes it seem (I don't know the comics) as if Flash and Dale are total strangers, meeting on the plane, yet she professes her love for him almost immediately. The Emperor falls for Dale the second he sees her. The Princess, well, she kisses just about everyone, but she's Ming's daughter and nearly engaged, but one look at Flash's Goldilocks and she aids a revolution. I also didn't care much for the mad scientist guy, who basically kidnaps them but also forms a strong bond; who isn't the slightest bit amazed at the alien cultures but does seem to feel superior; who gets an extremely high dose of brainwash that does nothing without any explanation.I also would have liked a little more Queen since they took the music department under their wings. I like the titular song but we get little else. Oh yeah, for some reason the aliens play the Bridal March but it's the Brian May version.Richard O'Brien is severely underused. Max von Sydow appears, half way through the movie, to have decided he doesn't want to be there anymore. I also didn't really care for Timothy Dalton's character's sudden turn to Flash's side. Some scenes appear to be missing, most noticeably the capture of the Princess by the general guy (though he is pretty cool, sort of Doctor Doom's gay cousin).Worst of all is, of course, the American Football scene. The chapter is even called just that, making it the odd one out in a series of bombastic chapter titles. It's actually slightly embarrassing seeing him make a play as if one the field, and even more embarrassing that all of Ming's subordinate leaders seem to help him. Hawkman again does worse here, disabling people and then looking innocently away, even though it's blatantly obvious, utterly without motivation, completely out of the blue, and rather ridiculous to oppose the Emperor openly and then do all but whistle innocently. CONCLUSIONWell it was definitely an experience and I must say I laughed or goggled most of the time. Sure there are more problems than I could count and sometimes I hoped Flash would meat his Maker, but this movie almost gleefully bathes in campy nonsense and as such cannot really be judged by the same standards as normal movies, if there is such a thing. In the end, even if it comes rather too swift, I did enjoy it more than I disliked it, and I was glad to have watched it...I guess. Flawed beyond even what Ed Wood would consider a bad movie it has a harmless charm, and attracts through sheer and colorful weirdness. In conclusion, I feel this movie should be on every serious movie buff's menu, just so you can see for yourself what happens when a flimsy script, horrible acting, charming chaos, bight colors and a one-song soundtrack meet in a drug induced delirium in a misty back alley and is then put on a disk for your pleasure. An objective review would conclude with a 2/10 but I'm not about the delicate details of movie making, I review solely on the basis of how much it either moved or amused me. It didn't move me, but it also didn't move me closer to my inevitable suicide. An experience. 7/10

Irishchatter So I finally got watch this late enough last night. The reason why I decided to watch the 1980 version was because, Queen did the soundtrack and people I know seen it, loved it. Adding to that, there were big stars like Topol, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, Richard O'Brien and Kenny Baker appeared on this so it was a joy to see them! This is actually the first time ever that I have seen Brian Blessed being an actor and this is 2016 lol! He was absolutely brilliant and sure he never fails to be funny!I thought the movie didn't look particularly completed because:1. At the end of the film, I read on the trivia that the writers couldn't come up with trying to have a better ending for the movie. Sure, they should've got Flash and Dale Arden married off and living happily after. Instead, Sam J . Jones did the work for them. Seriously, they were so disorganised!2. The redesign of Flash Gordon looked as if it was copied from the He-Man series but gave him no powers. For god sake, hes meant to be a superhero, not a tosser! They should've rechecked the old series of Flash Gordon and not bother changing his appearance!3. I thought Dales Wedding dress to the evil dude Ming the Merciless, looked absolutely shocking! She looked as if she was going to a funeral, it just didn't suit her for the film! What really happened to white, does anyone know?4.Sam J. Jones voice was cut off, the producers and himself should've came to an agreement to make his voice heard on the movie. The voice sounded like it was coming from a poor actor who came out of puberty. It was honestly that great but the whole action distracted me so I won't make a big deal out of it!On the positive note, i thought the soundtrack for this was excellent. I actually nearly fell asleep when the 3 of them on the rocket sleeping and a song from the background was peaceful! I even liked Ming's costume, he definitely looked spot on and bad ass!Even though i wouldn't call it the best movie in the world, I suppose people who love action movies should watch this!