Line #21 WesternAnimation/FlashGordon1979


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/61js9pv7cpl.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Thun of the Lion Men, Dale Arden, Flash Gordon, Dr. Hans Zarkov, and the [[FloatingHeadSyndrome evil floating head]] of Ming the Merciless]]
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4	->''"Blasting off on a desperate mission to save Earth from the evil plottings of the tyrannical space lord Ming the Merciless, Dr. Hans Zarkov and Dale Arden have joined me, Flash Gordon, on a fantastic journey into worlds where peril and adventure await us!"''
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6	''Flash Gordon'' (also known as ''The Adventures of Flash Gordon'' and even ''The New Adventures of Flash Gordon'') was an adaptation of the comic strip ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' made in the 1970s by {{Creator/Filmation}}, the people who did ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries''. Perhaps best described as a children's version of a sketchy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SP2CsHNHd8 rock album cover]] come to life, with [[BeastMan lion-men]] instead of [[Film/NapoleonDynamite ligers]].
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8	The series was originally a single film, ''Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All'', written by Samuel A. Peeples, one of the writers for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', and it turned out so well, NBC decided to have it as a [[SaturdayMorningCartoon Saturday morning TV series]] instead. This meant cutting up the footage for their usual animation cycles with more animation. In 1982 after the series was cancelled, and likely coattailing on the attention to the [[Film/FlashGordon1980 live-action Flash Gordon film]], the original film was broadcast for the first time on prime time and syndication.
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10	The first season was serialized and followed the original comic strip remarkably faithfully. After the [[ExecutiveMeddling network complained]] that the serial was too difficult for kids to follow, the second season consisted of standalone episodes, and a TeamPet was added, Gremlin the dragon. Older viewers are likely to prefer the serialized episodes, while younger viewers are likely to prefer the later, more simply-plotted standalones.
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12	Though the best-known animated version of Flash Gordon, it was not the only one. Flash Gordon also appeared in two animated {{Massively Multiplayer Crossover}}s with other King Features heroes: the one-off special ''WesternAnimation/TheManWhoHatedLaughter'' and the series ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'', which also featured Flash's archenemy Ming the Merciless as its BigBad. [[WesternAnimation/FlashGordon1996 Another animated series]] debuted in 1996, featuring hoverboard-riding teenaged versions of Flash and Dale.
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14	!!The Filmation animated series provides examples of:
15	* ActuallyADoombot: [[spoiler:Ming at the end of the first season, as the real Ming flees. Ditto for the end of the animated movie.]]
16	* AIIsACrapshoot: Ming's computer, in the second season.
17	* AmazonBrigade: Princess Aura had an elite guard of female warriors under her command known as the Witch-Women.
18	* AnimationBump: The pilot film is this by Filmation standards. The rotoscoping used for vehicles is particularly effective.
19	* ApparentlyHumanMerfolk: The people of Corallia, who are green but otherwise look human. As opposed to Ming's grotesque gill-men.
20	* BackForTheFinale: The first season climaxes with almost all the allies Flash has made through the course of the series gathering together for one big attack against Ming.
21	%%* BaldOfEvil: Braznor of Tropica is bald and a treasonous jerk.
22	* BeastMan: The Beast Men.
23	* BeneathTheEarth: Azura's subterranean realm of Sik.
24	* BigDoor: The Beast Men's drawbridge that takes up most of a cliffside.
25	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Dale Arden is black-haired and Princess Aura the redhead. Just to complete the trio, the film adds a blonde concubine doing a slow dance.
26	* ClothingDamage: One of the elements that had to be eliminated from the TV series using ''The Greatest Adventure of All'' footage is that the fact that when Flash and company are captured by apelike savages upon landing on Mongo, their clothing disintegrates as they are dragged overland to a degree that would never be allowed for a SaturdayMorningCartoon.
27	* DarkestHour: The end of episode 15, with Dale, Aura, and Flash captured--the latter in suspended animation.
28	* TheDreaded: The closest we come to seeing Thun actually scared is when the heroes venture into Azura's caverns. Even ''Ming's'' forces are leery of her. According to legend, Ming himself started out centuries ago as merely her dead husband's high priest.
29	* DrillTank: The Mecho Mole, first used by Ming, then hijacked by Barin.
30	* EnergyBeing: Voltana the Blue Fire Worm and the Lobos are both described as being made of energy.
31	* TheFaceless: Azura's cloaked [[{{Mooks}} minions,]] the Magic Men.
32	* FishPeople: Ming's gill-men.
33	* FlamingSword: Ming wields one.
34	* FreezeRay: Used to capture Flash in episode 15.
35	* HeavyWorlder: It's occasionally mentioned that Mongo has lower gravity than Earth, so Earthlings have above-normal strength there.
36	* TheHighQueen: Mongo's realms are at least as likely to be ruled by women as by men, and most of them (Undina, Freya, Desira) become important allies in the Rebellion against Ming. All of these are contrasted with the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen evil Witch Queen Azura,]] who couldn't care less about the surface world's politics and stays a villain with her own agenda straight on through to the second season.
37	* InMediasRes: The series starts off with Flash, Dale, and Zarkov already on their way to Mongo.
38	* {{Kaiju}}: Anywhere and everywhere. Notable ones include the two-headed [[spoiler:blind]] Tsak, and Azura's giant energy caterpillar Voltana.
39	* KillerRabbit: Squirrelons--killer flying squirrels who attack in swarms, and whose venom causes madness.
40	* KirkSummation: Flash gives one of these early on to Barin and Thun because he's sick of their racial bickering, and says the only reason a tyrant like Ming is able to hang onto power is that the peoples of Mongo are busy fighting each other instead of uniting against him. Thun comes to agree with him pretty quickly, but Barin takes a couple more episodes to convince.
41	* LackOfEmpathy: Princess Aura, in the original film, at least for inferiors and enemies. When Flash expresses his concern for the radiation-sick slave workers in Ming's mines, she laughs heartily at the joke -- Only to stop awkwardly when she realizes that [[MyGodYouAreSerious he was being serious]]. Later, she seems to actually enjoy Dale's torment when she is being ([[AndNowYouMustMarryMe unwillingly]]) wed to her father the Emperor, if her smug smirk is any indication.
42	* LargeHam: Vultan, Ming, and Aura.
43	* LastGraspAtLife: By all the Mole Men as they're pulled into the earth by Arboria's attacking tree roots. Many are pulled in head-first so are also doing HelplessKicking.
44	* LighterAndSofter: Compared to ''The Greatest Adventure of All'', the regular animated series episodes covering roughly the same storyline were considerably lighter, and also suffered from {{Bowdlerization}} as the plots were simplified, violence removed and the dialogue sanitized. All references to World War II and the Nazis were also cut.
45	* LizardFolk: The Lizard Women. There are Lizard ''Men'', too, they just don't show up as often. Also the reptillian bounty hunter from the second season.
46	* MagneticHero: Flash spends the whole first season gathering allies to help fight Ming, often getting them to make [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turns.]]
47	* MechaMooks: Ming's Metal Men. The series eventually introduced their [[RobotMaster inventor,]] Dr. Tav.
48	* MsFanservice: Aura all throughout, then Dale after getting put in a harem outfit. The film briefly adds Ming's concubines and also three dancers performing for Vultan.
49	* MundaneMadeAwesome: In episode 16, Flash defeats Ming with a well-placed brick.
50	* ParallelUniverse: The second season episode "Flash Back."
51	* PragmaticAdaptation: The pilot movie, which was intended have Dr. Zarkov to be sympathetic from the start, changed the circumstances of Flash and Dale boarding his rocket. The solution was that the visitors are forced to enter Zarkov's lair while being chased by a flood of molten lava caused by a meteor shower inflicted by Ming. In that crisis, Zarkov immediately invites them into his rocket and since it is the only means around to escape certain death, the young heroes get in as fast as they can before it launches for Mongo. Furthermore, once Zarkov explains what he hopes to do there, Flash and Dale agree to help.
52	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: If the legends are true, both Azura and Ming are centuries old. Ming claims to be immortal.
53	* RedshirtArmy: Hawkmen.
54	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Well, the Lizard Women may not be very ''nice'', but one [[CuteMonsterGirl wouldn't exactly]] call them ''[[NonMammalMammaries abhorrent]]''.
55	* RetroRocket: Most of the Mongonian rocketships are streamlined to look a little more like aircraft, but Zarkov's rocketship is a classic cylindrical RetroRocket.
56	* RobotMaster: Dr. Tav.
57	* ShoutOut: It's mentioned in the film that Flash was a gold-medal winner in the Olympics. Buster Crabbe, the first actor to portray Flash Gordon (in the 1936 serial), won gold medal in the 1932 Olympics.
58	* SiliconBasedLife: Ming the Merciless created a silicon based monster and unleashed it on the heroes. The heroes weapons had no effect on the creature because, in their words, they were shooting sand.
59	* SlaveLiberation: Flash ends up leading a ''lot'' of slave revolts. Mostly because the bad guys keep, well, [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim trying to enslave him]].
60	* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: After Zarkov has had the chance to study the Blue Magic Kingdom's equipment, he describes it as "another kind of science," and he's able to manipulate it. It's not entirely clear whether it's actually supernatural or just advanced technology dressed up to look like magic, but it's at least internally consistent enough for Zarkov to get a handle on it.
61	* TeamPet: [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Gremlin]].
62	* TrickArrow: The Arborians' ice arrows.
63	* TrueCompanions: Flash, Dale, Zarkov, Barin, Thun, and Vultan.
64	* VillainousRescue: Flash is rescued by the villains a fair amount of times so they can have the pleasure of killing him.
65	* WeAREStrugglingTogether: This is why Ming isn't overthrown; the races of Mongo are busy fighting amongst themselves. The entire first season is Flash & co. trying to avert this trope.
66	* WhenTreesAttack:
67	** The [[MeaningfulName Arborians]] are able to get their trees to defend ''themselves'' against Ming's Mole Men and their DrillTank.
68	** There are also a few [[ManEatingPlant Man Eating Plants]] over the course of the show. Thun finally comes to trust Flash after Flash risks his life to save him from one.

Context WesternAnimation / FlashGordon1979