YMMV / Flash Gordon (1979)

• Awesome Music: The 1979 animated series and film had pretty epic theme music.
• Complete Monster: Ming the Merciless is equally evil in both the original series and the TV Movie, The Greatest Adventure of All (which was actually created first, but not aired until 1982):
  • 1979 series: Ming the Merciless is the warmongering lord of Planet Mongo, who rules over an iron-fisted regime of slavery and brutality. Ming habitually hosts gladiator-style tournaments of death and brainwashes women to become his concubines, the latter of which he attempts on Flash's beloved Dale Arden. Ming attempts to smash Mongo into Earth itself to conquer the latter, heedless of the horrible catastrophe that would ensue, and after he's thwarted, Ming continues on attempting to annihilate Arboria.
  • The Greatest Adventure of All: Ming the Merciless, still a mass-murdering tyrant who cheerfully allows his slaves on Mongo to be eaten, provides aid and weaponry to Adolf Hitler on Earth during World War II. Ming attempts to wipe out the entire Earth, and in his attempt to kill Flash Gordon and his allies, utterly annihilates the sky city of the Voltan people.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The film and series had Dale Arden — voiced by Diane Pershing — having a rival in redheaded vamp Princess Aura. Pershing's most memorable voice-acting role would be as the redheaded vamp Poison Ivy in Batman: The Animated Series.
  • As it happens, Melendy Britt — who voiced Aura — had voiced Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) in Filmation's 1977 Batman series.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • As mentioned above, Dale Arden was voiced by Diane Pershing, who would become the voice of Poison Ivy in Batman: The Animated Series.
  • Princess Aura was voiced by Melendy Britt, who would go on to voice another princess (and her secret identity).
  • Ming the Merciless was voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, who would use a similar voice for his role as Skeletor.
  • Flash Gordon was voiced by Robert Ridgely, who would go from outer space hero to barbarian hero.^note He also voices the original Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak.

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