(No fear of a spoiler here. The author assumes that everyone and his brother has seen these shows at least four or five times, so discussion of plot outcomes would be redundant.)
The Flash Gordon series is not shown on TV today, mainly because it is completely obsolete scientifically. In its favor, it handled issues much more complicated (read: "adult") than shows like Rocky Jones.) The science is just completely magical.
For instance, Gordon travels to distant galaxies with Dale and the Doctor. However, it is not until later in the series "The Lure of Light" that a faster than light drive was developed. So how did they get to these places and return to earth so quickly?
The time travel episodes do not fare any better. In "Deadline at Noon," the bomb planted by an enemy agent who traveled to the distant past to bury it, was buried under the rubble of a building in West Berlin. Apparently the very late (compared to the bomb) building was constructed by persons who did not realize they were incorporating a prehistoric bomb into the structure. The so-called deadline is not effective, because with time travel, there is plenty of time to stop anything. You can take as long as you need.
The planets Neptune and Saturn are depicted as rocky planets with humans living on them.Asteroids are depicted as very tiny, earth- like planets, with vegetation and breathable atmospheres.
Flash Gordon apparently did outdo Start Trek, though with the time travel episode. Since the characters went back centuries to 1954 Germany, the film is able to use the set of local Berlin areas, (As Star Trek used Los Angeles) to give the episode a much more realistic feel as far as the filming is concerned.
Finally, the selection of West Germany to film this production was ingenious. Although the aliens are all too humanoid to be completely believable, they have great difficulty speaking English, as if it is a language alien to them. This does add to the realism, since in almost all sci-fi shows, the aliens speak better English than the Earth people do.
The Flash Gordon series is not shown on TV today, mainly because it is completely obsolete scientifically. In its favor, it handled issues much more complicated (read: "adult") than shows like Rocky Jones.) The science is just completely magical.
For instance, Gordon travels to distant galaxies with Dale and the Doctor. However, it is not until later in the series "The Lure of Light" that a faster than light drive was developed. So how did they get to these places and return to earth so quickly?
The time travel episodes do not fare any better. In "Deadline at Noon," the bomb planted by an enemy agent who traveled to the distant past to bury it, was buried under the rubble of a building in West Berlin. Apparently the very late (compared to the bomb) building was constructed by persons who did not realize they were incorporating a prehistoric bomb into the structure. The so-called deadline is not effective, because with time travel, there is plenty of time to stop anything. You can take as long as you need.
The planets Neptune and Saturn are depicted as rocky planets with humans living on them.Asteroids are depicted as very tiny, earth- like planets, with vegetation and breathable atmospheres.
Flash Gordon apparently did outdo Start Trek, though with the time travel episode. Since the characters went back centuries to 1954 Germany, the film is able to use the set of local Berlin areas, (As Star Trek used Los Angeles) to give the episode a much more realistic feel as far as the filming is concerned.
Finally, the selection of West Germany to film this production was ingenious. Although the aliens are all too humanoid to be completely believable, they have great difficulty speaking English, as if it is a language alien to them. This does add to the realism, since in almost all sci-fi shows, the aliens speak better English than the Earth people do.