The New Adventures of Flash
Gordon - The Complete Series (1979)
Flash
Gordon DVDs
Buy Now
This is the Flash Gordon animated series that aired on Saturday
mornings from 1979-1981 and is one of the best shows that ever came
out of the Filmation studios. The animation is high quality for its
time and the stories were very true to the original 1930's comic
strip. To top it all off this DVD set will give you a host of
goodies you hardly ever see for a cartoon DVD release from the 80's.
Do any of you remember the cartoon Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle back
in the 70's? The same company, Filmation, created the Flash Gordon
animated adventures. What that means is the artwork is of a good
quality. We're talking movie quality (like the better stuff from
Heavy Metal) with vibrant colors and even some lively animation. A
lot of this animation came from rotoscoping and it looks awesome (rotoscoping
is a process where real actors/stuntment are filmed and then traced
over on cel animation to create very fluid movement in animation).
While not all the animation was rotoscoped it makes up for the fact
that 70's television animation was limited to a pretty low framerate
due to budget constraints. In the end you get something that blows
away anything on TV at the time.
You gotta appreciate the attention to detail that you get from a
cartoon from this era, but there are drawbacks. Sometimes you see
the same rotoscoped action again and again. Not that big of a deal
when you realize each episode came out weekly. What really bugged me
was the use of stock sound effects that really didn't fit the
grandness of the show. Now and then some cheesy "kid show" boing
sound and such would pop up and that would kill the whole polished
feel I get from the show.
The episodes were set with a serial feel to them, having
cliffhangers on many of the episodes. This is not only keeping true
to the classic comics (and matinees from the 40's) it's a great way
to keep you excited about the show. This show was critically
acclaimed if that gives you any indication. While the script isn't
as sophisticated as what you see in more recent shows like the
Batman Animated Series you have to keep in mind this was made in
1980 when cartoons weren't taken seriously at all. I will admit the
later episodes do get kiddied up more with a goofy baby dragon
making cutesy noises as it "talks"... I blame the network executives
for that.
This DVD gives you the ENTIRE SERIES. All 24 episodes that aired are
on this set. This is such a breath of fresh air after seeing cartoon
after cartoon get released with just a few episodes on single
release. Another breath of fresh air is that this DVD will have a
really nice listing of extras. Here's what you get:
- Blasting off with Flash Gordon. A 20-minute documentary with
interviews from creators and historians about Flash Gordon. You
definitely feel the pride they had working on the show and you get
some nice in depth background info on the process. One thing that
bugged me about the documentary was how the staff really railed on
the 1980 Flash Gordon movie. For people who said they understood the
classic Flash Gordon they sure missed the mark in their assessment
of the movie. Maybe they were bitter or something about the
timeliness of both projects.
- Character and setting profiles, which basically give you an
overall summary of Flash's friends, enemies and places on planet
Mongo that he visits in the series. Nothing new that you won't find
just watching the episodes.
- Commentary tracks on three episodes with the show's producer,
writer and animator.
- Interactive storyboards you can compare to various action footage.
- Large gallery of sketches of all the main characters.
- DVD ROM content with entire scripts, storyboards and the series
bible (sweet).
- Easter Eggs
- Bonus episode from Defenders of the Earth cartoon series.
- Two collectible 4"x6" trading cards by comic book artists Frank
Cho and Gene Ha
The DVD was first released at the San Diego ComicCon July, 2006.
Then released everywhere about a month later. This is THE collection
for this series. They are doing it up better than any other DVD
release of a cartoon series I have seen from the 70's or 80's. If
you're a fan of this show you absolutely, positively want to get
this set. If you are a fan of Flash Gordon or those classic matinee
serials that inspired movies like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost
Ark then you too will find something to enjoy in this series.
