a5c7b9f00b Flash Gordon is an American football hero who is skyjacked aboard Dr. Hans Zarkov's rocketship along with his beautiful girlfriend Dale Arden. The threesome are drawn into the influence of the planet Mongo, ruled by Emperor Ming the Merciless. The evil Ming has been testing Earth with unnatural disasters, and deeming our world a threat to his rule. He also intends to take Dale as his concubine, attempts to execute Flash and intends to destroy Earth. Flash must avoid the amorous attentions of Ming's daughter, and unite the warring kingdoms of Mongo to rescue Dale and save our world. Flash Gordon is an American football player who along with Dale Arden are returning to New York City after a long vacation, until the plane they are passengers on crashes into the laboratory of Russian scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov. Both Flash and Dale become unwilling passengers on-board Zarkov's rocketship as Zarkov sets a course for the planet Mongo. Arriving on Mongo, Flash and his companions find the planet is under the rulership of the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless and Ming is attacking Earth with natural disasters as he bids to destroy Earth. Realizing that Earth and the human race is in mortal danger, Flash decides to unite the kingdoms of Mongo and combine the forces of rivals Prince Barin and Prince Vultan to rescue Dale, who is to become Ming's wife and defeat Ming and save Earth from annihilation. An uneasy combination of camp and cruel, FLASH GORDON is for those who like visual and aural brain candy and little else. First the good stuff. The score by Queen is terrific; throbbing, sensual, like John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA or Jeff Wayne's THE GOLDEN ROUNDEVOUS. The art direction, set decoration and costumes are outstanding, a wild mixture of kitschy and surreal. Finally, Brian Blessed and Max Von Sydow are both REALLY, REALLY GOOD. Now the bad news. The sound is atrocious. Dialogue is flat and frequently unintelligible. Sam Jones and Melody Anderson are both unattractively photographed, seriously undercutting their roles. The editing is poorly paced and uninteresting. These things detract tremendously from the enjoyment of the film. This is no where near as fun as the softcore FLESH GORDON, made on one-tenth the budget. The print used for the DVD is also disappointing. Still this one is worth a look. This 80's flick has a reputation of being one of the ultimate examples of camp. Being a camp-lover (Batman: The Movie, Barbarella, etc.) I was really looking forward to see this sci-fi-flick. Well ... to be quite honest, I didn't think it was that campy. Sure the costumes and decors look funny, the performances are rather laughable and the storyline isn't that accurate, but hey, it could've been much worse (and for once, "worse" should be understand as "better") But does that mean I didn't like this movie? Hell no! Flash Gordon is a wonderful picture filled with sci-fi, fantasy, humor, action & adventure, and even some jokes. Not as psychedelic as Barbarella, but much more fantasy and imagination. This movie is really enjoying and shows me (and I hope; you) that there's nothing wrong with dreaming. Plus, if you like the music of Queen, you came to the right place. Flash Gordon, a true hero. Little children should better copy his deeds instead of Robocop and The Terminator in roleplays. The frantic pleasures of this film add up to what used to be considered good fun; good Saturday morning fun; good Saturday morning fun to eat pancakes and pour maple syrup by; good fun that, once the day begins, is good fun soon forgotten. It's a pity Flash Gordon can't be screened at the breakfast table. [6 Dec 1980, p.E7] well Let's put it this way: you can walk, yet you still travel by car, don't you?<br/><br/>As much as I like the previous answer, there was a small blurb explaining the rocket cycles in a pre-production note. Something about using them as emergency transportation for injured hawk-people who couldn't fly.