Saturday, September 09, 2006

SATURDAY MORNING CULT TV BLOGGING: Flash Gordon: "To Save Earth"

This week on the Filmation animated series Flash Gordon, our stalwart hero from Earth has brought together Thun the Lion Man, King Vultan and Prince Barin as "brothers in arms" against the despot, Ming the Merciless. Flash muses that it would be nice to speak with Dr. Zarkov - who is still trapped in Mingo City with Dale - and lo and behold, Zarkov conveniently appears courtesy of a little astral projection. It's just his big floating head, however...

Unfortunately, Ming busts into the transmission to tell Flash he's launching an attack on Arborea with his "aerial navy." No sooner said than done, but Barin's "leaf fighters" repel the assault. From beneath Arborea, Ming then attacks again...dispatching evil mole people and a burrowing device to cut out the roots of the tree-laden metropolis. These Mole Men look suspiciously like evil clones of the McDonald's Grimace; they're porcine and purple. Anyway, they're defeated in short order thanks to a remote control which can activate tree roots (?) and make them attack on command. Then Flash uses the mechanical mole driver to tunnel through the magma beneath Mingo City so he can rescue Dale. He keeps referring to this tunnel as a "new crack" beneath the city, a descriptor which made me laugh. Especially when the mole driver got stuck in the crack...

Anyhoo, Dale is about to marry Ming the Merciless. Oh, and did I mention that the planet Mongo is now rapidly approaching Earth, wreaking havoc on Terra's weather?

Yes, it's a busy week for Flash Gordon. But he gets the girl, unites the planet, and defeats Ming. Only problem: by saving Earth, he's set Mongo on a course for deep space and now he, Dale and Zarkov can never return home. It's a pyrrhic victory.

There's a lot of silly action this week, as you might guess. For instance, Ming apparently has the capability to teleport whenever he wishes, yet he doesn't use this device/power when threatened by Flash; or when Flash follows him into the bowels of the city. In fact, Ming takes the elevator.

Note to self: if I ever get miraculous teleport abilities, I'm not waiting to take no damn elevator...

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