FLASH GORDON [1980 / 2020] [40th Anniversary Edition] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
Saviour Of The Universe Edition! A Perfect Piece of Interstellar Campery!
Get ready to kick some Flash, with an out-of-this world 4K restoration of the much loved, gloriously sparkly cult classic, ‘FLASH GORDON’ directed by Mike Hodges.
In celebration of ‘FLASH GORDON’ and its 40th anniversary, this collection is the ultimate ‘FLASH GORDON’ release. Featuring an all-star cast, including Sam J. Jones [Flash Gordon], Brian Blessed [Prince Vultan], Timothy Dalton [Prince Barin], Max Von Sydow [Emperor Ming the Merciless] and Melody Anderson [Dale Arden] and accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack by the inimitable Queen, this is the ultimate version of the 1980s cult classic that is impossible to forget.
Featuring spectacular thrills, out-of-this-world special effects, and ‘FLASH GORDON’ is an exciting live-action adaptation of one of the most popular comic book characters of all time! “Flash!... he'll save everyone of us.”
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1980 British Society of Cinematographers: Nominated: Best Cinematography Award for Gilbert Taylor. 1980 Napierville Cinema Festival: Win: Marshall Trophy for Best Actor (Meilleur Comédien) Max von Sydow. 1980 The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: Win: Worst On-Screen Couple for Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson. Nominated: Worst Remake. 1981 BAFTA Film Awards: Nominated: Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for Brian May, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, Howard Blake and Roger Taylor. Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for Best Costume Design for Danilo Donati. Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for Best Production Design/Art Direction for Danilo Donati. 1981 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Nominated: Best Science Fiction Film. Nominated: Best Supporting Actor for Max von Sydow. Nominated: Best Costumes for Danilo Donati. 1981 Hugo Awards: Nominated: Best Dramatic Presentation for Mike Hodges (director), Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay), Michael Allin (adaptation) and Alex Raymond (based on the comic strip). 1981 Razzie Awards: Nominated: Worst Actor for Sam J. Jones.
FILM FACT No.2: According to a 2012 interview in Maxim, Sam J. Jones had disagreements of some sort with Dino de Laurentiis and departed prior to post-production, which resulted in a substantial portion of his dialogue being dubbed by a professional voice actor, whose identity is still a mystery. A sequel was proposed, but the departure of Jones effectively ended any such prospects. The airfield scene at the beginning of the film, although set in the U.S.A, was actually shot at the Broadford Airfield in Skye, Scotland. ‘FLASH GORDON’ has since become a cult classic with fans of science fiction and fantasy. The film is notable for its soundtrack composed, performed and produced by the rock band Queen, with the orchestral sections by Howard Blake. The film has since gained a significant cult following.
Cast: Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Topol, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde, Mariangela Melato, John Osborne, Richard O'Brien, John Hallam, Philip Stone, Suzanne Danielle, William Hootkins, Bobbie Brown, Ted Carroll, Adrienne Kronenberg, Stanley Lebor, John Morton, Burnell Tucker, Robbie Coltrane, Peter Duncan, Ken Sicklen, Tessa Hewitt, Venetia Spicer, Francis Mughan, Oliver MacGreevy, John Hollis, Paul Bentall, Leon Greene, Graeme Crowther, Tony Scannell, David Neal, Bogdan Kominowski, George Harris, Colin Taylor, Doretta Dunkley, Sally Nicholson, Deep Roy, Michelle Mildwater, Marie Green, Imogen Claire, Kay Zimmerman, Frederick Warder, Stephen Brigden, Lionel Guyett, Ken Robertson, Andrew Bradford, Bertram Adams, Terry Forrestal, Mike Potter, John Sullivan, Eddie Stacey, John Lees, Roy Scammell, Kathy Marquis, Sophie, Kathy September, Glenna Forster-Jones, Roseanne Romine, Sneh, Magda, Shaka, Lindy, Viva, Beverly Andrews, Frances Ward, Kerry-Lou Baylis, Camella, Miranda Riley, Lorraine Paul, Carolyn Evans, Celeste, Tina Thomas, Ruthie Barnett, Joe Iles, Trevor Ward, Alva Shelley, Nik Abraham, Leonard Hay, Glen Whitter, Jamalia, Jill Lamb, Sunanka, Karen Johnson, Gina, Raquel, Fai, Malcolm Dixon [Dwarf], Tiny Ross [Dwarf], Mike Edmonds [Dwarf], John Ghavan [Dwarf], Rusty Goffe [Dwarf], Richard Jones [Dwarf], Mike Cottrell [Dwarf], Peter Burroughs [Dwarf], John Lummiss [Dwarf], Kenny Baker [Dwarf], Robert Goody [Azurian Man], Daniel Venn [Azurian Man], Peter St. James [Azurian Man], Steve Payne [Azurian Man], Max Alford [Azurian Man], Stephen Calcutt [Azurian Man], Anthony Olivier [Azurian Man], Jim Carter [Azurian Man], Stuart Blake [Azurian Man], Nigel Jeffcoat [Azurian Man], Chris Webb [Ming's Brute], Leslie Crawford [Ming's Brute], Peter Brace [Ming's Brute], Terry Richards [Ming's Brute], John Gallant [Ming's Brute], Eddie Powell [Ming's Brute], Alan Austen (uncredited), Frances Baker (uncredited), Sean Barry-Weske (uncredited), Paul Barton (uncredited), Richard Bonehill (uncredited), David de Keyser (uncredited), Jill Goldston (uncredited), Alan Harris (uncredited), Lew Hooper (uncredited), Roy Lansford (uncredited), Derek Lyons (uncredited), Peter Marinker [Flash Gordon voice] (uncredited), Ralph G. Morse (uncredited), Peter Ross-Murray (uncredited), Kevin Hudson [Hawk Man] (uncredited), Richard Sidoli [Hawkman / Ming's Guard] (uncredited), John Simpkin [Hawkman] (uncredited) and Trevor Butterfield [Hawkman] (uncredited)
Director: Mike Hodges
Producers: Bernard Williams and Dino de Laurentiis
Screenplay: Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay), Michael Allin (adaptation) and Alex Raymond (based on the characters created)
Production, Costumes and Set Design: Danilo Donati
Composed Music: Queen
Composer: Howard Blake (Orchestral Score)
Cinematography: Gilbert Taylor, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Todd-AO-35)
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo
English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
German: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo
French: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo
Subtitles: English SDH, German and French
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Universal Pictures / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘FLASH GORDON’ [1980] is the most notable for its rockin’ Queen soundtrack, the sexy Ornella Muti as Princess Aura in a tight red cat suit; it’s very tongue-in-cheek dialogue and camp over the top tone, despite a cast that included major actors like Max Von Sydow and Timothy Dalton pre-007 days.
Unintentionally funny, and outrageously camp, this sci-fi film is based on the 1930’s comic strip that has nonetheless built up a fairly large fan base over the many years since its release in the cinema, even garnering a much copied style of this film very closely. Or perhaps it just copied the original comic strip, because that’s what this 1980 film was intended to do, imitate the original campy style of that strip cartoon and not take itself too seriously, and just like the 1960’s Batman TV series, which shared the screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr.
When the Earth comes under a series of deadly attacks from outer space, the blond American football star quarterback Flash Gordon [Sam J. Jones], reporter Dale Arden [Melody Anderson], and crazy scientist Dr. Zarkov [Topol] are stolen away to the Planet Mongo where the leader Emperor Ming the Merciless [Max Von Sydow] is threatening to destroy the Earth. Flash Gordon and his companions get caught up in the problems of the alien world and must fight to overthrow Emperor Ming the Merciless by bringing together the different tribes of Mongo who Ming keeps in his grip, in order to save the Earth. First however, Flash Gordon gains the aid of Emperor Ming the Merciless’s own daughter, the sultry Princess Aura [Ornella Muti], who helps Flash Gordon escape death.
British director Mike Hodges, wanted to create a film aesthetic that directly reflected its origin, and opening credits use illustrations from the early comic strips, along with Queen’s now famous theme song and, throughout the film, Mike Hodges chooses film angles, framings and colours to evoke the comics. Mike Hodges said about the film “I turned it down because I thought it wasn’t my kind of film, because it was totally different from what I had previously done. Our ‘FLASH GORDON’ is not really science fiction, but it is a comic strip in another galaxy, not in the region of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise films.” “It looks almost exactly like Alex Raymond‘s cartoon story. This film is much bigger than the Buster Crabbe features and they were fun to watch but they had primitive special effects and this film has fantastic special effects, is shown on the wide screen and in colour. For example, we had to design laser beams that had different ways of disposing of villains. We wanted them to be more like the cartoons, with different skies and colours. We wanted each of Emperor Ming the Merciless’s outposts surrounded by a different atmosphere; it was really daunting to begin.”
Brian Blessed, while attached to his huge looking wings is fantastic to watch as he bellows just about every line, “You impetuous boy!” thanks to Lorenzo Semple Jr.’s corny but affable screenplay. Prince Barin, played by the charismatic Timothy Dalton, is another enjoyable character we are introduced too as well and he displays heroic Robin Hood type tendencies that are so off the wall that it is completely. There are rocket cycles, sky cities, stylized football fight scenes, force fields and wing barbarian attacks that are bountiful and ludicrous to behold.
Max Von Sydow, Brain Blessed and Timothy Dalton act at the intensity of an over the top pantomime performance. Sam J. Jones (now confined to DTV hell) is perfect as the blond bombshell himself, while the Queen soundtrack ratchets the flamboyance levels up a couple of notches. The question mark after The End, though, promised a sequel that was, alas, sadly not to be. This campy extravaganza has it all - heroes, villains, beautiful women and high stakes. Laughably bad and fantastically good all at once, this is a guilty pleasure that everyone can enjoy!
‘FLASH GORDON’ is truly over the top camp silliness from start to finish, which to me is not a bad thing, in fact it is 100% guilty pleasure. It is quirky, foolish, and sexy at the same time, with very lavish over-the-top costumes and a brilliant soundtrack from Queen that is really at the heart of the film, especially as it is not to some a cinematic masterpiece, but to my mind it is the best ultimate camp Sci-Fi film ever made.
FLASH GORDON MUSIC FILM TRACK LIST
FLASH’S THEME (Written and Produced by Brian May and Mack Mack) [Performed by Queen]
IN THE SPACE CAPSULE (The Love Theme) (Written by Roger Taylor) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
THE RING (Hypnotic Seduction of Dale) (Written by Freddie Mercury) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
FOOTBALL FIGHT (Written by Freddie Mercury) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
IN THE DEATH CELL (Love Theme Reprise) (Written by Roger Taylor) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
EXECUTION OF FLASH (Written by John Deacon) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
THE KISS (Aura Resurrects Flash) (Written by Freddie Mercury) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
ARBORIA (Planet Of The Tree Men) (Written by John Deacon) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
ESCAPE FROM THE SWAMP (Written by Roger Taylor) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
FLASH TO THE RESCUE (Written by Brian May) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
VULTAN’S THEME (Written by Freddie Mercury) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
BATTLE THEME (Written by Brian May) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
THE WEDDING MARCH (Written by Brian May) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
MARRIAGE OF DALE AND MING (And Flash Approaching) (Written by Brian May and Roger Taylor) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
CRASH DIVE ON MING CITY (Written by Brian May) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
FLASH’S THEME REPRISE (Victory Celebrations) (Written by Brian May) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
THE HERO (Written by Brian May) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Howard Blake) [Performed by Queen]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Universal Pictures and STUDIOCANAL has presented us with a stunning 4K restoration 1080p image presentation that has been digitally remastered, and with an equally impressive 2.35:1 aspect ratio that really shows off this film with its ultimate image presentation. This 4K restoration of ‘FLASH GORDON’ brings the clarity and resolution of the picture quality to a whole new level. The colours have never looked so vivid and the picture so sharp. Scanned from the original 35mm negative to produce 4K files, and took over 500 hours of manual restoration was reportedly undertaken to repair serious damage that included image instability, scratches and intermittent flicker. But most impressively is the vividness of its colour and you would think the film was shot in 2020, it is that spectacular. Due to its extravagant sets and indulgent colour palette, it is clearly a film that has been crying out for the 4K image treatment and STUDIOCANAL’s meticulous image upgrade is absolutely flawless. Of course, some limitations are still on show – the special effects are at times noticeably dated – but that just adds to the brilliant over the top camp entertainment. Overall, STUDIOCANAL has done an absolutely fantastic job upgrading and delivering this older catalogue title and fans of ‘FLASH GORDON’ will be more than pleased with the 4K restoration stunning upgraded result. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Universal Pictures and STUDIOCANAL has only supplied two alternative soundtracks and they are 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo and the remastered 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience, but despite this, let’s be honest, it's not the cheesy dialogue or the exaggerated audio effects that matter with this film, though both of those come across really well, because it is the awesome classic Queen soundtrack that adds to the ambience sound experience and a truly added bonus from one of the greatest group that was ever produced in the United Kingdom. Here every powerful chord and the soaring voice of Freddy Mercury come through with the appropriate force and not a hint of distortion. That said, all elements in this audio track are rendered with excellent fidelity, there are some noticeable ambient differences which I'm assuming may have been due at least in part to some post-looping. The fun music score by composer Howard Blake contributions from Queen reverberate very well, and appropriately dominates the mix making for a really exciting soundscape for the big Hawkmen battle scene and some of the sound effects sequences featuring some nice ambient sounds, as in the plane crash into Zarkov's lab or some of the rocket material. Even the use of the surround channels may be sparse, but when it kicks in, particularly during the action scenes, it adds a level of drama to the big set pieces. Once again, this Blu-ray disc defies expectations and does the film the ultimate 100% justice. WARNING: When loading up the disc, before you watch the film you have to go to the Audio Menu if you want to watch the film in the remastered 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience, because if you select to watch the film first it will automatically play the 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo soundtrack.
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1st Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Mike Hodges: Here director Mike Hodges introduces himself, and of course informs us that he directed the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ over 20 years ago when this audio commentary was recorded, and Mike Hodges says that seeing the film again is quite a trip for him. He also says that it is very difficult to explain the making of the film because it is unlike anything else he has directed or experienced, and usually you have complete control with a film, but with ‘FLASH GORDON’ it was the complete opposite, and he had to improvise directing the making of the film, and it did not help that the whole of the production team was Italian and there English was terrible and Mike’s Italian was even worse, and he felt not sure how this would all work out, especially each day of shooting the film. The wonderful thing Mike Hodges experienced in making the film, was actually having the brilliant actor Max von Sydow, who is someone he really admired, especially loving all the films he has appeared in, and especially playing the part of Ming, the over the top, larger than life character. Mike Hodges felt Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon was very difficult to find to play that character and was surprised how good he was, despite not having much experience as an actor, but he felt Sam J. Jones again was so ideal, because Flash Gordon was basically very “thick,” and as a hero his character was also a bit “dumb” and a bit like American Foreign Policy, but also found the character Flash Gordon quite interesting, like an innocent abroad. Mike Hodges informs us that he had never made a special effects film before, but does like this type of genre, as it is definitely comic strip kitsch. The filming of the Title sequence was done in New York and the Flash Gordon comic strip created by and originally drawn by Alex Raymond and first published on the 7th January, 1934, and feels the animated sequences were really wonderfully done, and was helped along with the Queen composed music. Mike Hodges feels using the comic strip cartoon drawings is a good indication in what to expect with the ‘FLASH GORDON’ film. The start of the film location was shot in Scotland, and they had to improvise with all the terrible changeable weather sequences. Mike Hodges feels Melody Anderson was perfect as Dale Arden, who we see get on the plane and again Mike Hodges said filming had to be very flexible and was made up as filming progressed, as well as making stuff up on the spot, and he had great help from special effects team in London, and again had to improvise as they went along, especially with the whole film, and was jolly good fun making the film. When we see the red clouds forming outside the airplane, Mike Hodges at first had no idea how this special effect was going to be achieved, and it was not until well into making the film, that they were able to solve the problem. Mike Hodges comments that producer Dino de Laurantiis thought ‘FLASH GORDON’ was a very serious film, which Mike Hodges found very puzzling, because it is was just plain and simple a comic strip film and no way was Mike Hodges going to make ‘FLASH GORDON’ a serious film, which again Dino de Laurantiis was very naïve and what an idiot Mike Hodges thought and also said that you have to balance the film between a Saturday Morning Pictures event and partly serious, and build the drama where necessary, and again it was great fun and experience and also gave a lot of people a great deal of pleasure. Mike Hodges thought Topol was wonderful and his character balanced parts of the film, and he captured the intense madness and did pitch it beautifully, and one that he was a serious scientist, as well as a cartoon character. Mike Hodges says that Sam J. Jones was discovered by Dino de Laurantiis mother in law, and had been watching the television of the American TV show “Celebrity Squares” and saw this handsome looking hunk, and so Mike Hodges eventually tracked Sam J. Jones down and brought him over to London and found him perfect for Flash Gordon, despite at the start of shooting the film he was not very good, but as the shooting progressed, Sam J. Jones got better and better. Mike Hodges informs us that Dino de Laurantiis actually recommended Queen to do the main composed music soundtrack, and when Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor had recorded the soundtrack, and when Queen arrived at the film studio, Mike Hodges embarrassingly was playing Pink Floyd music, and when we see the rocket ship at the start of the film goes into the black hole, Mike Hodges really feels it is totally wonderful. Mike Hodges also comments that he is very glad that the special effects were not done by modern CGI technology, as he feels the special effects for ‘FLASH GORDO’ had an organic magical quality. Talking about the special effects of the amazing swirling multitude of colours, was done by injecting different coloured inks into water and filming it at high speed, and in that way they could create all those amazing coloured skies. When you see the small camera hovering over Topol, Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson as they enter Ming’s Palace, Mike Hodges wanted the effect you get with a CCTV camera, but to be distorted like you see. Mike Hodges talks about all the British actors that appear in the film and especially Peter Wyngarde, whose career before ‘FLASH GORDON’ had fallen on very bad times and was out of work for a very long time, and wanted this actor to appear in this film because of his amazing voice. Mike Hodges talks about Brian Blessed, who he feels is an actor with enormous energy, and carries the film right to the very end. Mike Hodges now talks about the scene with Flash Gordon and Dale Arden playing American Football with one of the Fabré eggs, that was originally not in the script, which you will read all about in detail in one of the special features, and again Mike Hodges says he had great fun making the film, and of course the Queen composed film score contributed greatly to the film, because he felt the Queen music helped to add to the action parts of the film. When you see Topol on the slab and about to have his brain drained, by the brain extraction machine, and when you see on the monitor screen the point when you see his foetus in his mother’s womb, people who watch that part of the film who suffered from epileptic fits, would always have a seizure at that point in the cinema, and of course Mike Hodges did not realise this situation or know when shooting this scene what effect it would have on these types of people who were epileptic. Mike Hodges talks about the storyboards that were produced before the film was shot, and found them to be a complete waste of time, as he feels they would of made the film too rigid, whereas he personally wants to be much more flexible when shooting the film, as it improves the shooting of the film 100%. When we get to the Oboria Forest scene and the men are round the tree stump chanting and banging their staff on the floor, and you see the nasty “Wood Beast” creature inside it, and comments about the legendary John Osborne, who is the head honcho, who is also banging his staff on the floor, and thinks the action John Osborne doing at a certain angle, feels like he is jerking himself off, and has a good laugh about it, and never got round to mentioning this to John Osborne about this sexual moment in the film, but what Mike Hodges says about John Osborne, is that he was very honoured to appear in the film, and of course John Osborne was famous for writing some amazing plays in his lifetime, as well as some wonderful screenplay for such icon films as ‘Tom Jones’ and ‘Charge Of The Light Brigade’ and actually appeared in Mike Hodges film ‘Get Carter,’ and of course sadly passed away before the release of ‘FLASH GORDON.’ When you see the young actor Peter Duncan, who has to put his arm into the tree stump for the “Wood Beast” initiation task, well Mike Hodges says that children found this scene very scary and afterwards would experience nightmares in their sleep, even though it was a fantasy. Mike Hodges thought Timothy Dalton was really wonderful and felt he was like the actor Errol Flynn in his films, and felt Timothy Dalton suited his character in ‘FLASH GORDON.’ Mike Hodges also talks about the actor Richard O’Brian who was one of Timothy Dalton’s renegade group, who was also the creator of the iconic film ‘The Rocky Horror Show.’ Mike Hodges talks again about Brian Blessed and the scene where the Hawkmen bring Topol and melody Anderson to the floating city in the sky that is held up with jets, and we see Brian Blessed taking centre stage and lording it up and definitely hogging the scene with very tongue in cheek humour and from then on tends to take control of scenes he appears in with the rest of the film to the very end. Next we go back to the Oboria Forest and Timothy Dalton confronts Sam J. Jones and challenges Flash Gordon to the “Wood Beast” initiation task, which of course Flash Gordon accepts to show that he is not weak. Mike Hodges mentions that at the start of the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ that he initially only worked on the film fort a short period of time, and walked away from the project because of a serious disagreement with producer Dino de Laurantiis, then someone brought to him a list of Directors and immediately pointed to Mike Hodges, so of course Mike Hodges had a smirk on his face because of what happened previously and was determined to finish directing the film, as he was keen to get it finished and at one pointed came face to face with Dino de Laurantiss and asked him why he wanted him back to direct the film, and he replied, “I a like a your face” [Italian accent] and when he left the room, Mike Hodges had a real wry laugh to himself. When we get to the scene where Sam J. Jones and Timothy Dalton have a fight to the death on the moveable platform with spikes, Mike Hodges comments that particular scene was very difficult to film, and was also very exhausting and especially the horrendous from the heat of the massive lights, and Mike Hodges admits that filming fight scenes very boring and time consuming, and is also like when filming love scenes. Mike Hodges also talks about the fact that his son who loves playing rugby at the time was playing in France in amateur capacity and Dino de Laurantiis asked Mike Hodges if he had watched the French rugby match on television and replied “yes,” because of the fact his son was part of the English team, and Dino de Laurantiis thought the French rugby players who had beards were wonderful and said he wanted them to play the Hawkmen and of course Mike Hodges had to gently make some kind of excuse not to invite them over to England, as he knew they would not be keen to be keen to be hung from the ceiling in the harness for ages. Mike Hodges was really puzzles when Freddie Mercury passed away, that they did not re-release ‘FLASH GORDON’ on the big screen, as that is the only way to view the film. When we see the hundreds of Hawkmen invade the Battle Ajax space ship, Mike Hodges really loved filming this sequence and feels the Queen composed music score was so ideal and added ambience to that sequence. As we get near to the end of the film, Mike Hodges informs us that he talked to Dino de Laurantiis on how he wanted to end the film, and Dino de Laurantiis and commented that he had no idea how to end the film, so gave Mike Hodges carte blanche [unconditional authority] to do whatever he wanted, and so as you see Flash Gordon in the Ajax Battle space ship on fire and heading straight towards Ming’s Palace and of course you see the long spike enters Ming from behind and Mike Hodges reckons this had definitely sexual innuendo overtones, that also profusely appears throughout the film. Also when you see Ming fade and eventually disappears and his ring falls to the ground and of course saves Planet Earth from destruction, Mike Hodges thought there might be a follow up for a ‘FLASH GORDON 2’ film, but of course this was not to be, sadly. But as we see all the actors gather in the main area on Ming’s Palace to celebrate the death of Ming, Mike Hodges says it reminded him of his childhood when he use to go to the British Pantomimes every Christmas time, where male parts are played by women and female parts are played by male drag artists, and feels it is very confusing to young children, but despite this, he feels the whole experience of directing ‘FLASH GORDON’ was jolly good fun. Finally, as we see the end credits roll up the screen and we hear the Queen composed song is playing in the background, the Mike Hodges audio commentary ends and I feel Mike Hodges was really wonderful and definitely did a totally fascinating informative and very enjoyable audio commentary and is well worth listening to and definitely gets a definite five star rating.
Audio Commentary with Brian Blessed: Here Brian Blessed introduces himself and talks about when he was a child growing up in South Yorkshire in a place where he grew up that was between Doncaster and Barnsley, and Brian use to love going to the Saturday Moring Pictures at their local cinema to see the marvellous “Flash Gordon” serial adventures and of course it starred Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon, and of course it was in black-and-white and Brian feels it was amazing to watch up there on the big screen and after the screening, came out of the cinema and with his friends, would re-enact that episode they had just seen and this happened around the 1940’s and Brian would always play Prince Vultan the flying Hawkman, and of course he never realised in his wildest dreams that he would eventually play Prince Vultan in the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ and he feels it is a dream come true. Brian Blessed loves the start of the film, where Ming the Merciless, who is bored, and loves to create total mayhem to Planet Earth and causing massive amounts of destructions in every part of Earth, and Brian really loved the actor who played Ming the Merciless, which of course was Max Von Sydow and Brian use to love watching Max Von Sydow his films, and of course Brian loved and enjoyed his sidekick Klytus who of course was played by Peter Wyngarde. When the Title sequence begins and the Queen composition and song begins, Brian Blessed really loves this, especially when using all the comic strip illustrations, because he feels it makes the film a classic. When Brian Blessed travels around the United Kingdom, he informs us that when they come up to him, they always ask him to shout out, “Gordon’s Alive,” in his very robust and over the top loud voice. When certain credits appear, like Melody Anderson, John Osborne, Richard O’Brian, John Hallam, Philip Stone and Suzanne Danielle, Brian thinks they are “Wonderful” in his over the top voice. Brian Blessed also praises Danilo Donati [Production, Costumes and Sets], Bernard Williams [Executive Producer] and Gil Taylor, B.S.C. [Director of Photography] who Brian thought was a totally amazing cinematographer, and he also reckons you could not wish for a better team and collaboration. Brian Blessed also gives and over the top praise for producer Dino de Laurantiis, who actually had a picture on his wall in his office of Brian Blessed, and finally also gives a massive praise to director Mike Hodges for his sterling work on the film. As we finally get into the start of the film and all the mayhem that is happening to Planet Earth and the airplane that is in serious trouble, and especially with the two pilots that are sucked out of the plane, and Brian Blessed comments that he loves all the over the top chaos. When we see Sam J. Jones and Topol are fighting in the rocket, and when Topol hits his head on the red button and the rocket takes off, Brian Blessed thinks this is wonderful. When the rocket finally lands and the crew gets marched into Ming’s Place and Brian Blessed comments, that this scene in Ming’s Palace took about six to eight weeks to film and he also feels these scenes with everyone wearing red costumes, you would think you was on Mars, and also thinks the atmosphere is very menacing and frightening. But when the Hawmen arrive and especially Brian Blessed, comments that women have commented on his sexy legs, which he found very amusing. As we get further into the film, Brian Blessed talks about the scenes and he observes with general comments what we are viewing and slightly stating the obvious, and does this a lot throughout the film. But one particular comment Brian Blessed comments on was the actor Sam J. Jones and talks about his character Flash Gordon, saying he has purity like a child with innocence, and is sometimes acts like Peter Pan, and when Flash Gordon does telepathy with Dale Arden, Brian Blessed thinks it is wonderfully comical and wonderfully moving at the same time that Dale Arden finds out that Flash Gordon is alive. When Topol and Melodody Anderson are flown into Prince Vulton [Brian Blessed] floating Palace, Brian Blessed says, “How honoured I was to play Prince Vulton,” and thought the floating Palace was amazing. Brian Blessed says he modelled Prince Vulton on a character in a Charlie Chaplin film, the big man who could bend a lamppost, and also had heavy eye make-up, and when Brian Blessed walks behind Melody Anderson, and his words, “Goosed her,” which no one knew Brian Blessed would do this, and Brian Blessed loves to do the unexpected. When you see Sam J. Jones and Timothy Dalton fight to the death on the moving platform with the spikes, Brian Blessed says that it was actually the two actors for real and not stuntmen, and when each time the Director shouts out “cut,” everyone clapped the two actors for their convincing fight scene, and most of all producer Dino de Laurantiis loved and adored this fight sequence, and when Sam J. Jones does his heroic scene when Timothy Dalton nearly loses his life and Sam J, Jones gives his hand to rescue him and shakes his hand, it was Dino de Laurantiis most favourite scene. When Flash Gordon escapes on the small rocket cycle and his heading towards Ming’s Palace for revenge, but Flash Gordon is shot at by the laser cannon and then contacts Prince Vulton to ask for his fight against Ming the Merciless and of course the Hawkmen decides to help and when we see Flash Gordon fly’s above the clouds and sees all the Hawkmen ready to attack the Battleship Ajax rocket ship, well Brian Blessed loves this scene and the attack scene took roughly six weeks to film, and also comments about the wires and harness holding him suspended, and says that it was a great strain on his body, as he had to have extra wires attached to his body and a very special harness round his private parts, as if had not had this, he would of spoken in a high pitched voice, and with all the long waiting times to set up shots, some of the stuntmen fainted. When finally the Hawkmen finally attack Battleship Ajax rocket ship, Brian Blessed repeats what I have informed you previously, that when Primce Vulton lands on the Battleship Ajax rocket ship and stars firing his cardboard bazooka, Brian starts making his own sound effects when firing it and people starting shouting at Brian Blessed very loudly, “Cut Brian cut, we put in the in the special effects Brian,” and he never felt like a tit in all his life, because Brian didn’t know all about the technical aspects of special effects and sound effects that would be put into the film later on. Another thing Brian Blessed informs us about, that when all the Hawkmen are about to attack the Battleship Ajax space ship, and he shouts, “Who want to live forever,” which he informs us that he invented this saying, and also comments that he has enjoyed making the film more than any other film I’ve ever done. When Battleship Ajax rocket ship is guided by Flash Gordon and finally arrives to destroy Ming’s Palace and of course Ming the Merciless, while the wedding ceremony has nearly been completed, and Brian Blessed says he watched the scene when Ming the Merciless dies with the spike on the end of the rocket ship on a Friday afternoon with all the Dwarfs behind the camera drinking tea and eating cakes, and when finally the spike goes through Ming the Merciless and says, “Oh dear, that must have been painful with all that green blood coming out,” and also says that Max von Sydow could hardly keep a straight face, with it goig straight through him and what a way to go, totally wonderful. Brian Blessed also comments that they did not know how to end the film, but by having Flash Gordon jump up towards the CCTV mobile robot camera, it was so inspired and so simple, and Sam J. Jones purity did the trick. As we see Ming the Merciless’s ring fall to the floor and saves Planet Earth, and some mystery person picks it up, Brian Blessed says, “I don’t know why they didn’t do the end, the sequel, because it was going to be on Mars, we were all going to Mars, with ‘Flash Gordon On Mars.’ But what a marvellous film, and what style, 1930’s style, brilliant direction, brilliant music, choreography, the sets, terrific stuff, look at William Kronick, who did such wonderful second unit work, and Co-Ordinator of action Bill Hobbs, terrific combination of so many talents, so many stuntmen, and all those gorgeous Dwarfs, and the cast was enormous and terrific music.” Brian Blessed hopes there will not be a remake again, because I wish they would leave it alone, and again he feels Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon was perfect, and the film is spot on, and there will never be another ‘FLASH GORDON,’ but none will equal this one, for purity and brilliance, and the perfection of style, it is unbeatable, well that is what Brian Blessed thinks, after all says Brian Blessed, “Gordon’s Alive,” and also says, “Who Wants To Live Forever,” and of course we get to hear that famous raucous over the top laughter, and so ends this brilliant over the top audio commentary, by the equally brilliant Shakespeare actor, and Brian Blessed does the most amazing audio commentary, that to my mind is one of the best I have heard in a very long time, and on top of all that, it was also one of the most informative audio commentary and especially all of the brilliant anecdotes of marvellous stuff that happened behind-the-scenes and it is definitely a must hear audio commentary, and definitely gets a top rated five star rating from me and with this new upgraded Blu-ray release is a definite purchase, especially if you are a fan of the film ‘FLASH GORDON,’ especially like me, and has been a wonderful exhilarating joyous experience.
Special Feature: Lost in Space: Nicolas Roeg’s ‘FLASH GORDON’ [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1] [27:50] Here we are presented with a brand new special feature we get to hear in detail the vastly differing vision of ‘FLASH GORDON’ that almost was not filmed, especially as was mooted that director Nicolas Roeg wanted to direct the film ‘FLASH GORDON,’ especially in conjunction with directing the iconic films like ‘Don’t Look Now’ and ‘Walkabout.’ But before that happened we find out that director George Lucas wanted to film ‘FLASH GORDON’ and at the time he could not afford to buy the rights to “Flash Gordon” comic book franchise and so instead went ahead to direct his iconic film ‘Star Wars’ which he called his own version of ‘FLASH GORDON’ and because of the massive success of that space opera film contacted the producer Dino de Laurentiis to pursued and encourage him to purchase the rights to the “Flash Gordon” comic book franchise because Dino de Laurentiis had the money to do so and of course when the rights had be purchased it got the green light to make the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ into a British Production classic sci-fi film. What I gather from the first 10 minutes from these interviews is that they just seem to only want to talk about the director Nicolas Roeg and more talking about the making of the film ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ and the small connection to producer Dino de Laurentiis, but after a while they eventually start to talk about the complex issue of turning the “Flash Gordon” comic books in the ‘FLASH GORDON’ film and Nicolas Roeg and others were held up in a hotel room reading hundreds of “Flash Gordon” comic books in figuring out how they might be able to actually make the film come to fruition, but eventually it all seem to click into place and eventually a sort of basic draft was compiled, but until eventually after many rewrites, a screenplay was finally completed. We get to see some rough Nicolas Roeg’s Storyboard illustrations that are now held in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and we also get to view some of the pages of the actual finished screenplay for the film ‘FLASH GORDON.’ We also get to view some amazing colour and black-and-white concept Costume Designs by John Bloomfield for the film ‘FLASH GORDON.’ As an added bonus we also get to view some truly stunning colourful Concept Set Designs by Ferdinando Scarfiotti for the film ‘FLASH GORDON,’ which would of looked totally amazing if they had actually built the sets for the film and now these Concept Set Designs are now in the BFI National Archive. Eventually Nicolas Roeg departed not on good terms because his concept of how he wanted to direct the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ was totally rejected by producer Dino de Laurentiis. But eventually a new director was brought in and that person was Mike Hodges, and of course the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ was now given the green light and we get to see lots of images from the film ‘FLASH GORDON.’ In conclusion, this special feature is quite interesting, but I feel they spent far too much time praising the director Nicolas Roeg and also the fact he never was able to fulfil his dream to film ‘FLASH GORDON’ as I feel it would have been a totally different outcome and as history has shown, this version of ‘FLASH GORDON’ is far superior in my opinion and I especially feel director Mike Hodges did a far superior interpretation of the “Flash Gordon” comic book franchise. Contributors include: Michael Allin [Writer], John Bloomfield [Costume Designer] and John Richardson [Special Effects Supervisor].
Special Feature: Behind The Scenes of ‘FLASH GORDON’ [1980] [480i] [1.37:1] [14:27] At the start of this special feature they announce that “FLASH is BACK” and here we get to view archive footage from around its time of the release of the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ which goes in-depth at some of the processes in making of the film and what happened behind-the-scene in bringing this ultra-camp sci-fi film to fruition and in the background you get to hear the song “FLASH’S THEME” by the group Queen and also the composed music by the composer Howard Blake. We also get to view Sam J. Jones [Flash Gordon] doing his workout and training. We also get to see behind-the-scenes of the sets being built, as well as the artists doing the storyboard illustrations, but also we get to view behind-the-scene filming of ‘FLASH GORDON.’ We also get to see behind-the-scenes in the Costume Department where 35 staff worked night and day to create all of the 600 different erotic costumes with a very tight deadline. We also get to see the people behind the making of the helmets and we see the carpenters building the Ming’s spaceship model that had to be aerodynamically correct, especially when the film is shown on a 60 feet cinema screen. We also see the set builders constructing the Planet Mongo main building and especially the Symphony interior that took workers 12 weeks to construct. We also get to see the mysterious interior of the forest kingdom of Arboria, that was ruled by Prince Barin, leader of the Treemen who live there. We also get to see some short interviews from producer Dino de Laurentiis who informs us that he was a massive fan of the “Flash Gordon” comic books, Sam J. Jones talks about his enjoyment being in the film. We also get to hear from Topol who when growing up in Israel had never heard of “Flash Gordon” comic books, but over time he did get to find out about the “Flash Gordon” comic books. When Melody Anderson was growing up had great fun looking at the “Flash Gordon” comic books. Timothy Dalton talks about the difficult scene he had to do with Sam J. Jones on the infamous tilting spike-filled fight on the platform. We get a nice short interview with actor Brian Blessed, but also we get a short input from director Mike Hodges. We also get amazing behind-the-scenes with background crew working on the pulley systems for the winged “Hawkmen” in flight. A real highlight of this special feature documentary is the mechanics behind the infamous tilting spike-filled fight on the platform between Flash Gordon and Prince Barin. But to finish off this vintage documentary, we get the full ‘FLASH GORDON’ original theatrical trailer and of course the Queen’s composed song “FLASH’S THEME,” but at the end it suddenly finishes abruptly without warning.
Special Feature: Stills Gallery: Here we get to view 21 amazing colour images from the film ‘FLASH GORDON.’ To advance the images, you have to use the right hand next button on your remote control.
Special Feature: Storyboards Gallery: Here we get to view 18 amazing colour and black-and-white illustrated storyboards relating to the film ‘FLASH GORDON.’ To advance the images, you have to use the right hand next button on your remote control.
Theatrical Trailer [1980] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:59] This is a STUDIOCANAL special Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘FLASH GORDON.’ It is totally brilliant presentation, and of course we get the equally brilliant Queen’s composed song “FLASH’S THEME.”
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2nd Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Flashback to Mike Hodges [2020] [1080p] [1.37:1] [31:47] This is a STUDIOCANAL special interview with director Mike Hodges and the interview is conducted by Robin Gatto and is broken up into different headings. Here Mike Hodges speaks of his career in his home and talks about being brought up in a small town in the South of England with a very middle class family. Mike Hodges had three cinemas he use to visit regular and of course fell in love with cinema and Mike Hodges thinks the 1950s was the golden age of cinema and his great heroes were directors like Billy Wilder and especially lots of French Directors, but had to visit London cinemas to see his favourite French “film noire” films and decided that his destination and future was to ultimately direct films. In the interview Mike Hodges reveals he is 70 years of age, but in his youth had to do national Service by law, and decided to go into the Navy at the age of 22 years of age and how his time in the navy shaped his World view and was on a Mine Sweeper for 2 years in protecting all of the fishing ports around the United Kingdom, but was totally shocked by the total discrimination between the lower deck servicemen and the Officers on the top deck and made him very angry, that made him become very left wing, but was never affiliated to any political party and at the time of the interview, it made him very sad how the World is drifting to the right wing of politics. At the start of his film career where he was offered two successful television films where he wrote, produced and directed and because of his success was then offered to direct a feature film that starred Sir Michael Caine where he played a gangster in the film ‘Get Carter’ [1971] and it was a massive box office success. Because of that success was offered another film to direct and that was ‘PULP’ [1972] that starred Sir Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney. Then Mike Hodges then went to America to direct the Sci-fi/Thriller film ‘Terminal Man’ [1974] and was based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton and it starred George Segal and Jill Clayburgh. But after that the work dried up and was in a wilderness for 5 years, but eventually out of the blue was asked to direct another film and that was ‘The Omen’ [1976] but he hated the script and turned down the offer. Then he was offered to direct the film ‘Damien: Omen II’ [1978] and was very keen as it was politically very interesting to him because of the subject matter, but because he fell out with one of the producers, after just three weeks filming, walked away from that project, and once again Mike Hodges career was rock bottom and going nowhere, but out of the blue was asked to direct the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ and was slightly reluctant at first to take on the project, but due to certain problems agreed to direct the film and in hindsight he was very glad he took on the project, and on top of all that, Mike Hodges learnt a great deal about himself and also had a great deal of fun directing the film. Mike Hodges gets onto the subject of producer Dino de Laurentiis and says that at the start of directing the film they had a very bumpy ride, but once filming got started it all worked out and again it was a terrific experience and by the end of filming they became very good friends. Mike Hodges then gets onto the subject of Danilo Donato who was the Costume, Art, and Production Designer for the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ and had an office overlooking Central Park in New York, and Mike Hodges was invited to visit him to show all of his illustrated storyboards on how sees the look of the film and the illustrations were about 7 feet wide and blocked out the light with all of the windows and found Danilo Donato a very nice Italian man, but he was like a mad hatter and was a very confusing person, because they still did not have any idea of what the film was going to look like and was a really frustrating time, but like things like this, eventually it all worked out in the end. Eventually, Mike Hodges gest round to talking about the box office success of ‘FLASH GORDON,’ which of course did very well in the United Kingdom, but in regards with America and especially the actor Sam J. Jones, fell out with producer Dino de Laurentiis big time and flew back to America and would not come back to the UK to do the audio post sync recording and on top of all that Sam J. Jones would not to the publicity tour and especially the press conferences, but despite this set back, the film eventually did very good business in America. Other countries that the film did extremely well were in Italy, Spain and South America, as those audiences love films with bold red colours. Now Mike Hodges gets onto the subject of comparing ‘FLASH GORDON’ vs ‘Star Wars’ and says you cannot compare the two films, as each film had a different concept and especially again with the colours. Mike Hodges comments that he was not brought up on comic books when he was younger and also did not attend Saturday Morning pictures, or is totally not interested in any kind of fantasy films, and cannot explain why this is so, and he only wanted to direct ‘FLASH GORDON’ because he was offered the job and of course helped his bank balance, and was also very curious if he could direct the film, and of course in the end he really loved directing ‘FLASH GORDON’ and now really loves the film. Mike Hodges then gets onto the subject about the 1985 film ‘Morons From Outer Space’ that he directed, and the film as originally going to be called ‘Illegal Aliens’ and really like the principal behind the film, and was written by two British comedians and they were Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith and it was their first feature film, and starred Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Joanne Pearce, Jimmy Nail and James B. Sikking and was about some dumb aliens who arrive on Planet Earth and eventually became big celebrities, which Mike Hodges feels was very apt for the 21st century. Mike Hodges gets round to talking about Documentary Filmmaking, which was his new line of work throughout the 1960s and found it a wonderful and satisfying experience and one project was a documentary for ITV’s “World in Action” and took him to Vietnam, and then went to America to do some documentary filming and found America vastly different to what he had viewed in feature films. Then Mike Hodges went onto do other TV documentaries on other filmmakers, painters and also people in the arts. After that Mike Hodges was offered to direct the 1998 film ‘Croupier’ and was written by Paul Mayersberg who also did the screenplay for ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ and of course the film ‘Croupier’ starred Clive Owen, Kate Hardie, Alex Kingston, Gina McKee and Nicholas Ball, and because of the bad publicity in the UK, the film was a box office disaster, but a friend of Mike Hodges got to do the distribution rights in America and it had a massive box office success, and the America critics raved about the amazing film, and of course the publicity department in the UK were totally embarrassed of their unprofessional publicity campaign of the film in the UK, then decided to re-release the film because of the success in America and did quite good business in the UK and really gives great criticism of the fickle nature of the film industry as a whole. But because of the late success of the 1998 film ‘Croupier,’ informs us about directing 2003 British crime film ‘I’ll Sleep When I Am Dead’ that stars Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Malcolm McDowell and Sylvia Syms, and found it a very exciting and enjoyable experience and any future films he is asked to direct will only be with actor fiends and some of his relatives. Overall, this was quite an interesting special feature interview and Mike Hodges was quite engaging to listen to about his life and times in the film industry and especially directing all genres of films. I am quite puzzled, that it was filmed in 2020, but was filmed in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio, very strange.
Special Feature: Episode ‘FLASH GORDON’ [Animated TV Series]: Survival Game / Gremlin’s Finest Hour [1982] [1080p] [1.37:1] [24:31] Here you get to view the nostalgic The New Adventures of Flash Gordon: Season 2, Episode 8. I should imagine many people now in their middle-ages would have watched these on Saturday morning cartoon TV series with their Kellogg’s Frosties.
Scenario: Ming sends bounty hunter Aarkon Vae to capture Flash Gordon, but the men are forced to work together when his ship crash-lands on a remote island. Later, Gremlin is captured by the Lizard People, who mistake him for Gargantus, their god.
Voice Cast: Robert Ridgely [Flash Gordon], Alan Oppenheimer [Ming the Merciless / Dr. Hans Zarkov / Aarkon Vae / Lizard guard / Priest], Diane Pershing [Dale Arden], Allan Melvin [Thun], Melendy Britt (voice) and Lou Scheimer [Gremlin / Robot / Lizard man] (uncredited).
Producers: Don Christensen, Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott
Screenplay: Paul Dini (segment "Survival Game") and J. Michael Reaves (segment "Gremlin's Finest Hour").
Composers: Norm Prescott and Ray Ellis
Cinematography: R.W. Pope (Director of Photography)
Special Feature: Sam J. Jones On His Acting Start [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:04] This one catches Sam J. Jones, who played the saviour of the universe looks back as the cult classic 1980 film ‘FLASH GORDON’ and we find him sitting and his own stand selling ‘FLASH GORDON’ memorabilia at what looks like a Comic Con Convention and has him talking about his first few years in the film industry, and what shocked me is his very gruff rough voice and feel that there is something seriously wrong with his vocal chords. Sam J. Jones reveals about his early days growing up and at a certain age asked his grandfather if he could buy one of his cars which was a 1968 Dodge Coronet 440 convertible, because he wanted to go to Los Angeles to be an actor and his grandfather did not put him off and offered to sell the car for $50, even though in reality at the time was worth about $1,000 at that time, and so Sam J. Jones set off to Los Angeles to earn his fortune as an actor for about eight days. But when he did any auditions he was very arrogant and would not listen to any advice, but after about a 100 auditions got the job as Flash Gordon and the rest as they say is history. At that point it ended and I was hoping to hear more about his career after starring in the film ‘FLASH GORDON,’ so slightly disappointed the interview did not last longer.
Special Feature: Entertainment Earth on ‘FLASH GORDON’ Merchandise [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:20] Here we have an interview with Jason Labowitz and Jason Lenzi of Bif Bang Pow! who runs the Entertainment Earth which is a online retailer and wholesaler of licensed collectibles, including action figures, clothing, statues, prop replicas, games, vinyl figures, dolls, and toys. Here they talk about the release of the original ‘FLASH GORDON’ 1980 merchandise that came out in conjunction when the film was released. Here they show us their own ‘FLASH GORDON’ merchandise that they brought out in 2007. The pair talks about how it was a challenge to get the rights to ‘FLASH GORDON’ for their toy merchandise, but at first they had a lot of trouble with Universal Pictures to be able to use the original ‘FLASH GORDON’ logo, but after lengthy talks and Jason Lenzi said to Universal Pictures that they should bring out a DVD of the film, eventually Universal Pictures started to get very savvy when they saw how popular the film ‘FLASH GORDON’ had become and eventually Universal Pictures contacted Jason Lenzi about releasing ‘FLASH GORDON’ on the DVD format and of course Jason Lenzi was proved right and the DVD release of ‘FLASH GORDON’ was a massive seller, and at that point the special feature interview ended.
Special Feature: Bob Lindenmayer on Deleted Scenes and Alternate Scenes [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:12] Here we meet Bob Lindenmayer [Movie Prop Collector] in a small room with lots of rare memorabilia and especially behind him is a very rare ‘FLASH GORDON’ pinball machine produced by Bally. Buy here Bob Lindenmayer describes us in detail what the Deleted Scenes and Alternate Scenes were edited out of the film, and hopes these lost footages has been stashed away somewhere in a vault. At that point the interview ended.
Special Feature: 35th Anniversary Greenroom [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [8:26] On the 28th November, 2015, they held the 35th Anniversary ‘FLASH GORDON’ Reunion in London, UK and Mike Hodges gets to meet some of the cast again for the first time since filming ‘FLASH GORDON.’ It was wonderful to see some of the cast and Mike Hodges together again and in such an informal setting too. Conversation flows naturally and anecdotes about their time filming ‘FLASH GORDON’ and what naughty thing the crew up to by watching porno films in another room. One of the very annoying aspects of filming this event was the very unprofessional camera work, who was all over the place and did keep the camera steady. Contributors include: Melody Anderson [Dale Arden], Brian Blessed [Prince Vultan], Mike Hodges [Director: ‘FLASH GORDON’], Sam J. Jones [Flash Gordon] and Peter Wyngarde [Klytus].
Special Feature: 35th Anniversary Reunion Featurette [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [6:29] Here we get to view the actual 35th ‘FLASH GORDON’ Reunion, London, UK that happened on the 28th November, 2015, following on from the Greenroom meeting, and the stars converge onto stage for a more conventional Q&A, and we get to see the following cast and director arrive on the stage and they were Melody Anderson [Dale Arden], Peter Wyngarde [Klytus], Sam J. Jones [Flash Gordon], Mike Hodges [Director: ‘FLASH GORDON’] and Trevor Butterfield [Hawkman] and was hosted by Jason Lenzi of Bif Bang Pow! and his questions were not particularly probing or even that interesting. But what was annoying is that they keep going back to the 35th Anniversary Greenroom meeting and showing exact same footage what you view in the previous special feature and why could they not of combined both of these special features into one special feature, very strange and it is not a very professional editing. Anyway, despite this, we do get to hear some fascinating behind-the-scene of what went on with filming ‘FLASH GORDON,’ and mainly from Mike Hodges. Then suddenly this Q&A session finishes and we are back to the foyer that you see at the start of this special feature and you see some of the cast signing autographs. So all in all this was quite interesting, but cannot understand why the Q&A session could not have been much longer, so to me this was very disappointing.
Special Feature: Renato Casaro Extended Interview [2020] [1080p] [2.20:1] [5:38] Here we are in the Province of Treviso and is a province in the Veneto region of Italy, where we get to meet Renato Casaro in his home and was the original concept international film poster artist for the ‘FLASH GORDON’ movie poster, which we see the gigantic poster leaning against the wall, unfortunately Renato Casaro can only speak Italian, so at the bottom of the screen we get white English subtitles, where he says, “I went to London, to the studio, to paint, to introduce myself, and discuss the possibility of me creating th Back to homepage
