Let it be said here and now: I have a deep and abiding love for the Republic Serials.
Republic serials (and those of other companies too, but Republic is the best-known name) were shown in 20-minute instalments at the cinema. A serial would last perhaps twelve or fifteen weeks, sandwiched somewhere between the A-movie, B-movie, newsreel and cartoons. Each episode finished with a cliff-hanger ending, to ensure the kids came back next week.
Then they invented television. Without a steady supply of regulars at the cinema, the economics stopped holding up. Cinema serials died in the mid-fifties.
During school holidays in the UK, they’d often run these serials during the daytime. An episode a day in the late morning, sometimes two.
Tales of daring, brave heroes, with ray-guns. And spaceships. Fighting evil, against the odds, each and every week, because it was the right thing to do.
It’s no wonder I turned out the way I did, really.
The best of them all was Flash Gordon.
I loved those Flash Gordon serials. So in the 1980s, when I heard there was a Flash Gordon film, I was desperate to see it.
And what happened? It was as camp as bottled coffee-and-chicory essence. I walked out of that theatre bitterly disappointed. Where was the hero of my younger days?
(In the late 70s, George Lucas attempted to get the rights to Flash Gordon. He couldn’t, and was forced to make up his own SF action-adventure serial films instead. Didn’t work out too badly for him.)
So I’ve been waiting for decades, waiting for someone to do Flash Gordon right.
Last week, there was a huge ad on the cover of Variety. In big type across the front – “Flash Gordon – A hero then, A hero now.”
No more information. A URL to RHI Films. As of this writing, there’s no information at that URL. There’s no news in Variety or the Hollywood reporter. Nothing.
And yet, somewhere out there, Flash Gordon is waiting.
Gordon’s alive…
10 responses to “What do you mean, Flash Gordon approaching?”
Piers – I have a bit more info on the Flash Gordon item you mention here, but I am forbidden to say anything.
Suffice it to say – this isn’t your father’s Flash Gordon.
And truly we are twin sons of different mothers if you love the Republic serials as much as I do. Republic was a marvel of efficiency and craft and made an impact on the industry that is still being felt…
You intrigue me, sir. You intrigue me.
Republic and Doctor Who made me the man I am today. For better or worse.
I know Stephen Sommers owns the rights to Flash Gordon, and has done for some time now.
I’ve got to say, I don’t mind the 1980 film, it’s so far removed from the serials I can appreciate it as a seperate entity. Much in the same way I find the ’60s Batman series hilarious; they’re both pretty much a parody.
It’s when someone attempts to make a serious version and gets so many of the basics wrong that I find annoying. Given that Stephen Sommers is responsible for The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King and Van Helsing – I wouldn’t hold out too much hope; but you never know.
Phillip – Sommers has the rights to the movie version of Flash Gordon…
I thought that’s what the post was about. Is there some other format in the works which I don’t know about?
Well, RHI appear to specialise in mini-series. Which would be a different set of rights entirely.
Oh, I see. I guess I had the wrong end of the stick, again.
Hey, I didn’t even know Sommers had the movie rights.
I still haven’t seen Van Helsing.
Yes, RHI has produced mini-series and the DINOTOPIA series.
And their Flash Gordon will be far wilder than Sommer’s…
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