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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb and.

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Speaker 3: This is Joe McCormick. In. Today's film on Weird House

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Speaker 3: Cinema is the cheeky nineteen eighty science fiction adventure Flash Gordon,

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Speaker 3: allegedly starring Sam J. Jones and Max Foncito, but I

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Speaker 3: would say more like starring Brian Blessed and Queen And boy,

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Speaker 3: what a film this is, you know. I was just

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Speaker 3: thinking about how we cover all kinds of movies on

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Speaker 3: Weird House Cinema. We do good movies, conventionally, bad movies,

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Speaker 3: well known movies, obscure gems, big and small, loud and quiet.

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Speaker 3: But lately I think we've kind of been on a streak.

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Speaker 3: We have featured a lot of very big, very loud

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Speaker 3: type movies extravags, if you will, Specifically movies like this

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Speaker 3: from the early nineteen eighties that are kind of a

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Speaker 3: weirdness overload. So we did The Apple from the year

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Speaker 3: nineteen eighty, we did Zoo Warriors from the Magic Mountain

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Speaker 3: from nineteen eighty three, and now we're back with another

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Speaker 3: movie of this type yet again from the year nineteen

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Speaker 3: eighty and its Flash Gordon. In the tradition of the

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Speaker 3: other two I just mentioned, this movie is a lot.

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Speaker 3: It is almost overwhelming in its thrilling and hilarious flamboyance.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so much here. This is a film I've

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Speaker 2: seen many times over the years, and yet going into

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Speaker 2: it again, you know, watching it maybe for the first

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Speaker 2: time in oh maybe ten years, there's so much I'd forgotten.

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Speaker 2: So there were the big things that I was eager

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Speaker 2: to re experience, and then equally overwhelming things that had

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Speaker 2: slipped my mind, and things that were maybe a little

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Speaker 2: more subtle that are also just as weird and wonderful.

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Speaker 2: So it's quite an experience.

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Speaker 3: You know. There are a lot of things I want

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Speaker 3: to talk about with this movie, but one thing that

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Speaker 3: really struck me about it is that, and of course

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Speaker 3: it's not the only movie of this sort, but it

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Speaker 3: felt really strong here is that this is a movie

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Speaker 3: made with a palpable sense of nostalgia. It feels interesting

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Speaker 3: because this now is a movie that's like forty three,

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Speaker 3: forty four years old. Probably a lot of current adults

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Speaker 3: have nostalgia foreseeing the nineteen eighty Flash Gordon movie as

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Speaker 3: a kid. But it's also a project where you can

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Speaker 3: feel how the filmmakers were trying to with some ironic distance,

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Speaker 3: just like shamelessly indulge in nostalgia for a type of

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Speaker 3: storytelling they themselves had loved as children, maybe forty years

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Speaker 3: or so before that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, getting into Flash Gordon's origins as a Depression

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Speaker 2: era comic book. It's passed as a part of these

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Speaker 2: various action serials and so forth. It was a very

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Speaker 2: influential a series, a very influential fiction on a number

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Speaker 2: of future filmmakers, future writers, future comic book authors and illustrators, etc.

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Speaker 3: Now, this movie is not overtly a comedy. I guess

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Speaker 3: you would say that the genre is science fiction adventure.

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Speaker 3: But it is a deeply funny movie. And you could

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Speaker 3: look at movies like that that are, you know, not

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Speaker 3: overtly comedies but are very funny, as the kind that

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Speaker 3: are intentionally funny and the kind that are not so

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Speaker 3: intentionally funny, maybe the latter category, you know, ed wood

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Speaker 3: films and such. This movie, though, is very intentionally funny,

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Speaker 3: even though comedy is not its overt category. One way

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Speaker 3: I would describe this is a defining sensation in watching

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Speaker 3: Flash Gordon is the thin clacking sound of plastic pieces

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Speaker 3: of costume armor hitting one another in the battle scenes.

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Speaker 3: Like it feels like a significant choice that there was

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Speaker 3: not an attempt to edit out that plastic clacking sound

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Speaker 3: or to like folly in a weightier sound. It's just

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Speaker 3: part of the magic of Flash Gordon. You are supposed

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Speaker 3: to hear the plastic on plastic grind.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point about the plastic armor. Gosh,

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Speaker 2: there's so much plastic armor. Yeah. It is an extravagant

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Speaker 2: campy updating again of this old comic book, this old

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Speaker 2: series into a kind of late seventies cinematic vision comes

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Speaker 2: out in nineteen eighty, but you know very much the

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Speaker 2: late nineteen seventies trajectory getting this film made, and it is,

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Speaker 2: without a doubt, yet another sci fi film of this

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Speaker 2: era that was chasing the hit that was Star Wars,

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Speaker 2: which is ironic, of course, because George Lucas was heavily

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Speaker 2: inspired by the old Flash Gordon comic books and actually

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Speaker 2: wanted to make a film adaptation at one point, but

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Speaker 2: the rights were too expensive, so he began an alternate

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Speaker 2: journey that would result in Star Wars and the Star

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Speaker 2: Wars franchise that would spill out of it. In the

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Speaker 2: wake of the success of Star Wars, however, famed Italian

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Speaker 2: producer Dino de Laurentez, who've talked about on the show before,

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Speaker 2: picked up the film rights and set out to produce

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Speaker 2: the picture.

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Speaker 3: That is funny and Yeah, I was wondering about exactly

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Speaker 3: that kind of thing, because for a long time I've

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Speaker 3: understood that part of the animating spirit behind the creation

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Speaker 3: of Star Wars was an excitement for this type of

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Speaker 3: storytelling that George Lucas remembered from when he was a kid. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: like the adventure serials and stuff, and he wanted to

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Speaker 3: recreate that feeling with his own movie. I don't think

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Speaker 3: I realized that he directly wanted to do an update

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Speaker 3: of the Flash Gordon comics, but that would make a

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Speaker 3: lot of sense. Ultimately we got Star Wars, which is

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Speaker 3: a more new, original kind of thing, which is wonderful

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Speaker 3: in its own right. And then, yeah, like, so you're

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Speaker 3: saying that the Star Wars that George Lucas had to

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Speaker 3: make because he couldn't make he couldn't get the rights

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Speaker 3: to Flash Gordon ultimately inspired them to make a new

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Speaker 3: Flash Gordon movie.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, essentially, Star Wars is an evolution of the

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Speaker 2: basic concept. So in a way, what do you know

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Speaker 2: Delarentis then sets up to do is kind of it

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Speaker 2: almost feels kind of backwards by comparison, Let's go back

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Speaker 2: to the thing that inspired the amazing new thing and

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Speaker 2: see what we can create. And you know, to their credit,

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Speaker 2: it doesn't feel as much in its substance like a

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Speaker 2: Star Wars ripoff. It doesn't feel like you're chasing Star

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Speaker 2: Wars so much, certainly not as much as other pictures

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Speaker 2: we've talked about. But yeah, with this film have come

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Speaker 2: into being without Star Wars being the success that it was,

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Speaker 2: it can make a strong argument that it would not. Now,

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Speaker 2: of course, Dino Delarento's was not going to direct this.

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Speaker 2: It's predominantly it's always been a producer, puts the pieces

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Speaker 2: together right. At one point he had none other than

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Speaker 2: Nicholas Rogue attached, who of course directed The Man Who

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Speaker 2: Fell to Earth, which we previously discussed on the podcast.

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Speaker 3: I love Flash Gordon the way that it is, but

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Speaker 3: I wish we could have seen the Nicholas Rogue version.

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Speaker 3: I'm imagining it would be a lot sadder and more

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Speaker 3: psychologically complex and would have like fifty times more full

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Speaker 3: frontal nudity.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there's there's actually a whole special feature about

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Speaker 2: this project that never came to be on the Arrow

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Speaker 2: Blu ray of Flash Gordon, which I watched for this episode,

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Speaker 2: rendered from videodrome. Of course, Rogue apparently wanted to make

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Speaker 2: a big Hollywood picture, and a lot of work went

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Speaker 2: into writing and storyboarding his vision for Flash and they

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Speaker 2: point out that Rogue was notoriously protective of his vision

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Speaker 2: for a picture. In the end, however, Dino didn't think

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Speaker 2: that his vision was fun or funny enough. It was

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Speaker 2: apparently like pretty serious and you know, just like you'd imagine,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't as campy as what we end up getting.

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Speaker 2: And so he know, de Learnce is get ends up

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Speaker 2: going in a different direction, someone perhaps more suited in

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Speaker 2: his view, you for the vision that he sees for

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Speaker 2: Flash Gordon. And also, according to some of the commentators

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Speaker 2: that they talked to in this feature atte someone who's

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Speaker 2: maybe a little a little more willing to play the

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Speaker 2: game with a producer like Dino. MM. So yeah, it's

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Speaker 2: always fun to imagine, you know, pictures that could have been,

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Speaker 2: especially with some of these big, big films like this,

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Speaker 2: But you know, it's hard to It's hard to imagine

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Speaker 2: another version of Flash Gordon being as fun as this

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Speaker 2: one is.

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Speaker 3: I think that would fully depend on whether they got

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Speaker 3: Brian Blessed or not. And it sounds like the rogue

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Speaker 3: version of this film Brian Blessed's presence would not make

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Speaker 3: as much sense.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he is the atlas holding up this picture. I

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Speaker 2: don't have an elevator pitch for Flash here, Joe, I

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Speaker 2: don't know if you if you do it, I mean,

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Speaker 2: it's it's Flash Gordon. What can I tell you?

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Speaker 3: Here's the elevator pitch?

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Speaker 4: You only have fourteen?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that pretty much sums it up, all right. Let's

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Speaker 2: listen to the original trailer audio here because and if

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Speaker 2: you haven't seen the film, and there's a lot to see,

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Speaker 2: but still, the sonic experience of the trailer is pretty convincing. Clites,

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Speaker 2: I'm bored. What playing can you offer me today?

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Speaker 3: An obscure body in the Escase system of your majesty.

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Speaker 3: The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.

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Speaker 4: I like to play with things while before annihilation.

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Speaker 3: Pathetic Earthlings who can save you now.

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Speaker 1: Dange object imaged in the Imperial Vortex.

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Speaker 2: Move the Earth Woman. Prepare her for our pleasure.

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Speaker 5: Don't kid yet, father, I want him for schools. Can't

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Speaker 5: know it was as.

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Speaker 4: So far as its.

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Speaker 2: Stream all right. Well, if you want to go out

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Speaker 2: and watch nineteen eighties Flash and Gordon, there are multiple

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Speaker 2: places to see the film these days. Wasn't always the case.

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Speaker 2: I remember a period of time when I wanted to

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Speaker 2: pick the movie up and I don't think it was

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Speaker 2: available on disc gett. But again, I watched it on

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Speaker 2: the excellent Arrow Blu ray. That Blu ray also includes

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Speaker 2: the full length documentary Life After Flash amid a bunch

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Speaker 2: of other extras.

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Speaker 3: I just streamed it on one of the major services

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Speaker 3: and the quality was good. So yeah, it's out there,

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Speaker 3: all right.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about the people involved here, Okay. So the

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Speaker 2: director is not Nicholas Road. The director that Dino Dealer

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Speaker 2: Netto has ended up going with is Mike Hodges, who

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Speaker 2: lived nineteen thirty two through twenty twenty two. English director

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Speaker 2: and writer whose first big film hit was nineteen seventy

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Speaker 2: one's Get Carter starring Michael Kine, followed by seventy two's Pulp,

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Speaker 2: seventy four as the Terminal Man, and seventy eight's Damien Omen.

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Speaker 3: Iwo ah, that's the OMEN movie with the all boys

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Speaker 3: Prep school.

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Speaker 2: Okay, have you seen that one? I haven't seen that.

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Speaker 2: I know you went through a tear with your Omen

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Speaker 2: movies a while back.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, a couple of years ago, or either last year

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Speaker 3: or the year. Maybe it's just last year. Rachel and

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Speaker 3: I watched all of the Omen movies. We enjoyed the

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Speaker 3: second one. I don't know if i'd say it was good,

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Speaker 3: but we enjoyed.

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Speaker 2: I just Subsequent credits after Flash included eighty five Morons

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Speaker 2: from Outer Space, eighty nine's Black Rainbow, and two thousand

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Speaker 2: and threes I'll Sleep when I'm Dead. Also, he did

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Speaker 2: some TV, including a nineteen eighty six action movie called

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Speaker 2: Florida Straits with Raal Julia in the lead role. And

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Speaker 2: he also did two music videos for Queen Flash, which

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Speaker 2: is of course, is one of them. The songs from

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Speaker 2: this film, as well as body language.

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Speaker 3: Weird coincidental or I would assume coincidental. Double Panos Cosmados

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Speaker 3: overlap This guy is a movie called Black Rainbow, and

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Speaker 3: in Flash there's a planet called Arborea, which is the

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Speaker 3: name of the center in Beyond the Black Rainbow by

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Speaker 3: Penos Cazmonos.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, connections are there. One has to believe they have meaning. Now,

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Speaker 2: apparently Hodges had the right energy for this project, which,

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Speaker 2: according to some of the bits I was watching on

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Speaker 2: the Blu ray, involves a lot of sort of going

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Speaker 2: with the flow on such a large and at times

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Speaker 2: it sounds like maybe slightly chaotic project, you know, because

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Speaker 2: you know, a lot of moving pieces, and I think

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Speaker 2: there were definitely some places where they say that you know,

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Speaker 2: they had to kind of make things up on the

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Speaker 2: fly to figure out how to piece everything together.

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Speaker 3: I think with one advantage of doing a big extravaganza

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Speaker 3: movie like this is that the success of the film

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Speaker 3: doesn't hang so much on the on the story being

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Speaker 3: executed in a coherent way, so like you can have

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Speaker 3: you can have a lot of things kind of like

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Speaker 3: get pieces get moved around and things get messed with,

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Speaker 3: and still over all the experience will kind of work.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't have to be perfect with Flashboard,

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Speaker 2: which is not to discount of the talent that went

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Speaker 2: into this film, Like so much about the just the

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Speaker 2: visual flare of the film, and we're not even gonna

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Speaker 2: be able to get into all the names involved there.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, so many pieces do come together perfectly. It's

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Speaker 2: just that you can definitely tell their moments where things

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Speaker 2: feel like certain scenes have been rushed in terms of

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Speaker 2: the overall vision for the picture and the flow of

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Speaker 2: the plot. Uh huh, all right. The screenplay credit goes

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Speaker 2: to Lorenzo simple Junior I live nineteen twenty three through

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Speaker 2: twenty fourteen, American writer whose credits include one hundred and

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Speaker 2: twenty episodes of the original Batman series, which I think

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Speaker 2: is telling, but also films like nineteen seventy three's Papillon,

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Speaker 2: seventy four's The Parallax View, seventy fives, Three Days of

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Speaker 2: the Condor, the nineteen seventy six King Cang movie, nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty three is Never Say Never Again, and nineteen eighty

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Speaker 2: four Shena. The other writer that's credited is Michael Allen,

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Speaker 2: whose other credits include Enter the Dragon and Also I

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Speaker 2: Have Do and other titles, but Flash being the biggest

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Speaker 2: by far, and it's where we also should point out

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Speaker 2: that the character Flash Gordon was created by Alex Raymond,

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Speaker 2: who lived nineteen oh nine through nineteen fifty six, an

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Speaker 2: American cartoonist an illustrator who created Flash four King Features

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Speaker 2: Syndicate back in nineteen thirty four. And I believe it

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Speaker 2: was essentially an attempt to like, like, Okay, the competitor

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Speaker 2: has Buck Rogers, we need a Buck Rogers too. Let's

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Speaker 2: make him. Okay, what are we gonna call him? Well,

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Speaker 2: we can't call him Buck. How about Flash? We can't

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Speaker 2: call him Rogers? How about Gordon? There you go, make

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Speaker 2: it work. And it grew from that. All right. Now,

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Speaker 2: getting into the cast here, I'm gonna try and divide

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Speaker 2: it up among like our core factions. You know, it's

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Speaker 2: sort of like Game of Thrones here we have different

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Speaker 2: factions involved. Yeah, we're gonna start with the Earth Links,

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Speaker 2: all right. First up, we have Sam J. Jones as

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Speaker 2: Flash Gordon born nineteen fifty four, former US marine model

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Speaker 2: and American football player, who was cast in this film

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Speaker 2: over various hot commodities in Hollywood due to his debut

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Speaker 2: in the nineteen seventy nine Blake Edwards ten. His professional

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Speaker 2: life after Flash, which again is the subject part of

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Speaker 2: the subject of his twenty seventeen documentary, consisted of a

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Speaker 2: lot of TV work, as well as films like eighty

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Speaker 2: five's Jungle Heat, ninety two's Maximum Force, and a lot

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Speaker 2: of just you know, general action television action films, not

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Speaker 2: necessarily like the cream of the crop, you know, But

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Speaker 2: he worked a lot more recently. He was in both

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Speaker 2: Ted and Ted two, and he remains active to this day.

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Speaker 3: It's easy to see why he was cast when you

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Speaker 3: think about this movie as a comic book adaptation, because

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Speaker 3: he has such a comic book illustration look about him,

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Speaker 3: more so than most biological humans.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no denying has a great look. Also no

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Speaker 2: denying that he's rather green. But at the same time,

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Speaker 2: it's it's almost unfair to compare his acting to other

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Speaker 2: actors in the film, because you know, he and also

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Speaker 2: is co star Melody Anderson, who will talk about in

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Speaker 2: a minute. I mean, they're in there with just an

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Speaker 2: international cast that features not only like very tenured actors,

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Speaker 2: but also generational talents, and so it's you know, how

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Speaker 2: can you compare one to the other. And then also,

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Speaker 2: and I think this is more important, he gets there's

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Speaker 2: a fair amount of fun that's made at the expense

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Speaker 2: of this character and to a certain degree of this performance.

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Speaker 2: But I think it's pretty perfect, right, I mean, what

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Speaker 2: more do you want from the role of Flash Gordon here?

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, come on, let's be nice to Sam J. Jones.

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Speaker 3: He does Flash great. You know what, what what would

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Speaker 3: you change? What kind of notes are you going to

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Speaker 3: give him?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean if we were talking about Nicholas Rogues

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Speaker 2: Flash Gordon. Yeah, okay, maybe that's that's a different animal

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Speaker 2: we're envisioning. But this vision, this Flash Gordon, I think

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Speaker 2: there's nobody else you put in there. I've read that

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Speaker 2: people like Arnold and even Kurt Russell who would have

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Speaker 2: been interesting in this role, you know, I've heard that

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Speaker 2: they were up for it, but it just I can't

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Speaker 2: imagine it wouldn't be the same, wouldn't be the same.

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Speaker 2: I'd go as far as to say that Arnold, even

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Speaker 2: at the time, would have been wrong for this role.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm an Arnold defender. You know, a lot of

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Speaker 3: people make fun of Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting, but I think

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Speaker 3: he's actually a better actor in a lot of ways

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Speaker 3: than people give him credit for. But I don't know

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Speaker 3: if he's who I want is Flash?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm definitely not in nineteen eight now, I

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Speaker 2: mentioned Melody Anderson. This is the actress playing Dale Arden.

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Speaker 2: This is the other key Earthling. This is his I

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Speaker 2: guess it's not his girlfriend at the beginning, but becomes

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Speaker 2: essentially the Flash Gordon love interest.

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Speaker 3: Yes.

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Speaker 4: So.

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Speaker 2: Anderson was born in nineteen fifty five Canadian actress who

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Speaker 2: started off on TV with small parts and shows like

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Speaker 2: Welcome Back Cotter, the Logan's Run TV series Battlestar Galactica.

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Speaker 2: She also had a supporting role in John Carpenter's nineteen

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Speaker 2: seventy nine Elvis TV.

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Speaker 3: Movie Oh interesting, Did that have Kurt Russell in it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? That was Kurt Russell as Elvis.

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Speaker 3: Okay.

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Speaker 2: She followed up Flash with a nineteen eighty one horror

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Speaker 2: movie Dead and Buried nineteen eighty six is Firewalker, and

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Speaker 2: various TV shows. She retired from acting in the mid nineties.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think Melody Anderson's a lot of fun

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Speaker 3: in this. She has the right you could tell she

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Speaker 3: has the right sense of humor in approaching this role.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so I like her in this role as well.

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Speaker 2: All right, So that's two out of three Earthlings. The

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Speaker 2: important third is doctor Hans Zarkoff played by Topol Topel

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Speaker 2: lived nineteen thirty five through twenty twenty three Israeli actor, singer,

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Speaker 2: and illustrator, best known for his starring role in nineteen

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Speaker 2: seventy one's Fiddler on the Roof and his supporting role

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Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty one's For Your Eyes Only. It's been

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Speaker 2: a while since I've seen For Your Eyes Only. He's

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Speaker 2: not the villain in that Bond movie.

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Speaker 3: He's like no, he plays like ally. Yeah, he plays

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Speaker 3: a criminal that Bond ends up joining forces with to

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Speaker 3: to take out the villain in the end. He's he's

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Speaker 3: sort of like a lovable rascal smuggler.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Other projects of note include the starring role in

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Speaker 2: a in a nineteen seventy five Galileo movie, and he

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Speaker 2: also shows up in one episode of Tales of the Unexpected.

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Speaker 2: And I have to say it's it's easy to forget

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Speaker 2: about this performance in a movie that features both you know,

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Speaker 2: Brian Blessed and Max Foncido just aiming for the rafters

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Speaker 2: with their performances, but Topaul hits the ground running with

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Speaker 2: some just great a ridiculousness just also just really chewing

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Speaker 2: up the scenery. Well. Also later on the picture, you know,

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Speaker 2: breathing varying degrees of not only ham but also thoughtfulness

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Speaker 2: in some of the scenes. So it's he does a

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Speaker 2: great job.

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Speaker 3: And you know, for this picture, yes, I'm gonna say

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Speaker 3: this character and to Paul's performance is all over the map.

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Speaker 3: It's inconsistent, but it's mostly very good. Like he's zany

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Speaker 3: in some scenes, and he brings a very good, convincing zaniness.

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Speaker 3: There is one scene I want to talk about later

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Speaker 3: that I think is just wildly tonally inappropriate for the

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Speaker 3: movie in that it gets very serious and even emotionally

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Speaker 3: moving in a way that does not exactly feel welcome

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Speaker 3: in the context. But it's mostly because of him that

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Speaker 3: it works out that way, and it's quite powerful. Strangely,

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Speaker 3: I think you know what I'm talking about, Like the

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Speaker 3: mind conditioning scene.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that'll be a good one to talk about.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's get into Ming's court though. This is

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Speaker 2: like the centerpiece of the film. And of course, as

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Speaker 2: we mentioned already, we have Max Foncito playing Ning the merciless.

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Speaker 2: Foncito lived nineteen twenty nine through twenty twenty.

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Speaker 3: So one of the things that has not aged well

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Speaker 3: about this movie is that I think it's pretty undeniable

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Speaker 3: that there are some elements of racial caricature in the

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Speaker 3: way Ming the Merciless is imagined.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is important to note that the character Ming

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Speaker 2: is along with the likes of fictional characters like Fu

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Speaker 2: Manchu and more than a couple of characters from like

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Speaker 2: Marvel Comics and so forth. There are examples of the

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Speaker 2: quote yellow menace trope, and it's also a character here

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Speaker 2: that's steeped in orientalism and racial stereotypes. Various later adaptations

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Speaker 2: of Flash have sought to distance the character from these origins,

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Speaker 2: and I don't know. In this picture we see kind

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Speaker 2: of like a mixed approach there where certain things are done,

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Speaker 2: but also you could make a strong argument that not

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Speaker 2: enough is done, certainly by modern standards.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So from what I understand, I'm not deep on

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Speaker 3: a Flash Gordon lore. From what I understand, the character

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Speaker 3: is an alien, so it's not like he is from

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Speaker 3: a country on Earth. But it's just that in the

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Speaker 3: way he is depicted, it relies a lot on like

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Speaker 3: on visual and thematic cues associated with stereotypical Asian villains,

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Speaker 3: mainly Fu Manchu.

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Speaker 2: Right, Right, So that's that's undeniable with this particular film.

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Speaker 2: For a long time, I always felt like, Okay, well,

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Speaker 2: Meing here feels more Satanic, he feels more like they

402
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Speaker 2: patterned him after the Church of Satan's founder Anton LaVey.

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Speaker 2: But I was looking into that more recently, and I

404
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Speaker 2: saw folks online pointing out that Leavey may have patterned

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Speaker 2: his personal look on Ming the Merciless, Oh, because he

406
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Speaker 2: would have grown up with the old flash comics and

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Speaker 2: and I assumed the older film adaptations and serials and

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Speaker 2: so forth. So on one hand, though, if they did

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Speaker 2: do that, if they did say, let's make Meing more

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Speaker 2: like Anton LaVey, well, if Anton Lavay was mimicking Ming

411
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Speaker 2: the Merciless from the old comic books, then then what

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Speaker 2: do you do? Just going in a circle at this point.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say that in this movie some visual

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Speaker 3: elements that I think are still being borrowed from the

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Speaker 3: racial caricature version of this character are there on the way,

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Speaker 3: on the way that Max Fonsido is dressed and stuff,

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Speaker 3: But it is not there in Vonsido's performance, Like he's

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Speaker 3: not performing a racial caricature, if that makes any sense.

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Speaker 2: Right, He's not doing a voice, he's playing it and

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Speaker 2: he's playing it pretty straight and really he brings a

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Speaker 2: certain grandeur to the role, like it's it's you know,

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Speaker 2: these issues aside, it's a very fun performance. It's a

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Speaker 2: it's a very you know, over the top and entertaining

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Speaker 2: villain role.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I would agree. So it's just it's just a

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Speaker 3: bummer that these elements are still somewhat there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Now as for Max Foncito, Yeah, legendary Swedish French actor.

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Speaker 2: I think everyone has seen something he was in. If you,

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Speaker 2: you know, have have watched then movies at all, you

430
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Speaker 2: stand a really good chance. Because he was active for

431
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Speaker 2: like seventy years, his career span that long. His Swiss

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Speaker 2: credits go back to nineteen forty nine. Igmar Bergman's nineteen

433
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 2: fifty seventh film, The Seventh Seal was his real like

434
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:13,400
Speaker 2: international breakthrough role, expanding his career to include a host

435
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 2: of European and American films. His many films include nineteen

436
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,360
Speaker 2: seventy three's The Exorcist, nineteen eighty two's Conan the Barbarian,

437
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,080
Speaker 2: eighty three's Strange Brew just to you know, mix it

438
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 2: up a little bit, eighty four's Dreamscape, eighty four's Dune.

439
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 2: He is in Ghostbusters two, he's the uncredited voice of

440
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,880
Speaker 2: Vigo the Carpathian, the real villain of that piece.

441
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't know that.

442
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, nineteen nineties, Awakenings, nineteen ninety three's Needful Things. He's

443
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,280
Speaker 2: in the ninety five Judge Dread Movie, two thousand and

444
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 2: two's Minority Report two thousand and nine, Solomon Kane. He late,

445
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 2: very late in his career. He pops up in twenty

446
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,480
Speaker 2: fifteen Star Wars, The Force Awakens and TV's Game of Thrones.

447
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,880
Speaker 3: Wait, I feel like I see more Dino connections here,

448
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 3: didn't Dino de la Reenti produced the eighty four Dune,

449
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 3: directed by David Lynch.

450
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think he must have been a favorite of Dinos. Yeah. Interesting,

451
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:12,400
Speaker 2: But he's he's again one of these actors who drop

452
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 2: him in just about anything, be it something like very

453
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,119
Speaker 2: serious or something more on the campy, you know, or

454
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:21,240
Speaker 2: even blockbuster scale, and he brings he brings a certain

455
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 2: grandeur to the role, he brings a certain power in presence.

456
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 3: He improves anything he's in.

457
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, So that's Meing the Merciless. But Meing

458
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 2: has a daughter, and this is Princess Aura, played by

459
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:39,160
Speaker 2: Ornella Muti born nineteen fifty five. This is the evil princess,

460
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 2: evil seductive princess, very sort of typical role that you

461
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,639
Speaker 2: might imagine if you haven't seen the film. Muti an Italian,

462
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 2: is an Italian actress who's who has worked extensively in

463
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,439
Speaker 2: Italian TV and film. So a lot of her credits

464
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,639
Speaker 2: are not things I'm that familiar with, but her early

465
00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 2: credits include Romberto Lindsay's Oasis of Fear that's from nineteen

466
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,919
Speaker 2: seventy one. Ray Lovelocke is in that we've touched on

467
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 2: Ray love Locke before, but she went on to appear

468
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 2: in such films as Tales of Ordinary Madness in nineteen

469
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,200
Speaker 2: eighty one and the nineteen seventy nine Russo Italian movie

470
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:14,120
Speaker 2: Life Is Beautiful.

471
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,920
Speaker 3: She does also some wonderfully comical overacting in this, which

472
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,720
Speaker 3: again I think is intentional, Like the way she's ogling

473
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 3: Flash Gordon in the first scene where he comes into

474
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,880
Speaker 3: the palace. Throne room is hilarious.

475
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,919
Speaker 2: Now another this is essentially our b villain. This is

476
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:37,719
Speaker 2: means immediate underling that Lord's over his secret police. This

477
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 2: is the character Clytis, who is kind of a if

478
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:45,040
Speaker 2: you're familiar with this character think Doctor Doom except gold Mask,

479
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:46,919
Speaker 2: and that's essentially who this character is.

480
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 3: Yeah.

481
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:53,639
Speaker 2: Great villain, extremely over the top, perfect sardonic vocal performance

482
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 2: by the actor here, and also a physical performance which

483
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 2: seems unnecessary given how heavy these costs all apparently work

484
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 2: like even if they are made of plastic instead of metal,

485
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,159
Speaker 2: these were apparently really weighty.

486
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he also is just like a comical depiction

487
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:14,800
Speaker 3: of evil in that he frequently makes statements of disgust

488
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,280
Speaker 3: whenever someone expresses love or selflessness in any way. You know,

489
00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 3: somebody is like flash, I love you, and he's like pathetic.

490
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a fun performance. The actor here is

491
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 2: Peter Wingard, who lived nineteen twenty seven through twenty eighteen,

492
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 2: British television, stage and film actor, best known without the

493
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 2: Mask for playing the fictional Jason King and a pair

494
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 2: of British TV shows. His other credits include sixty one's

495
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,480
Speaker 2: The Innocence and nineteen sixty two's Night of the.

496
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 3: Eagle Top Shelf hinge Yes.

497
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 2: Then then there's another hint, and this is kind of

498
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 2: Clytus's Hinchman or hinchwoman, and that is Kala, played by

499
00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 2: Marian gli Malato, who lived nineteen forty one through twenty thirteen,

500
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 2: an Italian actress whose other credits include nineteen seventy three's

501
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 2: Love and Anarchy and nineteen seventy four is Swept Away.

502
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 2: Both of these were directed by Lena Vertmula, And we're

503
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 2: co starring gian Carlo Janini, who, of course great Italian

504
00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 2: actor who's been in a lot of big international films.

505
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 3: Yeah she I guess we're gonna have to say this

506
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 3: about a lot of actors in this movie. But she

507
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:28,200
Speaker 3: also is doing some very pleasing overacting, just like really

508
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,720
Speaker 3: punctuated over annunciation of her lines, if you know what

509
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 3: I'm talking about. Yeah, it's really good stuff. She has

510
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 3: a lot of really good lines that get singled out

511
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 3: and appear in the Queen tracks. I guess we'll get

512
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 3: to that in a minute. But like when dialogue is

513
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 3: sampled from the movie, a lot of the dialogue is

514
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 3: either Brian blessed or her saying lines like what do

515
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 3: you mean flash Gordon approaching?

516
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's flash of Gordon. Go big or

517
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 2: go home? Shoot for the rafters. Don't leave your subtle

518
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,160
Speaker 2: acting at home, because that's why what that's not what

519
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 2: this movie is about.

520
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 3: And yet the very next actor we're going to talk about,

521
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 3: I would say gives one of the sort of straightest,

522
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,840
Speaker 3: cleanest performances in the movie. And yet is I would

523
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 3: say quite good.

524
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, we're getting into the faction of the Arboians,

525
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 2: who are I guess you describe him as space elves

526
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 2: kind of like what if the Ewoks were British dudes.

527
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what you have exactly right, Yeah, if the

528
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 3: Ewoks were just humans dressed like Robin hood.

529
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 2: Yes, there's space Robin Hoods. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, we

530
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 2: have Prince Baron is Baron here Baron? They just say Baron, Yeah, Baron.

531
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 2: Prince Baron played by the great Timothy Dunton.

532
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 3: In this role. He is handsome, suave, dangerous. He's great

533
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 3: when he's one of the bad guys, and he's great

534
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 3: when he's one of the good guys. I really like

535
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 3: him in this.

536
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's got that swashbucklan mustache. So it's a

537
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 2: great look for this film. That is, you know, ultimately

538
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 2: hinging on a lot of nostalgia for the like old

539
00:30:58,120 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 2: action serials and so forth.

540
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:00,960
Speaker 3: Totally Yeah.

541
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 2: So yeah, future James Bond here at the time, he

542
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 2: already had some really impressive credits, including sixty eight's The

543
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:10,840
Speaker 2: Line in Winter, seventy's Cromwell, a nineteen seventy adaptation of

544
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 2: Worthering Heights. Of course, he plays the lead in that.

545
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 2: What's his name not Garfield, the other one Heathcliff. Yeah,

546
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 2: and he followed Flash up with a number of period

547
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,840
Speaker 2: pieces for TV before taking up the role of Double

548
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 2: O seven for nineteen eighty seven's The Living Daylights.

549
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,840
Speaker 3: Funny thinking about Wuthering Heights because Heathcliff is a classic

550
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:35,480
Speaker 3: byronic hero, and Baron in this movie is kind of

551
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 3: a byronic hero.

552
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 2: That's true.

553
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, you need a character like that in a movie

554
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,840
Speaker 3: where your other like romantic lead guy is just a football.

555
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 2: Beef man, you know. And I think maybe this comes

556
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 2: back to his casting in the James Bond franchise. He

557
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 2: only did the two films, the other one being Licensed

558
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 2: to Kill from eighty nine the follow up, but he

559
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,160
Speaker 2: was kind of like a pivot to a more dangerous

560
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 2: Bond right getting away from the Roger Moore series, which

561
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 2: I mean a lot of love for Roger Moore, but

562
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 2: I think at the time people had kind of maybe

563
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 2: had enough of the Hammier comic side of Bond, and

564
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,880
Speaker 2: they wanted something a little harder, which is kind of

565
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 2: an up and down trajectory you see throughout the entire franchise.

566
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:23,120
Speaker 3: Roger Moore is a very languid, dry humored Bond. You know,

567
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 3: he's just he's a very raised eyebrow and quip kind

568
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:30,040
Speaker 3: of Bond. Timothy Dalton. Yeah, they brought in to be

569
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 3: a much darker, meaner, more emotional and dangerous feeling James Bond.

570
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 4: Yeah.

571
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of unpleasant Bond, if you will, But.

572
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 3: In a way that's an interesting place to take the character.

573
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I remember I was quite a

574
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,040
Speaker 2: fan of him back in the day because when I

575
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,400
Speaker 2: was a kid during my Key Bond movie appreciation period,

576
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,000
Speaker 2: like he was the new Bond, he was the current Bond,

577
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 2: and I remember feeling a bit betrayed when we changed

578
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 2: Bonds after only two films. I was like, no, this

579
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,840
Speaker 2: is You're not supposed to switch out after two You're

580
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:05,320
Speaker 2: supposed to keep it, keep him going for just years

581
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:06,240
Speaker 2: and years and years.

582
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 3: Yeah. I could see what you mean, especially because after

583
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 3: after him doing two movies, they switched to Pierce Brosnan,

584
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,960
Speaker 3: which was basically a reversion to the Roger Moore bond. Yeah,

585
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 3: it's more again the raised eyebrow and the quip.

586
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 2: And then going dangerous again with the with the harder bond.

587
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 2: So I think we're due for a comic bond. I'm

588
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 2: people keep talking about, Oh, which which which handsome fella

589
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 2: or or or lady or what have you is gonna

590
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 2: play bond next? But really the pattern shows we need

591
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 2: somebody funny, We need somebody with that dry wit.

592
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 3: And like a bond who doesn't sweat. You know. This

593
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 3: is the thing about the funnier bonds, like Pierce Brosnan

594
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,520
Speaker 3: and Roger Moore, just seems like they they move less.

595
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:49,240
Speaker 3: They're more just stationary, you know.

596
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we'll see what they put together, all right.

597
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 2: So that's the Prince of the Arboians. They are a

598
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,560
Speaker 2: bunch of Arborians, but the only other one that really

599
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 2: matters for just our quick discussion here. We may touch

600
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 2: on some others later on, but we have Richard O'Brien

601
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,760
Speaker 2: playing the character Fikoh. I didn't catch him at first.

602
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 2: It took me a bit to realize, like, oh wait

603
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 2: a minute, that bold guy's Richard O'Brien. Yeah, that's right.

604
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,399
Speaker 2: Born nineteen forty two, the mastermind behind the Rocky Horror

605
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 2: Picture Show, in which he also played riff Raff, the

606
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:22,880
Speaker 2: future Mister Hand in nineteen ninety eight's Dark City. So

607
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,680
Speaker 2: it's a very small role, of fun role. And we'll

608
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:28,359
Speaker 2: come back to Rich O'Brien another time.

609
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:30,279
Speaker 3: Are we done with the cast yet?

610
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:34,719
Speaker 2: No? No, because the next faction, we can't forget the

611
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:39,720
Speaker 2: hawk Men. Oh yeah, and we cannot, absolutely cannot forget

612
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:45,240
Speaker 2: the Prince of the Hawkmen, Prince Voltan, played by Brian Blessed.

613
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,799
Speaker 3: Brian Blessed, did you say.

614
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:54,319
Speaker 2: That's right? Oh my god? This has any actor ever

615
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,480
Speaker 2: made such a feast of his lines as Brian Blessed

616
00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:58,360
Speaker 2: in this film.

617
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:01,319
Speaker 3: Maybe I've said this before, but he is vomiting digestive

618
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,239
Speaker 3: enzymes all over the scenery so he can slurp it

619
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:05,360
Speaker 3: up like a spider.

620
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 2: Yeah. He has like the galactus of consuming the scenery

621
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 2: for sure. Oh my god. Every moment Brian Blessed is

622
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,080
Speaker 2: unscreen in this is just amazing. Just I mean, a

623
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:18,879
Speaker 2: booming actor for starters. Even if you didn't see him,

624
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,840
Speaker 2: oh you've only heard him if he were voicing a puppet.

625
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 2: It would be overpowering, and it's just so intense. But

626
00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:27,200
Speaker 2: on top of that, you get to see him and

627
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 2: he has this, you know, just intense eyes and a

628
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,960
Speaker 2: laugh that somehow manages to allow you to see all

629
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 2: of his upper teeth at once.

630
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:37,880
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. One way I was thinking about it was,

631
00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 3: you know, when there's an actor in a movie who

632
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,520
Speaker 3: only has one line, they're like a little bit part.

633
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 3: They have one line, but they're trying to be really memorable,

634
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,680
Speaker 3: so they go way over the top. He's like that,

635
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,760
Speaker 3: except he has like fifty lines and he treats every

636
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:52,839
Speaker 3: one of them like that.

637
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 2: He does Oh my god, like the famous one that

638
00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 2: will come back to being Gordon's alive. Even do it

639
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 2: the way he does, like the way he says it.

640
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:07,839
Speaker 2: He just complains, you've heard it. It's just how does

641
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:09,280
Speaker 2: he do it? I don't know. It's amazing.

642
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:14,880
Speaker 3: He looks like he has bitten people's fingers off, you know. Yeah,

643
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 3: and just imagine somebody got too close and he just chomped.

644
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, just amazing physical presence. They would be

645
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 2: clear the hawkmen as well described, but they are wearing

646
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:30,480
Speaker 2: like sort of like leather pants and like and belts

647
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:35,000
Speaker 2: and they have big like helmets on with horns, and

648
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,879
Speaker 2: then they have full sized like eagle wings. So there's

649
00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 2: a lot going on here in the visual presentation of

650
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:42,200
Speaker 2: Prince Fulton.

651
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,359
Speaker 3: A lot of leather straps and stuff, and they've got

652
00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:47,799
Speaker 3: these clubs that have a hook on the end. It's

653
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,520
Speaker 3: a very nasty looking weapon.

654
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, vicious cudgel. And then I think they all have

655
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:57,240
Speaker 2: spray tand on as well. Yes, all right, so we'll

656
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 2: keep talking about Brian Blessed, but yeah, he is a

657
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:04,279
Speaker 2: legendary actor of stage, screen and TV. A lot of

658
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 2: his early roles were on TV shows, such as the

659
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,760
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty three Musketeers series, in which he of course

660
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:15,760
Speaker 2: played Porthos. He was also on The Avengers a few times.

661
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 2: Other TV roles include I Claudius in seventy six. He

662
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:22,879
Speaker 2: was on multiple episodes of black Adder in eighty three.

663
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,279
Speaker 2: He was in an eighty three adaptation of the Hound

664
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:27,880
Speaker 2: of the Baskervilles. He was on Doctor Who in eighty six.

665
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 2: He was on the series Crossbow in eighty seven, and

666
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:33,400
Speaker 2: he made a big splash, of course in Henry the

667
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:37,280
Speaker 2: Fifth in nineteen eighty nine, directed by and starring Kenneth Bronna.

668
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:38,800
Speaker 3: Oh did he play Exeter?

669
00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:40,759
Speaker 2: I had to look it up, but yes, yes, that

670
00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 2: was the role he played in The Nice Perfect He'd

671
00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,560
Speaker 2: ate ultimately appear in four of the five Shakespeare films

672
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 2: directed by Kenneth Bronna, the others being Much Ado About

673
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 2: Nothing in ninety three, Hamlet in ninety six, and As

674
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 2: You Like It in two thousand and six.

675
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,600
Speaker 3: I can just really imagine him getting mad about tennis balls.

676
00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:05,040
Speaker 2: So really too many things to list here, but we

677
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:06,800
Speaker 2: do have to mention that he provided the voice of

678
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:10,279
Speaker 2: Boss n Ass in The Phantom Menace and continues to

679
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 2: do just a lot of voice work, so he's still

680
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:13,800
Speaker 2: still active, at least as a voice actor.

681
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:18,440
Speaker 3: Has anybody ever interviewed him about like what he was

682
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,680
Speaker 3: thinking going into this role? Like what why did he

683
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:24,480
Speaker 3: choose to act to the level that he did?

684
00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:28,600
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't see anything offhand. I'm sure someone

685
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:31,040
Speaker 2: has asked him about it, but I mean I don't know.

686
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 2: I almost like, why would I question the man, Like, Yes,

687
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 2: he nailed it, you know. I mean this is a

688
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,959
Speaker 2: very like loud, boisterous character and he's just played as

689
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:49,319
Speaker 2: loudly and boisterously as possible. Okay, all right. Now at

690
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:51,399
Speaker 2: this point we're gonna we're gonna skip ahead a little

691
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,800
Speaker 2: bit again. I'm skipping over so many talented people involved

692
00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 2: with the visual look of the picture. But we've got

693
00:38:57,760 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 2: to get to the music.

694
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,640
Speaker 3: Oh lord, the music. That's one of the real stars

695
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:03,440
Speaker 3: of the film.

696
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:05,839
Speaker 2: That's right, because now we have sort of two things

697
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:07,839
Speaker 2: going on with the music here. We have the more

698
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 2: traditional swashbuckling orchestra music in this picture, and it's very

699
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:17,320
Speaker 2: effective and again fitting since you know swashbuckling and so forth.

700
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,360
Speaker 2: But this is the work of Howard Blake born nineteen

701
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 2: thirty eight, whose scores include nineteen seventy seven's of the Duellists,

702
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 2: That's the Ridley Scott Picture eighty three's Amityville three D,

703
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,200
Speaker 2: and he was nominated for a BAFTA for his work

704
00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:34,920
Speaker 2: on this film. But the rest of the music is

705
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:39,360
Speaker 2: famously the work of the legendary rock band Queen.

706
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 3: I knew the song the theme song from Flash Gordon

707
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 3: before I knew there was a movie Flash Gordon, like

708
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,200
Speaker 3: way back when I was letting like middle school. I

709
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 3: somehow was able to download an MP three of the

710
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,880
Speaker 3: Queen song Flash and not even realize that it was

711
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,200
Speaker 3: connected to a movie. I just leught there were these

712
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:01,480
Speaker 3: wacky lines people were saying in the song.

713
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, because the track as is featured on the soundtrack

714
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:08,040
Speaker 2: for the album, which is available you know, anywhere you stream,

715
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,440
Speaker 2: anywhere you find Queen music, you can find this. It

716
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:16,400
Speaker 2: has all these samples from the picture, which in their

717
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 2: tremendous samples, like any they managed to fit like so

718
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 2: many great lines into the track.

719
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:23,920
Speaker 3: We get Flash gordons alive, we get what do you mean,

720
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 3: Flash Gordon approaching? We get I think dispatch war rocket

721
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 3: Ajax to bring back his body.

722
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,880
Speaker 2: Yes, so many great lines. So this movie in nineteen

723
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 2: eighty six is Highlander. Are the only films that Queen

724
00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:41,520
Speaker 2: ever really worked on in this sort of exclusive capacity,

725
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 2: you know, in both cases creating tracks exclusively for these films,

726
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,759
Speaker 2: with Flash being the only film where Queen contributed not

727
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,040
Speaker 2: only to the soundtrack but also to the score. This

728
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 2: is something I don't think I quite appreciated as much

729
00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 2: until recently. But yeah, some of the most stirring and

730
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:03,600
Speaker 2: just vibe defining tracks in the score for Flash Gordon

731
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 2: are Queen compositions.

732
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, so there is the main theme which we

733
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 3: can talk about I mean that has like singing in lyrics,

734
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,279
Speaker 3: but there also is a lot of just great sort

735
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,280
Speaker 3: of mood music, you know, setting the scene for things

736
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:19,920
Speaker 3: happening in the plot. That is part of the Queen score.

737
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,840
Speaker 3: You know, these great these drum tracks when they're like

738
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,839
Speaker 3: approaching the Imperial Vortex and the you know, the the

739
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 3: pulsing synthesizers and all that that are just doing the

740
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 3: you know, the regular work that a film score needs

741
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:34,439
Speaker 3: to do to put you in the in the right

742
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,319
Speaker 3: frame of mind for a scene. But it's it's part

743
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:38,520
Speaker 3: of what Queen contributed.

744
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So the writing credits are broken up a bit,

745
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,279
Speaker 2: but Freddie Mercury is credited for Ming's theme. This is

746
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 2: a blistering synth number that plays whenever, especially the first

747
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:53,320
Speaker 2: scene when we see Ming, you know, enter the throne room.

748
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:57,000
Speaker 2: And then Brian May is credited on Flash's theme. John

749
00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 2: Deacon is credited on execution of Flash, and Roger Taylor

750
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,120
Speaker 2: is credited on in the space capsule, the love theme.

751
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:09,640
Speaker 3: It's amazing how well Queen fits the subject matter. And

752
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:11,400
Speaker 3: so we were talking about this on chat before we

753
00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 3: came into the to the session here. But I was

754
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 3: thinking about how part of Brian May's signature guitar sound

755
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,959
Speaker 3: is that like that harmonized double lead thing where he would,

756
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 3: you know, he would multi track lead guitar lines and

757
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:29,080
Speaker 3: solos in harmony together, and that it just sounds like

758
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 3: Flash Gordon. But he was doing this from before the

759
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,080
Speaker 3: Flash Gordon soundtrack. He does that on you know, much

760
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:34,920
Speaker 3: earlier albums.

761
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,360
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah, yeah, it's I have to have to

762
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,799
Speaker 2: admit with Queen, I've I've been a Queen fan since

763
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:42,800
Speaker 2: I was a kid, but I've always been a Queen's

764
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,560
Speaker 2: Greatest Hits Queen fan, so like, there were a lot

765
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,279
Speaker 2: of tracks I missed out on and had to like

766
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:50,719
Speaker 2: re explore later on. And I've never been like like

767
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 2: super tuned in too, like their trajectory from one album

768
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:57,319
Speaker 2: to the next. But I was reading an article by

769
00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:00,239
Speaker 2: an author by the name of Ryan Reid. This was

770
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,560
Speaker 2: on Ultimate Classic Rock dot com. It came up in

771
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 2: search titled how Queen embraced the synthesizer on Play the Game,

772
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:10,040
Speaker 2: And this article points out that Queen first embraced the

773
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,000
Speaker 2: synth on their nineteen eighty album The Game, just six

774
00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:14,720
Speaker 2: months prior to this film score.

775
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,359
Speaker 3: Mmm, yeah, okay, so they had said, I think on

776
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:21,080
Speaker 3: earlier albums that they were not really interested in synthesizers

777
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:23,480
Speaker 3: like that. They even had one album that in the

778
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:26,840
Speaker 3: liner notes it had a little dig that said something

779
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 3: like no one on the synthesizer. But then they I

780
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 3: guess they came around to it and you know what,

781
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:33,799
Speaker 3: they use it?

782
00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 2: Well? Yeah, absolutely, Again that Ming track. Ming's theme alone

783
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,640
Speaker 2: is just so great and just sets the tone.

784
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 3: I was trying to think of another non musical movie,

785
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:48,000
Speaker 3: meaning like a movie where the characters don't sing, that

786
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:54,080
Speaker 3: has an original soundtrack with music that has lyrics about

787
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,960
Speaker 3: the characters and plot, which the title track here Flash

788
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:00,279
Speaker 3: does have and doesn't just play in the credits, by

789
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:02,759
Speaker 3: the way, plays within the movie. There are the parts

790
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:05,760
Speaker 3: where you hear them singing about Flash. Is there another

791
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 3: I can't think of another thing like that.

792
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, And to be clear, it needs to be a film,

793
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:14,000
Speaker 2: it does it. Not a film that is based on

794
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:18,120
Speaker 2: a ballad, but a film that has essentially a ballad

795
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:21,239
Speaker 2: that was created to be the theme song for the

796
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 2: picture about the main character.

797
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:26,040
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. It'd be like if there was like a

798
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:29,160
Speaker 3: Captain America movie that had a song that played what

799
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:32,760
Speaker 3: in a scene in the movie with lyrics about Captain America.

800
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:35,760
Speaker 2: Ooh, I guess the main example that comes to mind

801
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:37,080
Speaker 2: is the theme song to Shaft.

802
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,960
Speaker 3: Oh, okay, there you go. Or I can't remember. Does

803
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 3: that only play over the credits or that plays in

804
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:44,359
Speaker 3: the film as well.

805
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:46,319
Speaker 2: I don't remember, you know, I don't know that I've

806
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:49,560
Speaker 2: ever seen Shaft, but I mostly just heard the theme song.

807
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,799
Speaker 3: Okay, we gotta go back and confirm that. Listeners, if

808
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:56,680
Speaker 3: you can think of examples of songs like this, let

809
00:44:56,760 --> 00:45:07,520
Speaker 3: us know, contact at stuff to blow your mind dot com.

810
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:09,319
Speaker 2: All right, well, let's get into the plot of this baby.

811
00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:11,040
Speaker 2: Because there's a lot of stuff that happens.

812
00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 3: We're not gonna be able to do the entire thing

813
00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:16,399
Speaker 3: in exquisite detail that the kind of detail deserve. We'll

814
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:20,320
Speaker 3: have to skip over some things, but we'll do our best.

815
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 3: So it begins with the star field, and we hear

816
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:26,600
Speaker 3: the humming of the engines of a starship, and then

817
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 3: we hear the voice of Max Foncido, who's again playing

818
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:34,920
Speaker 3: the villain Emperor Ming, who says he says, clitis, I bored.

819
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:39,040
Speaker 3: What plaything can you offer me today? And the voice

820
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:42,800
Speaker 3: of Clyta says, an obscure body in the s K system,

821
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:47,080
Speaker 3: Your majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.

822
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:51,839
Speaker 3: And then we see giant Sci Fi crosshairs zooming in

823
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:55,239
Speaker 3: on the planet Earth as it rotates in space, and

824
00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:59,200
Speaker 3: Ming says, how peaceful it looks. And then we see

825
00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:02,200
Speaker 3: a close up of a gloved hand with this elaborate

826
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:06,279
Speaker 3: chunky ring and the ring lights up, seemingly activating some

827
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,840
Speaker 3: kind of machinery. Then we see a console with flashing

828
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:16,759
Speaker 3: indicators that say things like earthquake, tornado, hot hail, typhoon.

829
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 3: What is hot hail?

830
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 2: I don't know, will we find out?

831
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 3: Yeah? And then just here laughter, and Clita says most effective,

832
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:30,600
Speaker 3: your majesty, Will you destroy this Earth? And Ming says later,

833
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:34,280
Speaker 3: I like to play with things a while before annihilation,

834
00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:37,359
Speaker 3: And then we begin the pulsing of the theme song

835
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,840
Speaker 3: by Queen. The title screen flash Gordon, which is written

836
00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:43,160
Speaker 3: in this great I don't know what you call this

837
00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:45,640
Speaker 3: kind of font, but it's a it's kind of swooping

838
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:51,360
Speaker 3: script with red and gold letters. And then over the credits,

839
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:57,040
Speaker 3: we occasionally see television feeds of natural disasters occurring on Earth.

840
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:01,360
Speaker 3: Intercut with hand drawn imagery from the Flash Gordon comics

841
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 3: and the sound of Max Foncito laughing again. He's just

842
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 3: ba They're going, Oh, these tornadoes are hilarious. And after

843
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:11,960
Speaker 3: the credits finish, we go down to the surface of

844
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:16,120
Speaker 3: Earth and we are at some deserted rural airfield where

845
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,960
Speaker 3: we meet Flash Gordon. Now you might expect him to

846
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,480
Speaker 3: be doing some heroic or impressive stunt at first encounter,

847
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:25,680
Speaker 3: but instead he is sitting in a station wagon reading

848
00:47:25,719 --> 00:47:29,360
Speaker 3: a newspaper, listening to football on the radio, and watching

849
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:32,640
Speaker 3: the hot hail come come down around the car while

850
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:35,480
Speaker 3: he's waiting for a flight. So maybe he's more active

851
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:36,800
Speaker 3: when he's not waiting for a flight.

852
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:40,399
Speaker 2: This whole section of the movie, it's it's it's it's

853
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,200
Speaker 2: interesting to look at because this movie knows it needs

854
00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:45,920
Speaker 2: to get into outer space as soon as possible. It

855
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:48,880
Speaker 2: knows that any time spent on Earth in a mundane

856
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:52,399
Speaker 2: setting is wasted time for this film. But they've got

857
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,160
Speaker 2: to do it. They've got to set these characters on

858
00:47:55,160 --> 00:47:58,120
Speaker 2: Earth before you can place them in this other world.

859
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:00,960
Speaker 2: But the clock is and you got to get them

860
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:03,720
Speaker 2: there before you lose the audience. And I think it's commendable.

861
00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:05,120
Speaker 2: They try and keep the pace up.

862
00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:07,160
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it moves right along. By the way, I

863
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 3: should mention that Flash Gordon is wearing a T shirt

864
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:13,160
Speaker 3: that says Flash.

865
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:13,960
Speaker 2: He's got a brand he's got to represent, you know exactly.

866
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:17,200
Speaker 3: We see another passenger who's going to be on the

867
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:19,920
Speaker 3: same flight as she arrives in a transport van from

868
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 3: a local resort. This is Melody Anderson playing Dale Arden,

869
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,880
Speaker 3: who we learn is a travel agent, and they exchange

870
00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:30,680
Speaker 3: a meaningful glance as she passes by his car, and

871
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:33,279
Speaker 3: then they both get on the airplane. This seems to

872
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:35,920
Speaker 3: be some kind of private flight. It's not a commercial flight.

873
00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:39,280
Speaker 3: They're like no other passengers, just the two pilots, Flash Gordon,

874
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:43,759
Speaker 3: Dale Arden. So the plane takes off soars into the sky. Meanwhile,

875
00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:47,560
Speaker 3: the ming induced weather gets worse. We see hot coals

876
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:50,680
Speaker 3: raining down from the sky and just plunking into bodies

877
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:55,800
Speaker 3: of water, leaving these trails of steam. And in the airplane,

878
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:58,400
Speaker 3: the pilots are talking about their famous passenger. One of

879
00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:01,160
Speaker 3: them says, well, I sure ope, Flash Gordon had a

880
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:03,520
Speaker 3: great vacation. He's going to have to work hard to

881
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,799
Speaker 3: top last season and He's also holding an issue of

882
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:09,920
Speaker 3: People magazine with Flash Gordon on the cover. So we

883
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:13,960
Speaker 3: learned Flash Gordon is a famous football player. And I

884
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:16,759
Speaker 3: was watching this with Rachel and we were wondering, is

885
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:20,520
Speaker 3: Flash Gordon already known to be some kind of hero

886
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:24,240
Speaker 3: or savior of the world at the beginning of this movie.

887
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 3: Is this like another one of his adventures, or at

888
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:31,359
Speaker 3: this point is he simply a famous football player and

889
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:35,000
Speaker 3: this movie depicts the first of his world saving adventures.

890
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:36,200
Speaker 3: I think it is the latter.

891
00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:38,920
Speaker 2: I think so. Yeah, I think he's football famous at

892
00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:39,600
Speaker 2: this point.

893
00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:42,600
Speaker 3: Anyway, the plane starts jerking around in the air and

894
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:46,399
Speaker 3: we hear Max Foncito just bellowing laughter again, echoing through

895
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:50,240
Speaker 3: every corner of space time, and the turbulence is clearly

896
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:54,480
Speaker 3: upsetting Dale, the travel agent because she is afraid of flying.

897
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 3: The irony of this is noted, and then Flash goes

898
00:49:57,680 --> 00:50:00,160
Speaker 3: up to check with the pilots to see if anything

899
00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:03,160
Speaker 3: is wrong, and he suggests that the air might be

900
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:10,080
Speaker 3: smoother at a higher altitude. This amazing early example of arrowsplaining.

901
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:13,160
Speaker 3: I think all flights should allow passengers to come up

902
00:50:13,200 --> 00:50:15,359
Speaker 3: to the cockpit and tell the pilots what they're doing

903
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 3: wrong anyway, Dale, who appears to be extremely uncomfortable and anxious,

904
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:23,239
Speaker 3: yells up to Flash to tell him to leave the

905
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:26,320
Speaker 3: pilots alone. So he comes back, and he starts telling

906
00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:29,640
Speaker 3: her that the plane is bouncing because of turbulence. He's

907
00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:33,480
Speaker 3: like explaining how turbulence works, and they start chatting and

908
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:36,839
Speaker 3: hitting it off. A Flash confesses that he saw Dale

909
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:39,680
Speaker 3: at the hotel the night before and ask the matre

910
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:43,120
Speaker 3: d who she was, because he's clearly he's smitten. He's like,

911
00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:46,120
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe a girl like you was alone, and she's,

912
00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:50,399
Speaker 3: you know, impressed. They're flirting and stuff. Flash talks about

913
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:53,680
Speaker 3: how he's taking flying lessons, more about how turbulence works,

914
00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:56,960
Speaker 3: and then out of the windows the skies turn red.

915
00:50:57,719 --> 00:51:01,279
Speaker 3: Clouds of blood block out the sun, and somehow, Ming

916
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:04,600
Speaker 3: the Merciless appears bodily in the form of a giant

917
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:08,040
Speaker 3: meteor in the sky and abducts the two pilots. I

918
00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:10,600
Speaker 3: didn't quite understand this part. It doesn't seem to fit

919
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:11,680
Speaker 3: with anything else.

920
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:14,560
Speaker 2: This is never explained, but this is what appears to happen.

921
00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:18,319
Speaker 3: Yes, but also like Ming seems confused when they show

922
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:20,200
Speaker 3: up later, so it's not like Ming is trying to

923
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:23,520
Speaker 3: retrieve the specific plane of Flash Gordon. He doesn't know

924
00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:24,520
Speaker 3: who Flash Gordon is.

925
00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:28,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems to be a questionable choice.

926
00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:30,800
Speaker 3: So Flash and Dale they go up to the cockpit

927
00:51:30,920 --> 00:51:33,359
Speaker 3: and pilots are missing, so they try to take over

928
00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:35,880
Speaker 3: flying the plane, but it is clear we are headed

929
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:39,480
Speaker 3: for a crash landing. Meanwhile, elsewhere, we check in at

930
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:43,839
Speaker 3: some kind of remote atmospheric monitoring facility where two scientists

931
00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:48,160
Speaker 3: are stationed. One of them is doctor Hans Zarkov played

932
00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:52,400
Speaker 3: by Topol, and we learn from TV reports he is

933
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:56,520
Speaker 3: a researcher formerly affiliated with NASA who has been ridiculed

934
00:51:56,560 --> 00:52:00,440
Speaker 3: and dismissed by the scientific establishment for basically suggest that

935
00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:03,759
Speaker 3: all the bad weather is being caused by alien intervention

936
00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:09,279
Speaker 3: instead of regular physical forces. Zarkov's partner gets woken up

937
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,239
Speaker 3: when flaming rocks crashed through the skylight and set his

938
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:16,719
Speaker 3: blankets on fire. He wakes up Zarkov. They look at

939
00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 3: their feeds and stuff and figure out what's going on,

940
00:52:20,239 --> 00:52:23,279
Speaker 3: and the scientists observe that the sun is blotted out

941
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:27,520
Speaker 3: due to an unscheduled eclipse. H that's not supposed to happen.

942
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:31,920
Speaker 3: The moon has been spiraling into the Earth, and a

943
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:35,239
Speaker 3: Zarkov takes stock of the situation. He concludes, this is it.

944
00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:38,680
Speaker 3: This is the alien attack. It's begun. All my fringe

945
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:42,680
Speaker 3: theories are finally vindicated. So he's got some kind of

946
00:52:42,680 --> 00:52:46,440
Speaker 3: scheme where he has constructed a secret rocket ship that

947
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:49,400
Speaker 3: will be used to fly up into space and counter

948
00:52:49,560 --> 00:52:52,640
Speaker 3: attack the evil that is causing the moon to spiral

949
00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:55,640
Speaker 3: into the Earth. But the rocket ship needs at least

950
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:57,560
Speaker 3: two people to operate it. I don't know why he

951
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:01,400
Speaker 3: built it that way, but that's what he did. Zarkov

952
00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:04,080
Speaker 3: tries to get his partner, Munson, into the ship, but

953
00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:06,320
Speaker 3: Munson doesn't want to do this. He freaks out and

954
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:10,080
Speaker 3: runs away. Zarkov tries to appeal to his spirit of humanity.

955
00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:12,880
Speaker 3: He's like, yes, they will probably die on this mission,

956
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:15,960
Speaker 3: but they alone have a chance to save the human

957
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:20,680
Speaker 3: race anyway. This conflict is interrupted by a plane crash,

958
00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:26,439
Speaker 3: flash and dale. Their plane crashes into Zarkov's laboratory. Does

959
00:53:26,480 --> 00:53:29,759
Speaker 3: the plane crash kill Munson? Unclear? We just never see

960
00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:30,120
Speaker 3: him again.

961
00:53:30,840 --> 00:53:32,600
Speaker 2: Yeah. I took it to mean that Munson had just

962
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:33,400
Speaker 2: taken off.

963
00:53:33,239 --> 00:53:36,760
Speaker 3: But oh, okay, so unclear, but Flash and Dale survive

964
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:38,880
Speaker 3: the landing. They're fine. They climb out of the plane

965
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:41,880
Speaker 3: and meet Zarkov and they're like, can we use your phone?

966
00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:46,400
Speaker 3: And Zarkov is like, oh, yes, yeah, good to see you.

967
00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:49,480
Speaker 3: You're well, Yeah, the phone is right here inside this

968
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:53,680
Speaker 3: rocket ship. So they go and they go inside, and

969
00:53:53,719 --> 00:53:57,520
Speaker 3: then Zarkov confronts them with a revolver, explains his plan,

970
00:53:57,719 --> 00:53:59,719
Speaker 3: locks them inside, and they blast off.

971
00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:03,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, Zarkof is just in full mad scientist mode of

972
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:08,400
Speaker 2: this whole this whole initial meeting, Like we were saying earlier,

973
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:10,319
Speaker 2: this performance, this character is all over the place. But

974
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:11,560
Speaker 2: that's where we are now with him.

975
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:14,160
Speaker 3: He is a mad scientist, but he's like a benevolent

976
00:54:14,239 --> 00:54:17,640
Speaker 3: mad scientist. He's very committed to like sacrificing his life

977
00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:18,880
Speaker 3: to save the planet Earth.

978
00:54:19,400 --> 00:54:22,640
Speaker 2: Yes, and his and his plan to save the planet Earth.

979
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:26,040
Speaker 2: As we'll find out, he's basically go into space with

980
00:54:26,160 --> 00:54:29,600
Speaker 2: a pistol and take out who's responsible.

981
00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:33,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, confront the leader of whatever aliens are causing the

982
00:54:33,239 --> 00:54:36,200
Speaker 3: hot hail, and just and and shoot them, I guess.

983
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:37,080
Speaker 2: Yeah.

984
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:39,720
Speaker 3: So anyway, the rocket launches into space and our heroes

985
00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:42,120
Speaker 3: pass out from the g forces. That we see Dale

986
00:54:42,120 --> 00:54:44,920
Speaker 3: and Flash join hands as they lose consciousness, so they

987
00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:48,000
Speaker 3: are quickly like they're they're basically already in love there,

988
00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:50,720
Speaker 3: you know, love story are complete at this point.

989
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:54,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're finally like rid of the Earth at

990
00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:57,160
Speaker 2: this point, we are successfully in space. We don't have

991
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 2: to worry about the real world anymore. It's just gonna

992
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:01,960
Speaker 2: be aliens and craziness from here on out.

993
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:05,319
Speaker 3: Disgusting Earth, Get it out of here. There's a shot

994
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:07,960
Speaker 3: where they're in Earth orbit and we could see like

995
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:11,200
Speaker 3: a dozen planets hanging in the background. What what are

996
00:55:11,239 --> 00:55:12,880
Speaker 3: all these extra planets? I don't know.

997
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:15,040
Speaker 2: Everything's been thrown into disarray.

998
00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:18,040
Speaker 3: So our heroes are unconscious and we see their space

999
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:22,960
Speaker 3: capsule drift through space towards this vast spiraling portal. It's

1000
00:55:23,040 --> 00:55:26,919
Speaker 3: kind of like a whirlpool of color in the void.

1001
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:30,040
Speaker 3: And then we see a close up of some alien

1002
00:55:30,160 --> 00:55:33,760
Speaker 3: creature in like a command room somewhere. It's a humanoid face,

1003
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:38,560
Speaker 3: pale skin, bald head, cold voice, with computerized goggles over

1004
00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:42,120
Speaker 3: his eyes that have all these creepy gold displays on them,

1005
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:47,120
Speaker 3: and the alien says strange object imaged in the Imperial Vortex.

1006
00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:48,120
Speaker 3: One thing.

1007
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:48,600
Speaker 2: I noticed.

1008
00:55:48,640 --> 00:55:50,520
Speaker 3: It's out of frame in the screenshot I have for

1009
00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:52,400
Speaker 3: you to look at, Rob, But did you notice the

1010
00:55:52,440 --> 00:55:55,040
Speaker 3: little hood ornament on the top of their goggles has

1011
00:55:55,040 --> 00:55:58,440
Speaker 3: a Freemason symbol on it. It's got the little square encompass.

1012
00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:02,120
Speaker 2: I didn't notice it much here, but I think Clydus

1013
00:56:02,160 --> 00:56:06,640
Speaker 2: perhaps has some symbolisms on him that look like Freemason imagery.

1014
00:56:06,719 --> 00:56:08,440
Speaker 3: So yeah, I don't know what to make of that.

1015
00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:12,480
Speaker 3: Somebody snucks someone in there. Maybe it's a coincidence, but

1016
00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:18,040
Speaker 3: it seems like they're suggesting that the aliens are Freemasons. Anyway,

1017
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:20,719
Speaker 3: the spaceship tumbles into the vortex, and this part I

1018
00:56:20,719 --> 00:56:24,840
Speaker 3: thought was just awesome, Like the feeling it creates is

1019
00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:29,320
Speaker 3: so exciting. The score is heavy with synth, bass and drums,

1020
00:56:29,400 --> 00:56:31,160
Speaker 3: and I like the sound of the drums. It's like

1021
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:35,560
Speaker 3: a very cool, like dry tom sound with this marching,

1022
00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:40,200
Speaker 3: galloping beat. And in the background, space is represented as

1023
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:44,040
Speaker 3: this chaotic fusion of colors, like different shades of paint

1024
00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:47,399
Speaker 3: or spilled together and mixing on panes of glass. It's

1025
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:47,960
Speaker 3: very cool.

1026
00:56:48,280 --> 00:56:50,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a psychedelic liquid light show, like a

1027
00:56:50,840 --> 00:56:54,040
Speaker 2: Joshua light show. Thing going on, like, that's this movie's

1028
00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:57,600
Speaker 2: vision for what space is, and I have to say

1029
00:56:57,600 --> 00:56:59,200
Speaker 2: I really like it. One of the things that I've

1030
00:56:59,320 --> 00:57:05,200
Speaker 2: liked about the Spacier Marvel Cinematic Universe movies is that

1031
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:09,480
Speaker 2: they two varying degrees embrace this kind of like a

1032
00:57:09,560 --> 00:57:13,360
Speaker 2: colorful fantasy space setting for their pictures.

1033
00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:16,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great. I mean it's not like your movie

1034
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:19,479
Speaker 3: needs to be realistic anyway. It's unrealistic in other ways,

1035
00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:20,720
Speaker 3: so why not make it beautiful?

1036
00:57:21,200 --> 00:57:23,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, but this goes even beyond anything. If you've seen

1037
00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:26,600
Speaker 2: MCU films and you haven't seen Flash Gordon, like in this,

1038
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:28,560
Speaker 2: like you don't even see any darkness of space. There

1039
00:57:28,600 --> 00:57:32,560
Speaker 2: is no darkness in space. Everything is colors and psychedelic intensity.

1040
00:57:33,040 --> 00:57:36,800
Speaker 3: Right. So we hear Alien mission control talking about this

1041
00:57:36,880 --> 00:57:40,280
Speaker 3: object with clitis. They are instructed to bring the craft

1042
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:43,160
Speaker 3: through the Sea of Fire and land it safely at

1043
00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:46,520
Speaker 3: the Palace and the effect shots here involve a lot

1044
00:57:46,560 --> 00:57:49,479
Speaker 3: of miniature models and sets. As we see the ship

1045
00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:52,560
Speaker 3: approaching on the ming planet. I think it's the planet

1046
00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:54,040
Speaker 3: called Mango.

1047
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:56,520
Speaker 2: I believe so. Or that's the city I can't remember

1048
00:57:56,560 --> 00:57:57,560
Speaker 2: as the planet or the city.

1049
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:01,600
Speaker 3: Yeah. Or They also say Mingo about something I don't know.

1050
00:58:02,960 --> 00:58:07,680
Speaker 3: So they're moving through these little models sets and miniature sets,

1051
00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:12,240
Speaker 3: and it's great, stuffed to some degree, intentionally corny looking,

1052
00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:17,040
Speaker 3: I think, trying to invoke a nostalgia for earlier films

1053
00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:20,040
Speaker 3: and serials with corny special effects, but at the same

1054
00:58:20,120 --> 00:58:23,760
Speaker 3: time a spellbinding pleasure for the eyes. It is equal

1055
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:27,040
Speaker 3: parts corny self parody and genuine finesse.

1056
00:58:27,560 --> 00:58:30,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, and a lot of like have excellent craft went

1057
00:58:30,480 --> 00:58:33,720
Speaker 2: into creating these models and sets and effects for sure.

1058
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:39,280
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yeah. So flash Dale and Zarkov they crash land,

1059
00:58:39,400 --> 00:58:42,600
Speaker 3: they're taken prisoner by the Emperor Ming's evil guards, and

1060
00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:45,240
Speaker 3: they are escorted to the heart of the palace and

1061
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:47,959
Speaker 3: there's like a giant state room that they passed through

1062
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:51,280
Speaker 3: that has this red and gold motif with these giant

1063
00:58:51,320 --> 00:58:55,120
Speaker 3: statues of Ming's head. Some of the soldiers are covered

1064
00:58:55,160 --> 00:58:59,480
Speaker 3: in gold armor that seems slightly Samurai inspired. Others look

1065
00:58:59,560 --> 00:59:02,520
Speaker 3: like old school sardok car and they've got like red

1066
00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:06,640
Speaker 3: robes with hoods with the faces completely hidden behind gas masks.

1067
00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:10,040
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the gas masky guys that we see. They

1068
00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:12,440
Speaker 2: also have kind of a mobious look to them and

1069
00:59:12,480 --> 00:59:14,200
Speaker 2: remind me of it. They also look like something that

1070
00:59:14,200 --> 00:59:16,360
Speaker 2: could be a villain from like Super Mario Brothers too.

1071
00:59:16,840 --> 00:59:19,200
Speaker 3: They look like they may well be following the smoke

1072
00:59:19,240 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 3: to the rift filled land. Yeah. So, as the heroes

1073
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:27,680
Speaker 3: are walking through the middle of this massive room full

1074
00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:31,320
Speaker 3: of alien soldiers, Flash and Dale comment that this place

1075
00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:35,000
Speaker 3: looks like quote, a police state, and Zarkov says that

1076
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:37,200
Speaker 3: that could be to their advantage because it will mean

1077
00:59:37,240 --> 00:59:41,000
Speaker 3: they can easily find allies. Zarkov says, look at them,

1078
00:59:41,120 --> 00:59:43,680
Speaker 3: the poor wretches are just waiting for someone to lead

1079
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:46,400
Speaker 3: them in revolt. And Dale is like, will you stop

1080
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:50,120
Speaker 3: talking about revolts? I just want to go home. Oh,

1081
00:59:50,200 --> 00:59:53,040
Speaker 3: another thing we should mention here is this flying robot

1082
00:59:53,120 --> 00:59:56,040
Speaker 3: that occasionally vaporizes people. I think this is called the

1083
00:59:56,080 --> 01:00:00,440
Speaker 3: Imperial Globe. It's like this floating gold thing that has

1084
01:00:00,480 --> 01:00:03,440
Speaker 3: spikes on it, and sometimes it shoots people with lasers.

1085
01:00:03,840 --> 01:00:06,920
Speaker 3: The Globe commands the prisoners to follow it, and on

1086
01:00:07,080 --> 01:00:10,040
Speaker 3: the way to meet with the Emperor, the Globe executes

1087
01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:14,640
Speaker 3: another escaping prisoner, a lizard man, and it removes the

1088
01:00:14,720 --> 01:00:18,040
Speaker 3: revolver from Zarkov's pocket. Also, should we take a minute

1089
01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:20,800
Speaker 3: to mention the lizard man in this movie. They are

1090
01:00:20,840 --> 01:00:24,280
Speaker 3: a sort of unexplained faction. But they've got like they're

1091
01:00:24,320 --> 01:00:28,080
Speaker 3: like snakeheads with open mouths that have fangs and their

1092
01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:30,520
Speaker 3: faces are inside the snake mouth.

1093
01:00:30,920 --> 01:00:35,520
Speaker 2: It's incredible, like it it's not a situation. Oh, it's complex,

1094
01:00:35,720 --> 01:00:37,720
Speaker 2: Like it works on several different levels, because it's sort

1095
01:00:37,720 --> 01:00:40,600
Speaker 2: of like you have a crappy costume of a lizard

1096
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:44,400
Speaker 2: in which the person's face is in the mouth, but

1097
01:00:44,520 --> 01:00:47,480
Speaker 2: then they've taken that concept and evolved it to wear No,

1098
01:00:47,640 --> 01:00:51,720
Speaker 2: there's like red flesh inside the lizard's mouth and it

1099
01:00:51,840 --> 01:00:56,360
Speaker 2: has two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Yeah, it's

1100
01:00:56,400 --> 01:00:56,960
Speaker 2: so weird.

1101
01:00:57,400 --> 01:01:00,800
Speaker 3: So it's not like a person's face hiding. There's like

1102
01:01:00,840 --> 01:01:04,560
Speaker 3: a face represented in the mouth as part of the costume.

1103
01:01:05,280 --> 01:01:08,160
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, and it's it's equal parts goofy, but also

1104
01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:11,720
Speaker 2: like it gets here, your wheels turning, Like, what's going

1105
01:01:11,760 --> 01:01:14,280
Speaker 2: on here? Did these things like manifest the mouth? Is

1106
01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:18,480
Speaker 2: this just for communicating with the humanoid world? Like, what's

1107
01:01:18,520 --> 01:01:19,960
Speaker 2: going on? It's so weird?

1108
01:01:20,240 --> 01:01:23,919
Speaker 3: No idea. Anyway, they move on. The Zarkov says here

1109
01:01:24,320 --> 01:01:28,360
Speaker 3: that he's going to sacrifice himself to kill They haven't

1110
01:01:28,360 --> 01:01:30,640
Speaker 3: met ming yet, so he doesn't even know who ming is.

1111
01:01:30,840 --> 01:01:33,360
Speaker 3: I guess whoever the boss is of the bad guys.

1112
01:01:33,720 --> 01:01:36,040
Speaker 3: He's going to do it. He says, it's a quote,

1113
01:01:36,120 --> 01:01:39,800
Speaker 3: it's a rational transaction, one life for billions. But the

1114
01:01:39,840 --> 01:01:42,520
Speaker 3: globe overhears this and destroys Zarkov's gun.

1115
01:01:43,080 --> 01:01:44,960
Speaker 2: Oops, now we're back to square one.

1116
01:01:45,200 --> 01:01:47,480
Speaker 3: The globe is a real tattle tale. This will come

1117
01:01:47,560 --> 01:01:50,640
Speaker 3: up again in the next scene. So we pass on

1118
01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:53,760
Speaker 3: to the Throne Room, which is just an avalanche of

1119
01:01:53,800 --> 01:01:59,240
Speaker 3: all these different like characters and aliens, costumes, designs. One

1120
01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:02,920
Speaker 3: type of character in that stands out to me are

1121
01:02:02,960 --> 01:02:06,200
Speaker 3: these guys in red hoods who have the golden skull masks,

1122
01:02:06,200 --> 01:02:09,800
Speaker 3: but they look like sad skulls, so like, you know,

1123
01:02:09,880 --> 01:02:13,760
Speaker 3: the eyebrow ridges of the gold skulls are sloped downward,

1124
01:02:13,840 --> 01:02:16,520
Speaker 3: as they received from the bridge of the nose, which

1125
01:02:16,800 --> 01:02:18,720
Speaker 3: you know, when the eyebrows are tilted that way, we

1126
01:02:18,840 --> 01:02:22,520
Speaker 3: naturally interpret that as a sad face. So for some reason,

1127
01:02:22,600 --> 01:02:25,040
Speaker 3: these rigid gold masks are sad.

1128
01:02:25,600 --> 01:02:28,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're kind of like sad muppet skulls, but made

1129
01:02:28,440 --> 01:02:29,080
Speaker 2: of gold.

1130
01:02:30,360 --> 01:02:33,720
Speaker 3: Interest weird choice, I don't know. And there's so many

1131
01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:36,840
Speaker 3: other types of aliens assembled here. They're like these people

1132
01:02:36,880 --> 01:02:40,160
Speaker 3: who are like they have like black and white motifs

1133
01:02:40,160 --> 01:02:43,200
Speaker 3: split down the middle of their costume. There seem to

1134
01:02:43,280 --> 01:02:46,600
Speaker 3: be like delegations from the many different planets that are

1135
01:02:46,640 --> 01:02:50,960
Speaker 3: subjugated by the Emperor here. But the Emperor demands fealty,

1136
01:02:51,040 --> 01:02:53,480
Speaker 3: and one thing that's for sure is everybody's got to

1137
01:02:53,480 --> 01:02:56,520
Speaker 3: show that they're loyal to him. So when Emperor Ming

1138
01:02:56,560 --> 01:02:59,880
Speaker 3: shows up, everybody starts screaming his glory. They say, Hail Ming,

1139
01:03:00,160 --> 01:03:03,760
Speaker 3: Hail Emperor of the galaxy. And here finally we see

1140
01:03:03,840 --> 01:03:08,160
Speaker 3: Max Foncido as Emperor Ming. He emerges from red fog

1141
01:03:08,280 --> 01:03:12,320
Speaker 3: as if he were the Devil incarnate, and he's bald,

1142
01:03:12,440 --> 01:03:16,800
Speaker 3: he has a goatee, he's very arched eyebrows, and he's

1143
01:03:16,800 --> 01:03:19,560
Speaker 3: wearing this big like red robe with a high collar.

1144
01:03:20,200 --> 01:03:24,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again that the Queen music that SYNTHESIZERR track

1145
01:03:24,600 --> 01:03:27,240
Speaker 2: is just blaring and it's fabulous.

1146
01:03:27,680 --> 01:03:31,400
Speaker 3: Here we also meet Ornella Mooti as Princess Aura, the

1147
01:03:31,520 --> 01:03:34,000
Speaker 3: daughter of Ming. And when we first meet her, she

1148
01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:37,360
Speaker 3: looks like a walking jewelry display case. It's just like

1149
01:03:37,440 --> 01:03:40,440
Speaker 3: a bikini made of gold and diamonds and this like

1150
01:03:40,520 --> 01:03:43,720
Speaker 3: crown on the head that's sparkling from the moment the

1151
01:03:43,760 --> 01:03:46,760
Speaker 3: Earthlings enter the room. She's ogling Flash Gordon, So I

1152
01:03:46,760 --> 01:03:49,480
Speaker 3: think we know what's going to happen here. She wants

1153
01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:50,160
Speaker 3: Flash Gordon.

1154
01:03:50,640 --> 01:03:53,560
Speaker 2: One of the interesting things about all of the especially

1155
01:03:53,640 --> 01:03:57,440
Speaker 2: like Ming's Court, there are places where they reference the

1156
01:03:57,520 --> 01:04:01,960
Speaker 2: idea that the human mind is more limited, it doesn't

1157
01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:06,240
Speaker 2: have the same capacity for thought that these other alien

1158
01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:10,240
Speaker 2: characters have. But these other alien characters, for the most part,

1159
01:04:10,800 --> 01:04:15,200
Speaker 2: don't seem to be displaying like heightened awareness and heightened cognition,

1160
01:04:15,320 --> 01:04:20,320
Speaker 2: Like they're just focused on pursuits like romantic pursuits and

1161
01:04:20,440 --> 01:04:23,080
Speaker 2: pursuits of the flesh and so forth, as opposed to

1162
01:04:23,120 --> 01:04:25,160
Speaker 2: any other kind of like higher functioning that I guess

1163
01:04:25,160 --> 01:04:26,720
Speaker 2: they're supposed to be doing here. I don't know.

1164
01:04:26,920 --> 01:04:30,800
Speaker 3: Maybe they have extremely standard carnal desires basically all the

1165
01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:33,400
Speaker 3: aliens do. None of them are really shown to be, like,

1166
01:04:33,920 --> 01:04:37,480
Speaker 3: I don't know, considering the philosophy of deep space or whatever.

1167
01:04:37,880 --> 01:04:39,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, maybe they're doing all that in the background,

1168
01:04:39,960 --> 01:04:42,800
Speaker 2: and that's why everything else is dumped down a bit.

1169
01:04:43,080 --> 01:04:46,280
Speaker 3: In this scene, we also meet Peter Wingard as Clytis.

1170
01:04:46,400 --> 01:04:48,080
Speaker 3: This is the figure in the black hood with the

1171
01:04:48,120 --> 01:04:51,640
Speaker 3: spiked shoulder pads, also wearing a rigid gold mask. This

1172
01:04:51,720 --> 01:04:54,200
Speaker 3: mask does not look sad. Instead, it looks kind of

1173
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:55,600
Speaker 3: coldly curious.

1174
01:04:56,320 --> 01:04:59,240
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, this is total like vibes of Doctor Doom

1175
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:02,520
Speaker 2: of Death from g I Joe, that sort of thing.

1176
01:05:03,080 --> 01:05:05,280
Speaker 2: Great presentation here, a golden death.

1177
01:05:05,720 --> 01:05:08,480
Speaker 3: You know, I was waiting for his big unmasking scene,

1178
01:05:08,480 --> 01:05:10,720
Speaker 3: but I don't think it ever comes, or if it did,

1179
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:13,000
Speaker 3: I must have missed it was there. Any time we

1180
01:05:13,040 --> 01:05:14,440
Speaker 3: see him without the mask.

1181
01:05:14,560 --> 01:05:16,040
Speaker 2: We see some stuff leak out of the mask.

1182
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:19,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's it, all right. We're not done meeting characters

1183
01:05:19,800 --> 01:05:21,640
Speaker 3: in the scene. We meet a couple of princes. We

1184
01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:24,760
Speaker 3: meet Brian Blessed as Voltan, the Prince of the Hawkman.

1185
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:29,120
Speaker 3: We meet Timothy Dalton as Baron, the Prince of the Arboreans.

1186
01:05:29,160 --> 01:05:32,480
Speaker 3: I think the tree people, yep. And when we first

1187
01:05:32,560 --> 01:05:35,360
Speaker 3: meet these two, they are fighting with each other. They're

1188
01:05:35,440 --> 01:05:38,720
Speaker 3: arguing about who gets to present the fabled ice Jewel

1189
01:05:38,760 --> 01:05:42,680
Speaker 3: of Phrygia to Emperor Ming as a tribute. Voltan tries

1190
01:05:42,720 --> 01:05:45,040
Speaker 3: to present it first, but then Barn comes into the

1191
01:05:45,120 --> 01:05:47,520
Speaker 3: room and says, ah, you stole that from me. I

1192
01:05:47,640 --> 01:05:50,360
Speaker 3: unearthed it to give to Ming as a tribute. I

1193
01:05:50,360 --> 01:05:53,560
Speaker 3: saw it first, but then Voltan stole it and they

1194
01:05:53,640 --> 01:05:55,640
Speaker 3: get mad at each other. They're about to duel, but

1195
01:05:55,680 --> 01:05:58,240
Speaker 3: then Clytas shuts it down. He says, no one in

1196
01:05:58,280 --> 01:06:01,480
Speaker 3: the palace dies without a command from the Emperor. And

1197
01:06:01,640 --> 01:06:06,840
Speaker 3: oh boy, Brian Blessed looks so eager to fight. He also,

1198
01:06:07,040 --> 01:06:10,680
Speaker 3: his beard looks so wild. It's very like, I don't know,

1199
01:06:11,680 --> 01:06:14,439
Speaker 3: it's very like not smoothed out. It has the look

1200
01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:18,200
Speaker 3: of like when a cartoon character gets gets like electrified

1201
01:06:18,280 --> 01:06:19,960
Speaker 3: and like their hair stands on end.

1202
01:06:20,480 --> 01:06:22,240
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, it's rare to see a picture of

1203
01:06:22,280 --> 01:06:24,840
Speaker 2: him without a full glorious beard, but this one I

1204
01:06:24,840 --> 01:06:28,240
Speaker 2: feel like, yeah, they made it more bushy than usual. Here.

1205
01:06:28,560 --> 01:06:31,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, now we gotta have a scene here in this

1206
01:06:31,600 --> 01:06:35,440
Speaker 3: big gathering where we witness Ming's cruelty. So we see

1207
01:06:35,480 --> 01:06:38,680
Speaker 3: the prince of one of the assembled people's here, the

1208
01:06:38,680 --> 01:06:43,200
Speaker 3: prince of Ardentia named Thun, and he's dressed in sparkling gold,

1209
01:06:43,280 --> 01:06:47,600
Speaker 3: and he approaches. He's called up before Ming, and he's like,

1210
01:06:47,640 --> 01:06:51,400
Speaker 3: we have suffered greatly since you blasted our kingdom. He says,

1211
01:06:51,440 --> 01:06:54,120
Speaker 3: they don't have any riches to offer, but the Ardentians

1212
01:06:54,120 --> 01:06:55,560
Speaker 3: can offer their loyalty.

1213
01:06:56,360 --> 01:06:58,760
Speaker 2: You pointed out that I'd forgotten to mention them in

1214
01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:01,560
Speaker 2: the I mean, there are a lot of actors in

1215
01:07:01,320 --> 01:07:03,840
Speaker 2: this film. We can't mention them all. But this is

1216
01:07:03,880 --> 01:07:07,919
Speaker 2: George Harris playing thun Born nineteen forty nine. Fans will

1217
01:07:07,960 --> 01:07:11,280
Speaker 2: definitely recognize him as Katanga in Raiders of the Lost

1218
01:07:11,400 --> 01:07:14,439
Speaker 2: Art small part, but a memorable one, and he also

1219
01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:16,880
Speaker 2: played Kingsley shackle Bolt in the Harry Potter films.

1220
01:07:17,240 --> 01:07:21,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Prince, he goes up before Ming and he's like, okay,

1221
01:07:21,480 --> 01:07:23,919
Speaker 3: we can offer you loyalty. That's all we got after

1222
01:07:23,960 --> 01:07:27,200
Speaker 3: you attacked us, and Ming commands him to show his

1223
01:07:27,320 --> 01:07:31,800
Speaker 3: loyalty by falling on his sword. So Prince he tries

1224
01:07:31,880 --> 01:07:34,720
Speaker 3: to do a smart double cross, like he tries to

1225
01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:36,720
Speaker 3: look like he's going to fall on his sword but

1226
01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:40,480
Speaker 3: then strike out and kill Ming, but the globe robot

1227
01:07:40,520 --> 01:07:43,680
Speaker 3: gets in the way. It freezes him in place before

1228
01:07:43,720 --> 01:07:45,680
Speaker 3: he can do it, and then Ming kills him with

1229
01:07:45,760 --> 01:07:47,520
Speaker 3: his own sword.

1230
01:07:47,320 --> 01:07:49,640
Speaker 2: Purple blood right or blue blood, I can't remember, but

1231
01:07:49,720 --> 01:07:51,520
Speaker 2: some sort of crazy alien colored blood.

1232
01:07:51,760 --> 01:07:54,840
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the aliens in this movie have many different

1233
01:07:55,000 --> 01:07:58,120
Speaker 3: colors of blood, except for Timothy Dalton, who appears to

1234
01:07:58,200 --> 01:08:01,720
Speaker 3: have regular He's got like red blood, which makes you wonder,

1235
01:08:01,800 --> 01:08:04,760
Speaker 3: is Timothy Dalton just an Earthling who has been transplanted

1236
01:08:04,800 --> 01:08:05,920
Speaker 3: to Arborea? Don't know?

1237
01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:08,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, you think they would have green blood, because it's

1238
01:08:08,800 --> 01:08:11,000
Speaker 2: just you have aliens with all different colored bloods, and

1239
01:08:11,080 --> 01:08:13,200
Speaker 2: I guess you probably have that whole situation going on

1240
01:08:13,280 --> 01:08:16,360
Speaker 2: here where sensors famously are okay with blood if it's

1241
01:08:16,400 --> 01:08:19,439
Speaker 2: not red, you can have as much as possible if

1242
01:08:19,439 --> 01:08:22,080
Speaker 2: it's green, but if it's red, and they're like, okay,

1243
01:08:22,080 --> 01:08:22,599
Speaker 2: it's too much.

1244
01:08:23,080 --> 01:08:27,519
Speaker 3: Yeah, anyway, So our Earthlings watch Ming just murder this guy,

1245
01:08:27,880 --> 01:08:31,240
Speaker 3: and then Flash mutters to Dale, this Ming's a psycho.

1246
01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:35,519
Speaker 3: Then the globe robot overhears him in tattles It like

1247
01:08:35,640 --> 01:08:40,760
Speaker 3: blares out on speakers, this Ming is a psycho, And

1248
01:08:40,800 --> 01:08:44,080
Speaker 3: they're like, who said that? And now all eyes are

1249
01:08:44,160 --> 01:08:48,080
Speaker 3: on the Earthlings, including Princess Aarrah, who is still aggressively

1250
01:08:48,120 --> 01:08:51,840
Speaker 3: ogling Flash Gordon from Afar. Gordon does notice this, and

1251
01:08:51,840 --> 01:08:54,360
Speaker 3: he like looks back at her, and Dale gets jealous.

1252
01:08:56,200 --> 01:08:59,280
Speaker 3: Oh also, they've never explained this, really, but Princess Aura

1253
01:08:59,439 --> 01:09:02,240
Speaker 3: just has like a guy on a leash.

1254
01:09:02,720 --> 01:09:05,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm pretty sure this is Deep Roy, an

1255
01:09:05,600 --> 01:09:07,800
Speaker 2: actor who's come up on the show before. Again, very

1256
01:09:08,080 --> 01:09:11,960
Speaker 2: very deep gast on this picture. Among other things, Robbie

1257
01:09:12,000 --> 01:09:15,360
Speaker 2: Coltrane shows up at the airport scene early on in

1258
01:09:15,400 --> 01:09:17,799
Speaker 2: the picture. It hits a blink and you miss it situation,

1259
01:09:17,960 --> 01:09:19,040
Speaker 2: But there's Robbie Coltran.

1260
01:09:19,160 --> 01:09:30,000
Speaker 3: I didn't even notice anyway. So the humans come forward

1261
01:09:30,080 --> 01:09:33,439
Speaker 3: and Ming is like, who are you? Flash says Flash Gordon,

1262
01:09:33,520 --> 01:09:36,840
Speaker 3: quarterback New York Jets. I didn't expect we were going

1263
01:09:36,920 --> 01:09:41,599
Speaker 3: to get a specific team mentioned Dale says Dale, Arden

1264
01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:44,320
Speaker 3: your Highness live and let live. That's my motto. And

1265
01:09:44,360 --> 01:09:47,160
Speaker 3: then Zarkov says, my name is Hans Zarkov. I am

1266
01:09:47,200 --> 01:09:50,120
Speaker 3: a scientist. I kidnapped them here in an effort to

1267
01:09:50,160 --> 01:09:52,960
Speaker 3: save our planet Earth. And Zarkov goes on to say,

1268
01:09:53,000 --> 01:09:55,519
Speaker 3: you know, we're interested only in friendship. Why did you

1269
01:09:55,560 --> 01:09:59,040
Speaker 3: attack our planet? And the Emperor Ming explains his mindset.

1270
01:09:59,080 --> 01:10:03,400
Speaker 3: He says, this is a quote, why not pathetic Earthlings

1271
01:10:03,720 --> 01:10:07,240
Speaker 3: hurling your bodies out into the void without the slightest

1272
01:10:07,320 --> 01:10:10,920
Speaker 3: inkling of who or what is out here? If you

1273
01:10:10,960 --> 01:10:13,639
Speaker 3: had known anything about the true nature of the universe

1274
01:10:13,800 --> 01:10:17,320
Speaker 3: anything at all he would have hidden from it in terror.

1275
01:10:18,400 --> 01:10:20,479
Speaker 3: Oh that's a kind of I didn't expect it to

1276
01:10:20,479 --> 01:10:22,719
Speaker 3: go in that direction, but that's that's kind of creepy.

1277
01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:24,880
Speaker 3: It has some cosmic horror going on.

1278
01:10:25,439 --> 01:10:28,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, there are moments like this in the picture

1279
01:10:28,400 --> 01:10:30,880
Speaker 2: where yeah, it'll get really serious and like, oh man,

1280
01:10:30,960 --> 01:10:34,879
Speaker 2: this being is terrifying, and then you know, a football

1281
01:10:34,920 --> 01:10:35,720
Speaker 2: game may break out.

1282
01:10:36,240 --> 01:10:40,160
Speaker 3: That's right. So well, first, Ming, like he looks at

1283
01:10:40,280 --> 01:10:44,320
Speaker 3: Dale Arden and he is suddenly filled with lust and

1284
01:10:44,360 --> 01:10:47,439
Speaker 3: he's like, ah, yes, you are my new imperial concubine now,

1285
01:10:48,040 --> 01:10:51,479
Speaker 3: and he hypnotizes her with his ring and like makes

1286
01:10:51,520 --> 01:10:54,680
Speaker 3: her do this weird slow dance. It is an unusual

1287
01:10:54,800 --> 01:10:58,160
Speaker 3: vibe and Ming, I guess he's happy with what he

1288
01:10:58,240 --> 01:11:01,519
Speaker 3: sees and he's like, okay, she's mine now sees her

1289
01:11:01,640 --> 01:11:04,559
Speaker 3: and Flash Gordon says, forget it being DALs with me,

1290
01:11:05,280 --> 01:11:08,120
Speaker 3: and then we commenced the football fight. This had to

1291
01:11:08,120 --> 01:11:11,040
Speaker 3: be one of my favorite moments of the movie, where

1292
01:11:11,720 --> 01:11:15,040
Speaker 3: the fight breaks out and the form the fight takes

1293
01:11:15,200 --> 01:11:19,559
Speaker 3: is football more so than you're probably imagining here. So like,

1294
01:11:19,600 --> 01:11:23,760
Speaker 3: at first, there, Flash Gordon starts fighting the soldiers and

1295
01:11:23,800 --> 01:11:29,080
Speaker 3: he's having trouble defeating them until Zarkov snatches like an

1296
01:11:29,160 --> 01:11:32,360
Speaker 3: egg from one of the aliens in the room, and

1297
01:11:32,720 --> 01:11:35,720
Speaker 3: the egg is basically football shaped and he throws it

1298
01:11:35,960 --> 01:11:41,200
Speaker 3: to Flash Gordon and then this apparently activates his football

1299
01:11:41,240 --> 01:11:44,840
Speaker 3: brain so he can tackle the bad guys. Rob. I

1300
01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:46,280
Speaker 3: don't know what you want to say about the scene.

1301
01:11:46,320 --> 01:11:49,400
Speaker 3: There is a lot going on and it is really funny.

1302
01:11:49,920 --> 01:11:52,920
Speaker 2: Your note on it being more football theme than you

1303
01:11:52,920 --> 01:11:55,080
Speaker 2: can possibly imagine if you haven't seen the film is

1304
01:11:55,520 --> 01:11:58,320
Speaker 2: totally on point, because, yeah, it is like a straight

1305
01:11:58,400 --> 01:12:00,599
Speaker 2: up football game that breaks out to the point where

1306
01:12:00,600 --> 01:12:03,559
Speaker 2: there's a there's this one moment where Clyde has like

1307
01:12:03,640 --> 01:12:06,599
Speaker 2: gets some of the cronies and again these are okay

1308
01:12:06,680 --> 01:12:10,519
Speaker 2: two things. First of all, the aliens who are engaging

1309
01:12:10,520 --> 01:12:13,599
Speaker 2: in the football fight are of like a different type.

1310
01:12:13,920 --> 01:12:18,360
Speaker 2: They have different armor that strongly resembles like football padding.

1311
01:12:18,680 --> 01:12:20,879
Speaker 3: Yes, they're dressed up like football players.

1312
01:12:21,080 --> 01:12:23,479
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then when they when they're getting their butts

1313
01:12:23,520 --> 01:12:26,120
Speaker 2: kicked by Flash, Clydus jumps in and he's like, all right,

1314
01:12:26,200 --> 01:12:28,960
Speaker 2: huddle up. He like does like a football coaching thing

1315
01:12:28,960 --> 01:12:30,920
Speaker 2: where it's like you need to do like this, do

1316
01:12:30,960 --> 01:12:33,200
Speaker 2: this play and they go out and try it again,

1317
01:12:33,640 --> 01:12:36,479
Speaker 2: and it is. It is tremendous fun. It is just

1318
01:12:36,680 --> 01:12:40,240
Speaker 2: absolutely goofy, and it can come as a shock, Like

1319
01:12:40,280 --> 01:12:42,160
Speaker 2: I say, if you kind of like we're buying into

1320
01:12:42,200 --> 01:12:44,240
Speaker 2: Ming a few seconds earlier and you're like, oh man,

1321
01:12:44,240 --> 01:12:45,879
Speaker 2: this this bad guy's pretty terrifying.

1322
01:12:46,320 --> 01:12:49,479
Speaker 3: We go from cosmic horror to football fight in like

1323
01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:53,679
Speaker 3: eighty seconds. And also in this fight, Dale is doing

1324
01:12:53,760 --> 01:12:58,880
Speaker 3: cheerleader cheers. She's like, go Flash, Go Flash. Also, Brian

1325
01:12:58,960 --> 01:13:02,400
Speaker 3: Blessed likes watching. He keeps just like watching the fight

1326
01:13:02,479 --> 01:13:08,040
Speaker 3: and grinning, gigantic toothy grin, casually intervening here and there

1327
01:13:08,479 --> 01:13:09,760
Speaker 3: to help out Flash.

1328
01:13:10,000 --> 01:13:12,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, tripping a few aliens us. I think he uses

1329
01:13:12,439 --> 01:13:13,840
Speaker 2: the cudgel on him a little bit too.

1330
01:13:14,200 --> 01:13:16,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, but he's doing it like on the Sly. I

1331
01:13:16,360 --> 01:13:20,800
Speaker 3: guess he didn't get caught. But unfortunately this fight ends

1332
01:13:20,800 --> 01:13:24,559
Speaker 3: with Flash getting knocked unconscious. I think Zarkov like screws

1333
01:13:24,640 --> 01:13:27,520
Speaker 3: up and it's his fault. And so Ming is victorious

1334
01:13:27,520 --> 01:13:31,000
Speaker 3: over the Earthlings, and Aura goes up to Ming and

1335
01:13:31,080 --> 01:13:33,800
Speaker 3: she begs him to give Flash to her, even though

1336
01:13:33,840 --> 01:13:37,160
Speaker 3: she's already engaged to be married to Prince Baron Timothy Dalton.

1337
01:13:37,240 --> 01:13:39,400
Speaker 3: She's like, no, give me this other husband as well.

1338
01:13:39,439 --> 01:13:43,519
Speaker 3: I will marry both of them. But Ming refuses, So

1339
01:13:43,640 --> 01:13:46,840
Speaker 3: Zarkov is taken away by Cleitis to be conditioned for

1340
01:13:46,920 --> 01:13:51,320
Speaker 3: the Imperial Secret Police. Flash is to face public execution

1341
01:13:51,640 --> 01:13:53,960
Speaker 3: later that night for his defiance of Ming.

1342
01:13:54,720 --> 01:13:56,479
Speaker 2: The football rebellion is over.

1343
01:13:56,840 --> 01:14:01,240
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, so yeah, they're in prison and condemned. So

1344
01:14:01,240 --> 01:14:04,000
Speaker 3: we get one scene that comes up soon is this

1345
01:14:04,040 --> 01:14:06,719
Speaker 3: little well. First, there's a there's a moment with Prince

1346
01:14:07,560 --> 01:14:10,920
Speaker 3: Baron and Princess Ara where he says he doesn't trust her,

1347
01:14:10,960 --> 01:14:13,599
Speaker 3: but she convinces him to go back to Arboria tonight

1348
01:14:13,640 --> 01:14:15,840
Speaker 3: and she will come and meet him there with a surprise.

1349
01:14:17,320 --> 01:14:20,280
Speaker 3: And then we see Flash in prison in Ming's dungeon

1350
01:14:20,400 --> 01:14:23,960
Speaker 3: here wearing one of the best helmet mask things I've

1351
01:14:24,000 --> 01:14:27,320
Speaker 3: ever seen. It looks like a like a giant die

1352
01:14:27,760 --> 01:14:30,800
Speaker 3: of some kind, and it's got spikes shooting out of

1353
01:14:30,800 --> 01:14:33,320
Speaker 3: it where his face would be. I don't know if

1354
01:14:33,400 --> 01:14:36,120
Speaker 3: that's like to prevent anybody from getting close to his face,

1355
01:14:36,600 --> 01:14:37,240
Speaker 3: I don't know.

1356
01:14:37,520 --> 01:14:40,000
Speaker 2: Or maybe it's because if he runs away, he'll like

1357
01:14:40,080 --> 01:14:41,920
Speaker 2: stick into the wall and then he can't move. I

1358
01:14:41,920 --> 01:14:42,280
Speaker 2: don't know.

1359
01:14:42,600 --> 01:14:46,880
Speaker 3: It looks impressive though, So as a final request before

1360
01:14:46,920 --> 01:14:49,679
Speaker 3: his execution, he tells Clydas that he wants to see Dale,

1361
01:14:49,840 --> 01:14:53,240
Speaker 3: and they're given a moment together, and Clydas, of course

1362
01:14:53,280 --> 01:14:56,800
Speaker 3: regards it as pathetic that they are in love. And

1363
01:14:56,920 --> 01:15:01,519
Speaker 3: Dale comes in in her emperor's concubine uniform and the

1364
01:15:01,560 --> 01:15:03,920
Speaker 3: first thing Flash Gordon says when he sees her is

1365
01:15:03,960 --> 01:15:09,000
Speaker 3: you look great. That about at us rolling on the floor,

1366
01:15:09,080 --> 01:15:13,280
Speaker 3: You look great. Anyway. They say that they hope this

1367
01:15:13,360 --> 01:15:16,000
Speaker 3: is only a bad dream. You know, soon they'll wake up,

1368
01:15:16,560 --> 01:15:19,200
Speaker 3: and Flash tells her, you know, after he's dead, she's

1369
01:15:19,240 --> 01:15:21,320
Speaker 3: gonna have to meet up with Zarkov to find a

1370
01:15:21,360 --> 01:15:24,160
Speaker 3: way to save the earth. So we go to the

1371
01:15:24,200 --> 01:15:26,960
Speaker 3: execution and it's going to take place in this chamber

1372
01:15:27,040 --> 01:15:30,200
Speaker 3: that's like a hat, it's like a glass hemisphere with

1373
01:15:30,280 --> 01:15:33,680
Speaker 3: this chair where this like yellow smoke comes out that

1374
01:15:33,800 --> 01:15:36,519
Speaker 3: is apparently some kind of poison that will kill Flash Gordon.

1375
01:15:36,800 --> 01:15:40,960
Speaker 3: The execution scene set is actually gorgeous, with these clouds

1376
01:15:41,000 --> 01:15:44,120
Speaker 3: blooming in the sky and all these bizarre costumes. It's

1377
01:15:44,160 --> 01:15:47,479
Speaker 3: really again one of the many feast for the eyes

1378
01:15:47,600 --> 01:15:48,280
Speaker 3: scenes here.

1379
01:15:48,760 --> 01:15:51,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a cross between church and a gas

1380
01:15:51,360 --> 01:15:53,040
Speaker 2: chamber exactly.

1381
01:15:53,720 --> 01:15:57,840
Speaker 3: And the Imperial Surgeon is a character we meet in

1382
01:15:57,880 --> 01:16:00,559
Speaker 3: this scene. He's dressed in like white robes, looks very

1383
01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:03,760
Speaker 3: boring compared to everybody else around him. He's like he's

1384
01:16:03,800 --> 01:16:06,800
Speaker 3: like the square in Ming's palace. And we see him

1385
01:16:06,840 --> 01:16:10,480
Speaker 3: slip Flash Gordon some kind of secret medicine before the execution.

1386
01:16:11,040 --> 01:16:13,439
Speaker 3: There's a great moment in the scene where I think

1387
01:16:13,439 --> 01:16:16,719
Speaker 3: we see Dale and Zarkov and they're watching Flash Gordon

1388
01:16:16,800 --> 01:16:20,280
Speaker 3: be prepared for execution and they're they're crying, and Princess

1389
01:16:20,320 --> 01:16:23,839
Speaker 3: Ara says to Ming, look, water is leaking from her eyes,

1390
01:16:24,400 --> 01:16:27,000
Speaker 3: and Ming says, it's what they call tears. It is

1391
01:16:27,040 --> 01:16:28,440
Speaker 3: a sign of their weakness.

1392
01:16:29,360 --> 01:16:31,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is I mean, ultimately, an important theme in

1393
01:16:31,880 --> 01:16:38,200
Speaker 2: the film is that what humanity offers is compassion and

1394
01:16:38,400 --> 01:16:42,360
Speaker 2: reason and that's what that's what's ultimately going to win

1395
01:16:42,400 --> 01:16:46,519
Speaker 2: the day. And that's that's ultimately what Flash has. That

1396
01:16:46,640 --> 01:16:49,400
Speaker 2: is his superpower. But it's not helping him out a

1397
01:16:49,439 --> 01:16:50,200
Speaker 2: lot right now.

1398
01:16:50,560 --> 01:16:52,960
Speaker 3: Right well, No, in fact, what helps him out right

1399
01:16:53,000 --> 01:16:56,120
Speaker 3: now is that he is good looking, and Aura is

1400
01:16:56,160 --> 01:17:00,600
Speaker 3: obsessed with him because she in fact has gotten the

1401
01:17:00,000 --> 01:17:03,360
Speaker 3: the Imperial Surgeon to give him an antidote that will

1402
01:17:03,360 --> 01:17:06,320
Speaker 3: protect him from this yellow smoke that is supposed to

1403
01:17:06,320 --> 01:17:09,240
Speaker 3: poison him. So he just like gets knocked out by it,

1404
01:17:09,320 --> 01:17:12,400
Speaker 3: and we come back to him later in this room

1405
01:17:12,439 --> 01:17:14,519
Speaker 3: where his coffin is laid out next to like a

1406
01:17:14,560 --> 01:17:20,479
Speaker 3: stylized custom tombstone that says Flash Gordon Earthling executed by Ming.

1407
01:17:22,920 --> 01:17:25,040
Speaker 2: Oh man, that's so good. It's likes branded.

1408
01:17:25,840 --> 01:17:28,920
Speaker 3: So they wake him up and the Imperial Surgeon is like,

1409
01:17:29,000 --> 01:17:31,760
Speaker 3: I'm a fool doing everything you ask for Aura, and

1410
01:17:31,840 --> 01:17:34,240
Speaker 3: she kisses him and she's like, Yep, you're a fool.

1411
01:17:34,280 --> 01:17:37,160
Speaker 3: You're gonna do everything I say, and so he scurries

1412
01:17:37,200 --> 01:17:41,559
Speaker 3: off and Flash awakens wearing weird plastic underwear, and Aura

1413
01:17:41,680 --> 01:17:44,599
Speaker 3: kisses him and tells him she has revived him with magic,

1414
01:17:45,000 --> 01:17:47,280
Speaker 3: and she's like, quick, put on this uniform before the

1415
01:17:47,280 --> 01:17:48,920
Speaker 3: lizard men arrive to bury you.

1416
01:17:50,000 --> 01:17:52,679
Speaker 2: Everyone is if you're executed by Ming, you are buried

1417
01:17:52,680 --> 01:17:54,960
Speaker 2: in hotpants. That's that seems to be the tradition.

1418
01:17:55,320 --> 01:17:58,760
Speaker 3: Yes, and as oh by the way, I mentioned this

1419
01:17:59,040 --> 01:18:02,879
Speaker 3: scene coming up. As Aura and Flash are escaping the palace,

1420
01:18:03,280 --> 01:18:06,120
Speaker 3: they pass by a room where doctor Zarkov is strapped

1421
01:18:06,120 --> 01:18:08,960
Speaker 3: to a table with some giant beam emitter aimed at

1422
01:18:08,960 --> 01:18:12,120
Speaker 3: his head. And as she's like, oh, it's only conditioning,

1423
01:18:12,200 --> 01:18:14,880
Speaker 3: come on, and so they leave, Aura and Flash leave

1424
01:18:14,920 --> 01:18:16,840
Speaker 3: the palace. But then we zoom in on this room

1425
01:18:17,400 --> 01:18:22,080
Speaker 3: where Ming and doctor Zarkov are talking, and Ming explains

1426
01:18:22,120 --> 01:18:25,640
Speaker 3: his whole plot. He says, quote, every thousand years, I

1427
01:18:25,760 --> 01:18:28,880
Speaker 3: test each life system in the universe. I visit it

1428
01:18:28,920 --> 01:18:34,280
Speaker 3: with mysteries, earthquakes, unpredicted eclipses, strange craters in the wilderness.

1429
01:18:34,520 --> 01:18:37,320
Speaker 3: If these are taken as natural, I judge that system

1430
01:18:37,479 --> 01:18:41,240
Speaker 3: ignorant and harmless. I spare it. But if the hand

1431
01:18:41,280 --> 01:18:44,439
Speaker 3: of Ming is recognized in these events, I judge that

1432
01:18:44,600 --> 01:18:49,000
Speaker 3: system dangerous to us. I call upon the great God Diezan,

1433
01:18:49,280 --> 01:18:52,879
Speaker 3: and for his greater glory and for our mutual pleasure,

1434
01:18:53,120 --> 01:18:57,280
Speaker 3: I destroy it utterly. And so Zarkov realizes. He says,

1435
01:18:57,320 --> 01:19:00,439
Speaker 3: you're saying it's my fault. The earth is being droid

1436
01:19:00,880 --> 01:19:05,840
Speaker 3: and Imperming says, precisely, it's a real bad twist. But

1437
01:19:05,880 --> 01:19:08,960
Speaker 3: then they explain, Okay, they're gonna empty his memory as

1438
01:19:09,040 --> 01:19:11,960
Speaker 3: we might empty your pockets. They're gonna steal all his

1439
01:19:12,120 --> 01:19:15,120
Speaker 3: memories out of his mind, and then we get this

1440
01:19:15,320 --> 01:19:18,799
Speaker 3: brain wiping scene where we see, like, as this beam

1441
01:19:18,920 --> 01:19:22,480
Speaker 3: is beaming at his head, we see on a television

1442
01:19:22,520 --> 01:19:27,560
Speaker 3: screen Zarkov's whole life playing like in super speed in reverse.

1443
01:19:28,120 --> 01:19:32,240
Speaker 3: We see all these formative memories, personal tragedies, family struggles.

1444
01:19:33,080 --> 01:19:36,760
Speaker 3: So in the middle of this goofy movie, this sequence

1445
01:19:36,920 --> 01:19:41,320
Speaker 3: is strangely powerful, mostly because of the way Topaul performs it.

1446
01:19:41,720 --> 01:19:45,080
Speaker 3: We see him like losing his wife in a horrible accident,

1447
01:19:45,360 --> 01:19:49,080
Speaker 3: we see his family suffering under the Nazis, and finally

1448
01:19:49,160 --> 01:19:53,719
Speaker 3: he regresses to being a baby, and he just says, Papa, Papa.

1449
01:19:54,520 --> 01:19:56,360
Speaker 3: I don't know what to make of this. I would

1450
01:19:56,400 --> 01:20:00,360
Speaker 3: say it is wildly tonally inappropriate for the film, but

1451
01:20:00,439 --> 01:20:03,880
Speaker 3: it's also quite strong. It's strangely moving.

1452
01:20:04,360 --> 01:20:07,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is exactly how I've always felt about that,

1453
01:20:07,360 --> 01:20:08,960
Speaker 2: or that's the way I feel about it now. I

1454
01:20:08,960 --> 01:20:11,559
Speaker 2: remember seeing this when I was a kid, and this

1455
01:20:11,960 --> 01:20:14,679
Speaker 2: scene was was like kind of disturbing, you know, because

1456
01:20:14,720 --> 01:20:19,240
Speaker 2: it's it's you're used to seeing characters vaporized by lasers.

1457
01:20:19,240 --> 01:20:21,920
Speaker 2: We've seen it already in this picture, you know, run

1458
01:20:21,960 --> 01:20:24,800
Speaker 2: through with swords, but this is just this is this

1459
01:20:24,880 --> 01:20:28,240
Speaker 2: is rather poignant and disturbing. And and yeah, we just

1460
01:20:28,280 --> 01:20:31,559
Speaker 2: had a football fight, now we're having this. So it

1461
01:20:31,600 --> 01:20:34,320
Speaker 2: seems like something that maybe should have been cut or

1462
01:20:34,320 --> 01:20:36,639
Speaker 2: maybe should have been saved for another movie. But again,

1463
01:20:36,680 --> 01:20:39,280
Speaker 2: the performance is so solid. What can you do? And

1464
01:20:39,280 --> 01:20:41,599
Speaker 2: and and the way they the images are cut together

1465
01:20:42,200 --> 01:20:45,720
Speaker 2: with other like random images of like cats and faces,

1466
01:20:45,800 --> 01:20:47,439
Speaker 2: it's yeah, it's quite troubling.

1467
01:20:47,720 --> 01:20:50,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say it's like really good, but it

1468
01:20:50,439 --> 01:20:51,599
Speaker 3: doesn't belong here.

1469
01:20:51,680 --> 01:20:55,240
Speaker 2: It's so weird, like this belongs in the Nicholas Rogue

1470
01:20:55,280 --> 01:20:58,439
Speaker 2: movie that we didn't get. This needs to be in

1471
01:20:58,479 --> 01:20:59,719
Speaker 2: that alternate reality.

1472
01:21:00,240 --> 01:21:02,640
Speaker 3: So back to the goofy stuff. We see Flash on

1473
01:21:02,760 --> 01:21:06,280
Speaker 3: Aura's rocket ship. They're going to our Borea, and this

1474
01:21:06,360 --> 01:21:08,600
Speaker 3: is the scene where he like, you know, he'd like

1475
01:21:08,800 --> 01:21:11,599
Speaker 3: endangers the ship in order to convince her to allow

1476
01:21:11,720 --> 01:21:14,840
Speaker 3: him to use the Thought Amplifier, which is like a

1477
01:21:14,880 --> 01:21:20,559
Speaker 3: telepathic communicator machine to contact Dale telepathically and let her

1478
01:21:20,640 --> 01:21:23,680
Speaker 3: know he is still alive. She's hanging out with I

1479
01:21:23,720 --> 01:21:27,679
Speaker 3: guess Ming's other concubines, and she's just like she thinks

1480
01:21:27,720 --> 01:21:31,400
Speaker 3: he's dead, but this conversation lets her know that he's alive,

1481
01:21:31,680 --> 01:21:34,599
Speaker 3: and she sort of gets the idea, Okay, I got

1482
01:21:34,600 --> 01:21:38,080
Speaker 3: to escape here and do something now, Flash and Aura.

1483
01:21:38,280 --> 01:21:40,599
Speaker 3: They go to this place, Arborea. This is like a

1484
01:21:40,640 --> 01:21:43,960
Speaker 3: moon or a planet characterized mainly by trees. It's sort

1485
01:21:43,960 --> 01:21:46,080
Speaker 3: of an Ewok village, as we were saying, but full

1486
01:21:46,120 --> 01:21:49,960
Speaker 3: of people, including Timothy Dalton and Richard O'Brien, and we

1487
01:21:50,080 --> 01:21:53,559
Speaker 3: witness this interesting ritual when they first arrived there where

1488
01:21:53,600 --> 01:21:56,440
Speaker 3: like a young man, he says, I am now of age, greenfather,

1489
01:21:56,600 --> 01:21:59,160
Speaker 3: I ask for the test of manhood, and this ritual

1490
01:21:59,160 --> 01:22:02,120
Speaker 3: commences where he has to go around this like tree

1491
01:22:02,280 --> 01:22:04,760
Speaker 3: root and reach into one of many holes in it.

1492
01:22:04,880 --> 01:22:07,240
Speaker 3: If he reaches into the wrong hole, he will be

1493
01:22:07,360 --> 01:22:11,040
Speaker 3: stung by this weird tree beast. It's like a scorpion

1494
01:22:11,120 --> 01:22:14,439
Speaker 3: inside the tree that has a venom that tortures people

1495
01:22:14,439 --> 01:22:17,639
Speaker 3: with madness until they die. And he does get stung.

1496
01:22:17,800 --> 01:22:20,240
Speaker 3: So this kid is like Timothy Dalton, you must you

1497
01:22:20,320 --> 01:22:23,120
Speaker 3: must end it now, and Timothy Dalton Mercy kills him.

1498
01:22:23,680 --> 01:22:26,920
Speaker 3: And this is apparently they're they're very harsh initiation into

1499
01:22:26,960 --> 01:22:28,400
Speaker 3: adulthood and their society.

1500
01:22:28,960 --> 01:22:32,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, the tree beast sequences are very memorable. In fact,

1501
01:22:32,680 --> 01:22:35,160
Speaker 2: I was watching this with my wife last night. She'd

1502
01:22:35,200 --> 01:22:38,120
Speaker 2: seen it before, and I was at one point we

1503
01:22:38,280 --> 01:22:40,360
Speaker 2: reached we reached a point in watching the film where

1504
01:22:40,360 --> 01:22:41,360
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, do you want to go to

1505
01:22:41,400 --> 01:22:43,720
Speaker 2: bed and I can finish it in the morning, And

1506
01:22:43,760 --> 01:22:46,400
Speaker 2: she's like, no, I need to stay up at least

1507
01:22:46,479 --> 01:22:48,680
Speaker 2: until the tree beast scene happens. At least until we

1508
01:22:48,720 --> 01:22:52,479
Speaker 2: start sticking their arms into the big stump. So we

1509
01:22:53,240 --> 01:22:55,439
Speaker 2: ended up watching the whole thing. But that was nice,

1510
01:22:55,720 --> 01:22:56,839
Speaker 2: one of her favorite scenes.

1511
01:22:57,160 --> 01:22:58,840
Speaker 3: It is quite me They are actually a couple of

1512
01:22:58,840 --> 01:23:01,719
Speaker 3: these scenes. We see this other guy fail to test

1513
01:23:01,760 --> 01:23:06,320
Speaker 3: early on and then Aura dumps dumps flash on this planet.

1514
01:23:06,400 --> 01:23:09,120
Speaker 3: He's like, Barn, take care of him. I've got to

1515
01:23:09,160 --> 01:23:11,439
Speaker 3: go back and do other things. I'll be back and

1516
01:23:11,840 --> 01:23:14,080
Speaker 3: Barn does he like this? Of course not. This is

1517
01:23:14,160 --> 01:23:17,559
Speaker 3: like my fiance's other boyfriend just has to hang out

1518
01:23:17,560 --> 01:23:18,120
Speaker 3: with me now.

1519
01:23:18,520 --> 01:23:20,959
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's gonna instantly orchestrate his death.

1520
01:23:21,120 --> 01:23:24,120
Speaker 3: Right, So they like put him into this cage that

1521
01:23:24,200 --> 01:23:27,800
Speaker 3: gets lowered into the green swamp below the trees, and

1522
01:23:27,840 --> 01:23:30,200
Speaker 3: he's there with these other prisoners. Oh, it's a very

1523
01:23:30,920 --> 01:23:33,439
Speaker 3: it's a very unpleasant set piece. They're like up to

1524
01:23:33,479 --> 01:23:37,559
Speaker 3: their shoulders, just barely trying to keep their heads above water. Meanwhile,

1525
01:23:37,560 --> 01:23:41,880
Speaker 3: there's a there's a great escape scene where Dale she's like, Okay,

1526
01:23:41,880 --> 01:23:43,920
Speaker 3: I gotta get out of here. So she orchestrates an

1527
01:23:44,040 --> 01:23:47,920
Speaker 3: escape where she they bring her this kind of like drug,

1528
01:23:48,640 --> 01:23:51,800
Speaker 3: this like drugged beverage, and they're like, take it, you know,

1529
01:23:51,840 --> 01:23:55,080
Speaker 3: it makes everything feel good, and so she's she gets

1530
01:23:55,080 --> 01:23:58,840
Speaker 3: the servants to drink it instead, they fall unconscious. She

1531
01:23:58,920 --> 01:24:03,960
Speaker 3: swaps uniforms with them, escapes the escapes the palace by

1532
01:24:04,040 --> 01:24:06,800
Speaker 3: like doing some real moves. I didn't expect Dale to

1533
01:24:06,800 --> 01:24:09,120
Speaker 3: become such an action hero in the movie, but she's

1534
01:24:09,160 --> 01:24:11,840
Speaker 3: like running around beaten up and blasting a bunch of

1535
01:24:11,840 --> 01:24:13,200
Speaker 3: the soldiers on her way out.

1536
01:24:13,840 --> 01:24:16,840
Speaker 2: No explanation whatsoever for it but that it's fun.

1537
01:24:17,080 --> 01:24:20,760
Speaker 3: Great. Yeah, it's like halfway through the movie they just decided, wait,

1538
01:24:20,800 --> 01:24:22,960
Speaker 3: what is she not just a damsel in distress? Like

1539
01:24:23,000 --> 01:24:26,040
Speaker 3: she you know, she's kicking butt too. As you said,

1540
01:24:26,040 --> 01:24:28,520
Speaker 3: it is not explained, but okay, great.

1541
01:24:28,439 --> 01:24:30,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe it's because she drank a little bit of

1542
01:24:30,960 --> 01:24:34,040
Speaker 2: that potion from the Galaxy of Pleasure or wherever they

1543
01:24:34,040 --> 01:24:36,280
Speaker 2: said it was from, and so she drank just enough

1544
01:24:36,280 --> 01:24:39,000
Speaker 2: to give her like super combat the skills, and that's

1545
01:24:39,000 --> 01:24:39,679
Speaker 2: what we see.

1546
01:24:39,520 --> 01:24:41,840
Speaker 3: Here, that's right. Yeah. So she meets up on her

1547
01:24:41,840 --> 01:24:44,800
Speaker 3: way out of the palace with Zarkov again, which at

1548
01:24:44,840 --> 01:24:49,360
Speaker 3: first we worry is agent Zarkov and apparently brainwashed drone

1549
01:24:49,479 --> 01:24:53,200
Speaker 3: form Ming and Ming thinks this guy is working as

1550
01:24:53,240 --> 01:24:56,160
Speaker 3: a double agent. But once they're out of the palace,

1551
01:24:56,320 --> 01:24:58,880
Speaker 3: Zarkov has this moment where he reveals he is still

1552
01:24:58,920 --> 01:25:01,720
Speaker 3: himself and he still has all his memories. He I

1553
01:25:01,760 --> 01:25:03,880
Speaker 3: couldn't fully understand it, but he says like he was

1554
01:25:03,920 --> 01:25:08,080
Speaker 3: able to resist the brainwashing by holding onto memories including

1555
01:25:08,120 --> 01:25:12,400
Speaker 3: I think, the theories of Einstein, bits of the Talmud,

1556
01:25:12,560 --> 01:25:16,000
Speaker 3: and songs by the Beatles, and then he says that,

1557
01:25:16,120 --> 01:25:19,800
Speaker 3: like spoke, focusing on these specific memories allowed him to

1558
01:25:19,920 --> 01:25:23,200
Speaker 3: keep all of his memory and knowledge. He says, it's

1559
01:25:23,280 --> 01:25:24,880
Speaker 3: you can't conquer the human spirit.

1560
01:25:25,200 --> 01:25:29,080
Speaker 2: The performance sells it, but it is a complete turnaround

1561
01:25:29,160 --> 01:25:32,320
Speaker 2: because it's just like, oh yeah, all that you thought happening, No,

1562
01:25:32,439 --> 01:25:35,240
Speaker 2: not happening. I'm fine, disregarded, I'm good.

1563
01:25:43,960 --> 01:25:47,320
Speaker 3: So, like Ming, Calla and Clytas learned that Flash Gordon

1564
01:25:47,400 --> 01:25:50,559
Speaker 3: is still alive, they're very unhappy about this, and they

1565
01:25:50,640 --> 01:25:53,320
Speaker 3: learn he's still alive due to the intervention of a trader,

1566
01:25:53,720 --> 01:25:57,080
Speaker 3: and Ming authorizes Clytis to discover who the trader is,

1567
01:25:57,200 --> 01:25:59,720
Speaker 3: no matter, no matter where the trail leads, by any

1568
01:25:59,760 --> 01:26:03,840
Speaker 3: means necessary. So this leads to the torture scene of

1569
01:26:03,920 --> 01:26:08,439
Speaker 3: Princess Aura. Clydis has her like chained up and they're

1570
01:26:08,479 --> 01:26:11,439
Speaker 3: torturing her for information. They're like, where is Flash Gordon?

1571
01:26:11,479 --> 01:26:14,040
Speaker 3: Where did you take him? Clydus seems to be kind

1572
01:26:14,040 --> 01:26:17,479
Speaker 3: of enjoying this because he's he's portrayed to be somewhat

1573
01:26:17,479 --> 01:26:20,320
Speaker 3: of a creep when it comes to Aur and uh

1574
01:26:20,560 --> 01:26:23,479
Speaker 3: then it Oh, there's the part. It gets to where

1575
01:26:23,479 --> 01:26:28,120
Speaker 3: he's like, bring me the bore worms and she goes, no,

1576
01:26:28,240 --> 01:26:32,880
Speaker 3: not the bore worms. Ara has has multiple lines where

1577
01:26:32,880 --> 01:26:36,200
Speaker 3: she just has to make very very straight reference to

1578
01:26:36,280 --> 01:26:39,040
Speaker 3: the horror of the boar worms. It'll come up again.

1579
01:26:39,600 --> 01:26:42,559
Speaker 2: It works, I mean, you're it builds up a sense

1580
01:26:42,560 --> 01:26:44,759
Speaker 2: of fear of these worms that we will never see,

1581
01:26:45,040 --> 01:26:48,040
Speaker 2: never see. Yeah, I mean maybe Dino came in. He's like, Okay,

1582
01:26:48,080 --> 01:26:51,320
Speaker 2: look I gave you the cage lowered into the swamp.

1583
01:26:51,400 --> 01:26:53,720
Speaker 2: I gave you the tree Beast, but we can't have

1584
01:26:53,760 --> 01:26:56,120
Speaker 2: bore worms where we're at the very limit of the

1585
01:26:56,120 --> 01:26:56,960
Speaker 2: budget right now.

1586
01:26:57,240 --> 01:26:59,880
Speaker 3: Speaking of the swamp, there's like an escape scene where

1587
01:27:00,160 --> 01:27:03,400
Speaker 3: they get Gordon out of the cage in the swamp,

1588
01:27:03,520 --> 01:27:06,599
Speaker 3: but then Timothy Dalton confronts him and they're like, Okay,

1589
01:27:06,640 --> 01:27:09,519
Speaker 3: we're gonna make you do the tree Beast test, and

1590
01:27:10,280 --> 01:27:13,720
Speaker 3: he does pretty well, but eventually this escalates to a

1591
01:27:13,720 --> 01:27:15,960
Speaker 3: fight and Flash Gordon has to like pull a sword

1592
01:27:16,000 --> 01:27:20,479
Speaker 3: on Timothy Dalton and try to escape, but then he

1593
01:27:20,520 --> 01:27:22,919
Speaker 3: gets caught in the swamp by some kind of giant

1594
01:27:23,520 --> 01:27:26,840
Speaker 3: monster that's like gobbling him up, and barn I don't

1595
01:27:26,840 --> 01:27:28,680
Speaker 3: know how to even describe this thing. It's like a

1596
01:27:28,680 --> 01:27:31,040
Speaker 3: big sack that has bamboo legs.

1597
01:27:31,640 --> 01:27:36,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's monstrous and it doesn't make a lot of sense,

1598
01:27:36,040 --> 01:27:37,880
Speaker 2: but it's a monster. It's a space monster. It's not

1599
01:27:37,880 --> 01:27:38,800
Speaker 2: supposed to So.

1600
01:27:38,760 --> 01:27:41,519
Speaker 3: Timothy Dalton comes it, kills the monster, and then you

1601
01:27:41,520 --> 01:27:43,400
Speaker 3: think he's about to kill Flash Gordon. But then I

1602
01:27:43,400 --> 01:27:45,240
Speaker 3: don't even remember what happens here. Is it that the

1603
01:27:45,280 --> 01:27:47,840
Speaker 3: Hawkmen show up and stop him from killing him?

1604
01:27:48,120 --> 01:27:52,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Hawkmen come at that point because they're here

1605
01:27:52,160 --> 01:27:54,840
Speaker 2: for Flash and the hawk Men are still trying to

1606
01:27:54,920 --> 01:27:58,080
Speaker 2: play right by Ming. They're not an all open rebellion.

1607
01:27:58,080 --> 01:28:00,479
Speaker 2: This is all heading to, of course, open rebellion, but

1608
01:28:00,640 --> 01:28:04,160
Speaker 2: right now there's still division between these factions that will

1609
01:28:04,360 --> 01:28:06,479
Speaker 2: eventually rise up together against me.

1610
01:28:06,960 --> 01:28:10,040
Speaker 3: Our Earthlings are constantly trying to appeal to the factions

1611
01:28:10,040 --> 01:28:13,120
Speaker 3: to band together and fight against Ming instead of being

1612
01:28:13,200 --> 01:28:16,280
Speaker 3: loyal to Ming and fighting each other. Right, and they

1613
01:28:16,320 --> 01:28:18,840
Speaker 3: are eventually able to convince them, But before that we

1614
01:28:18,920 --> 01:28:23,840
Speaker 3: get to the trial by combat scene, which is another

1615
01:28:23,880 --> 01:28:26,120
Speaker 3: one of the best scenes in the movie. Flash Gordon.

1616
01:28:26,720 --> 01:28:28,400
Speaker 3: I've said this before on the show that a lot

1617
01:28:28,400 --> 01:28:31,040
Speaker 3: of times action scenes are boring because a lot of

1618
01:28:31,040 --> 01:28:32,880
Speaker 3: times they are it's just you know, like close ups

1619
01:28:32,880 --> 01:28:36,400
Speaker 3: of people shooting and things exploding, the lax drama. Flash

1620
01:28:36,479 --> 01:28:38,559
Speaker 3: Gordon is not like that. The fight scenes are some

1621
01:28:38,600 --> 01:28:40,799
Speaker 3: of the best stuff in the movies. The fight scenes

1622
01:28:40,840 --> 01:28:41,880
Speaker 3: are so fun.

1623
01:28:42,600 --> 01:28:45,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, this one especially. So it's going to be

1624
01:28:45,640 --> 01:28:50,320
Speaker 2: trial by combat in the Hawkman floating city. Yeah, and

1625
01:28:51,760 --> 01:28:54,000
Speaker 2: there are a few steps to get where we're going

1626
01:28:54,080 --> 01:28:57,640
Speaker 2: to go with this, but it's like Barren is going

1627
01:28:57,680 --> 01:29:00,960
Speaker 2: to be tried and executed, but it's got to be

1628
01:29:01,240 --> 01:29:03,800
Speaker 2: trial by combat. Who's he gonna fight. Seems like he's

1629
01:29:03,800 --> 01:29:07,240
Speaker 2: gonna probably fit. He's gonna probably pick Brian Blessed, right,

1630
01:29:07,880 --> 01:29:10,280
Speaker 2: he's there, he has his cudgel, he's eager for it,

1631
01:29:10,320 --> 01:29:13,200
Speaker 2: but no, he chooses Flash Courton. He's like, I will

1632
01:29:13,200 --> 01:29:13,760
Speaker 2: fight him.

1633
01:29:14,080 --> 01:29:16,400
Speaker 3: So they put them out on this disc in the

1634
01:29:16,400 --> 01:29:19,040
Speaker 3: middle of a void, and so the Hawkman Palace is

1635
01:29:19,080 --> 01:29:20,640
Speaker 3: like up at the air, so he's like, they at

1636
01:29:20,680 --> 01:29:23,960
Speaker 3: the moon door basically, and they're on this disc there

1637
01:29:24,439 --> 01:29:28,000
Speaker 3: and while and they're fighting with whips. Flashboard and then

1638
01:29:28,080 --> 01:29:31,800
Speaker 3: Timothy Dalton are whipping each other on this disc and

1639
01:29:31,840 --> 01:29:35,120
Speaker 3: then Brian Blessed gets this remote control that allows him

1640
01:29:35,160 --> 01:29:38,000
Speaker 3: to tilt the disc around and make spikes come up

1641
01:29:38,040 --> 01:29:40,920
Speaker 3: out of the bottom of it. So it's just it's

1642
01:29:41,080 --> 01:29:45,400
Speaker 3: extremely chaotic and it's very very fun. And the fight

1643
01:29:45,640 --> 01:29:49,880
Speaker 3: ends with a I think a super well earned reconciliation.

1644
01:29:50,040 --> 01:29:52,320
Speaker 3: So Timothy Dalton is defeated at the end of the fight.

1645
01:29:52,400 --> 01:29:54,720
Speaker 3: He's like about to fall off, but Flash goes to

1646
01:29:54,760 --> 01:29:56,840
Speaker 3: save him. He's like, we can be friends, we can

1647
01:29:56,880 --> 01:30:00,559
Speaker 3: work together, and you know what, bye Gollia there. I

1648
01:30:00,600 --> 01:30:03,200
Speaker 3: think this this friendship arc has been earned.

1649
01:30:03,920 --> 01:30:06,920
Speaker 2: It really was earned here in this scene, great fight

1650
01:30:07,040 --> 01:30:09,680
Speaker 2: with whips of all things. Even going back into this,

1651
01:30:09,760 --> 01:30:11,599
Speaker 2: when I saw the whips come out, I'm like, oh lord,

1652
01:30:11,640 --> 01:30:13,840
Speaker 2: you know, not swords but whips. But it works. They

1653
01:30:13,840 --> 01:30:17,679
Speaker 2: make it work. It's well choreographed, the pail feels real,

1654
01:30:18,160 --> 01:30:20,400
Speaker 2: and then yeah, it's earned. It's a whole it's a

1655
01:30:20,439 --> 01:30:23,960
Speaker 2: wee can live moment. To call back to robot jocks.

1656
01:30:24,000 --> 01:30:26,760
Speaker 3: My god, you're exactly right, except instead of saying no,

1657
01:30:27,040 --> 01:30:29,800
Speaker 3: we are dead, we are robot jocks, he says, okay, yeah,

1658
01:30:29,800 --> 01:30:30,439
Speaker 3: we can live.

1659
01:30:30,680 --> 01:30:32,280
Speaker 2: We can do it. Yeah.

1660
01:30:32,320 --> 01:30:34,320
Speaker 3: This is also the scene where in the middle they're

1661
01:30:34,360 --> 01:30:37,519
Speaker 3: like fighting and Dale Arden yells of flash, I love you.

1662
01:30:37,560 --> 01:30:39,920
Speaker 3: But we only have fourteen hours to save the earth

1663
01:30:41,240 --> 01:30:43,960
Speaker 3: because oh, I haven't even mentioned this, but the moon

1664
01:30:44,040 --> 01:30:47,280
Speaker 3: is spiraling into the Earth and Zarkov determines that they

1665
01:30:47,360 --> 01:30:50,320
Speaker 3: only have fourteen hours before it cannot be stopped.

1666
01:30:50,720 --> 01:30:52,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he set a timer earlier, or he

1667
01:30:52,680 --> 01:30:54,680
Speaker 2: will set a timer in a bit so that we'll

1668
01:30:54,720 --> 01:30:56,799
Speaker 2: stay on top of this whole Moon Earth situation.

1669
01:30:57,280 --> 01:30:59,519
Speaker 3: So I think we got to go a little bit

1670
01:30:59,520 --> 01:31:01,600
Speaker 3: more lightly over what happens from here, because I know

1671
01:31:01,640 --> 01:31:04,840
Speaker 3: we're running up on time. But oh my lord, there's

1672
01:31:04,920 --> 01:31:07,760
Speaker 3: a lot of a finale, a lot of final conflict here.

1673
01:31:07,800 --> 01:31:11,519
Speaker 3: So like Ming's forces come to attack the Hawkman Palace,

1674
01:31:12,840 --> 01:31:15,960
Speaker 3: and one of the things that happens here is that mingko,

1675
01:31:16,040 --> 01:31:18,280
Speaker 3: oh well we do we do get the death of Clytus.

1676
01:31:18,360 --> 01:31:19,000
Speaker 3: How does that happen?

1677
01:31:19,080 --> 01:31:19,160
Speaker 4: Right?

1678
01:31:19,600 --> 01:31:21,720
Speaker 2: Oh, well, he shows up. He's upset about this whole

1679
01:31:21,720 --> 01:31:27,599
Speaker 2: scenario with these warning factions suddenly joining forces. He gets

1680
01:31:28,120 --> 01:31:31,280
Speaker 2: thrown out. There's like a double team, and he eventually

1681
01:31:31,320 --> 01:31:35,200
Speaker 2: gets thrown out onto the spike platform run through, and

1682
01:31:35,240 --> 01:31:37,680
Speaker 2: we do get that scene of his mask doesn't come off,

1683
01:31:37,720 --> 01:31:39,840
Speaker 2: but we see like his eyes and his tongue like

1684
01:31:39,920 --> 01:31:44,800
Speaker 2: melting out through the mask. Yeah. Gross, ending, But this

1685
01:31:44,920 --> 01:31:47,240
Speaker 2: is an evil dude, so you know, yeah, it's fine.

1686
01:31:47,479 --> 01:31:51,120
Speaker 3: And then Ming is like, Flash Gordon, everybody else can leave,

1687
01:31:51,200 --> 01:31:54,040
Speaker 3: you know, take the prisoners back to my palace, Flash Gordon,

1688
01:31:54,040 --> 01:31:55,640
Speaker 3: I would like a word with you, And then he

1689
01:31:55,880 --> 01:31:58,200
Speaker 3: offers Flash Gordon to be the Prince of Earth.

1690
01:31:58,560 --> 01:32:00,000
Speaker 2: The last temptation of Flah.

1691
01:32:02,200 --> 01:32:06,000
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly. He's like, how about how about this. I

1692
01:32:06,080 --> 01:32:08,240
Speaker 3: make you the Prince of Earth, and all of the

1693
01:32:08,240 --> 01:32:11,439
Speaker 3: people of Earth must serve you, and be your slaves

1694
01:32:11,760 --> 01:32:14,040
Speaker 3: and you you just must be loyal to me? How

1695
01:32:14,040 --> 01:32:18,759
Speaker 3: about that? And Flash is like, no, I won't do it.

1696
01:32:18,760 --> 01:32:22,040
Speaker 2: It's a creepy scene because uh Ming is saying things like, oh,

1697
01:32:22,080 --> 01:32:24,240
Speaker 2: they'll be different once I'm done with them, they'll be

1698
01:32:24,280 --> 01:32:27,240
Speaker 2: easier to manage, yeah and uh and all that. Yeah,

1699
01:32:27,280 --> 01:32:29,160
Speaker 2: Flash is our hero. He doesn't want any part of that,

1700
01:32:29,200 --> 01:32:29,720
Speaker 2: he says, No.

1701
01:32:30,240 --> 01:32:33,160
Speaker 3: I think Ming says that he will condition the people

1702
01:32:33,200 --> 01:32:35,800
Speaker 3: of Earth to be satisfied with less.

1703
01:32:35,680 --> 01:32:37,160
Speaker 2: A yeah, that's what he says.

1704
01:32:37,400 --> 01:32:39,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, but no, Flash would never do that.

1705
01:32:40,400 --> 01:32:43,639
Speaker 2: All right. So Flash is left on the Hawkman floating

1706
01:32:43,680 --> 01:32:46,400
Speaker 2: castle thing and they're gonna blow up, and Ming's force

1707
01:32:46,479 --> 01:32:50,360
Speaker 2: to start blowing it up. But fortunately he finds a

1708
01:32:50,439 --> 01:32:52,920
Speaker 2: rocket slab, which is kind of like he finds a

1709
01:32:53,000 --> 01:32:55,360
Speaker 2: jet ski. It's a jet ski. It's a space jet ski.

1710
01:32:55,400 --> 01:32:57,000
Speaker 2: I don't know why the hawk Men need a jet ski.

1711
01:32:57,040 --> 01:32:59,360
Speaker 2: They have wings that allow them to fly through space,

1712
01:32:59,760 --> 01:33:03,000
Speaker 2: but it's it's fortunate for our friend Flash here, who

1713
01:33:03,000 --> 01:33:03,759
Speaker 2: has no wings.

1714
01:33:04,600 --> 01:33:07,519
Speaker 3: And ultimately this all culminates in like the factions are

1715
01:33:07,520 --> 01:33:11,559
Speaker 3: going to band together. He Flash convinces Brian Blessed and

1716
01:33:11,600 --> 01:33:15,479
Speaker 3: the Hawkman to like all work together to go oppose Ming.

1717
01:33:16,920 --> 01:33:20,479
Speaker 2: That's right, just as Ming is about to get married

1718
01:33:21,720 --> 01:33:24,840
Speaker 2: to our heroine. So you know a lot of things

1719
01:33:24,880 --> 01:33:26,679
Speaker 2: predictably coming to a hat here.

1720
01:33:26,720 --> 01:33:30,439
Speaker 3: That's right. So several things are happening here somehow. I

1721
01:33:30,439 --> 01:33:34,639
Speaker 3: think the Zarkov and Timothy Dalton are in the dungeon

1722
01:33:34,760 --> 01:33:38,320
Speaker 3: together in the palace, and we come in on them,

1723
01:33:38,360 --> 01:33:41,960
Speaker 3: and Timothy Dalton's like, tell me again about this Houdini man,

1724
01:33:43,080 --> 01:33:45,960
Speaker 3: and but they get what happens?

1725
01:33:45,960 --> 01:33:46,040
Speaker 2: Do?

1726
01:33:46,120 --> 01:33:48,120
Speaker 3: They get rescued by Princess.

1727
01:33:47,720 --> 01:33:51,200
Speaker 2: Aura, I believe so, Yeah, she completely turns face at

1728
01:33:51,200 --> 01:33:53,599
Speaker 2: this point, and she's working for the good guys.

1729
01:33:53,960 --> 01:33:55,960
Speaker 3: We've been told that she's going to be punished for

1730
01:33:56,000 --> 01:33:58,639
Speaker 3: her treachery by like being sent to a planet where

1731
01:33:58,640 --> 01:34:01,439
Speaker 3: she will she will like freeze and suffer, and I

1732
01:34:01,479 --> 01:34:05,559
Speaker 3: guess this will purge her mind of all disloyalty. But

1733
01:34:05,640 --> 01:34:07,920
Speaker 3: before that happens, I don't know. She's just wandering around

1734
01:34:07,920 --> 01:34:12,000
Speaker 3: and she Yeah, she rescues them, and then they go

1735
01:34:12,280 --> 01:34:15,880
Speaker 3: and do some fighting inside the palace to like sabotage

1736
01:34:15,960 --> 01:34:19,240
Speaker 3: Ming's defenses and General Kala and all the guys with

1737
01:34:19,320 --> 01:34:21,200
Speaker 3: goggles on their eyes, and there's a great moment where

1738
01:34:21,200 --> 01:34:23,280
Speaker 3: a guy gets the goggles pulled off of his head

1739
01:34:23,280 --> 01:34:25,680
Speaker 3: and we find he has no eyes underneath. It's just

1740
01:34:25,760 --> 01:34:27,520
Speaker 3: like sockets full of wires.

1741
01:34:27,640 --> 01:34:30,719
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and they're all interconnected, so they all short

1742
01:34:30,760 --> 01:34:31,479
Speaker 2: out and die.

1743
01:34:31,920 --> 01:34:35,800
Speaker 3: So the Hawkman and Flasher are attacking first the ship

1744
01:34:35,880 --> 01:34:38,879
Speaker 3: that's out there, General Kala's ship, and then they're attacking

1745
01:34:38,920 --> 01:34:42,160
Speaker 3: the palace while this wedding is happening. And I noticed

1746
01:34:42,200 --> 01:34:46,240
Speaker 3: something about the wedding. The sniveling, obsequious priest performing the

1747
01:34:46,280 --> 01:34:49,280
Speaker 3: marriage ceremony, he seemed familiar to me, and I was like,

1748
01:34:49,320 --> 01:34:53,120
Speaker 3: wait a second, is that Delbert Grady from The Shining

1749
01:34:53,479 --> 01:34:57,479
Speaker 3: And yep, that's right. It is Philip Stone, British character

1750
01:34:57,560 --> 01:35:00,000
Speaker 3: actor who was also in a couple of other Kubrick movie.

1751
01:35:00,280 --> 01:35:02,519
Speaker 3: He was in a Clockwork Orange and he was in

1752
01:35:02,520 --> 01:35:04,600
Speaker 3: Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. He's like the

1753
01:35:04,640 --> 01:35:08,479
Speaker 3: British army officer. But I caught that I caught something

1754
01:35:08,479 --> 01:35:11,960
Speaker 3: about his voice and his eyes there good eye.

1755
01:35:12,000 --> 01:35:14,840
Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's a very small role, but it's also

1756
01:35:15,160 --> 01:35:18,120
Speaker 2: very fun. This is a kind of predictable comedy here

1757
01:35:18,160 --> 01:35:22,280
Speaker 2: with your tyrannical ruler going through some vowels with his

1758
01:35:22,360 --> 01:35:23,559
Speaker 2: soon to be forced wife.

1759
01:35:23,880 --> 01:35:27,960
Speaker 3: Yes. The priest is like, do you Ming, the merciless

1760
01:35:28,040 --> 01:35:31,080
Speaker 3: ruler of the universe, take this earthling dale Arden to

1761
01:35:31,120 --> 01:35:34,240
Speaker 3: be your impress of the hour? And Ming says of

1762
01:35:34,280 --> 01:35:38,320
Speaker 3: the hour? Yes, And the priest is like, you promise

1763
01:35:38,439 --> 01:35:41,360
Speaker 3: not to blast her into space? And then Ming like

1764
01:35:41,520 --> 01:35:44,840
Speaker 3: glares angrily at him, and he's like it tills such

1765
01:35:44,920 --> 01:35:48,320
Speaker 3: time as you grow weary of her and promises I

1766
01:35:48,400 --> 01:35:52,479
Speaker 3: do another great scene this in this whole like assault

1767
01:35:52,520 --> 01:35:54,519
Speaker 3: on the Palace at the end is the like the

1768
01:35:54,560 --> 01:35:57,439
Speaker 3: codes have changed and so have we moments.

1769
01:35:57,560 --> 01:36:00,920
Speaker 2: Oh god, this is my favorite favorite, one of my

1770
01:36:00,960 --> 01:36:04,719
Speaker 2: favorite moments. Upon this rewatch, like it's not effects, it's

1771
01:36:04,960 --> 01:36:08,559
Speaker 2: it's just like really weird writing. And this this feels

1772
01:36:08,680 --> 01:36:12,120
Speaker 2: very improvisational, like they realized they needed something to get

1773
01:36:12,160 --> 01:36:15,519
Speaker 2: him from point A to or point are to point

1774
01:36:15,640 --> 01:36:19,160
Speaker 2: s wherever we are in the transition here. But yeah,

1775
01:36:19,160 --> 01:36:21,000
Speaker 2: they're like, oh, well we got to open this lock.

1776
01:36:21,360 --> 01:36:23,639
Speaker 2: The locks have changed. And then they're like, oh, well

1777
01:36:23,680 --> 01:36:26,599
Speaker 2: you know I've changed too, how about you? Yes, I've changed.

1778
01:36:26,640 --> 01:36:30,160
Speaker 2: It's like this moment where they're using a change in

1779
01:36:30,240 --> 01:36:34,439
Speaker 2: passcodes to quickly comment on their own capacity for change

1780
01:36:34,680 --> 01:36:37,559
Speaker 2: as human beings. It's just so dumb.

1781
01:36:37,680 --> 01:36:40,960
Speaker 3: I love it that that scene is between Princess Ara

1782
01:36:41,080 --> 01:36:44,760
Speaker 3: and Prince Baron. I guess it's like their sort of reconciliation.

1783
01:36:46,040 --> 01:36:49,160
Speaker 3: And then meanwhile, Zarkov is in the back, like trying

1784
01:36:49,200 --> 01:36:51,799
Speaker 3: to hack the terminal here, and he's like, I haven't changed.

1785
01:36:54,360 --> 01:36:55,960
Speaker 2: So I don't know what was going on with this scene,

1786
01:36:55,960 --> 01:36:59,559
Speaker 2: if this was there's something, if this was improv or

1787
01:36:59,560 --> 01:37:01,920
Speaker 2: there was something lost in translation. I don't know, but

1788
01:37:02,479 --> 01:37:03,240
Speaker 2: it's great.

1789
01:37:03,520 --> 01:37:06,360
Speaker 3: The way that Ming is defeated in the end is

1790
01:37:06,439 --> 01:37:10,519
Speaker 3: so good. It is that the ship crashes into the

1791
01:37:10,560 --> 01:37:14,560
Speaker 3: wedding ceremony and the ship has like now that it

1792
01:37:14,560 --> 01:37:17,839
Speaker 3: has been taken over by the Hawkman and Flash Gordon,

1793
01:37:18,160 --> 01:37:21,240
Speaker 3: and it's got like a big prong on the front

1794
01:37:21,280 --> 01:37:24,639
Speaker 3: of it, and it just like stabs Ming through the stomach,

1795
01:37:25,240 --> 01:37:27,320
Speaker 3: like the spaceship skewers him.

1796
01:37:27,600 --> 01:37:30,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, like upper like not quite through the heart, like

1797
01:37:30,439 --> 01:37:32,640
Speaker 2: he's a vampire, like a little lower than that, but

1798
01:37:32,760 --> 01:37:38,120
Speaker 2: still vampire slaying esque. So it's right as he's turning

1799
01:37:38,160 --> 01:37:42,599
Speaker 2: away from it. So it's a pretty great villain skewering scene.

1800
01:37:42,920 --> 01:37:44,639
Speaker 2: And then there's the you know the sixth scene where

1801
01:37:44,640 --> 01:37:47,080
Speaker 2: he like pulls himself off of the impalement and I

1802
01:37:47,080 --> 01:37:49,559
Speaker 2: forget what is it? Purple blood it's one of the

1803
01:37:49,600 --> 01:37:51,519
Speaker 2: alien colored bloods, I believe. Yeah.

1804
01:37:51,600 --> 01:37:54,479
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then he tries to use his his chunky

1805
01:37:54,520 --> 01:37:59,120
Speaker 3: magic ring to to fight back against Flash Gordon, but no,

1806
01:37:59,280 --> 01:37:59,960
Speaker 3: he can't win.

1807
01:38:00,640 --> 01:38:02,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's weakening, and then he just kind of blinks

1808
01:38:02,880 --> 01:38:05,200
Speaker 2: out and the ring falls to the floor.

1809
01:38:06,240 --> 01:38:09,040
Speaker 3: So it's a happy ending, it seems a Flash Gordon

1810
01:38:09,160 --> 01:38:12,000
Speaker 3: is is he like declared the new emperor or something.

1811
01:38:12,200 --> 01:38:13,880
Speaker 3: I don't know if he would take the job, but.

1812
01:38:14,040 --> 01:38:17,120
Speaker 2: Now I think Timothy Dalton is the new Emperor, right, yeah,

1813
01:38:17,160 --> 01:38:19,360
Speaker 2: and then Brian Blessed is the new General.

1814
01:38:19,640 --> 01:38:19,840
Speaker 3: Yes.

1815
01:38:21,040 --> 01:38:24,519
Speaker 2: I can't imagine anything going wrong with this scenario, but

1816
01:38:24,640 --> 01:38:26,799
Speaker 2: for the moment, things are united and peaceful.

1817
01:38:27,320 --> 01:38:30,320
Speaker 3: But we get the end question mark with just like

1818
01:38:30,560 --> 01:38:33,000
Speaker 3: ming laughter echoing into eternity.

1819
01:38:33,240 --> 01:38:35,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get to close up with that ring and

1820
01:38:35,160 --> 01:38:39,240
Speaker 2: some dust being blown away. So yep, it looks like

1821
01:38:39,320 --> 01:38:42,599
Speaker 2: there's gonna be a sequel, except there was never a sequel. Ah.

1822
01:38:43,560 --> 01:38:46,400
Speaker 3: Well, Rob, I'm glad you suggested Flash Gordon this week.

1823
01:38:46,520 --> 01:38:49,440
Speaker 3: This one was was such a delight.

1824
01:38:49,640 --> 01:38:51,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was a lot of fun. I feel like

1825
01:38:51,360 --> 01:38:54,000
Speaker 2: listeners have have requested this one in the past as well.

1826
01:38:54,000 --> 01:38:57,519
Speaker 2: It's a pretty pretty obvious picture to hit on the

1827
01:38:57,520 --> 01:39:00,719
Speaker 2: Weird House Cinema journey, and I'm glad we did it. Agreed,

1828
01:39:01,080 --> 01:39:03,240
Speaker 2: all right, We'll go ahead and close out here, but

1829
01:39:03,439 --> 01:39:05,599
Speaker 2: as always, we invite you to write in. We'd love

1830
01:39:05,640 --> 01:39:09,080
Speaker 2: to hear from you about your experience with this film,

1831
01:39:09,320 --> 01:39:12,040
Speaker 2: your thoughts on the film, your history with the film,

1832
01:39:12,120 --> 01:39:15,439
Speaker 2: and so forth. A reminder that Stuff to Blow your

1833
01:39:15,479 --> 01:39:17,760
Speaker 2: Mind is primarily a science podcast with core episodes on

1834
01:39:17,760 --> 01:39:20,040
Speaker 2: Tuesdays and Thursday's been on Fridays. We set aside most

1835
01:39:20,080 --> 01:39:21,960
Speaker 2: serious concerns to just talk about a weird film on

1836
01:39:22,000 --> 01:39:24,200
Speaker 2: Weird House Cinema. If you want to see a complete

1837
01:39:24,200 --> 01:39:26,200
Speaker 2: list of all the movies we've covered so far, you

1838
01:39:26,240 --> 01:39:28,519
Speaker 2: can go to letterbox dot com. That's l E T

1839
01:39:28,520 --> 01:39:31,000
Speaker 2: T E R b oo xd dot com and you

1840
01:39:31,040 --> 01:39:32,880
Speaker 2: can find us there a we are Weird House that's

1841
01:39:32,880 --> 01:39:35,000
Speaker 2: our user handle there, and we have a list of

1842
01:39:35,040 --> 01:39:37,400
Speaker 2: all the movies we've covered, and you can toy around

1843
01:39:37,439 --> 01:39:40,040
Speaker 2: with that, you know, separate them by genre and so forth,

1844
01:39:40,080 --> 01:39:42,000
Speaker 2: and see what we've been up to. And sometimes there's

1845
01:39:42,040 --> 01:39:44,000
Speaker 2: a peek ahead at what's coming up next.

1846
01:39:44,640 --> 01:39:48,360
Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway.

1847
01:39:48,720 --> 01:39:50,160
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1848
01:39:50,200 --> 01:39:52,599
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1849
01:39:52,600 --> 01:39:54,759
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

1850
01:39:55,040 --> 01:39:57,639
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

1851
01:39:57,680 --> 01:40:05,200
Speaker 3: your Mind dot com.

1852
01:40:05,400 --> 01:40:08,360
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

1853
01:40:08,439 --> 01:40:12,280
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1854
01:40:12,360 --> 01:40:14,120
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