The New Adventures of Flash Gordon
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The New Adventures of Flash Gordon was an animated television series.
In 1979 through the efforts of Filmation, The New Adventures of Flash Gordon appeared, partly as a reaction to the mammoth success of Star Wars in 1977. The series was a homage to the original Flash Gordon comic strip and featured most of the original characters, including Flash's girlfriend Dale Arden, and the scientist Hans Zarkov.
Flash and company had traveled to Mongo, where they were forced into battle by its ruler, Ming the Merciless, his daughter Princess Aura, and his army of Metal Men. To help their cause the heroes lead the formation of an alliance beginning with King Thun, leader of the Lion People; Prince Barin, leader of Arboria; and King Vultan, ruler of the Hawkmen.
The original project was produced as a made-for-television feature film. When NBC saw the finished work, it was decided to turn the work into an episodal Saturday morning series. The change in format resulted in the the story being significantly expanded with a sub-plot of Ming secretly giving military technology to Hitler being dropped.
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[edit] Description
The animated series first season follows, more or less, the traditional FG mythos, opening with the launch of the rocketship carrying Flash, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov from somewhere in the Eastern Hemisphere (or at least the opening scene shows the ship clearing Earth's atmosphere above Europe and the Middle East). The series actually opens with the crash of the Terran ship into an ocean on Mongo after being attacked during the final approach to the planet.
In the opening scenes, Gordon, Arden, and Zarkov meet Thun the Lion-man and Prince Barin of the forest-kingdom of Arboria. This coincidence (meeting reigning royalty of two different realms by apparent chance) sets much of the tone of the series, in which we must conclude either that logic is irrelevant, or that Destiny is at work in the arrival of Flash Gordon on Mongo.
The remainder of the first season consists of pulpish adventures of Gordon and Co. across the face of Mongo, in traditional pulp style passing from one near-death situation to another with a cheery disregard for probability or logic, and a definite sense of fun. The protagonists meet Emperor Ming almost immediately, and Ming is revealed as being the classic archetype of the Evil Overlord. Flash later gains the aid of King Vultan, ruler of the Hawk-Men as a friend and ally, and also gains the attention of many of Mongo's female monarchs, such as Queen Undina of Coralia, Queen Fria of Frigia, Azura, the Witch-Queen of Syk, and Queen Desira of Tropica. But the most notable of these admirers was, of course, Princess Aura.
[edit] Mongo Physical Outline
The planet Mongo seems to be highly Earth-like, with an atmosphere fully compatible with Terran life, and indeed the dominant species on Mongo appears to be fully familiar Homo sapiens, though other intelligent races do exist, though most seem to be either H. sapiens variants or creatures of a clearly humanoid pattern, such as Thun the Lion-man.
It is mentioned at least once that Terrans are stronger on Mongo than on Earth, so apparently Mongo's surface gravity is at least slightly lower than that of Earth. It appears to be close, however, as would be expected from its highly Earth-like surface environment, the Terrans may be a bit stronger and more enduring on Mongo, but they are by no means superhuman (other than Flash Gordon's apparent supreme skill as a combatant and gymnast).
Mongo's surface is host to a variety of climates and biomes, over the course of the first season we see the heavily forested kingdom of Arboria, the frozen tundra and mountains of Friggia, Tropica, a kingdom in Mongo's tropic zone, and extensive rocky deserts. Mongo is also shown to have extensive underground domains.
[edit] Mongo Politics
The capital city (or the closest thing to such) of Mongo is Mingo City, the site of the palace of Ming the Merciless, who styles himself Emperor of the Universe, and appears to actually be Emperor of Mongo.
The political structure of Mongo appears to be exclusively monarchical. In no case do we see any sort of republican or democratic government, though there are hints of theocratic elements here and there. Each realm that Gordon and Co. visit has its own king or queen. The Frozen Kingdom of Frigia is ruled by Barin's distant cousin, Fria. The undersea kingdom of Coralia is under the leadership of Queen Undina. The jungle kingdom of Tropica is ruled by Queen Desira, and its neighboring domain, The Fire Lands is ruled by Gundar, the Desert Hawk. All initially seem to give at least some deference to Ming the Merciless (save initially Prince Barin and Thun, the ruler of the Lion-Men), but all eventually band together under Flash's behest to help overthrow Ming.
The title of Emperor seems to be regarded as at least theoretically legitimate, Thun informs Flash and his friends that Barin would be the Emperor, but for Ming, though he adds his personal view that this would be no improvement. Whether the rank of Emperor is seen as hereditary or is otherwise obtained is never made clear, nor is it clear that the Emperor is seen as an absolute ruler. The authority commanded by Ming seems to be based as much on his vast military power as on his theoretical legal powers. It might be that title of Emperor passes from one monarch to another by some process of election or seniority, rather than being literally hereditary.
Whether Ming is rightful Emperor or not is also unclear, nor is it certain how long he has held the throne. At one point a reference is made to legends of Ming once acting as high priest of an ancient Mongovian king [see below], and it also said that Ming launched invasions 'long and long ago'. Ming claims to be immortal, and these references may be evidence in support of the claim.
Be that as it may, Ming does face challenges at the time of Gordon's arrival on Mongo, Prince Barin has apparently been leading a guerrilla war against Ming based in Arboria (which would be well suited to such tactics, as well as the traditional techniques of 'jungle warfare'). Thun the Lion-Man, too, seems to be an active enemy of Ming at the beginning of the series, and as he is the monarch of his people it can be assumed that the Lion-Men are also in rebellion against Ming, but are never actually seen in the series.
However, Arboria and Prince Barin seem to be at odds with both their fellow rebels the Lion-Men, and with almost everyone else. Flash is told at the beginning of the series that 'every race on Mongo is an enemy to every other race' and that 'each man stands alone on Mongo'. Indeed, a state of perpetual semi-warfare between Ming's subject states seems to be accepted as the norm of politics on Mongo at the time of Flash Gordon's arrival.
Much of the efforts of Flash Gordon are directed toward overcoming this mutual and general antipathy, which might itself be a product of Ming's statecraft if he has indeed ruled Mongo for multiple lifetimes. If Ming has shaped Mongo's internal affairs to keep potential rebels at each others' throats, then Gordon's personal charisma and apparently instinctive knack for bridging those gaps would make him a profound threat to Ming's rule.
For all its technological advancement, Mongo is semi-barbaric in terms of its social structures. Ming uses slave labor in mining radioactive elements for power and industry, Thun says that even a week in the mines could damage one's health, and 100 days is the limit of survival for the workers, in effect making the mines a slow death sentence. Ming's beautiful daughter Aura and her cadre of female warriors, the Witch Women hunt people for thrills, and she seems to be simultaneously sadistic and spoiled, though she has her better moments beginning in the latter half of the first season. Being raised by Ming might explain much, however.
Even the protagonist-rulers are seen to practice slavery at the start of the series, the Hawk-Men of King Vultan use slave labor from rival states in dangerous high-radiation work keeping the anti-gravity technology of their Sky City working, even Prince Barin hunts political enemies for sport. King Vultan of the flying Hawk-Men has ambitions of becoming Ming's son-in-law by the forced marriage of his daughter Aura. The various peoples appear to be highly civilized with regard to each other, but to be conditioned to see all outsiders as enemies to be slain or exploited.
Ironically, Prince Barin says of the Lion-Men at one point that they are barely out of the dark ages compared to the rest of Mongo, and other native characters make desparaging references to the 'savagery' of Thun. However, of all the natives of Mongo that Flash meets, it is Thun who initially and consistently seems to be the most personally honorable, loyal, and decent, even more so than Barin or Vultan, Flash's other main allies.
Ironically, there are hints that the history of Mongo, and its barbaric state, might just possibly be derived from Flash Gordon himself...in another life.
[edit] The Witch Kingdom of Syk
Mongo's crusts is riddled with caverns and chambers, and in some of them is to be found a realm that is the remnant, according to legend, of a kingdom that once ruled all Mongo, and the monarch of that ancient realm was Ghor-Dhan, pronounced the same as 'Gordon', and his appearance was identical to Flash Gordon of Terra.
Syk is a kingdom supposedly founded on magic, as opposed to the high technology that underlies the civilization of the rest of Mongo, though it becomes clear as events unfold that Syk's 'magic' is actually a sufficiently advanced technology, in the sense of Clarke's Third Law, though they do use some of the imagery of magic. Dr. Zarkov even masters some of it, with his own tremendous intellect.
Syk is ruled by the witch-queen Azura, who is feared by everyone on Mongo. Even Ming the Merciless is said by legend to have attempted to conquer Syk, 'long and long ago' with an army of one million, who disappeared to the last man. Thun says that legend also made reference to Ming once acting as King Ghor-dhan's 'high priest'. Supposedly Ghor-dhan left Mongo ages before seeking new worlds to conquer, leaving his lover Azura to rule in his stead...and never returned, leaving Azura to rule Syk for ages, being apparently immortal.
(Note that Ming claims immortality, and in Syk this is apparently a known technology, so if Ming was the high priest this might explain his longevity).
Queen Azura believes that Flash Gordon is her long-lost lover returned, and she is even able to bring forth what seem to be memories of that time in him. When Flash marvels at the similarity to the statue, the similarity of name, and the other indications of some sort of connection, even Dr. Zarkov is forced to note that there are things science cannot account for.
It would appear to be at least a real possibility that in some previous life, Flash Gordon ruled Mongo, with the witch-queen Azura at his side, and Ming as his mere servant. (Ming makes no sign of recognizing Flash despite the similarity in appearance and name...but Ming doesn't reveal all he knows to anyone). Flash even develops what appears to be an echoing affection for Azura, in spite of her rather ghastly treatment of him and his friends, though he tells her that Ghor-dhan's love for her is dust.
If Flash is the reincarnation of Ghor-dhan, it would be ironic, because the kingdom of Syk that is the remnant of Ghor-dhan's realm is perhaps the most cold and cruel on Mongo, Azura, his long-lost love, is callously cruel and arguably insane, and Ming seems to be an expatriat of that same realm. The hints are that Ghor-dhan was probably more evil than good, and his legacy appears to have been negative.
It might thus be that Flash Gordon is in fact undoing damage he himself did in a previous existence as he works to free Mongo from Ming's evil.
[edit] Ming the Merciless
The chief villain of the series is Ming the Merciless, archetype of the Evil Overlord. Cruel, cold, arrogant, avaricious, ruthless, and machiavellian, Ming is the epitome of the tyrant. Yet he is brilliant, referred to by some as the greatest scientist in the universe, and politically and diplomatically capable. He is skilled in personal combat, but feels no compulsion to engage in it when misdirection will work as well.
His personal race is unclear, his ears are pointed, his teeth seem fanged, his frame oddly thin yet very strong...and he claims to be immortal, with some supporting evidence. He also appears to have some Asian features, a stark contrast to that of his daughter, Aura.
His sexual tastes seem varied, to judge by the various types of female we see in glimpses of his harem, but he seems to find Dale Arden particularly attractive, and his daughter Aura seems to be a Homo sapiens, so presumably Ming is not very alien. His origin may tie in to the nature of Syk, the Witch-Kingdom.
His resources are immense, with armies of robots, armies of humans and other species, a fleet of armed rocketships and spacecraft...and access to even more impressive technologies. However, he does seem to fear the possibility of a united rebellion on Mongo, because he seems to work to keep the races at each other's throats. It might be that his power is greater than anyone else's, but not greater than everyone else's.
[edit] Season Two
When a second season of episodes was ordered two years after the original, NBC insisted that the episodal format be dropped and that the stories be written for a more juvenile level. This resulted in the addition of the pet dragon Gremlin, an artist in nose-blown smoke. This second season of episodes was not well received and the program was canceled after completion of the second season run.
The entire series has recently been released on DVD.
[edit] Later Incarnations
In 1996, the character of Flash Gordon returned to television in a short lived updated series featuring him using a Hoverboard. And in 1986 with the heroes The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar, as well as all of their children, in the cartoon Defenders of the Earth.
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