Old Flash Gorden serials

When I was in grade school in Tucson, these were still being shown as the serials on Saturday matinees at local theaters (all downtown in those days) Since these were the first S-F I had ever seen in the movies they made a big impression on me. But I had questions regarding the operation of his "space ship", which was invented by Dr. Zharkov you will recall. The exhaust velocity was far to low to provide propulsion and the 'air speed' was far to low to sustain flight in the atmosphere of Mongo even if aerodynamic artifacts (wings) were employed, which were not in evidence. That left antigravity as the only explanation but no mention of such a thing was ever made.

In this early episode we see the first appearance of The Molemen, which sort of freaked me out at the time. Of course Ming the Merciless made an appearance and it is worth noting the socio/cultural significance of his appearance which others have analyzed, ,many times, over the years. His name and appearance seem to be Asiatic. Why ? Because at the time Japan had invaded China and committed some atrocities. This caused them to be handy stereotypes and "whipping boys" in the mass media.



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