" Hi! I'm Flash Gordon, the original space hero, as portrayed by Buster Crabbe and here illustrated by Jim Keefe.
"I'm hear to warn you consumers. There are knock-offs out there, other blond earthmen mysteriously transported to distant planets where they regularly save a beautiful love interest whose father is a brilliant scientist. Don't be fooled by imitations!
"I'm also here to support my good friends, the Thanagarians, in their recent interplanetary police actions. Hey, nobody knows better than the original space hero Flash Gordon that sometimes you have to kick some tail to keep the universe a decent place, safe from insidious aliens who evince far too many of the Seven Deadly Signs of Evil!
"That's just what the keen Thanagarians (who, with their decorative yet functional wings remind me fondly of my friends, the Bird Men of Mongo) are doing in their recent attempts to correct the depredations of the incense-sniffing elite of Rann.
"Support my friends and yours, the Thanagarian people, and don't be fooled by cheap imitations of me!"
I can feel the tidal wave of time crashing down on the Earthman Saves Other Planet syndrome. Does anything predate John Carter of Mars?
ReplyDeleteDoes anything predate John Carter of Mars?
ReplyDeleteSince Flash Gordon or John Carter are (in part) colonial fantasies, there was already the Prester John in the Middle-Ages (rumour of a Christian king somewhere in far alien lands)...
Then of course there is Lucian of Samosata, Kepler's Somnium (which was almost Hard SF for the time) or Cyrano de Bergerac's Etats et Empires.
But Superman is the reverse from John Carter: Carter is the Earthman who uses his superiority on primitives, Kal-El is the Good Alien who comes to a more primitive Earth (and the Kryptonian Eradicator is more conscious of the colonial origins of the myth).
The Egyptian Thanagarian was inspired by the Hawkmen of Mongo but the Thanagarian Hawkman is more inspired by Superman (although he is a creepy fascist) and is therefore also an inversion of this Flash Gordon model.
No, just be fooled by cheap imitations of his "credit to their inhuman race" sidekicks, the Bird-men of Mongo.
ReplyDeleteNope, sorry. Even if we have to use the inuendo-laden label "Rannies" (I am sticking with "Rannites"), even if Thangar can lay even superficial claim to the inestimable Brian Blessed, I am going to have to stick with Strange.
Brains over Brawn!
david
Yeah right, let's take advice from somebody who thinks American football makes for good tactics against alien warriors, as witnessed in his most recent movie...
ReplyDeleteanon: >>Even if we have to use the inuendo-laden label "Rannies"<<
ReplyDeleteIsn't that what the Rawhide Kid used to call the bad guys in the Old West, back when he was straight? Or was it "owlhoots"?
Martin: >>let's take advice from somebody who thinks American football makes for good tactics against alien warriors, as witnessed in his most recent movie...<<
Well, it's fair to diss the concept ... I guess ... but that soundtrack belongs on Superhero Radio, no ifs ands or buts.
I fully match with whatever thing you've presented.
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