"The New Adventures Of Flash Gordon",was a brilliant masterpiece of animation that was probably the greatest piece of animation that ever grace the late 1970's well into the early 1980's. This Saturday Morning cartoon series came out a full year before the theatrical version with Sam Jones and Max Von Sydow(just to let you know the cartoon version came out in 1979 and the theatrical version came out in 1980). But for sheer entertainment value you couldn't ask for more on an early weekend morning. And with this new installment of Flash Gordon,this was a excellent series that delivered the goods. This was the best adaption of the classic comic strip by Alex Raymond. The series captured both the look of the strip and it remained faithfully adapted to the adventures. Produced by Filmation Productions,the new installment of Flash Gordon is richly realized,beautifully animated and at the time this came out was a highpoint for television especially in the animation department. Filmation captured perfectly the splendor and the overall spirit of Alex Raymond's strip utilizing(for its time in 1979)the best technology could offer and was the first cartoon series to show new techniques in animation that were never before seen or presented to audiences on television. This was a series that featured body rotoscope,special effects animation,moire patterns that were rotoscoping over motion control shots of model ships. The end result? A 16-chapter serial that delivered some of the most breathtaking animation ever presented along with non-stop action and delivered a truly "full" look and feel to it not to mention some of the scariest monsters ever created. The 16-part serial format from the first season was incredible since it created excitement. And since some of the episodes ended in a cliffhanger of sorts,you'll probably had to tune in next week to see what happens next or find out what would happen. Expect the unexpected.
Speaking of the rotoscoping effect,Filmation managed to use this same method some three years earlier with the animation series "Tarzan,Lord Of The Jungle"(which was also a brilliant masterpiece as well using the splendor and spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs'character),basing it partly on the work of comics artist Burne Hogarth. The new version of Flash Gordon went beyond what the theatrical version did not to mention bringing a more updated style of the comic strip with some of the best animators and writers around(one of the writers for this series was that of Samuel A. Peeples,who was also behind the scenes for Filmation's animated Star Trek series six years earlier)under the direction of Hal Sutherland. Of the 16 episodes that were produced for NBC-TV from September 8,1979-May 20,1980,the network repeated the episodes until 1981. In some of the episodes,and this was especially in the first season that each chapter was built on the previous one,with each adventure covering two episodes.
The first 8 chapters from the first season were not only virtually flawless but was masterpieces within there own right. The best among them are beginning with the pilot episode "A Planet In Peril". The rest included "The Beast Men's Prey", "Vultan:King Of The Hawkemen",and "To Save Earth". The serial blazes away in epic proportions leaving with as much non-stop action and adventure as anyone can handle and them some. There are fighter ship battles,gunfights in grand palaces,exotic locations,damsels in distress,not to mention alien creatures and creations that drop from out of a hat. The second part consisted of chapters 9-16,but during those chapters there is a slight drop in animation quality but what almost killed it was the adding one of the most infertile and annoying characters in the series...a overly cute pink dragon named Gremlin who was just a repulsive as anyone can imagine. As for voice work it was impressive featuring the voices of Robert Ridgely(who gave Flash the right All-American voice),Alan Oppenheimer(as the voice of Ming The Merciless and Dr.Zarkov),Diane Pershing(who gave a light touch to Dale although was in some of the episodes was mostly there to be rescued),and Melendy Britt(who gave a sultry voice to the vixen Aura).
This was one of the best Saturday Morning cartoons of the era,but its ratings were never that good. NBC however kept it on the roster until 1981. And it was one of the great serial cartoons shows that was made for pre-teens and kids alike but adults were watching this too.
