You'll find that Max von Sydow is committed to every role he took. Whether it was high cinema directed by Ingmar Bergman, or high fantasy like Conan the Barbarian, sci-fi like this, or just a sit-down-and-laugh movie like Strange Brew.
You are actually caught in a circular reference. Lucas was inspired by the Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers serials to create Star Wars. Example the opening scroll in Star Wars is lifted from the Flash Gordon serials. The movie does a great job paying homage to the serials and the comic. In the comic Flash was a polo player but they updated him to be a football player for a modern audience. Brian Blessed (Vultan) who you had a hard time remembering. He was Boss Nass in the Star Wars prequels and Gimli in Lord of the Rings. He grew up with the serials and wanted to play Vultan so much. He actually helped Max Von Sydow create Ming as Max was stuck. Brian told him to channel a character of a stage production they did together and it freed up Max.
No, Gimli in LotR was NOT Brian Blessed. You're thinking of John Rhys-Davies. Blessed does, however, have a hefty resume in British TV, stage and film, including the role of King Yrcanos in Doctor Who, and Richard IV in Black Adder.
- The bald guy playing the pipes on Arboria, and later leads Flash from the cage to Barin in the temple, was Richard O'Brian. He wrote the musical (script, music, and lyrics) The Rocky Horror Show, which later became The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In that film, he played Riff-Raff, who sings "The Time Warp". - Brian Blessed who plays Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen is a brilliant stage actor, having done musicals like the original CATS in London and Shakespeare's plays. On TV, he played Augustus Caesar in the landmark PBS/BBC series I, Claudius, King Richard IV in Blackadder, and many other roles. In film, he was Lord Locksley in Robin Hood Prince of Theives, voiced Clayton in DIsney's Tarzan, and, yes, Boss Nass in Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace. He also did many of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films: Henry V (as Exeter), Much Ado About Nothing (as Antonio), Hamlet (Old Hamlet's Ghost), and As You Like It (Duke Senior). For my generation...He will always be Vultan...and I am always imitating lines like "Gordon's alive!" "Ah well, who wants to live forever!" and others. Hands down...Vultan is my favorite character in the film because of Blessed. - It is easy to see how the producers of the Bond franchise picked Timothy Dalton to be James Bond after Roger Moore left the role while watching Dalton as Prince Barin of Arboria.
Best wedding vows, ever! lol Priest: Do you, Ming the Merciless, Ruler of the Universe take this Earthling, Dale Arden to be your Empress of the hour? Ming: (pause) of the hour, Yes. Priest: Do you promise to use her as you will? Ming: (pause, then very slyly) Certainly! Priest: Not to blast her into space? Ming: (silence) Priest: Until such time as you grow weary of her. Ming: I do. Dale: I DO NOT!!
One of my top 5 "b" films ever made, the cheese is splendid, Queen wrecks the soundtrack, such amazing vibrant collars and whomever was the actor who played Vulcan chewed up every scene he is in. An I have loved topol since Fiddler on the roof. One of my favorite films of all time.
Vultan was Brian Blessed. Best voice ever, in this, or Blackadder, or even as Boss Nass. He's made three attempts at Everest, without supplemental oxygen.
Fun fact: the young treeman who gets killed after failing the tree test was played by Peter Duncan who was a presenter on British children's tv show Blue Peter and the UK's Chief Scout between 2004 and 2009. He also ran the first ever London Marathon in just over 3 hours. Brian Blessed's stint as host of BBC comedy/news panel show "Have I Got News For You" is peak Brian ruclips.net/video/_awX0DIc2Yw/видео.htmlsi=JqdwpZel8Sg--zIs
"Gordon's aliiivee?!" ~ Prince Vultan, the leader of the Hawkmen, was played by veteran stage and screen actor Brian Blessed. And Prince Barin was played by veteran and former Bond actor, Timothy Dalton. Great reaction!
Well, STYLISTICALLY it's totally distinct from Star Wars. If one needs another movie to compare Flash Gordon here to then try one called Barbarella - THAT would be a more apt and intelligent choice than Star Wars. It shares a lot of those same elements - the quirky humor, psychedelic/art deco imagery and aesthetic, innuendos to kinky sexuality, and it's even by the same producer (Delaurentis).
Another awesome 80s movie is "Krull" 1983. It's a wonderful Fantasy Adventure movie. Check it out if you have not seen it. "The Last Starfighter" 1984 is also a fun movie as well. Cheers to you for "Flash Gordon"! 80s movies were so full of fun, fantasy, feelings, lessons and adventure, interesting stories that catered to the imagination of the HEART and in one way or another feeds the soul on so many levels,. That's why I also love the movies of the early 2000s and before.
Everone has already told you about Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton and Max von sydow but there was another actor that escapes a lot of attention is the guard that informs General Karla that Flash Gordon is approaching on a Rocket Cycle. Leon Greene. He played in the 60's musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and is a wonderful baritone.
Max von Sydow (Ming) was one of the great actors of Sweden, going back to the days of Ingmar Bergman movies like _The Seventh Seal_ . He also hammed it up as a king in _Conan the Barbarian_ . It's funny that you watched this just after _Excalibur_ , because Nigel Terry (Arthur) and Timothy Dalton (and Anthony Hopkins) made their film debuts in the same 1968 movie, _The Lion in Winter_ , headlined by old pro Peter O'Toole and older pro Katharine Hepburn--and it's a kind of a Christmas movie, which I recommended when you watched _L.A. Confidential_ .
Thank you, Jonathan! ⚡ I'm glad you looked up Brian Blessed. Surely you remember 'Ming' a.k.a. Max von Sydow as 'Lor San Tekka' from THE FORCE AWAKENS? 🔸 If you ever do that 'Barin' cosplay you teased, be sure to show us!
Many of what you say were taken from Star Wars, did not exist yet. This was filmed at the same time as Empire Strikes Back, so only the first Star Wars was there and some things did not exist yet. In fact, George Lucas made Star Wars as a copy in a way of the original Flash media, as he was not able to get the license to Flash Gordon.
Also, "Endor" in Return of the Jedi (1983) actually practically ripped-off THIS movies "Arborea" (1980). Thought THAT should be pointed out in the interest of fairness.
It's totally illogical to say that this movie copied Star Wars. He's already been told that Star Wars was influenced by The Original Flash Gordon - and this is a remake of the Original Flash Gordon. . . So go figure.
FUN FACT: The colourful costume and set designs in this film were 'lifted' from Alejandro Jodorowsky's aborted 1975 attempt at Dune. Also some designs ended up in the first Alien film.
George Lucas was a fan of the old Flash Gordon serials and wanted to make a film version. He was never able to get the rights to do so. That's why he made Star Wars.
Well good thing he didn't get his hands on it for MY part. I duno about you, but I don't WANT Flash Gordon to be like frigging Star Wars. I like Flash Gordon to be FLASH GORDON.
Sometimes Brian Blessed (Vultan) is mistaken for John Rhys-Davies (Gimli from THE LORD OF THE RINGS). Besides lots of Shakespeare, Blessed was the voice of gungan Boss Nass in Star Wars Episode I.
Despite the budget, it wasn't enough. The guy who was to fall onto his sword? He and his people should have been Lion-Men. But we have seen how they had to squeeze the money to include a few lizard people. There is a 1979-82 animated series that eas edited into 'Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All' in 1982 from Filmation that began to show off the variety of people on Mongo. If someone adapted it with everything the original cartoon had to offer, it would probably make cantina scene from 'Star Wars: A new Hope' (1977) look bland in comparison. Still, the animated show is despite the Filmation animation fun to watch. He is called Emperor Ming the Merciless and yet people get surprised when Ming shows no mercy at all, not even towards his own daughter.
Let's not forget the late great Mariangela Melato, as General Kala. If you look at some of her other movies, without the head wear on, she almost resembles Lady Gaga.
Great reaction you keep making start with references, of course, but you realize those come from Flash Gordon and all those references from the iBooks from the old books. The old seals did make up all Star Wars, but he made up and he came with his stuff from flashboard to, so couldn’t sue the makers of Flash Gordon for this movie because it came before Star Wars where is like Battlestar Galactica Lucas out of that that’s why last one season he sued off TV and we were stuck with it until the appeal finally came through in the 90s. They brought back bachelor to go because of court said it was enough differences to say it wasn’t exact copy from Star Wars. I didn’t think Galactica was cheap From Star Wars like I’m sure there’s a lot of similarities but differences is Kishi and indoor of course Hawk city is cloud city. The guard with the glasses are like Lobo from cloud city was a lot of fun. I wish they made a sequel to it. They might make one now they know we do a lot later, the guy who played Fulton/Gordon as a kid he couldn’t wait to play Hawkman. He begged for that and he was great too. He won shows show. Thanks for the fun until next time. Are you people say cheesy yet be drunk or hide to watch it? That’s so stupid people can’t appreciate good movies anymore. My favorite franchise are Star Wars Star Trek and Indiana Jones but I can still appreciate other movies for what they are then again I’m in my 50s that’s all for now.
Another movie with Star Wars influences to check out is Krull, one of my faves. It features one of the coolest (yet most useless) weapons in movie history.
@@noodle155 I haven't seen the movie in years, so I just checked the end. I see what you mean now - Although just after breaking through the wall, it did destroy 5 bad guys in 4 seconds.
The tv show on SyFy sucked. Less said about it the better. However, there was a Filmation cartoon that started the year before which was in tune with original comic strips. Ming was voiced by the guy who voiced Skeletor, and a lot of the character designs were later modified He-Man and later She-Ra (the voice actress of Princess Aura would later voice She-Ra and her character design somewhat resembles Teela). The first season was in the lines of the classic serial/cliffhangers while the second season was more episodic and included a cute little pink dragon to appeal to children (most just ignore the second season). A few years later Flash would be in another animated series called Defenders of the Earth which introduced his son, Rick, and had him fighting alongside the Phantom and Mandrake the Magician (two characters that were also owned by the company that held the rights to Flash Gordon) as they battled a more alien looking Ming and other villains.
Enthusiastic reaction! The Star Wars references were fine except you were referencing movies made after the Flash Gordon movie was made. Other than that of course it was inspired by the success Of Star Wars. The serials were done seriously, and much less sexual LOL. Just remember that George Lucas made Star Wars based on near universal cultural mythos. It was a fantasy movie cloaked in Science Fiction. Flash Gordon is more pulp Science Fiction with interplanetary romance thrown in.
The only problem with a lot of your constant SW references is that this movie came out the same year as Empire Strikes Back. So, it didn't influence much.
Thank you. So after seeing Princess Aura's torture overseen by Emperor Ming her father, how do you feel about Princess Leia being tortured at the hands of Darth Vader, her father? Brian Blessed, the actor playing the Hawkman Prince Vultan, is a British national treasure. He has been in everything from Peppa Pig to Black Adder to Star Wars (Episode 1) and is a staple of the Shakespearean stage, he is a mountain climber, archer, and judoka, he has spent 800 hours training for space at Star City, and is the oldest man to walk to the north pole. It is not legal to be British and not know who he is. Houdini, the greatest escapologist ever. I think the similarities between Flash Gordon and Star Wars owe more to the original material that inspired them both than to either inspiring the other.
You'll find that Max von Sydow is committed to every role he took. Whether it was high cinema directed by Ingmar Bergman, or high fantasy like Conan the Barbarian, sci-fi like this, or just a sit-down-and-laugh movie like Strange Brew.
You are actually caught in a circular reference. Lucas was inspired by the Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers serials to create Star Wars. Example the opening scroll in Star Wars is lifted from the Flash Gordon serials.
The movie does a great job paying homage to the serials and the comic. In the comic Flash was a polo player but they updated him to be a football player for a modern audience.
Brian Blessed (Vultan) who you had a hard time remembering. He was Boss Nass in the Star Wars prequels and Gimli in Lord of the Rings. He grew up with the serials and wanted to play Vultan so much. He actually helped Max Von Sydow create Ming as Max was stuck. Brian told him to channel a character of a stage production they did together and it freed up Max.
No, Gimli in LotR was NOT Brian Blessed. You're thinking of John Rhys-Davies.
Blessed does, however, have a hefty resume in British TV, stage and film, including the role of King Yrcanos in Doctor Who, and Richard IV in Black Adder.
Flash Gordon made a appearance in Ted 1&2. It's extremely hilarious Johnathan 🤣.
- The bald guy playing the pipes on Arboria, and later leads Flash from the cage to Barin in the temple, was Richard O'Brian. He wrote the musical (script, music, and lyrics) The Rocky Horror Show, which later became The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In that film, he played Riff-Raff, who sings "The Time Warp".
- Brian Blessed who plays Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen is a brilliant stage actor, having done musicals like the original CATS in London and Shakespeare's plays. On TV, he played Augustus Caesar in the landmark PBS/BBC series I, Claudius, King Richard IV in Blackadder, and many other roles. In film, he was Lord Locksley in Robin Hood Prince of Theives, voiced Clayton in DIsney's Tarzan, and, yes, Boss Nass in Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace. He also did many of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films: Henry V (as Exeter), Much Ado About Nothing (as Antonio), Hamlet (Old Hamlet's Ghost), and As You Like It (Duke Senior). For my generation...He will always be Vultan...and I am always imitating lines like "Gordon's alive!" "Ah well, who wants to live forever!" and others. Hands down...Vultan is my favorite character in the film because of Blessed.
- It is easy to see how the producers of the Bond franchise picked Timothy Dalton to be James Bond after Roger Moore left the role while watching Dalton as Prince Barin of Arboria.
I can see THIS movie being a bit influenced by Rocky Horror, so then Richard O'Brien's appearance was possibly a HOMAGE.
The scene where that guy gets shot through his chair at 22:32 is AWESOME! And THAT 25:54 was actually SHOCKING!
Best wedding vows, ever! lol
Priest: Do you, Ming the Merciless, Ruler of the Universe take this Earthling, Dale Arden to be your Empress of the hour?
Ming: (pause) of the hour, Yes.
Priest: Do you promise to use her as you will?
Ming: (pause, then very slyly) Certainly!
Priest: Not to blast her into space?
Ming: (silence)
Priest: Until such time as you grow weary of her.
Ming: I do.
Dale: I DO NOT!!
One of my top 5 "b" films ever made, the cheese is splendid, Queen wrecks the soundtrack, such amazing vibrant collars and whomever was the actor who played Vulcan chewed up every scene he is in. An I have loved topol since Fiddler on the roof. One of my favorite films of all time.
Vultan was Brian Blessed. Best voice ever, in this, or Blackadder, or even as Boss Nass. He's made three attempts at Everest, without supplemental oxygen.
@@BouillaBased Yes he chew the film up in the best of ways now I'm going to re watch Back Adder. Thank you for the knowledge :)
This isn't really a "B" movie.
@@winslow-eh5kv It is to ME but respect tiu feel differently.
Fun fact: the young treeman who gets killed after failing the tree test was played by Peter Duncan who was a presenter on British children's tv show Blue Peter and the UK's Chief Scout between 2004 and 2009. He also ran the first ever London Marathon in just over 3 hours.
Brian Blessed's stint as host of BBC comedy/news panel show "Have I Got News For You" is peak Brian ruclips.net/video/_awX0DIc2Yw/видео.htmlsi=JqdwpZel8Sg--zIs
"Gordon's aliiivee?!" ~ Prince Vultan, the leader of the Hawkmen, was played by veteran stage and screen actor Brian Blessed. And Prince Barin was played by veteran and former Bond actor, Timothy Dalton. Great reaction!
Well, STYLISTICALLY it's totally distinct from Star Wars. If one needs another movie to compare Flash Gordon here to then try one called Barbarella - THAT would be a more apt and intelligent choice than Star Wars. It shares a lot of those same elements - the quirky humor, psychedelic/art deco imagery and aesthetic, innuendos to kinky sexuality, and it's even by the same producer (Delaurentis).
Another awesome 80s movie is "Krull" 1983. It's a wonderful Fantasy Adventure movie. Check it out if you have not seen it. "The Last Starfighter" 1984 is also a fun movie as well. Cheers to you for "Flash Gordon"! 80s movies were so full of fun, fantasy, feelings, lessons and adventure, interesting stories that catered to the imagination of the HEART and in one way or another feeds the soul on so many levels,. That's why I also love the movies of the early 2000s and before.
Everone has already told you about Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton and Max von sydow but there was another actor that escapes a lot of attention is the guard that informs General Karla that Flash Gordon is approaching on a Rocket Cycle. Leon Greene. He played in the 60's musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and is a wonderful baritone.
Max von Sydow (Ming) was one of the great actors of Sweden, going back to the days of Ingmar Bergman movies like _The Seventh Seal_ . He also hammed it up as a king in _Conan the Barbarian_ . It's funny that you watched this just after _Excalibur_ , because Nigel Terry (Arthur) and Timothy Dalton (and Anthony Hopkins) made their film debuts in the same 1968 movie, _The Lion in Winter_ , headlined by old pro Peter O'Toole and older pro Katharine Hepburn--and it's a kind of a Christmas movie, which I recommended when you watched _L.A. Confidential_ .
Fun fact I used to work for the producer of The Lion in Winter and we did a remake with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close.
Thank you, Jonathan! ⚡ I'm glad you looked up Brian Blessed. Surely you remember 'Ming' a.k.a. Max von Sydow as 'Lor San Tekka' from THE FORCE AWAKENS? 🔸 If you ever do that 'Barin' cosplay you teased, be sure to show us!
Many of what you say were taken from Star Wars, did not exist yet. This was filmed at the same time as Empire Strikes Back, so only the first Star Wars was there and some things did not exist yet. In fact, George Lucas made Star Wars as a copy in a way of the original Flash media, as he was not able to get the license to Flash Gordon.
Also, "Endor" in Return of the Jedi (1983) actually practically ripped-off THIS movies "Arborea" (1980). Thought THAT should be pointed out in the interest of fairness.
It's totally illogical to say that this movie copied Star Wars. He's already been told that Star Wars was influenced by The Original Flash Gordon - and this is a remake of the Original Flash Gordon. . . So go figure.
FUN FACT: The colourful costume and set designs in this film were 'lifted' from Alejandro Jodorowsky's aborted 1975 attempt at Dune. Also some designs ended up in the first Alien film.
I wish he had gotten to make that movie. It would have been a beautiful mess.
"He's not Gimli, is he, that actor?"
No, Gimli was played by John Rhys-Davies.
The guy who plays Prince Vultan isn't Boss Nass for me. He's Lord Loxley from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
He definitely looks more like Lord Loxley.
Sorry to me Brian is Long John Silver in a 1980s brit TV series
George Lucas was a fan of the old Flash Gordon serials and wanted to make a film version. He was never able to get the rights to do so. That's why he made Star Wars.
Well good thing he didn't get his hands on it for MY part. I duno about you, but I don't WANT Flash Gordon to be like frigging Star Wars. I like Flash Gordon to be FLASH GORDON.
@@IanFindly-iv1nl Don't worry - Lucas is not even capable of making Star Wars like frigging Star Wars.
@WezWolf ... except he kinda *did* make Star Wars like Star Wars.
@@torontomame It's a joke.
Sometimes Brian Blessed (Vultan) is mistaken for John Rhys-Davies (Gimli from THE LORD OF THE RINGS). Besides lots of Shakespeare, Blessed was the voice of gungan Boss Nass in Star Wars Episode I.
Despite the budget, it wasn't enough. The guy who was to fall onto his sword? He and his people should have been Lion-Men. But we have seen how they had to squeeze the money to include a few lizard people.
There is a 1979-82 animated series that eas edited into 'Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All' in 1982 from Filmation that began to show off the variety of people on Mongo. If someone adapted it with everything the original cartoon had to offer, it would probably make cantina scene from 'Star Wars: A new Hope' (1977) look bland in comparison.
Still, the animated show is despite the Filmation animation fun to watch.
He is called Emperor Ming the Merciless and yet people get surprised when Ming shows no mercy at all, not even towards his own daughter.
Let's not forget the late great Mariangela Melato, as General Kala.
If you look at some of her other movies, without the head wear on, she almost resembles Lady Gaga.
Great reaction you keep making start with references, of course, but you realize those come from Flash Gordon and all those references from the iBooks from the old books. The old seals did make up all Star Wars, but he made up and he came with his stuff from flashboard to, so couldn’t sue the makers of Flash Gordon for this movie because it came before Star Wars where is like Battlestar Galactica Lucas out of that that’s why last one season he sued off TV and we were stuck with it until the appeal finally came through in the 90s. They brought back bachelor to go because of court said it was enough differences to say it wasn’t exact copy from Star Wars. I didn’t think Galactica was cheap From Star Wars like I’m sure there’s a lot of similarities but differences is Kishi and indoor of course Hawk city is cloud city. The guard with the glasses are like Lobo from cloud city was a lot of fun. I wish they made a sequel to it. They might make one now they know we do a lot later, the guy who played Fulton/Gordon as a kid he couldn’t wait to play Hawkman. He begged for that and he was great too. He won shows show. Thanks for the fun until next time. Are you people say cheesy yet be drunk or hide to watch it? That’s so stupid people can’t appreciate good movies anymore. My favorite franchise are Star Wars Star Trek and Indiana Jones but I can still appreciate other movies for what they are then again I’m in my 50s that’s all for now.
Another movie with Star Wars influences to check out is Krull, one of my faves. It features one of the coolest (yet most useless) weapons in movie history.
Jonathan is actually about to watch Krull!
@@popcornroulettereactions Awesome, looking forward to it.
I thought it came in rather handy.
@@Wezwolf The main thing it's used for is to cut a hole in a wall.
@@noodle155 I haven't seen the movie in years, so I just checked the end. I see what you mean now - Although just after breaking through the wall, it did destroy 5 bad guys in 4 seconds.
In the quicksand bit, someone off-screen shovels dirt at him - you missed that/didn't react to it.
Cult classic like Big trouble in Little China.
The tv show on SyFy sucked. Less said about it the better. However, there was a Filmation cartoon that started the year before which was in tune with original comic strips. Ming was voiced by the guy who voiced Skeletor, and a lot of the character designs were later modified He-Man and later She-Ra (the voice actress of Princess Aura would later voice She-Ra and her character design somewhat resembles Teela). The first season was in the lines of the classic serial/cliffhangers while the second season was more episodic and included a cute little pink dragon to appeal to children (most just ignore the second season). A few years later Flash would be in another animated series called Defenders of the Earth which introduced his son, Rick, and had him fighting alongside the Phantom and Mandrake the Magician (two characters that were also owned by the company that held the rights to Flash Gordon) as they battled a more alien looking Ming and other villains.
Enthusiastic reaction! The Star Wars references were fine except you were referencing movies made after the Flash Gordon movie was made. Other than that of course it was inspired by the success Of Star Wars. The serials were done seriously, and much less sexual LOL. Just remember that George Lucas made Star Wars based on near universal cultural mythos. It was a fantasy movie cloaked in Science Fiction. Flash Gordon is more pulp Science Fiction with interplanetary romance thrown in.
The only problem with a lot of your constant SW references is that this movie came out the same year as Empire Strikes Back. So, it didn't influence much.
Now go react to "Ted"! :-)
Thank you.
So after seeing Princess Aura's torture overseen by Emperor Ming her father, how do you feel about Princess Leia being tortured at the hands of Darth Vader, her father?
Brian Blessed, the actor playing the Hawkman Prince Vultan, is a British national treasure. He has been in everything from Peppa Pig to Black Adder to Star Wars (Episode 1) and is a staple of the Shakespearean stage, he is a mountain climber, archer, and judoka, he has spent 800 hours training for space at Star City, and is the oldest man to walk to the north pole. It is not legal to be British and not know who he is.
Houdini, the greatest escapologist ever.
I think the similarities between Flash Gordon and Star Wars owe more to the original material that inspired them both than to either inspiring the other.
I think THIS fella needs to just get over his annoying Star Wars fixation!