Directed by Gwen Wentzler, written by Samuel A. Peeples and animated by Filmation, this was inspired by the success of Star Wars and intended to be a TV movie. When NBC saw the finished film, they turned it into the 1979 Saturday-morning animated TV-series Flash Gordon. The TV movie version is, obviously, a lot more adult and even has a moment where Ming shows that he has been giving weapons to Hitler.

Robert Ridgely plays Flash, Diane Pershing is Dale and David Opatoshu is Zarkov. This is closer to the newspaper strip, as Flash works alongside lionman King Thun (Ted Cassidy) while Ming’s (Bob Holt) daughter Princess Aura (Melendy Britt) attempts to possess Flash. They’re soon joined by Prince Barin and King Vultan of the Hawkmen to attempt to stop Ming from marrying Dale and destroying Earth.

The animation looks so much better than Filmation’s Saturday morning work, as it is rotoscoped. This is a process of animating over live action to ensure that movements appear like real people.

Mattel would make Flash, Ming, Thun, a Lizard Woman, Zarkov, a Beast Man, King Vultan, Captain Arak and a rocket ship for Flash and Ming’s shuttle. Flash’s ship was inflatable and looked like a zeppelin; it’s one of my favorite toys I ever got to play with.

This finally aired three years after the cartoon and NBC definitely aired it on the NBC Late Movie, playing on September 5 and 26, 1982. I was ten and totally watched it the whole way through both times it aired on a black and white TV on my parent’s inside porch.

You can watch this on YouTube.