It was recently announced that Taika Waititi had taken on the long-gestating Flash Gordon reboot in an effort to finally crack it, and he’ll probably do a fine job with it as a sort of meta, wink-to-the-audience comedy. But nothing can replace the shameless ingenuity of the old ‘80s original.
Previously, Sam J. Jones dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the lead role, Queen provided an unforgettable glam rock soundtrack, and Mike Hodges’ direction brought Mongo, Sky City, and the Hawkmen to life in all their pulpy space opera glory. To this day, Flash Gordon is a gloriously cheesy movie that everyone should see at least once. So while waiting for the coming remake, here are 10 pulpy sci-fi movies to watch if you liked Flash Gordon.
Masters of the Universe
Hollywood has been trying to get a Masters of the Universe reboot off the ground for years now, but the original, starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor, did a fine job of translating that franchise to the big screen. The critics didn’t take to it, but any fan of cheesy B-movies will fall in love.
Although the movie was based on the He-Man stories, visually, it actually resembled Jack Kirby’s New Gods comics a lot more. This isn’t a bad thing – those comic books were rammed with Kirby’s unmistakable style of bizarre worlds, distinctive character looks, and surreal sci-fi imagery.
Barbarella
If Flash Gordon is a pulp space opera that reflects the culture of the ‘80s, then Barbarella is one that reflects the culture of the ‘60s. Jane Fonda stars as the title character, an intergalactic warrior roaming the depths of outer space in the distant future (the film doesn’t specify it, but the expanded canon suggests it’s the 41st century), when she is joined by a blind angel named Pygar.
Barbarella has all the wacky made-up words that one would expect from a movie like this – Sogo, the Matmos, the Black Queen, the Tau Ceti planetary system – and plenty of action to back it up.
Thor: Ragnarok
Taika Waititi has actually said that his biggest inspiration for Thor: Ragnarok was Flash Gordon, which he grew up with. Marvel fans weren’t taken with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor movies until Waititi came along and injected them with some humor. But that’s not all he did.
The previous movies had tried to be too grounded – the great thing about Thor’s comics is the strange, colorful worlds they take us to, and all the mind-boggling imagery that comes along with them. Waititi used Flash Gordon as a visual springboard to bring this onto the big screen and make Thor great again.
Krull
Peter Yates’ Krull is essentially a fairy tale in space. A prince joins forces with a band of outlaws to head to the planet Krull to rescue a princess who has been abducted by “the Beast” and locked in his teleporting Black Fortress. It might also be the most ‘80s movie ever made.
Krull grew out of producer Ron Silverman’s excitement over then-burgeoning special effects, as well as the fact that everything in the screenplay could be plucked out of thin air and wouldn’t require any heavy historical research. The result is an outlandish sci-fi adventure that brings the swashbuckler film into outer space.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
As a movie, Flash Gordon doesn’t take itself too seriously. It commits to its premise and tells a delightfully absurd story, and that’s what makes it so fun. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is just as fun, but with an added degree of self-awareness.
Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, a physicist, test pilot, neurosurgeon, and rock star, was clearly inspired by Flash Gordon, an NFL player and cosmic avenger. He has to do battle with an alien race called the Red Lectroids that comes from Planet 10. The movie is a zany mixture of action, comedy, romance, and science fiction.
John Carter
This big-budget would-be blockbuster adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter stories had long been Andrew Stanton’s passion project. It lost a ton of money for Disney, because its very specific visual style didn’t gel with a wide audience.
The problem was that the marketing campaign made audiences expect a new Star Wars, when it was more like a new Flash Gordon. The eponymous John Carter is a soldier fighting in the American Civil War who ends up mingling with extraterrestrials on Mars in an immersive sci-fi spectacle. The film was clearly intended to kick off a franchise, but unfortunately, it stands alone.
Xanadu
Olivia Newton-John stars in this surreal blend of musical and fantasy that transplants Greek mythology into the ‘80s summer club scene. It has a simplistic premise about an L.A.-based artist meeting the girl of his dreams, but its the fantasy sequences that will make it appeal to Flash Gordon fans.
It has all the neon visuals, weird costumes, and bright colors contrasted with dark backgrounds of Blade Runner, with soundtrack contributions by the Electric Light Orchestra. So, it’s quite a trip. The film also features a supporting performance by Gene Kelly, an icon of old Hollywood musicals, in his final screen appearance.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Retrofuturism is about as pulpy as it gets in the science fiction genre, because it depicts the future, but not the future as we picture it today. Rather, the future as science fiction writers pictured it almost a century ago. Shot mostly in front of blue screens, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow draws on pre-World War II dieselpunk.
This is a style that features a future powered entirely by diesel, which was an exciting new fuel back then. Written and directed with clear-cut vision by Kerry Conran, the movie stars Jude Law as Sky Captain, the commander of a secret air force called the Flying Legion.
Battle Beyond the Stars
After Star Wars and Flash Gordon gave the moviegoing public a healthy case of space opera fever, an endless slew of copycats came along. Roger Corman, the king of the B-movie, produced one called Battle Beyond the Stars, which was described as The Magnificent Seven in space.
Two hotshot TV stars – The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s Robert Vaughn and The A-Team’s George Peppard – appeared in the movie, while an early-career James Cameron was tasked with creating the special effects (considering the film’s low budget, he did an impeccable job). It may have simply been capitalizing on the success of a galaxy far, far away, but its lively and action-packed enough to keep fans of the genre happy.
Star Wars
Before he created Star Wars, George Lucas tried to get a film adaptation of the old Flash Gordon serials off the ground. Failing that, he created his own space opera and it went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time. Star Wars brought on a wave of imitators, which is what led to the 1980 Flash Gordon movie getting made in the first place.
With Star Wars, Lucas pioneered the “used future” look that would go on to influence sci-fi cinema for years to come, while the story of a plucky blond hero whose intergalactic escapades are documented via text crawling through space is certainly reminiscent of Flash Gordon.
