Star Wars 8 Ways Flash Gordon Influenced The Trilogy
Star Wars: 8 Ways Flash Gordon Influenced The Trilogy
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With so many famous directors huge fans of the Flash Gordon serials, some fans may be surprised to see their influence in the Star Wars movies.
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Flash Gordon is one of the oldest sci-fi heroes who made his debut in syndicated comic strips, but soon made the jump to the big screen with the Flash Gordon serials made between 1936-1940. These serials especially have had quite an impact on sci-fi films and TV, because many filmmakers saw them as movie serials or on TV programs like Adventure Theatre.
A young Lucas always rooted for Flash to defeat Emperor Ming, but he also always wondered how audiences would respond with better production values. So he decided he wanted to make his own space opera, Star Wars. There’s no doubt that Lucas combined a variety of inspirations to make his original space opera, but there are many things fans might not know were direct references to the Flash Gordon serials.
8 Opening Text Crawl
While it only lasts a couple of minutes, the opening text crawl of Star Wars is iconic and sets the perfect tone for the adventure ahead. While not used a lot, the opening text crawl has been employed since the Golden Age of Hollywood, with the trailer for the noir film, Possessed (1947), using it as well as Abbott and Costello’s western comedy, The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947).
One of its most famous uses is in Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (1940). Originally, the chapters were released in weekly segments, and they had to give audiences a reminder of the events so far. The first two serials used text cards to display the recap and the second one included comic panels from the newspaper strips, but the last one used a text crawl with a matte painting backdrop.
7 Spaceship Battles
Part of Star Wars’ success is due to the revolutionary model work and the spectacular space battles they created. Even without the digitally enhanced effects on most releases, the special effects still hold up to this day. The same can’t be said about the rocket battles in Flash Gordon, but fans can still have them to thank for inspiring other filmmakers.
Like Star Wars, the space battles in the Flash Gordon movie consist of dog fights and small fighter ships engaging one another. The rocket’s single gun operated manually like the military planes of the time, and like the manned turrets on the Millenium Falcon. The battles are still fun and exciting to watch, even if viewers may have trouble distinguishing the similar models of the hero and villain’s rockets.
6 Giant Monsters
One of the highlights of Return of the Jedi is the Jabba’s palace sequence that kicks off the movie, with Luke battling one of the biggest and most threatening monsters in Star Wars. Luke’s encounter in a pit harkens back to the first Flash Gordon serial. In the serial, Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov land on Mongo and encounter giant lizards. Flash fights a giant octopus and gets himself trapped in a cave with a giant bipedal monster.
Like Flash, Star Wars uses these alien creatures to flesh out the world and give our protagonists obstacles to overcome.
5 Faceless Soldiers & Heroes In Disguise
An interesting similarity between Star Wars and Flash Gordon is the enemy soldiers wear helmets as part of their uniforms. In both cases, this gives the protagonists the ability to wander the enemy palace or ship while having their faces disguised, and it creates a faceless enemy that can be killed with little remorse.
The Flash Gordon serials clearly relied heavily on pre-existing costumes and props, so knight helmets as part of the enemy uniform make sense, but Star Wars original costumes were an intentional nod to Flash Gordon. Once the heroes are taken aboard the Death Star, the sequence of events is incredibly similar to scenes of Flash in disguise rescuing Dale from Ming’s Palace.
4 Helpful Allies
Some people may not be aware that the Ewoks have become a controversial topic with the Star Wars community, as some fans question they would have been able to destroy an army with advanced weaponry and armor with their tools. However, most people would agree that their role in Return of the Jedi undeniably mirrors that of the Rock people in the third serial. When Flash travels to the Land of the Dead, he discovers a group of people that survive with spears and rock-themed camouflage.
Like the Ewoks, they initially try to kill the protagonist but eventually become strong allies. Without the help of the Ewoks and the Rock people, the protagonists would have surely failed.
3 Humble Heroes
Another inspiration for Star Wars is the influence of Joseph Campbell, and the hero’s journey, on the story. Following the formula perfectly, Luke is a bored farmer who has never been far from home and is suddenly thrust into the world beyond his experience. Luke is relatable and grounded for the audience before he becomes the strong hero. While Flash Gordon doesn’t follow the hero’s journey exactly, it can be felt in Flash’s origins.
When audiences are first introduced to Flash Gordon, they learn he is a polo player going to visit his father, a scientist, when he is kidnapped by Dr. Zarkov. This backstory isn’t quite as relatable as Luke’s, but it is firmly grounded in real human experience.
2 Wise Old Sage
Dr. Zarkov is one of Flash’s most important friends and has used his scientific knowledge and devices to get them out of danger. This is good, considering their relationship started when Zarkov kidnapped Flash and Dale has to pilot his rocket to the planet Mongo, as it was on a collision course with Earth.
Not only is Zarkov’s genius inventions necessary to defeat Ming, but he is also savvy to human nature and occasionally offers wise sayings. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s role in the first Star Wars movie is quite similar, where he teaches Luke about the force and shutting off the Death Star’s tractor beam.
1 Robot Army
Flash, with the help of the Frigians, has to mount an expedition into the frozen kingdom of Frigia if he wants to stop the purple death back on Earth. Because Frigia is too cold for humans not born there, Ming constructs robot soldiers (that are also walking bombs) to destroy our brave heroes.
The influence of Flash Gordon on Star Wars continued after the original trilogy, one example being the droid army in the prequel trilogy. Even though the walking bombs are a greater physical threat to our heroes than the droid army, it’s clear Lucas revisited Flash Gordon for inspiration.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/star-wars-trilogy-influenced-by-flash-gordon-serials/
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