FLASH GORDON - TV / 1954-5

Welcome again to Wednesday B+W Oldie Bijou Theater Bath and Beyond, today we gots a great little forgotten treasure for everbloody' enjoyment...

Tabonga get a TV in 1953, just in time to have mind boggled by this sci-fi TV series produced in West Germany after WWII. After kid' program like HOWDY DOODY, CARTOONS, LITTLE RASCALS, CAPTAIN KANGAROO, TIME FOR BEANY, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO, WESTERN MOVIES, LAUREL AND HARDY, GUMBY and RIN TIN TIN, FLASH GORDON really made big impression on little brains, seriously!

~ This series was called 'lurid' and was singled out as a bad influence on kids, like comics, during that same era of 'McCarthyism' mania.

Steve Holland only had a few acting credits besides the 39 FG episodes between 1954-5. Big deal though, because, he is considered the greatest illustration male model of all time!! Just look at the character in that face, damn!.. Steve is probably best remembered as DOC SAVAGE from the paperback covers in the sixties, which Eegah!! was a huge fan and collected that title...

Ironic that Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov go to The Earth's Core instead of outer space, but, Tabonga plan on posting a few more episode before Dec. 22, 2012!!

Music is by German Kurt Heuser and Frenchman Roger-Roger. Series start in West Germany and end up in France, so, all puzzle pieces fit together nicely! Soundclip is a little distorted and photos are blurry, but still definitely worth price of admission!

Piffles the Gnat say he so happy to push big red 'GO' button to start soundclip for one of his favorite show ever, so!.. Hits it Piff!!!.. FLASH GOES UNDERGROUND!

There are problem at the Earth' core, so, Dr. Zarkov have special drilling machine built to travel underground!

Everbloody have sack lunch packed up, so, time to hit the old hole!

But, they being tracked by weird subterranean dudes! This series have absolutely the strangest outfits and attire anybloody ever gonna see anywhere, anytime, anyhow!!

See little light at top of screen, that is drilling machine on way to Earth' core and what dude is looking at.

They getting so deep inside Earth that machine interior starting to smoke from boiling hot temperature outside!!

In fact, it get so hot inside machine that Dale have to cool off Flash' weenie with soothing cooling spray! Ahhhhh!.........

They finally hit rock bottom and get out of machine to stretch legs!

...Only to be followed by... What?!

The gang get captured...

And, are taken to...

This guy here, Fearless Leader!

"Mint?.. What's a mint?!"

That is one crazy wall to be chained to!

Okay... Now what?

Here, let me just heat the tip of this sword up a lil' bit in the lava so that it get all hot, and what not...

But, something always go wrong for bad guy, so, Flash and gang make hasty escape back to machine!

After Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov head back to the surface, the huge pipe directing the intense heat clogs and causes the whole place to implode!

We finish with two classic paperback covers of DOC SAVAGE, Man of Bronze!

ALPHAVILLE, UNE ÉTRANGE AVENTURE DE LEMMY CAUTION - Paul Misraki - "Dick Tracy On Mars" (1965)

"ALPHAVILLE"!! This ain't George Jetson's future, it's..........

Lemmy Caution's, and there ain't no flyin' cars neither!!

It's Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution in a dark and grimy future world of dames, booze, cigarettes, and planetary mysteries!!

Director Jean-Luc Godard's vision of the future was stark and realistic! Look around you, it's almost 2010 now, does it look like the future envisoned by most authors?! No, but they did have a cool looking futuristic jukebox in that slimey dive, and all the women are marked with numbers, easier to keep track of them that way, I guess!

Lemmy had just got to Alphaville from The Outlands, and was trying to unwind, and he's already got an intruder in his room that he has to dispose of!

Lemmy is here to see who he thinks is the Boss, Howard Vernon as Professor Leonard Nosferatu Von Braun!! We've written about Howard Vernon before because, when you need an evil doctor or professor, he's the man to call, whether it's Dr. Mabuse or Dr. Orloff or Professor Von Braun, he's the epitome of Evil, Evil, Evil!!!

See! It's the future! You can tell if you look in the right places!!

This gal must be a real tart, she's wearing her serial number right out front where everybody can see it!! Woo Woo!!!

In the future, Illogical behavior like crying gets you executed, and then stabbed to death by bathing beauties as a performance piece for the big shots!

Lemmy needs to talk to The Boss real bad!

But his efforts are thwarted by a couple of thugs, and he gets interrogated by The Real Boss, Mr. Alpha 60, the computer with the most annoying voice since David Bowie's "Laughing Gnome!"

Even this part made Lemmy laugh, these two evil Professor's names are Eckel and Jeckel. Hell, I'm laughing even as I write it!!

Lemmy's love interest is Anna Karina as Natacha von Braun. She is also numbered but has never met her famous father, as far as she knows!!

You get the picture! In the future, there is no such thing as love or art, or poetry, or free thinking unless you're the one in charge!!! Wait a minute, what year was this? 1965? Gee whiz, it really is the future! Help, Mr. Wizard!!!

Okay, that's enough already with the philosophy, time for Lemmy to kick some superiority complex ass!

Oh, so sorry Mr. Big Shot, was that your head??

The stark, harsh and very repetitive soundtrack was composed by Paul Misraki, another French composer we've talked about recently, who composed music for 130 movies stretching from 1931 to 1993. Man some of these musical cats are just too much! Aie pitié!!