Blackmoor Vituperative

In 1979, there was a Flash Gordon cartoon that I think about any time the subject of Flash Gordon comes up in conversation. I still recall the fantastic spaceship designs, Ming’s menacing metal army, and the seductive swivel-hip-action of Princess Aura. To my thirteen-year-old eyes, this was the best cartoon I’d ever seen. According to Wikipedia,

“The series was an homage to the original Flash Gordon comic strip and featured most of the original characters, including Flash’s girlfriend Dale Arden, and the scientist Hans Zarkov. The series is still regarded to be not only one of the most faithful adaptations, but also one of Filmation’s finest overall efforts to this day.” [1]

I have been looking for this episode on DVD ever since old television shows started showing up on DVD. As it turns out, I was not looking closely enough, because the show was released on DVD in 2006!

I rediscovered some other gems of that era during my search, as well: Blackstar (a guy with a magic sword who rides a dragon — a classic!), Josie And The Pussycats (my first exposure to cat-girls), the short-lived Star Trek animated series, and Isis (who introduced me to the wonders of Egyptian mythology).

The one of these I am looking forward to seeing most (aside from Flash Gordon) is Josie And The Pussycats. Although the show was technically a spin-off of the Archies, it really owed a great deal more to Scooby Doo, with its fun (if simplistic) plots, engaging characters, and musical chase scenes. Incidentally, I am also a huge Scooby Doo fan (although I think it went downhill when they started meeting Don Knotts, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the Addams Family).

Oh, and you know what started all of this? I was actually looking for Superman DVDs.