Flash Gordon

Episode 211: Flash Gordon (1980)

Theme: Comic Strip Movies Month
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, Oz and Curtis strap on their rocket cycles and launch headfirst into Flash Gordon — a movie marriage of He-Man + Hawkman + The Exorcist + Star Wars + James Bond + The NeverEnding Story + The Princess Bride + Ted… yes, Ted. It’s a neon space opera where football becomes a combat style, Queen does the entire soundtrack, Ming the Merciless has a desktop disaster dashboard, Dale escapes concubine training while wearing heels, and Sam J. Jones may or may not be dubbed by an actor named Skina Marinker. It’s big-budget, low-budget, earnest, ridiculous, and absolutely one of Oz’s all-time comfort flicks.

Join your two favorite “hot hail?!” podcasters as they blast through:

• The palace fight where Flash plays space football with Fabergé eggs and Cletus literally calls a defensive huddle.

• Aura — wildly promiscuous, wildly loyal, and wildly into Flash’s telepathy.

• Zarov’s memory-wipe sequence, complete with Hitler confusion and Shakespeare loopholes.

• Baron and Voltan, frenemies for life, locked in a death match on a tilting spike platform.

• The greatest wedding-day crash in cinema: lightning shields down, Hawkman assault up, and Flash riding a warship through Ming’s torso.

From tentacle swamps to sky cities to the greatest theme song Queen ever gifted us, Oz and Curtis break down a cult classic that’s equal parts cheese, color, camp, chaos, and absolute joy.

Final Verdict

Oz — Buckets of Hot Hail
Curtis — 88 Hawk Guys
Both — Still convinced Sam Jones remains a better Jets quarterback than Justin Fields.