SAVIOUR OF THE UNIVERSE

HE MAY HAVE HAD ONLY 14 HOURS TO SAVE THE EARTH BUT ACHIEVED MUCH MORE THAN THAT. AS THE CLASSIC SPACE OPERA TURNS 40, SFX ASSEMBLES SIX OF THE KEY PLAYERS FOR AN IN-DEPTH ORAL HISTORY OF A SCI-FI MOVIE LIKE NO OTHER…

- RICHARD EDWARDS

PATHETIC EARTHLINGS. Who can save you now? When Ming the Merciless decides to take this obscure body in the SK system as his plaything, unleashing earthquakes, hurricanes, and – yes – hot hail in our direction, it’s a question with just one answer. He may be just a man, with a man’s courage, but it’s always been good to know that Flash Gordon has forever had our backs. In fact, he’s such a legend that the mere mention of his name is enough to get anyone of a certain age replying with a tuneful “A-aaah”. Forty years ago, producer Dino De Laurentiis took Alex Raymond’s comic book hero to the big screen for the first time since a popular run of 1930s serials. In the vast universe of space movies, Flash Gordon is unique, a spectacular collision of comedy, larger-than-life performances, spectacular sets, and a one-of-a-kind Queen soundtrack. In other words, it’s light-years from Star Wars – ironically, George Lucas had wanted to adapt Flash Gordon before creating his own galaxy far, far away – and some of the behind-the-scenes tales are just as strange as the film itself. So to celebrate four decades of Flash Gordon, SFX has brought together some of the key players to look back on their eventful trip to Mongo. As we join the story, De Laurentiis has just parted ways with director Nicolas Roeg thanks to a real-world threat every bit as insidious as Ming himself: creative differences…

Mike Hodges (director): I was initially asked to make the sequel. That’s when I got introduced to Dino because Nic was a friend, and Dino was looking for a director for the sequel because they had all these sets built. When Nic left, Dino came to me. I never quite understood why he wanted me [Hodges was most famous at that point for