Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars
It's easy to point and guffaw at theFlash Gordonserials. In  fact, in this day and age it's hard to believe that audiences of any era were  ever expected to accept bulbous rocket ships that flatulently trail sparks and  smoke; preposterous, shambling space creatures; and spaceship interiors that  look as though they were assembled from a plumbing warehouse. Despite the  primitive sets and effects,Flash Gordonserials are as much a part of  the roots of modern sci-fi as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, or Ray Bradbury.This collection from Image Entertainment finds Flash battling a fiendish plot  staged by Queen Azura of Mars, stealing the Earth's nitrogen to aid in the  ongoing war against the Clay People. Flash soon discovers that Azura is in line  with his mortal enemy, Ming the Merciless, who secretly is plotting to overthrow  her and take over Mars himself. As usual, the hapless Professor Zarkov gets in  predicaments from which Flash must rescue him, and Dale Arden is by Flash's side  through all of it. Loaded with fisticuffs, sputtering, wobbly rocket ships,  lasers, and, of course, the remarkable Clay People (Martians turned into  animated mud), this is fast-paced sci-fi entertainment that was state of the art  for 1938. The energy and raw enthusiasm of these serials are what make them so  fun to watch, not to mention providing a downright quaint time-capsule look at  what Depression-era audiences thought of as the future.--Jerry Renshaw