Flash Gordon (film)/Trivia

The Franchise

 * Hey, It's That Voice!: In "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon" (1979-1980) by Filmation, Flash Gordon himself was voiced by Robert Ridgely. Who is also known to fans for playing Tarzan, Thundarr the Barbarian, Kraven the Hunter, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, and Rex Charger.
 * Dale Arden was voiced by Diane Pershing. Who also played Pearl Pureheart, Crystal Kane, Netossa and Spinnerella, and Poison Ivy/Pamela Isley.
 * Ming the Merciless was voiced by Alan Oppenheimer. Who also played Mighty Mouse, Battle Cat/Cringer, Man-At-Arms/Duncan, Skeletor, Mer-Man, Beachcomber, Seaspray, Warpath, Professor Amadeus Sharp, Vanity Smurf, Jonathan Kent, Uatu the Watcher, and Firelord.
 * Princess Aura was voiced by Melendy Britt. Who also played Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, Catwoman, She-Ra/Princess Adora and Catra.

The Film

 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: Ming never actually says "Pathetic earthlings, who will save you now?" Except in the trailer.
 * Ming does say "Pathetic earthlings", a lot (i.e. "Pathetic earthlings, hurling yourself out into the void...").
 * Doing It for the Art: Playing Vultan was Brian Blessed's lifelong dream.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Yes, it's an All-Star Cast (including Brian Blessed), but Deep Roy is Aura's valet and Riff-Raff is Barin's dragon Fico.
 * Also Porkins!
 * And Light as one of Vultan's guys!
 * Kingsley Shacklebolt as Prince Thun, who can offer nothing this year but his loyalty.
 * Promoted Fanboy: Brian Blessed has admitted in interviews that when he and his brother used to play a game based on the TV series he always wanted to be Vultan. Decades later he got to play the same childhood game on the big screen.
 * Stillborn Franchise: The actors signed up for a trilogy of films a la Star Wars, and there was a spinoff children's TV show.
 * Throw It In: Flash jumping into the camera screaming "YEAH!" was an improvisation by Sam Jones, as nobody could figure out how to end the movie.
 * Vindicated by Cable
 * What Could Have Been: All actors were signed for three movies, but problems with star Sam J. Jones during post-production (which lead to Same Language Dub) pretty much killed the trilogy.
 * The first draft of the script had, among other things, no Kala, Klytus being psychic, a Tiger Man aiding Flash, Ming having a group of Amazon warriors, and a proper swordfight between Flash and Ming.
 * Directors considered for this film included Federico Fellini and Nicholas Roeg.