Flash Gordon – Flash Charges Ice Barricade of Hawkmen & Dr. Zarkov is Thawed Out

Posted by crypticescapemagazine on April 26, 2017 in Old Time Radio, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Episode #9:  “Flash Charges Ice Barricade of Hawkmen”

Air Date:  June 22, 1935

“With shouts and confusion, the blue magic army charges to attack the barricaded hawkmen. Suddenly, Thorl furious at being replaced as general by Flash draws a gun from his back and pulls the trigger. Flash’s horse stumbles and pitches forward dead. Flash is hurled to the ground. Is this the end for Flash Gordon?”

Play Time: 15 Minutes

“Flash Gordon, under the influence of Azura’s drugs, is attacking his own men. The spy sent by Dr Zarkoff had overheard the plan of attack and was just at the entrance of the cave where Dr Zarkoff was hiding when he was hit by a ray from one of the blue magic army’s men. Dr Zarkoff does not realize that Flash thinks of him as an enemy and rushes out to meet him, but Flash throws a torpedo at him and freezes the whole of Zarkoff’s army…”

Flash Gordon is the hero of a space opera adventure comic strip created by and originally drawn by Alex Raymond.First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip.

Starting April 22, 1935, the strip was adapted into The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon, a 26-episode weekly radio serial. The series followed the strip very closely, amounting to a week-by-week adaptation of the Sunday strip for most of its run.

Flash Gordon was played by Gale Gordon, later famous for his television roles in Our Miss Brooks, Dennis the Menace, The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy (the latter two with Lucille Ball). The cast also included Maurice Franklin as Dr. Zarkov and Bruno Wick as Ming the Merciless.

The radio series broke with the strip continuity in the last two episodes, when Flash, Dale and Zarkov returned to Earth. They make a crash landing in Malaysia, where they meet Jungle Jim, the star of another of Alex Raymond’s comic strips.

The series ended on October 26, 1935 with Flash and Dale’s marriage. The next week, The Adventures of Jungle Jim picked up in that Saturday timeslot.

Two days later, on October 28, The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon debuted as a daily show, running five days a week. This series strayed further from Raymond’s strip, involving Flash, Dale and Zarkov in an adventure in Atlantis. The series aired 74 episodes, ending on February 6, 1936.