FangsFirst

I read Brian Orndorf's DVD review of Flash Gordon - Saviour of the Universe Edition at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=29570 and...

Damn! Finally someone else who sees this movie how I do. I don't take it as purely entertaining cheese--or if I do, I ignore the cheese part. I don't quite take it seriously, but just enjoy the sheer bombast and entertainment.

Nice to know for once I'm not alone in this, heh...

Adam Tyner

You might be interested in hearing that HDNet Movies is going to air Flash Gordon in high-def next weekend.

WepaMan

Any details on the packaging? The review doesn't mention it at all.

FangsFirst

I haven't seen inside, but I unpacked the thing myself today at work, so I saw it sealed.

It's a large book-style case (think those ultra expensive Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Cinderella Man type cases) but it folds down from the top instead of the side (so sort of like a sketch pad, if you will).

Looks like it could hold a keep case, or a digipak within. No telling on that front for me unfortunately.

Not much, but that's what I know.

Shannon Nutt

The packaging flips "up"...kind of like THE SOPRANOS box sets. However, the DVD is inside in one of those plastic holders that is glued to the inside of the box. So there's no pull out carboard case or inside box holding the DVD. It's not horrible packaging, but it is a slightly cheesy design. Much like the movie itself, I suppose.

Each set also includes a B&W Alex Ross postcard...not anything impressive, but a nice addition, nevertheless.

Incidently, while I can't really complain about Brian's 5-star review of the film itself (that's his opinion after all...although it didn't "hold up" as well for me...I'd give it maybe 3 stars), he is OVERLY generous in his Video rating...the movie is far from pristine. There's grain in almost every frame, and there's noticable "dirt" on the print in many of the shots - particulary those that show the "atmosphere" of Mongo and its surrounding planets. So while they did upgrade this to anamorphic, it doesn't look like a lot of effort was spend on cleaning up the print...although I don't own the previous version, so maybe there is some significant improvement. Still, I think the video is only about average for an anamoprhic transfer of a 1980 film.

Altimus Prime

The only thing that would stop me from buying this first thing Tuesday morning is if the review said putting the disc in my player would cause it to explode.

I've seen parts of this on cable recently. I think it still holds up. Is it Star Wars? No. Star Trek? No. It has its own universe with a great style and look.

Scott Weinberg

Excellent review of a very beloved movie. I have the (much superior) R2 version (Brian Blessed audio commentary!) but I suspect I'll pick this one up too. Shame, though, that Uni couldn't rope together a commentary or half-decent retrospective doco.

Altimus Prime

Some Queen music videos would have made a nice extra, but I don't see any either.

Regardless... it could be bare bones, I'd still buy it. I can only play R1.

blindzero

Great review. Glad to see others appreciate this movie as much as me. I went and imported a version a while ago and it held up pretty much exactly how I remembered it. Might even pick this one up for the extras.

Although I gotta admit....I don't see how someone can simply not see the "camp". It is after all written by a writer on Adam West Batman's.

It makes it easier to defend Flash Gordon from all its critics for me to believe the camp was a genius exploitation of the tone of serials that began scifi. Plus it cracks me up all the way through it. I love it.

When the professor is getting his memories wiped : "Noooo! I need those!".

chriscooling

I was disappointed in what's called "The Saviour of the Universe Edition." There were 2 10 minute interviews which were ok, the first episode of the old Flash Gordon serial, the movie trailer and a lame 5 second teaser for the new Sci-Fi series. That's it.
I rented this one with fond memories of seeing the original in theaters in 1980 and meeting Sam Jones and his son a couple years ago and talking Flash Gordon and Highwayman.
It was ok, but I couldn't bring myself to buy it after watching. It was an amusing watch but just too campy and disappointing as far as special features are concerned.
This was delayed for years and we get a one disc release with extra content I knock out in half an hour? Monster Squad had a great sectioned documentary with extensive interviews with Fred Dekker. They could have at least given us a full length documentary.

Supermallet

The version on HDNet looked great, by the way. A little dirt on the print, but overall, it looked excellent.

jwnulife

How does it compare with the bare bones R1 dvd that has long been out of print? Both audio and visually.