Flash Gordon rocketed to Mars in 1938, months before
Orson Welles' War of the Worlds. | 
Dale Arden had dark hair this time, like her comic-strip counterpart,
and a more active role. |
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| This
sequence was about the third or fourth Flash Gordon episode I remember
seeing as a young child. It left me with an impression of Dale Arden as a heroic
character, rather than as a damsel in chronic distress. | Like
the graphic says -- Dale sees a chance to steal a Martian Stratosled. Her previous
experience with Rocket Ships implies that she knows how to pilot the strange,
smokey, noisy, thing. |
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| Zarkoff,
Barin, and Flash are surrounded by enemies, and don't even know that Dale is flying
to their rescue overhead. | Dale
spots her friends on the ground, and dives in to help accomplish the mission and
get everybody out alive. |
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| Not
only is Dale (Jean Rogers) Arden THE BOMB to look at, she's also a skilled space-bombadier. | Dale
makes matchsticks out of the bleak forest grove with a smile as she watches Flash
and his team escape their foes. |
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|  |  |
| Flash
Gordon hears the crackling buzz of a Space Ship and looks up to see a smoking
Martian rattle-trap pursuing them. | The
Stratosled cuts off their retreat and lands in front of them.
Will there be
even MORE bad guys to deal with? |
| 
|  |  |
| A
vision of loveliness emerges from the hissing battlewagon.
Could it be? DALE
ARDEN RESCUES FLASH GORDON. It's true! | Dale
gets everyone into the ship, then explains the workings of the odd craft --and
they are off to further adventures. |
|
Flash Gordon is the property of it's copyright holders. All
images are used for scholastic purposes ONLY in the context of this article.
Text and graphic design copyright by Michael R. Evans 2006 |
