On its 40th anniversary Flash Gordon returns to save the universe in a pristine 4K restoration. Available on DVD, Blu-ray and, for the first time, on 4K UHD Collector's Edition. Flash Gordon has never looked so good on any home media format, gone are the wires that held up Prince Vultan (Brian Blessed) and in their place is a picture that leaps off the screen with its definition and clarity. On the downside the clarity only highlights the poor special effects, which let’s just say are of their time, and the use of green screen technology in a number of background shots.
The film, which sees Flash Gordon (Sam Jones), backed by a classic soundtrack from Queen, Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) and Hans Zarkov (Topol) saving planet earth from the evil Ming the Merciless (Max Von Sydow), has gained a cult following over the years. It’s camp, the acting, if we’re being kind, is somewhat iffy and the whole things plays like a really bad pantomime. However, for its massive fan base this is all part of the enjoyment and now with this 4K restoration you can enjoy Flash Gordon in a quality that’s probably not been seen since it first graced cinema screens in 1980.
For the new 40th Anniversary 4k restoration, Flash Gordon was scanned
from the original 35mm negative to produce 4K files. Over 500 hours of
manual restoration repaired serious damage that included image
instability, scratches and intermittent flicker. The sound was scanned
from the original track negative and underwent restoration to improve
issues ranging from audio drop-outs throughout the feature and during
reel changes, digital clicks and optical distortion. The film was
colour graded for theatrical, home entertainment and 4K HDR release,
using previous digital releases and 35mm prints as a reference. In line
with the Director's vision and the original 35mm cinema release, VFX
work was applied to remove the strings in all scenes where visible.
This restoration was approved by Director Mike Hodges in May 2020, and
will include the first 4K HDR Dolby Vision master of Flash Gordon.
"I'm very grateful to STUDIOCANAL for this brilliant 4k restoration. The
restoration captures perfectly the vivid colours of the sets, skies and
costumes. It also corrects some of the problems encountered with the
special effects system we used. With Chroma key compositing we could insert
skies, rocket ships, hawk-men, pretty well whatever we wanted, into the
blue backing built into the studio sets. The problems came later when we
had to eliminate, for example, the wires used on the hawk-men. We were
eventually successful but even then some 35mm prints were variable and the
wires would be back again. With this new restoration that problem is
thankfully laid to rest. Of course Chroma key is primitive by the side of
the current process, CGI (Computer Generated Imaging). That said I'm
pleased we stuck with the old fashioned system. CGI would have been too
slick. After all Flash Gordon was a cartoon strip from the 1930s brought
back to life on celluloid some five decades later." Mike Hodges, April 2020
SPECIAL FEATURES AND TECHNICAL SPECS
:
DISC ONE - 4K BLU-RAY
- BRAND NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM, SUPERVISED AND APPROVED BY DIRECTOR MIKE HODGES
- New Lost in Space: Nic Roeg's Flash Gordon (also iTunes extra)
- Audio commentary with Mike Hodges
- Audio commentary with Brian Blessed
- Behind the scenes of Flash Gordon
- Stills gallery (also iTunes extra)
- Storyboards gallery (also iTunes extra)
- Original theatrical trailer
DISC TWO - BLU-RAY
- Interview with Mike Hodges
- Interview with comic book artist Alex Ross TBC
- Interview with screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr. TBC
- Episode 24 of Flash Gordon (1979-1982): The Survival Game / Gremlin's Finest Hour
- Sam Jones's acting start
- Entertainment Earth on Flash Gordon merchandise
- Bob Lindenmayer discusses deleted scenes and original endings
- 35th Anniversary Greenroom
- 35th Anniversary reunion featurette
- Renato Casaro extended interview
- Brian Blessed anecdotes
- Melody's musings
- On the soundtrack (Brian May & Howard Blake)
- Easter Eggs
THE FIVE-DISC COLLECTOR'S EDITION INCLUDES
- The 4K Blu-ray plus two Blu-ray discs
- BONUS BLU-RAY DISC OF LIFE AFTER FLASH , the 2017 feature documentary celebrating the film and it's star, directed by Lisa Downs
- ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK CD by Queen & Howard Blake
- 32 page booklet
- 16 page Titan mini book (The Story of Flash Gordon)
- Reproduced booklet of the first strip of original comic books
- Poster of original artwork
- 4 artcards of various incarnations of Flash film posters across the years
- 1 sew on 'Flash patch'
