Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars

Lore & Background

The serial follows Flash Gordon, Dr. Zarkov, and Dale Arden, accidentally accompanied by reporter Happy Hapgood, as they investigate a mysterious beam destroying Earth's atmosphere. They discover the ray originates from Mars, where their old enemy Ming the Merciless has allied with Queen Azura, the Witch Queen of Mars. Azura can transmute people into living clay, and the Clay People, led by their King, hold the key to defeating her but are trapped in caves. The Earth visitors eventually ally with the Clay People to defeat Azura and Ming, using a divide-and-conquer strategy that breaks Azura's alliance with Ming at the cost of her life, freeing the Clay People and seemingly vanquishing Ming.

Reader's Guide

Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars is significant as the first sequel to the original Flash Gordon serial, continuing the popular space adventure franchise. It was less expensive to make than the first serial and capitalized on the publicity surrounding Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast, with Universal hastily releasing a feature version titled Mars Attacks the World. The serial was a box-office success and, in the 1950s, was broadcast on American television retitled as Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars to avoid confusion with a contemporaneous TV series. Its legacy includes being a key entry in the Flash Gordon serial trilogy, influencing later science-fiction media.

Did You Know?

• The serial's location was changed from Mongo to Mars to capitalize on the popularity of the planet Mars following Orson Welles' famous War of the Worlds broadcast.
• Universal released a feature-length version of the serial titled Mars Attacks the World a week after the Welles broadcast.
• The original title for the feature version had been Rocket Ship.
• In the 1950s, the serial was retitled Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars for American television.

Production & the Orson Welles Moment

The 1938 serial was produced by Universal Pictures as the second entry in their Flash Gordon trilogy, adapted from the 1936 "Big Little Book" version of the comic strip storyline. Notably, it cost less to produce than the 1936 original. One of the most fascinating production details concerns the serial's connection to Orson Welles' famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. According to Harmon and Glut, Universal shifted the story's setting to Mars to capitalize on the broadcast's cultural moment. However, Stedman offers a different account: the serial actually preceded the broadcast, and when Welles stunned the nation with his Mercury Theatre on the Air production, Universal hastily retitled the already-prepared feature-length cut from "Rocket Ship" to "Mars Attacks the World." They then opened it at a Broadway theater as a major premiere event just one week after the broadcast. The original title "Rocket Ship" was later repurposed for reissues of the first serial's feature version, which had debuted under its original serial title in the United Kingdom in 1936. The film proved a box-office success.

Plot & Narrative Structure

The story opens when a mysterious beam of light begins tearing apart Earth's atmosphere, prompting Flash Gordon, Dr. Zarkov, and Dale Arden to launch in Zarkov's rocketship, accidentally joined by wisecracking reporter Happy Hapgood. In space, the team discovers the destructive ray emanates from Mars rather than Mongo. There they find Ming the Merciless alive, allied with Azura, the Witch Queen of Mars, who can transmute people into living clay and condemn them to darkened caves. Under her protection, Ming operates a Nitron ray aimed at destroying Earth. The Clay People, led by their King, know how to eliminate Azura's power but cannot free themselves from their ruined bodies. Initially distrustful, they hold Dale Arden hostage before allying with the Earth visitors. The heroes battle Azura's magic, her Martian space force, Ming's super-scientific weaponry, and the treacherous Forest People. Victory comes through divide-and-conquer: revealing to Azura that Ming has been scheming behind her back to seize power. The alliance shatters at the cost of Azura's life, the Clay People are freed, and Ming is seemingly vanquished by the accidental consequences of his own treachery.

Cast & Performance

The principal cast largely reprises their roles from the 1936 original serial, with Buster Crabbe returning as Flash Gordon, Jean Rogers as Dale Arden, Frank Shannon as Dr. Alexis Zarkov, Charles B. Middleton as Ming the Merciless, and Richard Alexander as Prince Barin. New to the franchise are Beatrice Roberts as Queen Azura, Donald Kerr as the comedic reporter Happy Hapgood, Montague Shaw as the Clay King, and Wheeler Oakman as Tarnak, Ming's chief henchman. Supporting roles include Kenne Duncan as an airdrome captain and Warner Richmond as Zandar. One notable shift in performance: cast notes indicate that Charles Middleton's portrayal of Ming in this serial is described as "devilish," a marked departure from his "Fu Manchu-like" performance in the first serial. This tonal adjustment suggests Universal and the creative team wanted to differentiate the villain's presentation for the sequel, giving Ming a more overtly sinister edge rather than the calculated, exotic menace of the original. The serial was followed by Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe in 1940, completing Universal's three-part Flash Gordon run between 1936 and 1940.

Legacy & Television Life

Time magazine, in its 1938 review, praised the serial as "a Grade A cinemedition of the famed King Features strip," a notable endorsement for a fifteen-chapter science-fiction serial in an era when the format was still finding its audience. The film's box-office success further cemented Universal's investment in the franchise. Decades later, the serial found new life on American television in the 1950s, when all three Flash Gordon serials were broadcast on PBS U.S. stations. However, to avoid confusion with a simultaneously airing made-for-TV Flash Gordon series, the films were retitled: this serial became "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars," while the others were rebranded as "Space Soldiers" and "Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe." In the United Kingdom, the situation differed: ABC Weekend Television aired the serials under their original Flash Gordon titles, preserving the familiar branding for British audiences. The serial's position as the middle entry in Universal's 1936-to-1940 trilogy, sandwiched between the 1936 original and the 1940 Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, marks it as a crucial bridge in the franchise's early cinematic history.