5/5 Sweet Memories
  by Swede
Bought this for our son. Although we are not old enough to remember these playing in the theater, we do remember them on Sunday TV when we were kids. Our son thought they were great.

4/5 Flash Gordon: The Original Movie Serial
  by Enak (Milwaukee, WI USA)
I purchased the Flash Gordon boxed set primarily for "Space Soldiers", the original 1936 Flash Gordon movie serial renamed by King Features to avoid confusion with their 1953-54 television series. I remember watching this serial on television in the '50s (I guess I'm dating myself) and I just loved it. You get to see all those great rocket ships and that "hardware" in their original form that were updated in the 1980 campy remake with Max Van Sydow as Ming the Merciless and with great music supplied by the rock group Queen. Those original rocket ships - man they still sound like old vacuum cleaners to me - what a rush! And for all you thousands-upon-thousands of Star Wars fans: George Lucas himself (he's older than me by the way) has stated that much of the inspiration he had for his Star Wars films came from Flash Gordon (not exclusively of course).
It's a little bit too long to take in the whole series (Space Soldiers) at once, I'd suggest a few chapters at a time. All-in-all a great source of video entertainment for anyone of any age. It can lighten up any mood and is absolutely great family fare.

5/5 Great sci-fi classics!
  by Jero Briggs
Not much to say except that this collector's set is brilliant! First you have "Flash Gordon" which is also known as "Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers". A great adventure in which the Earth is threatened by the appoarching planet Mongo and its ruthless Emperor Ming. Flash takes off in a rocket ship designed by Professor Zarkoff in an attempt to save Earth and put a stop to Ming's reign of terror once and for all.

Then you have "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" which does have some pretty big continuity errors in it, but the story is just as adventurous. Ming has joined forces with the ruthless Queen of Mars to destroy the Earth with a powerful ray. Now Flash and his team of space soldiers blast off yet again to save Earth.

Finally you have "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" which is, in my view, the best out of all three. Earth is threatened by a poisonous gas from outer space. Flash and team blast off to investigate finding that Ming, still alive and well, is behind it. There attempt to save Earth will take them on an epic journey to numerous worlds where they face many alien dangers. This one is no doubt the most adventurous of them all.

Highly recommended!

5/5 A look back at serials of early TV
  by R. Hitchcock (Wappingers Falls, NY USA)
As one who grew up when TV was young, and watched the Saturday morning serials regularly, I was pleasantly surprised to see that several of the Buster Crabbe "Flash Gordon" adventures were available.

Don't get me wrong, this is not high drama or great writing. But it is reasuring to see that all one has to do to start a rocket ship is flip a switch and turn a dial.

Remember, these serials were made before jet aircraft were developed and the special effects are primitive. Ming's armada of rockets, for example, proceeds across the screen obviously suspended from wires - they wobble back and forth while spitting out exhaust in the form of sparkles.

The question was, did I enjoy it? Absolutely! These adventures are full of the art of the 30s and soldiers dressed in the costumes of ancient Rome pretending to be soldiers from the planet Mongo or Mars.

And who can forget the cliff hangers where our hero is in inescapable peril only to be rescued in the following episode by the sudden appearance of Ming, a trap door, Ming's daughter, some "clay people", or any one of the other unlikely developments. These were the mechanisms used to bring young movie goers (like me) back to see the next week's episode when the serials were first shown in the theaters.

If you are looking for adventures you can enjoy with your grandchildren, even if they may laugh here and there, this collection is it.

If, on the other hand you want to see how a truly advanced civilization can be defeated by a cowboy armed with a lasso and a 6-gun, get the Phantom Empire series with Gene Autry.
Phantom Empire

5/5 not captioned or subtitled
  by J. Wright (x)
how sad. these movies are great, gorgeous classic sci-fi (beautiful like Metropolis). extra campy and imaginative at the same time.

but amazon got sloppy and sez they are closed captioned when they aren't. probably the distributor originally just marked it incorrectly. but amazon should be more responsible and make sure the products they sell, feature and endorse are telling the truth. it's pretty much like i ordered these DVDs and got empty cases from them.