Flesh Gordon

Earth is terrorized by a "sex ray," which disrupts civilization by inducing orgiastic behavior in whomever it strikes. On a plane home to assist his scientist father in battling the ray, Flesh Gordon (Jason Williams) meets an attractive young woman, Dale Ardor (Cindy Hopkins)--and gets to know her even better when the sex ray strikes the plane. They bail out and land near the home of Dr. Flexi Jerkoff (Joseph Hudgins), who has identified the source of the ray and built a spaceship to travel there. Flesh and Dale join him on his trip to the planet Porno, where Emperor Wang the Perverted (William Hunt) is plotting to take over Earth with a stronger version of the same sex ray he used to take over his own planet.

Their ship is forced down and they are captured by Wang's forces. Impressed with the ship, Wang puts Jerkoff to work in his lab. Although Emperor Wang, a former botanist, was rendered impotent by a long ago encounter with a penis fly trap, he becomes smitten with Dale and decides to take her for his bride. Wang is about to have Flesh killed when Amora the Queen of Magic (Mycle Brandy) decides she wants him for her own. She spirits him away and makes love to him. Amora is killed by Wang's forces, but not before she gives Flesh her "power pasties," which can defeat the sex ray. Reunited with an escaped Jerkoff, Flesh returns to Wang's castle to rescue Dale, who has been saved from the wedding by the Amazon forces of Chief Nellie (Candy Samples).

The Earthlings join forces with the resistance troops of Prince Precious (Lance Larsen), rightful heir to the throne of Porno. Using the power pasties, Jerkoff builds a destructo beam. But their attempt to defeat Wang is ruined when a spy steals one of the pasties. Wang brings to life a giant goatish monster that seizes Dale and takes her to the top of his castle. Flesh and Jerkoff retrieve the missing pasty and use the destructo beam to destroy the monster and Wang's castle.

The creators of FLESH GORDON obviously knew the original well, and crafted a parody that is filled with references and re-creations. (In fact, if you don't know the original FLASH GORDON, much of this will go over your head.) Originally intended as an ambitious hardcore sex feature, FLESH GORDON was toned down in the editing process by producer-director Howard Ziehm. This was partly because of legal difficulties, although the film was never terribly erotic in nature and in fact doesn't seem hurt by the cuts. Ziehm says he would have cut the explicit sex anyway because he saw that the film was good enough to attract an audience outside the porn circuit. This is due primarily to the work of a crew of then-unknown special effects technicians (including Rick Baker, Gregory Jein, Mike Minor and an uncredited Dennis Muren) who among them contributed to most of the major sci-fi and fantasy films of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. The voice of the monster in the climactic scene is provided by an uncredited Craig T. Nelson. (Extensive nudity, sexual situations, adult situations, profanity.) leave a comment