The Flash Gordon Movie Archive is believed to contain the world’s largest collection of Flash Gordon movie (1980) memorabilia. The intention of this website is to act as an online gallery of items within that collection, together with other items known to exist, to create and share with fellow fans as a comprehensive database of identified original production used artefacts and memorabilia from the cult classic movie.
Archive curator, David Oliver’s, first actual ‘brush’ with the movie was at Shepperton Studios. “As a young child I often tagged along with my father, who worked in the film industry, on his visits to the various local studios. I distinctly recall one time whilst on a visit to Shepperton sat in the car and my father coming back from a meeting and telling me that he had seen that they were filming some kind of space fight with Flash Gordon on a moving disc with bicycle tube inflated spikes in the hanger opposite and asked if I wanted to come take a look but I crazily declined!” David continues, “I think it was possibly because at that time, I had no idea who or what Flash Gordon was!”
David first saw the film as part of a Christmas treat with his family in December 1980. “It was at a very tiny but quaint cinema that we sometimes went to in Sunninghill, I doubt it seated 100 people. I loved the film. The colours, the excitement, the fun, the characters, everything! I was already a huge Star Wars fan, but this was a very different kind of science fiction movie. As a child I remember collecting the stickers to stick in their corresponding album but there was little else readily available because of the minimal merchandising of the film. Likely due to the unfortunate combination of Star Wars totally dominating the market at the time and the film itself not fairing as well internationally as was hoped”.
“I have collected Flash Gordon sporadically ever since a child but fell properly and heavily back in love with the film all over again in around 2005 and from that point on ardently started collecting more seriously. I had not watched the film for many years, so it was a little like seeing it again for the first time. It is one of those rare movies that never fails to make me smile to this day. You either get the movie or you don’t, and I’m very glad to say I do.”
The Flash Gordon Movie Archive is proud to have assisted with the research and promotion of recent officially licenced Flash Gordon merchandise, to include the Big Chief Studios range of limited edition 1/6 scale collectors’ figures. If you are interested in a similar collaboration, please contact us.