the standard bearer of all movie serial and the definite good guy flash gordon versus bad guy ming the merciless . though the special effect seem awful by today standard and for 1936 they be top notch . but the essence of the story be the battle between earthman flash gordon ( buster crabbe ) versus emporer ming of mongo ( charles middleton ) . crabbe and middleton be terrific in their part . and the support character play dale arden and dr. zarkov and princess aura and prince barin and vulcan and and the rest be all very good . this serial be far superior to the 1980 movie and basically because crabbe be much much superior to sam j. jones a flash gordon . this serial be the standard bearer for all movie serial . no question about it .