Episode 3: Flash Gordon, Life After Flash, Star Trek, Red Dwarf, Raised By Wolves, The Watch, and more

Flash Gordon approaching! (What do you mean “Flash Gordon approaching”?) 

We’re off to Mongo circa 1980 in the third episode of your new fave sci-fi podcast. Lisa Downs, director of documentary film Life After Flash and bona fide Flash Gordon expert, joins genre journos Tanavi Patel, Richard Edwards and Dave Bradley as we look back at the 40-year-old space opera classic. We’ll be swapping anecdotes about Brian May, Brian Blessed and a few non-Brians with a filmmaker who interviewed the movie’s cast and crew for her unique documentary about Flash star Sam J Jones.

We also embark on our usual adventures through the wider geeksphere. What do the team make of Umbrella Academy season 2 and all its little Easter eggs? (If you’ve not seen the new season yet, please do skip over our first ever spoiler section!) What did we learn from the Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years documentary? Star Trek: Lower Decks is finally out, but is it actually funny? (Hint: not enough.) We also speculate about future Star Trek movies, hail the return of Christopher Eccleston to Doctor Who, ask ourselves if The Watch will live up to Terry Pratchett’s vision, and loads more. 

Episode highlights:

00:48 – Umbrella Academy season 2 [BEWARE SPOILERS! 09:09-14:46]

09:09 – Umbrella Academy spoilers [skip this bit to avoid some season 2 secrets]

14:52 – What we’ve been enjoying: Ghosts, Claire North’s The Pursuit Of William Abbey, Star Trek Lower Decks, Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years

21:12 – Gordon’s alive! In our regular Rewind section, the crew share anecdotes about 1980’s Flash Gordon with Lisa Downs, director of the Life After Flash documentary

32:47 – Interview with Lisa Downs about the creation of Life After Flash (and also about her current work on a Flight Of The Navigator documentary). Life After Flash is available on Amazon Prime Video and the new Flash Gordon Collector's Edition from StudioCanal. https://www.lifeafterflash.com/

47:19 – The news! With Star Trek movies, Tron 3, Ridley Scott’s Raised By Wolves, Terry Pratchett’s The Watch adaptation, Doctor Who, and more

Doing the talking:

Richard Edwards: film and TV journalist and former editor of SFX magazine 

Tanavi Patel: entertainment reporter for SFX and Digital Spy, panel moderator for MCM, FanExpo and more 

Dave Bradley: writer, gamer, book reviewer and another former editor of SFX magazine 

SPECIAL GUEST! Lisa Downs: director of Life After Flash and more upcoming documentaries about classic movies

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