of the heavens, planets and suns race toward infinity.
Dead worlds and live worlds alike, separated by millions of light years.
And yet, these members of the galaxy in this age of space travel have become interdependent,
not only economically, but politically.
This is the far-off galaxy of Magna Mater, the galaxy of dead planets, icy graveyard
rolling through space, and each with a communications station.
And now the sky flash carrying Flash Gordon, Dale and Dr. Zarkov, enters the outer rim
of Magna Mater on a routine outer space patrol.
Suddenly, all around them the tranquil peace of these dead worlds is shattered.
First the dead planet Isis.
Next it was Osiris.
Next came Mithra.
And finally, Bacchus.
And in the sky, Flash.
I don't understand it.
First Isis, then Osiris, Mithra and Bacchus shattering in space.
It's weird, Doctor.
Crazy.
Four planets blowing up in rapid succession.
Why?
Why should that happen?
It seems to be some mysterious atomic force, Flash.
Possibly a chain reaction operating from some central source.
Well it's about the last of the chain, Doctor.
There's only one dead planet left and that's Minerva.
And there it is, dead ahead.
Dale, will you check the Geiger counter?
We're coming into a very heavy radioactive dust fall, Doctor.
Check its type.
Yes, Doctor.
Horizontal 105, vertical 10.
Why, it's radioactive dust from Durinium.
Durinium?
Impossible.
Why, Doctor?
Is it indigenous to a particular area or a planet of the galaxy out of this range?
Yes, it's found only on Colossia.
But it's not only that.
Durinium was only discovered a few years ago, Flash.
Doctor Zarkov made an extensive study of its properties for GBI research and analysis.
I found it to be probably the most powerful fissionable material in the universe.
And the slowest.
What do you mean, the slowest?
Unlike other nuclear materials, its fission is a slow, creeping process.
We estimated that a bomb made of Durinium would take over 1,200 years to explode.
Then it couldn't be Durinium, Dale.
If it was a bomb that exploded those planets, it had to be put there in, let's see, 1953.
I'll check again.
No, it still comes out Durinium.
Something wrong on Minerva, too.
I'd better contact the communications station.
Skyflash Earth Patrol calling Minerva.
Skyflash calling Minerva.
Come in, Minerva.
Come in.
Minerva, come in.
I can't get through.
The communications station's out.
What now?
Let's move in and see if we can get a better look.
Why should the communications station be out on Minerva?
Flash, we can't move through this atomic fog much longer without getting contaminated.
I know, but we need information.
For all we know, that chain reaction explosion may move from this galaxy into others.
Maybe we can find a clue on Minerva.
Minerva just exploded.
That's the last of the galaxy.
Let's get out of here.
Get back to Earth.
And now the skyflash pointed its nose toward home.
But on Earth itself, strange things were happening, foreboding events, foretelling a monstrous
end.
First, a series of freakish weather disturbances, and after that, and panic and fear spread
through every corner of the Earth like wildfire.
And at the Galaxy Bureau of Investigation, Commissioner Herrick interrogates a strange
captive picked up by Earth agents, a khalasin whose planet had sworn eternal war against
the Earth.
Are you frightened, Commissioner Herrick?
Those small explosions today that have destroyed cities, flattened mountains, inundated half
a continent of your Earth, these are just teases.
These were just natural phenomena, not man-made.
Fool, what do I argue with you?
In one hour, your precious Earth explodes.
At 12 o'clock noon, there will no longer be an Earth to poison the galaxy.
You're lying.
You're trying to frighten us.
Am I?
Then look at the fate of Isis, Osiris, Mithra, Bacchus.
They're all gone, blown into eternity.
All right, I believe you.
But you want to stop it.
Name your price.
Price?
What can you offer when in one hour there will be nothing?
A void.
Does that make you feel better, Commissioner?
Come ahead, do it again.
But hitting me will not find the geranium bomb smoldering into its final stage of fission.
Who planted this geranium bomb?
I did.
You?
When?
Exactly...
Exactly...
1,208 years.
Five months.
Three weeks.
One day, 23 hours and two minutes ago.
You speak the truth.
You've stolen Dr. Zarkov's time machine.
Just the principle, Commissioner.
Our galastic scientists developed it in their own way.
As one who has traveled back in time, Commissioner.
Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience.
Where did you plant that geranium bomb?
Where did you bury it?
You will find out for yourself, Commissioner.
Very soon.
Alan, you're sure the Geigers indicate nothing?
No, Commissioner.
And they won't until fission.
It's useless for you to try and locate it.
At this late point in its reaction, it gives no telltale signal.
You have less than one hour to live, Commander.
You and every other Earth man.
If we die, you die with us.
I am a...
...Colossal Patriot.
To die in this cause is an honor.
Establish contact with the Skyflash.
It's cruising in the Magna Marta Galaxy.
If Flash Gordon or Dr. Zarkov don't come up with an answer...
Calling Skyflash, GBI headquarters.
Calling Flash Gordon to the Skyflash.
Come in, Flash Gordon.
That's the story. The whole story.
Flash, Dr. Zarkov.
We've got to find a way to deactivate the bomb.
Otherwise, the Earth is doomed.
There's less than one hour.
A second after 12, and it'll be too late.
There won't be an Earth to come back to.
We're helpless up here. Completely helpless.
Dr. Zarkov, there must be a way out. There must be!
There's only one thing I can think of.
What is it?
Lock the controls. Decelerate the ship below stomach speed.
Come in here.
The time machine.
It's our only chance.
We've got to project ourselves back into the past, just as the Colossum did.
We must go back through time to the middle of the 20th century.
The year 1953.
If we can find out where the Colossum planted that derrinium bomb,
then we have a chance.
How much of a chance, Doctor?
A thousandth of one.
A millionth of one.
Then let's take it.
What's our speed now, Flash?
We're at landing speed, Doctor. 350 an hour.
Good.
Now I'm going to ask you both to hold on.
For the next few moments, you will be traveling back through time.
The effect will be strange, possibly stupefying.
You will hear nothing, see nothing, know nothing,
until you are back in the sixth decade of the 20th century.
Are you both ready?
Ready, Doctor.
Where are we?
What happened?
We are now in the sixth decade of the 20th century.
There it is, Dale.
The Earth as it looked 1,250 years before we were born.
How strange it looks.
It's some kind of a city, Doctor.
I'm trying to check it in this book of ancient maps.
From this description, that must be a place called Washington,
the capital of an ancient nation called the United States.
What's our direction?
East by north.
Another city coming up.
That must be New York.
New York?
What a strange name.
Dale, set the Geiger counter for Durinium and see if you can get me a reading.
Yes, Doctor Zarkov.
I am getting a reading, Doctor.
The Durinium bomb is here, somewhere on Earth.
Where, Dale? Can you locate it?
Not quite. The signal is very weak, but it's a long distance from here, almost due east.
No, Dale.
East by north.
And from the signal strength, I'd say over 3,000 miles away.
East by north it is.
Doctor, do you think we'll be able to exactly locate the Durinium bomb?
I can only hope so, Dale.
The Earth as we know it has only a half hour to live before it explodes.
Well, there's nothing we can do until we cross the ocean.
What kind of a world is it that we're going back to?
Well, from what I remember of ancient history, it was very primitive.
Just think, nobody ever reached a height of more than 15 miles.
Well, it was primitive to our way of thinking, Dale.
And they'd just scratched the surface of atomic research.
And they had to build tremendous motors, housed in gigantic buildings,
to run the machines they used in manufacturing.
It does seem ridiculous when you consider that in our century,
a motor the size of my fist has more power than the gigantic steam-driven turbines they used.
What about the people?
What were... I mean, what are they like?
They considered our Earth just as precious as we do.
And most of them believed in freedom, peace, equality of opportunity.
But I guess just like in our time, there are those who for power,
would make slaves of everybody else.
Yes, I'm afraid so.
But they didn't have our tools to fight them with.
And the women, Dr. Zarkov? What were they like?
Well, instead of filling their heads full of knowledge about astrophysics, atomic research,
electronic phenomena, like a certain young lady we know...
Yes, well, what did they do? Sit home and knit?
Well, I wouldn't say that was all they did.
But they certainly knew their way around the kitchen better than they did around the laboratory.
Strange craft at two o'clock.
Oh, in a moment we'll be able to see it out the light window.
Let's see.
What is that clumsy craft, doctor?
That's an airplane.
Did you see the way it was pulled through the air by those gigantic egg beaters?
I'll bet it couldn't do more than 300 miles per hour.
No wonder they didn't cruise around in outer space.
A clumsy craft like that would have trouble getting off the ground.
That thing on the water is even funnier than the airplane.
Man, that was a ship.
You see, air travel was only about 50 years old at this time.
And a great deal of travel over land and water was still popular.
What a world to live in.
Yes, as Dale said, primitive.
But a world.
Something we won't have to go back to unless we find that uranium bomb.
And quickly.
Where are they?
Why don't we hear from them?
There's nothing we can do about it now, Alan, except wait.
Wait and pray.
Land coming up, doctor.
1135.
It took us exactly five minutes to cross the ocean.
City coming up at two o'clock, doctor.
That must be a place called Paris.
Flash, slow down.
The Geiger's up to maximum.
We're almost in the immediate vicinity of the bomb.
Flash, look.
The Geiger's hit maximum.
That means the bomb is directly below us.
It must be someplace in that city.
What's the name?
Berlin.
Finding the bomb there is going to be like searching for a neutron in a molecule.
We can find it with this.
The question is, can we find it in time?
Flash, is there someplace we can land?
There's a clearing below.
We can hide the ship there for a while.
Good.
The inhabitants may be hostile.
That's true.
If we don't find that bomb in 20 minutes, it will be all over.
We'll find it.
We've got to find it.
Hang on, 20th century.
Here we come.
Landing positions, everybody.
The Sky Flash has landed in the forest outside of Berlin.
Having with its occupants, Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov, been projected by the time machine.
1,250 years back through time to Berlin, with only 20 minutes remaining for the Earth to exist.
Commissioner Herrick, pinning all of his hopes on Flash Gordon, waits tensely,
while the callison who planted the Earth-destroying bomb sits calmly by.
All over Berlin, people have seen a strange object spinning and glittering in the sky.
It is thought that this weird visitation from some other planet has landed somewhere in the outskirts of Berlin.
Reports from Paris and New York also indicate that this flying pencil, or whatever it is, was sighted in those areas.
Meanwhile, the people of Berlin wait in dread and terror for what will come next.
Achtung, Achtung! All cruise cars, be on the lookout for strange invaders
believed to have landed from outer space somewhere in the vicinity of Berlin.
Achtung, Achtung! Car 28, Car 28!
A telephone report claims a green and white delivery truck heading for Amtso section, sighted on Taunsinstraße.
It is believed car has been commandeered by a bearded giant and a blonde giant from outer space.
Achtung, Achtung!
Achtung, Achtung!
Achtung, Achtung!
Hey, boy, fire! Go ahead, doctor, I'll cover you if there's trouble.
Achtung, Achtung!
It just can't be.
Eight seconds now. Count them.
Fifty-seven, fifty-six, fifty-five, fifty-four, fifty-three, fifty-two, fifty-one.
Very fast. Only thirty seconds left.
Were we in time, doctor?
Plenty, dear. We had two seconds to spare.
It looks as though this tired old world will still be around for a while.
Yes. Whatever flashed it, it worked.
How do we get to the skyflat?
I watched the route coming out. I think I can get us back there.
Flash, let's stay here in our ancestors' time for a few days.
It should be fun telling them everything that's going to happen to them for the next twelve hundred years.
Fun? Maybe for us, Gail, but not for them.
It is the mystery of the future that provides the challenge for men to make history.
Take that away and there's no reason for dreams, ambition, discovery.
Well, I hadn't thought of it that way.
You're right, of course, but well, it would have been fun to meet my great, multiplied by one hundred, grandfather.
And a few hours later, as night falls on Berlin, into the starlit sky flashes a silvery streak.
Suddenly, it stops. It seems to hang for a moment, suspended in air.
Then, before the eyes of a few stargazers and lovers who observed it,
the sky flash disappeared into the future from whence it came.