I was picking up a couple of last-minute necessities at the grocery store today and noticed a DVD value bin, with DVDs for just $1. Most were probably worth $1, but one caught my attention: a DVD with the complete serial “Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe.” Although this serial was released when my father was three years old, I still bought it because of personal nostalgia.

You see, I was in charge of the campus movies for 2 1/2 years back when I was a student at Famous Televangelist University. One of my most popular achievements was the semester when I ran this very serial, chapter by chapter, in front of each week’s movie, just as it was shown in the Golden Age.

Admission to our campus movies was just 75 cents, which wasn’t that much. So we actually had people that year who had no interest in a particular week’s movie show up just to see the serial and then leave right afterward!

Of course, the special effects and the imaginary view of the future have become pretty laughable. But it was a story, it was fun, and it kept moving. There were few if any slow spots in the old serials, and this is supposed to be one of the very best of those serials.

Not a bad purchase for a buck, if I do say so myself.