($92,569). By comparison, the larger Universal Pictures spent $350,000 in producing the first Flash Gordon serial. Stunts George DeNormand Tracy Layne Ted Mapes Eddie Parker Charles Schaeffer Tom Steele started his serial career in this serial. He went on to work in most of the subsequent serials produced by Republic and Universal Pictures. Bill Yrigoyen Special effects John T. Coyle The Lydecker brothers Bud Thackery These include the Volkites (The robotic army of the Black Robes), The Juggernaut (their tank), Vol Planes (Atlantean rocketships) and Professor Norton's Rocket Submarine, as well as sets and Unga Khan's tower. This is the first appearance of the "Republic Robot" (as the "Volkites"). It would turn up again in Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940) and Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952). It is parodied in Star Trek: Voyager's The Adventures of Captain Proton. Some of the model effects seen within the serial: Unga Khan's technology While the technology base of Atlantis is apparently very low, with sword-wielding cavalry and chariots the main type of military force, Unga Khan's Black Robes (or Imperial Guard) have several very advanced items of technology. Unga Khan's Disintegrator is the main plot device. A machine capable of artificially creating earthquakes at a precise target, it is this that leads to Professor Norton's expedition to Atlantis and also the means by which Unga Khan means to conquer or destroy the upper world. The Reflector Plate is the most ubiquitous device used throughout the serial. This is a screen that acts much like a view screen, or videophone, in more modern science fiction. It is used to communicate between two plates or it is used, most frequently, to view (and hear) any remote location. No cameras or microphones are apparently necessary to this second function and it appears to have no limits - viewing the Sacred City, areas of Atlantis and the upper world with no problems. Unga Khan's Imperial Guard are augmented by Volkites, a type of robot controlled by a bulky remote control device often worn by Hakur. They also perform tasks in the tower, for example operating the Master Controls of other devices such as the Disintegrator when commanded to by remote control (the remote control of most devices is usually done through remotely controlling the Volkite(s) to operate the Master Controls to remotely control the actual device). While the Imperial Guard use swords or bows, the Volkites are armed