accompany him to Mongo is avoided by changing the story by having Flash and Dale come to his underground laboratory during a dangerous meteor shower that sets off a deadly volcanic eruption that traps the visitors even as it threatens to kill them. Thus Zarkov's rocket is the only means to escape certain death and they board willingly. After which, Zarkov apologizes that he cannot drop the pair off before continuing to Mongo and they immediately agree to help him once he explains his mission. In 1980, Chaim Topol (billed only as "Topol") portrayed the character in the film Flash Gordon produced by Dino De Laurentiis. This version of Zarkov is a former NASA scientist, who was fired and dismissed because of his "mad" theories about an alien attack on Earth. After capturing him Ming reveals the only reason the Earth is being destroyed is because Zarkov recognised the catastrophes as a deliberate attack. The quick flashbacks during his memory wipe scene revealed some further information about his past. He is Jewish and was born in Eastern Europe. His family moved to the United States fleeing from the Holocaust. Zarkov worked in the United States space program (including the Apollo program), before being removed. Also, at one point in his life he had a wife, who died by drowning in a pool. He is able to nullify the memory wipe by remembering all he can (songs by the Beatles, texts by William Shakespeare, formulas by Albert Einstein, and his recitation of the Talmud) during the process, giving it too much to process and essentially "jamming" it. Paul Shaffer is the voice of Dr. Hans Zarkov in the 1996 animated series. Jody Racicot portrayed the character in the 2007 Flash Gordon television series. He assists Flash, Dale, and Baylin by monitoring rifts that open. He seems very nervous constantly and Baylin describes as a "strange, fidgety little man". His nervous attitude came from the fact that after Doctor Gordon disappeared in the rift experiment, he was hounded by FBI agents to cover up the truth. References Comics characters introduced in 1934 Fictional scientists in comics Superhero film characters Flash Gordon characters Fictional Russian people Fictional Jews Fictional Eastern European people