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| Dale Arden | |
| Continuity: | Flash Gordon |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Gender: | Female |
| Race: | Human |
| Location: | Mongo |
| Status: | Alive |
| First: | Flash comic strip |
| Actor: | Jean Rogers Diane Pershing Melody Anderson Gina Holden |
Dale Arden is a fictional character featured in the Flash Gordon multimedia franchise. She was created by writer and artist Alex Raymond and first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip series in 1934. The character also played a large role in the Flash Gordon film serials by Universal Pictures. Played by actress Jean Rogers, she appeared in the 1938 film Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars. In the 1979 Flash Gordon animated television series, the part of Dale Arden was voiced by Diane Pershing. The character played a supporting role (albeit in a cheerleader capacity) in the 1980 feature film version of Flash Gordon, where she was played by actress Melody Anderson. The short-lived 2007 live-action Flash Gordon television series presented a more competent iteration of the character. She was played by actress Gina Holden and appeared in all twenty-one episodes of the show. Dale Arden has also appeared in nearly comic book adaptation of the Flash Gordon mythos as well.
Biography[]
Dale Arden was the paramour of Yale University graduate Flash Gordon. Flash and Dale met a crazed scientist named Doctor Hans Zarkov, who was convinced that a runaway planet called Mongo was on a collision course with the planet Earth. Zarkov manipulated Flash and Dale into accompanying him on his rocket ship in an attempt to halt the planet's course.
The three of them crash-landed on Mongo, and soon after, discovered that the planet was ruled by an evil emperor named Ming the Merciless. Dale was captured by Ming and forced to become part of his harem. Flash ultimately rescued her from his throne room, and they went on to continuously battle Ming's forces and forged strong alliances with other resistance groups on Mongo.