If you're old enough to remember the original Flash Gordon serials from the 1930's, you'll recognize this as the spaceship used by Ming the Merciless. It's shown here just as it's coming in for a landing on the planet Mongo. This photo is the colorized version, done after Ted Turner bought the rights to these and other early films.

The more cynical amongst you might say something like, "Hey, that looks just like something I saw at the top of a utility pole, out in the boonies." Well, it's thoughts like this that make it very difficult for us artists to create our imaginary worlds. Do you think that Flash Gordon really landed on Mongo, or was it somewhere in the California desert? When you watched this in your local movie theatre on a Saturday morning, it was as real as anything else in your life. If some kid stood up in the theatre and yelled out, "That's not Mongo, it's just out in the desert," guess what happened to him.

So if you feel that this isn't really a rocket ship, best to keep it to yourself.