The Epic Stinging Stump Coincidence
So I was thinking about Flash Gordon! As one does. This was after watching a surprisingly good movie about a teddy bear that comes to life. Ted (Seth McFarlane) and John (Mark Wahlberg ) grew up watching Flash Gordon, and their nostalgia about it is featured strongly in the film. I only dimly remember Flash Gordon myself (and no memory at all of the psychedelic intro with Queen theme music). I tried to remember anything about it, and all I could come up with was this isolated nightmarish memory of people deliberately reaching into a hollow stump where a deadly stinging monster lived. This image is approximately 35 years old, one of the oldest things in my head in fact, and I am pretty sure it hasn't come up once in all that time — I don’t think I’ve thought about it in at least 25 years, or ever heard it mentioned.
So it was pretty fucking weird when I was listening to Caustic Soda the next morning and Toren Atkinson specifically mentioned the Flash Gordon stinging stump, while discussing terrifying jellyfish stings. (Great episode, by the way.)
Weird coincidences make my brain go into high gear trying to figure out what they mean. They don't mean anything, of course — but that sure doesn't stop my brain from trying!
(Maybe it was just the only memorable thing about the show?)
