"Dispatch War Rocket Ajax to bring back his body!"
With the new Clash of the Titans movie coming out this weekend, the cry has gone up around the Internets to "Release the Kraken!"
It's certainly one of the better rallying cries out there. It reminds me, though, of my favorite line from any movie, ever: "Dispatch War Rocket Ajax to bring back his body!"
General Kala's command to her troops in the ridiculous 1980 Flash Gordon movie may not be as easy to work into conversation as "Release the Kraken," but it's a beautifully crafted sentence, perhaps the crown jewel of the screenplay. Not "send", but the harsh, no-nonsense dispatch. It's not just any old ship, it's a rocket -- one designed specifically for war. Ming the Merciless clearly has several of these beauties at his disposal, because Kala specifies that the Ajax should perform the job of bringing back Gordon's body. Why War Rocket Ajax? Were the others occupied with fighting off Prince Vultan's squadrons of Hawkmen? Or is the Ajax Ming's flagship, entrusted with high-priority missions like this one? God, so much story packed into that brief line.
It's even in the movie's theme song:
I sometimes think Queen is the ultimate geek band. But that's another post.
