Captain Proton's universe took elements directly from 1930s/1950s sci-fiction comics and their tv or film dramatisations.

One strong influence on the 'Star Trek Voyager' Captain Proton mini-series was artist Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. It had become famous in comic strip form starting in 1934. Universal Studios bought the rights and a film serial of the same name debuted in 1936, and aired weekly with 13 parts, with a budget of $350,000, a huge budget for the time, but some sources say it was $500,000 or it may be that actual rather than projected costs reached that sum. Flash Gordon eventually superseded Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in popularity.

Flash Gordon featured the superb body of Larry "Buster" Crabbe, an Olympic gold medallist, as the action hero Flash Gordon. The serial depicted interstellar travel, a villain plotting against Earth, fantastic alien costumes and of course a beautiful heroine. Naturally each part ended with a cliffhanger. In the comic strip Dale Arden was a brunette. For the serial, dark-haired Jean Rogers dyed her hair blonde, and Princess Aura had darker hair than in the comic strip, because Universal Studios believed audiences would associate blondes with good and brunettes with evil. Larry "Buster" Crabbe also had to lighten his hair for the part, which made him feel ill-at-ease on the set. He wore a cap between takes, complaining that men whistled when he removed it. Filming was done on studio sets. The limited location filming was done in Griffith Park's Bronson Canyon, a bowl-like quarry.

'Buster' Crabbe as Flash Gordon

The main cast:

The story remained mostly the same as in Alex Raymond's comic strip: Famed scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov discovers a large planet on a collision course for the Earth. He designs and builds a rocketship and heads for the planet, hoping to find a way to avert the collision. He is accompanied by fellow-Earthlings, muscled and brave Flash Gordon and his beautiful companion Dale Arden. They land on the planet Mongo where they learn the impending collision is no accident, but the evil design of Mongo's ruler, the emperor Ming the Merciless, who wants to conquer the Universe. With the help of Prince Barin of Arboria, King Vultan of the Hawkmen, and other Mongo-ites, our heroes take on Ming and his servants. Faithfully brought to life were the comic strip's cast of imaginative characters: Hawkmen, Sharkmen, Lionmen, giant lobsters and other creatures. Flash's serialised adventures were edited into a feature that same year, titled Flash Gordon: Rocketship.

Flash Gordon and Dale Arden inside Zarkov's spaceship.

Flash Gordon tied to a fiendish electrical torture device.

Above 4 screenshots from Flash Gordon (1936).

A new story was released in 1938, Flash Gordon's Trip To Mars comprising 15 episodes. Ming the Merciless returns with a ray that will sap the Earth's atmosphere of all its nitrogen, thus destroying humanity. Dr. Zarkov discovers that the ray is based on Mars, so our heroes head there, along with nosy stowaway reporter Happy Hapgood. Ming's partner in evil is Queen Azura of Mars (an influence for Queen Arachnia). She guards the ray, turning her enemies into clay with the help of a white jewel. Flash allies with some of Azura's victims, and eventually discovers that a black jewel hidden in a Martian forest will counteract her powers.

Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars was another space opera success. The main cast was as before except that Dale Arden was portrayed by Carol Hughes.

These 3 screenshots are from Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938).