Title: Flash Gordon
Episodes:
“Pilot”, “Pride”, “Infestation”
Stars: Eric Johnson,
Gina Holden, Jody Racicot, John Ralston and Giles Panton
Producers: Matthew
O’Connor and Tom Rowe
Executive Producers:
Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr.
Running Time: 90
minutes with commercials
Media: SCI FI
Channel Original Series (NTSC DVD Screeners)
Series Premiere:
Friday, August 10, 2007, at 9pm (ET/PT)/ 8pm (CT)
“Pride” Episode
Premiere: Friday, August 17, 2007, at 9pm (ET/PT)/ 8pm (CT)
“Infestation”
Episode Premiere: Friday, August 24, 2007, at 9pm (ET/PT)/ 8pm (CT)
Network: SCI FI
Channel (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: Not
Available At The Time Of Review
Reviewer: Mark A.
Rivera
The SCI FI Channel
original series re-imagining of Flash Gordon sounds like the perfect
match for the network that brought such fine shows as Farscape and the
new Battlestar Galactica and continued the Stargate franchise as
well as introduced United States viewers to the cult sci-fi Canadian TV series LEXX.
This does not include the many other original films, miniseries, and TV shows
the network has aired over the years. So I was excited about seeing a modern day
Flash Gordon, especially since I love the original 1936 serial as well as
the 1980 feature film scored by Queen that was recently released on Region One
DVD as Flash Gordon: Saviour Of The Universe Edition. You can read my DVD
review by clicking here.
Unfortunately with a
property like Flash Gordon I think you can only go so many directions
with it. You could try and make it somewhat realistic, yet archetypal like Star
Wars or you could go for a more campy retro vision that stays true to the
comic strip and serials as the 1980 feature film did, or you can try and reframe
Flash Gordon into something akin to Smallville and play down
aspects like elaborate costumes and so forth. The problem with this 2007 version
of Flash Gordon is it tries to be more low-key along the lines of Smallville
so there are not any alien creatures aside from a glimpse of the Hawkmen in the
pilot and some alien bugs in the third episode. Thus with the fantastical
elements played down, one might think then the series will perhaps be more
serious and even brooding, but the series is campy, but the camp seems more
reminiscent of the Hercules and Xena TV series. Unfortunately what
worked there doesn’t work here. Ultimately the tone of the series is at best
unfocused based on what I saw. The only interesting character was John Ralston
as a blond haired Ming, who controls to distribution of water on his planet
Mongo, which is in some parallel dimension or something.
The characterization of Doctor Zarkov is awful and Eric Johnson just
doesn’t have the gung-ho attitude Sam J. Jones and Buster Crabbe brought to
their characterizations of Flash Gordon. I meditated on this for over a
week with the hope that the second and third episodes would yield better
storylines, but I am sorry to say that I think the new Flash Gordon needs
a complete overhaul and a clear tone rather than a mishmash of a few things
where none of them come out correctly.
Flash Gordon
should have me rooting for the hero and booing the villains. It does neither.
For the record as is usually the case with TV screeners for genre programs, the
episodes I saw were rough cuts with incomplete effects and temp music so to be
fair, I am going to tune in just to see the finished product looks and sounds
like, but while in the past I’ve known on first glance that programs like the
new Battlestar Galactica was going to be a hit when everyone else was
panning it, now my gut tells me this Flash doesn’t sparkle. So I hope
it gets better. Flash Gordon will debut with a special 90 minute series
premiere on SCI FI Channel on Friday, August 10, 2007 at 9pm (ET/PT)/ 8pm (CT)
and will continue in a Fridays at 9pm timeslot thereafter.
© Copyright 2007 By
Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.