Klytus I'm Bored....

Originally I was going to wait three episodes before reviewing SciFi's new series Flash Gordon, but I figured what's the point.

I've been a big fan of Flash Gordon since I was a kid and PBS would show the old Buster Crabbe serials on weekends. I'd watch them with my dad and while there was an innocent cheesiness to them, they were a lot of fun to watch.

The 1980 camp classic was the first film I saw in theaters after my dad died. Some family friends took my brother and I to distract us from real world events. I wound up seeing it 4 times in the theaters. It was also one of the first films we owned on VHS when we got a VCR. And I've traded up to new formats with it every time its been re-released. It even recently got a new DVD release as a "Saviour of the Universe" Edition which is pretty lackluster if you ask me (so lackluster that I decided to break down and buy the Region 2 version as well...I can at least play that on a computer and listen to the commentary that we didn't get in the new edition). The "extras" on this new DVD consist of an interview with the screenwriter, an interview with comic books artist Alex Ross on why he loves the film, a promo for the new SciFi series and the first chapter of the 1936 serial. Yawn. Luckily, the movie remains A LOT of fun in its cheesy over the top spectacle.

Around the same time, NBC aired a new Saturday morning cartoon that was relatively faithful to Alex Raymond's original Sunday comics. Both seasons of the show are available in a 4 DVD set, but be warned that while the first 16 episodes are great and very faithful, the second season became typical Saturday morning fare (and yet still maintained that Raymond feel surprisingly).

A 1996 cartoon is pretty much ignored these days as it re-envisioned Flash as a skater boy and Ming as a Lizard. Not terrible, but not great either.

Which brings us to the new SciFi series. You know you're in trouble when the preview for the next episode is more exciting than the episode you just watched...and that's only because they're using the Queen theme from the 1980 movie (well...a cover version of it). It's still a great song to get you in that Flash Gordon mood. Too bad the series, after two episodes, doesn't live up to it.

This is not to say that all is horrible. Eric Johnson actually makes a pretty good Flash. I just wish he had better material to work with. Jody Racicot's Zarkov is a bit different from how the character is normally portrayed, but it works for this version. Anna Van Hooft's Princess Aura doesn't quite hold a candle to Ornella Muti's version from 1980, but she holds her own nicely. And Karen Cliche as Baylin, a new character created for this series, is actually somewhat interesting. Ming's right hand man, Rankol, is also an interesting addition to the series (and not just because he hovers when he moves).

Its the rest of the show that is a misfire from start to finish. Gone are any real "aliens" and "monsters". There are no rocket ships only a "rift" that opens to Mongo. Ming is horribly played by John Ralston and the writers don't help him at all. For a guy whose name is Ming the Merciless it took almost all of two episodes for him to even remotely do something to live up to the title. He's more like Ming the Mundane ruling over a planet that pretty much feels like Mongo 90210 than anything else. We haven't seen any of the other major characters from Raymond's universe show up yet, but if we're to believe interviews with the shows producers, we should pray they never do. We're gonna get Hawkmen who have no wings and don't fly? That's not Flash Gordon that's cheap SciFi programming.

And that is what this show reeks of. It seems like someone took a look at all the recent relaunches that have worked well (Bond, Batman, Superman) and decided to give this a shot...but then gave it no budget and the worst writers. Its really sad and someone should put it out of my misery...because I'm such a fan of the characters and situations I may keep watching just to see if it gets any better. And I really don't want to do that.

Until next time.

Be seeing you.