The new version of Flash Gordon premieres tonight on Sci-Fi channel.  I plan on taking  a look and sharing my opinions once it has aired.  Anyone else checking it out?

I'll tape it and watch it later as Mrs. Bredon isnt interested(though I suspect she will be once I force her to watch the cheesy greatness of the original movie).

That is, providing I can clear up enough time today to get through the 2 hours of BBC "Jekyll" an episode of "The 4400" and a "Eureka" that are already on my tape

Taping to watch later (due to scheduling conflicts).  Had to come home for a few hours *just* to adjust the VCR programming, to catch it (or, rather, to catch Dr. Who, which they bumped up an hour for it).

Given the horrible reviews its getting, I just bumped it to a viewing position behind "The secret of the Omnitrix".

(What?  Like y'all don't watch cartoons? :P )

Caught it late... I could only stomach 20 minutes of it.

The costumes are awful.  The actings worse.  The sets and special fx can't even compare to Star Trek at it's worst.

They've taken the movie pretty much... and cut out the best parts of the scenes... and tossed in elements from Stargate like traveling the worlds through the portals... and Smallville like making them much younger.  The awfullness of the previous shows from the guys who did Relic Hunter and associated and the likes really shows in this.

I'm pretty sure the rumbling in my bowels and me rushing to the toilet has nothing to do with the Boston Market meatloaf I just had and everything to do with the 20 minutes I just watched of this.

Great idea... really.

Just really poor execution.

I'm not really surprised... considering Sci-Fi's usually quality, or lack of.  Shame this show isn't one the exceptions.

RTT

Well, RTTingle pretty much beat me to it and said everything I wanted to.  I was REALLY excited about this and equally disappointed.  Pretty much terrible all around, although some great ideas behind it.  Ming being a semi-benevolent dictator who saved the planet is a slightly cool approach.  However.....the guy the cast to play Ming is perhaps the worst choice ever, short of the rumored Nicholas Cage Superman.

Honestly, the movie, even with its over the top campy tone, is miles ahead of this show.

I was excited but I don't have cable so a friend was gonna tape it.
Now Im afraid, cause I'm a huge Flash Gordon fan and all I keep hearing is the awfulness.

Its like a second Flash Gordon insult this week.
They finally release the remastered DVD but they cut out all the cool extras that were in The European one. No DTS soundtrack, no Commentary.... BAH!

We do they hate Flash (AAaaaah!)?

My thoughts:

Sci-fi channel has done many series.  They have ranged in quality from excellent ("Invisible Man", "Stargate", and "Battlestar Galactica"), to okay ("The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne", "The Chronicle") to the awful ("Black Scorpion", "Painkiller Jane").

For me, the premiere of Flash Gordon must fall in the last category.

By some fluke, I saw the last hour of the show before seeing the first half hour - this made it slightly more watchable that those before me have reported, only because I ended up only sitting through about 10-15 minutes of the first half hour, ane even then fast forwarded a lot.  It couldn't decide if it wanted to be campy or serious and ended up doing neither. 

The writing was bad, the fight scenes were painfully worse though - between the disjointed edits and the pedestrian choeography they drag like a lead achor. Our cast, with the aptly named "Karen Cliche" is for the most part bland.  Flash occasionally shows moments of charisma, but the script doesn't allow him many. Zarkov merely comes off as an oily nerd who lives in the equivilant of a basement on wheels, Dale is dull, Aurapetty and dull, the bounty hunter (whatever her name was) doesn't seem to have a discernable personality,  and Ming is quite possible one of the most forgettable major villians I've seen in a long time.  While I understand the need to get away from the sterotypical "Fu-Manchu" look, Ming should be in my mind all about power and DECANDENCE and should have some sort of alien quality to him.  This guy looks like he just stepped off the space freighter he was commanding in time to fill the vacant despot spot. 

Speaking  of costumes - the designer obviously had his creativity gene surgically removed because they aren't the slightest bit imaginative, which is really REALLY sad.  I know budget is a consideration, but as an amature costumer, I know what's possible with very little money, and none of that injunutiy shows up here.

This is not to say I didn't learn a few things though:

• The best in high tech wheelchairs are upright models.
  
• Frying Pans are good a deflecting lasers
  
• Evil Dictators are into women with the 80's Madonna look
  
• Alien princesess love prom fashions from about 10 years ago too
  
• Every dimension speaks english
  
• You can accidentally make an energy weapon that fires bolts in a curved trajectory
  
• If someone offers to trade you a piece of alien space craft for your lottery ticket, don't.
  

Sadly, "bland" sums up this pilot very well, which is a shame.  I've often thought of how to retell the Flash Gordon story, and while I had high hopes for this one, I'm afraid it just ain't good.

My friend brought over the tape this morning, and I concur.
Baaaaad. Just bad.

"Dont you know who this is? This is Flash Gordon, 3 time marathon winner, Show the man some respect"
Eeegads...

I knew what this was going to be like but, heaven help me, I watched it anyways.  :doh:

I agree with what everyone has said. Plus, I'll add this: Ming was terrible, and there's no way you can do a decent Flash Gordon with a terrible Ming.

OK, maybe they don't want to do the version from the serial or movie. Fine. Maybe this is not your father's Ming the Merciless. Maybe we were supposed to take Aura seriously when she said he's not all bad, he's just had to make hard decisions.

But for us to buy Ming as the ruler of a planet, he needs to radiate power and authority. You need to believe that when he speaks, millions of lives hang in the balance. And you just didn't get that from the actor here. He seemed more like an amiable tennis pro putting on the charm for the old ladies.

Too upset to write more now, but my reaction can be summed up as follows:

"For THIS they cancelled The Dresden Files?" :headbang:

And they've already greenlit 22 episodes!?!
Couldn't they have taken the money, done a pilot movie...realized it sucked, and then given us 2-3 Farscape movies instead?

Good question Goggles........they'll be regretting this in no time!

This isn't the first time Sci-Fi canceld something well-loved for a series that wasn't so good.  Farscape was canceled for Tremors: the Series.

It's weird.....these good shows have GOT to have better ratings than Tremors or Flash......

Farscapes ratings were quite high, but the show was expensive to make, and Tremors was cheap.  When rating dropped slightly, they broke their 5th season contract with the Henson company.

Different story here, but it still sounds like Flash will do far worse than Dresden.

Yeah, I actually like Dresden...and even my wife was somewhat entertained by it.

every sci fi movies they make are horrible seriously horrible and the tv shows too.

Saw it this morning. Umm... wow. Just awful. My favorite scene was when the bounty hunter chick just gets up and walks to the car in a "I don't know what to do" look. They just stand there and look at her. Flash just took her down easily, so I assume a 5th grader could take her out as well, seeing that Flash had no skills vs the trained bounty hunter. And she just gets in the car and drives away. My eyes threw up.

yeah it's shameful. I can't really find words, so I'll let the experts weigh in.


Ooh. Bad Score.

Well im relieved i didnt invest much into this premier.  My first thought when i saw the adds was, "How can they do another Flash Gordon without Freddie Mercury?"

Joking aside i think i was right in my initial assessment.

Its disapointing tho cuz there is a lot of potential to take Flash in new (good) directions, but it seems like SciFi couldnt decide whether to remake the old or develope the new and lost out in the middle ground.

Hawkman says DIVE!!

Nero's hit!!!

Now someone correct me (this is gonna be obscure), but I always remembered that the score music during the hawkman attack on the ship was the same theme music to the video game Vanguard (A ship that fired in all four directions controlled with a second joystick)

**EDIT**
If you believe wikipedia (and i am in this instance):

Quote"Vanguard uses a number of custom sound chips to produce digitized voices and custom synthesizer sounds. The speech is used to announce the name of the current level. Theme music composed by Jerry Goldsmith for the 1979 sci-fi film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, later utilized for Star Trek: The Next Generation, is borrowed as Vanguard's introductory theme. Vultan's theme from the 1980 movie Flash Gordon is used as the sound effect when a power-up is attained."

22 replies in and not one person has said something I disagree with.

I only watched the first hour then I turned to Psyche, however I stopped paying attention about 30 minutes in.  I did notice the arrival of the incredibly dull Emperor Ming, though.

I caught the last few minutes of the re air but was completely confused.  Partly because I had a hard time telling the women apart.  Is just me or did all the women cast in this look a lot alike.

OK... first off ... I agree that this was a horrible beginning to what should have been a great series ...

BUT ... that said ...

... and I know that everyone will disagree ...

Once I got past the horribly boring beginning (and by beginning I mean nearly the whole first hour) ... I thought that there could have some fun with this ...

I have such strong great memories of Buster Crabbe fighting the worse possible kinds of Clay men, Rock men, Hawkmem, etc... that maybe I have a high tolerance for pain ...

... so ... I may just give it a second chance and see where they go with it. 

But if I do, this time I'll watch Monk and Psych and TAPE Flash G. so I can zip through the crappy parts. :D

I still think that it has more promise than the old BUCK ROGERS IN THE 23RD CENTURY with that fool stuttering robot.   :banghead:

Quote... and I know that everyone will disagree ...

Yes we will  ;)

QuoteI still think that it has more promise than the old BUCK ROGERS IN THE 23RD CENTURY with that fool stuttering robot.

I will disagree with you about the whole Flash Gordon thing, but noone, I mean NOONE disses on twiki!!!
Biddy biddy biddy!!

I saw only about 20 minutes of it (a little ways into it), up to where they met Ming...Ugh!  Why does he look like a hotel doorman?  He's about as menacing as one too...

I kept changing the channel, because I frequently lost interest.  Admittedly, I wasn't able to watch much of it...But I have no urge to watch any more.

Dana

This thread should be titled "Flush! (AAaaargh!)"

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that this will be pulled before the fourth episode.

I'd also bet that whoever green lit this for a full season without waiting to see how it would do will not be getting a Christmas bonus this year.

Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on August 14, 2007, 05:39:49 AM
If I were a betting man, I'd bet that this will be pulled before the fourth episode.

I'd also bet that whoever green lit this for a full season without waiting to see how it would do will not be getting a Christmas bonus this year.

I wouldn't be surprised. About 95% of the people posting in the Flash Gordon boards on the Sci-Fi forum are dumping all over the series big time, and I've yet to see anyone else who actually outright likes the show; they either hate it or don't care either way.