Sci-Fi Presents: The Phantom?

[Failed_Hero]

So really? I'm big fan of Kit Walker and pulp era heroes, but this modernization kinda well scared me first Flash Gordon (pretty good but too similar to Adam Strange) now this

http://scifiwire.com/2009/04/get-a-sneak-peek-at-the-t.php


I honestly overall have no problem with the design, except to hood/cowl. It seems off.

[RTTingle]

Links to pics would help. 

[GogglesPizanno]

So really? I'm big fan of Kit Walker and pulp era heroes, but this modernization kinda well scared me first Flash Gordon (pretty good but too similar to Adam Strange) now this.


I honestly overall have no problem with the design, except to hood/cowl. It seems off.

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/04/08/concept-designs-for-sci-fi-networks-the-phantom-revealed/

First rule of Flash Gordon: No one is ever allowed to speak of the Sci Fi take on Flash Gordon...
If their version of Flash Gordon was used or consulted in any way in the redoing of the Phantom, Im getting my torch and pitchfork.

[Glitch Girl]

Good LORD that's ugly.

I think I'll go cry now. 

[Failed_Hero]

Sorry GG,

I had high hopes too.  I don't mind the basics of the design, the Hancock/X-men movie costume, but just like in Ulitmates Sometimes panel lines get to be to much.  The hood could be much better if the the design was much less bulky, more like a cowl less like Tupac hiding from Biggie.

My issue is that it seems the focus is going to much more modern/futuristic than set in the present with the Bengala Jungle as another setting.  One of the more powerful things about the Phantom that resonated with me was the fact that he was a super-hero and a family man, eventually his responsibility would be passed to his eldest child, a vow to fight corruption and cruelty.  That was brilliant in my opinion, that every generation would have a hero, a champion as it will.  I guess it is another triumph of style over substance.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I don't know who that is, but it isn't the Phantom.

I don't mind some changes, of course, all live action versions have some tweaks to the costume, but it still has to be instantly recognizable as the character in question.  That isn't.

[Glitch Girl]

No kidding. 

1) lose all the extra "plates" all over the costume.  They make it too busy. 
2) lose the straps across the shoes or at least darken them, it makes them look like a pair of sneakers I had back in grade school
3) That wedge-shaped "belt", makes the hips look weird.  Have both the top and bottom angle downward.
4) Hood's WAY too bulky and makes his neck look huge.  Thin it out, streamline it.  In fact, streamline the whole costume.
5) Some wedge-shaped goggles or something might be nice.  Kinda like what Green Arrow has.  that way you get the trademark "mask" in there with a modern twist which is completely missing in here.

I really hope this is only early concept. 

[daglob]

No kidding. 

1) lose all the extra "plates" all over the costume.  They make it too busy. 
2) lose the straps across the shoes or at least darken them, it makes them look like a pair of sneakers I had back in grade school
3) That wedge-shaped "belt", makes the hips look weird.  Have both the top and bottom angle downward.
4) Hood's WAY too bulky and makes his neck look huge.  Thin it out, streamline it.  In fact, streamline the whole costume.
5) Some wedge-shaped goggles or something might be nice.  Kinda like what Green Arrow has.  that way you get the trademark "mask" in there with a modern twist which is completely missing in here.

I really hope this is only early concept. 

6) Actually do the original character, instead of trying to reinvent it.

Updating the character isn't a problem, really (Phantom 2040, DC's miniseries-he has been and will be around nearly forever), but it looks like the concept artist has too much of a "thing" for leather. I had problems with Billy Zane's costume, but this makes it look absolutely traditional.

I'm reminded of a quote someone told me came from the guy who did the Saint movie. It was to the effect that he wasn't interested in pleasing long time fans; he was trying to create a whole new version of The Saint that would appeal to today's audience.

What ever happened to The Saint II?

Just as happy I DON'T have cable right now.

[RTTingle]

Ew...

I can handle busy and the leather, its how a lot of people are designing superheroes costumes nowadays to be "realistic".  Unlike the other redesigned costumes though, this is unrecognizable.  If you didn't tell me this was the Phantom - at first glance - I'd have never guessed.

Ditch the hood, its silly.  If you want to be hip, a tight cowl and shades or goggles would be better. 
The double belts are overkill.  Ditch the lower belt, and put the skull buckle up higher and make it a tad larger.  The Phantom's logo should not be hanging that low on his waist.  And those have better be pistols and not pouches. And the rings... where the hell are the rings?

Ugh.

RTT

[herodad1]

i liked the billy zane version of the phantom but this one....well....

[GhostMachine]

The only real problem I had with the Billy Zane design was the skull design incorporated into the shirt. I understand why his eyes were visible, but would have preferred it if they weren't - would have added to the whole ghost thing if they had done white lenses or mesh over them.

[detourne_me]

i never knew they were making a zoolander tv show.

[Midnite]

RHI Entertainment has posted a trailer for Syfy's upcoming The Phantom, a four-hour miniseries that premieres June 20 at 7 p.m. ET/PT, below.

Based on Lee Falk's classic comic strip, The Phantom stars Ryan Carnes as Kit Walker, the latest in a long line of heroes.

Paolo Barzman directed the miniseries, which was written by Daniel and Charles Knauf. Cameron Goodman, Isabella Rossellini and Sandrine Holt also star. .

Source link

Trailer

The costume look like a purple version of Green Arrow(Smallville).  

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Hate, hate HATE the costume.  At least the classic look makes an appearance.

The overall story, however, looks promising.  We'll see.

[BentonGrey]

I don't much care for the costume...it looks like they couldn't make up their mind what they wanted.  It seems a bit mismatched.  Anyway, the story sounds moderately interesting.

[docdelorean88]

The costume works in theory, the only problem i have with it, is the fact that the rest of the look is sleek until you look at the bulky torso. Interesting premise though.

[Gremlin]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2kjisMm3M9Y/SIPgYaE1aWI/AAAAAAAAETY/QHh44jZ-C9Q/s400/my+parents+are+dead.jpg

[JeyNyce]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2kjisMm3M9Y/SIPgYaE1aWI/AAAAAAAAETY/QHh44jZ-C9Q/s400/my+parents+are+dead.jpg

Funny as heck, but what was the point...?

[Tawodi Osdi]

Looks more lie a Fremen from Dune.  Is he supposed to be looking for the Kwisatz Hadarack?

[docdelorean88]

Ya know i actually didn't mind the concept art, because it at least was slimming, but among other things, the hood is entirely out of place. If you are going to do things off of concept art, do it right. This costume looks like they just pulled out some old goalie pads and painted them.

[Courtnall6]

Wow...this looks terrible. "The Phantom" costume is ridiculous. I can only hope for a quick cancellation.

I also just love the STAGGERING disrespect for the source material. "I'm not wearing that!" basically means "Dood, that spandex outfit is soooo ghay!!!".

Anyone remember The Phantom movie with Billy Zane? Not the best superhero movie...but dammit he LOOKED like The Phantom. Shocking I know.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I'm just glad my grandfather won't be seeing this.  He was a HUGE Phantom fan.  Of course, knowing him, he'd watch it and love it anyway, just because he was that much of a Phantom nut, but still, that's not the phantom suit that he loved so much.

[BWPS]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2kjisMm3M9Y/SIPgYaE1aWI/AAAAAAAAETY/QHh44jZ-C9Q/s400/my+parents+are+dead.jpg

Funny as heck, but what was the point...?

Hahahaha. I'm glad you posted this pic again before I watched the trailer.
The main thing I have wrong with this is that its being made by SyFy who fail at life/everything they try.
The suit looks really bad, but not as bad as the original. If they're going to change it, why not make it look good?
That really irks me in general. How hard is it to make a good looking superhero costume? There are people who are hired in every movie with the title "costume designer". That's their only job, it's their career. How are they allowed to be so bad at it? Well I can understand this at least, since its SyFy.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I wouldn't knock Sci Fi so hard. They actually have some decent series and interesting mini-series.  The first two Stargate series, Eureka, Sactuary, and Warehouse 13 are all fun shows.  It just seems that when they fail, they go all the way.

[Tawodi Osdi]

I did like The Invisible Man, which I am now re-watching on Hulu, and Farscape, but the last time I watched anything on the Sci-Fi Channel they seemed to have just been recycling the same two or three story lines for their "original" movies.  I admit I haven't seriously watched TV in years, and maybe, they have made some improvements, but I doubt it would be good enough to waste money on a cable bill to watch.

[RTTingle]

I was willing to give this a chance until I saw the trailer and the knock on the costume...

... when you're so disrespectful to the source --- why bother calling it the Phantom?  Phantom2040 was set in the future and adapted the costume just fine.  Why couldn't they?

Honestly... what about this is the Phantom?  What a waste of IP.

[Glitch Girl]

So... did anyone watch this?

I recorded it and watched it over a period of a few days.  For those of you who missed it, you didn't miss much.  

Spoiler

So, apparently the previous Phantom died of cancer (wait, what???) twenty years previous, and his wife was murdered some time later.  Apparently even though the previous knew he was dying, he didn't line up a successor until his kid was of age.  Apparently he had a world wide organization that's been running fine without a "Phantom" for the last twenty some years which makes me wonder why the kid is important anyway or why everyone is so ready to follow him even though he's barely had a few weeks of training tops.

Apparently also, the Singh Brotherhood who attacked the ship the original Phantom was on before he was inspired to become the Phantom is also a hereditary organization lead by a crazy psychotic arab guy who tries too hard to be charismatic.  The moment he find out there's a surviving Walker, he sends assassins after the kid and his adopted family, even though the head of the Singh's is barely old enough to remember the Phantom.  

Oh yeah, and Bangalla is now in South America.  No I don't know why.

And while I'm used to certain liberties being taken in gun physics in action movies, handguns do not pack enough punch to throw someone UPWARD into a wall.  Not to mention that if you've never picked up a real gun before and are having trouble shooting with two hands, you're not suddenly going to be a crack shot using one hand.

BTW: The suit makes the new Phantom look like a lizard.  A bullet-proof lizard at that.  However, the people behind this series were SO sure they're new suit was "kewl" they even had the inventor remark that the previous Phantom "hated" the old suit.  [insert huge eyeroll here]

Our lead isn't bad.  He does well with what he's given to work with, but the problem is, what he's given to work with meanders all over the place.

The pacing is horribly slow.  The whole thing was 4 hours, and I'm pretty sure at least a hour of that could have been shaved off.  It takes almost two hours for Kit to begin his Phantom training. There's an assassination plot that doesn't really culminate until the last half hour, a vengeful professional killer who's barely in it, and a female mad scientist with a mind control device which might have been interesting, but comes off as dull.  There's also a love interest who's gets some decent screen time at the start, gets forgotten about for a good chunk of the story, then pops up again for bits in the second half.  She and her father aren't bad, just underused  (sidenote: the Phantom's main support staff, scientist and I guess you could call the woman a body guard of sorts are also kinda interesting too BTW.).  And finally, our almost fanatical "recruiter" who sets events in motion so that Kit becomes the new Phantom, then in the last 5 minutes is revealed as a traitor, tries to take the new phantom out with a grenade (again, what?), somehow survives, and NATURALLY is welcomed in as the new Singh Brotherhood leader?  Yeah, right.

As RTT said, what a COMPLETE waste of IP.

Seriously, after watching this thing, I long for the Billy Zane version.

[marhawkman]

one interesting thing i remember from the Billy Zane version is that each Phantom had a different costume.

[BlueBard]

Scene: The Superhero Characterization Trauma Center.  The new Phantom is being wheeled in on a gurney.

ER (Emergency Reboot) Doctor: "Oh my gosh!  Not another attempt at modernization!  Hand me a scalpel!"  (Starts cutting off the costume) "Call the CDC, stat!  We have an epidemic on our hands!"

Nurse: "Doctor, all of the beds are full of patients and we've got too many heroes lined up outside the O.R. for re-reboots as it is!  What can we do?"

ER Doctor: "Thank goodness for the Oath of the Phantom.  The only hope now is his descendants.  With any luck, his successor will find a producer that has actually read the source material and the Phantom will walk once more.  In the meantime..." (Strips off his latex gloves) "This one is toast."

[daglob]

I did see some of this.

Made me long to see the two Captain America TV movies...