John and I got to talking about the recent reviews of Flash Gordon and the string of “re-imaginings” and otherwise lousy shows on the SciFi Channel while waiting for our coffee at Starbucks.
I lost my temper.
“I just think it should be a job requirement. If you’re going to run the SciFi Channel, you should like sci-fi,” I ranted, just getting heated up. “I feel like that channel is run by the same preppy cheerleaders who made fun of me for talking Trek in high school and they’re just programming what they think geeks would like because they have no idea what actually makes good sci-fi.”
People were looking, but I had to keep going. I was committed now. “Do you they really think I’ll watch anything with aliens and CG effects? Really? They don’t care. It’s just a resume pad for them!”
I don’t think I can go back to that Starbucks anymore.
So, why the outburst? Because I had read so many lousy reviews of Flash Gordon, which I had been looking forward to, and seemed to promise to be yet another misguided step in SciFi Channel programming history.
But, it wasn’t.
I liked the Flash Gordon series premiere. It wasn’t perfect. The acting was hit or miss. It wasn’t action packed and the action sequences that did make it to the screen were paced like me trying to dance. And I still liked it.
Flash Gordon feels like pulp sci-fi that has no basis in reality whatsoever, where an alien android looks like it was built from a kit in mom’s basement and can be taken out with a combination of a frying pan, a blender and a rolling pin. Where Hans Zarkov’s proton rifle thingy looks like it’s held together with duct tape and Aura is thrilled about the prospect of wearing an old prom dress because she’s just that tacky.
I keep reading that the pilot was slow and boring and the worst television show ever, but at least it wasn’t four hours of suckage like the Battlestar Galactica pilot mini-series.
Remember that? At the time, I thought BSG had already eaten up four hours of my life and there was no way I was going to sit through an entire series. It was boring. It was slow. It was awkwardly written and the soundtrack sucked, too. Then it turned out to be one of the best shows on television.
[nms:Flash Gordon,4,0]
This show isn’t trying to be BSG. It isn’t trying to deliver any grand message about the current state of our society or trying to break new ground in science fiction or trying to be one of the best shows on television. But, it works for what it is – fun and light hearted.
And I’m pretty sure I saw some Hawkmen in the background on Mongo. One of them had better holler “DIVE!” soon and there had better be a rocketcycle in Flash’s future. I love a good rocketcycle.
Never miss an update. Subscribe to Pink Raygun by Email or subscribe via RSS
Related Stuff:
Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
I've been wary of the (admittedly little) promotional material I've seen for the new F.G. show, because it seemed like a darker, Batman Begins-ier take on the material. The fangirls and boys have an annoying habit of equating "dark" with "good", so I also thought Sci-Fi Channel was simply courting to our perceived desires. A guy in a pointy-eared mask beating up clowns because he misses his parents is not a premise to be taken seriously, and neither is a blond football star who saves the galaxy. Maybe I'll give this new show a shot.
Haven’t seen this yet. It probably won’t make it across the Atlantic to dear old Blighty for some months yet. But “Flash” is always going to be an odd property to get right.
I remember when the movie was released (yes, I’m THAT old!) I kind of liked it but … well, it was obviously trying to piggy-back on the success of “Star Wars” and yet it was all so … passe! The acting was hammy, the script was camp and, with SciFi only just re-establishing itself as a credible genre, did we really want to see 1930s style rocket-ships? Where was the equivalent of the Death Star? Where were the battle cruisers with gun turrets the size of skyscrapers? For that matter, where was the Blue Danube softly serenading a twirling space station?
It was like watching the Adam West “Batman” series after you’d been led to expect it would have something in common with “Batman Begins”.
But, with hindsight, it does work. Hell, with hindsight, it is damn cool! Like AW’s “Batman”, the campiness is deliberate and, once you know it’s not going to be a “Star Wars” clone (no pun intended!), you come to realise it’s that whole homage to the 1930s vibe that makes it special.
Thanks for this heads up. I’m now looking forward to the TV series immensely. Not as much as I’m looking forward to more pics of you dancing, but that’s another story! (If you’re asked, I’d say you were under the influence of Ming’s mind-control ring. Hey, it worked for Dale Arden!)
I DVR it so I would not have to watch ads…will watch it today, sat
Just finished watching it, the show has a neat storyline. Time will tell if the people will watch.
I saw some clips of FG and some interviews, and although I’m willing to give anything a shot (hell, I enjoyed The Phantom Menace and Hollow Man!) I’m having doubts about Flash.
I’m *still* willing to give it a fair airing because pilots, as you so rightly say, can sometimes be no indication of a good show, but something from this initial impression tells me they’re doing it wrong:
The ‘cover version’ of Queen’s song. Ming with hair and no beard?. The dodgy robot.
Well firstly, I liked Aura and Flash. But to a certain extent I think that if you’re going to go the ‘re-imagining’ route (Like Glen A. Larson did with Buck Rogers – now that WAS cool) – don’t try to tie it in with the camp movie by using the Queen song (the campest sci-fi theme tune imaginable from the campest showman, the legendary Fred).
Alternatively, I’d go so far as to go the other route: make it uber-camp. At least it’d stand out from all the ‘gritty, keep-it-real’ shows out there at present. Brighter colours, lots of chrome and gold!
Just act like Joel Schumacher is helming it! Then you’ll have a standalone show that isn’t trying to punch above its weight against ‘serious’ shows on the same channel.
But let’s see if Flash flies first…
I had some trouble with the blond, goatee-less (not to mention bling-less) Ming – but, I eventually came to accept Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama, so if Blondie plays it right, I can accept him as The Merciless One.
I think one of the reasons I want Flash to fly is because I’m so tired of dark, gritty, hopeless science fiction. I’m tired of facing up to enemies that are impossible to beat and need to see a regular guy who lives with his mom take on an evil dictator.
“Just act like Joel Schumacher is helming it!”
He does have a flair for the ridiculous and over the top. I’d love to see Schumacher do a remake of Xanadu. . .
Wow, someone with similar feelings about the BSG mini-series! I remember watching that with my friend and we were just so effing LOST…but then when we got to the actual series, we were hooked. We still are hooked.
“I had some trouble with the blond, goatee-less (not to mention bling-less) Ming…”
I had the same sentiments. This Ming looks too much of a normal person. He should be some bald badass-looking old man with a goatee and lots of jewelry.
One thing I like about the sci-fi release is that we got the chance to review the DVD of the 1980 Flash Gordon as part of Universal’s promotion. I showed it to my 12 yr old nephew and he was digging the colorful production.