FLASH GORDON 2007

[Story]

Sci Fi Channel Greenlights Production on Flash Gordon
Friday, January 12th, 2007

SCI FI Channel has greenlit production on Flash Gordon, based on the popular comic strip franchise, it was announced today at the Television Critic's Association tour. Production on the 22 one-hour episodes begins in Canada in early 2007. The series, produced by Reunion Pictures, is slated to debut on SCI FI in July of '07, with a broadcast syndication window to follow.

Under an agreement with property owner King Features Syndicate, the new series is being produced by RHI's Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr. (Tin Man, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven, The Ten Commandments), who previously produced SCI FI's popular miniseries event Legend of Earthsea.

Ming, Dale Arden, and Dr. Hans Zarkov are among the many beloved characters returning to television in this contemporary retelling of the intergalactic exploits of Flash Gordon. Stellar adventures and heroic battles mark this inventive new take on the perennial science fiction classic. The Flash Gordon comic strip was created in 1934 by legendary comic-strip artist Alex Raymond and is still distributed internationally today by King Features Syndicate.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Sorry, I simply can't get excited about this.

It is probably going to be terrible, like most of SciFi's movies/miniseries. The Halmis used to do pretty good work in the 80s/90s (The Odyssey, Gulliver's Travels), but their recent productions have been lame. And "Legend of Earthsea" was the worst of all: longtime fans of the books (like me!) detested it, and Ursula Le Guin publically stated that their adaptation had grossy violated her original novels and overall concept of Earthsea. Simply put, they are hacks, and SciFi is hardly the place to go for quality TV...

Personally, I'll stick with the original 1936 Universal Flash Gordon serial with Buster Crabbe, which is still a hoot...

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I thought SciFi did a pretty good job with Dune, so maybe there's hope. I'm just hoping that the planet Mongo remains firmly Art Deco!

 

[Archie Goodwin]

I too liked the Sci-Fi Dune, as well as the new Battlestar. I am looking forward to the Dresden Files, and will give Flash a chance. I agree that Sci Fi productions usually leave something to be desired, but they are getting better. Besides, can their production be any worse than the Flash Gordon movie from the 80s? I loved it when it came out, I own it on DVD, and I am still not sure why.

Flash, aah aah
He'll save every one of us

 

[Doctor Strange]

At least the 1980 Flash Gordon movie delighted in its own campy cheese aspect, and wasn't afraid to be silly and absurd in homage to the 1930s serials. It was very much a product of the drug-drenched, hedonistic, exhibitionist disco era it was made during. (Now mind you, I haven't seen it since opening day, so maybe I'm being too kind.)

This new one will probably use SciFi's current gambit, the "grim and gritty, realistic" approach used to reimagine Battlestar Galatica. I am not a fan of Galactica, or much else in the grim and gritty vein. (Deep Space Nine is my least favorite Trek series, though I know it has a huge following among folks younger than me who first saw it in their impressionable teen years.) They will almost certainly go for some degree of "realism" and fashionable pseudo-relevance. But I'm sorry: taking away the over-the-top, comic/pulp, *fun* aspect of Flash Gordon will utterly ruin it...

At least they're doing it as a series vs. a miniseries - so maybe they'll manage to revive the cliffhanger endings of the 30s serials...

 

[griffer]

I can't get behind the philosophy of Buck Rogers. Too militaristic, and... oh, wait..um...nevermind...

I am very excited, I hope they take a cue from the success of Sky Captain and give it a steam-punk/retro aesthetic.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Don't bet on it: Sky Captain flopped big time (though I liked it quite a bit!), and if you think that SciFi and the Halmis are more concerned about doing something different with vision and style than being successful, you're dreaming! It will probably look drab and utilitarian like Galatica, the network's current critical darling, though they might allow Mongo a bit of deco style...

 

[griffer]

Well, now I'm bummed. Thanks.

 

[Flash Gordon]

As you may surmise...for me, any Flash Gordon is better than no Flash Gordon.

 

[GOK]

So the same people were responsible for Earthsea? Oh dear, what a load of Bantha poo-doo that was. I couldn't get past the first hour. Sky Captain OTOH, was great!

And how could anyone diss that magnificence that was Brian Blessed's Vultan?

"Fly my brave hawkmen, fly!" lol

 

[griffer]

Yeah, I guess Sky Captain did flop, come to think of it.

My wife went as Polly Perkins, with blond wig, grey fedora, and vintage camera, and I was sky captain, with flight jacket, lambs wool lined helmet, goggles, boots, wings, ray gun.

We looked great, but nobody knew who the hell we were.

At one point the flight gear came off and I was down to a world war I inspired uniform and people kept asking if i was a nazi. sheesh.

 

[Kt Templar]

WOW, Doc you really don't like Galactica do you!

Personally I think it FANTASTIC, a stunningly courageous rethink of an old premise, it has challenging storylines and amazing effects.

It is not everyone's cup of tea I will give you that, it's unrelentingly grim, the Iraq parallels in the earlier part of this season really upset a lot of people as the sides were transposed. They dared to show suicide bombers as freedom fighters.

Currently we have the 2 polar opposites Stargate which is light fun and popcorn and Galactica.

As for Buck Rogers I don't know who the production team is yet, if they are the people who did Dune or Earthsea I'll be dubious. It would be very nice to see some retro 30's inspired design on Flash Gordon, but I suspect they'd go with something much more mainstream. They could really go either way.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I have really *tried* to get behind the new Battlestar Galactica - my son watches it - but I just can't. (I should point out that I was never really a fan of the original Galatica series either: I was already in my 20s at that point, and it just seemed too stupid, a junky ripoff of Star Wars with a bunch of Ancient Astronauts mythological names grafted on.) I find it unbearably pretentious and self-important, the percussive score hurts my ears, and I simply can't suspend disbelief that (for example), a different race of humans in a different part of the galaxy have field jackets that look like exactly like the Army's 1965 model! Or the same coiled microphone cables that you see here on Earth. I know that similar needs may yield similar designs, but geez, come on...

So, I don't have a problem with the political aspects (I'm sure that most terrorists *do* see themselves as freedom fighters!) so much as the design aspects.

Stargate SG-1 was a wonderfully entertaining show in its prime, but that's now years in the past. I still watch it, but I haven't really enjoyed it since about season 7. And Atlantis just leaves me cold: recycled plots and badly cloned characters...

So for Flash Gordon, I figure it's better to keep your expectations low - if it turns out to be pretty good, so much the better!

And it's worth recalling that long before the ironic campy approach set in, the original Flash Gordon serial was a great piece of work in its day (not to mention one of the key influences on Star Wars):

http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue04/infocus/flashgordon.htm

 

[Twitch]

We'll just have to see how it turns out. One thing for certain is that the Sci-Fi Channel has the capacity to produce decent product beyond the corny stuff they come up with. The Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantic along with Battlesta Gallactica are proof that they have the ability.

 

[griffer]

Aw, they did so great with this, why wouldn't the Sci-Fi version of Flash Gordon rock as hard? :eusa_doh:

 

[Kt Templar]

That's ok Doc Strange I respect that. There's plenty of shows that people have recommended to me an I have not been able to get into.

Back to Buck Rogers here's a quote from a SCI FI executive:

iF MAGAZINE: What can you tell me about the concept for the new FLASH GORDON. Will it be campy like the 1980's movie or grittier like the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA?

DAVE HOWE: I can't tell you, not because I won't tell you, but we really don't know. First of all I'm really thrilled by the buzz for FLASH GORDON. It's been an incredible response since we said we were re-making the show. I have to say that I have always been a huge fan, and it's always been one of my all time favorite movies. When I threw out that we should re-make FLASH GORDON a lot of people said it was cheesy, and I reminded them that was what we said about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. The reason I can't tell you much is I don't know. I've seen some very early treatments, very embryonic discussions about what to do with it and where to take it. We don't want to replicate the comic and we want to take it in a new and fresh direction, and make it relevant and relatable and most important we want it to be fun. We want it to be in the spirit of the pulp comics, which is anything goes with bright blue skies and fun. That was what I loved about the movie, that it was campy and smart. Ask us again in a month's time and we'll have more developed for it.

Seems they are not sure yet.

 

[Feraud]

fftopic:
Not to take the conversation into another direction but I have to ask...
Was the 1980 version of Flash Gordon campy? How so?

My understanding of the term "campy" is something which knowingly silly, outrageous, lewd, etc.

A film like Flash Gordon did not appear campy. There was no "wink to the audience" with regards to the costumes, dialogue, or situations. It seemed a serious attempt at the subject like Star Trek. On the other hand, shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jackass, Charmed, Super Trooper, or Spaceballs are truly camp.

Back to our scheduled discussion.

 

[griffer]

Really not trying to be vulgar, but Flesh Gordon was the campy version.

 

[Feraud]

Really not trying to be vulgar, but Flesh Gordon was the campy version.

lol Agree!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Are you kidding, Feraud?

The overblown music by Queen, the psychedelic color pallette, the way-over-the-top costumes and sets, the absurd dialog, the blond-hunk-who-can't-act playing the lead, slumming serious actors like Max Von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, and Brian Blessed having a field day, THE BORE WORMS!... What WASN'T campy about the 1980 film?!? Do you think the people who made it thought they were making serious SF like 2001, or even serious-within-the-story Sci-Fi like Star Wars? That movie is definitely camp!

From the Wikipedia article on the film: "It intentionally uses a camp style similar the 1960s Batman TV show in an attempt to appeal to fans of the original comics and serial films."

(Now Flesh Gordon is something else, and it happens to be the first pornographic flick I ever saw - at a Times Square grindhouse, no less!)