Flash Gordon 2007

[pvtmorriscsa]

Howdy All,

I do not care what you have to do; beg, borrow or steal, watch Flash Gordon on the Sci Fi Channel. New episodes are generally on Friday nights. If you do not I tell you, that you are missing out on a show as cool as the first broadcast of a new Star Trek series.

How best to describe the show? It is a little like Stargate, with a touch of Star Wars, and a good bit of soap opera. Ok, let me explain.

I say it is a little like Stargate. Unlike previous incarnations of the Flash Gordon story, there are as yet no spaceships. Instead travel between Earth and Mongo is done through rifts in the space-time continuum, the effects of which could destroy the universe. As yet the only way to travel to Mongo is to re-open a rift that was originally created by technology there. Then only rift to Mongo that was created on Earth was the one created by Flash’s Father which led his “death”.

Another Stargate similarity is the random interjection of people from “modern day” Earth into a world that they have no comprehension of. This leads me to a slight difference.

Unlike Stargate, or any other Sci Fi show I can think of the characters live fairly ordinary lives. They are not military like SG1. They have no support from the government. In fact the only people that really know what is going on are the characters that are directly involved. Actually the heroes do their best to keep their fellow humans ignorant of the truth. As you or I might do if suddenly privy to irrefutable proof of an alien invasion. Honestly do you really think you could tell anyone, without ending up heavily medicated?

I mention a touch of Star Wars in the show. I say this because Flash is reminiscent of a combination of Luke and Han. A pure youthful, optimistic heart, combined with the mind and wit of a rogue. That and Flash like Han and Luke always gets away with the most outrageous acts. In fact if soldiers under my command got bested as often as Ming’s troops do I would be firing some officers, and increasing the training budget. I must be honest though and admit I have thought that Emperor Palpatine needed to do just that many times.

As to it being a soap opera. I mention this for two reasons. First of all the interpersonal relationships between the characters are very dramatically charged. Second the episodes follow one on another in a very quick, no more than a couple of days, fashion. It is the relationships amongst the characters though that really makes me think soap opera. In some ways the show reminds me of Battlestar Cracklatica in that regard, but don’t let that put you off, I only mention it out of honesty.

Here follows a character list, which may explain much of what I have said.

Flash Gordon: Marathon runner, single, ex-boyfriend of Dale Arden. Flash is a mechanic, who lives with cancer-fighting mother. (She has been conveniently out of town for the past two episodes.) Honest, loyal and courageous, a hard charger defender of those he considers “family”. Flash is determined to find out what really happened to his father, and he has an eye for the ladies.

Dale Arden: TV Reporter engaged to a Police Detective, (whose name I forget). She is career driven, Flash’s High School sweetheart, recently returned to town. She knows of the existence of Mongo for the same reason as Flash; having accidentally been transported there.

Professor Zharkov: Covert Super-Scientist, single, worked with Flash’s dad, and was present when Flash’s father “died”. Intensely paranoid of the “man” and now even more paranoid because of the sudden large number of rifts appearing on Earth. He is the one person on Earth that understands the danger of the rifts, and the only person with the intellect to understand alien technology.

Ming the Merciless: The “Benevolent Father” of Mongo, single?, Cold, calculating, if you try to guess what he is going to do in a situation, the best guess is the worst possible thing you would imagine. Ming is a pure 100% a**hole. In fact his truly evil nature is better expressed in this show that it ever was in any other presentation of the Flash Gordon Story.

Ok, so in order not to spoil it too much for you I have had to make this list very short. In fact I have only mentioned the four most major characters that appear in all the incarnations of the Flash Gordon Story. Honestly though if I give away too much detail it will be a spoiler and I do not wish to do that. If I have done so inadvertently I apologize.

Now my general impression of the series so far is a very favorable one. The characters are very real, although not in a realist way, because their actions and reactions are very real yet very heroic. Furthermore the show exalts loyalty, honesty, the rational use of force, a defense through example of western values, the value of friendship, and a healthy appreciation of science, and the scientific method.

The first episode made me sniff at the bait.

The second episode made me nibble the bait.

The third, (most recent) episode got me eating the bait.

If the fourth episode is even close to as good as the first three I will have swallowed the hook.

If the fifth episode is like the fourth, than I am as good as skinned, gutted, and thrown on the skillet with a little butter.

I freely admit that my opinions are a bit skewed. I have been a fan of the Flash Gordon story, ever since watching the Saturday morning cartoon. My father enthusiastically taking me to see the movie back in 1980 didn’t hurt I am sure.

Don’t wait for the cheese and camp of the movie by the way. Don’t wait for the Flash Gordon “theme” song in the show. They use it to pimp the show in commercials, but it has not yet ever been part of the soundtrack during the show, and so far as camp is concerned it is of the heroic variety. Personally I will take heroic cheese in science fiction any day. Then again as I mentioned above I am being very subjective in my opinion.

I guess all I can say, and it is not objective at all; is check out the show. I think you will not be disappointed. It is a pretty good modern take on a classic sci-fi story, and I like it. Now if only someone will produce a faithful or even a modern adaptation of E.E.”Doc” Smith’s Lensman stories for television.

Rob

[Antonio]

The show hasn't done well with the critics so far, but it's pretty good. It is based on good values beyond the simple good-versus-evil archetype typical of science fiction. I like that Flash defends the people in his inner circle who he trusts, and his heroics don't go into the irrational.

Something else I like is noted in the Wikipedia entry, which is that Ming is not portrayed the way he was in the campy 1980 movie or the previous versions of the story as a maniacal supervillain. The show portrays him as a calculated dictator who seems very much a heartless administrator bent on uniformity and loyalty in order to maintain order in the civilization he controls. Rather than an ill-tempered uber-villain, I could see this guy running the DMV or being director of the FBI. John Ralston, who plays Ming, is a good actor who has been in a number of kids' shows that my daughters have liked.

I wonder if all 22 episodes have been filmed. It'll be interesting to see how this does on Sci-Fi Channel.