Flash Gordon

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That sucked donkey dung. First of all, 1930s sweet as pie all American girl/boy next door just doesn't work anymore.

I disagree -- many currently successful shows work off of the All American/Canadian Charm thing.

The real problem here is that, for something inspired by an action-packed serial, it was slow and dull.

We should have had punches flying, daring escapes, car chases with something other than a Winnebago and truly half-dressed alien princesses in the first 30 minutes. Instead we got a tepid soap opera with more exposition than we'd need for a whole serial and the least active Flash Gordon ever.

 

[Pyrex]

Bingo. I thought the look and feel of Ming was horribly off target.

+1

My first thought when they introduced him was something like "oh look, they've introduced recurring-character district-governor P.I.T.A.. What? That's Ming? *sigh*"

He's about as intimidating as a sack of soggy oatmeal. :\

 

[Fast Learner]

I'll watch a second episode, as I really prefer to give any series at least one past the pilot (since things can change a lot, as often a lot of time has passed and the show's been tuned up).

 

[trancejeremy]

Why the hell make a show that's sure to be a hit when you're not going to actively support it?! What the hell are the execs of Scifi smoking on that they take this backwards approach to broadcast TV?!

Sorry, just venting my Farscape frustrations there.

I really have to think it has to do with internal politics. I think TV programming is kinda like how different factions of a court would vie for a King/Queen's favor. Certain shows might be pet projects of a given exec, but another exec hates that exec, so he tries to sabotage that show by getting it cancelled or lowering the budget or casting horrible actors.

And not all parts of the company work together. Production/Engineering parts of companies are always at odds with the accounting parts.

 

[trancejeremy]

The woman playing Dale Arden either is not a good actor, or is getting some bad direction, or both. Three times she had a line that was supposed to be presented as comedy or snarky or sarcastic, and she blew the line and said it deadpan as part of a run-on sentence.

She was a guest star on an episode of Supernatural (the one with the Wendigo). I thought she did a good job on it.

I think she might be overworked. She's apparently also on some other TV show (that vampire show on Lifetime). Granted, I think both are 13 episode seasons, so probably no overlap, but she might have been a bit rusher and unable to get her bearings.

 

[horacethegrey]

I really have to think it has to do with internal politics. I think TV programming is kinda like how different factions of a court would vie for a King/Queen's favor. Certain shows might be pet projects of a given exec, but another exec hates that exec, so he tries to sabotage that show by getting it cancelled or lowering the budget or casting horrible actors.

And not all parts of the company work together. Production/Engineering parts of companies are always at odds with the accounting parts.

If that's the case then, I'm surprised SciFi has lasted this long.

I honestly wouldn't mind it if the channel went under, as I've never forgiven them for canceling Farscape. Move Doctor Who to another cable channel (BBC America! ) and let someone else do Flash Gordon justice.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I did not have much faith in it and got to say, I got what I thought I would be getting. I swear I was watching Sliders at one point! The actting and plot changes just did not mess, and Ming, he just is not the evil mastermind overload, I know.

 

[buzzard]

Some Sooilers (though as rotten as this was, who would care?).
It was dreck. The characters were just plain lame. I mean Flash Gorden was dumb as a box of rocks. While I don't expect him to be a rocket scientist, the "Juts smile at them and we'll be OK" stuff was just too much. Also spilling the beans in front of Ming.

The pilot was enough pain for me. Bring back Dresden Files.

buzzard

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I didn't think it was as bad as some people are saying. I don't think it is great but I will give it 4-5 more shows to get its stride.

To join in on the critizism though.

Yes Ming is weak
The bounty hunter had more screen presence and charisma than anyone else
Flash's mom seemed too young given his age (26) and the visual age of his dad when Flash was 13

 

[Sir Brennen]

Yep. Extremely disappointing, for all the reasons mentioned above. In addition, too many scenes seemed lifted right out of the 80's movie (in particular, Dale being prepped for her "meeting" with Ming), but without the over-the-top camp. Most of the acting was terrible, like some grade D sci-fi movie filmed in someone's back yard with some of his friends instead of paid actors. Ming, as mentioned, was totally without menace or presence. Aurora was about intriguing and seductive as moldy cheese. Dale was only paying lip-service to "spunky". Flash, I thought, actually wasn't too bad, given the material.

And the "we have to keep this a secret because... it would be bad if we didn't" was ham-fisted. Better to have Flash trapped on Mongo initially where he's unable to contact Earth to warn them.

But at least, I have a feeling that Flash is going to go back to Mongo, getting involved in the politics there as he searches for his father. Hopefully things will pick up when he does.

For those interested, Universal HD seems to be airing the episodes on Sunday nights in High-Def.