SCI-FI: SG-1 is out, Flash Gordon is in

[Mark CMG]

BSG ratings have fallen? that sucks. I love the dark themes...

I'm partial to darker themes, myself. As much as I love SG-1, I feel that BSG is a more compelling show overall. If someone can riff on a slide whistle at some point during a sci-fi show and it doesn't seem inappropriate, I likely won't watch it. SG-1 has some moments where this could almost happen but offsets it well with good action scenes and some real moments of pathos (

Spoiler

The loss of Janet Fraiser comes to mind.

).

 

[trancejeremy]

Nah, they should try to modernize the 1930's film serial rather than remake the 1980's film.

Updating serials can work - like the Indiana Jones movies (and half the Star Wars movies - the newer ones were more like the older serials, but seemed to be less well received) - but the source material for Flash Gordon is pretty campy by today's standards. The regions named after the terrain (Arboria, Frigidia), the names (Prince Barin), the villains (Ming is something of a stereotype, although the series isn't nearly as tacky as the old Buck Rogers strips), the technology and dress (which was futuristic in the 30s and acceptable in the 70s), but not so much now

IMHO, they are either going to have to change it, or embrace it (like the 1980s movies)


edit: (Or they could do both, like the Buck Rogers TV Show.)

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

I just want the Hawkmen's wings not look like cheap cardboard hanging in the middle of the back.

A little camp would be ok. I would love it to be like a serial with a cliffhanger at the end of each episode.

Set design should be the retro feel of the comic strip.

 

[Ranger REG]

Updating serials can work - like the Indiana Jones movies (and half the Star Wars movies - the newer ones were more like the older serials, but seemed to be less well received) - but the source material for Flash Gordon is pretty campy by today's standards. The regions named after the terrain (Arboria, Frigidia), the names (Prince Barin), the villains (Ming is something of a stereotype, although the series isn't nearly as tacky as the old Buck Rogers strips), the technology and dress (which was futuristic in the 30s and acceptable in the 70s), but not so much now

IMHO, they are either going to have to change it, or embrace it (like the 1980s movies)


edit: (Or they could do both, like the Buck Rogers TV Show.)

Meh. If you can handle RDA making O'Neill into a wise-cracking, one-liner team leader in a show that spoofs itself a la "Wormhole X-treme," I'm sure you can handle Flash Gordon. Just hope it's light but not campy.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I want PULP! Two fisted tough guy heroes, evil villians, hot women!

Figure they will go with college quarterback (age).

 

[Klaus]

There's a lot to draw from. There's the original Alex Raymond strips, the 1930s serial, the 1980s Filmation cartoon based on the strips, the 1980s movie ("FLASH!!! Ah-ahhhh! He'll save everyone of us!"), and the 1990s DC Comics update by Dan Jurgens (where Ming sported a skull tatoo over his eye, where the eye was located in the skull's mouth).

 

[buzzard]

There's a lot to draw from. There's the original Alex Raymond strips, the 1930s serial, the 1980s Filmation cartoon based on the strips, the 1980s movie ("FLASH!!! Ah-ahhhh! He'll save everyone of us!"), and the 1990s DC Comics update by Dan Jurgens (where Ming sported a skull tatoo over his eye, where the eye was located in the skull's mouth).

Damn, you know I think I bought most of that comic run back then and I had completely forgoten about it. It was pretty good IIRC.

buzzard

 

[Sir Brennen]

And I had forgotten about the TV cartoon series. It was pretty cool for the time (seen through a nostalgic lens), with roto-scoped "special effects" for ray-gun blasts and the like.

 

[Ranger REG]

There's a lot to draw from. There's the original Alex Raymond strips, the 1930s serial, the 1980s Filmation cartoon based on the strips, the 1980s movie ("FLASH!!! Ah-ahhhh! He'll save everyone of us!"), and the 1990s DC Comics update by Dan Jurgens (where Ming sported a skull tatoo over his eye, where the eye was located in the skull's mouth).

I recalled there was a more recent (albeit short-lived) cartoon series that featured Flash and Dale as skateboarding teens.

 

[Klaus]

I recalled there was a more recent (albeit short-lived) cartoon series that featured Flash and Dale as skateboarding teens.

Well, there are others, like the Defenders of Earth (Flash Gordon, Mandrake, Phantom, Lothar vs. Ming the Merciless). But the less said about those, the better.