I just sat through 90 minutes of Sci Fi Channel’s new contribution to their line up, Flash Gordon, an original Sci Fi series. Their splash site says “The new Flash Gordon follows Flash (Eric Johnson) and his companions, Dale Arden (Gina Holden) and Dr. Hans Zarkov (Jody Racicot) through wild and momentous adventures.”
http://www.scifi.com/flashgordon/about/
Though the pilot episode was 90 minutes long, we were rushed through character development in the show. They threw the characters at us, and telling us so much about them rather than just letting a developing storyline do the job.
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In this pilot episode, Flash discovers the truth about his fathers work and his “death”, meets and defeats an alien* on earth, teleports to Mongo, gets captured & tortured by Ming, escapes back to Earth, defeats Ming’s daughter on Earth and she escapes back to Mongo.
*After Flash defeated the alien, he found his fathers drivers license in the ensuing alien death goo puddle. (Gimme a break!)
Did I mention that early on, an alien zaps a bowling ball in a bowling alley? (I’m not sure the relevance. I wasn’t paying that much attention at this point in the show. I started to take up knitting.)
In case you were wondering if Flash Gordon used to take place on the planet Mongo, yea, the 1930’s based stories, but today, we are watching a prequel type series, as we follow Flash develop into an off world hero, while teleporting back and forth from Earth to Mongo.
Yep, teleporting. Flash and the aliens use a hand held remote to open a teleporting window to travel between planets. (Can we say Sliders?)
As the episode ends, we see the father in some sort of stasis, a prisoner!
The story developed too quick, the energy was flat, information for the characters was derived in quick, unsubstantiated scenes. My interest was not fixated by the events in the show because I’ve seen these themes time and time again.
I’m not sure I’ll be tuning in again, but I have been known to try anything twice to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.
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9 Comments
Bruce,
Sounds like I didn’t miss much of anything; a lot of fans and critics have been saying the same thing. Guess I’ll keep watching Eureka and Ghost Hunters (just started watching the other day). I need to see where Destination: Truth is at on Sci Fi’s schedule, because that show is cool, too.
heath
I didn’t watch the show and considering it’s on Sci Fi (which can be VERY hit or miss) I’m certainly not defending it, but I think that sometimes it takes a series a few episodes to find it’s “legs.”
Vic
This show is in Stargate’s old time slot correct? Big shoes to fill if you ask me.
From the previews I have seen (I did not watch the show yet, but I did save it), I was…. intrigued… for a lack of a better word. I REALLY am praying for a show to compare to Stargate and (the long forgotten) Firefly. From what I read here… I’m still going to be.
*sigh*
I finally watched the pilot this weekend. It isn’t exactly awful, but it’s not great yet either. I think the majority of the reviews on other sites are harsher than the show deserved, though.
I figure I have a few weeks before the new crop of shows hit – so, Flash has until then to win me over!
(BTW – my wife was waiting for Flash to show his ’super speed power’. Yes – seriously!)
How embarrassing….
….how soon til the divorce is finalized?? LOL j/k
Vic makes a great point about taking a few episodes for a show to get it’s legs under it. (Hey, the first few Star Trek Next Generation episodes seemed stiff also.) But I don’t want to see any more dead alien goo with driver’s licenses in it, for no real apparent reasons though!
Being in the old time slot of Stargate sure can be a challenge for any new show, and even though I saw theme’s I’ve seen in other shows, it still can turn a corner for the viewer, if they change it up in a good direction.
I came away with some of the same thoughts – though I like your point about it taking a few eps, Vic…the teasers for the rest of the season left me tempted to leave my DVR season pass on. ‘Course, maybe it was just the re-worked Queen theme song.
Looks like a Smallville version of Flash Gordon. Not all bad though. I thought Ming was oriental? I think the biggest problem is that they need to establish Flash as more of a hero instead of an athletic young adult that lives with his mom. He needs a costume and some weapons and some fighting skills. Do that and you’ll have an awesome show on your hands. But before I get too critical I’ll give the show some time to grow its legs first.
Also,if you see the teasers on TV you’ll note that the symbol shown is identical to that of DC Comic’s great hero the Flash,yet on the actual show the symbol is different and looks more like the Bruce Timm style Justice League cartoon’s Flash symbol.
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