Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Again)
The Sci-Fi Channel is going dipping into the golden age of comic strips and resurrecting Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon for a new television series.
Eric Johnson has been named as the latest actor to portray Flash in this radical reimagining of the series. Johnson is best known to ComicMix fans as Smallville’s Whitney Fordman, quarterback and love interest for Lana Lang.
Dale Arden, Hans Zarkov and Ming the Merciless have yet to be cast with production of the 22 episodes set to begin in, where else, Vancouver on May 1.
The series will debut on the channel in August, date and time to be announced. Rick Rosenthal, who worked with Johnson on Smallville, and has also handled Sci Fi’s The Dresden Files, will direct the first two episodes. While the original strip featured the story of the planet Mongo threatening Earth and Flash journeying into space to save his planet, the television series will dramatically alter the premise. Mongo will now be another dimension with Flash giving up his original polo in favor of other pursuits and being located in the pacific northwest.
The last time a live action Flash was on the small screen was in 1954 in an eight episode series starring Steve Holland, who later provided the visual look for James Bama’s Doc Savage paintings.
Flash Gordon has been previously portrayed by Larry “Buster” Crabbe in the three Universal movie serials from the 1930s and later, by Sam J. Jones, in the tongue-in-cheek Dino DeLaurentiss travesty from 1980.
Oh, I don't think that movie was all that bad. Casting was pretty good — except for Flash and Dale who were, admittedly, the stars of the show. Max Von Sydow was almost as menacing as Charles Middleton (my all-time favorite bad guy) in the serials, and Brian Blessed is always a hoot. The Raymond art on the opening was nice. Queen seemed appropriate. Well, the movie wasn't exactly Citizen Kane — and the original serial might well be the Citizen Kane of serials — but it wasn't a travesty, IMHO.
Tim Curry for Ming the Meciless, it's only inevitable. :)
Tim Curry for Ming the Merciless, it's only inevitable. :)
This show supposedly was being prepped as a safer and cheaper replacement for Battlestar Galactica. Hence the very late renewal for Battlestar and the eventual order of only 13 episodes with air dates starting in 2008. It seems fandom dealt some pressure to SciFi. I doubt I'll watch this but I do hope it's a more faithful adaptation than Dresden Files has been. On second thought I hope this is a real flop and Battlestar gets renewed again.
I'm with Mike on this one. I find the DeLaurentiss film to be a guilty pleasure. I enjoyed the cheesy special effects and Brian Blessed's feral grin. I actually think the whole thing has a cohesiveness that other "better" comic-based films don't have. Of course now I can't get that damn Queen song out of my head. Thank you very much Mr. Gold. (If I could even just get past the chorus — Flash! Ah-aahhh.)
Worth the wait!
Sweet! Nice character growth. Ta Moa shows us some subtlety and finesse. And we see at least four, maybe six or more, boys learning martial arts skills side by side with White Viper. Is this the beginnings of a force that can stand up to Gur Khan? This is the best White Viper episode so far. Well done!
Yes, I agree with Russ. Best episode so far!