Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

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Monday, August 13, 2007

Darnit

Darnit. Apparently I missed the Sci-Fi channel's premiere of Flash Gordon. I've been looking forward to it for ages.

Naturally, this means I go seek out message board posts to see how other people reacted. TWOP is a good one for this, mostly because I know how to find stuff there.

(The Flash Gordon page.)

One particular review though nailed it for me:

You know what's really interesting about all this, is they've actually made a pretty good attempt with this show, with what they probably have to work with. What's incredibly tragic and hysterically funny is that this show is basically a microcosm of EVERYTHING that's presently wrong with the SciFi genre in particular and serialized TV in general... lazy/emotionally immature fan-boy writers (like on Stargate), cheap recycled special effects, obvious over-the-border location shooting/production values, disposable "beautiful" actors whose character's problems and love story no one will give a shit about either now or in years to come.


Okay, I have to see this show now. I have the distinct feeling I'm going to adore it.

See, I have no taste. What-so-ever. And well I read superhero comics and enjoy superhero-based movies. Even the crappy ones. ESPECIALLY the crappy ones.

I loved that horrible Justice League pilot, after all. Bad acting, stupid plots, and very disconnected from the source material are no impediments to me.

Besides. Eric Johnson is hot. I'm shallow. :-)

posted by kalinara @ 4:54 AM  

7 Comments:

  • At August 13, 2007 9:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Huh. I saw the premiere and I thought it was marginally good - it didn't blow me out of the water, but it was okay. It kept me involved for two hours and I'm planning on watching it again next week (the fact that it comes on after Dr. Who makes it easy to make this promise, though). Of course, I enjoy Stargate - both the movie and the tv series - so I've been told I have no taste in sci-fi anyway.

    I have a few complaints about the show - they never seemed to actually introduce any of the characters. I don't remember ever getting Dale's last name (though I'm assuming it's still Arden) and I don't think they mentioned the name of the "mad scientist" on Earth at all (though I'm assuming it's still Dr. Zarkov). That's bad - he should at least have gotten a first name and I should know it after watching two hours with him in it.

    If anything, though, the series reminded me of Adam Strange more than Flash Gordon - the fact that Flash is going to be transporting himself back and forth between Mongo and Earth instead of staying primarily on Mongo probably lends itself to that feel, but it's still funny to me. It also is going to get a lot of comparisons to Stargate, given the method that Flash uses to travel back and forth to Mongo.

     

  • At August 13, 2007 1:22 PM, Blogger Evan Waters said…

    It's not agonizingly horrible, just strangely flat. There's some fun business on Mongo itself when they finally get to it, but that's 30 minutes in and they end up going back to Earth for the very dull resolution.

    I won't necessarily flip away from it in the future, but it won't really hold my attention.

     

  • At August 13, 2007 8:26 PM, Blogger The Random Avenger said…

    I actually didn't like this at all. My main problem was with how strange and wooden Johnson was. With a more charismatic actor in the lead, this could have overcome its flat script and developed into something watchable. As it is, I thought it was exactly the kind of show that should be strangled at birth so quality writing could take its spot.

    ok. maybe that was a little harsh. (and I like Stargate Atlantis)

     

  • At August 13, 2007 8:31 PM, Blogger The Random Avenger said…

    i would like to apologize to everyone for putting the words wooden and Johnson together in my previous post ....

     

  • At August 13, 2007 8:41 PM, Blogger ShellyS said…

    I thought it was okay, but the tv reviewer for the NY Daily News, who I mostly trust, said the first episode was so-so, but the series improves over the 2nd and 3rd episodes. The ingredients are there and it's a likable cast, along with the people behind it. And the guy playing Flash Gordon is CUTE.

     

  • At August 13, 2007 9:05 PM, Blogger LurkerWithout said…

    The show is bad. Also dull. Plus Ming is now the bad guy from Tank Girl. Except without any of the personality of Malcom McDowell...

    Just bad. In fact it may be bad enough that I watch it weekly just to mock it mercilessly. 'Cause thats how Fu Manchu'd Ming would have wanted it...

     

  • At August 13, 2007 9:46 PM, Blogger Scott said…

    Didn't really like it all - just fell flat for me, although I'll probably give it a couple more episodes to win me over.

    Then I popped in the newly released Savior of the Universe DVD edition of the 1981 film, and boy was that more fun.

     

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