Flash Gordon Comes to the Sci-Fi Channel
Daniel SwensenAfter a hiatus of a few months, I’ve decided to start dabbling in posting movie news again. I had something of an identity crisis about this a while back, figuring that anyone who wanted sci-fi news could just get it elsewhere. But then I realized that I rather enjoyed posting sci-fi news — so I’m back at it. So here we go!
Sci Fi Wire reports that Flash Gordon is returning to serial television — Smallville-style, apparently.
Eric Johnson (Smallville) has landed the title role in SCI FI Channel’s upcoming original series Flash Gordon, the network announced. The 22-hour series updates the comic-strip franchise and is slated for an August premiere. Johnson will play space-traveling adventurer Gordon, who is joined by companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov. Ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they find themselves as Earth’s last line of defense against the forces of the merciless dictator Ming.
Peter Hume wrote the first two episodes, which will be directed by Rick Rosenthal (Smallville). Production is to begin May 1 in Vancouver, Canada.
Flash is being produced by Reunion Pictures under an agreement with King Features Syndicate, which owns the franchise. RHI Entertainment’s Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr. (SCI FI ’s Legend of Earthsea) are executive-producing, with Hume also expected to executive-produce. Matthew O’Connor and Tom Rowe produce.
I’m a big fan of Flash Gordon, but have yet to see a manifestation of Flash in television or movies that wasn’t more or less unbearable. I even rented the animated series with the intention of writing about it — and found I couldn’t. Revisiting such a beloved childhood favorite was simply too exquisitely painful. I’ll be interested to see what Sci-Fi does with the material, although mentioning it and Smallville in the same sentence gives me the horrors.
April 17th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco has a huge wet kiss for Flash Gordon and it really made me want to see the movie again. There is something about the unabashed “do what is right no matter the cost” attitude of Flash Gordon. I’d hate to see that twisted by modern concept of story telling.
April 17th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Wait, what about the 80’s movie version?
FLASH! A-AAH! HE’LL SAVE EVERY ONE OF US!
Don’t tell me that’s not a classic of the cinema.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Hunh… The 80s movie version was exactly what popped to mind when I read “more or less unbearable.” To be honest, though, I watched it with some quick-witted friends, and though I don’t remember much about the film, I remember laughing all the way through.