Flash Gordon (2007 TV series)

Flash Gordon is a short-lived science fiction television series that debuted on Sci-Fi in the United States on August 10, 2007 and continued airing new episodes through February 8, 2008. It has also appeared on the British/Ireland variant of Sci-Fi and Space in Canada. The series was developed by Peter Hume, who served as executive producer/showrunner and wrote the first and last episodes, among others.

Plot

The series was loosely based on the comic strip of the same name and incorporated elements from several previous adaptations, following the adventures of Steven "Flash" Gordon (Eric Johnson), a twenty-five-year-old who lives with his mother and whose scientist father was lost in a mysterious accident when Flash was 13 years old. Flash's ex-girlfriend, Dale Arden (Gina Holden), is a television news reporter and engaged to police detective Joe Wylee. They meet Professor Gordon's eccentric former assistant, Hans Zarkov (Jody Racicot), when rifts in space appear, allowing travel between Earth and the planet Mongo.

Mongo is ruled by the ruthless dictator Ming (John Ralston), who controls "Source Water", the only source of safe drinking water on Mongo. Unlike the previous adaptations, he is only called "the Merciless" in closed circles and is publicly called "Benevolent Father". He also exhibits the traits of modern, media-savvy dictators, rather than the more simplistic, stereotypically evil characterization of earlier incarnations. Also unlike previous depictions, Ming resembles a blond Caucasian human rather than a bald East Asian man. Ming's daughter, Princess Aura (Anna van Hooft), is disturbed by her father's brutality. The series adds a new non-Terran character, Baylin (Karen Cliche), a bounty hunter from Mongo. She finds herself trapped on Earth and becomes a comrade of Flash, Dale, and Zarkov and their guide to Mongo and its inhabitants.

The peoples of Mongo live in "cantons", tribal groups that echo the animal-human hybrids of the original comic strip. The cantons include the Verdan (based on Prince Barin's forest-dwelling people from the strip), the Turin (based on the strip's Lion Men), the Dactyls (the series' version of the strip's Hawkmen), the Omadrians (women who create powerful medicines), the Frigians (who live in the frozen wastelands), the Tritons (who live beneath the ocean), and the Zurn (painted blue "Magic Men" led by Queen Azura). There is also another group known as the Deviates, mutants whose ancestors drank "Grey Water" (toxic water) to survive. The Deviates are led by Terek, their unofficial king (later revealed to be Aura's brother) and are distrusted by almost everyone.

Cast

Main

• Eric Johnson as Steven "Flash" Gordon
• Gina Holden as Dale Arden
• Karen Cliche as Baylin
• Jody Racicot as Dr. Hans Zarkov
• John Ralston as Ming
• Jonathan Lloyd Walker as Rankol

Recurring

• Anna Van Hooft as Princess Aura
• Panou as Nick Gilmore
• Giles Panton as Joe Wylee
• Jill Teed as Norah Gordon
• Carmen Moore as Joely Lavant
• Carrie Genzel as Vestra
• Craig Stanghetta as Terek
• Steve Bacic as Prince Barin
• Ty Olsson as Prince Vultan
• Jody Thompson as Queen Azura

Broadcast

Flash Gordon was canceled in April 2008. Re-runs of the show began airing weekly on ION Television on August 1, 2008.

Reception

The show was not well received. Metacritic gave the show an average score of 35/100 based on reviews from 13 critics. UK science fiction magazine SFX described episode 3 as "possibly the worst episode of anything, ever", and as part of their 200th issue features, they named the series as the worst they had ever reviewed. The New York Post gave the show 0 stars describing it as "a disgrace to the name of the enduring comic-strip-character-turned-movie-and-TV space hero". Another UK science fiction magazine, TV Zone, in a review for episode 13, stated "the series continues to improve, and you start to see the meaning in the producers' madness - they must have hoped they could lull passing viewers into watching Sci-Fi with pedestrian, mainstream plots, before building up a world of Dune-like complexity...which might even have worked if the early episodes hadn't been so dire that no-one but reviewers are still watching". When the show premiered in the UK, the magazine recommended it to readers, noting "you may well be wondering, considering the vitriol of our early reviews of the series, why we're picking out Flash Gordon as something to watch out for. Well, the point is that while the early episodes are dire...this is one series that does eventually—and we mean eventually—reward patience and endurance".

Home media

In August 2007, Best Buy offered an exclusive DVD that included "The Premiere Episode", selected deleted scenes (with incomplete effects) and a gallery of series concept art. This release includes the truncated 65-minute version of the pilot, exactly as it aired on Sci-Fi four days prior. Subsequent DVD releases include the full 87-minute version of the pilot, split into two parts.

Phase 4 Films released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only) in July 2009. The 5-disc set features all 22 episodes of the series.

Mill Creek Entertainment has released the complete series on DVD in the USA in April 2013.

In other media

CD releases

In February 2014, Perseverance Records released a CD containing selected cues by composer Michael Picton. A second album was released in May, with the final volume scheduled for later in the year.

External links

• SCI FI Digital Press Day, Cast Video
• Transcription of The Great Sorrow speech
• Jonathon Lloyd Walker (Rankol) Interview at www.sci-fi-online.com
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