Since the SciFi network had a hand in creating Farscape and Battlestar Galactica, I decided to give their remake of Flash Gordon a try (despite the channel's constant and annoying promos for shows about people who see ghosts).
A Flash virgin, I knew nothing about the original series except that it was supposed to be campy sci fi pulp. So I went into the pilot episode of the remake expecting campy served with a big spoon.
The pilot episode ended up being part camp, part cheese. Before I launch into the series' faults, let me say that it was far better than I expected- and I was interested enough to stick with it until the end of the show.
The world of Flash Gordon has two components: the real-world, modern-day America, and the fantasy world to which Flash travels. The fantasy world was rendered in a TV equivalent of pulp comics. Unfortunately the real world was made of the same flimsy cardboard cutouts as the fantasy world- making the stakes of Flash's success or failure lackluster.
I wasn't looking for remarkable depth from the characters in the series, but it would have been nice if casting had chosen three leading ladies I could tell apart. Brave heroine or evil minx, all Flash's potential love interests looked exactly the same.
Pacing was also an issue. I'm willing to cut some slack in a pilot episode, since it's not easy to create an entire series set up in one hour. However, far too often plot was advanced through dialog. The old writer's adage "show, don't tell" seems especially important in visual media like television and film.
Flash Gordon came close to being the tasty junk food of sci fi TV veg-out, but lacked the hooks needed to keep me coming back for more.
No comments:
Post a Comment