From AICN, Though the SciFi Channel is using Queen’s 1980 Flash Gordon theme in its promos for its new “Flash Gordon” series, SciFi exec Mark Stern says we should not expect to hear the theme in the actual series.From a Friday SciFi Wire report:
The 1980 movie, directed by Mike Hodges and starring Sam Jones, has achieved a kind of cult status because of its campy style and a memorable soundtrack by Queen. A cover version of that music could be heard in a recent promotional spot for the new series on SCI FI. Stern confirmed that the theme would be used in the marketing campaign for the series, but not in the actual show.
"[We're] looking at updating the Queen song just a bit," he said. "So it's definitely the Queen song we all know and love, with a little something extra. Because it is about communicating the fact that it's not the '70s Sam Jones movie with people in spandex and everything we love about that movie. The show is not that campy. But how do you not use that music? It's so wonderful. So we're trying to have a little of both, to have our cake and eat it, in that regard. But I don't believe the music is actually going to be in the series itself."
The new “Flash Gordon” series, overseen by writer-producer Peter Hume (“Charmed,” Jennifer Lopez’s “South Beach”), debuts on SciFi in August.
1 comment:
Sigh. There's that word "campy" again. (If, like me, you sometimes lose track of what that actually means, click here for Wikipedia's take on it, but I warn you it's equal parts info and intellectual hooey.)
Anyhoo, the main problem with camp is that it gets slapped on things to which it doesn't really apply for the wrong reasons, and excellent example being the original Star Trek series. The wrong reason in this case is that with the plywood production values and sometimes over the top acting (another function of the time, IMO), it's easier for a lot of people now to think of original Trek was intended as a joke, but it wasn't.
My problem with Flash Gordon is I keep wanting to make the same argument, that it's not a tongue-in-cheek excercise but rather the best attempt yet to take those 1930's Sunday dailies with their lightningbolt-emblazoned uniforms and hood ornament rocket ships and faithfully reproduce all that wonder on a movie screen.
But the problem there is...while I'm totally right, to a larger extent I'm totally wrong. If you're like me, you can see that particular take on the movie, but any argument I put out that Flash Gordon isn't campy is completely DOA. Every time I try to imagine myself arguing "it's not campy!" I envision one of the characters from that movie hopping into my lap all skin-tight and shiny, tickling my face with a feather boa and saying "Oh reEEEALLY?"
Of course the real tragedy of our time is the other movie that promised to bring Flash Gordon's vibe to life...guessed it yet? Yeah, Phantom Menace. It was hard to notice with all the suck.
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