Flash Gordon TV show great?; nah

From AICN, A SciFi Channel adventure based on the classic comic strip, “Flash Gordon” depicts an athlete who finds himself contending with otherworldly menace.

When SciFi needed a showrunner for its update of “Battlestar Galactica,” it hired Ron Moore, who co-wrote “Star Trek: First Contact” and had a hand in some of the best episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Carnivale.”

When SciFi needed a showrunner for “Flash,” it hired Peter Hume, who has written for “Charmed,” “Relic Hunter,” and Jennifer Lopez’ “South Beach.”

Did SciFi choose wisely this time around? “Flash” apparently got the greenlight over Moore’s “Galactica” prequel “Caprica,” which continues to molder on the channel’s development shelf.

USA Today gives "Flash" one and a half stars (out of four) and says:

… While the latest version is less outrageously awful than the best-known, out-of-this-universe 1980 big-screen remake, it's also much less fun, as amateurish mediocrities tend to be. … Badly written, badly cast and done on the cheap in the Canadian woods, Flash is the kind of fantasy toss-off that gives sci-fi, and Sci Fi, a bad name. ...


Entertainment Weekly gives it a “C-plus” and says:

… isn't nearly as campy-fun as the hyperactive 1980 movie. While there are flashes (heh) of promise, the pilot takes forever to get going …


TV Guide says:

… B-movie cheesy — watch an alien attack a bowling alley — but also stubbornly flat, settling for cute when sublime camp would be preferred. The drabness extends to supposedly merciless dictator Ming of Mongo …


The New York Times says:

Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers have disbanded. The Works Progress Administration is defunct. The DeSoto Airflow has disappeared from auto showrooms. So why is Flash Gordon still with us? If “Flash Gordon,” the Sci Fi Channel’s new series based on Alex Raymond’s comic strip character from the 1930s, has an answer to that question, it’s not obvious from tonight’s premiere. The show, approximately the zillionth attempt to put Flash and his friends on the big or small screen, isn’t bad, particularly; it’s just not very, excuse me, flashy. …


The New York Post gives it “no stars” and says:

I wish I could have been in the pitch meeting for Sci Fi's latest reincarnation of "Flash Gordon." It must have been an out of this world experience - because there's no other way this incredibly dopey series would ever have, er, gotten off the ground. … I apologize to all the Flash Gordon fans around the world. I know I had nothing to do with this series , but it's so horrible I somehow feel responsible - just by watching it.


The Boston Herald gives it a “C-plus” and says:

… Johnson is wooden as Flash, and he and Dale have zero chemistry. Not so for Karen Cliche, best known from the last season of “Mutant X.” As alien bounty hunter Baylin, she radiates chemistry with even the props. As Ming the Merciless, Flash’s eternal nemesis, John Ralston is as terrifying as a granola bar. Sci Fi needed an actor who could project even camp menace. This guy looks as if he got lost on the way to Dunkin’ Donuts. …


The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… The show's biggest drawback is the same problem faced by just about every other Sci Fi Channel series introduced in the past year: lackluster writing. Like "Dresden Files" and "Painkiller Jane" before it, "Flash Gordon" is a victim of pedestrian scripting. Worse yet, the characters are forced to spout too much exposition that betrays what should be the characters' natural reactions (rather than being amazed by the jump to Mongo, moments after arriving Dale announces they're "captives on an alien planet"). There's also a fair bit of technobabble and an alien culture that's confusing in the first episode. One of two future episodes sent for review shows more evidence of a sense of humor -- particularly when a jungle girl from Mongo takes up residence in Flash's house -- but everything else about this "Flash Gordon" remains dreadful, particularly the scenery-chewing villains. …


The Tampa Tribune says:

… Staying with this for 22 episodes will be a challenge for viewers. …


Newsday says:

… watch Sci Fi's new "Flash Gordon" series and wonder where the magic went. It's hard to see how a show could take such a perennial fave and go this completely wrong. …


The Deseret Morning News says:

… incredibly boring, unwatchable … The first time I tried to watch the 90-minute pilot of "Flash Gordon," I fell asleep. The second time, it was all I could do to keep my eyes open. And I like science fiction shows. I was sort of looking forward to this one. … Don't waste your time watching this Sci Fi Channel version of "Flash Gordon," which is just plain bad, unless you're suffering from insomnia. It might help with that.


The Hollywood Reporter says:

… It has a nice air of self-deprecation that assures us it's in on the joke, that this is less about threats to our planet than subtly cheeky good fun. Yet the 90-minute kickoff and a subsequent hour of the Sci Fi Channel series still somehow feel forced and somewhat empty, perhaps for the very reason that it wants things both ways. It's tough to get a sci-fi project to work as both effective drama and lighthearted fantasy, and "Flash" can't quite effectively bridge that gap. …


Variety says:

… a 90-minute premiere replete with playful if dimwitted banter, dimension-breaching nonsense, and a cast seemingly plucked from Revlon commercials. Nostalgia might win out, but barring a last-minute rescue, this bit of fluff will be forgotten in a you-know-what. … lacking the requisite wit, excitement or sense of adventure to survive for long in this dimension, much less the next. …