Flash Gordon: Sci-Fi’s New Series Doesn’t Sizzle

Two weeks ago, when I wrote about the upcoming new Sci-Fi series, Flash Gordon, I was pretty excited. The channel that brought us Battlestar Galactica and Eureka, had a hot property in Flash Gordon. A young American hero, space, other worlds, and an evil emperor, well, what more could a guy want? Evidently, more.

Twenty-eight-year-old Eric Johnson plays Flash Gordon, an early-twenties nice guy who still lives with his mother. The Sci-Fi channel’s new series doesn’t fly. Johnson looks his age, the script sucks, there’s little visual, character, or thematic depth. Disappointing. Derivative. For instance, Hans Zarkov, Flash’s sidekick, is portrayed as essentially the same character as First Wave’s Eddie Nambulous, down to the Winnebago. The TV remote control (updated with an aluminum casing) that with one click gets you a portal to take you to other worlds, wait … yup – straight out of Sliders.

It’s unfortunate that the story of a classic American hero is so poorly treated. There were so many options with a comic book hero. This wasn’t one of them.

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Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Eric Johnson, First Wave, Flash Gordon, hero, Sliders, TV