And now for something completely different from bunnies and bucks.  I am a fan of most science fiction and fantasy.  Movie or book it doesn't matter, as long as the storyline is strong and the writers show a modicum of imagination.  So it was with some hope that I watched the new SciFi Channel pilot for Flash Gordon last night.

I was disappointed.

Now I'll admit that I went in prepared to compare this new series not only with the 1980 movie, which set new highs for camp and frivolity when it came out, but also to the old serials.  I had the pleasure of encountering the serials in reruns a few years ago, and they impressed me with their acting and writing.  Back then you couldn't try to hide an inadequate story behind special effects and scantily clad women, so the scripts tended to to have a lot more attention paid to them.

And that is where the new Flash Gordon fails in both the beginning and the end.  Its a perfect storm of little mistakes that build up to become an empty shell of a story.

To start with the rewriters of the story decided to go away from the formula that had Flash as a well known sports star who stumbles into a world he can barely understand and has heroism thrust upon him as he attempts to save the earth from Ming and his minions.  Instead they have Flash as a live-at-home semi-failure who's only claim to fame is having won the local "marathon" 3 years in a row.  His heroism ends up being much more forced as well.  Rather than having a great tie to humanity in general and Dale Arden in particular this Flash is obsessively concerned with his missing/dead father who was declared dead after a fire 13 years before.  It makes him much less sympathetic a character and I felt a bit let down that we weren't going to see the same heroism that Buster Crabbe managed to show in the serial.

Then you have the romance with Dale Arden.  I have to wonder why the writers felt it necessary to add the soap opera touch of Flash and Dale being high school sweethearts before Dale left for college.  Or why they had Dale be engaged to a police officer.  Unless they thought it would make Dale seem like some independent woman.  I'll admit that back when Flash Gordon was first written, women weren't necessarily the most free and indiependent characters in most stories, but Dale always seemed to hold her own in the serial and movie.  Now, she comes across as kind of flat and cold.  I know after watching the first episode that if I had to choose between the 3 female characters introduced she would be my last choice.  There just wasn't enough chemistry there.

And Ming... what can I say, but someone needs to have their eyes checked.  I'll admit that the original Ming definitely seemed to be a direct attack on Asians, and that to attempt to keep the look of the comic book Ming would have been rather offensive to some people.  But you still need someone who fits the moniker "The Merciless" and this Ming seemed less threatening than your average Oakland Raiders fan.  I remember Ming as a cold blooded, emotionless killer who cared only for his own power and pleasure, but still managed to have a commanding presence in any room.  John Ralston might be a great actor, but he cannot project the villian "gravitas" necessary to fit the part of Ming.

Now, I've looked at a few other reviews, and one thing I disagree about a bit is Zarkov.  Many people seemed to have a huge problem with the casting and protrayal of this part, but I thought that this was well done.  My memories of Zarkov always was of the mad scientist who tended to stumble along while giving Flash the information and backup necessary to perform his heroics.  Zarkov was the bookish sidekick who helped save the day.  They changed the basic premise some, and now Zarkov might not be as knowledgable about all science as he was in the original, but if they continue to have these "rift" portals as a key feature than Zarkov should grow into the role.

And of course, there is the "eye candy" factor with Aura and Baylin.  well, I will admit that both ladies are attractive and managed to make their roles fit.  And with a series like Flash Gordon you definitely expect some eye candy, as Flash spent a lot of time rescuing either Dale or Aura in the original stories.  (and with the miscasting done with Dale, they needed some attractive ladies to provide this.)  But they again tried to pretty up the series and the costumes seemed a little sedate.  I'll admit that when Baylin first appears she seems a bit over the top, but that outfit wasn't as outragous as some I've seen worn in real life, and it again made the story seem forced.

that's the final and biggest problem.  And I have had similar issues with the rewrite of Battlestar Galactica.  Many of the older stories that came out during the days of Pulp Fiction and B-movies actually can make excellent movies or TV series, but they do because of the quirky humor and insightful issues they manage to raise without becoming a bludgeon of issues and political correctness.  The issue has to be "suspension of disbelief".  When I got to a movie or turn on the TV, I know I'm going to be watching a fantasy, something that has never happened, and is unlikely to ever happen.  but I want the writers and actors to draw me in, and convince me that "it could happen".   The have to make me like the characters and to want to see the characters succeed or fail.  I should manage to hate the villians and cheer for the hero while hoping that the right couples join together and the evil seductress ends up failing to steal the hero away from his love.  The writers can try to influence these relationships, but they have been used for years because they work.  To change the formula to meet some unspoken need to "improve" the story tends to destroy the magic that makes a show watchable.

But that's my view.  I'm sure others will feel free to disagree.