Better Flash

[KokomoJoe]

I've been watching the Sci Fi Network's new Flash Gordon. Frankly, it's ... subpar at best. The writers wanted to update the story's sensibilities for a modern audience, which is a noble goal. But instead they just defanged it, and removed everything about the story that was magical.

At the same time, they clearly had a tough row to hoe to update Flash Gordon. The original story, while great, was also chock-full of hokum and conceits that simply wouldn't fly these days. So I thought this would be an interesting challenge for this group. How would you update Flash Gordon for a modern audience, while still keeping the magic?

-- KokomoJoe

 

[The Ace]

'Flash Gordon,' was a product of it's generation. Tampering with it will always lead to problems, so why not leave it alone ?

 

[KokomoJoe]

A product of which generation? 1934, when the Sunday comic strip began? Or 1954, when the first Flash Gordon TV series started? Or 1980, when he was introduced to a new generation (namely, mine) on the big screen? Or 1996, when the animated television series began?

I don't believe Flash Gordon is a product of its generation any more than Superman is, or Tarzan, or Hector and Achilles. Mythology, be it ancient or modern, is multi-generational. He's for every one of us. Stands for every one of us. Freddie Mercury couldn't possibly be wrong, could he?

 

[The Ace]

Remember, the first of the modern, "Batman,' films went back to the original comic, with Batman himself being little different from the vermin he hunted down, except he's on your side. It worked superbly. Ask me about Flash Gordon again in 4000 years,

 

[KokomoJoe]

I think we might actually be saying the same thing. My problem with the new-and-antonym-of-improved Flash (ahh ahhhhhhh! Savior of the Universe!) Gordon is that it leaps completely away from the original. It barely even takes place on Mongo, and there's this astoundingly boring subplot about how Dale is secretly still carrying a flame for Flash, and how that affects her relationship with her fiancee. I mean, yikes.

Whereas Batman -- to use your example -- hewed to the pulp origins of the character, but at the same time, you've gotta admit, was updated for a modern audience. There's no way you can say the sensibility of Tim Burton's film, Dystopian Gotham City and all, would have fit in with the original Detective Comics stories.

So that's what I think they should have done with Flash Gordon, and what I'd hoped to spark a discussion on here. How to make a story that didn't screw with the formula so much, but still updated it for a modern audience, just as Tim Burton did. And let's face it, Ming the Merciless as an over-the-top Asian? I don't think anyone wants to see that.

Oh, and also -- you're gonna be alive in 4,000 years? Dude, that is freaking awesome.

 

[Winter Lord]

A product of which generation? 1934, when the Sunday comic strip began? Or 1954, when the first Flash Gordon TV series started? Or 1980, when he was introduced to a new generation (namely, mine) on the big screen? Or 1996, when the animated television series began?

I don't believe Flash Gordon is a product of its generation any more than Superman is, or Tarzan, or Hector and Achilles. Mythology, be it ancient or modern, is multi-generational. He's for every one of us. Stands for every one of us. Freddie Mercury couldn't possibly be wrong, could he?

You forgot the Filmation Cartoon of the late 1970s's.