Flash Gordon - the new TV Series

[LadyNRA]

Anyone else enjoying this show. I am getting a real kick out of it. Of course it's a bit gritty, occasionally, in the language, not to mention Aura's racy dressing style, but all in all it's a decent program. A reimagining so it's not like the traditional versions nor as campy as the movie, but still fun and getting better (though I loved it right from the start).

 

[Solomon Kane]

To be honest, I hated it when it first started showing. I thought; "How could someone make a boring version of Flash Gordon".
But somewhere along the line it changed. The characters started getting some depth, the story started getting direction, Mongol became a place with a rich background and history. In short, it started getting good.
For me the biggest improvement was in the character Ming. He grew from a two dimensional stock villain into a fully rounded character. Yes, he is still evil but, he honestly thinks that what he is doing is in the best interest of his people and he still needs to belive that they love him for the stability he brought to Mongol. In short, he is a villain who belives that he is doing bad things for good reasons. I'm looking forward to this Friday's episode to see how the current storyline wraps up.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

I stopped watching it months ago. Maybe I should try it again

 

[LadyNRA]

Solomon Kane - Yes, the story has been building slowly and has gotten so much better as time passed. It started out as essentially stand alone episodes then improved by going to a serial type format where some stories carry over from week to week. As you said, the characters have gotten more fleshed out, their personalities are developing as the season progressed.

I agree, Ming is an interesting ruler. He seemed to honestly think his tyranny would save the planet and in some ways, he might have been right given the warring factions all over Mongo. I like Aura developing into a more capable ruler-to-be.

You have probably seen the finale by now. Tied up a lot of loose ends while creating more of them.

You'll probably like the end of this season, especially where Ming is concerned.

No word yet about whether it will get a second season but with so many shows already cancelled, it looks like it may go another season! Yay!!!

BTW: any reason for your particular user name??? I remember reading fantasy books about a character named Solomon Kane.

 

[Solomon Kane]

With the way things wrapped up in the last episode I do hope there will be a 2nd season.
Your correct that Aura did develop into a full character. Early on I thought that she was there just because it was expected because of the source material and that she would never into a needed character.

As far as the direction of a 2nd season. I'd like them to develop more of Mongo's history. Get more into the culture of the different factions and show us how a person like Ming was able to come into power. Of course there is also the possible storyline that now that Ming is out of the picture there is a threat of civil war among the various factions. And the possible threat of Mongo being invaded by covert forces sent from Earth.

As to my user name. I'll be sending you a PM on that. So as not to derail this topic.

 

[LadyNRA]

Until you see the last episode, I guess there will still be some things you don't know, so SPOILERS ahead. Don't read 'em if you don't want to know what happens. The last episode does sum up a good bit of the ongoing plot lines (though not all of them). We got good closure for this season with so much left to be done.

SPOILERS BELOW --

I agree with you about learning more about Mongo's history. They are now officially 'trapped' on Mongo (Flash, Dale, and Zarkov). Gordon Senior is back home with Flash's mom. Since their son is now trapped on Mongo (a reversal of the initial situation), I am presuming that Gordon will try to rebuild a rift generator on Earth. And possibly Zarkov will work on rebuilding one on Mongo since he'd have more funding and support there.

Civil war is inevitable. Terek may play out to be an evil character, and I'm fairly sure that when push comes to show, Terek and Aura will eventually end up vying for power, particularly if Terek doesn't turn out to be as compassionate a ruler as the people hope, and this may be the case given his lineage.
Plus, the other tribes/cantons are inherently antagonistic toward each other. As you've said, different factions will cause additional civil unrest eventually, inspite of a new ruler.

Also Ming's army is larger than Terek's united forces (Revolution part 1), and it's strongly implied that he escaped his execution and is w/ Azura. Obviously, he'll want to reclaim his 'throne' at the earliest opportunity.
I would like to see Barin brought back from exile (worth an episode or 2), I would like further attempts to try to get home (rebuilding the rift generator is bound to happen, either on Mongo, on Earth with Gordon Sr., or both). I'd like for the group (Flash, Dale, Zarkov and perhaps Baylin) to find a way to reach the construct moons and explore there. I wouldn't mind them eventually exploring other Mongo regions (which could be said to be deemed as too dangerous for intense colonization).

I'd love to see more of Rankol and his double-agent scheming.

Zarkov is my favorite character because of the visual and verbal humor he brings to the show but I seriously want to see the writers get him more actively involved in the adventures rather than just bumbling along after them. Toward the last 6 episodes or so, we're seeing some of this happening. In the last episode, he actually comes to Baylin's rescue, so there's hope for him yet to develop further heroic tendencies (at least a little more).

And wow, you are right. I wasn't thinking about Earth forces eventually invading Mongo. There's a thought. It's possible the writers may do this.

 

[Solomon Kane]

Couple of days ago the Sci-fi Channel decided not to pick up the Flash series for a second season.

 

[LadyNRA]

Couple of days ago the Sci-fi Channel decided not to pick up the Flash series for a second season.

Yeah, I heard. I was pretty bummed. Oh well, it's not like this hasn't happened to me dozens of times over the years. Give a show one season, let a few vocal fans dis the show loudly enough, and they decide it's not worth it. I loved Tremors and they ditched that one too.

There will be a marathon of the later episodes coming up on SciFi soon. Two separate days if they keep their schedule. And it just started running in England. That means that the only shows I look forward to on there are Eureka and Stargate Atlantis (the former not airing at the moment). Meanwhile they waste a ton of money on stupid movies that are more like giant bug of the week movies or disaster of the week movies. Mind you, I enjoy watching GOOD/WELL WRITTEN disaster movies with great film footage but few of these disaster flicks on SciFi are even marginally good. Or they put on Wrestling! Sheesh! Or more "realism" shows like Ghost Hunters sleep or alien documentaries yawn: ).

At least Flash Gordon was fun to watch, had quirky/funny dialog, likable characters, no sex, minimal graphic violence, and recognizable cast members (Eric Johnson, Gina Holden, Steve Bacic, Jody Racicot are all folks I've seen in other things.

... Well, with the trend of SciFi channel lately, I'm getting back into reading. Reading Elizabeth Bear's Undertow, which is pretty decent.