Flash Gordon 8/24/2007 (S01E03) "Infestation"

That was so painful to watch that, for the first time ever, I stopped watching a Sci-Fi scripted drama series. Twenty minutes in.

I just felt embarrassed for those poor actors. If they had enough talent to ever get another role, being in this show would probably kill their careers.

 

I stopped watching this too, about 10 minutes in. I forced myself through last episode. I think my SP is gonna get deleted...

This show reminds me a bit of "Invasion". That show had a good premise, but felt flat and uninteresting throughout most of the first half of the season, because they focused on crap that nobody cared about.

This is the same to me. Never mind that the production values are low, and the cinematography is beyond boring, they manage to take all the FUN out of the story. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE FRAKKING RIFT! I am not interested in seeing Flash run around in Canada - and I don't want Mongo to look like Canada either!

They managed to take something that was exciting and cheesy and turn it into something that's boring and cheesy. That's not a good combination.

 

wow, I'll disagree on that, I love cheesy scifi, and FG just keeps showing that they don't get it.

While I didn't give up on it 20 minutes in like most, I just chose to FF through all the "make Nick miserable at the wedding" scenes because I honestly didn't give a flying fig about Nick. A new record, 42 minutes of show watched in 15 minutes.

Even worse is the signs that someone in the writing staff does get camp and humor since there were a few attempts at it in Aura's chamber.

And also agreed on the not using the Queen music, I mean clearly someone gave SciFi the rights because it's always in the promos.

I think one of the continuing things that makes this series so frustrating (other then the fact that they didn't renew Dresden and this made it) is that they have actors who could most likely pull it off, decent effects, nice sets and locations, and they miss the mark every time IMNSHO.

They really need to get them off of earth and trapped on Mongo.. then it would have potential, I agree with a poster in a previous thread that it feels like 60% of the show is in the Gordon family kitchen [insert head banging on table] and all I can do is scream "why why why?" other then "it's a cheap standing set" and I really think that's why they have the 1/2 the time on earth and 1/2 the time on Mongo routine, it's cheap to shoot the outdoor scenes as opposed to a standing indoor set (just thinking out loud, I may not be right)

Diane

 

I'm still watching -- I'll report back to y'all when it gets better. Don't expect to hear from me soon.

The thing is, there are some seeds of some really quality stuff in there. All these different groups on Mongo, being suppressed by Ming's merciless hand -- there could be enough political intrigue there to keep Flash busy for years. Just like the comic strip when it started.

Instead, we get this ridiculous crap like the wedding scenes.

There's no way this show makes it to a second season, which is too bad, because there could be a good quality many year series made from the Flash Gordon source material. (Same with Buck Rogers, and they screwed that up too.) Oh well.

 

These two quotes basically sum up my feelings. Having Flash still on Earth removes alot of the urgency for Flash to rile up the natives. The rift is a bad, bad plot contrivance to link the two worlds together when they don't need to be. They could have stuck Dale, Flash, and Zarcov on Mongo and still done all the stories they've already done with only minor changes. And the Mongo scenes are moving things forward, but they're only half the show, so we have half the show of crap stuff on Earth that serves no purpose.

But I doubt any of that is going to happen, so we're stuck with this, and it probably won't get renewed. Oh well.

 

I think Painkiller Jane has a better chance for a second season than Flash Gordon. This episode was so predictable. Dale got Nick into the caterer's truck and they made a point of showing the bag of ice. Gee, ya think they'll need that? There were some others, but I've forgotten them already.

Dang, we have to wait two weeks until the next episode.

 

I can't believe I ate watched the whole thing.

 

I still have no clue why they don't do this. Since Mongo apparently looks just like earth, except those two moons or whatever they are, I don't see how they save much on the budget by having the majority of the show set on earth.

 

Regrettably, that's not true. The chance for Painkiller Jane is exactly zero, while Flash Gordon is still some positive (if small) number.

 

They probably have to pay somebody $35 every time they put that filter on the camera lense for the "other-worldly" lighting. Which might just be a budget-breaker for this show...

 

Painkiller Jane got Dresdened?

I don't think the guy playing Nick is a bad actor. He just had a really, really, really bad role in a really, really, really bad subplot created by really, really, really bad writers.

 

Correct, it was not renewed.

 

How many people have tabasco sauce sitting around at a wedding where you are serving wedding cake?

That Mongo lighting effect is just cranking the effects in the edit booth. Cheap and easy.

 

the best I can say about this show is that it's better than John from Cincinnati...

 

No kidding. I just watched the rest of this episode, and while it wasn't as dreadfully boring as last week's (which, honestly, I can barely even remember anymore even though I watched it just a couple of days ago), that plot was insanely dumb. I felt bad for the actors playing Nick and Dale...

The rest of the episode, when it was set on Mongo, was decent, I thought. That's pretty much how the show should be, IMO. Well, except that they need a new guy playing Ming, the current one is horribly miscast. Maybe they can write a plot where Ming needs a face transplant, so they can bring in a new actor?

 

No biggee, there's more where these come from.

 

I thought it was better than last week, but that's probably just because I've lowered my expectations.