Thanks for the iTunes tip!
I just watched it. OK, I'll join the minority and say it wasn't THAT bad. It's certainly the weakest "Flash Gordon" ever made though. The 1980 movie was A LOT more enjoyable.
Here's what I didn't like about it:
1) YES, the guy that plays Ming is HORRIBLY miscast. He should have been older and BALD. Max Von Sydow was the quintessential Ming. This guy isn't even close. He kept reminding me of "Joachim" from "The Wrath of Khan."
2) The whole rift idea is HORRIBLE. That's all I say because I know everyone agrees on this point.
3) What city is this supposed to be in? Is it *supposed* to be Canada? If not, is it too much to ask to have the actors pronounce "out" instead of "oat" and "about" instead of "aboat?" I'm really tired of producers or whomever tells the actors to NOT worry about it thinking that we "Yanks" don't notice. I do. It's an ear sore!
4) Some of the effects were actually pretty good. Some (such as the matte composites of the city during "crowd" scenes) were horrible.
5) Speaking of crowd scenes, every scene that didn't involve solely the main cast looked terribly amateur. In other words, they didn't wrangle extras very well at all.
6) Does anyone care about marathons anymore?
7) My biggest beef is this seems to be a remake of the movie version of "Masters of the Universe." Instead of looking for the cosmic key, they're looking for the "Imex." Where's the sense of danger?? Come on, take over the Earth or something!!!
Other than those things (some of them splitting hairs, I'll admit), it was a modest diversion from reality on a Sunday afternoon and I'll keep watching for a few more episodes.
On the positive side, I think they cast it pretty well....in terms of people "looking" the part. Although Eric Johnson isn't the greatest actor, he definitely looks like a Flash Gordon. And hey, he DOES act better than Sam J. Jones in my opinion.
Question: is Dale Arden's co-worker related to Lexa Doig?
Anyway, it'll get better if they at least shave Ming and drop the rift idea.
BONUS: Aura is INDEED quite attractive! She was my favorite character actually. I liked her acting style. She was fun to watch.