A Jihad on the SciFi Network? The New Flash Gordon.

So, there's at least one blogger out there in the blogohypercube who has a hate-on for the latest SciFi Channel reimagining, Flash Gordon. Count me in, I'm afraid. It's just not very good.

The production values are worse than Sliders. You get a general sense that the art director wasn't given much of a budget. They've changed a few things from the classic Flash. For instance, Ming is a blond guy who looks more like an MBA than a merciless Warlord. Losing the racist stereotype was good, but this guy doesn't menace in the slightest. Also, Flash lives with his mother. He has a black sidekick and business partner. Oh, and a crazy guy in an RV providing crucial plot explanation, and a completely bland and uninteresting love interest that's a reporter. Why is the black guy always the sidekick, even today?

If they really wanted to reimagine this, why didn't they go further? For instance, why didn't the remake cast a black man for Flash, and give him the white sidekick? We've had Starbuck recast as a woman for the new BSG. I can't think of a single black lead on any of the SciFi Channel programs. This isn't really my area of expertise, but TV scifi could be a little less white, and this would have been a great opportunity for that.

Lack of imagination is precisely where this new show fails. In all the departments, from costuming to set design to casting. I think this will be canceled in six months, and it'll be a shame. Hard work is going into this show. It just lacked a unique vision to carry it off. Or if it had one, it was too frightening to the execs, and they made sure it became quite bland. Seeing this show just makes BSG that much more impressive, frankly.

PS: They're redoing the Wizard of Oz next! Oh, Alan Cumming, what have you become?