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Flash Gordon: The Premiere Episode
R1 - America - Genius Products Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (13th September 2007). |
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The Show
 In January 1934, you could have bought a paper for a new comic strip created by Alex Raymond. A few years later, you could have gone to the local cinema to see short serials of this strip. In 1980, you could have went to the local cinema and seen the (now horribly-dated) feature film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Playgirl centerfold Sam Jones. Now, in 2007, you can turn on your television set and watch the TV show based on the comic strip. (Though it's not the first TV series based on the strip, it's probably one of the more higher-profile series made.) Baring very little resemblance to the original 'Flash Gordon', the show is a re-imagining more than anything else. It's provides a nice introduction to the show. It has elements of, obviously, the original story, but also has strong similarities to 'Stargate SG-1' and even 'Sliders' as well. Actually, any show with a gate to another world can be an influence on this show. The premiere episode follows Flash Gordon (Eric Johnson), an athlete, as he starts learning new things about his father, whom he'd thought dead for the past decade. As you might expect, there are a lot of things that change pretty quickly for Flash. With the help of his past love, Dale (Gina Holden), and his father's physics partner (Jody Racicot), they try to stop the evil Ming (John Ralston) from getting something called an Imex. The episode has a nice sense of mystery and many points of continuation. There's definitely a lot to explore simply by watching that. Some of the questions are answered, but things like, for example, the Portage Initiative and by extension some of Flash's father's past can easily be explored. In addition to the past, the episode also has a very effective cliffhanger-like ending, making you want to stick around for at least the second episode. It's a good new show and if I happen to be watching TV while it's playing, I'll definitely check it out. The writing seems interesting, if a bit simple. The acting seems a bit simple, as well, but that seems to be part of the charm. The show has a lot of directions it can go in, and hopefully it'll go in the best one. As I said, this is a nice introduction.
Video
1.77:1 anamorphic widescreen. For a new show, the picture looks like it should. The colours are strong, accurate and stable. The contrast is very good and the darker scenes look smooth and pretty natural. There are no compression artifacts, such as noise or edge enhancement. The picture does suffer from a certain flatness, though, comes from a lack of detail. The picture is a bit soft, though detail is good enough. It's a strong picture worthy of a new show.
Audio
The lone audio track is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The sound is good enough, though for a 5.1 track it's missing a bit of dynamism. Some of the scenes have a lot of movement, but the audio can't seem to keep up. Most of the episode is dialogue-driven, and all of that is clear and from the centre. When the episode gets moving, though, the sound stays in the front. The score and a few minor sounds use the rear speakers, but overall it needs some slightly better mixing. There are no subtitles.
Extras
Though the main show is only about an hour long, there are a few extras here. The most interesting is by far some Deleted Scenes (7:38). The scenes are clumped together and they don't really add much to the episode. I'd be curious to know why a few of them were written, let alone shot. In any case, the episode is helped by their trimming. The scenes are: -Introduces Flash before the marathon over the opening credits of the actual episode. -Dale looking at the Flash interview footage, segues into the alien pod thing. -An alien attack. -Explanation of how the rift works. -Dale's fiancé visits her at her work. -Dale being prepped for Ming's chamber. -The dad's friend looking for Imex. -Chanz getting to know Earth. -Flash and his friend talking about Dale. -Flash's friend and Chanza talk. Next are some Storyboards and Sketches. The pictures here don't really appear in the show, so I'm wondering why they're here. I suppose they were used for promo or early design purposes. The costume sketches appear to have changed little from the page to the movie, and the few storyboards look more or less like the scenes were shot, though it's hard to tell given the few storyboards. The last thing you'll see is the 'Tin Man' Sneak Preview (2:20). 'Tin Man' is a re-imagining of 'The Wizard of Oz' and it looks pretty interesting. Kind of like 'The Wizard of Oz' meets 'Dune'. It plays in December 2007 on the Sci-Fi channel. The preview is okay, but I expected something more than 140 seconds long.
Overall
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