flash gordon

Gina Holden, last seen on the TV series Blood Ties, has joined the cast of SCI FI's upcoming adaptation of Flash Gordon as Dale Arden, the love interest of Flash Gordon (played by Eric Johnson). Holden also appeared in Fantastic Four and will also appear in the upcoming sequel to Alien Vs. Predator.

The series also recently cast actor Jody Racicot as Dr. Hans Zarkov, and John Ralston as the evil Ming. The series has already cast Giles Panton as Joe, Karen Cliché as Baylin, Panou as Nick, Jill Teed as Norah, Jonathan Walker as Rankol, Carmen Moore as Jolie and Anna van Hoft as Aura.

Flash Gordon began as a comic strip in the 1930s and eventually spawned a number of adaptations, including movie serials, TV shows and radio programs. The new Flash Gordon series kicks off sometime this August.

Remember when Brett mentioned Tin Man a few months ago? The miniseries, debuting on Sci Fi in December, is a re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, this time set in the Outer Zone (note the acronym) and starring Zooey Deschanel (a total celeb-crush of mine) Alan Cumming and Richard Dreyfuss (who I don't have crushes on).

The miniseries is filming in Vancouver, and so is the new Flash Gordon series. Since both series use some of the same retro-futuristic sets, the folks involved with Flash Gordon will be making a few tweaks to certain Tin Man sets and incorporating them into the design for the planet Mongo, home of Ming the Merciless.

That's not a bad way to save production money, and it's not like it hasn't been done before. Once, while Leonard Nimoy was sick for a month with pneumonia, a horse from Bonanza was given fake Vulcan ears and played Spock for four episodes. That's why Kirk rode around on Spock's back for all subsequent episodes, so the series didn't lose its continuity.

The new Flash Gordon series for Sci Fi begins shooting in Vancouver next month, and they've found their lead role: Eric Johnson. Most of you will know Johnson from his role as Whitney Fordman on Smallville.

Johnson is not the only one coming to the project from Smallville. Rick Rosenthal, who also helmed episodes of the series, is directing the first two episodes of Flash Gordon, which are being written by Peter Hume (Charmed). Hume is also executive producing along with Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr., who earlier worked on the Legend of Earthsea miniseries.

The new series is expected to debut sometime in August. Other roles have not yet been cast. Earlier reports on the series claimed it would be lighter in tone than other shows such as Battlestar Galactica, but not quite as campy as earlier versions.

In January, I mentioned that SciFi would, most likely, be developing a Flash Gordon series. Well, they've found their Flash Gordon, and twenty-two episodes have been ordered, so keep your eyes peeled for the show this July. Flash Gordon, which began as a comic strip in the '30s, has been adapted into just about every medium save for wax cylinder recordings. SciFi's plans are to create a show that's lighter in tone than its other series, such as Battlestar Galactica, but not quite as campy as previous incarnations.

CinemaBlend writes that Christopher Showerman, who has previously appeared in movies such as the made-for-video George of the Jungle 2 and Frankenbabe, is being considered to play Flash in the new series.

According to Geek Monthly, SciFi is developing a new "Flash Gordon" series as part of a plan to develop new "lighter" shows after network brass blamed the decline in ratings of Battlestar Galactica on its dark tone. However, the article states that the series will not be as campy as the 1980 Flash Gordon film.

Flash Gordon has been developed already in several mediums. It began as a comic strip in the '30s and eventually expanded into comic books, theatrical serials, a live-action television program, an animated series, and the aforementioned movie.

SciFi has not committed to the series yet, but if it does, don't expect to see it until sometime early next year.

I'll admit I rolled my eyes when I first heard this news, but I think SciFi has proved itself over the years as adept at developing old ideas into something fresh and exciting (Battlestar Galactica). What do you guys think? Should SciFi develop Flash Gordon into a new series, or has that idea been beaten to death enough already?

[via TV Filter]

Well, I suppose that heading could have been a little more specific, since our ol' pal Flash has been seen in several live-action and animated incarnations since he first debuted on the comic pages in the 1930s. In this case, I'm talking about the animated series from Filmation that aired from 1979 to 1981, which IMDb has listed as The New Animated Adventures of Flash Gordon. I was quite young, so I don't remember this particular cartoon, but apparently it ran for a total of twenty-four episodes, all of which will be included on Flash Gordon - The Complete Series. You know, cause otherwise it would be called Flash Gordon - The Incomplete Series, and nobody would want to buy that. Tom Ruegger, a writer for the series, would later go on to write and produce for Steven Spielberg's Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and Freakazoid. The DVD set will include a documentary and some audio commentaries. It comes out July 18.