Sci Fi Channel's newest remake, "Flash Gordon," was hammered initially a bit by critics and viewers who were disappointed in the new “reimagining” of a classic American piece of Sci Fi history.
But as time goes on, the scripts and acting are falling in to place, and executive producer Peter Hume promises the second half of the first season will really impress Sci Fi fans, and those who have been watching Eric Johnson and company portray the hero and nefarious alien race from planet Mongo.
cast in Vancouver
Mr. Hume shared that the negative comments were taken to heart, but it inspired the writers to work harder to make the show better. Mr. Hume says that the show has finally found its groove, and that the best was yet to come for "Flash" fans.
"The two big complaints were Ming isn't strong enough or mean enough, and that it's not enough Mongo," Mr. Hume told four online reporters during a conference call.
Eric Johnson as Flash
"We're all Mongo all the time now. This show just gets more complex and actually a little bit darker, and it's still fun and rompy, but there's a gravitas that comes into the second part of the season that wasn't there in the first half.”
I asked Peter Hume about my favorite actor in the series, Jonathan Walker who plays Rankol .
“He's pretty great, isn't he? He (Rankol) gets bigger - we're playing out slowly some big reveals with him and I think even now you're sort of probably getting the hint that he's got other stuff going on which will be revealed.
I think he's just - he's a very layered and complex actor and his character is also layered and complex. And as the season goes out, we'll be learning a lot more about him and where his allegiance is lying.
They'll be some very big twists involving Rankol.
My question for Mr. Hume about Jonathan Walker was that since he's also a screenwriter, was he going to give Jonathan a crack at a "Flash" script?
“Yeah, he's really good. We talked about that and he - of all the people, you know, we send out scripts and then we get stuff back from actors all the time. He sends usually back a page of really intelligent thoughts that we always use.
He's really smart and we talked about definitely probably next year giving him a script. I'd really like to do that because he's just a really smart guy and he really gets the show. And we're just - we're really lucky to work with him. I'm glad you like him because he's one of my favorites too.
Kenn Gold with Media Boulevard asked about the speculation that erupted online alleging the show was going to face an early cancellation and wouldn't even go for a full season one.
“Yeah, I read that too. I was shocked to see that. Let Sci-Fi handle that one.Sci Fi Publicist: Bill Brennan : Yeah, no, we can put that to rest. When that popped up early on, when people would call to ask for verification, we of course corrected them. Don't know where it came from but it was not true.
"That makes me feel better." said Mr. Hume.
Gold asked Mr. Hume about ratings numbers.
“The pilot was really strong. Then it went down a little bit. Then it went up for like four weeks in a row; really big gains. And then we had I guess baseball actually so we dipped again. So we're building definitely.
Mr. Hume discussed the benefits of having Battlestar Razorettes inserted during Flash.
“Yeah, that has helped and I think it's helped and it's brought new viewers and as I say that the ratings just have been consistent and steady. We took a hit with baseball but it's - and then when the new season like when (CBS) ‘Moonlight’ came out that first night, we took a little dip and we're still up.
So, I think people are finding the show and figuring it out and going like oh, this is pretty good. And, you know, we wouldn't be doing this unless we all believed in the show and where it was going.
Eric during interivew in Vancouver
Hume shared his favorite aspect of Flash, and future plot twists.
“Well I like actually like what you'll see coming up is you'll learn a lot more about the Planet Mongo and how it got to be the way it is and how Ming is. I like this new Ming and that he's a really horrible guy but he's - in a weird way he's doing things that have to be done to save the planet.
So at the end he's - and he really gets better and better and his character really gets more complex. And he's a guy that you just thing God, he's just the most horrible person in the world. And then at the end you'll go ooh, but maybe he had to do it that way.
He's just sort of the Saddam Hussein kind of tyrant but ruling a planet that may need a tyrant to be in charge. And I think the relationship with him and his daughter and the development of Aura, that's a weird twisted relationship. I like where that's going.
But just as we kind of break down and get more - a little bit more off earth and more onto Mongo and start discovering the layers and the intricacies and the politics of that planet, that - and it's just been easier for us as writers as you know, because this show was developed quite quickly and we've been building it and discovering it and it's getting more intricate and more complex.
I think because as writers we've been able to go deeper and build this world and I think you'll see in the second half of the season a really compelling and complex and sort of fascinating world.
We're getting into Tesoro and what happened there and it gets really cool.
We've actually - we've gotten a little bit more money freed up to do some more facts. With our budget it's been a bit of a challenge to do that, but that's - we've have some more and they're going to get a lot better.
But also in terms of the characters, I think they're growing and getting more complex as we as writers learn about them as they, you know, learn about what their characters are.
As you build those relationships, there's a lot more twisty-turn-y stuff. There's a lot more depth that you'll see coming out. There's a lot more agendas and secrets and I think that'll - you'll see a lot of growth and depth, you know, emerging as the series goes on.
Mr. Hume discussed the romantic tensions building between Flash and Dale and the wild-card of Ming's daughter, Aura.
“They're so weird, like she's (Aura) so my favorite. I just think she's just great. And there's a weird dynamic with her and Flash. There's weird stuff with Barin.
There's a lot of complex triangles going on and Aura will really come into her own and sort of go from being a spoiled little girl and at the end of the season will really have to grow up and make some really hard decisions. And there'll be some big huge twist with her at the end.”
I asked Mr. Hume in his opinion, why did he feel there's been such a resurgence in classic sci-fi shows over the last few years like “Flash Gordon”, “Bionic Woman” and “Battlestar Galactica,” and if he had concern that these nostalgia styles sci-fi shows might kill the genre or if it will add to it.
“I think well there are two reasons. I think the first just practical reason is just they find it easier to market something, you know, a brand that exists instead of launching new ones. But that's just the hard business reason.
But I think the shows like this actually, certainly with ‘Flash Gordon’; it gives you a chance to do these really mythic big stories. I think that's really, really good for the genre. I mean, we've taken stuff that was done like Alex Raymond, we really went back to the comics and used those core characters and we've reinvented a bit and changed that planet.
But science fiction allows you to comment on stuff that's going on in the world today in big grand and mythic ways. And I think that there'll always be a place for it because you can tell stories that can't be told anywhere else and they can really resonate with us in ways that are really profound that you just couldn't do on like a hospital show.
I think it's really good for the genre and I'm glad that it's live and I'm glad there's been a real resurgence. If we keep doing these shows well, you know, good shows will be good shows and they'll survive.”
I asked Mr. Hume what makes Flash such a great hero to him, and Ming's character such a great bad guy.
“I like Flash in that there's been a lot of sort of new heroes on TV that are kind of anti-heroes, that are bad guys…that have a dark and are cool and they kind of lead to shows these days that’s been very popular in TV. And we really wanted to do an old fashioned like hero.
Flash is basically what he was in the comics. He's in every man who's drawn into this extraordinary situation and has to do those - a big challenge and does the right thing. And it's just like an old school hero that we didn't want to do anything that was too dark.
We wanted to basically here's a great American hero and do that. And I think Eric Johnson perfectly embodies that. He's actually - he's so much like the character.
So this notion of this character I had is - a lot of it's come from him too and he's brought it in his direction. It's been a great - it's been really lucky casting because I just think he's fantastic. He's using the right tone. He gets his humor. And you can't really act that. He is that guy. He is really this amazing good human being. And I think that they've just given such integrity to this character.
And as for Ming, I like the way John's doing that too. It's not as arch as some of the efforts of that character and it's more complex. He's always the smartest guy in the room and he's a really intelligent layered nuance actor and I think he's creating something new and complex, but also really intriguing.
You'll see his character kind of start going a little nuts in the series as the season goes on. And you'll see some amazing bits of acting from John because he just gets very extraordinary and his relationship with Aura gets very twisty and messed up.
Mr. Hume talked about the rushed efforts to get “Flash” to the smallscreen.
“We all kind of had this idea of what the show we were making was and then you kind of have to make a few and you go uh, it's not that; it's not that. And then you get one and you go ooh, that's the show. And then everyone agrees on that and then you're running in the same direction.
But as I say, this was, you know, we had an air date and we were - I'm not lying, we were rushing to get it up there and I think that we suffered a little bit in the first episodes.
I'm really proud of the work we're doing and, you know, everything forward from here is just is extraordinary and getting deeper. The people at Arch, I just sent an email this morning about the cut we just sent and they said this is the best episode ever. This is a great show. We're just so excited about it. But it's getting deeper and more complex.
Mr. Hume took a moment to address some critics and talk to his audience about the future of “Flash Gordon.”
“I think we're doing Flash and his buddies on Mongo in this complex sci-fi world and we're developing that planet. And Ming is getting much - that was another big complaint - Ming was too nice and I honestly didn't want to do an arch mustache twisting bad guy.
I wanted to do a really clever, smart modern guy who believes that what he's doing is right. I think a bad guy who's bad for the sake of being bad is not that complex or challenging and not - and I wanted a guy that thinks he's doing the right thing for his people and is kind of psychopathic like more of a Saddam Hussein.
He probably thought he was a good guy and was holding that country together.
And I think as you see the development of Ming and we get to know more about that planet and why that planet's the way it is and how he operates and how he's had to operate, I think you'll - this show just gets more complex and actually a little bit darker and it's still fun and rompy but there's a gravitas that comes into the second part of the season that wasn't there.
Because we didn't know what that was. I mean we were all discovering the show, so it just - I'm really, really proud of where it's going. And I think if people stick with it, they'll be really thrilled that they did because it's not like anything else. It's still a fun show to watch. But it's complex and dark and it does comment a little bit on what's going on today and deals with these big mythic themes.
Mr. Hume talked about his budget frustrations with “Flash.”
“That's the other thing. You can't compare us to ‘Battlestar Galactica’. It's not fair.
So you could compare us to ‘Chuck’, but we are - what we're doing is so much less than they have and I think that - I'm not asking for that as an excuse.
And look, I'd love to have rocket ships too. That was one of the big things. Rocket ships are expensive and well actually in this I think rocket ships would have been a bad idea because it's not reasonable in this century to do rocket ships, its very 1930s.
There was some of that, you know, that it wasn't spacey enough, but I always really wanted to break out that planet because I always thought ‘Flash Gordon’ is really about this guy on this extraordinary planet.
As we do that yeah, we have a low budget and I think we're doing a pretty great show for that. And the characters are terrific and just wait until you meet the tribes and the new crazy characters that you'll see in the second half of the season. I think people will be really impressed.
Mr. Hume had high praise for his entire team in the creation of ‘Flash Gordon.”
Mr. Hume discussed the potential writer’s strike that is looming still.
“That's all we talk about. I mean, I think that's all everyone talks about right now. We're a WGC show but I don't - we all work with WGA writers, but then there's rumors about the guild letting smaller companies work, so we, I don't know. I mean I think there'll be a strike honestly, but I think we may be able to keep working. But I hope we can. It would be great. But I guess nobody really knows.”
I followed up on Mr. Hume’s comments about his team, specifically art director Peter Andringa.
“He's so good. Right. We did this thing with Azuran cave where we meet with Azura and she's an evil witch and she's got this tribe of the Zurans who are like these warriors. They are all painted blue, amazing.
But anyway we go in - so we route this thing and she has the temple but then we'd start - it's like this crazy amazing thing with these skulls everywhere and she's extraordinary just like - we’re like jumping up and down watching the daily. He's (Peter) so brilliant. It's just an explosive imagination. It's great to see.
Mr. Hume had praise for his costume designer.
“Heidi's (Samuda) amazing. The costumes just look fantastic. It's really - we're really lucky and they get the show and honestly those guys are all like working for - like all the construction people could be earning twice as much money building houses in Vancouver.
And they're all on the show because they love it. They're just having a great time and so many of our crews, you know, could be making a lot more money on other shows and they're sticking with us because it's a great family.
If you were up there walking around, there is this real sense of camaraderie and family and, you know, they all go - they work, you know, crazy hours all week and then go play mini golf together on the weekends and go, you know, go-carting.
Mr. Hume had more praise for his lighting director.
“Dave is doing an amazing job with lighting. It's extraordinary and getting better and more complex. And I think just, you know, considering the, again, like considering our budget, the show looks amazing. You know, like we're doing this for less than, you know, whatever Stargate - Lance had 10 years ago - $200 less an episode and we're making this show.
It's amazing and I think that our extraordinary producer, Pascal, who just, you know, pushes and pushes and pushes and just always wants the best show. And they put every dime up there on the screen.
They’re all very passionate about the work, you know, Tom Rowe is doing the pilots and making sure he's got - our fantastic editors who just work really long hours and are just extraordinary in turning things around really quickly because, you know, just 6-1/2 day shows so there's no time to write.
And then our writers who are just tireless and work and work are just really passionate about the show. And they could all make more money in other places and they're having a blast here.
We've got a really nice (crew) and want to keep the show going, it's just because we're all having such a great time working together. And I think a lot of that comes off when you watch the show. It's just not tension, there's not unhappiness. It's a very happy family.
Mr. Hume shared some key plot points to look forward to.
“We do have like Vultan back and Vultan does in a just a fantastic show. He's just - he just steals the show. He comes back in a really terrific episode that like 13 it'll come out, but it's - he's pretty fantastic in it; and Garris and all those guys.
He does a couple more episodes. He's fantastic. He got another job on a Canadian show called ‘Air Sea’. So we love him so much we want to have him there like all - we lost him for a few and we'll see what happens with that show. It ends in February.
And if he's available, we'll have him back as much as we can. He just lights up the screen. He's fantastic. And I think he nails that character too. I think he does such a great job.
Yeah. He's just - like in episode Stand and Deliver, which is I think 16, he is amazing. It's just a - it's a great performance and we - there's some stuff going on with him and Baylin and just - it's a great episode. That's the one that (Lynn Hall) said this is your best episode yet and I think it might be. And he's a big part of that.
Mr. Hume talked about homage with the scorpion scene with Ming and the fight with Barin and Flash in last week's episode.
“I would say actually that's more of the - there is a definite homage to the 80s movie coming up and I'm sure that you haven't seen. But that stuff like the (scrubby), so that's all really more from - that's real classic Flash from the comic books.
You know, every episode there would be some stadium battle. And we really want to get back to that spirit of Flash. But that's really Alex Raymond, which was really what the movie was. I mean that was a very faithful rendition of the Alex Raymond comic books and I think we've been a little less broad than that but still tried to, you know, stay true to the spirit of what, you know, was created in 1932 I think.
"Flash Gordon" airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on SciFi Channel. At the same time, minisodes from the "Battlestar Galactica" telemovie "Razor" also will be aired during each week's broadcast.
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