Gordon's Alive! New big screen adaptation of Flash Gordon being penned by Star Trek writers

UK Daily Mail ^ | April 23, 2014 | Andy Tillett

[C19fan]

He's a blond interplanetary superhero known for his tight vest and for facing up to the evil Ming the Merciless. And now Flash Gordon is set for a reboot after Twentieth Century Fox announced it has bought the rights to the original comic strip. According to The Hollywood Reporter the team who have just completed writing Star Trek 3, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, are working on a new script.

[C19fan]

I remember when the 1980 Flash came out and it was panned by critics and if I remember right bombed at the box office. But it survived to be a cult classic. The movie had three over the top performances by great actors; Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton and Max Von Sydow.

[Little Pig]

I’d love to see a serious (well, as serious as something like this can get) adaptation of the original comic books a la “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”.

[EricT.]

Ugh. Another comic book movie filled with over-the-top CGI crap. Hollywood has truly run out of ideas.

[BitWielder1]

Why can't Hollywood come up something genuinely new?

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Given how Hollywood is so into making villians complicated, the question here is how will they humanize Ming the Merciless? How can they make him “complicated”? Did his mother beat him? Did his father never tell him he was proud of him? Did he never get asked to dance at school dances?

[AnAmericanAbroad]

Max von Sydow was brilliant as Ming, and unless they’re planning on casting Brian Blessed, it just won’t be the same.

[PapaBear3625]

I think that the Buck Rogers story-line would be more adaptable: A man awakes from suspended animation in 2419, to a post-apocalyptic America which has been overrun and conquered (by an alliance of Russians and Mongolians), and joins with a rebel band to fight against the conquerors and regain Americans' freedom.

It would be too patriotic and politically-incorrect for Hollywood, though.

[Oberon]

I wonder who will play Zarkov...

[apillar]

The main problem I see, is the same problem that last years “Lone Ranger” movie had, basically nobody under 40 knows who or what “Flash Gordon” is (in fact I’m 40 and I barely remember Flash Gordon from the 1980 movie and have no memory of the older comics at all)

[apillar]

It would be too patriotic and politically-incorrect for Hollywood, though.

Oh, I'm sure their far-lefty script writers would find a way to fix that...

"Buck Rogers would be flaming homosexual, who froze himself to escape the homophobia in 20th century society, only to awaken 500 years later to find the world run by evil corporations and the tea party, who are led by the Koch brothers who had their brains transplanted into robot bodies so they could exploit the 99% and destroy the environment forever...

[Renegade]

I remember FLESH Gordon.

[ArtDodger]

I seem to distantly remember a movie called ‘Flesh Gordon’. Too far back in the misty past to recollect......

[Smokin' Joe]

Yeah, that, too. The parody was better than the last iteration, imho.

[stump56]

The 1980 version of Flash is one of my all time favorites. Wonderful British campy SciFi with great music (Queen fan as well). I believe this movie captured the comic book nature very well. With the current movie trend focusing on realistic CGI, the fantasy is lost and all we get is smashing and crashing. Instead, we need more impossible rides with Hawkmen.

[dmcnash]

Yes Your Protuberance!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Hollywood has truly run out of ideas.

The Comic Book genre IS the R & D department for Hollywood.

[jdsteel]

...”how will they humanize Ming the Merciless?”

Well, the first problem is that he’s Oriental looking. Won’t play well with the Chinese audience globally. Other than that, he could have been upset that he was almost a victim of the “one child” law, but somehow survived to overthrow the Communist Masters. But then again, that wouldn’t play well either!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I remember FLESH Gordon.

Haha! What fun!

"Welcome to my castle. It's where I.....hang out."

[onedoug]

“After dinner I’ll tell you all I know about this Tarzan Flash Gordon person.” —Our Gang

[Timber Rattler]

Brian Blessed is THE man! Why has he not been knighted yet?

Brian Blessed on Have I Got News for You

Henry 8.0