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Flash Gordon
Original Run	August 10, 2007 – February 8, 2008
No. of Episodes	21
Genre(s)	Scifi
Creator(s)	Alex Raymond
Exec. Producer(s)	Robert Halmi Sr. Robert Halmi Jr. Peter Hume
Starring	Eric Johnson Karen Cliche Gina Holden Jonathan Walker Jody Racicot John Ralston Anna Van Hooft
Country of Origin	United States
Original Channel	SCI FI Channel

Flash Gordon is a SCI FI Channel original series starring Eric Johnson, in the title role. Canadian actor, Johnson, is perhaps best known for his role as Whitney Fordman on Smallville, a character he portrayed from 2001 to 2004. Peter Hume wrote the first two episodes of the series with Rick Rosenthal who also worked on Smallville as a director. The production is located in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Flash is produced by Reunion Pictures under an agreement with King Features Syndicate, which owns the franchise. RHI Entertainment's Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr. (SCI FI 's Legend of Earthsea) serve as executive producers, along with Hume, Matthew O'Connor and Tom Rowe produce.

The series completed its first season in February, 2008 and suffered low ratings. The Sci Fi Channel did not make an official cancellation notice however, SciFi Channel president David Howe implied the series would not return to the network for a second season.

Series overview

Flash Gordon was created in 1934 as a King Features Syndicate comic strip by legendary cartoonist Alex Raymond, and has been in vogue on and off ever since in comics, TV, and movies. The series updates the comic-strip franchise, with a contemporary setting. Johnson plays athletic Gordon, who is joined by companions, former girlfriend Dale Arden, his father's former colleague Dr. Hans Zarkov and Mongo native, Baylin. The group are Earth's last defense against Ming—the tyrant of another world who wants to make Earth his next conquest. Ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they find themselves in unexpected situations, and forced to make decisions on behalf of the people of their home planet, who remain blissfully unaware of the threat.

Flash's father was lost years ago in a science-lab accident, and presumed dead. He was taken through a rift that deposited him on another world, Mongo ruled by the oppressive, Ming. When Flash is transported to Mongo, he recognizes an opportunity to save his father. His innate good nature, forces him to delay his own personal goals and take on a pivotal role in freeing Mongo from Ming's dictatorship and thereby protecting his own world. In the process, he finds allies in natives, Baylin (Karen Cliche) and Ming's daughter Aura (Anna Van Hooft) who is horrified by her father's increasing cruelty.

The series initially steered away from more of the fantastic elements visible in the 1980 movie and gave the hawkmen a more human appearance. In later episodes, it embraced some of the more classical presentations of Mongo's citizens, allowing for significant differences in physical appearance between the planet's various tribes. Though clearly a scifi series, the series explores several fantasy elements such as prophecy and also dealt considerably with the political intrigue of Ming's rule and those opposing him.

Mongo is presented as a water-starved planet of seemingly primitive cultures divided into various tribes who, nevertheless, have access to some advanced technologies most visible in the capital city from which Ming rules. Ming preserves his political power by rationing the only water on the planet safe for consumption and as a result has the power to decide who lives and dies. The reason for the stark contrast between culture and technologies was later explained as being a result of a past holocaust that rendered Mongo near uninhabitable and has since contaminated the planets' water supply. Those who drank the contaminated water suffered severe deformities and were rendered outcasts.

Flash finds himself increasingly taking on the role of champion and spending more time on Mongo not only protecting his own planet but the people of Mongo who have suffered under Ming's tyranny. He also spends more time with former girlfriend Dale now engaged to a local police officer, Joe.

See also

• Flash Gordon (Comics)
• Flash Gordon (Movie Trilogy, 1936)
• Flash Gordon (1980 movie)
• Flash Gordon

External Links

• Official Flash Gordon show site
• Flash Gordon Wiki
• SciFi Channel Cancels 'Flash Gordon' at Sy Fy Portal