Sci Fi updates ‘Flash Gordon’

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

LOS ANGELES — The Sci Fi Channel’s new take on “Flash Gordon” is not your father’s “Flash Gordon.” Heck, it isn’t even your grandfather’s “Flash Gordon.”

The series, launching at 9 tonight, makes Flash less of a muscle-bound champion. Dale Arden doesn’t come across as a distant cousin of always-needing-rescue Lois Lane, and there is no spaceship.

“That was the biggest thing about the new incarnation of the story. It is updated. It is contemporary. The leading man is not just the brawn that goes in and knocks out the bad guy and saves the girl. In this series, it is far more likely to be the reverse,” said Eric Johnson, the Canadian actor tapped to play Flash Gordon.

Johnson follows in the footsteps of Buster Crabbe, who played the hero in the mid-1930s; Steve Holland, who starred in the 1954 television series; and Sam Jones, who took on the role in a campy version of the “Flash Gordon” saga in the 1980 feature film.

The Flash Gordon that Johnson plays is not a space traveler like Crabbe’s version.

He’s not nearly as mentally dense as Jones’ version. This Flash Gordon is more of an all-American guy who gets transported to the planet Mongo through an interdimensional rift.

Unlike the Dale Arden of old, Gina Holden plays Dale as a tough, smart and capable woman.

“That was what attracted me to this role. She’s not just a damsel in distress,” Holden said. “She’s smart, she’s focused, she’s adventurous, and she’s strong. That made this an exciting role to tackle.”