The original comics were extremely derivative; one could instantly tell what Alex Raymond had read or seen in any given week as Flash and Dale wandered from undersea kingdom to forest kingdom to arctic land to the home of the hawk-people. Prince Barin is Robin Hood and Ming was Fu Manghu, with no apologies. The plot didn't matter, as long as it was bright and exciting and full of imaginative creature-people, and was gorgeous to look at.

If you're going to do Flash Gordon, the one person you cannot skimp on is the production designer. It's all about the sets and costumes. It has to be.

I guess we're working from different definitions of 'camp'. Star Wars, for example, is big, over-the-top adventure, but I wouldn't call it camp (not in the sense that the 60's Batman tv series was camp, at least).

Unfortunately, if the original isn't successful enough (or a property without a high enough profile) we may never get that second, kick ass non-origin film. A Dr. Strange direct-to-DVD animated movie is the perfect example a movie that needs to fit all the awesome it can into the first one, because we may not get another.

(Incidentally, I haven't seen it yet, but will. And the Vaughan Dr. Strange mini was most excellent. Someone needs to pick up that ball and run with it in an ongoing.)

The other, bigger, reason for BG's success and FG's failure is that Ronald D. Moore revamped Battlestar. Moore wrote for years for Star Trek shows, before quitting because he thought Voyager was stupid. Flash was revamped by Peter Hume, who wrote some episodes of Relic Hunter and Charmed. It's crappiness is unsurprising.

As for no-fun sci-fi, Eureka's a pretty good show on SciFi that might be the closest you can get to what you're looking for right now. It has a few dark moments, and is rarely over the top, but it's mostly wacky fun with crazy science.

This just reminds me how much I miss having Dr. Strange around in a good comic. Sigh. When was the last time it was even good? Stern/Marshall era? (And there were all these house ads advertising that Frank Miller was going to be drawing it ages ago … what happened there?)

I dunno, I really don't want a Frank Miller version. "By Hoggoth, the bastard's big. Felt two ribs go. Suppress it. Remember India. There is no pain." CRUNNNCH! "Blacking out --"

The Oath was good. So was the mini that came out in the 90's, Paul Chadwick worked on it, and I think Williams. But ongoing? You'd have to reach back a bit further. I can't speak to the ongoing after Starlin, that's when I left (Yeah, I'm that old) and though I always try the new ones, I haven't really enjoyed any except the two I mentioned. I sampled the Roy Thomas one and left right after the Montesi forumla story.

Craig Russell's re-do of the 70's Annual was very good, too. "What Is It That Disturbs You, Stephen?"

WHY they can't do a good Strange ongoing baffles me. Lots of talented folks have expressed a desire to try.

I kind of worry that we're entering the same era for cinematic SF as we did for comics in the early 90s: everything "cheesy" and "over-the-top" and "goofy" has to be stripped away from existing concepts in order to make them "dark" and "edgy" and "relevant". Also, "boring". I like serious SF, but I miss the days when you could put something as dementedly over-the-top as "Zardoz" on movie screens. Yes, I just expressed nostalgia for "Zardoz". THAT HAPPENED.

Haven't read it myself, unfortunatly.

HORRIBLE wardrobe on those actors.

Dear lord.

'Stardust' definitely hasn't set the box office alight so far, but it's not necessarily a failure yet. I realise that if something doesn't do well in its opening weekend, it's instantly seen as a disaster, but because of precisely the sort of tonal shifts Greg was talking about, the movie might get a positive word-of-mouth happening that brings in audiences in later weeks. It's bound to make a mint on DVD, anyway.

You mentioned that you enjoyed Charlie Cox's performance, Greg- I've got an interview with him in a couple of days, don't suppose there's anything specific about his performance or the production you'd like answered?

I do think doing DR. STRANGE's origins first are a mistake- the 70s TV movie, which was kinda good in itself, made the same mistake. It ended just as Dr. Strange began, and since no series came of it that was all we got.

No opinion on STARDUST, though I will try to see it before it leaves theaters.

"I don’t agree with this, but I do feel that anything that calls itself Flash Gordon needs to be big, bombastic, and over the top. It certainly can’t be afraid of its pulp roots."

That's pretty much what I meant by camp.