The Not-So-Flash Gordon TV Series

Ming the Merciless and Princess Aura - TV versus Movie

The Flash Gordon movie re-release on DVD this week suddenly makes sense now that I’ve seen the commercials for the SciFi Channel television series premier on this Friday, August 10th.

Unfortunately, looking through the cast photogallery, I’m nearly overwhelmed at just how bland the updated characters look. While I can understand the desire to get rid of the “yellow peril” aspect within the character design of Ming the Merciless, I just can’t picture the cheap, black military uniformed Ming filling the sets with the menace that positively dripped off of Max von Sydow in the movie.

“Flash, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!”

Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here.

If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would’ve hidden from it in terror.

Flash Gordon: Savior of the Universe Edition

That’s right, one of the most quoatable science fiction comic book movie of the 1980s is being re-released on DVD after nearly nine years of being out of print.

Flash Gordon: Savior of the Universe Edition should be available in your local stores today.

Stumbling Into the HD-DVD Era

Xbox 360 HD-DVD Add-On

Even though it’s only a $20 price decrease, Microsoft’s recent reduction to $179 for the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Add-On was enough to push me into finally buying a HD media format in the next generation video disc wars.

I chose the add-on over a standalone unit based on price alone, really. We’re still too early in the format wars for a clear winner to be proclaimed, despite the ever-growing edge that Sony’s Blu-ray has. All the same, I figured I’d go for the cheapest entry and bide my time until the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray combo units from companies such as LG come down to reasonable price levels sometime in the next year or two.

Overall, I’m happy with the unit, having watched the HD-DVD versions of Batman Begins and 300 on my reasonably cheap 32″ LCD HDTV. The video quality is good, running across a VGA connection, though I’d prefer HDMI. However, that will have to wait for an eventual purchase of an Elite 360 should this one perish to the dreaded “red-ring of death”.