Sci Fi Wire has gotten their hands on some of the concept art for the upcoming Phantom made-for-TV film.
We announced yesterday that Ryan Carnes would be donning the jumpsuit, and the film itself would be written by the Knaupfs. But what say you about the possible wardrobe?
…Now discuss.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:53 am
He looks like zoolander
April 8th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Normally I’m of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” point of view when it comes to translating costumes from comic books to film and TV. Didn’t like the leather fetish look for the X-Men, and don’t care for what I’ve seen for the upcoming GI Joe movie.
Having said that, possibly because the character is so old, the traditional purple jumpsuit just doesn’t work for a modern setting.
On the other hand, 90% of everything SyFy touches is, by definition, crap. So I’m sure when/if this actually appears, it’ll look horrible.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
If you acquire the rights to a long established, distinctive looking comic hero, why the hell do you make him look NOTHING like the character?
Why bother paying for the rights to the character?
Why not create a NEW character, then go crazy with it?
This thought process of taking established characters and taking them as far away from what they are makes no sense to me.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
When did The Phantom take place on the planet Dune?
Love the shoes.
I’m guessing SyFy is short for Silly and Funny.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I think the Phantom’s original “iconic,” for lack of a better word, look is extremely dated. I didn’t even like Billy Zane’s look in the movie. At this point very few people know the Phantom or his origins anyway. He is a very old hero. I understand the need for an update… However… I don’t like this new concept at all.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
It’s awfully busy for an ‘iconic’ costume. Make the Phantom a dark verging-on-black matte purple and restore the domino mask, watch how you light him, it should be fine. This is getting into the same terrain as Affleck’s Daredevil. FOX wanted him all black in a bandana, for god’s sake.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
@EvolutionAngel “I understand the need for an update… However… I don’t like this new concept at all.”
But why?
I mean, if you’re not going to stick with the original why bother updating it? It doesn’t need updating, just come up with an entirely ORIGINAL character and concept and go with that.
Why keep the name?
Do you think fans of the original will want to see it if it’s so radically changed?
And if he’s such a very old hero, using the original character’s name wouldn’t draw in a new and younger audience.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I gotta agree with most of the other responses… Why even call him The Phantom if he’s not going to look anything like The Phantom? I can understand changes to classic costumes sometimes. Batman in all black actually makes more sense than having a mostly grey costume, and giving the movie X-Men matching uniforms also made sense to me. But at least those characters still looked mostly like their 4-color counterparts. Wolvie still had the hair, the claws and the cigar (oops, he doesn’t do that anymore). Cyclops had his visor, etc.
Chris has it right… SyFy must be short for Silly & Funny. Pass.
April 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
That is absolutley perfect! Wow. Way to go SyFy!
April 8th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I like the concept of the hood substituting for the domino mask. It works with the whole “Phantom” motif. However, their execution of the concept just ends up looking like it belongs on Project Runway.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Looks dreadful. I understand shying away from the classic look, which looks silly in live action, but they could’ve just taken the skullcap off and thrown a black jacket on him and had something better than this.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
SciFi = crap
does anybody remember the updated Flash Gordon?
ugh…can hardly wait
April 8th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
The ghost who rides dirt bikes?
April 8th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Replace the bulky hood with a tight cowl and domino mask and it may work better, but as it is now, not so much.
April 8th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Not exactly the look to strike fear into his enemies. Looks more like an alley punk.
April 8th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I wouldn’t even mind updating the look, but I just hate the “adapted hoodie” approach to interpreting superhero costumes that Smallville seems to have spawned.
(Because, seeing this, I was reminded of the lame hoodie-based outfits that show used for GA and the Justice League.)
April 8th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Also, doesn’t the Phantom operate in, you know, Africa? Because that thing looks like it would be frickin’ boiling to wear in a hot climate. Sure, the actual outfit Billy Zane wore was probably no better, but you could at least argue that the comics version was thin and breathed a fair bit.
Also, way too urban a look for someone who’s supposed to be based in a jungle. Look at those shoes. He looks like the member of the frat who’s up on his music and does some DJing.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
@ RMC – agreed; unless, perhaps, there’s an intent to play with the silhouette of the character to create the Iconic Image, it is a pretty busy design.
But there look to be some cool elements to build on: leg ‘armor’, belt, for instance.
The breastplate is pretty reminiscent of something by Fox Racing
(Hey, remember Mortal Kombat? 
)
And I think the Daivd Tennant Doctor Who is wondering why the Phantom’s biting his shoe styles.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Look, a 17 year old in a purple hoodie. Hooray.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Um… right. Why buy the rights to a character and produce something that doesn’t even resemble the character? Just create your own character and dress him up however you want for your series that’ll be cancelled in less than six weeks.
Not everything is like Battlestar Galactica, where you can take the basic concept and freshen it up by changing a LOT of stuff around… it’s one thing to do that to a tv series that lasted one season; it’s another thing entirely to do it to a character that’s been around well over 70 years.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:43 am
This looks to be potentially as successful a re-imagining of a classic comic strip as Sci-Fi’s Flash Gordon tv series was. (sarcasm)
That costume makes me think the series will take place on the Moon. Still, I could live with it if not for that mask/hood thing.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I don’t like the tennis shoes–1950-ish. Why not boots? Put the skull as a larger logo on the chest. The costume on the left is nothing more than South Park’s Kenny all grown up.
I don’t mind updating characters to make them modern but at least keep them recognizable. And Ed above is right. The suit looks too hot for the environment in which he lives.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:02 am
After some thought, I’m now actually glad SciFi is changing its name to SyFy to dissociate itself from the “negative” connotations of Science Fiction… this channel has been giving Science Fiction a bad rap for years.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Seriously why bother wasting the time and money for use of a name if it’s not the character?
April 9th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I would’ve prefered a deep/dark purple variation of the material used for the US Olympic Women’s Swim team with some black ribbing along the joints sides with maybe a comando harness/webbing/netting for some small pouches/survival gear. Maybe give him reinforced gloves (he wears the ring in his civie ID, but the metal on the glove’s fingers have the skull symbol) and a thickened collar to protect the throat and where his cowl comes down. I’d also sling the guns lower to his thighs so he doesn’t have to reach that far back for a crossdraw.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Didn’t Sci Fi (Oh, excuse me SCY FY)learn anything from the mishap that was FLASH GORDON!
April 9th, 2009 at 8:25 am
BARF!
this look horrible… the ghost who walks… in sneakers?
April 9th, 2009 at 8:29 am
When does the Phantom guest star on Smallville? You know, to get fashion the tips from Green Arrow….
April 9th, 2009 at 8:36 am
They have a history of changing original concepts and making them “better”
only time it has worked for me is battlestar.
Painkiller Jane, not so much.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I think I understand what they’re going for, the body armour meets “cool” teenager but it doesn’t work for me. I understand losing the striped briefs but this just smacks of marketing committee nonsense. Notice the holsters are backwards so he must draw his guns in a more “dramatic” crossover fashion. I was really excited about this project but now I’m just worried.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:42 am
It looks pretty stupid. They can’t even give the guy the domino mask? For all it’s faults, I’ll still take the Billy Zane film over this…for now.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Ugh — Not for long. This won’t stand.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Oh — and you simply MUST have the domino mask…
April 9th, 2009 at 8:58 am
No. Just… no.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:04 am
It’s a good start, but I’m glad it’s just “concept.” They’re on the right track. The one on the right is better. Going with the purple with touches of black makes the most sense, or else is doesn’t look distinctive enough. I’d lose the “jeans” and “hoodie” look of it and just go all-out costume, though. He’s supposed to look intimidating, and with it looking too similar to hoodie/jeans, it doesn’t look like a Ghost – it looks more like a Dude Who Walks.
And I like the belt buckle.
Good start. But I’d keep revising.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:07 am
A.Goldfish Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Notice the holsters are backwards so he must draw his guns in a more “dramatic” crossover fashion.
****
Cross draw is actually faster and smoother iirc. With a regular draw your body works against itself (wrist is crooked, elbow disjointed, hunched shoulders). With a cross draw, your body only has to deal with arm action to get the barrels in the right direction–it’s more comfortable and therefore not as much a tension on the muscles and bones.
Wild Bill Hickock drew cross draw.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:40 am
“Wild Bill Hickock drew cross draw.”
Yeah, and he’s dead!
April 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Richard J. Marcej Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 9:40 am
“Wild Bill Hickock drew cross draw.”
Yeah, and he’s dead!
******
and you know how he died, right? shot in the back of the head while playing cards because it would be considered suicide to try and shoot him face to face (the guy who killed him was found not guilty or something because he was trying to avenge the death of his brother on Hickock).
April 9th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Mr Pepose,
I don’t know if you’re responsible for the lead captioning for your Phantom article at the Newsarama main page. But if you’re not, please pass along the following:
The rhetorical device of saying “Really?” as an ironic negation is trite and annoying. I call on everyone in the entire universe to cease doing it, forthwith.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
The Phantom is a ridiculous character that looks ridiculous. So if they’re going to update him then they need to make changes, and this looks good so far. It SHOULD look different, because the old look was crap.
You guys crying about these changes are like people crying about changes to BSG. The new show doesn’t really look like the old show at all. That’s because the old show was just a starting point.
Just like with The Phantom, they start with the old, which is crap, and make something new and good out of it.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:06 am
looks like Smallville-Phantom
April 9th, 2009 at 10:14 am
TheSuperBrando Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
TheSuperBrando Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
You guys crying about these changes are like people crying about changes to BSG. The new show doesn’t really look like the old show at all. That’s because the old show was just a starting point.
******
not necessarily. some of the posters I know are fans of the re-imagined BSG and they’re disagreeing with a classic portrayal of a character that has persisted for 70 years plus. BSG benefited from a post-modernist spin.
some things can benefit from such. other things don’t.
******
Just like with The Phantom, they start with the old, which is crap, and make something new and good out of it.
******
Really? A character that has fans in over 50 countries and has persisted for over 70 years is crap? This same character that has had at least 1 incarnation nearly every decade?
If that’s “crap”, I’d really like to know what you consider “quality”.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I think we’re all pretty much used to some measure of redesigning in modern adaptations of comics, especially really old comics like the Phantom. My problem with the costume is that it’s just not a good design. It’s too busy and it has too many plain clothes trappings to be taken seriously as a superhero costume, particularly the hood and the casual-looking shoes. Either commit to a superhero costume or just stick him in actual (maybe color-coordinated) plain clothes; mixing the two never seems to work out very well.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Yeah, a guy wearing purple spandex fighting in the jungle is crap. A costumed crimefighting Bruce Wayne Tarzan is crap. Spandex for no logical reason is crap. Using his guns only to shoot at badguys’ guns is crap. That movie with Billy Zane was crap.
Ultimates is quality. The Dark Knight is quality. NuBSG is quality.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:48 am
*bang* *crash*
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The sounds of my hopes and dreams shattering.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Looks a lot too Smallville to me.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am
The whole concept of “The Ghost Who Walks” is that the Phantom has remained unchanged for generations… nobody, NOBODY, would have come up with this design 400 years ago.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:03 am
TheSuperBrando Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Yeah, a guy wearing purple spandex fighting in the jungle is crap. A costumed crimefighting Bruce Wayne Tarzan is crap. Spandex for no logical reason is crap.
****
first, I thought I should mention–that the Phantom predates Batman by about 3 years. White eyes, spandex and the whole crime-fighting schtick.
The outfits had more to do with showcasing the physiques without showing nudity (harkening back to Greek myths and such). Spandex was not what was worn in the early comics (as that was invented by Dupont in 1959). What was worn were the equivalent of gym-clothes that acrobats tended to wear at the time. Essentially, they wore what would allow for greater mobility and flexibility in a fight without going nude. They just happened to be “tights”.
So, there was “logical” reason. Besides, for the Ghost Who Walks, dealing with enemies that tended to be in the sky, a swamp or on the water–hard armor is very unrealistic. The extra weight and lack of mobility would be very problematic.
****
Using his guns only to shoot at badguys’ guns is crap.****
Yes–but when we’re talking about grown men wearing costumes of some sort to fight crime without getting caught you have to buy into quite a few things (like someone being flash frozen, thawed and waking up without suffering from cell decomposition for Cap America, or radiation poisoning from the energy source exposure for Ultimate Iron Man)
you could attribute it to camp/crap/disbelief, or you could attribute it to shear skill.
****
Ultimates is quality. The Dark Knight is quality. NuBSG is quality.
****
ah! that explains it. you’re a post-modernist.
well…!!!!METALGRIMDARK!!!!! to you, too!
April 9th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Thank you Dylan,.,,,,I was thinking the same thing
And Kardiac…you are right….he is never suppose to die in the eyes of those he hunts.
I loved the Zane movie. I loved the costume. It didn’t even look bad or horrible or even uncomfortable….this just loks like shit
Why hood? Just use the mask
April 9th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
@Neosamurai
Tight clothes (spandex or not) and bright colors for no reason worked 70 years ago, today it’s just stupid. He looks like a clown.
Yeah, Phantom came before Batman, but then Batman came along and did it better, making The Phantom look like a chump by comparison.
. . . and I guess the quality fiction I mentioned earlier is all dark. But I think Star Trek and much of Superman are quality as well.
But either way, the design above looks pretty interesting. It looks more utilitarian, especially if it’s supposed to be light armor and strength enhancement. I don’t care if they make all kinds of changes to The Phantom’s suit and mythos, because it was silly to begin with. As long as they make something good. . . which still probably won’t happen.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Get rid of the hood and the Keds and maybe, MAYBE it could work….
April 9th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Looks like absolute crap!!
April 9th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I see I’m not the only one who thinks this looks more like it would belong in Frank Herbert’s Dune than in any remake of the Phantom. Two thumbs down!
April 9th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
“But either way, the design above looks pretty interesting. It looks more utilitarian, especially if it’s supposed to be light armor and strength enhancement. I don’t care if they make all kinds of changes to The Phantom’s suit and mythos, because it was silly to begin with. As long as they make something good. . . which still probably won’t happen.”
Yeah but with all of you crap-bashing (5 “craps” in one post- impressive) I think you’re missing the grasp of what many have posted here.
If you’re going to utilize a character (a character that has had huge popularity world-wide for over 70 years) and COMPLETELY change the look of the character (we’re not talking slight costume changes in Dark Knight or leather costumes rather than colorful uniforms in the first X-Men film) then really, what the hell is the point?
Please, someone answer me, why take a LONG established character and RADICALLY change it?
Why not just create an entirely ORIGINAL character and concept.
(and before someone else brings up BSG, remember, it’s relatively new having only been around since the late 70′s and then only on TV and had nowhere near the popularity of The Phantom.)
Are modern day film makers so pathetically desperate that they can’t find someone who can actually come up with a new concept?
And I’m not even a fan of The Phantom (though I do remember not hating the Zane film), I’m just so sick and tired of seeing these same old lame “remakes” of classic (or near classic) characters.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I know it looks like Smallville’s Green Arrow but if any costume needs and update it’s the Phantom’s. And as much as people don’t like the leather new raver look it serves a purpose for proper protection. Leather is a great form of light body armor.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Not very jungle friendly now is it. What’s next, Tarzan in jeans and….oh, yeah, someone did that. I know we need updates to some looks, but like the other posters said, why even bother to pay for the rights when you’re just gonna crap it up?!
April 9th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I keep thinking “I hope Tron kicks this guy’s butt” every time I see this concept art.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I’m not sure about it. I didn’t like the Batman costume for all the movies and outside of the Joel Schumacher films, the costume worked. So the best thing for me to do is wait and see and try not to bury it before the show premieres.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
This is right up there with Tin Man and Flash Gordon for Sci-Fi/SyFy craptacularness.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
What is this suppose to be? The Phantom 2555? Looks like he belongs on the set of Dune.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
If the costume looks like this, I won’t be watching…
April 9th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
That doesn’t look horrible in terms of remakes with the exception of the shoes. Add a domino mask and I think it’s actually a workable idea.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Pitiful. I smell Flash Gordon levels of suckdom in the air.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
..
If this movie were called “The Purple Worm” I’d be intrigued.
..
April 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
His belt buckle seems awfully low. Do you suppose his pants hang low in the back? Revealing striped shorts, perhaps…? (If not…no, mustn’t think of that.)
Sorry, costume guys, but your critics are right. I’d go with a form-fitting purple-black combination with the traditional headpiece and boots. That way, for better or worse, he’ll at least look like the Phantom.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Horrible, just horrible. This is the worst cop-out of design I have ever seen. Its not the artists fault unless he is in charge of creating the look. Right now, the phantom from what I can see in these designs boils down to a young kid in a hybrid snowboard/motorcycle suit. Seriously?! This is the best Sci-Fi can come up with? Why not read the comic and see the last movie with Billy Zane and try and be faithful to the material? This looks as stupid if not more stupid than Dragonball and all other poorly developed licensed films. It looks like a joke and a slap in the face to fans of a great character.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Gosh…does Oliver Queen know this kid stole one of his outfits?
April 9th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
How come nobody has said anything about him missing his ring? That design doesn’t have one on either hand.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
The Zane movie had its flaws, but the costume wasn’t one of them. It was a decent update of the classic design. This new design is flat-out bad.
To the movie-makers, and the posters here: if you don’t like the Phantom, for whatever reason, fine, but don’t ruin something that fans of the character don’t think is broken. The Phantom was created in 1936, predating Batman and Superman, and it could be credibly argued that he was the first costumed superhero character, and has a worldwide fanbase, particularly in Australia, India and Sweden. Show a little respect. Shame on King Features for okaying this.
First rule of superhero movies: the closer you stick to the source material, the better the results.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Really, Syfy? A look like that doesn’t need the phantom name attached to it at all.
Also doesn’t look like a guy whose family have lived for centuries in the jungle.
Hoodies and sneakers do not make a pirate conquering immortal superhero.
Also: gloves make the trademark ring a bit difficult. “Hold still while i take off my glove so i can punch you and mark you with the mark of the phantom!”
April 10th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Well, for one, the hood is just awful. If someone shines a torch in his face, or he is stood in a brightly lit room, they’ll know who he is straight away! He can hardly be the Ghost Who Walks if they all know who he is! It looks more sci fi than anything else. In fact it looks more like one of the space suits the cadets in the new Star Trek trailer are wearing when they are parachuting in the planet’s atmosphere. The only nod to the original is the tiny skull on the belt buckle.
And the whole padded skateboarder thing….one of the reasons Batman put a huge symbol on his chest so they’d aim for it, and because it was very armoured there. Showing where the pads are on the outside means someone will aim for areas not covered with a giant pad and cripple him. Helping the criminals to disable you on your first outing is a genius idea! That could explain why there will be about twenty different incarnations of the Phantom in such a short mini series because they all keep getting killed!!
Going right along the same route as their fantastic success that was Flash Gordon….oh wait…..!!!!!
April 10th, 2009 at 4:27 am
This is absolutely idiotic. But then is it SciFi after all.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:46 am
I like the title change to this blog now (from “Really? This is SyFy’s Phantom” to “This is SyFy’s Phantom” to “FIRST LOOK: Concept Art for the Phantom”).
It seems that someone in the know might be wanting to stave off some hostility now and maybe–just maybe going back to the drawing board for the design.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Steve Says:
April 10th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Going right along the same route as their fantastic success that was Flash Gordon….oh wait…..!!!!!
*****
Not wanting to pick on you (you’re just the latest poster to bring up Flash Gordon), but the failure of Flash Gordon wasn’t in the modernization or updating it in contrast to classic/iconic portrayals, but of not living to audience expectations. The Sci-Fi Flash Gordon was very much in tune with the classic 40s serials (limited prosthetics, make-up and all) AND the comic. Unfortunately, most Flash Gordon “fans” were not familiar with that material. They were more familiar with the 1982 movie with Queen and based all their expectations on it. When compared to the classic pre-1982 fare, the Flash Gordon Sci-Fi series was very true to the source material. However, when compared to the 1982 almost-rock opera, it fell short of expectations.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:05 am
hahahahahahahaha!
April 10th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Did anyone else hear that sound? Yes I believe that’s the sound of Lee Falk spinning in his grave.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Absolute crap!!!
April 10th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
NeoSamurai said
“the Sci-Fi Flash Gordon was very much in tune with the classic 40s serials (limited prosthetics, make-up and all) AND the comic.”
That’s really not true. How much of the original comic have you read. The TV version may have had a few (vague, mostly attitude-oriented) similarities with the serials, but definitely not with the original strip (by which I mean the Alex Raymond one from the thirties, as no other reference to “Flash Gordon comics” is really legitimate).
For that matter, the 1982 movie that you’re branding as a non-representative digression almost directly lifts both plot points and specific visuals from the first year or so of the original strip’s run. So sorry, your point there is, well, not a point.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
It doesnt have any phantom elements except for the skull on the belt and the coloring, why the hell is he wearing a hood, it looks like an insect swallowed the phantom and is slowly digesting him. No scifi, no, bad scifi, stop, (rubs their face in it) bad scifi stop doing this!
April 10th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I’m guessing the costume is intended be an update, not the original. Probably the story is a latter-day Walker who grew up in the modern, urban world and took up the mantle reluctantly in a crisis. And with any luck, he’ll operate in LA or somewhere like that.
Because if they are seriously going to do The Phantom, the Heroic White Jungle Adventurer saving teh Superstitious Natives of the Dark Continent, well, it ain’t gonna be pretty. It always was a racist concept, and that’s not going to fly on national TV.
DC & Marvel’s all-WASP heroes started out beating up on stereotyped (i.e., Italian) mobsters, Yellow Menaces and so forth, but so long as today’s artists & writers carefully avoid reference to the racial makeup of the post-white-flight inner city crime scene, we can avoid outraging modern sensibilities. Heck, they even let Ben Grimm come out of the closet as Jewish a few years back, and in the Ultimate Universe, the Avengers are no longer the All Blue-Eye Squadron. But set your story in Deepest, Darkest Africa, and you really smack up against the fact that our mores have changed a tad since Lee Falk’s day.
April 11th, 2009 at 4:45 am
The Phantom is called “The Phantom” because the family has been using the same costume the past 450 years, claiming to be the same person. I can’t really see a guy in 16th century dressing into any modification of that suit (thought it looks pretty cool as original character design).
And keep in mind that Phantom’s suit is originally gray. After the comic went from black and white, they started colouring the spandex in different colours in different countries. Violet in America, blue in Scandinavia, red in Italy and..if I remember correctly, yellow in India.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Hate it! I will Not watch this!
April 12th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Trilobite:
The need to get away from the colonialist implications of the white hero in Africa makes sense, I can see the need to update the character and the location (though I still think the concept requires that the location be at least somewhat exotic, and not just be LA or something).
I have no basic problem with an updated costume that doesn’t look silly when a real person wears it. I just think that this particular one makes him look like a douchebag.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Awesome! They’ve updated Barney the Dinosaur for the new millennium! =P
April 13th, 2009 at 4:01 am
Superbrando is missing the point altogether,
This is just plain horrible. And its not even a fanboy remark, is a simply “dealing properly with concepts 101″. The concept of the character is a retro look that started centuries ago into our days and that has mostly remained the same, for everyone to belive is the same guy.
Using Batman as an example doesnt really work. Because no matter the updates the character is submited to, like “Batman Beyond”, there always the retro aspect of his costume showing up – the Bat moniker. This is what they should be doing, not…THIS.
“I’m guessing the costume is intended be an update, not the original. Probably the story is a latter-day Walker who grew up in the modern, urban world and took up the mantle reluctantly in a crisis. And with any luck, he’ll operate in LA or somewhere like that.
Because if they are seriously going to do The Phantom, the Heroic White Jungle Adventurer saving teh Superstitious Natives of the Dark Continent, well, it ain’t gonna be pretty. It always was a racist concept, and that’s not going to fly on national TV”
a) i can see something of that angle, but there are a few points to consider:
The costumes in the comic context are already updated as generations go. But not changed if that makes any sense (read above on the Batman point).
b)This simply doesnt look anything that could resemble what the character would look centuries ago, unless they want to change that too..
wich brings us to: why trying to get a license, if what you are doing is something totally different?
c) the political saspect isent as much appearant in the comics anymore. In the current U.S continuity, hes just a guy that at the time was chosen by the tribes to do a job, he didnt imposed anything on anyone.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Ed Says:
April 10th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
NeoSamurai said
“the Sci-Fi Flash Gordon was very much in tune with the classic 40s serials (limited prosthetics, make-up and all) AND the comic.”
That’s really not true. How much of the original comic have you read. The TV version may have had a few (vague, mostly attitude-oriented) similarities with the serials, but definitely not with the original strip (by which I mean the Alex Raymond one from the thirties, as no other reference to “Flash Gordon comics” is really legitimate).
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I guess I’m refering to the trappings and portrayals of the cantons/kingdoms as well as the races in the serials as well as the imagery used. About the only big difference would be the locations. The “aliens” were very human in portrayal in both the classic strips and the serials. The Lion men were heavily bearded men. The Shark Men had weird wet suits and the Hawkmen had glider wings.
Even portraying Ming from an exotic and stereotypical Fu Man Chu wannabe shifted in the serials (more akin to what was in the Sci-Fi series).
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For that matter, the 1982 movie that you’re branding as a non-representative digression almost directly lifts both plot points and specific visuals from the first year or so of the original strip’s run. So sorry, your point there is, well, not a point.
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At the same time, the SciFi series lifted plot points from the first year stories as well. Heck, the 1982 movie lifted plot points from the first Crabbe serial. About the major difference was the pagentry.
My point still stands–people were expecting the 1982 movie and got the 1930s serials.
That’s not to say the 1982 movie was bad (I liked it)–however, it isn’t the only version to which everything should be canonical to.
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