...at least, I think that he is... [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K-QIjfaiiU&feature=player_embedded#![/yt] Ok, you all can start hating or loving it now...
Hating, I think, though I do have a soft spot for the character. There's a big budget movie in the planning, unrelated to this or the (under-rated) Billy Zane movie. Hope it does the character more justice than this looks like it will do.
I also liked the Zane movie when it came out. It was just a bit ahead of its time for the masked comic hero gendre.
It looks alright. Seems like they are going for a modernized take on the Phantom. It's also kinda neat that they are making this Phantom the 22nd (I think they are only up to the 21st in the comics). That gives the writers some wiggle room to use elements from the source material, but still allow them to go their own way as well w/o having to slavishly adhere to it. I can't get a good look at the costume in the trailer. From the brief glimpses, it seems somewhat reminiscent of Green Arrow's costume from Smallville. Incidentally, the main character seems to have a taste for wearing purple when not in costume (much like our Smallville heroes wearing their respective superhero colors) One thing that did surprise me in that trailer was the level of violence. I have nothing against violence, mind you, but for a TV show, it seems surprisingly graphic, specifically the beheading bit. Perhaps it was just the way the trailer was edited.
It is indeed a hideous costume. I don't know how they could think it's less risible than the classic costume. And really, the classic costume isn't that bad. It's basically a ninja suit with a domino mask. (And striped trunks, but those can be omitted easily enough.) Okay, it's purple, but you can just make it a deep purple that's almost black, or go with Lee Falk's original intention and give him a grey outfit.
I have a soft spot for the Billy Zane movie, too. It's a good, old-fashioned Saturday matinee adventure flick, like an old 1960's TARZAN flick. I would have loved it when I was ten . . . . It was probably too old-fashioned and modest in its ambitions to compete with today's big comic book blockbusters, but it's a fun little movie which I've watched more than once. Although Patrick McGoohan was way too old at that point to play the previous Phantom. Not for a moment did I buy that he had been running around in purple tights shortly before his death.
I liked the Zane movie. I also liked the animated series Phantom 2040, which was developed and story-edited by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, although it had dreadful animation (and character designs by Aeon Flux creator Peter Chung, whose style I've never liked). That was about the 24th Phantom, and was set 18 years after the death of the 23rd Phantom, putting that event in 2022. That's hard to reconcile with this miniseries having the 22nd Phantom begin his career in 2010. And they're both hard to reconcile with the Zane movie having the 21st Phantom active in the 1930s. I know, I know, different adaptations and all, and the comics themselves have used a sliding timescale, but given that the Phantom is the ultimate legacy hero, it would be nice if the different incarnations fit together better chronologically, because they theoretically could if you just jiggered the numbers a little.
^ Which brings us to the part where I shamelessly plug my upcoming comic about the 12th Phantom, due out sometime soon. (THE PHANTOM: GENERATIONS #12.) I confess I rented the Billy Zane movie and watched it again for inspiration.
The Billy Zane flick is campy and has a lot of plot holes, but it has its fun. I do however hope there is a quality adaptation someday! I suppose its easy for some just to latch onto the pirates and absurdity of the purple suit, but there's much more to the comic than that. I still have the old Four Color and Harvey Hits and Gold Key editions. My Dad swears by the Phantom, though I must confess I've always preferred Flash Gordon. There's another guy who's do for a proper telling. ;0) ETA Wasn't there supposed to be another Shadow movie or a Mandrake show with Jonathan Rhys Meyers? The Alec Baldwin Shadow is at least serviceable. Do you believe my Dad still listens to the radio show?
Absolutely. I don't expect the new cinematic version to refer to the Zane one (they've specifically said it won't be a sequel to it) but it would be nice if it didn't contradict it either. You know, if you didn't know anything about that movie, then well and good, you enjoy this one on its own merits. But equally, it would be nice if you could choose, if you wanted, to assume that this Phantom, whoever plays him, was the grandson or great-grandson of Zane's version. Your own personal continuity, so to speak.