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Trying to figure out if your television is going to switch over to SciFi Channel at 9 o'clock Friday night for the new "Flash Gordon"?

Some of the more savvy television viewers say that you should never go by what the critics say, but it never hurts to hear what others who have already seen an episode have to say, right?

There were a few good reviews of the comic book revival series starring Eric Johnson and Gina Holden, but it seems that if "Flash Gordon" wants to reach the level of some of SciFi Channel's other original series, they will have some work to do.

If you're reading this, then you already know that Airlock Alpha wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the show. Michael Hinman (hey, that's me!) had this to say about the show:

I want to say that the producers just tried too hard, and in the process missed their mark. Instead, however, it may be that the producers didn't try hard enough, and instead of bringing viewers a smart remake, they simply delivered "Cleopatra 2525."

Harsh words? Maybe. Hal Boedeker from the Orlando Sentinel in Florida said that ...

This 'Flash Gordon' is more appealing when it stays on Earth rather than when it visits the planet Mongo. That eerie place is ruled by Ming the Merciless (John Ralston). This Ming ain't got the old zing -- he's rather subdued. This Flash has the legs for a long run. Will he have the writing to make it so?

Vince Horiuchu from The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah thought just a tad bit differently.

Remember the operatic strains of Queen's rock anthem for 'Flash Gordon'? Flash! Aaaaa aaaahhh! Well, for the new SciFi series remake of the pulp science-fiction comic strip, it's more like Flash! Ooooohhh Nooo!

Robert Bianco from USA Today wasn't impressed either.

If you need a symbol for everything that's wrong with 'Flash,' John Ralston's lifeless Ming will serve. Obviously, the traditional, insensitive quasi-Asian take on Ming would be a hard sell these days, but that doesn't explain the transformation of Mongo's once grandly flamboyant emperor into a penny-ante deluded dictator, and a dull one to boot. Offending viewers is always a mistake, but so is putting them to sleep.

Tom Shales of The Washington Post said:

This 'Flash' jumps the shark right out of the gate. As light summer fare, most of it done with a campy wink at the camera, 'Flash Gordon' is by no means unbearable. But the fonder one's memories of the original, the more likely the viewer will want to send this 'Flash' back.

Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter saw some of the same problems that SyFy did in his review.

It has a nice air of self-deprecation that assures us it's in on the joke, that this is less about threats to our planet than subtly cheeky good fun. Yet the 90-minute kickoff and a subsequent hour of the SciFi Channel series still somehow feel forced and somewhat empty, perhaps for teh very reason that it wants things both ways. It's tough to get a sci-fi project to work as both effective drama and light-hearted fantasy, and 'Flash' can't quite effectively bridge that gap.

Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune found a lot of dialogue cliches in the pilot, something that can definitely be a turnoff for viewers expecting to find something more along the lines of "Battlestar Galactica," or heck, even "Stargate SG-1."

Done in a spirit of campy, good-natured fun, that kind of cheeseball writing might get a pass. But this iteration of the 73-year-old interstellar adventure doesn't have the dexterity to pull off a 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'-level take on the Flash Gordon mythology. This is a cheap-looking, uninspsired remake that aspires to a B-movie level, and most often flounders in that attempt.

Although the critics don't adore this new "Flash Gordon," maybe there's some hope for it after all, at least from UGO's Troy Rogers.

'Flash Gordon' is loaded with potential, but it's still too early to call. My fellow Mongo citizens, let's hope we'll see a few Hawkmen, Treemen, swamp moons and forest moons along the way.

"Flash Gordon" premieres Aug. 10 at 9 p.m. ET on SciFi Channel.

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