The Flash (TV series)
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| The scarlet speedster | |
|---|---|
| Image:Flash DVD.jpg DVD Box Art for The Flash: The Complete Series from Warner Home Video. | |
| Format | Action Science Fiction |
| Created by | Danny Bilson Paul De Meo |
| Starring | John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen/The Flash Amanda Pays as Dr. Tina McGee Alex Désert as Julio Mendez Notable Guest Stars: Mark Hamill as James Jesse/The Trickster |
| Opening theme | Danny Elfman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45 minutes (60 with commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Picture format | 4:3 Standard |
| Original run | September 20, 1990 – May 18, 1991 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Flash was a live action CBS television series from 1990-1991 that starred John Wesley Shipp as the superhero, The Flash, and co-starred Amanda Pays. The series was created by the writing team of Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo and composer Danny Elfman wrote the series’ title theme.[1][2][3]
Contents |
[edit] Pilot
The series' pilot episode features an accident in which Central City Police forensic scientist Barry Allen's crime lab is struck by lightning. Allen is bathed in electrified chemicals. He soon discovers with the help of S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Tina McGee that the accident has changed his body's metabolism and as a result he has gained the ability to move at superhuman speed. To avenge the murder of his brother, motorcycle police officer Jay (named after the Golden Age Flash), Barry becomes The Flash. Tina modifies a red S.T.A.R. Labs prototype deep sea diving suit, designed to withstand tremendous pressures, as his Flash costume.
[edit] Rogues Gallery and cancellation
The series initially had a dark and gritty tone, and focused on having The Flash confront decidedly human villains, like corrupt officials and mobsters. Midway through the series' run, however, a few of The Flash's familiar "Rogues Gallery" of colorful supervillains began making appearances.
The most famous Rogues in the series were The Trickster, played by Mark Hamill, and his sidekick Prank, played by Corinne Bohrer. This foreshadowed Hamill's subsequent success at playing The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. Hamill would later reprise the role of The Trickster on an episode of Justice League Unlimited. Captain Cold, played by Michael Champion, and Mirror Master, played by David Cassidy, also appeared in their own episodes. Although fans were pleased to see more DC characters' inclusions in the series, the interpretations were radically different from the source material (with the exception of Hamill's Trickster). Captain Cold, for instance, was turned into an albino hitman while the Mirror Master was little more than a common thug with a nickname.
Ultimately, these appearances were too little, too late to save the series, which struggled with a high per-episode price tag, stiff competition from NBC's strong Thursday night lineup and Fox, and frequent preemptions due to breaking coverage of the Persian Gulf War and NBA basketball games, resulting in low ratings, a fluctuating time slot which resulted a shift to Saturdays by the spring, and, eventually, cancellation after a single season.
[edit] Recurring themes/running gags
The series had certain recurring themes/running gags, such as Barry secretly using his superhuman speed to his or others' benefit – both in and out of costume – moving so fast as to be unseen, and the corresponding surprised reactions of others when things seemed to move or happen with no visible cause.
Another recurring theme was the fact that a side-effect of Barry's powers was a ravenous hunger, due to his body requiring food to replace the tremendous amount of energy he used at super-speed; he would often be shown consuming huge meals, as well as sneaking snacks whenever he could, sometimes at super-speed (such as consuming an entire tray of hors d'œuvres at a reception when no one was looking, or drinking an entire gallon jug of milk in less than five seconds, using enough suction to crush the jug when it empties). In the recently relaunched Flash comic book series, the hero had the same metabolic limitation.
[edit] Home video: VHS and DVD
For over a decade after the series' end, the only episodes commercially available were in three VHS "movies", two of which were compilations of similarly-themed episodes re-edited into a movie-length feature:
- The Flash — the series' movie-length pilot (which had been re-edited into two separate episodes after its initial complete airing)
- The Flash II: Revenge of The Trickster — compilation of episodes "The Trickster" and "Trial of the Trickster", featuring Mark Hamill's turn as the titular villain
- The Flash III: Deadly Nightshade — compilation of episodes "Ghost In The Machine" and "Deadly Nightshade", where The Flash teams up with Nightshade (played by Jason Bernard), a now middle-aged costumed hero who was the protector of Central City in his youth. This third Flash VHS tape was only released in the United Kingdom (region 2, PAL format).
The complete series is now available as a DVD set, released by Warner Bros. on January 10, 2006. Many of the original releases of the set suffered from a flaw on Disc 1 which manifested just before the final segment of the episode "Pilot", causing the scene to skip or freeze, and ultimately caused a return to the disc's main menu before the final segment was complete. When the problem was discovered, Warner Bros. corrected the flaw and issued "fixed" versions of Disc 1 in exchange for the flawed versions.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| John Wesley Shipp | Barry Allen/The Flash |
| Amanda Pays | Christina 'Tina' McGee |
| Alex Désert | Julio Mendez |
| Mike Genovese | Lt. Warren Garfield |
| Richard Belzer | Joe Kline |
| Gloria Reuben | Sabrina |
| Dick Miller | Fosnight |
| Mark Hamill | James Jesse/The Trickster |
| Michael Champion | Leonard Snart/Captain Cold |
| David Cassidy | Sam Scudder/Mirror Master |
| Joyce Hyser | Megan Lockhart |
| Biff Manard | Officer Michael Francis Murphy |
| Vito D'Ambrosio | Officer Tony Bellows |
| Michael Nader | Nicolas Pike |
| Jason Bernard | Desmond Powell/The Nightshade |
[edit] Episodes
- Episode 1 - Pilot: The origin of a superhero. An accident gives police crime lab expert Barry Allen awesome powers of speed, and he vows to use them to bring his brother's murderer to justice. But first, Allen must learn to control his sudden, remarkable talents.
- Episode 2 - Out of Control: He needs subjects for genetic-engineering research. Tina's former colleague is the main suspect when the bodies of murdered homeless people mysteriously disappear from crime scenes.
- Episode 3 - Watching the Detectives: A crooked D.A. discovers the superhero's civilian identity and uses that information to blackmail him into becoming his secret accomplice.
- Episode 4 - Honor Among Thieves: Guarding a priceless exhibit has the police stretched thin. A situation a criminal mastermind exploits citywide with several thefts.
- Episode 5 - Double Vision: A mad scientist implants a device in the superhero's brain and gains remote control of his powers.
- Episode 6 - Sins of the Father: Ex-cop Henry Allen dismisses Barry's modern police techniques until his son captures an escaped con targeting Henry.
- Episode 7 - Child's Play: A 60's drug icon who faked his own death and went into hiding reasserts himself by unleashing a new addictive designer drug on the world.
- Episode 8 - Shroud of Death: Barry puts together bits of metal found at crime scenes and discovers they form a neo-fascist group's medallion, with Lt. Garfield as the group's next target.
- Episode 9 - Ghost in the Machine: The Ghost controls the airwaves, tapping into video feeds just as he did back in 1955. Nightshade, a crimefighter of that era, resurfaces to fight him with The Flash joining him.
- Episode 10 - Sight Unseen: A criminal who developed a cloaking device renders himself invisible and establishes a deadly vendetta endangering Star Labs and Central City.
- Episode 11 - Beat the Clock: The Flash must race against time and the electric chair to prove the innocence of a jazz saxophonist who was convicted of murdering his famous wife.
- Episode 12 - Tina, Is That You?: Tina embarks on a crime spree with an all-girl gang after a disastrous bio-feedback experiment, and her first target is The Flash!
- Episode 13 - The Trickster: The hunter becomes the hunted as a schizophrenic killer being pursued by Megan Lockheart begins to stalk her. Inspired by The Flash, the villain dons a flashy outfit and calls himself The Trickster.
- Episode 14 - Be My Baby: The Flash helps a mother protect her child against her dangerous husband, who wants the child only for its genetic potential.
- Episode 15 - Fast Forward: While pursuing his brother's killer The Flash is sent ten years into the future, where Nicholas Pike is the mayor of Central City and any mention of The Flash is against the law.
- Episode 16 - Deadly Nightshade: The Flash and Nightshade team up once again to stop a murderous vigilante who has taken Nightshade's name.
- Episode 17 - Captain Cold: On the hottest day of the year, four gangsters are found frozen to death. They are the victims of a notorious hitman known as Captain Cold, and his next target may be The Flash.
- Episode 18 - Twin Streaks: A scientist uses The Flash's blood to clone Barry Allen, and the clone decides to assume Barry's identity.
- Episode 19 - Done with Mirrors: A criminal genius using mirrors and holograms to commit his crimes hunts down his double-crossing partner, whose found refuge with one of her old high school friends — Barry Allen!
- Episode 20 - Good Night, Central City: When bodies begin disappearing from the police morgue and a gang of thieves start putting people to sleep, it falls to The Flash to save the victims and clear Barry Allen's name at the same time.
- Episode 21 - Alpha: An conscience-stricken android seeks The Flash's aid to avoid being programmed as the perfect assassin.
- Episode 22 - The Trial of the Trickster: The Trickster is preparing to go on trial, but with the help of his sidekick, Prank, and a brainwashing device, he soon enlists The Flash's assistance in passing judgement on Central City.
[edit] Trivia
- The comic book version of the Trickster developed a variety of "gag" weapons over the years, but initially his gimmick was a pair of flying shoes. James Jesse, inspired by his reverse-namesake Jesse James, used his flying shoes to rob airplanes in mid-flight. The flying ability was completely negated from the TV series and instead the Trickster used a variety of joke weapons. (Following Mark Hamill's appearance on the TV show, an occasional recurring in-joke was used in the comics, where the Trickster, while using his flying shoes, quipped that he was "doing his Luke Skywalker imitation.")
- In the original TV series broadcast, episodes 12 and 13 were shown out of sequence; episode 12 makes direct reference to events from episode 13.
- Joyce Hyser would appear as the character Megan Lockhart in 3 episodes.
- In the comics, Barry Allen died in the mid-80's maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths, sacrificing himself to save all of reality. He was replaced by Wally West, his nephew by marriage. Some of this is referenced in the episode "Fast Forward", when Barry lands ten years in the future to find Central City in the hands of the madman who killed his brother, Nicholas Pike. Time travel was a common plot device in the comics and used extensively to allow Barry to interact with his successor after his death. Barry was also capable of entering alternate dimensions with the use of what he called the cosmic treadmill.
- In "Deadly Nightshade", Nightshade reveals that he knew Fosnight when he was "running numbers" for Gorilla Grodd. Presumably, this Grodd was a human mobster with a convenient nickname. In the comics, Grodd was an actual gorilla, a hyper-intelligent renegade from a hidden city of gorillas in Africa. According to Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo in a 2006 interview, if the TV series had continued, Gorilla Grodd would've made an appearance in Season 3.
- The character of Nightshade has some elements clearly influenced by golden age DC character Sandman, such as his signature appearance (gas mask, trenchcoat and fedora) or his use of a non-lethal knockout gun. Other elements might be references to another Golden Age superhero, Dr. Mid-Nite.
- In "Watching The Detectives", Tina is expecting a call from Carter Hall. Carter Hall is, in the comics, a museum curator who spends his nights as Hawkman.
- Numerous references to the Flash legacy are referenced throughout the show. S.T.A.R. Labs is located on Garrick Avenue and Barry's older Brother is named Jay. Jay Garrick was the name of the original Flash.
- Barry, when pretending to be the scientist who "created" The Flash, calls himself Professor Zoom. Professor Zoom, a.k.a. the Reverse-Flash, was a madman from the future who wore an inverted version of the Flash's costume (primarily yellow in answer to the Flash's red suit, with a red lightning bolt). His real name was Eobard Thawne, and he was a distant relative of the Allens.
- In the comics, Barry and Iris West married. She was a reporter in the vein of Lois Lane and was noted for landing the first interview with the Flash. More notably, Iris' nephew Wally became the third Flash following Barry's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the TV show, Barry's nephew Shawn bears a striking resemblance to Wally.
- Tina McGee never actually met Barry Allen in the comics. She was an associate of Wally West's Flash. Her story about her husband falling victim to his own experiments, however, was present in the comics. Instead of being named David, in the comics he's Jerry, and he survives his tests, though he's left horribly deformed. His experiments in the comics involved replicating the Flash's abilities as mass-production. He was briefly known as Speed Demon or Speed McGee.
- Danny Elfman's theme tune is extremely similar to his theme from Batman. In fact, its main musical motif is virtually identical. You can also see Batman-Movieposters in episode 7, 14 and 16.
- The Asian reporter who hounds Barry in early episodes was named Linda Park. In the comics, she hounded Wally West. The two started out with an adversarial relationship, but eventually fell in love and got married.
- Executive producers Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo became the writers of the Flash comic book series beginning with The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #1 (2007), scripting a total of eight issues of the series' 13 issues. The series focused on Bart Allen, Barry's grandson. Another regular writer on the show, Howard Chaykin, is currently doing the art for DC Comics' Hawkgirl.
- The Flash costume was designed and created by Robert Short, based upon the Barry Allen-era costume of the comics. Notable changes from the suit's comics counterpart include more dramatic "lightning bolt" trim on the gloves and symmetrical lighning bolt design on the belt, and plain red boots instead of yellow trimmed with "wings" similar to the mask. The detailing of the mask around the mouth was also slightly modified. The new symmetrical belt and wingless (but still yellow) boots later made it into the Flash comics.
- Mark Hamill later reprised his role as the Trickster in an episode of Justice League Unlimited focusing on Wally West's Flash. It was his third role in the series, after The Joker and Solomon Grundy.
- When The Trickster first appears he does so as a maniacal stage magician. This is possibly a reference to Abra Kadabra, a Flash villain from the 64th Century where the science of his era resembles magic in ours.
[edit] Comic Book
A comic book tie-in special based on the TV series was published by DC Comics in 1991 titled The Flash TV Special #1 running at 76 pages, featured two stories (one story was written by John Byrne with art by Javier Saltares), plus a behind-the-scenes look on the making of the TV series with photos.
[edit] Video Game
A video game was released for Game Boy in 1991 by THQ, and was based on the TV series. It was released in the US and had a password system.
The Flash | |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Gardner Fox • Harry Lampert • Bob Kanigher • Carmine Infantino • John Broome • Mark Waid • Mike Wieringo |
| Flash: | Jay Garrick • Barry Allen • Wally West • Bart Allen |
| Supporting characters: | Iris West Allen • Linda Park • Max Mercury • Johnny Quick • Jesse Chambers • Tornado Twins |
| Villains: | Abra Kadabra • Black Flash • Captain Cold • Captain Boomerang • Cobalt Blue • Gorilla Grodd • Heat Wave • Inertia • Manfred Mota • Mirror Master • Pied Piper • Reverse-Flash • Top • Trickster • Weather Wizard • The Rogues |
| Locations: | Central City • Keystone City • Flash Museum • Speed Force |
| Miscellanea: | Flash of Two Worlds • The Flash in other media • The Flash (TV series) • The Flash (video game) • Justice League Heroes: The Flash • Cosmic treadmill |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Flash at the Internet Movie Database
- The Flash: Revenge of the Trickster at the Internet Movie Database
- Flash III: Deadly Nightshade at the Internet Movie Database
- Episode Guide from SciFi.com
- Crimson Lightning - A blog featuring regular reviews of The Flash television series.
- Interview about the series with lead actor John Wesley Shipp
- Pet Fly Podcast Page including a downloadable commentary track, in which series developers Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo discuss the Trial of the Trickster episode
- The TV series on Hyperborea
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