Revisiting The 1990’s Flash

[Jekyll]

It seems a common occurence with comic book T.V. shows that the producers look at what comic book properties are hot and then transfer that aesthetic to whatever comic book property they have.

So with the 1970s SHAZAM! it always seemed to me they wanted to do something like Green Lantern/Green Arrow or another relevant series with a message--but they had Captain Marvel, so they made him over to fit that model--and against what was traditional for the Big Red Cheese. Or with ARROW, because Nolan's DARK KNIGHT was popular, they wanted to do that, but they didn't have the rights, so they used Oliver Queen to fill that role.

Because Tim Burton's BATMAN had been such a hit in 1989, the studio executives wanted to capitalize on that success. Yet what they had was the Flash. So rather than doing a show that was in the spirit of the Scarlet Speedster's comic book, they tried to remake Barry Allen as a quasi-Bruce Wayne.

They got Danny Elfman, who had done the score for BATMAN, to do the music for THE FLASH. They added muscle padding and shading to the suit (although John Wesley Shipp had some large muscles of his own). And they had the city populated with mob bosses. They didn't seem to copy the part of BATMAN where Jack becomes Joker, but stuck with the type of gangsters from the first part of the movie. Unlike BATMAN, they didn't have the elaborate sets--which would have cost too much--but they did shoot on a studio back lot, so Central City had this artificial look to it. And a lot of the action scenes take place at night, whereas I'd argue Flash is more of a daylight character.

There is a weird 1980s becoming 1990s aesthetic which doesn't seem grounded to us now. But I think at the time, they thought their style was gritty and cool. Iris West is a flake, a pretentious art photographer--when she could have been a crime reporter--but artsy photographers became cool by the time of MELROSE PLACE. The motorcycle gang that Pike runs is the kind of gang that could only exist in a Joel Schumacher movie. Nevertheless, they probably believed this was all very dark and realistic.

As the series goes on, they lighten up on that and come closer to the comic book feeling of the Flash. When Pike returns, he's in the lane of a Rogues Gallery candidate. They started to bring in some of the actual Rogues--the best of these being the Trickster. However, Mark Hammill's version is a Joker type character. And that might be what got him the job as a Joker voice actor. In fact, it feels like, just as FLASH borrowed from BATMAN, the animated series would then borrow from FLASH. Prank is like a Harley Quinn prototype. The Nightshade story has elements of the Gray Ghost.

Elfman composed the theme but his orchestrator/conductor from Batman, Shirley Walker composed the music for the show. I say this because Walker is an extremely underrated composer and rarely gets her due. In addition to The Flash, she scored the entire WB DC animated shows including: Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. Her theme for Superman to this day is still my favorite Superman theme.
Unfortunately, she passed away in 2000 well before her time.

[Surf]

You seem to think I hate the show. I love the show.

What I think is your reverence for the show is pretty backhanded at worst, at best your recollections seem to fumble over each other.

So rather than doing a show that was in the spirit of the Scarlet Speedster's comic book, they tried to remake Barry Allen as a quasi-Bruce Wayne.

Except that it was VERY MUCH in the spirit of the Scarlet Speedster and Shipp's Barry was nothing- quasi or otherwise, like Keaton's Bruce Wayne whatsoever.

The motorcycle gang that Pike runs is the kind of gang that could only exist in a Joel Schumacher movie. Nevertheless, they probably believed this was all very dark and realistic.

It was dark and realistic for network television. No 'kind of gang that could only exist in a Joel Schumacher movie' killed any cops like what happened to Barry's brother in The Flash. Maybe I'm reaching here but 1990 foresight vs. what happened in Batman Forever and Batman and Robin years later isn't a good analogy. If that's even what was being relayed.

My thoughts about it are a combination of what I thought at the time and what I thought when I recently saw it again. At the time I thought there was a clear 1989 BATMAN influence and that's what helped to get it made.

This wasn't your lead with so you can understand a broad "huh" element to it right?

It's something that was in my mind in 1990 when I was watching the show. And it was something I struggled with. Because I wanted it to be a pure comic book show--yet I knew it had to satisfy these other needs to get made and for people to watch it. When I came back to THE FLASH for my rewatch, I was debating with myself over that. And those things that bothered me back then, didn't bother me so much now. I just find it interesting to point out these stylistic choices of the period. It's nostalgic now to revisit what was considered "cool" at the time.

I guess I had a way different, and by contrast a more realistic idea of what to expect back in 1990. I remember the wasteland of no cape shows or movies out side of the Reeve Superman and anything close that came out was poured over endlessly. At least it was between MTV and BET videos. Burton's BATMAN begat the The Flash, a perfect and concise followup being it was a pioneer effort, it just didn't catch on in the mainstream. The followup from Reeve Superman was a pair of lame Swamp Thing movies... To Return of Swamp Thing's credit, Durok and the suit was pretty spot on, after that there wasn't any more positives. That was what we had so 'wanting a pure' comic book show had no example to hold it up to, that was just kind of general comic guy snobbery in my opinion. Note sue why cool was in quotes but it was just that.

I'm through picking on you but to anybody who wasn't around at the time, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk was over the moon for us. I must have watched that VHS tape a dozen times after it aired. This was the second television cape team-up but the Return of Hulk with Thor was pretty corny, and the less said about Death of the better but that Daredevil 'pilot' was pretty cold. That was the standard if there ever was one for a tv cape, when The Flash came out, it blew that out of the water, I didn't watch Trial for some time after that.



I still have this poster, which was actually red and the blurring effects were more pronounced but a similar pose but he was front facing. I really need to catch up with all the 1990 cross over stunts the CW did. It's a treat waiting on me for sure... kind of, I'd still have to sit through more CW than I'd like but it is what it is.

[Surf]

Elfman composed the theme but his orchestrator/conductor from Batman, Shirley Walker composed the music for the show. I say this because Walker is an extremely underrated composer and rarely gets her due. In addition to The Flash, she scored the entire WB DC animated shows including: Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. Her theme for Superman to this day is still my favorite Superman theme.
Unfortunately, she passed away in 2000 well before her time.

Right on, thank you for that.

[Jim Kelly]

I didn't intend for my post to say everything I had to say about the show. I was setting the table and hoped to comment more fully about individual episodes and what I thought. But I guess I'll shelve that or post somewhere else.

[Powerboy]

It seems a common occurence with comic book T.V. shows that the producers look at what comic book properties are hot and then transfer that aesthetic to whatever comic book property they have.

So with the 1970s SHAZAM! it always seemed to me they wanted to do something like Green Lantern/Green Arrow or another relevant series with a message--but they had Captain Marvel, so they made him over to fit that model--and against what was traditional for the Big Red Cheese. Or with ARROW, because Nolan's DARK KNIGHT was popular, they wanted to do that, but they didn't have the rights, so they used Oliver Queen to fill that role.

Because Tim Burton's BATMAN had been such a hit in 1989, the studio executives wanted to capitalize on that success. Yet what they had was the Flash. So rather than doing a show that was in the spirit of the Scarlet Speedster's comic book, they tried to remake Barry Allen as a quasi-Bruce Wayne.

They got Danny Elfman, who had done the score for BATMAN, to do the music for THE FLASH. They added muscle padding and shading to the suit (although John Wesley Shipp had some large muscles of his own). And they had the city populated with mob bosses. They didn't seem to copy the part of BATMAN where Jack becomes Joker, but stuck with the type of gangsters from the first part of the movie. Unlike BATMAN, they didn't have the elaborate sets--which would have cost too much--but they did shoot on a studio back lot, so Central City had this artificial look to it. And a lot of the action scenes take place at night, whereas I'd argue Flash is more of a daylight character.

There is a weird 1980s becoming 1990s aesthetic which doesn't seem grounded to us now. But I think at the time, they thought their style was gritty and cool. Iris West is a flake, a pretentious art photographer--when she could have been a crime reporter--but artsy photographers became cool by the time of MELROSE PLACE. The motorcycle gang that Pike runs is the kind of gang that could only exist in a Joel Schumacher movie. Nevertheless, they probably believed this was all very dark and realistic.

As the series goes on, they lighten up on that and come closer to the comic book feeling of the Flash. When Pike returns, he's in the lane of a Rogues Gallery candidate. They started to bring in some of the actual Rogues--the best of these being the Trickster. However, Mark Hammill's version is a Joker type character. And that might be what got him the job as a Joker voice actor. In fact, it feels like, just as FLASH borrowed from BATMAN, the animated series would then borrow from FLASH. Prank is like a Harley Quinn prototype. The Nightshade story has elements of the Gray Ghost.

Definitely, with the film noire Central City, along with the murder of Barry's brother and so on, they are capitalizing on the success of Batman 1989. There was just a hugely successful movie. They adapted the Flash concept to that successful movie. Then you've got the muscle costume, etc. It was still a good show and the first to present a superhero in costume seriously, but also taking advantage of what has already proven to work. Would it have been even better if they had thrown out the Batman 1989 elements? We'll never know.

[Surf]

I think my stock answer to what my favorite episode is has always been 'Fast Forward' (or depending Return of the Trickster) where Pike attempts to kill Barry and inadvertently sends him to the future by way of the missile's impact and the Flash's speed. In the future he doesn't have his speed and there was this cool effect of his speed starting and stalling out. Pike runs the city kind of like a Batman No Man's Land storyline way before the actual Batman No Man's Land plot. Julio with the giant deadlock wig, the dystopian setting. Some of the episodes were pretty plain but clearly some of them you can see where the money and efforts were spent on.

Funny thing is the suit padding really did at times take you out of it cause it was SO big. Like in the conclusion of the episode he returns to his time and he turns the controls to Pike's missile back on him and they show his hands. Usually his fist is bald up and he's punching someone but here he was using his fingers and I remember thinking damn it looks like he has freakin' red winter gloves on. It made his hands look so cumbersome turning those dials even at super speed lol. It was hilarious.

Anyway, always meant too but I've never got around to owning the series on DVD (gonna finally fix that). Back when it aired I recorded most of the episodes on a pair of VHS tapes (we thought that was pretty close to the format of the future and we were kinda right, right?). It just dawned on me there are a couple more of these I have never seen than I thought. 22 episodes, when I go down the listing I think I missed about 4, damn.

I do remember the 2 hour pilot airing twice. Once in prime time and this is when I used to pour over the TV listings and found it was on the schedule again on a Friday night at like midnight. I don't remember if when it initially aired it was preempted for something or what but I recorded the midnight show and I thought that was the coolest **** ever. It started on Thursday's and then it got pushed to Saturday's later in the season which was a sign that this would likely not make it to a season 2. Also I was like 13 or 14 at the time, so I wasn't driving BUT if one of my potnas called and was all, 'I got the car' that was it- let's go, Flash or no Flash. AND My VCR at the time when I was at home was **** and the tuner wasn't always working so it's a wonder that I got to record as many episodes as I did. Because the damn thing was faulty I had to physically be there to make sure the recording actually went, if I set the timer more often than not I got an hour long episode of tv static... which was effing crushing cause back in the day, if you missed it you just missed it.

[obatalla]

The 90s flash show was written better...this new flash started off well but is a mess now...its possible the 90s show might have had the same fate had they had several seasons...

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

TV's First Flash John Wesley Shipp Celebrates 90s Show's 30th Anniversary https://screenrant.com/flash-john-we...h-anniversary/

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

The Flash Shoutout for February 7th GalaxyCon Event! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHr-ad9JluA

[Mace Dolex]

I thought it was a good show, the one with Nightshade and Flash's clone were going in the right direction. I could tell some of the influences Batman '89 had by action scenes taking place at night and Elfman's terrific Flash theme.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

The Flash Full GalaxyCon Q&A

[Mia]

I liked it when it aired. But I prefer it 100 times more than this current iteration which is just a young Peter Parker with Flash's powers. The 90's version was far closer to the book Barry Allen. He behaved like an adult male. Not a man-child.

[Surf]

'This guy' went and bout the CBS Flash DVD set from Ebay about 6 months ago. I started into, got the big-eyed member berries after a couple episodes but haven't picked it back up. I planned to got back to them and will soon because there are still a couple of them I haven't seen ever.

It's a petty gripe but big padded costume really takes me out sometimes, dude didn't even need the padded muscle. Is what it was. Ima pick it back up.