Revisiting The 1990’s Flash

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What the heck his Flash retrospective

Awesome that John Wesley Shipp's association with the Flash continues to this day.

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Celebrating 30 Years of “The Flash” with John Wesley Shipp

[Riv86672]

You know, I never thought this show would still be talked about 30 years later.

One of the things I appreciate most about the CW show is how they didn’t sweep it under the rug. JWS was front and center from day one; and though they took a bit of a roundabout way to get there, seeing him put on The Mercury helmet and assume the Golden Age Flash identity is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in over 40 years of being a comics fan.
They even gave him (as yet another version of the Flash) one of the most important/famous scenes in the Crisis crossover.

CW did right by JWS.

[Jekyll]

30 years?! WOW!!!! I still love this show and glad we got to see JWS revisit the character in the crossovers.

[Jim Kelly]

I rewatched the whole series back in February-March and I had meant to post at length about it then, but I never got around to it. And now it's not as fresh in my mind as it was then, but I will see if I can recall some of the points I wanted to make--and post those at a later time.

I had watched the series when it first aired and loved it. John Wesley Shipp will always be my Flash. I watched other things after the series like DAWSON'S CREEK just because he was in them. And when I learned that J.W.S. would be on the new FLASH series, that was all I needed to give that show a chance. It's been disappointing to see him appear so rarely there--but every time he's shown up it's been the highlight of the episode.

Now with this Flashpoint movie--is it too much to hope he could get a cameo in the pic? Given the premise and the return of other favourites from the Multiverse, it should be a no-brainer. It was the Keaton BATMAN in 1989 that made THE FLASH a reality as a T.V. show.

[Powerboy]

I stand by my comments. The fact that a villain returned means nothing. How many times did the Joker appear in a season of 1966 Batman?

Mind you, I loved the 1990s Flash (and am really sorry that it's no longer up on CW Seed), but there is absolutely no reason to believe that the show would have changed from its episodic format to something akin to our modern-day Flash. (I would love to see the modern-day Flash meet a modern-day Nightshade, maybe the grandson of a Central City hero who nobody remembers any more (because they didn't have the internet back then).

Sandy Hausler

Well, yeah. Look at the Wild Wild West from the 1960s. How many times did Dr. Loveless return? Four appearances in the first season alone and one of them had specific references to the previous appearances.

I loved the Flash. It was in the days when television was transitioning from complete standalone episodes to having at least some minimal subplots though I don't remember many Flash subplots that carried over to subsequent episodes which is what I mean by subplots, that they had any continuing relevance and that the characters changed.

I took the clone to be their version of the Reverse Flash though he wasn't really a villain. I loved Mark Hamill's take on the Trickster. Like most people in that era when nothing really changed, I wanted the relationship between Barry and Tina to progress.

I loved the film noir quality of the show. Of course, it was done because it had just been done very successfully in the Tim Burton Batman movie the previous year more than because it fit the Flash. But it still worked.

Most of the supporting characters are stereotypes and/ or there for comedy relief. It was close enough to the present to have the big scientist genius be a woman without coming across as a supermodel pretending to be a scientist. But, for whatever reason, they didn't just have Amanda Pays play Dr. Iris West. Same character she played. Different name. Instead, nobody wanted Barry to end up with that version of Iris and, of course, wanted him to end up with Tina.

Yet, in spite of these criticisms, the show was a huge step forward in superhero shows. "The Incredible Hulk" was the first show about a comic book character, however altered, to truly present the concept as something dramatic and serious. Yes, a lot of it seems corny now and some of it did even then. But compared to the 1950s television Superman, or Batman or Wonder Woman, it was a giant leap forward in character realism. The Flash took things a little further if only in the respect that it added having the main character wear a costume and call himself by a codename and still be fairly realistic in terms of the characterization and feelings of the main characters.

I saw an interview where John Wesley Shipp basically said that it was a different era and the new show takes it to levels his show could only dream about.

[Powerboy]

You know, I never thought this show would still be talked about 30 years later.

One of the things I appreciate most about the CW show is how they didn’t sweep it under the rug. JWS was front and center from day one; and though they took a bit of a roundabout way to get there, seeing him put on The Mercury helmet and assume the Golden Age Flash identity is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in over 40 years of being a comics fan.
They even gave him (as yet another version of the Flash) one of the most important/famous scenes in the Crisis crossover.

CW did right by JWS.

When you think about it, the people making the CW shows almost worshipped the 1990 Flash show. They paid homage in every way they could. They cast JWS as Barry's father and as an alternate reality Earth 2 Jay Garrick/ Flash and as the character from the 1990 show. They even implied some stuff about what that character did after the show ended including the marriage to Tina that everyone wanted and even gave him the big heroic sacrifice in the Crisis.

They brought in a version of Dr. Tina McGee and brought in a version of the Trickster played by Mark Hamill instead of some new, younger actor and who seems to have shown up for the first time in 1990 and did stuff like he did in the 1990 show only there was no Flash to stop him.

They made the show canon with the Crisis meaning it is canon for purposes of the CW shows. Unless I'm overlooking something, it was the furthest back alternate reality they made canon until they did a cameo that implies the 1960s Batman is also CW canon in some form. I think they meant to imply that every live action movie and show ever done by DC is canon but they didn't have time to show them all or living actors.

But yes, they have paid tribute to the show in every possible way.

[Riv86672]

When you think about it, the people making the CW shows almost worshipped the 1990 Flash show. They paid homage in every way they could. They cast JWS as Barry's father and as an alternate reality Earth 2 Jay Garrick/ Flash and as the character from the 1990 show. They even implied some stuff about what that character did after the show ended including the marriage to Tina that everyone wanted and even gave him the big heroic sacrifice in the Crisis.

They brought in a version of Dr. Tina McGee and brought in a version of the Trickster played by Mark Hamill instead of some new, younger actor and who seems to have shown up for the first time in 1990 and did stuff like he did in the 1990 show only there was no Flash to stop him.

They made the show canon with the Crisis meaning it is canon for purposes of the CW shows. Unless I'm overlooking something, it was the furthest back alternate reality they made canon until they did a cameo that implies the 1960s Batman is also CW canon in some form. I think they meant to imply that every live action movie and show ever done by DC is canon but they didn't have time to show them all or living actors.

But yes, they have paid tribute to the show in every possible way.

No I think you covered it pretty well.
The CW Flash guys are some huge ol’ fanboys!

[Jim Kelly]

Some of my notes on the cast--


The Allen Family:
Barry Patrick Allen (the Flash)--John Wesley Shipp--C.S.I. for C.C.P.D.
Jay Allen--Tim Thomerson--Barry's brother, C.C.P.D. (deceased)
Nora Allen--Patricia Pointer--Barry's mother
Henry Allen--M. Emmett Walsh--Barry's father, former cop
Shawn Allen--Justin Burnette--Barry's nephew, Jay's son

Series regulars:
Dr. Christina McGee--Amanda Pays--S.T.A.R. Labs
Julio Ramirez--Alex Désert--Barry's C.S.I. partner
Sabrina--Gloria Reuben--Julio's girl friend
Joe Kline--Richard Belzer--T.V. reporter, "Voice of the City"
Lt. Warren Garfield--Mike Genovese--C.C.P.D.
Mavis Garfield--Lenor Kasdorf--waitress, Garfield's fiancée, later wife
Tony Bellows--Vito D'Ambrosio--C.C.P.D.
Murphy--Biff Manard--C.C.P.D.
Reg--Robert Shayne--newsstand vendor
Fosnight--Dick Miller--a penny ante felon (three card monty, picket pocket, minor scams), informant for Nightshade, used to work for Gorilla Grodd, becomes Barry's informant

Guest stars:
James Jesse (the Trickster)--Mark Hammill
Zoey Clark (Prank)--Corrinne Borher
Dr. Desmond Powell (Nightshade)--Jason Bernard
Curtis Bohannan (Deadly Nightshade)--Richard Burgi
Nicholas Pike--Michael Nader
Megan Lockhart--Joyce Hyser
Iris West--Paula Marshall
Linda Lake--Angela Bassett
Sam Scudder (Mirror Master)--David Cassidy
Mr. Moses--Bryan Cranston
Rebecca Frost--Denise Crosby
Felicia Kane--Jeri Ryan
Linda Park--Mariko Tse
Russell (the Ghost)--Anthony Starke
Belle Crocker (the Ghostless)--Lois Nettleton--the Ghost's moll
Terry Cohan--Jonathan Brandis
Roger Braintree--Bill Mumy
Leonard Wynters (Captain Cold)--Michael Champion
Jimmy Swain--Jeffrey Combs--mob boss

Comic book references:
Julius Schwartz, Garfield's predecessor at C.C.P.D., figured out the true identity of Nightshade.
The Hotel Infantino, also called the Infantino Hotel, is on Fox & Broome.
The Garrick Gallery is an art gallery in Central City.

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The Flash (1990) 1x01 - "Pilot" Reaction Part 1

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The Flash (1990) 1x01 - "Pilot" Reaction Part 2

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The Flash (1990) 1x01 - "Pilot" Reaction Part 3

[Jim Kelly]

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.

[Surf]

In 1990 comic book T.V. shows were not a common occurrence. Producers in TV follow cinematic trends, period. Many a 'hot' comic property have come and gone past many a tv project waiting to align itself. Looking at 1990's The Flash through 2020 eyes is extremely short sighted, especially for an old poster.

What The Flash wasn't, isn't the point. This was the boldest, most true comic property at the time and for many, many years after. Outside of overall successes of course, creatively The CBS Flash series was to television what the first Reeve Superman was to the movies.

Kenneth Johnson was the main producer of the CBS Incredible Hulk series and for all the great writing credits he has, (V still being one of my favorites) he's the reason the Hulk never ran into another comic bad guy in 80 episodes. Bill Bixby had to EP a pair of Hulk projects his damn self 5 years after the series ended just to put Thor and Daredevil in a TV movie a piece.

Burton's BATMAN was way much more than 'a hit'. Yea, Bilson and DeMeo got Danny Elfman to score the show fresh from his seminal work on BATMAN and it was fantastic too, Elfman's career has never looked back since. BATMAN's influence didn't end with The Flash, tonally that 40's era aesthetic shown up in every post-Burton Bat movie until Returns came out in '92. Dick Tracy, The Shadow and The Phantom pulled from that same look. If we didn't have '89 BATMAN, we don't have a look for anything Bruce Timm did all the way through JLU. BATMAN '89 was the alpha, it's safe to assume that yea, the next closest Justice League members tv project, in terms of time might have some elements taken away and used.

Television is planned out so it appropriately took some time for the series to develop out from the 2 hour pilot by the time they got to The Return of the Trickster. Lighten up isn't something I'd say the series did a great deal of, I remember a couple pretty gruesome killings. There was a real balance to it all.

Yes, the costume was mad overly bulky but padding in costumes was brand new and this was still early on. The suit looked fucking fantastic even as yoked as Shipp looked in it. Yes, Iris felt like she came from Melrose Place but again, tv trends, the show was shot in 1989. You wanna take points away from the Dozier Batman cause Paul Lind showed up? Not for nuthin Iris was ALWAYS a corny character, the weakest of all the cape girlfriends outside of Carol Faris.

The really DOPE stuff we DID get is a much longer list. We got nearly every major Flash rogue over that short single series span except for Grodd and Piper. We got an old hero from the past in Nightshade AND he was Black. We got a Flash clone episode with Pollox, a tech villain, a days of future past type dimension travel episode. Star Labs, a dude I feel was Blockbuster in the pilot, and like was said a precursor to Mark Hamill's joker as the Trickster. On top of all that great VFX. Barry cleaned his house, ate and tried to appear in two places at one time at superspeed unlike the CW version who only does Flash shit in the suit behind a ton of CGI. He discovered different powers week after week, Julio had a girlfriend which was very cool on the black friend tip, on and on. Fantastic short ran series.

[Jim Kelly]

In 1990 comic book T.V. shows were not a common occurrence. Producers in TV follow cinematic trends, period. Many a 'hot' comic property have come and gone past many a tv project waiting to align itself. Looking at 1990's The Flash through 2020 eyes is extremely short sighted, especially for an old poster.

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

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. I never said 1990 comic book T.V. shows were a common occurence. I was saying across time, comic book T.V. shows tend to get made based on another popular thing--so that's the hook they use to sell the producers on making the show. It was BATMAN with THE FLASH. DAWSON'S CREEK (and other shows) for SMALLVILLE. There was probably another property that was influencing the first season of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN when it got made. That just serves to explain why the shows look and feel the way they do.

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.

Just because I think about the show, question the choices and try to come up with possible answers, that isn't slamming the show. I wouldn't invest my time in talking about it, if it wasn't something that interested and entertained me.