THE FLASH (1990) Television Series Discussion

[Edd Grayson]

I've never heard of this before. But I am pretty young and Flash isn't really my favorite DC hero. 

[BatmAngelus]

The whole series is available to watch on the CW Seed
http://cwseed.com/shows/the-flash-classic/

I'm mainly familiar with the current CW show, but checked out the 90 minute pilot and wow...definitely a different take. I can see why this one feels associated with the Burton Batman films as this seemed like they were capitalizing on it much in the same way that Arrow was capitalizing on the Nolan Batman films.

Looking forward to watching more and imagining this and Lois & Clark in the same universe as the 90s Batman.

[Silver Nemesis]

Looking forward to watching more and imagining this and Lois & Clark in the same universe as the 90s Batman.

Ah, yes – I like to think that somewhere out there in the DC Multiverse is Earth-90, a world populated by the heroes of the nineties DC adaptations. A Justice League for the Nirvana, Baywatch, Central Perk generation.

No! Not them!

I meant these guys:

And if they need extra reinforcements they can always call on Nightshade, Silverstone's Batgirl or Shaq's Steel for backup. I just wish there was a nineties Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to fill out their ranks.

Have you watched any more episodes of The Flash yet, BatmAngelus? And if so, what are your thoughts?

[Silver Nemesis]

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill constitute one of the most iconic hero/villain pairings in the history of comic book adaptations. But for me, the pairing of John Wesley Shipp and Hamill is every bit as classic. So to see them still going at it, in live action, over a quarter of a century since they first battled, is a real treat. 

[Silver Nemesis]

I just stumbled across this interesting 'making of' featurette. I'd not seen it before.

[phantom stranger]

Thanks for posting that! It's exactly the type of thing that should've been on the DVD release...

[Silver Nemesis]

Agreed. I'm sure the cast and crew would have been willing to participate in the recording of new material too. Many of them attended a special reunion screening in 2015 and seemed only too happy to discuss the making of the show.

Something like this would have been perfect for the DVD.

[Silver Nemesis]

John Wesley Shipp is returning as the nineties TV Flash in the upcoming Elseworlds crossover event set in the Arrowverse!

I never thought this would happen so long after the original series ended. It bodes well for those of us hoping for a Lois & Clark revival.

[thecolorsblend]

EDIT: Okay, so I need to find an image which is actually from The Flash show in order to illustrate my point. Oh well...

Y'know, Shipp's Flash show was a pretty big hit inside Hollywood. It never really found a real audience and it cost a small fortune to produce. But "the industry" loved it, which could be why the show lasted as relatively long as it did -- considering it could've just as easily been cancelled mid-season.

And I think it would be fair to say that the show's influence and legacy are tragically unsung. The show could be a little cheesy at times, there's no denying that. Or at least I'm not denying it.

But Bilson and DeMeo seemed to want the show to be as film-like as possible. Lighting and shadow were always crafted with the utmost care as per your image above. As you probably already know, that type of lighting doesn't happen all by itself. It takes time and effort to set up light rigs like that. It's easy to overlook now but NOTHING on TV looked like The Flash at the time.

Compare any average episode of The Flash to basically anything from the first season of Lois & Clark. I love L&C but that show didn't try as hard to have feature-quality lighting and cinematography. L&C was a romantic drama with a side of superheroism while The Flash was as faithful to the comics as it dared to be considering it was an early 90's comic book show... a fidelity (limited though it may have been) for which it arguably paid the price.

Looking ahead, the visuals and cinematography of more recent comic shows gives a greater appreciation for this Flash show. No, the show wasn't perfect. But it also never even attempted to be like anything else on TV at the time, the series wore its science-fantasy style on its sleeve and it was an early pioneer in stuff we take for granted now in comic book shows.

In the final analysis, I regard The Flash (1990) as a trailblazing implosion, a pioneering (and noble) failure which set the stage for future successes with other shows.

[Silver Nemesis]

Compare any average episode of The Flash to basically anything from the first season of Lois & Clark. I love L&C but that show didn't try as hard to have feature-quality lighting and cinematography. L&C was a romantic drama with a side of superheroism while The Flash was as faithful to the comics as it dared to be considering it was an early 90's comic book show... a fidelity (limited though it may have been) for which it arguably paid the price.

That's fair. L&C is awesome, but the look of the show is pretty much that of your standard nineties family TV drama. It's warm and cosy, and the sets and costumes have a charming nineties style to them. But it doesn't go for the colourful-yet-dark comic book aesthetic the way The Flash did. The visual style of The Flash is essentially a grittier, less eroticised version of what Schumacher was going for with his Batman films. RoboCop 2, which also came out in 1990, made similar use of graffiti and coloured lights, albeit to a far lesser extent than The Flash did.

Back in the nineties, superhero adaptations had three main options as far as visuals went:

•   the retro look (The Rocketeer, The Shadow, The Phantom)
•   the gothic look (Batman Returns, The Crow, Spawn)
•   the dark-colourful look (Dick Tracy, The Flash, Batman Forever)

The Flash helped define the latter visual style and was certainly an influence on Shucmacher's Batman movies. Clearly it also had a huge impact on the CW Flash series. It deserves more credit.

Here's another picture of Shipp back in the suit. I've always maintained that his was the best live action Flash costume, and this picture supports that claim.

He really doesn't look much different here from how he appeared in the early nineties. If Shipp can play the Flash again at the age of 63, then I don't see why a 52-year-old Dean Cain shouldn't play Superman again.