In 1990, wow that was a long time ago, CBS picked up the DC Comics created show The Flash, starring John Wesley Shipp (Dawson’s Creek) as the Scarlett Speedster himself. The show was scripted by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, and produced by their company Pet Fly Productions (The Sentinel, Viper) and Warner Bros Television. The EPIC soundtrack was composed by the talented Danny Elfman. Costume design was done by the Robert Short from (the late) Stan Winston Studios. The Flash lasted one season and was canceled due to the high price of special effects and stiff competition from shows like The Simpsons and the Cosby show, and unfortunately The Flash’s Speedforce was soon depleted. So just about a week ago Amazon was running a sale on the dvds, which have been sitting in my Netflix Queue for a long time, for $12.99, I couldn’t pass up it up, and I’m glad I didn’t!. I had vague memories of watching this show on TV when I was a lad, I would have been about 10 at the time and my interest in the superhero genre was just blossoming. Now sitting down and watching The Flash at the ripe age of 31 and being the huge DC fan that I am, I actually really enjoy the show for what it is. Yes, everything is very dated and it’s most definitely cheesy, but I can handle that, we are talking superheroes here. The Flash tries its best to take itself seriously, and could actually fit right in with Tim Burton’s Batman of the same era. In terms of the villains that are used throughout the series, The Trickster is about the closest you’ll get to a decent comparison to his comic counterpart. Played by Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, The Trickster is probably The Flash’s most dangerous foe on the show. Transitioning from a prankster in the comics to a cold-blooded murderer in the show, it is believed that this role was what influenced the decision to bring him aboard as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. The show that would help further define Hamill’s awesome career. Other villains from The Flash’s rogue gallery made appearances as well, but were not very accurate, such as Mirror Master (played by Partridge family’s David Cassidy) and Captain Cold. It is believed that if The Flash would have made it to another season we would have seen the eventual team-up of these baddies. The Flash TV show also gave way to two video games and two tie-in comic books, not so bad for a cheesy show! So looking back, a 20+ episode show was created based on The Flash that ran on syndicated TV, and YET today Warner Bros is still having difficulty putting together a Flash movie, something doesn’t add up. I think that The Flash is one of DC’s characters that could be easily translated into film, and I am patiently waiting for this to happen…..Still waiting.
Stay Tooned 😛
~CynicNerd