What Not To Do: The Flash, 1990-1991
You can debate with your friends over which movie actually kicked off the comic book movie trend that is currently inundating the American blockbuster film landscape, but you can’t deny that comic book films are here to stay – at least for a few more years. Some suggested Watchmen might help the subgenre “jump the shark” since it deconstructed the comic book movie as effectively as Alan Moore’s original comic series deconstructed superhero comics in the 1980’s. But with DC’s announcement of a Green Lantern movie and Marvel’s slate of upcoming releases (culminating with The Avengers in a few years), comic book films are far from dead.
DC Entertainment, as they’re now known, made a fan-pleasing move by bringing on Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman, and Grant Morrison to oversee and contribute to the development of their future comic book films. They’ve mentioned that The Flash is a project they are currently working on, and this article is a warning to anyone in a position of power at DCE: Don’t make the same mistakes as the television show.
“The Flash” was a live-action show that aired on CBS from 1990-1991. It starred John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen, a forensic scientist who gained super speed from the combination of a lightning strike and a chemical spill. With the help of S.T.A.R. Labs employee Dr. Tina McGee, Barry donned a pressurized red suit and became The Fastest Man Alive, the Flash, fighting crime in the fictional location of Central City.
Why this show failed so spectacularly – and I mean that in the harshest way possible – is forehead-slappingly obvious to anyone with even a hint of comic book knowledge. Instead of featuring the ludicrously entertaining Rouge’s Gallery of villains created in the source material, the show spent the first eight episodes (out of a total of 24, mind you) concentrating on Barry defeating “realistic” bad guys like corrupt politicians and menial thieves. Nobody wants to see that! Even when the writers finally embraced the show’s comic book roots later in its run, they only allowed two or three main villains to make appearances. This is a problem that I pray the inevitable film version doesn’t repeat – as the scientist in the beginning of Mission: Impossible II so beautifully states: “every search for a hero begins with something every hero requires – a villain.” In this case, I hope the film’s writer(s) employs multiple villains instead of a singular entity Barry must defeat; after all, since he’s The Fastest Man Alive, he should be able to take out more than the standard number of comic book movie bad guys in the same allotted time.
Back to the point. The TV writers’ collective failure to grasp why a Flash TV show could be fun wasn’t the only obstacle standing in the way of the show’s success. The show is riddled with stereotypes (inept police officers, etc.) and implausibilities (Barry and Tina don’t get together throughout the entire series?!) far more heinous than the expected tropes that come with adapting a comic book for television. The production design was too “Gotham City” (not aided by Danny Elfman’s opening theme song) and betrayed the middle America feel necessary to distinguish Central City from any other comic book city. But I think the laziest mistake perpetuated by showrunners Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo was the continued ignorance of Barry’s best friend and co-worker, Julio. Barry must have utilized his super speed ten or eleven times directly in front of Julio, who without fail would look confused for a second and say “Nah!” before going about his business like nothing ever happened. If the Clark Kent/Superman glasses thing is a stretch, this is the World’s Largest Rubber Band.
The one praise I can give this short-lived series is the wacky goodness of Mark Hamill’s performance as The Trickster. It was basically a glorified audition for his voice acting role as The Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series,” but at least he had fun with his character. All the other actors always seemed way too serious during events that surely would have been more effective had they been played tongue-in-cheek.
I’m sure Geoff Johns and Co. have more common sense than the people responsible for this television show, which, as I’m sure you can tell by now, I would not recommend to anyone. I take that back – I would like everyone involved with the creation of DC’s upcoming Flash movie to watch this series in its entirety (a worthy feat for anyone), simply to have a picture perfect vision of what not to do in the film version. In essence: give me multiple villains established in the comic books, a believable cast of side characters, a solid lead actor, and some effects better than those used on TV’s “Smallville,” and I’ll be happy.
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For the sake of conversation, as long as you have the gold standards continuing to do well, Alan Moore could poop on every fan’s face and comics and movies would continue on. Sure, the Watchmen graphic novel was epic and did what it did, but comics are still going strong. They’ve spawned how many shows and movies since? How many comics have started and survived and done well since? And that Watchmen movie, that was horrible. I don’t know how Snyder keeps getting work, but someone should stop him.
The Flash TV program is very reflective of the time in which it was made. Just as the Batman movie in 1989 was so clearly an influence on the show’s look and feel, it also influenced the same mistakes in the Flash. A need to make it clear that this was a comic book program yet at the same time make it ‘about characters’ meant that it looked absurd yet featured stories about ‘real villains’ rather than supervillains. I think that Warner Bros. was of two minds on whether they should pay homage to the 1966 Batman series or not and the result is just silly looking yet dry and boring at the same time.
As you pointed out, the Flash is defined by his villains. Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, the Weather Wizard, the Top… the list goes on and on. If you were to create a cartoon, movie or TV series the Flash’s rogue’s gallery would jump out at you as an endless resource of plot ideas. How this could be missed is beyond me.
I think it’s great that Geoff Johns (who has a background in comics and film) is involved in DC’s TV shows and movies. Marv Wolfman had a hand in the under-appreciated Ruby-Spears Superman cartoon and understands comics backwards and forwards as well as having excellent storytelling skills. Grant Morrison is a great idea guy and has a lot of energy. Having all three influence the Flash film is just common sense. So… is it anywhere close to going into production?
I think what I was trying to articulate (which I may have not done very well) is that because the movie version of Watchmen reversed the archetypes the average viewer has seen in the comic book movies that came before it, one might assume it would give the general public a feeling of “OK, we’ve seen everything now” and perhaps the comic book movie would slowly die out. I was presenting that as a potential reaction by the people; one that obviously hasn’t come true and doesn’t show any signs of coming true in the near future. And if you dug the Watchmen graphic novel, how could you not like the movie? I thought it was as close of an adaptation that anyone could have done.
The Dark Knight (or as I like to put it, “the best movie ever made”) proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s more to come. That there’s more we could see. Watchmen movie-wise couldn’t hold a candle to that movie, not by a long shot. You articulated everything just fine, as I said, just making conversation.
Too, welcome. Mike and I are very excited to have you on board.
Yes, the Flash TV series and the momentous storytelling we expected may have been beyond the production capabilities due possibly to financial or technological restraints. However, if this was the case, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE to have the show failing in acting, character development and over story. And for that, the complete annihilation of this television series it utterly justified.
Trehern
Wow. Is it possible that I agree with everyone that commented here?
…except Sean and his opinion of Watchmen.
bring on the Weather Wizard!
I remember the Weather Wizard and Captain Cold being abhorred re-imaginings of the original characters. I mean when you have a dude like John Wesley Snipes in a goofy ass red suit that clearly does not match his muscle structure, who goes on to then say,
“Hey, you know what, I want to write this story as if it could ACTUALLY happen.”
“But, Bilson, we already have the goofy red suit and the Danny Elfman music. Why don’t we just stay true to the actually comics so we can appease the fans.”
“Dimeo, you don’t get it. If we put Mark Hamill in a uni-tard and rip off the Shadow with a black guy, there’s no way we can miss. Keep the red suit, and I’ll take care of the rest….”
In an alternate dimension, Dimeo killed Bilson right then and there. The Flash TV Series went on to make 13 seasons, 4 movies and an adult film adaptation that would be the first ever shown on basic cable. C’est la vie!