Flash - Pilot
Oct. 29th, 2014 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcThat was brilliant!
Admittedly, I'm a biased audience since the Flash is one of my favourite superheroes (I grew up mostly with Wally, but I like Barry too). But it was brilliant. Barry is as nerdy as he was in Arrow, I liked the meta-origin (presumably the other rogues will have got powers from the explosion as well), the Johns version of Barry's motivation didn't even bother me that much this time round, and we got a Mark Waid style "My name's Barry Allen and I'm the fastest man alive!" (although even the second time it wasn't quite followed by "They call me THE FLASH!" Maybe in episode 2).
The Weather Wizard was a neat choice for first villain; lightning versus thunder. And while he dies, it's carefully set up that he's Clyde Marsden and has a brother, so Mark may be showing up later. The costume was nicely explained, with elements of the origin in the previous Flash TV series ... although "It's red because it was designed for firemen" is much better than "It's red because it was designed for Communists".
Speaking of the previous Flash series: Henry Allen played by the previous Barry Allen is a masterstroke. The only thing that could have been better would be if he'd appeared in a later episode as Jay Garrick!
Detective Joe West is an interesting character; to start off with I thought he was just Quentin Lance Volume 2 (albeit without Quentin's disapproval of Oliver), but then he became the Secret Keeper, so that dynamic's changed. He's pretty much an original character (in the comics Iris's dad is scientist Dr Ira West - although who knows if that's true in the New 52?) but has elements of Captain Darryl Frye, who in current comics has the same relationship with Barry.
Another new character is Harrison Wells (I didn't realise this at the time; I thought he was the morally ambiguous scientist from current comics, but it turns out that guy's name is Darwin Elias). His storyline is clearly an interesting one, and you can't telegraph your intention for the series to last much more obviously by making something that is going to happen in ten years time a plot point. I hope this doesn't prove too optimistic.
No idea what to make of Eddie Thawne; the name is obviously that of the classic Professor Zoom/Reverse-Flash, but because we all know that, I'm not sure they'd go there. What they might do if they're smart is make him Cobalt Blue.
I noticed other neat comicbook touches: Linda Park on the TV, Fred Chyre as the first cop to encounter Weather Wizard, references to Keystone as a city nearby etc. Not sure about the reference to Iron Heights; is there only one prison for a 600 mile area, or are there two prisons with the same name? I guess that's a side-effect of early Arrow trying to cram the entire DCU into the Starling City area.
Looking forward to the second episode.
Admittedly, I'm a biased audience since the Flash is one of my favourite superheroes (I grew up mostly with Wally, but I like Barry too). But it was brilliant. Barry is as nerdy as he was in Arrow, I liked the meta-origin (presumably the other rogues will have got powers from the explosion as well), the Johns version of Barry's motivation didn't even bother me that much this time round, and we got a Mark Waid style "My name's Barry Allen and I'm the fastest man alive!" (although even the second time it wasn't quite followed by "They call me THE FLASH!" Maybe in episode 2).
The Weather Wizard was a neat choice for first villain; lightning versus thunder. And while he dies, it's carefully set up that he's Clyde Marsden and has a brother, so Mark may be showing up later. The costume was nicely explained, with elements of the origin in the previous Flash TV series ... although "It's red because it was designed for firemen" is much better than "It's red because it was designed for Communists".
Speaking of the previous Flash series: Henry Allen played by the previous Barry Allen is a masterstroke. The only thing that could have been better would be if he'd appeared in a later episode as Jay Garrick!
Detective Joe West is an interesting character; to start off with I thought he was just Quentin Lance Volume 2 (albeit without Quentin's disapproval of Oliver), but then he became the Secret Keeper, so that dynamic's changed. He's pretty much an original character (in the comics Iris's dad is scientist Dr Ira West - although who knows if that's true in the New 52?) but has elements of Captain Darryl Frye, who in current comics has the same relationship with Barry.
Another new character is Harrison Wells (I didn't realise this at the time; I thought he was the morally ambiguous scientist from current comics, but it turns out that guy's name is Darwin Elias). His storyline is clearly an interesting one, and you can't telegraph your intention for the series to last much more obviously by making something that is going to happen in ten years time a plot point. I hope this doesn't prove too optimistic.
No idea what to make of Eddie Thawne; the name is obviously that of the classic Professor Zoom/Reverse-Flash, but because we all know that, I'm not sure they'd go there. What they might do if they're smart is make him Cobalt Blue.
I noticed other neat comicbook touches: Linda Park on the TV, Fred Chyre as the first cop to encounter Weather Wizard, references to Keystone as a city nearby etc. Not sure about the reference to Iron Heights; is there only one prison for a 600 mile area, or are there two prisons with the same name? I guess that's a side-effect of early Arrow trying to cram the entire DCU into the Starling City area.
Looking forward to the second episode.
