The Flash 2014 TV Series "Pilot" Review

With a slew of superheroes getting there own movies these days it's hard to imagine a time where they only appeared on TV. Which is actually the case the episode that i'm going to be reviewing for you all today as while yes granted The Flash did later get his own big budget movie to quote Green Lantern from Teen Titans Go To The Movies "we don't talk about it" with this episode proving that this character can be done and done right if you have the right people working on it and so then join me as I review the episode that has a totally original title with the episode in question being called simply just "Pilot" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is when a man who can control the weather starts to commit crimes in Central City a new hero must emerge to stop him before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad at the very least interms of pilot episodes as this episode does have alot of things to set up and still tell a good story and while the plot might be a little bit on the weaker side of things when compared to later episodes of this show considering that this was the first episode of the show then the plot was about as good as it was ever going to be and while yes granted the shows plots especially in this first season would get alot more better that doesn't mean that this episodes plot isn't good with only a few very minor issues in regards to the plot like the fact that as was mentioned it is pretty weak with it also being something that's not really all that focused on all that much which is most likely a result of the episode having so many things to do that there just wasn't enough time left over to focus on the plot of the episode this does have the adverse effect of making this episodes plot feel alot more like an afterthought rather then something that was it's main focus with this being something that would have been very easily fixed in the edit for the episode for the episode and yet no one who was making this show thought to bring up this point as you should always lead with your best foot forward and this episodes plot the best one that they more then likely could have gone with with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Grant Gustin as Barry Allen , Candice Patton as Iris West and Danielle Panabaker as Dr. Caitlin Snow. Also starring in this episode is Rick Cosnett as Detective Eddie Thawne , Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon , Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harrison Wells , Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West , Michelle Harrison as Nora Allen , Chad Rook as Clyde Mardon , Patrick Sabongui as Captain David Singh , Al Sapienza as Detective Fred Chyre , John Wesley Shipp as Dr. Henry Allen and Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / The Arrow.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in al honesty not that bad. As just like with the plot this episodes acting is about as good as it was ever going to get with the fact that's a pilot episode and those typically don't have good acting in them as the episodes main actors are still trying to find there respective characters and while this episode much like the rest of the show does have some decent acting in it with a special shout out going to Tom Cavanagh who is equal parts creepy and charming at the exact same time it would have been foolish to expect this episode to have the kind of acting that you get in later episodes of a show and while this episodes acting does get alot more better as the episode goes on there are still moments where you can tell that they didn't have enough time to do a second take as the acting would appear wooden with the best actor in this whole entire episode being Grant Gustin who simply is Barry Allen with him managing to capture the charm and warmth of the character from the comics and yet still make the character his own and heck when it was announced that The Flash was getting a movie many people wanted him to play the role as he's just so good as the character something that does prove over and over again in this show and in this episode with this episode acting really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come only of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode. 

Doing the CGI for this episode is the legends and the really greats that really are currently over at BOT VFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us un this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as while yes The CW does have a habit of having really bad CGI in alot of their shows with this one being of no exception to that rule here there are also some pretty decent looking effects for the time thrown in there as well with the particle accelerator explosion looking really good even for the fact that this episodes effects where made on a TV show budget and that they didn't usually have a quick turn around time but even with all of that mind there are still some pretty bad lookin effects thrown in there as well as the fog effects that the villain of this episode uses whilst they do look decent there also effects that have aged horribly as well with the same thing also being used for the effects on the opening of the secret door as they just look so fake and cartoony that it was hard to take them seriously in this live action setting and while yes with a TV show you do have spread your effects budget across several episodes and so you can't have good looking effects all of the time in every single episode this is something that really should have been taken into account given the fact that this was always going to be a very effects heavy show and yet because it wasn't and because of the fact that the effects budget for this show was so small it does mean that for as many good effects in this episode that we do get we also get several equally bad looking effects in this episode as well. 

This episodes villain Clyde Mardon does make for a decent enough first villain for Barry Allen and the team to come up against. As while he won't ever be as threatening and as tough as some of there later villains he is threatening and strong enough to be the first villain of a TV show as the character is the kind of character that would only work in a very early episode of the show as that's when the hero is going to be tested the least due the fact that there just getting their powers and with Clyde pretty much just being a bank robber and really nothing more then that he doesn't really need to be a really strong and threatening villain as all he needs to do is be a passable villain and that's exactly what he is he's passable and while yes it might have helped the show if they did have a slightly more stronger villain like for example Captain Boomerang as then we could get to see if Barry really does have what it takes to be a hero where as here the only thing that he has to do is a create a circle and that's really it which again is fine for the first episode of the show and given just how weak of a villain that Clyde is in the first place it does make alot of sense that Barry wouldn't have to do all that much work to take him down but at the same time tho much like with the plot you do want to lead with your best foot forward and what better way to do that then to give Barry a villain that will actually test him and make him question if he actually has what it takes to be a hero ad while Captain Boomerang might not always do that he is a stronger villain and one that's also alot more well known on top of that then what Clyde Mardon is or ever will be on top of all that.

There was one thing about the scene where Barry gets his powers that really bugged me and that's the fact that for no reason whatsoever even tho he knows that this potentially very dangerous thing has just gone of and if causing lightening to form above him. Barry still things that's wise not only to stand directly beneath it but to also hold on to some chains as it strikes him this wouldn't be an issue if the makers of this episode added in a line to explain what he was even doing over there in the first place and what he was doing holding those chains in the first place but they don't and there for it looks like that Barry stood where that lightening was going to hit because of the fact that he just wanted to get hit by lightening and he was holding those chains for no good reason which if that is the case then it makes Barry look a little less smart then what we know him to be and while this is a very minor nitpick as his origin was still pretty well done with the makers of the episode even taking the time to show us the audience things that could potentially help the electricity from the lightening bolt reach him in the first place it's that one little nitpick that undoes alot of that good work as up until that point the writing from a setting things up point of view was handled really well and yet it felt like that they had to get t the scene with him being hit by lightening as fast as possible and so they just had him act weirdly out of character seemingly for no reason whatsoever when it would have made more sense to have his work bench be directly underneath where the lightening hits him as then you don't have to explain why he was stood there as you could just say that he was stood because he was busy working away on something at the time of the accident and that's really it.

While this show does have a pretty weak villain what it doesn't have is weak side characters as this episode does spend alot of it's running time also setting up the shows side characters as well as it's main character. While yes Barry will always be the main character of this show as the show is quite literally named after his alter ego that doesn't mean that the side characters get short changed as they don't with all of them getting there own moments to shine all throughout the episode and while yes none f this episodes characters are that well developed that is something that's only natural as this is the first episode and therefor of course none of the episodes characters are going to be that well developed but at the same time tho for characters like Joe who's outburst at Barry does come out of nowhere it would have been to see that tension build up within him all throughout the episode as then it would have felt more natural that he would snap at Barry when he things that Barry's gone to far but due to what we see in the episode it is something that does come out nowhere as does the fact that Wells knows alot more about Barry Allen then what he's letting on as while it is a great twist that he's from the future there still should have been something in his dialog that makes you question just what his true motives are in the first place with both Cisco and Caitlin being pretty much as well formed as they were ever going to be in this episode with both of them making an effort to befriend Barry and Iris is just there to be the love interest in this episode with her character being so pointless to the plot of the episode that she could have been removed from the episode entirely and nothing would have been missed which does make it feel like that she was only added into the episode because of the fact that she was in the comics and not because she had an active role to play in the plot of the episode.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running tome of exactly forty for minuets and thirty three seconds. Which is pretty much the exact grand total running for an episode of this show to have with this episode having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time the issue is is that not only does this episode not really use it's running time all that wisely bey developing it's plot and characters all that well but that it does feel like that it's trying to do to much as it has so much more stuff to set up like it's has Barry and his origin has to introduce all of the side characters as well as the plot of the season and yet still tell a good plot in it's first episode and it's can't do all of that with it's current running time and as a result of that is the fact that the plot can't be developed all that much as it has to set up Barry as a believable character and it can't set up the rest of the side characters because of the fact that it has it's own story to tell with these issues being ones that could have been fixed if the episode was an hour long as then it could have done all of those things then some if it had the longer running time that it really did need and yet because it doesn't it does mean that the episode as a whole does suffer because of it as now nothing gets the chance to be that developed and heck if the makers of this show did want to set up alot of things in this episode then what they should have done is held off on introducing things like Iris and even the main plot of the show until the next episode and just focus on setting Barry and some of the side characters and in telling a good story and that's really all they'd have do to do but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presentwd to us in this very episode well then in all honesty i in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With this episodes action mainly being Barry running to form a circle around Clyde and that's really it and while yes there is technically a car chase scene around the middle of the episode they both seem oddly tame for a superhero show which in this case is something that does work from a storytelling perspective as Barry is just figuring out his powers in this episode and so he's of course not going to know what it is that the can do with them and he's of course not going to know that he can hit someone really fast because he's not been put into a situation where he would need to know all of that information and with that in mind this episodes action is alot more better then what it really had any right to be as it gives us a chance to see Barry use his brain instead of his brawn and seeing him figuring out a solution to defeating Clyde Mardon for good does make for an entertaining scene as it is something that this character would do and it's something that sets this character apart from say Batman or Superman for example both of whom use there brawn instead of their brain but at the same time tho it would have helped this episode out a little bit bit if it's action was alot more entertaining to watch because as things are it's action does seem like it's on the weaker side of things in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall whilst this show might have gone downhill as the seasons went on this is still a really good episode of the show as it gives us a really good representation of just who not only The Flash is but also who Barry Allen is as well something that THAT live action movie just couldn't do as that movie was more focused on spectacle then storytelling where here in this epsiode it's the opposite that's true in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official DC Extended Universe fandom wiki page , the official Arrowverse fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Arrowverse fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with really alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Arrowverse fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

The Flash 1990 TV Series "Pilot" Review

 

The Flash has been a character that's been around for decades and has been featured in so many TV shows both in animated form and live action form for some reason the character has only had TWO solo live action TV series. While many might think that the 2014 series is the first solo TV series for The Flash they are infact wrong for you see there was a TV series based on The Flash that aired in 1990 and so join me as I review the first the episode the 1990 TV series version of The Flash with the episode itself having the totally original name of simply "Pilot" enjoy everyone.

The plot of this episode is after his brother is killed the leader of a ruthless motorcycle gang forensic scientist Barry Allen must use his newly discovered powers to track down the motorcycle gang and bring them to justice before they take over or destroy Central City. In terms of what I thought for the plot of this episode in all honesty the plot for this episode was at best average since the story tries to be dark and epic that it forgets to be fun but it does help that the plot of this episode was really well told in my opinion.

Starring in the episode is John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen / The Flash and Amanda Pays as Tina McGee. Also starring in this episode is Alex Desert as Julio Mendez , Paula Marshall as Iris West , Robert Hooks as Chief Arthur Cooper , M. Emmet Walsh as Henry Allen , Michael Nader as Nicholas Pike , Tim Thomerson as Jay Allen , Priscilla Pointer as Nora Allen , Lycia Naff as Lila and Richard Belzer as Joe Kline.

As for what I thought about the acting in this episode in all honesty the acting in this episode is at best OK. I say that the acting in this episode is at best OK simply because for every actor or actress who turns in a good performance like for example with John Wesley Shipp and Amanda Pays there's an actor or actress who turns in a bad performance like for example Alex Desert , Paula Marshall and Michael Nader which is a shame because when you see a good performance in this episode it really foes freaking stand out in my opinion.

Now even tho the Arrowverse technically started in 2008 with The CW TV series Arrow with the fact that this show show is now apart of the Arrowverse that technically now means that this show is the first show in the Arrowverse. Yes this show does tack place on a different (the now destroyed Earth 90) it's pretty cool to think that this version of The Flash is the longest running superhero in the history of the Arrowverse.

Now one of the things that I use curious to see how they would pull of in this episode is the effect of The Flash running since nowadays you would just use CGI archive the effect of The Flash running but that wasn't an opinion back in 1990. So how I think they did it for alot of scenes in this episode animation I think that they animated The Flash running and then added that animation to the scene but alot of the time they just use sped up footage of actor John Wesley Shipp which works just as well but you can tell that there just speeding up the footage but given the time period that this show was made speeding up the footage was most likely the only way that they could get the effect of The Flash running.

Now rather shockingly for a TV series based on The Flash this episode is pretty freaking dark because you see people not only getting shot at but you also see people dieing and if i'm being honest this episode being dark is both a good and bad thing. it's a good thing because it means that you can go deeper with your characters however it's a bad thing because The Flash is a campy character heck all superheroes are pretty campy weather we like to admit it or not and as such having this episode shy away from having any sense of fun doesn't really work since to me at least The Flash has always been a fun character and so seeing a TV show with The Flash as the main character not be fun is in my opinion a bad thing.

To me the villain of this episode who is called Nicholas Pike is in all honesty a pretty weak villain and i say that because we don't get to find out that much about him. The only thing that we get to find out about him is that he was the police partner of Barry's brother Jay Allen and that he was a crooked cop bug that's really it we don't get to find out what his end goal is or why he's evil and as such it comes across as him being evil just for reasons which doesn't make him a compelling character it makes him a boring character and in my opinion at least a weak villain.

The running time for this episode is one hour and thirty three minuets and forty seven seconds which I personally felt to be a bit on the long side. Simply because there's only enough story to cover at least forty five minuets and as such there are alot of scenes in this episode that go nowhere and add up to nothing heck even the character of Iris West gets written out of the show in the shows seconds episode which in my opinion makes her scenes in this episode pointless heck you could cut alot from this episode and you'd loose nothing of importance in my humble opinion.

Now then boys and girls this is an action show and that does mean that I have to talk about the action that's in this episode and well there actually isn't that much action to talk about. Since there's only one action scene in the entire episode which is fine for a TV show but it's not fine with your debut episode is over an hour and a half long but the action that we do have is ok given that this TV show is from 1990 there's not really that much that they could do with a character like The Flash in an action scene and so they do the best that they could have done it's just a shame that the resulting effort is at best just simply OK and nothing more.

Overall this was honestly a really good episode for the most part and it was honestly really interesting seeing this version of The Flash differs from the 2014 version of The Flash. However with that being said just like with all of the good things that are in this episode i've discussed the bad things in this episode in this very review and as such this episode gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me , as for where I got the images that I used in this review well I got the images that I used in this review from Google Images and oddly enough the official Arrowverse fandom wiki page with my preferred site for the images that I used in this review being the official Arrowverse fandom wiki page just because the images on the official Arrowverse fandom wiki page are pretty high definition or as high a definition as you'd expect from a TV show that came out in the 1990.

Elseworlds Review

DC fans the Arrowverse has really taken of on The CW with countless shows both live action and animated and very year alot of these shows like to get together for one big crossover think Justice League if it was done on a TV budget. Well now the latest crossover event have finally finished and i'm here to bring you my review of it so here here is my review of "Elseworlds".

The basic plot of this crossover is Barry and Oliver wake up one morning and find that everyone thinks there each other and so they have to team up with Kara to not only work out what's going on but to also put a stop to it. I'll be the first to admit that the story for this years crossover wasn't as good as last years just due to the fact that last years crossover not only had a self contained story but also advanced many of the stories seen on the individual shows and this time that's not the case at all. It also doesn't help that The Flash portion of the episode really does feel like a prolog.

I'm not going to name every single actor who's in this years crossover just because there's so many so instead i'm just going to name the actors who appear in more then one episode and they are Grant Gustin , Danielle Panabaker , Carlos Valdes , Stephen Amell , David Ramsey , Tyler Hoechlin , Melissa Benoist , LaMonica Garrett , Elizabeth Tulloch and Jeremy Davies. I know that i've missed a certain name of this list but that's because I want to talk about her separately

In terms of the actors that i've listed it would be considered a cliche to say that there really good in this episode but since i've just reviewed Birds Of Prey and that had dreadful acting i'm going to say it anyway. The acting in this three part crossover was really good and while alot of that is due to the fact that these actors have been playing this characters for over five years now it's still impressive how these good actors continue to turn in solid performances every week.

Now alot has been made about the casting of Ruby Rose as Kate Kane aka Batwoman alot of what was said prior to the episode was mainly focused on the fact that even tho both the character and the actor being gay. People thought that Ruby was two gay whatever the hell that means and that just makes me think that the people making those kind of complaints are just willing to complain about anything. As for her acting I thought for the few scenes she was in she was alright nothing to special but also not that bad I would like to see a full series with her just to see what they would do with the character tho and this show commits the same sin that Birds Of Prey did by giving us a weak and out of character reason as to why Batman isn't there and again I have to ask why the heck couldn't he just be of screen like they did with Superman is the first season of Supergirl.

I've given this alot of thought but I have to wonder why the heck didn't they bring in the Legends for this crossover. Black Lightening I get because that films down in Atlanta so it would have been a huge ask to get any of the actors from that show up to Vancouver for two weeks but why not the Legends cast not only do they film in Vancouver but they also film in the exact same studio. I wouldn't have minded so much if they gave a story reason as to why the legends aren't there but nope they don't even get a mention.

If you've seen not only the crossover but also the above image then you know what I have to talk about. When Barry and Oliver first travel to Smallville they straight up play "Somebody Save Me" which was the theme song to Smallville and I laughed out loud when that song started playing because I knew that alot of Smallville fans would either be really happy that that song got played or they'd be really angry.

Humor seemed to the order of the day for this crossover since there was a lot of jokes in not only The Flash's episode but in the Arrow episode as well and I don't really think it was really needed. Don't get me wrong it's great that these crossovers have a lot of humor in them but in last years episode it made sense since they were meeting up for a wedding but here there meeting up to save the world so the jokes weren't always needed thankfully tho they got rid of most of the jokes in the Supergirl episode.

I can't be the only one that wants this but I really want to see to see a full series with Tyler Hoechlin as Superman the guy is just so freaking likable he is the Superman we need but tho the makers of this crossover clearly like destroying dreams because at the end of the Supergirl episode they had Clark announce he and Lois are leaving Earth to raise a baby. So thanks for destroying my dream of seeing him as Superman for a full twenty two episodes but it also means we don't get to see Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois and while she doesn't turn in a bad performance I just don't like her version of the character.

Overall this wasn't as good as last years crossover which I personally think is the best Arrowverse crossover so far but it's still worth watch plus they did something really freaking cool they told us straight up what the next crossover will be. The episode while fun in places is also one that's flawed in alot of places so it gets a 7 out of 10 from me