W.A.F. REVIEWS: "The Flash" (1990)

In today’s world, DC Comics is basically killing it right now on television. With the CW as their chosen home, DC is enjoying a great ride on television with “Arrow”, “Legends Of Tomorrow”, “Supergirl”, and “The Flash”. You can even throw the 10 seasons of “Smallville” in there, as its success is what lead to the recent shows even being given a chance. But for a lot of us, there was a time when studios tried to get television shows based on comic book characters over with the general populace, with less than thrilling results.

The early ‘90s were a transformative time for the world. We were easing out of the previous decade’s penchant of big hair, glam rockers, and valley girl speech patterns, and moving towards a new era. As much as society was changing, television was growing, and the need for new programming grew every day. It’s not like studios didn’t try their hands at adapting comic books for television before. We had already had the successful run of “The Incredible Hulk” with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, plus the Adam West/Burt Ward-driven “Batman” series of the 1960s. And we can’t forget “The Adventures Of Superman” in the ‘50s with George Reeves.  But for every good, there’s always a…well, not-so-good. Just look at when they tried to do a live-action “Spider-Man” in the ‘70s.

Networks started giving us shows like “The Adventures Of Superboy” and “Swamp Thing”. CBS decided that they wanted to get their piece of the superhero action and decided to join up with Warner Bros to create a live-action version of one of DC’s most popular characters, The Flash! Produced by Paul De Meo & Danny Bilson, the series looked to tell the story of Barry Allen, police forensic scientist, who one night is struck by lightening while working in the crime lab during a bad storm. When he wakes up in the hospital, he refuses any help from doctors, then starts to realize that he has changed, and he seems to be moving at a much faster pace than before. The only one who can help him is Dr. Christina “Tina” McGee, lead scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs.

One of the things the producers were adamant about was that the show take a more grounded approach to the Flash character, more serious in tone. You can immediately tell that this version is not set in any comic book world when, during one episode, Barry is walking his dog past a Central City movie theater which happens to be showcasing a double feature with Christopher Reeves “Superman” and Michael Keaton’s “Batman”. There’s even an instance in one episode where a female reporter tries to bully her way onto a crime scene, and Barry sarcastically calls her “Lois Lane”, even though that wasn’t actually her name.

The cast of the series is really outstanding. John Wesley Shipp plays Barry Allen/The Flash. Up to that point, most people knew him from his time on daytime soap operas during the 1980s. Of course, teenagers of the mid-to-late 1990’s would recognize him as Dawson’s Dad on “Dawson’s Creek”. Today, if you watch the current Flash series on the CW, you will know JWS as Henry Allen, Barry’s Dad. Funnily enough, he also got to portray Jay Garrick of Earth-3.

Amanda Pays was cast as Tina McGee, and she does a great job with the role. For a long time, she was really the only one who knew about Barry’s newfound powers and dual identity. She was also brought back for the current Flash series, once again playing the Tina McGee character, although this time as the head of Mercury Labs. Honestly, watching her and JWS interact with each other during the pentultimate episode of season 2 made me a little gitty! The cast also featured Alex Desert as Julio Mendez, a pre-Homicide Richard Belzer as Joe Kline, the Hervey Levine of Central City. Also Jason Bernard as Dr. Desmond Powell/Nightshade, Joyce Hyser as Megan Lockhart, and Paula Marshall as Iris West, only for the premier episode.

The suit that JWS wore as The Flash was your basic early-‘90s latex and rubber suit. Four suits were made, costing a total of $100,000. When it came to the music, you can definitely tell that they were inspired by the 1989 Batman. So much so, in fact, that they went out and hired Danny Elfman to write the music for the Flash! I always chuckle during the opening credits when cops look up and see a menacing Flash standing on a rooftop, as it always reminds me of the opening credits from “Batman: The Animated Series”, when the lightening flashes and Batman is doing the exact same thing.

The series took the usual villain of the week approach, yet with new bad guys created for the series itself. Every now and then, they would throw in a villain from the comics, but if you were expecting someone like Gorilla Grodd, leader of Gorilla City, you wouldn’t find that here. I will say, though, they did a great job with some of the casting for the villains from the comics. Take for instance Mirror Master. He wasn’t exactly presented the way he was in the comics, as this one utilized image projection and holograms.  But for the role of Sam Scudder, producers got David Cassidy, best known for being a teen heartthrob of the 1970s, and who also happens to be the father of Katie Cassidy, a.k.a. Laurel Lance/Black Canary/Black Siren in the “Arrow” Universe.

But the one villain that producers were completely correct in choosing is for the character of James Jesse, also known as The Trickster! During this time in history, Mark Hamil was best known for being the lightsaber-wielding Jedi Master who helped defeat the Empire and save a Galaxy far, far away. Taking on the role of The Trickster, Hamill really embraced his “Dark Side”. Donning a multi-colored outfit, spiking his hair, and using a screechingly  awesome voice, Hamill really outshined every other villain the show had. So much so, in fact, that his performance is one of the driving forces behind his eventual casting as The Joker for various Batman animated projects, which continues to this day! Of course, Hamill was also brought back for the new Flash series on the CW, portraying The Trickster in two episodes.

I remember watching this series as a kid, but not to the extent that I should have. That’s why I was extatic to have found the complete series, which sadly only consisted of one season! Why only one season, you ask? Well, when it came down to it, there was just too many other programs with bigger audiences and followings that were higher in the ratings. I’m sure the budget probably had something to do with it as well. Doing all the speedy graphics probably wasn’t cheap! I did hear that if the series had been given a second season, they would have kicked things off with the Flash’s rogues teaming up to take him down. That would have been interesting to see.

Is it a great show? If you’re a comic book purist, then you’re probably going to grit your teeth at some of the stuff they have Barry doing. But if you’re just a casual fan, then you’ll find enjoyment with this. I believe that, outside of the Trickster episodes, my favorite of the entire series was episode 18, “Twin Streaks”, in which JWS plays dual roles, with Barry having been cloned by a doctor who wanted to create an army of Flashes and sell them to the highest bidder. The clone, named Pollux, grows at an accelerated rate, and soon wants to know who he is, what his pace in life is. The questions we all ask ourselves. He soon breaks away from where he’s being kept, finds Barry, and tries to steal Barry’s life. It’s a really well done episode, and you can tell JWS brought it to both roles. I won’t spoil how it ends here, but for you sentimental types, keep some tissues handy.

This was a series that I don’t believe would have ever attempted to try and pull off some of the things that we see in the current Flash TV show. They were respective of the comic books, yet looked to build their own Universe of characters. And when you think about it, that actually works better with the current Flash show establishing the DC Multiverse, as we can easily say that there is a John Wesley Shipp version of Barry Allen still zooming around on one of the infinite Earths that exist in the Multiverse. A guy can dream, can’t he?