Shipp made a convincing character both in and outside of the suit, and thankfully his power is easy enough to render that I didn’t feel any of the superspeed moments were silly. I think it straddles the line between seriousness and adventure well, with the tone set early on with the Danny Elfman score and the pseudo-Gothic setting of the city–I was reminded strongly of the Tim Burton Batman film, and that was a theme that carried over for much of the action.

Out of all the superhero shows we’ve watched, I’d say this one goes in the upper tie r, and in terms of execution and efficacy I think I’d put only The Incredible Hulk ahead of it. Tina McGee (Amanda Pays) and former detective Megan Lockhart (Joyce Hyser). In this installment, the Flash grapples with a megalomaniacal magician called the Trickster (Mark Hamill), while also juggling his relationships with his best friend Dr. CBS brought the hero to television in 1990, telling the story of police forensic scientist Barry Allen (John Wesley Shipp), who when struck by lightning and thrown into a shelf of volatile chemicals has his biochemistry altered to the extent that he’s able to move at superhuman speeds. And I think there’s a clear path to these shows getting better as we move ahead in time, as they can get away with more action and better effects but are also able to get deeper into the issues that are inherent with superhero burdens.įittingly (and unintentionally as it was just announced last week), for our last roundtable we’ve picked a hero who’s supposed to be making his return to the small screen next year: The Flash, one of DC Comics’ oldest and most venerable superheroes. The budgetary limitations of rendering heroes mean that the real strength of the story has to rely more on what we see of the heroes outside of their costumes than in them, and (as Cory said all the way back in the first post about The Adventures of Superman) the ensemble becomes more important to the weekly activity of the show.

Some of them go for a corny, colorful approach that embraces the “comic” part of “comic book” ( Batman and Shazam!), others go for a darker, gritty approach ( Green Hornet), and others are interested in a more human, sincere story ( The Greatest American Hero and The Incredible Hulk). This has been an interesting roundtable to participate in, as superheroes are more of a mixed bag than some of the other genres we’ve talked about in these thematic roundtables. We’ve fought off arms dealers, crooked reporters, spiteful ranchers, amnesiac professors and the “ghost” of Julius Caesar all thanks to the aid of alien outfits, gamma radiation, Egyptian amulets and six million dollars worth of bionic enhancements. We’ve kept Gotham, Metropolis, Century City and so many other locations safe from the forces of darkness. Les: And so, the superhero roundtable has come to a close. Roundtable Review: The Flash, “The Trickster”īy Cory Barker, Les Chappell, Whitney McIntosh and Cameron White

Trickster flash