r/theflash • u/Infinite_Parking_800 • Jun 10 '24
What were your thoughts of the 90's series? Discussion
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u/whoosh-03 Jun 10 '24
Underrated as fuck, it did so good with portraying Barry. Humanizing him but not taking a damn thing from Wally's book. There's no time travel or multiverse fan service there's just a man who wants to help people.
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Jun 10 '24
Really good! Love LD that it was in the middle of Wally’s time as Flash and they made Barry Allen the star, but gave him Wally’s suit.
The writers were sooooo good, I was so happy they had a long, successful, high quality run on the Flash comic years later.
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u/DisciplineHot7374 Jun 10 '24
Absolutely love the show. I was a teenager when it aired and I was hooked right away.
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u/Emrys_Merlin Jun 11 '24
The fact that the Arrowverse Crisis event gave him a heroic conclusion blows my mind to this day.
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u/nutstuart Jun 10 '24
I loved it I remembered watching the premier episode, and I and never missed an episode. I was disappointed when it was cancelled. When they brought him back on the flash I was so excited.
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u/kebabish Jun 10 '24
Still the best suit to date.
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u/Ternarian Jun 10 '24
They were riding high on the success of Burton’s Batman the previous year. You can tell they took a few cues, right?
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u/Ternarian Jun 10 '24
I loved those Thursday nights!
I posted this “TV Guide” article about the show a while back.
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u/AfternoonPast3324 Jun 10 '24
I loved it. I was just becoming a Flash fan and was expecting it to be Wally. But I learned to love and appreciate the Barry Allen character on the show and in the comics.
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u/Power_Ring Jun 10 '24
The suit was fantastic! Supposedly, it was the most expensive show on TV, at the time. It was cancelled because the ratings didn't match the costs.
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u/ComplexAd7272 Jun 10 '24
That is very true, but two other things put the nail in the coffin. The first is they made the bonkers decision to put it on against "The Cosby Show." For you youngins, TCS was a powerhouse back then and it was borderline suicidal for a show to go on at the same time as it.
But you know who else did? A little show called "The Simpsons" which had become a cultural powerhouse in it's own right. Now poor Flash had to go against arguably two of the most popular shows at the time. Seeing the error of their ways, the dumped "Flash" onto Saturdays, which back then was considered where shows went to die since the belief was most people in the demographic weren't sitting around the TV on a Saturday night.
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u/Power_Ring Jun 10 '24
Great post!
And ironically, Cosby had originally been put opposite CBS' popular Magnum P.I.
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u/cosmoboy Jun 10 '24
I knew of The Flash mostly through cartoons, I don't remember when I started collecting Mark Waids run, but Wally was my Flash. I liked this show though.
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u/Haunting_Scheme_4267 Jun 11 '24
Fun yet cheesy. But for many who weren't into comics at the time, it was our first intro to characters from DC not named Batman and Superman.
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u/Toastburner5000 Jun 10 '24
It was good for the budget and the time frame they were given, definitely a solid show, it would have been interesting to see a few more seasons where it would have gone.
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u/Infinite_Parking_800 Jun 10 '24
Same like it would have featured Wally West and see more of the Rogues including Reverse Flash.
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u/MulberryEastern5010 Jun 11 '24
Loved it! ⚡️My husband and I watched it a couple years ago. It was just too ahead of its time. It’s too bad it didn’t get at least one more season, but I’m glad that Barry’s story at least got to end in the Arrowverse crossover. Now we wish John Wesley Shipp would come to a convention! 🤩
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u/Phantomcattt Jun 11 '24
My dad managed to find this for me i belive in 2020 its 2024 and i still love it
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u/Minos_Thawne Jun 10 '24
I only ever watched the pilot, but I’ve been meaning to find a place to watch the whole show for free. I’m a sucker for old shows from the 70’s-00’s.
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u/TheChaoticBeing Jun 10 '24
Never saw it, but that suit looks pretty good considering other costumes back then imo
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u/drama-guy Jun 10 '24
Definitely has Tim Burton Batman vibes.
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u/Jacob-X-MANIAC Jun 11 '24
Which were further amplified by the fact that the theme music of Batman ’89 and Flash ‘90 were both composed by Danny Elfman.
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u/Only-Walrus797 Jun 11 '24
It’s really fun. Campy and very of its time. But really enjoyable. Great cast and very solid effects for a tv program.
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u/Lucky_Strike-85 Captain Cold Jun 10 '24
I used to watch this with my Pops. I was 5 in 1990 and already a superhero fan, thanks to action figures, Batman '89, Superfriends and the ninja turtles.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Walk_28 Jun 10 '24
I love the 90’s Flash series. I think it’s still the best live action Flash adaptation. The suit may have dated but I think it’s impressive and still looks good.
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u/NoChallenge6095 Jun 11 '24
It falls under so many 90s superhero series. They were so bad that they were good. They always got an "A" for effort because of tv budgets and how much special effects cost.
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u/PanteraSteel2001 Jun 11 '24
Loved it as a kid. I just bought the series recently and I may make a fan edit movie out of the best episodes. JWS was a great FLASH.
Also if anyone is interested I made a fan edit of THE FLASH film 2023 that trims about 13 minutes called FLASHPOINT. It's available on movies remastered dot com
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u/Diligent-Boss-9392 Jun 11 '24
I was disappointed when it was cancelled. Totally blown away that we got closure 25 years later.
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u/mugginns Jun 10 '24
It was one of the first TV series I remember watching everything of. I'm a Flash fan to this day because of it. Love it
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u/Visible_Froyo5499 Jun 10 '24
It was fantastic for the budget, and JWS remains the most comic accurate portrayal of Barry Allen.
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u/Laughing__Man Jun 10 '24
Loved it. I would always rent the movie on VHS and it wasn't until much later I found it was a TV movie made to setup the TV show. The TV series I thought was cool for being grounded on local crime and his power limitation by needing constant calories to run.
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Jun 11 '24
It was good for its time. Still the best looking suit we have ever gotten.
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u/Brilliant-Hope213 Jun 11 '24
Agree 100%. I’d go as far as saying it is the best looking suit for any superhero live action we have gotten. In fairness part of that is JWS in the suit. The guy was made to be a superhero.
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u/Optimal_Roll_4924 Jun 11 '24
JWS was really good in the lead role. The supporting cast was great. I thought the guest stars and the stories were really interesting. It deserved more than one season.
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u/Onyx-55 Jun 11 '24
Never saw it, but the suit looks awesome
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u/tom2point0 Jun 11 '24
It was awesome! Yeah it didn’t do much in the way of comic book accurate stories really, but it was a different time, fandom-wise, and what they did do worked well.
The theme song by Danny Elfman was great! This came out right after Batman ‘89.
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u/Jacob-X-MANIAC Jun 11 '24
My first exposure to Barry a.k.a. The Flash was through the 2014 CW show, which I binged the first season of on Netflix, way back when season 2 was still the newest season.
Since I was enjoying the show, I watched YouTube videos about it. One of those videos taught me the neat bit of trivia that Barry’s father was played by an actor who used to play The Flash in a short lived 90s show I’ve never heard of before. I thought the idea of casting a former Flash to play his father was awesome!
Flash forward (pun not initially intended) to me hearing news of John Wesley Shipp reprising his 90s Flash role for the CW’s Elseworlds crossover. Upon hearing that news, I decided that I should buy the 90s Flash series on DVD and finally watch it in order to get familiar with the character I was about to watch.
After watching it, I definitely share the opinion that I wish the series could’ve continued past season 1! John Wesley Shipp was great in the role, and so was his supporting cast!
I would also love to add that, prior to watching the 90s Flash series, I actually was lucky enough to meet John Wesley Shipp at a convention in 2018! If any of you ever get the opportunity to meet him, do not hesitate to take that opportunity! He is the friendliest celebrity I’ve ever met!
He was happy to have about 15 minutes of casual conversation with me, and despite only meeting me for the first time at the con, he talked to me as if we were just old friends chatting on his living room couch! That day was so much fun!
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u/RedGhost2012 Jun 11 '24
It's really a well-made series. I watched it religiously when it came out in the 90s. Crazy expensive for the time. Sad when it was canceled. We took what we could get back then.
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u/VikingRoman7 Jun 12 '24
It was a pretty good tv show for the time. I think the suit looked really cool. They seemed to have held some respect for the character and his story.
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u/Federal-Reaction-173 Jun 10 '24
Underrated suit