# Flash: new TV show (boxed spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818 "2014-10-09T01:14:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/41 "2014-10-13T18:04:45Z")
I would have enjoyed a blond Flash just for bringing up the memories of the 60s version of the comic book. Some leeway is allowable in converting to a TV show though, but I didn’t see the Flash as a dark character either. Barry Allen was a chemist, and CSI is a fairly good analog, and useful for creating plots, hopefully this Barry Allen will use his skills and intellect to fight evil-doers in addition to his super speed in the way the comic book character once did. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/42 "2014-10-14T23:59:19Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > Upon reflection, I agree with you. So, okay, let’s throw out the sentence “Costumes in Marvel movies don’t look cartoonish with the brighter colors.” I still don’t understand why red in a costume has to be so dark one might not even recognize it as red if one didn’t know better. Perhaps it’s one of those changed details that comics fans (or me, since I’m the one kicking about it) raise a fuss about, while the rest (majority) of the movie-going audience never bat an eye. Should the make-up artists apply ben-day dots to the actor’s faces, too? The fact is, those bright colors are an artifact of the medium, not a stylistic choice. Even with modern printing, it’s hard to make dark colors look clear, and the **Arrow** comic based on the TV show (not the regular Green Arrow comic), despite being very faithful to the look of the show, typically shows Ollie’s costume as much brighter (though still dark) green. In the 40’s through 60’s, when these characters got their looks, dark colors were simply impossible in comic books. If the artists of the time had been working off the modern costumes as models, the result in the comics would have looked exactly the same. No one decided that the Flash needed to have a brightly colored, streamlined costume without seams or detailed styling. They decided it should be red, and there was only one shade of red they could print. Any extra details (besides large patches of colors like trunks or gloves) would have been too time consuming to draw and would have blurred together anyway. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/43 "2014-10-15T00:05:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I would have enjoyed a blond Flash just for bringing up the memories of the 60s version of the comic book. Some leeway is allowable in converting to a TV show though, but I didn’t see the Flash as a dark character either. Barry Allen was a chemist, and CSI is a fairly good analog, and useful for creating plots Uh, IIRC, Barry Allen _was_ a CSI in the '60s; it’s Jay Garrick who was the chemist. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/44 "2014-10-15T00:41:35Z")
The always over-the-top angry lab lady is already tiresome. Otherwise, I’m going to give it a few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/45 "2014-10-15T01:02:32Z")
**Alan Smithee** , my ignorance of the details you relate has been fought. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/46 "2014-10-15T01:17:45Z")
I watched part of an episode tonight. Did the “scientific” explanation of the bad guy’s ability to duplicate himself cover how his clones(?) were formed fully dressed? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/47 "2014-10-15T03:34:42Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Uh, IIRC, Barry Allen _was_ a CSI in the '60s; it’s Jay Garrick who was the chemist. Wikipedia confirms what you say. The title of Forensic Scientist is something recent, but I remember him wearing a white lab coat in the 60s when he was a Police Scientist, and along with his powers coming from a mix of chemicals I assumed all along he was a chemist. Thanks for setting me straight. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/48 "2014-10-15T16:37:09Z")
So it looks more and more that… Wheelchair guy will be Reverse Flash and the murderer of Barry’s Mom. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/49 "2014-10-15T17:06:05Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > So it looks more and more that… > > Wheelchair guy will be Reverse Flash and the murderer of Barry’s Mom. Based on comic history, Reverse Flash will be police detective Eddie Thawne. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/50 "2014-10-15T17:10:13Z")
someone needs to explain to me bits of that spoilered comment - I am only familiar with Flash via osmosis and the Justice League cartoons from my youth (think 70s, not current) and I don’t care about myself being ‘spoiled’ in this case - since we’re opinionating on whats already happened (or will happen???) in comics - what the CW decides to do with the series will undoubtedly follow a different path. But - even then - spoiler boxes are probably a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/51 "2014-10-15T19:25:55Z")
So, we’re two episodes into the series and I’m already getting sick of Professor whatshisname doing something sinister or downright evil in the epilogue . Also, someone explain to me the physics behind someone being able to duplicate themselves dozens of times. I can just about handle the suspension of disbelief required to believe in an ultrafast hero whose jockey shorts don’t spontaneously combust from friction while he’s running at the speed of sound, but mass popping out of thin air begins to sound suspiciously like magic. I could buy it, sort of, if they mentioned alternate dimensions or time distortion or some other technowank, but instead they tried to blame it on biology when sour-faced cute girl manages to create a clone by something something blood sample. Where does the mass come from? Was she dumping armloads of burritos and Mountain Dew into the beaker? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/52 "2014-10-16T00:57:56Z")
I actually missed the pilot (I musta screwed up the DVR), but I am a bit worried that this is SMALLVILLE – with a super-powered villain of the week. Gets dull fast. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/53 "2014-10-16T04:08:56Z")
The second episode had less fun and more angst than the pilot. Barry seemed to conveniently forget that he can move at superspeed whenever the plot called for him to be beaten up by multiple clones. I can understand it happening the first time since he wasn’t prepared for it, but he should have learned from experience. I hope the show hits its stride soon. Barry really needs to get together with Iris so that the whole Professor Zoom storyline can get going. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/54 "2014-10-16T05:00:45Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I actually missed the pilot (I musta screwed up the DVR), but I am a bit worried that this is SMALLVILLE – with a super-powered villain of the week. Gets dull fast. Have you been watching _Arrow_? They’ve handled that really well, and this is basically a spin-off from the same team. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/55 "2014-10-16T14:51:09Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The second episode had less fun and more angst than the pilot. Barry seemed to conveniently forget that he can move at superspeed whenever the plot called for him to be beaten up by multiple clones. I disagree. Barry has had his powers for, as far as I can tell, less than a month, and this is only the second superhuman he’s faced. He reacted like Barry Allen when he started to get beat up, not like an experienced Flash. He’s still adopting to being the fastest man alive. If he has the same issues a year from now, then you will have a point. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/56 "2014-10-16T17:59:35Z")
Theoretically, a fight between the Flash and anyone should be like [Hermes getting attacked by a giant sloth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iINkKLOA-0I), but I’m assuming that the Flash has to turn his super speed perceptions on and off and hasn’t had the experience to do it automatically yet. If everything appeared to occur in ultra-slow-mo, then Barry Allen would commit homicide out of sheer road rage at the first red light he came to: “Hey, Grandma! The light’s been green for almost 3 milliseconds now! Get the hell out of the way!” A couple of more physics improbabilities from the last show. Barry is continuously moving people out of the way of moving bullets and stuff like that. Not only is it slightly unlikely that a wimpy guy like Barry can lift or carry people a couple of hundred feet without collapsing, but I imagine he’s going to get sued for inflicting whiplash on just about everyone he’s accelerated from 0 to 300mph in 1/10 of a second. Actually, I just did the math, and it looks like he’s accelerating and decelerating them at about 137 gees. So it’s the next of kin that will be doing the suing. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/57 "2014-10-16T18:27:22Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > A couple of more physics improbabilities from the last show. Barry is continuously moving people out of the way of moving bullets and stuff like that. Not only is it slightly unlikely that a wimpy guy like Barry can lift or carry people a couple of hundred feet without collapsing, but I imagine he’s going to get sued for inflicting whiplash on just about everyone he’s accelerated from 0 to 300mph in 1/10 of a second. Actually, I just did the math, and it looks like he’s accelerating and decelerating them at about 137 gees. So it’s the next of kin that will be doing the suing. While I’m guilty of doing the same things (trying to use physics in a superhero story - Lois Lane should have died when Christopher Reeves’ Superman first caught her, and the copter should have crashed to the ground missing only its landing skid), we, the watchers, really need to let go of physics because this is fantasy. In a world where a man can accelerate from 0 to 300mph in 1/10th of a second, one can simply assume that whatever force protects him from the g-forces applies to whatever he is carrying, including the people he just picked up. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/58 "2014-10-16T18:39:03Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Theoretically, a fight between the Flash and anyone should be like [Hermes getting attacked by a giant sloth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iINkKLOA-0I), but I’m assuming that the Flash has to turn his super speed perceptions on and off and hasn’t had the experience to do it automatically yet. > If everything appeared to occur in ultra-slow-mo, then Barry Allen would commit homicide out of sheer road rage at the first red light he came to: “Hey, Grandma! The light’s been green for almost 3 milliseconds now! Get the hell out of the way!” > > A couple of more physics improbabilities from the last show. Barry is continuously moving people out of the way of moving bullets and stuff like that. Not only is it slightly unlikely that a wimpy guy like Barry can lift or carry people a couple of hundred feet without collapsing, but I imagine he’s going to get sued for inflicting whiplash on just about everyone he’s accelerated from 0 to 300mph in 1/10 of a second. Actually, I just did the math, and it looks like he’s accelerating and decelerating them at about 137 gees. So it’s the next of kin that will be doing the suing. And shouldn’t there be turbulence in the air when he moves around a room at a speed that makes him invisible? There should be a vacuum behind him. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/59 "2014-10-16T20:03:37Z")
Let’s face it: except for Bruce Wayne, most of the time, all comic-book heroes have aspects that are somewhere between highly improbable and contrary to the laws of physics. I am glad for the turn of the last decade or so to “realism” and attempts to ground superheroes in something like the real world, but unless we’re going to recycle the handful of “real” caped crusaders and limit the rest to the three everyone already accepts, which we have, the genre is going to get even more stale. Analyzing the math and physics of the Flash is counterproductive. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818/60 "2014-10-16T20:06:55Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Let’s face it: except for Bruce Wayne, most of the time, all comic-book heroes have aspects that are somewhere between highly improbable and contrary to the laws of physics. > . I beg to differ on the “except for Bruce Wayne” part, Batman has crossed the line into impossible many times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flash-new-tv-show-boxed-spoilers/700818.md?page=4)