Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26:46 — 50.3MB) | Embed
[sc:rwtop]The Flash Series began in 1990 and only lasted for a single season of 22 episodes. Cory and Tom are kicking off there discussion of every episode. Here in episode 1 on the Flash 90 Rewatch, Cory and Tom discuss episode 1 “Pilot” and episode 2 “Out of Control.” Enjoy the above video for a behind the scenes feturette on the series.
Pilot:
With Central City being terrorized by a motorcycle gang called the Dark Riders, the police under the direction of Commander Jay Allen, find themselves hard pressed to capture them. While Barry Allen, Jay’s brother as well as a police scientist, works in the crime lab late one night trying to help crack the case, a lightning bolt crashes through the window, hitting him and causing the chemicals he was using to explode.
After recovering, Barry begins to experience side effects such as moving his hand so fast to grab a cup that it gets thrown across the room from the force, chasing after his dog and then outrunning it straight into a bush, and then running to try and catch a bus but losing control of his speed and ending up at a beach 30 miles away in just a matter of seconds.
Barry contacts a specialist at Star Labs, Tina McGee, who runs tests and determines that his body, physically and mentally, is being accelerated, and due to these changes his body is burning more energy, needing more food to replace it, explaining his huge appetite as of late.
Meanwhile Jay Allen finds his motorcycle police force the subject of a humiliating attack by the dark riders on the evening of their debut. It’s revealed that the dark riders leader, Pike, was once a motorcycle cop and Jay’s partner but was involved in illegal activities such as hijacking guns narcotics and explosives. Jay found out and set a trap that led to Pike’s scars, arrest, and eventual escape from the hospital. Before Barry can warn Jay of all this, he falls for a similar trap set by Pike, resulting in Jay dying in Barry’s arms.
Jay’s death leads Barry to want revenge and asks Tina to modify a suit she’s been using to help test Barry’s abilities, into a disguise. She agrees but with the stipulation that she will build monitors into the suit to keep and eye on him in case problems arise such as his frequent moments of dizziness that have been occurring as his body adjusts to the powers. He immediately takes down several of Pike’s goons and they’re arrested, claiming to have seen a red ghost.
Barry’s crime lab prowess allows him to eventually find Pike’s hideout and reveals the information to his Chief as well as Pike’s plan to break out the inmates at the prison. The dark riders easily take over the orison and free and arm the prisoners but Barry arrives to save the day, using his speed to steal the guns, subdue prisoners, and get tear gas delivered inside. Pike manages to get away, getting the upper hand in Barry who succumbs to his dizziness, but recovers and captures Pike, as Tina and he agree to work together to help stop crime and save people.
“Pilot” Flash Points:
Don’t cut out early like Julio when Barry isn’t around, take a look at the unmade script or check out the soundtrack from Lala Land Records.
Out of Control:
As homeless people go missing off the streets of Central City, Tina reunites with an old flame/friend from before her and her husband were married, a scientist named Carl Tanner who is working on genetic engineering, hoping to solve the problems of aging, disease and defects. As Carl escorts Tina home from his lecture, they are approached by a homeless man and Carl gives the man $20, commenting about the man’s wasted life. As the pair reach her house, Carl kisses her, surprising her and she rushes inside.
Meanwhile, Julio is trying to convince Barry to ask out Tina for a freak date now that Iris has dumped him and moved to Paris but Barry contends that they are merely friends. Downstairs in the police station lobby, homeless people are surging to get inside, complaining about the lack of work the police are doing in the missing men in their community. A fight breaks out ending with a standoff when one homeless man grabs a policeman’s gun. Barry changes into his super suit and grabs the gun away before anyone knows what has happened.
One of the homeless men turns out to be Charly, a former classmate of Barry’s. In an effort to help, he offers him a job at Star Labs as a security guard but As Charly walks away, Barry hears a scream from an alley way and investigates as the Flash. As Carl looks on and watches, hidden in the shadows, Barry finds a homeless man looking horribly mutated. However, the next day at the morgue, Barry inspects the body of the homeless man only to discover he has returned to normal with no visible mutations.
The next day, Tina has a dinner date with Carl in which he presses her for information about her late husband’s research notes; notes that could contain information seeing as he and Carl were working on similar projects. She refuses to give them to him, fearing that since they led to her husband’s death, they could do the same for Carl. He lets the issue drop but proceeds to drug Tina and takes a scan of her eye, enabling him to get into Star Labs. Charly sees an alarm trip and while investigating, Tanner knocks him out from behind. Barry turns up in costume but gets trapped within a vacuum chamber, the oxygen being drained away courtesy of Carl. He manages to use his super speed and Charly’s badge to create a hole in the glass, saving them both.
Carl, using the information from the stolen notes, tests his new genetic research formula on a dog, resulting in a monster that terrorizes the city for a few short minutes before running out of steam and turns back into his normal doggie self, much the way the dead homeless man had done.
The Flash confronts Carl who quickly injects himself with the formula turning himself into a hulkish monstrous figure and quickly overpowers the speedster. Monster Carl reverts to normal quickly and heads to Tina’s where he reveals his hatred of the homeless, having grown up like that himself, and explaining why he used the homeless as test subjects. He knocks Tina out when she won’t help and uses her machines to work up another version of the formula, injects himself and once again finds his over powered mutant form facing the recovered Flash, who takes innocent homeless people out of harm’s way and then literally wraps things up quickly, capturing the mutated monster who reverts once again to his normal self.
“Out of Control” Flash Points:
We spotted the street names “Gardener and Fox” as well as Garrick Ave from the pilot. Did you spot any more reference?
Add It To Your Library:
Do you want to buy this series (from Amazon or iTunes)? Do you want to help support The Rewatch Podcast and the other Golden Spiral Media podcasts? You can do that by clicking this link: https://www.goldenspiralmedia.com/support. We would greatly appreciate it!
Feedback:
Send in your feedback by calling 304-837-2278 or by visiting www.goldenspiralmedia.com/feedback
Follow the show on Facebook or Twitter @RewatchPod
[sc:rw]
Trackbacks/Pingbacks