Inspired by Tim Burton's Batman (1989), The Flash was brought to the small screen on CBS in 1990 starring John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen and Amanda Pays as Tina McGee from executive producers Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo (who later wrote Flash comics for DC).
The initial episodes took many ques visually and tonally from Batman, even having Danny Elfman compose the theme music. Later episodes included guest stars and featured some of The Flash's rouges gallery, including Mark Hamill as The Trickster.
The series struggled with ratings and the high cost (averaging around $1.6 million per episode) and several time slot changes couldn't save the series from cancellation after 22 episodes despite plans for a second season.
The series spun-off a tie-in comic (The Flash TV Special #1) and two video games The Flash (1992) for the Game Boy and The Flash (1993) for the Sega Master System.
Three TV movies featuring edited and collected episodes were released on VHS, The Flash (1990), The Flash II: Revenge of the Trickster (1991) and The Flash III: Deadly Nightshade (1991).
The complete series was released on DVD and a limited edition soundtrack was released in 2010.
John Wesley Shipp and Amanda Pays went on to appear in the CW's 2014 series The Flash decades later.
Log in to comment