The Flash (1990) - Barry Allen\The Flash (John Wesley Shipp). Credit: CBS Television

The Flash

Flash

The Beginning of The Flash



Batman

Incredible Hulk

The Greatest American Hero

Misfits of Science

Batman

Superboy





The Flash

Danny Bilson

Paul De Meo

Unlimited Powers

Flash Almost Killed Green Arrow





The Producers Hated Wally West





Batman Inspired Flash





Batman

The Show Finds It's Flash



Promotional still of Amanda Pays and John Shipp for The Flash (1990)

The Flash.

John Wesley Shipp

Richard Burgi

Flash

The Sentinel

Shipp Didn't Know Anything About Flash

Amanda Pays Was Hired Because of "Max Headroom"





Amanda Pays

Max Headroom

Alex Désert

The Flash Costume Design

Promotional still of John Shipp for The Flash (1990)

Costume Concept Illustration by Dave Stevens for The Flash (1990) Credit: CBS Television

The Rocketeer

Batman

Robert Short

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

The Suit Made the Actor Sweat Buckets

Shipp Almost Saw a Shrink Because of the Costume

The Flash Pilot

Still of Amanda Pays and John Shipp on The Flash (1990) Credit: CBS Television

Batman

Danny Elfman

Shirley Walker

Cosby Crushes The Flash



Still of Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show (1990)

Gail Hickman

John Francis Moore

The Flash

The Cosby Show

The Flash

The Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Flash

Bill Cosby

The Simpsons

The Simpsons

Babes

Father Dowling Mysteries

A Different World

The Simpsons

Batman

Flash

Simpsons

Cosby

The Flash

Cosby

Simpsons

Baseball Killed The Flash





The Coming of the Trickster

Promotional Photo of Mark Hamill and John Shipp on The Flash (1990) Credit: CBS Television

While the show focused on more traditional villains, like drug dealers and street crime, it was decided to bring in more elements from the comics starting with their first major villain. Bilson and De Meo were talking about doing the Trickster episode when the casting director April Webster she got a call from Mark Hamill. He said if they ever want to do the Trickster, he wanted to play him. Hamill was a huge comic book fan and even owned a comic book shop in Canada. He understood the Trickster and said that the villain's trademark flying shoes were why they cast him. Hamill joked he was literally a "Sky Walker". But he also understood how to make the Trickster work. "One of the most difficult things is translating these things that work on the page of the comic books, and doing it on camera without making it look totally ridiculous," Hamill explained.

Howard Chaykin

Michael Champion

David Cassidy

The Flash Runs Out of Time







The Flash Legacy Lives On

Promotional photo of Grant Gustin and John Shipp Credit: USA Today It was a bold idea, but a bad time slot and a high budget killed the show. While the show was short-lived the legacy of the show lived on. Mark Hamill voiced the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series using a similar style. He even played Trickster on the animated Justice League Unlimited.



Amanda Pays returned to science fiction in shows like The X-Files and Thief Takers . John Shipp returned to television in critically acclaimed roles in shows like Dawson's Creek, One Life to Live and the Teen Wolf TV show.



Bilson and De Meo produced more television series like Viper (1994) and The Sentinel (1996) before returned to writing comics like "The Flash: Fastest Man Alive" for DC Comics.



John Shipp, Amanda Pays and Mark Hamill on The Flash (2015) Credit: The CW Network The concept was brought back 25 years later with the CW show The Flash . The Flash e xecutive producers Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti are huge fans of the show and cast some of the original cast members like Shipp as Barry Allen's father, Pays as McGee and Hamill as an older Trickster.



"We get a lot of credit for doing this giant movie every week, but you see what went into making ['Trickster' and 'The Trial of The Trickster'], and it wasn't digital." The Flash executive producer Andrew Kreisberg said at a screening of the original series. Nodding to the cast, he said, "You guys blew all that stuff up. It meant the world to us. If you watch our iteration, you see so many nods to it."



After all these years, the show still means a lot. Plus, Mark Hamill still has the Flash ears.





It was a bold idea, but a bad time slot and a high budget killed the show. While the show was short-lived the legacy of the show lived on. Mark Hamill voiced the Joker inusing a similar style. He even played Trickster on the animatedAmanda Pays returned to science fiction in shows likeand. John Shipp returned to television in critically acclaimed roles in shows likeandtheTV show.Bilson and De Meo produced more television series like(1994) and(1996) before returned to writing comics like "The Flash: Fastest Man Alive" for DC Comics.The concept was brought back 25 years later with the CW showxecutive producers Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti are huge fans of the show and cast some of the original cast members like Shipp as Barry Allen's father, Pays as McGee and Hamill as an older Trickster."We get a lot of credit for doing this giant movie every week, but you see what went into making ['Trickster' and 'The Trial of The Trickster'], and it wasn't digital."executive producer Andrew Kreisberg said at a screening of the original series. Nodding to the cast, he said, "You guys blew all that stuff up. It meant the world to us. If you watch our iteration, you see so many nods to it."After all these years, the show still means a lot. Plus, Mark Hamill still has the Flash ears.

References

What do you think of the 90s Flash TV show? Do you remember watching any of these? What do you think of the old show and the new one?





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