The Flash is Only Possible Because of How Much TV CGI Has Advanced

The Flash is already a monster hit for The CW, putting up the best numbers for a new show for the network in years. Spun out of the highly successful Arrow, it puts the focus on a new DC hero, one that hasn’t even landed his own movie yet. And yet, it works. Grant Gustin is great as Barry Allen, and he seems to have a solid supporting cast all around him. But I think the real reason The Flash is going to be able to succeed is because of how much TV special effects have advanced, even in the last five years or so. I remember when I first heard about The Flash being made into a TV show. I was scared. I was having nightmarish flashbacks to another CW show, Smallville, not because it was bad (even though it definitely was at times), but because I wondered how they would be able to base an entire series around super-speed, when the effect had been rendered so horribly on TV previously. In Smallville, Clark could never fly until the very, very, end, so he was forced to zip around on the ground using super speed. The effect was essentially to make him very blurry, and blow up things with wind as he passed. It was so ludicrous, it actually attracted a nickname, “The Blur,” that was used on the show as a way to identify him during his time spent as a vigilante in Metropolis.

Clark Kent as “The Blur,” channeling Neo on Smallville.

I was imagining an entire show using that kind of horrid super-speed effect, and grimacing at the possibility. And yet, at least judging by the pilot, a lot has changed since Smallville.

Barry Allen’s speed is rendered using perhaps some of the same “blur” effect, but it feels more comic book-ish, a mix of red, yellow and actually lightning visuals and sounds. Then sometimes it’s combined with super slow-motion, so we see things from Barry’s perspective. Smallville used this as well, but again, the technology has advanced leaps and bounds since that era.

The Flash simply would not have been possible without these most recent advances in TV tech. Movies pretty much get unlimited cash to insert all the special effects they want, but not so with TV. Arrow has lucked out because it’s a show that has largely stayed away from characters with actual superpowers. Archery doesn’t require CGI most of the time.

But The Flash? It was always going to be entirely reliant on special effects, and it’s amazing what they can do with a limited budget now. In the pilot, we have Barry running around a tornado to “unspool” it, and the effects are on par with nearly anything you’ll see in an actual movie, or at least it was filmed to make it LOOK that level of expensive. That scene could have been laughable without the right kind of effects, but instead it was exciting and the most compelling part of the evening (“Run Barry, run!”)

Actually, it kind of looks like a mushroom cloud from this angle.

I’ve seen this crop up in other TV shows as well. Agents of SHIELD recently introduced a villain with the ability to absorb any material he touches, from metal to concrete to rubber to even diamond. I was amazed with how good the effects were, and it allowed continuity in the story when it could have been distractingly bad.

Previously, superhero fights have been really, really limited in scope because of budgetary concerns regarding superpowers. As in, we usually saw Clark Kent throw people into a wall than use any of his arsenal of powers. Or in Heroes, most infamously, the final showdown between Peter and Sylar took place behind closed doors, much to the dismay of fans everywhere.

While there’s no way we’re going to see Avengers-finale level battles any time soon on TV, the potential is now there for much more integrated superpowers that don’t feel like they have to be restricted or hidden. And given that we have about 20 new superhero-themed TV shows about to hit the air, the timing couldn’t be better. TV has finally reached a threshold where its effects are good enough to create more or less cinematic experiences when it needs to, and that’s a very, very good development for the medium.

[Photos via The CW]