"Arrow" on The CW HD - Page 9

The show has a disclaimer that says it's "based on characters created in DC Comics". Meaning, there were rights fees paid and rings kissed. A few years back they made a pretty good show (IMO, but the ratings begged to differ) about The Flash. They didn't call it 'The Speedster'. They've done 'Wonder Woman' and didn't change the character's name. They've obviously done 'Superman' and 'Batman', and the Adam West version of Batman was about as different from the comic character as you could get. And then there are all the animated series based on those characters and others using their legitimate and traditional names.

So, I don't get this subterfuge at all. The dude is Green Arrow (even without the VanGogh beard), ferpetesake. I can only forgive it if the long-term goal is to phase the name in gradually -- parcel out the DC Comics' goodies slowly and steadily, as I put it above.

Is the guy on the island in the yellow and black mask anyone from the Green Arrow/DC comic universe?

Deathstroke.

Or some variation of him.

The old series 'Birds of Prey' had a lot of similarities to 'Arrow'. Warner Bros. required them to make a *LOT* of changes to the characters and settings to differentiate the TV series from the comic books. This was driven by the feature side of Warner Bros., which controlled the rights to the Batman franchise in live action form. The TV side of Warner Bros. had to jump through all kinds of hoops. The idea being that the feature people did not want a TV show to step on any characters or story plots that might eventually be used in the features. And they were worried that a poorly executed TV series might ruin the franchise.

So...Huntress became a mutant with superpowers. Black Canary was a psychic instead of having the super vocal chords. The pilot centered around a villain who was obviously Scarecrow but couldn't be called that. The only character who remained basically unchanged was Bat Girl/Oracle. They were allowed to show her in the Bat Girl costume for the pilot episode only. And the show only ever alluded to Batman. They never showed him or called him by name. All supposedly to protect the integrity of the characters for the feature film franchise.

For some reason, the various animated series didn't seem to be an issue. Warner' feature film department was worried about live action TV productions.

Personally, I never understood that. I always thought that changing characters and giving them new/different superpowers and costumes and different names did more damage to the franchise and pissed off fans. But that is how it was explained to me by the execs and writers on the show.

So perhaps they are doing the same with Green Arrow - to 'protect' the integrity of that character for a Justice League franchise. Who knows. I'm just speculating.

I think the problem stems from animation being licensed differently than live-action. They don't seem to differentiate TV vs Movie... but they do differentiate live-action vs animation.

So... Batman animated and Batman live-action are two different things... but they wouldn't simultaneously license a Batman TV show and a Batman movie.

There are some wrinkles... consider, say if Sony licensed Green Arrow to do a feature film... but then WB-TV licensed Green Arrow to do a live-action TV show... you can bet someone would steal someone's thunder... maybe they movie is an origin movie BUT the TV show does the origin too, and people can see that "free" on TV so why pay again to watch it in the movie?

Same with Batman... the Joker shows up in a TV show live-action and steals the thunder of the movie... movies always have longer lead-times to produce so any live-action TV show would beat it to the punch and since they are drawing from the same mythology it would be likely to have similar stories evolve.

So... who is going to pay for a movie license to a character without securing all live-action rights to prevent there being some TV show beating them to the punch?

Animation is different, however... it is not seen as a direct competitor to live-action. People will watch Batman in a cartoon AND will go see the live-action movie... in fact, the animation might advertise and help keep the character awareness up for when the movie hits AND even if they do a similar story, it will feel different in live-action.

So... Smallville didn't go official Superman because Warner wanted to make Superman movies and didn't want the TV show to compete... so limits were imposed. The Wonder Woman TV show pilot only got traction when plans for a movie was scrapped.

Since they saw Marvel have success with Avengers... they probably want to keep their option open to have Green Arrow in a movie Justice League and not have their TV show compete.

The Flash TV show was made at a time when nobody was considering a Flash movie.

It seems pretty straightforward to me.

Seems pretty petty to me.

It's like getting all the way to third base and then hearing "no". No may mean no, but Oliver Queen means Green Arrow. There's an analogy in there somewhere...

Looks like Ben Browder is getting all his exercise at the dinner table.

 

No kidding.  We didn't recognize him until he spoke.  I immediately said "John Crichton!"   Yea, he's had a few Big Mac's lately.  I checked IMDB and he really hasn't done anything since Stargate SG1 ended in 2008.  I remember him in the episode of Chuck which was just a year ago but I don't think he was that porked out.  Guess him and Nathan Fillion have lunch at 5 Guys every day.  Like I'm one to talk.  LOL

Better effort this week, for sure. Great to see John Crichton again. He plays just a good a villain as a hero. But what's this about Ollie's island-of-doom mentor-san being in league with the evildoers? Surely he's just playin' 'em, part of his inscrutable long game...?

Was a little disappointed in Ollie's weekly, shirtless, insane workout routine this week. Heck, I saw a 70 year old actor (Jack Palance) do a few of those on a TV show once.

The wife says that guys got a 12 pack, I've got a keg myself
It makes no sense his island mentor is in cahoots with the bad guys, evil twin?.............

I thought brainwashing.

A magic mind programming device would be an easy way to make Queen a super-CSI while he's on the island.

Much better episode this week with Queen's superfluous buddy and ex-girlfriend given less precedence than the A-story and some good island backstory scenes. I'm enjoying the fact that Diggle is actually a decent sidekick with some skills too.

The grenade going through armored glass was fairly silly though. It couldn't even penetrate a trash can lid!

He was in the cancelled series Hellcats last year or so. It's easy to forget that Browder is now 50! His youthful persona and active roles on Farscape and SG disguised the fact he was in his 40's when he made those. No surprise he's a bit chunkier now.

 

Browder wasn't on Hellcats:  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112871/?ref_=sr_1

 

I think you might be thinking about Jeff Hephner?  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0378363/

 

Anyway, we kid these guys on gaining weight.  No way am I in shape.  *However*, it is their job to stay in shape for certain rolls. But Browder really hasn't done much since 2008 so looks like he may have taken some time off of acting and just getting back into the game.  So depending on the rolls he wants to get he may need to hire a personal trainer again.  :)

He was on Hellcats.



Then he wasn't.

I never watched or followed that show so didn't read the news that he dropped out after the pilot.

He was cast early on, but left/replaced before filming on the pilot episode started. 

It was noticeable thicker in the neck for sure and a little pudgier.
stuff happens to all of us as years go by

the sad part is he's made for scifi action roles where his touch of sarcastic wit can come thru. it's a shame he hasn't had a run in a series since Stargate.

I am in shape.  Round is a shape.

^lol

Finally caught up, good episodes I suppose. Nothing special, but nothing too bad.

lol, ouch. Miss seeing that guy even from the few Farscape episodes I saw...

that's good

Kelly?

I'm not understanding why everyone is having a hard time not getting why they're not calling him Green Arrow or why the city isn't called Star City... The show's cast & creators have said in multiple interviews that they are trying to take an awesome comic book character, Green Arrow, and depict him in a way that appeals to both the fans of the comic book character and also for non-comic book enthusiasts...

I mean, let's start with the name... That's obviously just a logic problem. There hasn't been a single reason to call the guy Green Arrow. He doesn't shoot green arrows, he's not shaped like an arrow --- Until the show presents a reason that is logical for him to suddenly be called Green Arrow then they are not going to call him Green Arrow... Viewers don't like it when shows do something illogical like that and then just move on like we're just supposed to accept it... Right now his most defining his hood... His bow & arrows are just his accessories... Plus, Green Arrow sounds a bit cartoony, you have to understand that to people who don't read comic books, most of the superheroes have very corny names that just wouldn't work in real life the same way they work in the world of comics & such...

Now onto the city, that is simple... Again, they're trying to make a show about a superhero that doesn't feel like your standard superhero show... Star City sounds too childish, it doesn't sound like a believable metropolitan city name... Starling city on the other hand does sound like a believable name for a city...

You guys just need to get over the fact that they're not trying to win comic book fans over, they aren't going to adhere to the comic book in every way, especially in the ways where if they did it would totally feel like a real life comic book situation which is usually very cheesy & the people in comic books have to be idiots to not be able to tell who the superhero is just because they're wearing a different outfit or they have their hair slicked back or the fact that they have... HALF of a mask... I mean Superman puts on a pair of glasses and all of sudden people are like "SupermaN!??! Where'd you go!?!"

Okay well, you either get why they're doing it or you don't... Moving on...

The blonde tech girl is absolutely perfect & I can't understand why anybody would have a problem with her... Why would Queen Industries hire guy in his 30s with a family to be their IT guy instead of a young person in their 20s? I read somebody say that this is typical of CW to do this, I'm trying to think of any shows on CW with gorgeous geniuses working as the head of an IT department & I'm drawing a blank.... Can youi throw a few examples my way to help me better understand why you're bothered by the fact that she's young and pretty... (Not everyone on the planet is fat & ugly you know) --- Oh, and the part where you said the thing about her taking off her glasses to reveal that she's actually a hot girl made absolutely no sense... She's fantastically beautiful with or without the glasses... Seriously, did the glasses really fool you that much that you think they're going to do an episode where she takes them off and everybody goes "holy ****?" --- I don't think so... This isn't comic book land... People can tell who you are and what you look like even if you are wearing glasses in the real world...

I signed up and everything just so I could post this... Some of you were really bothering me with your questions that weren't even worth being called questions.... You should've known the answer yourself, it's not like the show's trying to hide anything from you -- simply think about it for a couple of minutes and it should become apparent to you...

Goodnight one and all! I took too many xanax and drank too much alchoolol.. bad idefa, signing off now.

LOL! Yeah, we noticed!

You are joking, right? Yeah, there is no reason whatsoever to call him green arrow. We will just forget that his weapon of choice is arrows and oh yeah, he wears a green hood! Yeah, that name would make no sense at all.......

Thought it was odd that the comely vice-squad cop just handed over the police file on "The Count" to Ollie, no questions asked. Not the greatest episode, but it's nice to see "Lincoln" from 'Fringe' getting some more work. At least we know his mentor on "The Island of Doom" didn't really cross over to the dark side, but was just working a double-cross on the evildoers.

I got the impression that she didn't give him the file to keep; he put it in his jacket when her head was turned. It was rather unrealistic to expect her to not notice that he stole it, but it's no more implausible than all the bad guys being terrible shots and Oliver getting away unscathed from multiple gunfights in every episode.

While I have no problems with the lack of naming him by his comic name... I'm not sure you and I are watching the same show.

He wears a green outfit... he shoots arrows... and at least some of those arrows have been green.

It is a silly comic-book name... but it wouldn't be out of left-field to call him Green Arrow.

Remember... in real life there was a serial killer who sent notes using signs from the zodiac... you know, the Zodiac Killer? Or how about Jack the Ripper? It's not like people in real life don't name unknown people after things they have evidence of them doing.

Wait... Star City sounds "childish" but Starling City is 100% believable? Really. I wouldn't argue that Star City isn't an odd name... but I find Starling City to be no better. Neither ruins the mood for me... but it isn't like they took a comic-sounding city name and changed it to a real-world city name. Both names seem equally silly, which begs the question why not just use the real comic name.

...and "by Jupiter's c*ck", that's Crixus as Deathstroke on the island doing the training and mind bending poor Ollie. With Spartacus in the can, it's good to see Manu Bennett getting more work.

I just hope Manu gets more than one week's work. They're wasting some good actors on one-off villain roles. Seth Gable a few weeks ago, then Ben Browder, now David Anders. All those guys deserved more than a "villain of the week" part, seems to me.