Bass and Siskoid cover all four(ish) episodes of the CW’s version of the Invasion crossover featuring Supergirl and the casts of Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow vs. the Dominators!
Listen to Episode 16 below (the usual filthy filthy language warnings may apply), or subscribe to First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast on iTunes!
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Credits:
Relevant teaser clip from Flash’s “Invasion!” starring Audrey Marie Anderson.
Bonus clips: Supergirl’s “Medusa” starring Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist; Flash’s “Invasion!” starring Grant Gustin, Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, and Willa Holland; Arrow’s “Invasion!” starring Stephen Amell, Caity Lotz, David Ramsey, Rick Gonzalez, Melissa Benoist and Grant Gustin; Legends of Tomorrow’s “Invasion!” starring Carlos Valdes and Nick Zano; and “Time Tunnel theme” by John Williams. (Dominator voice uncredited)
End theme music from “The Day the Earth Stood Still” score by Bernard Herrmann
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The pro and con back and forth on this one was quite a bit of fun. I’m somewhere in the middle. I think the magnitude of this crossover highlighted some of the weaknesses of these shows. I think in general the showrunners seem to be stretched too thin these days. Flash this season has been far weaker than either season before it, in my opinion, with the same melodrama dug up over and over after Flashpoint.
I’m kind of glad they used this to get past that, but I can see where it didn’t really serve the crossover well. I think the Arrow episode was the strongest overall, even though it moved the plot along less than Flash or Legends, and was a redux of “For the Man Who Has Everything” and BTAS’ “Perchance to Dream”.
I think Bass is right that this would have worked better later in the season, and I agree with Siskoid that had some threads been sewn into the shows before this, the event would have felt more fulfilling. I think it all felt kind of shoehorned in.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t these shows at their best by any means. Hopefully the next one they try to pull off will benefit from this trial run.
Chris
The first 11 minutes seem to be devoted to complaining about not keeping up on a show then being spoiled about events that are going to happen. You can’t have it both ways.
I could have it both ways, but not if I wanted to service the show. Felt I could play the annoyed spoilaphobe so long as Bass was there to pour on the love.
Seriously, several of the big criticisms would have been ably addressed if only you’d watched the episodes you’re so aggressively against being spoiled about. It made listening to this episode an altogether painful experience. It would have been much better to either have avoided talking about the CW version altogether, or at least have waited until you were both caught up with watching the serieses (how do you pluralize a term that’s already supposed to be plural?).
I might not have mentioned it at all, but I wanted to put my thoughts into context. That way, you can easily dismiss them.
Series is ‘series’ in both singular and plural because it’s a collective noun that ends with an ‘s’.
But when you start a series and have just one episode done (say Knightcast) is it then juste a serie?
Série is the singular of that word in French. The More You Know.
Guys, c’mon. It’s like the Doctor Who episodes with multiple Doctors – always works better in concept and rarely delivers in execution. Each show has to 1) service its normal audience; 2) woo a new one coming from the crossover; 3) further its serial story; 4) service its own characters and then do the same for the new viewers. Keep your expectations in check for these things. Plus, it’ll never rock your face at 40 like it would have at 12.
My 12 year old self didn’t have access to podcasting technology, so you’re stuck with this old fool.
For the record, I’m extremely critical of multi-Doctor stories as well.
It hurts to be an adult watching teen shows
I’m a season and a half behind on these shows, so I wasn’t going to watch the “Invasion” crossover as it aired, but that wasn’t the real reason I stayed away. It’s the whole idea that these shows, even all four of them together, would attempt something of this magnitude. INVASION!..? That’s CW and Greg Berlanti getting greedy and over-reaching. Siskoid pointed out how pitifully few characters on these shows were actually in the comic book source material, which casts a harsh light on how comparatively low-tier the heroes on these shows are.
Supergirl and Flash aside, this cast of characters aren’t the heavy-hitters you send against an alien fleet. Vibe? White Canary? Citizen Steel? Green Arrow? Green Arrow’s sister? Green Arrow’s girlfriend? Green Arrow’s former bodyguard who once-upon-a-time could’ve been Rick Flagg, Jr. until Warner Bros. took the Suicide Squad away from CW, so now he’s just a guy in a dumb helmet? A serious challenge for these guys should be Solomon Grundy, not a whole freaking alien invasion. Where’s Superman? Where’s Wonder Woman? Where’s Green Lantern? Oh right, they’re tied up in the movie-verse. If Berlanti couldn’t have A-list heroes, he should have managed the expectations of this crossover better.
Well, the one guy I wish was in TV canon who could have participated in this is Captain Atom, who was a major player.
Adam Strange would have been nice too.
I’m not going to get into too many of the particulars of the problems that Siskoid and Bass had with this crossover. I liked it quite a bit and it gave me a lot of the feels that I was hoping Batman v Dumpster Fire would give and ultimately didn’t. Siskoid’s arguments were from an honest place and I don’t argue taste so I’m going to leave that be.
The only argument I am going to shout, “Objection!” on is that Supergirl was smug when Wild Dog tried to call her out on having abilities and what good does she ultimately do. This is a personal thing but I am sick to freaking death of people looking at a Super character (be it man or girl) and saying something like, “Well, what good do you ultimately do?” For me it has become a cliche. Something that writers drag out when they think they’re breaking new ground. Whether it’s Lex balling out Superman during the Last Son storyline back in 2007 or this particular crossover I’m just done with it. So Kara’s response, while maybe slightly out of character, was great for me personally. I see where Siskoid didn’t care for it and full props to him for his commentary but I was okay with how the scene played out.
Another great episode. Thanks for giving me a counterpoint to the love I had with the crossover. Looking forward to the next one.
Oh I agree. My disapproval of the way S-girl reacted to the moment really doesn’t excuse the fact the moment happened at all (what is this, Legends?!). I don’t get where Wild Dog (kept calling him Mad Dog, didn’t I? pretty sure I did) is coming from because reasons, but it’s more of that forced angst the shows love to do. Characters suffering because of unjustified arguments (and I like these shows, it’s just that kind of soap opera isn’t always well done; see my comment on Thea).
I think I enjoyed this way more than either of you for a couple of reasons.
1) I watched it with the eyes of 12yr old Anj. I mean there was a live action Justice League running across a rooftop towards an alien army. And not just big name Super Friends characters but people like Vixen, Steel, Heat Wave , and Wild Dog. I was so floored by the fun part that I just glossed over the plot holes that you could fly the Invisible Jet through.
2) I think Melissa Benoist as Supergirl is utterly charming and can do no wrong. That scene where she and Flash beat up the cyborg villain, literally acting like a tag team in wrestling might be my favorite scene of the whole thing.
3) I watched it with my kids who were on the edge of their seats the whole time.
4) And finally, I couldn’t help but compare this to the dreadful Zach Snyder Universe. I get the sense I would rather watch this version of a league than that one.
I don’t watch Arrow so I think that many of the ‘feels’ this episode was supposed to evoke just went over me. But I didn’t mind it. I knew enough from other podcasts and comics to kind of figure out what was going on.
And lastly, there’ll be more aliens over on Supergirl. They say that the Dominators are going to show up there. And I am pretty sure Lynda Carter’s President is a Durlan.
Supergirl already has tons of aliens AND higher-powered beings, so an Invasion on her world would be much bigger, include an Alliance, etc. It’s too bad they can’t all be on the same Earth.
CRISIS!!!!!
The future newspaper in Flash talks about him disappearing in some event with red skies. I think we’re going to get there.
We already had Superman holding Kara in the Crisis #7 pose, but I know you know that Anj. 😉
Chris
“They didn’t beam me sideways… they beamed me up.”
The funniest of all possible lines.
Thanks, guys. Loved the episode.
FYI – For those monitoring this thread, I left my comments about the CW INVASION crossover on the post for episode 17 of this show. 🙂