Hey youtubers it's Charlie and in case you did not hear a copy of The first episode of
The Flash TV Show leaked online.
I'm not going to allow anyone to share it here and I'm not going to do spoilers.
But I will explain what happened and what the CW might end up doing about it.
As in post it early on their website.
The same thing happened to a bunch of Legend of Korra Book 3 episodes last week.
That was way worse because it was 4 episodes instead of just one and they weren't even
the first 4.
Which means if people watched them, they missed a giant chunk of the story.
Hello to all you new people, if you're finding me for the first time I'm going to be doing
bonus videos for The Flash and Arrow all summer.
Be sure to subscribe to get everything.
I'll be doing weekly episode videos too once the new seasons start in October.
For those who are wondering, they'll probably start season 3 of Arrow and Season 1 of the
Flash around the same time Arrow Season 2 started last year.
Which was the first week in October.
So WTF is up with the leak.
Whenever networks want critics at big news organizations to cover their shows they usually
send out screener DVDs, they have a watermark on them with some disclosure language about
not reselling or posting them anywhere.
They're not meant for the public.
The CW has been sending out copies of the first episode of The Flash and one of those
is what leaked online.
Or someone yoinked it off someone else's desk and uploaded it.
I actually work for a couple big news organizations in real life.
I know everyone always asks what I do in real life.
I actually do youtube stuff like this for a couple big trade websites.
So we get piles and piles of screeners for everything you've ever heard of and a ton
of stuff that will probably never make it to air.
So when you send thousands of copies of a dvd all over creation, it's not hard to figure
out why someone would steal a copy and upload it to the internet.
The other possibility is that The CW intentionally leaked the episode.
Networks have done that in the past, as a way to drive interest in something.
It usually only works when it's comic book related or associated with a major fandom.
Like if a copy of Star Wars Episode 7 leaked, all of creation would flip.
The CW isn't really known for leaking their own material as a way to generate viral interest,
and since The Flash TV Show already has really good buzz, the wouldn't need to do that anyway
.So my first theory is probably the right one, someone stole a copy and uploaded it.
What is the CW going to do about it?
Usually as a means of diffusing the situation, tv networks will just post the episode online.
Whenever those Korra episodes leaked though, Nickelodeon decided to start airing episodes
on television months in advance of their original release date.
Because it was only the first episode of The Flash to leak and The CW just did upfronts
they're probably not going to air the season early.
At upfronts usually deals are made between advertisers and networks where they buy advertising
on episodes of The Flash during a certain time of the year.
So if the CW ran episodes early, they would lose millions of dollars in advertising.
So you're still going to have to wait till October for the season to start.
But they could still totally post the full episode on their website and stream it for
free as a way to control the situation.
They haven't made an official announcement yet.
Originally they would have just aired the episode at Comic Con and then maybe posted
it online the next week.
So it still would have aired before the fall.
If you were one of the people who watched it, please use spoiler tags when talking about
the plot.
If you've read any of the Flash origin stories, you already know what the story is anyway,
they never do things exactly like they are in the comics.
Arrow for instance, changes a lot of character backstories and has created a lot of new original
characters.
If you do want to read a very close version of the story they're doing in the flash tv
show.
Read Flash Rebirth, it was written by Geoff Johns, one of the writers on The Flash TV
Show.
There are a lot of small differences, but thematically it's the same idea.
Geoff Johns has been one of my favorite DC Comics writers of the last 20 years.
Oh, and he's also an executive producer on the Batman vs Superman movie.
Right now he's writing the new Superman series drawn by John Romita Jr., he's the guy who
drew Kick Ass which is why it looks so similar.
A very Kick Ass Superman.
If you want to learn more about what their version of Superman is going to be like I'll
post a link to a huge article the New York Times wrote about them.
If you haven't seen any of them, the CW has been posting a lot of new interviews and footage
from The Flash.
Mostly filling in a lot of the expanded universe of Central City.
Like what's going on with Star Labs and all the metahumans that were created when the
particle accelerator exploded.
I've actually been talking about this all year in my Arrow videos, so please let me
know if you subscribed recently or you haven't seen any of my Arrow stuff.
I've got a giant playlist that I'll add a link in the description for.
The summer is the best time to catch up on Arrow.
Even though they're two different groups of people making those shows, they will exist
in a shared universe.
We even saw Stephen Amell in the Flash trailer.
So watching both shows will increase your enjoyment.
The fun thing about Flash that's really different from Arrow is that they're going all in on
superpowers.
If you've seen the trailer you know Weather Wizard is the first Rogue we meet.
I don't count Zoom as a Rogue.
They're definitely not trying to hide the Zoom or Reverse Flash character either.
He's been such a huge part of the comics for so long, there's no point.
And even though Edward Thawne is at the police station, they're not really saying he's Zoom
either.
So he'll be present at all times, like an over arching story while week to week Barry
tracks down rogues and other metahumans.
The one big change is the Harrison Wells character that Tom Cavanagh is playing.
In the canon, the founder of star labs was named Garrison Slate.
That character was featured in a lot of Blue Beetle Comics.
Because Arrow is introducing Blue Beetle this year we might get to see some Star Labs Kord
Industries overlapping stories.
Blue Beetle hasn't been officially confirmed, but Arrow put out a casting call for someone
bearing the name of the Golden Age Blue Beetle.
Which is a dead giveaway.
Although when Arrow brings him on, just like Barry Allen, Ted Kord will probably be a pre-blue
beetle Ted Kord or it will be like a Batman Year One situation where he's still figuring
everything out.
I know a lot of people have been reporting Gorilla Grodd easter eggs in the flash footage.
It sounds like The Flash is going to do a planet of the apes situation whereby Gorilla
Grodd attains his super intelligence through the same dimensional rift that was caused
by the particle accelerator explosion.
I don't expect him to come on the show anytime soon, but don't be surprised if you see more
references to him.
Aside from the rogues and Zoom, Gorilla Grodd is one of the most infamous Flash Villains.
Which is funny, because rise of the planet of the apes is coming out really soon.
So because of Vidcon this week my schedule is a little weird, but I'm still going to
try and post a bonus Arrow video before I go, I am doing a special personal Q&A, so
feel free to ask me any personal questions you want in addition to Flash and Arrow stuff.
Remember, if you have seen the leaked footage, please use spoiler tags in the comments for
those that want to wait.
Right now click here to learn all about Blue Beetle and the Batman villains Arrow is doing
in season 3 and click here for my breakdown of the Flash Trailer.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight.
High Fives!