Yet again, this is a shared universe whether the showrunners like it or not, and it is beyond illogical that there wouldn't have been other heroes helping Freeland.
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Yet again, this is a shared universe whether the showrunners like it or not, and it is beyond illogical that there wouldn't have been other heroes helping Freeland.
You've just described 99% of every comic book ever written.
That every episode/issue needs to turn into a JLA/Avengers adventure when ever an alien/monster/super villain/evil army invades Metropolis/Gotham/New York/Freeland is fannish overthinking at it's worst. And a roll call of every other hero is not needed to explain their absence either.
This non-issue could be obviated entirely if every show didn’t have to be part of a shared universe. A (big) part of me wishes for the old days of Superman series where he was the one and only superhero, in his own self-contained show; I certainly didn’t miss the presence of other costumed goobers when watching Adventures of Superman or Lois & Clark.
We're not talking about "every episode," we're talking about the specific situation where Freeland is a) under actual invasion by an enemy country and b) suddenly in a shared universe in which Black Lightning is a founding member of a league of superheroes, has bonded with the Flash, and presumably has contact info for two Kryptonians. Given that juxtaposition, it just feels incongruous that such a big deal was made out of the change and then it had no impact on the storytelling. It's a missed opportunity to do something to follow up on the merger, so that it feels meaningful and isn't just a superficial payoff to the crossover.
Covered in the first sentence of what you quoted.
Yes, I know, that's the problem. In that sentence, you incorrectly presumed we were saying we wanted it in "every episode" when we were actually talking about a single specific situation, the Markovian invasion of Freeland as it stood post-Crisis. It's a logicall fallacy to mistake a specific argument for a general one.
Covered under "evil army." Point is each comic/TV show/Movie should be allowed to face those threats alone if the plot needs them to. Shared universes are fun, but "oversharing" is a drag.
Then at least they should have explained why Jeff couldn't make contact with the others. No, it doesn't have to be done in every case, but that doesn't mean you can treat every case as identical. Each situation is different and there can be exceptions to a general rule. In this specific case, right after Crisis, the creators had a responsibility to show us why it mattered that the three separate universes were now one. Particularly why Black Lightning's still-unnamed Earth was thrown in along with Earth-1 and Earth-38. That came as a major surprise, since BL was so distinct from the other shows. So if they were going to do that, they needed to do something to justify it, to show why it was worthwhile to fold it in with the others rather than letting it retain its distinct identity. But they didn't. Aside from a couple of throwaway allusions, it had no impact whatsoever on BL's storytelling, which compels me to ask, why bother merging it? If they weren't going to use it, they shouldn't have done it. And since they did it, they should acknowledge it in some meaningful way. No, not in every case, but in this one instance, as I've explained, various factors combined in such a way that some sort of reference was warranted, or at least conspicuous by its absence.
Nah, the show's called "Black Lightning". No need to waste screen time phoning a friend.
So why'd they merge the universes?
I'm pretty sure it wasn't to have phone a friend scenes.
You're not answering the question in any way.
...and after the Black Lightning showrunners made it a point that their series was its own, the drive of so many of the Berlanti shows are completely incompatible with the many running narratives of Black Lightning, that it would have appeared forced--derailing and watering down the well-structured plots and tone.
They merged universes so that when they want to ( crossovers) they can play with all the toys without dimension hopping.
You persist in blanket generalizations and refuse to listen to what I'm saying about this one specific instance. It's not about "the show." It's about one particular moment within the show and within the context of the larger continuity.
Yes, and that is exactly the point -- that they didn't take that opportunity in a situation where it would've made sense. Don't you see how these two comments of yours directly contradict each other?
I've listened. I just don't agree that BL needed to involve the Super Friends in a plot line from his show that was developing fine it's own continuity.
They don't. The Markovia plot was developed for the Black Lightning show not a crossover. It's an "opportunity" they rightly didn't take. There was no advantage in involving the Super Friends in it, other that pleasing a few fans who like that sort of stuff.
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Come on, you have no stronger argument here than that you think it would have been a cool idea, but you persist in presenting it as if it's somehow a logical necessity. Obviously the people who make the show have their own ideas.
@Christopher is right; the logical consequence of the Crisis should have been an acknowledgement of Black Lightning having friends to help deal with Markovia.