Spoilers Arrow - Season 4

[shivkala]

I wonder if the US on Earth 2 was smaller or larger after the war the Americas, that conversations like this would be very different.

"Nope, California is part of Mexico now."

IN JLA/Avengers the DC heroes note that the DC Earth is larger to fit all of their fake cities/countries. Marvel has a few, but less than DC, so one can assume that the Marvel Earth is larger than Earth Prime.

Flasher is not a hero I'd want to run into in public.

Fred Hembeck already went there.

I'm surprised no one has made the Spartan connection yet. Maybe it's a 90s thing, but to me it instantly jumped out that John Spartan = Demolition Man. As such, I'm not REALLY sure it's something that will stick - if for no other reason that the DC licensing folks would have a field day clearing the naming rights.

Warner Brothers owns DC comics. Warner Brothers produced Demolition Man. Hence why the adaptation was published by DC comics.

As for where Star/Starling City is, I did notice that they used the Boston skyline in this week's episode. I clearly saw the Pru (Prudential Building) and the Hancock building. It's been 12 years since I've lived in the Boston area, but those buildings are immediatley recognizable.

 

[Gaith]

^ They've been using the Boston skyline, along with others, from the start. Doesn't change the fact that the most concrete story detail is the Queen's Gambit left from Staling City for Asia. (And the lack of snow at any point is another Pacific Northwest clue.)

Also, Digg's name is obviously inspired by the David Mamet film Spartan (starring a Batman). Felicity clearly knows her arthouse thrillers.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

They literally said it was on the west coast this week.

 

[Gaith]

^ Oops, so they did!

 

[shivkala]

^ They've been using the Boston skyline, along with others, from the start. Doesn't change the fact that the most concrete story detail is the Queen's Gambit left from Staling City for Asia. (And the lack of snow at any point is another Pacific Northwest clue.)

Also, Digg's name is obviously inspired by the David Mamet film Spartan (starring a Batman). Felicity clearly knows her arthouse thrillers.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply I thought it was on the East Coast, I just wanted to mention I recognized Boston. I do know they use various cities to serve as the skyline.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Speedy's fight in the elevator with Diggle's brother was kinda funny. Going down!

 

[CorporalClegg]

Were the action scenes filmed on tape?

It seemed like they had that "glossy" daytime TV look.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

The episode definitely had a different look. For a second at the beginning I wondered if there was a in-universe camera man videotaping them, but then it was to many cuts and no one talked to the camera man.

That said, kinda a cool episode idea, to have a film crew documenting the daily life of the city's vigilantes and doing portraits of Team Arrow.
Now I want that!

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

This week's episode was directed by Jamie Bamford, the stunt coordinator on the show, in his directorial debut. And it shows! If you've seen some of the BTS videos, you've seen how he blocks out the fight scenes with his stunt crew by creating often-more-intense videos showing how the fight would look, in stark lighting (and often in a gym with wires and all) so everyone can get the choreography, and then shooting them in the show's signature darkness. Looks like for this episode he was inspired by various FPS games and a certain hallway scene from Daredevil (i.e. the very cleverly-cut scene in the cargo containers).

That elevator scene was impressively shot - the Thea and Andy stunt players tumbled into the elevator on "Level 4", and then while they were fighting in there the crew changed all the set dressing and lighting to make the corridor into "Level 3" in time for the door to open again and the players to tumble back out! Unfortunately, no one covered up a telltale streak on the marble floor finishing that was there on both levels...

Mark

PS - Jamie was the lead stunt coordinator for Stargates Atlantis and Universe, did stunt and fight coordination for SG-1 and Jeremiah before then, and has been a stunt player as far back as Sliders (Jerry O'Connell's double) and MANTIS. Guy's a legend in the Vancouver film scene.

 

[Christopher]

This week's episode was directed by Jamie Bamford, the stunt coordinator on the show, in his directorial debut. And it shows! If you've seen some of the BTS videos, you've seen how he blocks out the fight scenes with his stunt crew by creating often-more-intense videos showing how the fight would look, in stark lighting (and often in a gym with wires and all) so everyone can get the choreography, and then shooting them in the show's signature darkness. Looks like for this episode he was inspired by various FPS games and a certain hallway scene from Daredevil (i.e. the very cleverly-cut scene in the cargo containers).

I didn't notice the cargo-container scene, but I noticed the elevator scene. Once I realized it was a continuous take, I rewound to watch it again. It was nearly 30 seconds of uninterrupted action, complete with the elevator gag -- impressive. But the camera movement was too shaky for me to fully appreciate the stunt work. The Daredevil scenes used a much more static camera, only moving when it needed to.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Agreed on that - what I saw though is certain parallels in how the action shifted from one part of the "cross" setting for that cargo container fight to the other, then back again, following the action. Certainly more jumpy, but very deliberate in what the camera was telling the eye to follow. It's been yonks since my film classes, but my amateur eye was impressed.

Mark

 

[Gryffindorian]

So if Thea is immune to Dahrk's magic and Dahrk can absorb the bloodlust in her, there's a good chance she can get rid of it once and for all. Perhaps by continued exposure to Dahrk, she could take care of two birds with one stone.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

They have now created a motive for Malcom to take on Damian. This should be interesting.

 

[Sketcher]

Have the "My name is..." intros for Arrow and Flash completely disappeared?

Also, there seems to be a bit of a continuity issue. Diggle kept saying Andy had been dead for eight years. However, in season 3, Andy and Diggle were working security at Tommy's party, only five years ago.

 

[tenmei]

Or some of his time in the second and third season flashbacks has been drastically time compressed?

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Have changes been made to the Atom's armor? It somehow appeared more sleek than before. And the helmet's faceplate seemed to obscure Ray's face much better by adding more of the tiny blue backlights. I'm uncertain.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Have changes been made to the Atom's armor? It somehow appeared more sleek than before. And the helmet's faceplate seemed to obscure Ray's face much better by adding more of the tiny blue backlights. I'm uncertain.

Would not surprise me, as it's about to take centerstage in just a few weeks.
Needs to look good for main character hero status.

 

[sojourner]

The whole helmet still looks goofy to me. It looks like its not all the way down on his head.

 

[Mr Light]

The fight scenes this entire season have been really impressive, and this episode was a standout. Maybe it's my bad memory, but they seem to have really stepped up their game there.

 

[Taylirious]

When DD called Thea "Merida" I almost died!

ETA: I love Thea but she is no Merida!