Elseworlds: The Prelude To Crisis Edition

Bob does it again! Always love his distilled take on the Arrowverse & this was no different. No creeping "Special Guest Star" credits this time, & the deleted scenes added really help seed the idea of the third act twist this special brings (especially since the recaps are cut). The only bits that felt off to me were the removal of Frost & Alex's banter (Frost now refers to a conversation that doesn't exist) & the lack of an overt teasing of the upcoming crisis before the credits roll.

I think the latter could've been mitigated if, after Oliver & Barry toast, we fade into the time vault, replay the v.o. of the Monitor saying the universe is a complex machine, & then see Crisis pushed up by a few years. That sets up the need to prepare for the crisis, & plays into Oliver's line about savoring time because you never know how much of it you'll have.

Besides that, great edit. I am waiting on baited breath for Bob's COIE Trilogy, especially since one part is being made essentially out of whole cloth. Can't wait!

Leave the soap opera at home. it is time to get serious and find out if our heroes are worthy. Bionic Bob has once again knocked it out of the park with this one. DC should hire Bob to run all their tv shows because he could save them all by making them closer resemble the comic story arcs. Now to wait with baited breath to see if our heros stop the coming crisis in crisis

Okay, I'll say it: Bionic Bob should be hired as the showrunner for the Arrowverse. Or an advisor for the showrunners, at least. As someone who grew up on a steady diet of comic books in the 80s these shows have quite a bit to offer me and there's a lot they get right about most of the characters, but as I frequently say, the continuous emphasis on soap opera stuff keeps putting me off and I tend to lose interest. So I'm eternally grateful to Bob for distilling these event arcs into versions centered on the parts that do hold my attention, so I can finally watch without any fears of ending up yawning every ten minutes, and concentrate on all the excitement and all the references to the most diverse eras of DC history that long time comic book fans appreciate so much. It's often said that movies are life minus the boring parts. And that's exactly what these edits are.

Sure, Elseworlds is in itself not as interesting or engaging as Crisis on Earth-X, lacking an evil world as fascinating as that one and coming across as a bit too episodic, but there's still a lot of fun to be had here. The road towards Crisis on Infinite Earths is set, and the references start here. It's always great for an old-timer like me to see 90s Flash show up, here playing basically the role that Pariah had in the original COIE (and even teasing John Stewart - come on, it's about time they give us a worthwhile live action Green Lantern!), and the fact that the story even plays around with the possible death of the two major casualties of COIE is a welcome wink. And complete with a Superman the Movie nod, at that.

Technically-wise it's perfectly achieved, and the pacing is kept consistent all through. Even some bits that I thought could have been cut end up having a payoff. Initially I thought the Clark and Lois conversation about the Argo City stuff could have been lost and that the Clark/Kara conversation that follows it inmediately was enough to set up Barry and Oliver's arrival, which it would have been... but then there's something towards the end that justifies keeping it. Everything ends up being connected.

Now, I'm absolutely ready for the Bionic COIE. Worlds will live, worlds will die... and Arrowverse fanedits will never be the same!