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Arrow Season 4 |OT| A Tale of Salt and Fire

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ZeroX03

Banned
I suspect season six will still have flashbacks, but in a more limited capacity.

Season five needs to go all out in the past. Just dropping bodies and learning Russian left, right and center.
 
Season six flashbacks with Earth 2's Robert Queen who has just happened to find his way to Earth 1 and ends up being the season's big bad.


Imagine the drama!
 

Dysun

Member
I was enjoying the episode outside of the Felicity you are my light cheese and then they revealed Dark's master plan

This is what they came up with? lol
 
Flashbacks were a mistake. Nothing but flashbacks.

They worked well in the first two years but this years have been so pointless and dragged out. I'm waiting for the diving instructor chick to be something interesting. Unless Oliver kills and eats her in season 5's flashbacks.
 

Sober

Member
Arrow flashbacks reached their logical conclusion and pinnacle with the dueling Oliver/Slade fights in the present and past.
It really sucks because coming out of S2, it really should've just gone the opposite of Oliver in the present. Island Oliver has to go increasingly violent or more efficient at it and more closed off as a person, while present Oliver is supposed to basically become a softer, more caring and open person as well as a better hero for his city. I saw this a bit in S3 a few times and I think that's what they were going but they couldn't really seal the deal in my eyes.

I hate to accuse the writers of not understanding their own goddamn show, but I feel like in Arrow's case w/r/t the flashbacks, holy shit what a giant miscalculation on their part. I get that S2's flashbacks was like probably some of the best work they've done but man did they actually just miss the entire part of what made them good; it wasn't that the plot points paralleled themselves in the present, but they keep trying to capture that magic (no pun intended) unfortunately.
 

Sephzilla

Member
It really sucks because coming out of S2, it really should've just gone the opposite of Oliver in the present. Island Oliver has to go increasingly violent or more efficient at it and more closed off as a person, while present Oliver is supposed to basically become a softer, more caring and open person as well as a better hero for his city. I saw this a bit in S3 a few times and I think that's what they were going but they couldn't really seal the deal in my eyes.

I hate to accuse the writers of not understanding their own goddamn show, but I feel like in Arrow's case w/r/t the flashbacks, holy shit what a giant miscalculation on their part. I get that S2's flashbacks was like probably some of the best work they've done but man did they actually just miss the entire part of what made them good; it wasn't that the plot points paralleled themselves in the present, but they keep trying to capture that magic (no pun intended) unfortunately.

I like this idea. The flashbacks show Oliver losing more of his humanity and becoming more of a violent killer like he is at the start of season 1 while the present day stuff shows Oliver finding himself again and being a more non-lethal vigilante. Even though I still prefer Ollie as a guy who just offs people.
 

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
Flashback Oliver really needs to start working on growing his hair out so he can look like Oliver at the beginning of season 1.

It's possible to achieve that in a year, so he has time.

I wonder how they're gonna sneak in him learning Russian. It seems like they set up him inevitably traveling to Russia to tell Taiana's family she has died. But who knows now.

My money is on Oliver absorbing her soul on the island, gaining access to fluent Russian.
 
It's possible to achieve that in a year, so he has time.

I wonder how they're gonna sneak in him learning Russian. It seems like they set up him inevitably traveling to Russia to tell Taiana's family she has died. But who knows now.

My money is on Oliver absorbing her soul on the island, gaining access to fluent Russian.

LOL
 
If they ever decide to do Crisis, flashforwards to the aftermath would really help build it up as the biggest thing the Arrowverse has done. Get all the important players involved to film all the scenes for a couple weeks at the start of season, then pepper them throughout the year.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
If they ever decide to do Crisis, flashforwards to the aftermath would really help build it up as the biggest thing the Arrowverse has done. Get all the important players involved to film all the scenes for a couple weeks at the start of season, then pepper them throughout the year.

A few weeks? That's three eps worth of production time. That would cost millions. They're very limited by what they can film in advance. And write in advance for that matter.
 
When Oliver shoots a goon with his arrow, does it actually look any different from him killing people in season 1?

It's possible to achieve that in a year, so he has time.

I wonder how they're gonna sneak in him learning Russian. It seems like they set up him inevitably traveling to Russia to tell Taiana's family she has died. But who knows now.

My money is on Oliver absorbing her soul on the island, gaining access to fluent Russian.

Spoiler for season 5:
I thought it has been confirmed that Oliver is going to spend some time in Russia during the flashbacks next season
 

ZeroX03

Banned
When Oliver shoots a goon with his arrow, does it actually look any different from him killing people in season 1?



Spoiler for season 5:
I thought it has been confirmed that Oliver is going to spend some time in Russia during the flashbacks next season

Wasn't confirmed, just heavily teased and almost certainly going to happen.
 
A few weeks? That's three eps worth of production time. That would cost millions. They're very limited by what they can film in advance. And write in advance for that matter.

There's an initial cost but for the rest of the season they would need less filming for each episode, so it should break even by the end. Anyway, that's just an idea to work around the actors schedules, if we get to a point where Wally has a bigger presence, getting Grant to do regular cameos might not even be as big a hurdle and they could do film it like normal.

It would also cut in the time the actors have for movies so they would probably refuse.

It wouldn't be extra filming, just in a different order.
 

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
Oh shit. Taiana
is going to be the force that Oliver teams up with, huh? Like, her spirit is in that idol that Darhk has or something.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
There's an initial cost but for the rest of the season they would need less filming for each episode, so it should break even by the end. Anyway, that's just an idea to work around the actors schedules, if we get to a point where Wally has a bigger presence, getting Grant to do regular cameos might not even be as big a hurdle and they could do film it like normal.



It wouldn't be extra filming, just in a different order.

That's not how production works where you just whip out a day from each episode and move them ahead to the start of production. They do it once in a while where they film things outside of set production schedules but what you're suggesting is still akin to filming whole episodes worth of content. They also don't know exactly what's required past six or so episodes in the future because it's not all pre written. What you're suggesting is not feasible.
 

- J - D -

Member
Turns out Tommy found himself on Lian Yu after waking up from his apparent death. He becomes the Merlyn the show deserves. With an actual goat patch beard too.
 
So how will you solve the problem of actually having the episodes ready on time? Spend four weeks without starting earlier and you're suddenly four weeks behind schedule.

Yeah, you're right, they'd need to start a little earlier to hit the deadlines, or CW could push the premiere back a couple weeks, which is of course something they probably wouldn't want to do but the guest stars could be a big enough incentive given what they could do for ratings over the entire year.

That's not how production works where you just whip out a day from each episode and move them ahead to the start of production. They do it once in a while where they film things outside of set production schedules but what you're suggesting is still akin to filming whole episodes worth of content. They also don't know exactly what's required past six or so episodes in the future because it's not all pre written. What you're suggesting is not feasible.

I'm just spitballing ideas here, yeah this isn't how Arrow production is run now, I'm suggesting they change things up for an important storyline. Writing and filming out of order in television isn't some foreign concept, that stuff happens all the time when actresses become pregnant for example, I'm sure what I'm suggesting is much more work that I could even imagine but I don't buy that it's completely unfeasble either.

Also as a side note, if the episodes in the run up to Legends of Tomorrow are anything to go by, knowing what's coming up further in advance is probably for the best with the Arrow writers, specifically in comparison to the Laurel drama which they made up on the fly. My idea could be terrible but them having something set it stone which they need to build towards would still be for the best.
 

Joni

Member
Also as a side note, if the episodes in the run up to Legends of Tomorrow are anything to go by, knowing what's coming up further in advance is probably for the best with the Arrow writers, specifically in comparison to the Laurel drama which they made up on the fly. My idea could be terrible but them having something set it stone which they need to build towards would still be for the best.

The episdes preparing for Legends of Tomorrow were some of the worst, while they hit it out of the park with the Laurel's death episodes. It is also strange to complain about this, as the funeral was set in stone from the start and that is the part you dislike. They had to do the 'on the fly' story because they set something in stone. The alternative would be to write out the entire story for the entire year for it to work, but then they wouldn't be able to react in the middle and it would be almost impossible on a production level. Considering even movies tend to get rewrites during production, and they have a 2-3 year time to write a single script, that is simply not happening. For the rest, we don't know how detailed their bible for the season was. Things like Andy being a bad guy, Malcolm losing his hand, the Genesis plot, ... might have been in the season outline since the start, they might have been not so we don't actually know how much they set in stone for themselves.
 
I don't consider someone dies at some point the same as the LoT premiere is this date, all of the relevant characters need to be here, here and here, otherwise the pilot simply won't work. Having said that, a vague outline for the future is certainly better than nothing. As for the quality of episodes, we'll have to agree to disagree but I will say people seemed a hell of a lot more positive at the start of this season.

The alternative would be to write out the entire story for the entire year for it to work, but then they wouldn't be able to react in the middle and it would be almost impossible on a production level.

I'm confused, are we still talking about Laurel here? This is the season of television deaths, many of which would have absolutely been mapped out from the beginning. There's certainly advantages to be able to react half way through a storyline but many TV shows don't and stick to their guns, I don't see it as some impossible feat.
 

Joni

Member
I don't consider someone dies at some point the same as the LoT premiere is this date, all of the relevant characters need to be here, here and here, otherwise the pilot simply won't work.
It didn't even work that way. They set up all the characters necessary for the Legends of Tomorrow in the episodes leading up to the crossover, after which those characters were all immediately sidelined. The set-up for Legends of Tomorrow was terrible in that respect: notice how they bring back Sara, Firestorm and the likes after which they don't do anything with them anymore. They got stuck in the writing / production schedule so they couldn't react to the fact that Legends of Tomorrow got pushed back.

Having said that, a vague outline for the future is certainly better than nothing. As for the quality of episodes, we'll have to agree to disagree but I will say people seemed a hell of a lot more positive at the start of this season.
The episodes were better, it doesn't matter what the people think. Half of those here were just hoping Felicity is in the grave.

I'm confused, are we still talking about Laurel here? This is the season of television deaths, many of which would have absolutely been mapped out from the beginning. There's certainly advantages to be able to react half way through a storyline but many TV shows don't and stick to their guns, I don't see it as some impossible feat.
3/4 of the deaths you will see this month have nothing to do with planning and everything to do with an actor deciding to renew or not to renew. Arrow planning to kill someone and teasing that in the first episode was seen as a bold move.
 
The characters were a little underutilised after returning but the actual episodes where they were brought were fantastic, though YMMV and all that stuff.

If 3/4 of TV deaths aren't planned, then 1/4 are. That's all I'm arguing, I'm not saying that we need True Detective style scripts where everything is written beforehand, just that like other network shows they could plan stuff out and stick to it to their benefit.
 

Joni

Member
The characters were a little underutilised after returning but the actual episodes where they were brought were fantastic, though YMMV and all that stuff.

If 3/4 of TV deaths aren't planned, then 1/4 are. That's all I'm arguing, I'm not saying that we need True Detective style scripts where everything is written beforehand, just that like other network shows they could plan stuff out and stick to it to their benefit.

Why do you think Arrow works different than other typical network shows?
 
Some network shows are written as they go along, some network shows have a brief outline, some network shows will have firm plot points that they build towards. Arrow seems to be in the middle, I think it would be to their benefit by edging towards firm plot points.

In essence, I just want them to plan for shit even better, I don't understand how this is either controversial or something needs to be picked apart.
 

Joni

Member
In essese, I just want them to plan for shit even better, I don't understand how this is either controversial or something needs to be picked apart.

Because it is something that doesn't really happen for network shows. You are comparing to some ideal world which simply can't exist. I mean, the Arrowverse writers are starting working again this week. They will make a general plan for next year which will set up what they need to, what they need to achieve, but there is simply no time to get everything done before they start filming.
 
I don't even know what you're arguing about now. Where have I even been close to suggesting that the writers "get everything done" before filming, what you're describing for what the writers are going to do now is no different to what I'm suggesting other than plans get set it stone. So for example at the start of last season when writing the funeral scene, instead of not knowing who it'll be, they pick Laurel from the outset and plan out an arc to reach her death. And there would be foreshadowing if they went that route, so it would be less of a surprise, so if you think it would be worse then that's your prerogative but personally I think it would be for the better.
 

Joni

Member
But that is the only way they can do more than now and what they would need to do for your flashback suggestion. The only problem is what they have set in stone and what not, the death.
 

KonradLaw

Member
Isn't it funny how Flash with his God powers is dealing with one single psycho who likes to kill people from time to time, while poor human Oliver has to stop global apocalypse? :D
 

Joni

Member
Isn't it funny how Flash with his God powers is dealing with one single psycho who likes to kill people from time to time, while poor human Oliver has to stop global apocalypse? :D

A single psycho who wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for Barry and friends opening up the void again.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
New episode tonight! Laurel's still dead!

#4.21 "Monument Point"
Episode Promo
TOM AMANDES RETURNS AS NOAH KUTTLER – When Team Arrow learns what Damien Darhk’s (guest star Neal McDonough) next move is Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) realizes she needs to ask her father, Noah Kuttler (guest star Tom Amandes), for help. Noah and Oliver (Stephen Amell) have a heart to heart talk that leaves Oliver rattled.

Darhk! Brick! Anarky! Calculator! Murmur (stitched up mouth guy)! Everybody gets their own villain!

ar421b-0349b-181572.jpg
 
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