Arrow General Discussion Thread

[mr. peasant]

Originally Posted by flickchick85

All would have been forgiven if she had just busted out some kind of future-Black Canary skills during that home invasion scene, but nope, not one. She really is just Rachel Dawes 2.0 in this.

I agree in that for the moment, she doesn't have much to do. Her major contribution for now seems to be as the voice of and to champion the victims of Starling City's corruption. But time will tell, I suppose. I suspect she was also intended to help humanise Ollie but Kid Sister Speedy is doing a heck of a better job though.


On a separate note, one of the good things about WB having the rights to all DC characters is the possibility of other heroes appearing in the show. We've already seen some of this, with the news of Huntress appearing in a future episode some time soon. Makes me wonder who else we might see.

One that I'm really hoping for (and think would fit in beautifully with the setting) is The Question. They could even have him initially appear as a villain. With him being a conspiracy theorist, he could suss out that Ollie is Arrow and subsequently conclude that he is making a power play to take over Starling City; especially given Mummy and Daddy's involvement in the greater conspiracy. Hence, he decides to abduct Ollie to uncover what he is up to.

As for how his face is obscured, he could have just dosed Ollie with a hallucinogen or just keep the guy in shadows or smoke. Or, just come up with an excuse for it.

And once that's cleared up, his character could continue to recur as an informant/whistle blower that Ollie seeks out from time to time (And for a Halloween episode, he could also decide to forgo his usual fedora and put on some tentacles instead. ).

I can just imagine him having some gimmicky line. Something like, "To find the answers, you must first ask The Question." or some such.

[Orb]

Ah man I want The Question so bad in! The story you cooked up could work as well!

[protocida]

I doubt we'll see the Question, but I'm sure investigate reporter Vic Sage is on his way.

[TheComicbookKid]

Dinah's character is a cipher. She has nothing to say or do that isn't a direct result of Ollie's interactions or setting up the lawyer plot of the ep for GA to fix.

I mean, look at Chloe on Smallville. Her character had its own internal logic from the get-go with the meteors that didn't involve Clark(to her knowledge).

Until Canary gains her own purpose. The character will suffer.

Originally Posted by Nathan

Xena was the first thing that popped into my head too. And super strength is easy to pull off, as you said. Throw in mythological beasts from the Xena show, make fights as exciting as Clark vs Titan from Smallville, throw in a dash of Supernatural or Buffy, with all the magic mumbo jumbo and you're pretty much good to go.

WW's super strength is nothing like Buffy's. Even if you consider that Titan fight a good one(I don't) you can't pull that off for 22 eps.

And I think we all need to take off the nostalgia glasses. Xena's fights were pure camp. Dizzying acrobatics and wild sword/arm swings that make no sense. If you remove the camp, it won't work.

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

I mean, the NBC pilot had that exact same fighting style and it looked horrible.

[Dark Raven]

Why does Ollie when he's suiting up not seem to have any face paint when he's putting on his hood, but when he's showing up at the crime scenes he does have it in some scenes, and then when he changes back again he's missing his face paint? It doesn't seem terribly consistent.

[The Squirrel]

Because SCIENCE!

[DrDoom]

Originally Posted by Dark Raven

Why does Ollie when he's suiting up not seem to have any face paint when he's putting on his hood, but when he's showing up at the crime scenes he does have it in some scenes, and then when he changes back again he's missing his face paint? It doesn't seem terribly consistent.

The same reason Batman has black eye makeup when he puts on his cowl but when it gets pulled off the make up disappears
Start at 3:06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBvlGF5nD7s

[TheComicbookKid]

The real question is how does he get around the city?

Where's the ARROW CAR!!!!!

[DrDoom]

Originally Posted by TheComicbookKid

The real question is how does he get around the city?

Where's the ARROW CAR!!!!!

"Ollie, have you EVER had an original thought?"
-Batman

[HighFivingMF]

Originally Posted by TheComicbookKid

The real question is how does he get around the city?

Where's the ARROW CAR!!!!!

He just holds onto an arrow after he launches it like Thor does with his hammer.

[HighFivingMF]

Originally Posted by DrDoom

"Ollie, have you EVER had an original thought?"
-Batman

"I'm sorry, I don't see a boxing glove attached to anything in your belt."

[Cory]

Originally Posted by TheComicbookKid

The real question is how does he get around the city?

Where's the ARROW CAR!!!!!

Originally Posted by HighFivingMF

He just holds onto an arrow after he launches it like Thor does with his hammer.

Hmm, I figured he pulled out his trusty Ocarina.

[Primal Slayer]

Originally Posted by TheComicbookKid

WW's super strength is nothing like Buffy's. Even if you consider that Titan fight a good one(I don't) you can't pull that off for 22 eps.

And I think we all need to take off the nostalgia glasses. Xena's fights were pure camp. Dizzying acrobatics and wild sword/arm swings that make no sense. If you remove the camp, it won't work.

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

I mean, the NBC pilot had that exact same fighting style and it looked horrible.

How is super strength any different? Except throwing someone harder.

And you can still pull off great fight scenes. Buffys were good, Nikita is amazing.

[flickchick85]

Originally Posted by Deathstroke

That would have made things worse actually. Busting out random fighting skills from out of nowhere. I'm okay with her being the damsel in distress, but they really need to work on her dialogue.

They would have only been "out of nowhere" from Ollie's perspective, since we the audience have only had a few scenes with her thus far and had yet to see how she handles herself in a crisis. Lord knows how she survived doing what she's doing this long without Ollie & Diggle there to save the day. Seemed logical to me that in those 5 years she could have gotten some training of her own for self-preservation purposes. And imo, it would have added something to her character to make her just a little less...blah, as it would at least hint at some future down the line as Black Canary.

[Deathstroke]

We already have to suspend enough disbelief to take her seriously as a high profile lawyer. Her suddenly displaying random martial arts skills to take down expert trained assassins would have been silly.

At least in Oliver and Digg's cases, their extensive combat training makes sense.

[flickchick85]

Originally Posted by Deathstroke

We already have to suspend enough disbelief to take her seriously as a high profile lawyer. Her suddenly displaying random martial arts skills to take down expert trained assassins would have been silly.

At least in Oliver and Digg's cases, their extensive combat training makes sense.

How would it be "sudden" or "random" when we JUST met this character?! We don't know what's random or out-of-character for her yet, because before this, we had never witnessed her facing any kind of danger before. And I wasn't suggesting she should be able to take out the assassins on her own, just that she display SOME kind of inner-strength and skills other than turning into a scared little girl at the first sign of trouble. At least show some resourcefulness of her own. That scene was their opportunity to establish (for the first time) how Dinah Lance handles a crisis. And she handles it like every other damsel in distress. Disappointing, considering what she's supposed to become at some point.

[Human Torch]

Originally Posted by Dark Raven

Why does Ollie when he's suiting up not seem to have any face paint when he's putting on his hood, but when he's showing up at the crime scenes he does have it in some scenes, and then when he changes back again he's missing his face paint? It doesn't seem terribly consistent.

Basically,because watching him apply make-up in the mirror would be pretty disturbing.

[Human Torch]

Originally Posted by DrDoom

The same reason Batman has black eye makeup when he puts on his cowl but when it gets pulled off the make up disappears
Start at 3:06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBvlGF5nD7s

In BB they did try to explain the black around the eyes in the scene where they smash the cowl with a baseball bat.It's supposed to be a part of the mask and not really make-up.

[DrDoom]

Originally Posted by Deathstroke

We already have to suspend enough disbelief to take her seriously as a high profile lawyer. Her suddenly displaying random martial arts skills to take down expert trained assassins would have been silly.

At least in Oliver and Digg's cases, their extensive combat training makes sense.

Would remind people of Smallville when we were supposed to believe that Lana Lang learned karate lol

Or how now we're supposed to buy her as a tough street cop in "Beauty and the Beast" ROTFL

[solidsnake86]

Originally Posted by DrDoom

Would remind people of Smallville when we were supposed to believe that Lana Lang learned karate lol

Or how now we're supposed to buy her as a tough street cop in "Beauty and the Beast" ROTFL

That was hilarious. I remember watching that and The same with chloe and her convenient development of computer hacking skills that allowed her to do everything needed for contrived plot points.

I take Cassidy as a high profile lawyer easier than the above examples because, although this may be shocking, good looking people do have careers in the legal profession.

Edit, she's not even a high profile lawyer, she works for legal aid. It's really not that much of a stretch of the imagination. Not all lawyers are old and ugly.

[mr. peasant]

Originally Posted by solidsnake86

That was hilarious. I remember watching that and The same with chloe and her convenient development of computer hacking skills that allowed her to do everything needed for contrived plot points.

I take Cassidy as a high profile lawyer easier than the above examples because, although this may be shocking, good looking people do have careers in the legal profession.

Edit, she's not even a high profile lawyer, she works for legal aid. It's really not that much of a stretch of the imagination. Not all lawyers are old and ugly.

Precisely. Especially since she's working in legal aid - arguably the bottom/starting point, career-wise, for a practicing lawyer. To the best of my knowledge of legal education in the United States, it is a 3 year professional course following the completion of one's bachelor's degree. Meaning, a new, freshly qualified lawyer would be about 24 years of age.

Admittedly, I think it could have added depth to the character if when Ollie reached for the table knife, she pulled a gun or a can of mace from her purse or some such. Which would be a lot easier to accept off the cuff than say martial arts training.

However, I can respect the show's decision not to go down that route as of this time. Perhaps they are saving her transition into Canary for a later time and want to make it a drastic change.

[ArcherFan]

Just been reading through some of the comments here. Glad to see that the (overall) consensus is that the show has potential. I'll admit - While Ollie is one of my favorite heroes (and while I didn't HATE Hartley in Smallville), I was worried they were going with campy/cheesey over gritty. I like the Long-Bow Hunter/Grell Era feel for the characters.

I can take some camp. After all, I grew up in the 80's, while reading comics where EVERY sentence ended in an exclamation point.

'They went thataway!' 'I have to use the bathroom!' 'There's a hole in my sock!'

Wanted to throw in my opinion on some of the stuff mentioned.

Sure, this show will have the feel of Batman Begins. Why not? Nolan set the stage for a grittier, more realistic urban hero - at least as far as more main-stream media goes. Why fix what isn't broke? It's also good homage (though, I'm sure, unintentional), since EVERYTHING about Green Arrow was a Batman riff. Gayly colored boy sidekick? Check. Wondrous gadgets that make no damned sense? Check. Items names after the character motif? Check. And I laughed at the quote DrDoom's quote from the Quiver storyline.

I see people commenting on the China White fight. Yes, the Ollie/China fight was pretty...rough. I'm wondering if that wasn't intentional, though? Show Diggle as a better hand-to-hand fighter. He was more capable of melee with China White. Ollie, at the point in the career that they're showcasing here, was a marksman first and a brawler (at best) second. That was how they made Connor different - Connor was a martial artist first and an archer second.

I do think Diggle is going to figure out Ollie's secret. Are they going to go all Alfred on it? I don't think so...but you can't wage a one-man war on crime without a little backup.

I'm looking forward to Fyers. One of my favorite supporting cast from the comics.

Theory: Tommy knows what's going on. I saw people talking about him opening his eyes during the kidnapping - I didn't get 'flutter' from that...I got 'what the hell is going on now?'. The way he was trying to dodge Blackthorne's questions about what he saw? Evasive. He comes from a rich family - his family name may well be in the book. Say a father?

Ollie takes his dad down. In a manner of his own revenge, he starts learning Archery to come back at Oliver. Possible set up for a strong late season 2/full season 3 villain? An entire story where he's doing nothing but turning the city against Oliver, destroying what work Oliver is trying to do, etc.

[chamber-music]

Its funny that Arrow is influenced by Nolan's Batman when The Flash show of the early 90s was influenced by the Burton Batman film.

Sucess of the Batflicks has fed into other DC character TV adaptions.

[protocida]

The fight scenes in Arrow are better than Nolan's movies, at least.

[Fans of Reilly]

about Dinah "Laurel" Lance Fighting ability she need to meet Richard Dragon