Skip to main content

TV/DVD Review: Invasion - CW Crossover; Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow (with Supergirl) - (2016-2017)

It may seem odd to be reviewing a three episode crossover event from 2016 in 2018 but I only recently happened across this DVD release of just the relevant episode from each of the CW DC series, Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow for their crossover event Invasion. As well they also bring Supergirl into the mix even though her series doesn't have a crossover episode.

The reason I wanted to review it now is that this crossover parallels what I feel Zack Snyder was trying to achieve in his films, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Justice League before his vision was derailed by WB execs and public opinion.


At its very core the plotline for Invasion is, Barry Allen (a.k.a. The Flash) brings together The Justice League (essentially, they never actually call themselves this) to fight off an alien invasion force who are out to stop the threat of metahumans.



To me that sounds a lot like the basic arc of Snyder's movies and his intention to bring in Darkseid as the original, ultimate alien bad guy.

What's both interesting and exciting about Invasion is that they tell such a similar story on a TV budget, with more characters, and more clearly defined motivation for all the characters involved - including the aliens, in around about two hours. Within that you see heroes fighting heroes, heroes fighting aliens, time travel, alien motherships, space battles, alien hordes, virtual worlds, mind control, and even a Hall of Justice exterior that looks very inspired by the old Super friends, Saturday morning cartoon.

Even with all of that, it never gets confusing, nor do any of the characters feel like they don't have a part to play in the main story arc.

If you've never seen any of the CW shows, sometimes referred to as the 'Belantiverse' after writer/producer Greg Berlanti's production company, Berlanti Productions, then Invasion is actually a great sampler starting point for all four shows, Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl. It gives you a good sense of most of the main players in their fully fleshed out form and may encourage you to want to go back and see their back story leading up to this crossover event.

It does contain minor spoilers for some of the individual series story arcs but they're presented in a way that might entice you watch that series for more information and to see those events (as opposed to not watching it because you've been spoiled). Or you could just start watching the shows from these episodes forward, if you like the characters as is and just want to follow their adventures moving forward.

For those of you already following one or more of the CW shows you don't need to be watching all of them to follow what's happening in Invasion. Personally I've watched Arrow up to Season 5, and only seen season 1 of both Flash and Supergirl. After watching Invasion I'm now more interested to see more of Flash, Supergirl, and especially try out the first season of Legends of Tomorrow (which was actually the reason I bought the DVD. I wanted to get a sample of the Legends characters without having to pay for the entire first season price).

If you've already got all these episodes in your individual series collections the DVD does include  special feature interviews with various writers and production people involved with the creation of each episode. It does give you some good insight into how tuned in the writers are with drawing inspiration from the comics and then adapting that material to their show.

Given the ambition of this story which, contains full, walking, talking, CGI aliens, the special effects are still pretty good for a TV budget. Sure it's not entirely seamless but it's easier to be forgiving with TV special effects. Especially when the story is well told with characters that are on point with their comic book counterparts.

Even if you don't want to start watching any of the series I'd highly recommend Invasion as one to add to your comic book movie collection. It works as a stand alone feature, and you get a good cross section of DC characters interacting with each other, not always as the best of friends. (I particularly enjoy the interactions between super serious Arrow and the somewhat perky Supergirl - this being the first time those two characters meet).

It definitely has rewatch value. Worth your time. Especially if the current line of 'Snyderverse' DC films isn't really doing it for you. You may just be more of a 'Berlantiverse' kind of DC fan.

TET Life Topics:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated by an actual human (me, TET) and may not publish right away. I do read all comments and only reject those not directly related to the post or are spam/scams (I'm looking at you Illuminati recruiters... I mean scammers. Stop commenting on my Illuminati post!).

Buy Whimsical Cat Art Prints by TET (Redbubble Store)

Slide 1
Slide 2
Slide 3

Enjoy Your Favorite TET Art Up Close, Interactive, and so Relaxing!

Enjoy Your Favorite TET Art Up Close, Interactive, and so Relaxing!
Relax and Challenge Yourself with a Fun, Whimsical Cat Art Jigsaw - 30-1000 pieces. Click Image for More.

Popular posts from this blog

Who Even Reads This?

W riting this blog is largely both a labor of love and a discipline. Since about 2006 (the blog started in 2004) I have written a minimum of two posts per month. Sometimes I've posted more, particularly in the last 4-5 years, where I've tried to write and post at least one article a week without fail. Unfortunately it's not a niche blog, unless the niche is things that interest me. Which means my blog is either too broad to have regular readers or too niche to have anyone other than my mum reading it. Which she does (hi Mum) as we established back in January of 2014 in the post Ya Mum Reads it... That said, this blog overall regularly gets 6-7k views every month, mostly through people finding various articles through search engines. By far the largest traffic source is 'Other' which is basically unknown sources. I'm willing to bet a large percentage of that is the dead internet. Bots testing my comments to see if they're spamable or Illuminati spammers. Whil...
3 comments
Continue Reading »

Review: ArtHelper - The All-In-One AI Writing + Marketing Assistant for Artists - 'ChatGPT for Artists'

ArtHelper prides itself on being all 'human-made' art. T he idea of an AI, trained specifically on art business marketing, that can not only offer advice on marketing your work, but also assist with creating all the content too, is certainly appealing. Especially to those of us who would rather spend more time creating our art than trying to sell it. ArtHelper does just that whilst attempting to be your 'home' on the internet. A destination for your profile and portfolio, a marketplace for your art, and a directory of artists as well, with one distinction - all the art must be human made. Which, for you AI artists, doesn't count the prompt for AI generated art - because the idea, according to ArtHelper's creators, isn't the art. Which is a fair point, in terms of promoting art 'made by a human', but can get kind of murky when you understand that not all AI art is generated from a single prompt... and 'found object art' isn't actually ...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Boom Crash Opera Born Classic But Not Again

Boom Crash Opera are an Australian Band that reached the peak of their popularity in the mid to late nineteen eighties. They are a band that I knew about at that time but was never really excited by until they released their ill fated double album Born and Born Again in 1995 (Album cover pictured). At the time of its release I was very much into emerging Australian musical acts and was also looking out for new sounds that were different and had kind of a futuristic/electronic sound. Artists that I was buying at the time included; Swoop , Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Its Self . As well as a really interesting release by David Bowie, the concept album, Outside . Born was a fairly radical departure for Boom Crash Opera (BCO). The first single, Gimme , was often compared to the sounds of Gary Glitter, particularly his single, Rock n Roll part 2 , because of the pounding drum loops. Watch the video below. My favorite single from the album is dissemble which probably went now...
16 comments
Continue Reading »

TV Series Review: Lanterns (2026) HBOmax *No Spoilers*

Lanterns - HBOmax P ersonally I think the new DC Studios, Lanterns series is one of the best DC shows in quite some time. It even edges out The Penguin for me (just barely) because it has likeable characters. Don't get me wrong, The Penguin is a standout drama series for sure, but I prefer heroes to villains (or anti-heroes for that matter) even if villains get the better monologues. It's nice to have a show like Lanterns, where the heroes are the most interesting part of the story, and you hope they triumph in the end. That said, I have never really been a fan of the Green Lanterns. I don't have a preferred Lantern. The character was always just one of the lesser cool members of the Justice League to me. The only reason I even know Hal Jordan's name is due to the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie. Prior to that I just knew the character as Green Lantern. The only reason I know of Guy Gardener is from the Superman movie... and the only reason I know John Stuart is ...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Movie Review: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) *Spoiler Free*

F rom the moment it was announced, I knew I was probably not going to see Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu in cinemas. The Mandalorian Disney+ Series finished it's story with no real pointers towards where a future story might go, beyond 'the further adventures of...' There was nothing to really hook me in. I did enjoy the series but it never got me invested in the title character or his cute prodigy so much that I wanted to see more.  Unlike the original Mandalorian, Boba Fett, who I was eager to see more of, until he got his own spin off series. Then I just wondered who wanted this particular story, that clarified everything about such a cool and mysterious character until there was no mystery left? Then we got the trailers for The Mandalorian and Grogu which  confirmed it was just a new adventure as a standalone film, with the purpose of introducing the characters to people who hadn't watched the series. I don't regret not seeing this in cinemas. It's a ...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Making the Ukulele Cool Again By Inventing One That Transforms Into a Guitar Mid-Performance

Mattias playing the Ukulele that turns into a guitar in ukulele mode. Y ouTuber,  Mattias Krantz , set out to solve one of the biggest problems with ukuleles, and that is, they are ukuleles. As he points out in his video they're one of the only instruments that people respect you less for the better you get at playing them. As someone who bought a ukulele because I wanted to learn an instrument, and I couldn't really afford a guitar (plus I found a ukulele that I think is pretty cool, but only in comparison to other ukuleles) you can imagine my interest would be really piqued by a ukulele that transforms into a guitar. Anyway, there is not much that needs to be said other than, a ukulele that transforms into a guitar isn't a thing you can just buy off the shelf, which is why Mattias set out to invent one. Nothing I say will be more interesting than just sitting back and watching his video below. It's a fascinating journey that I wanted to share and, maybe one day, eith...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Movie Review: Tomb Raider (2018) *Spoiler Free*

B ack in the 1990s I was a big fan of the Tomb Raider computer games. Aside from the obvious drawcard of the games female lead, Lara Croft, it was the only game back in the day that was a true 3D, third person shooter/adventure game. I wasn't a fan of first person shooters (though I played Dark Forces a lot at the time), I've always preferred computer games where you control a character on screen. Sadly I haven't kept up with the rebooted Tomb Raider games with more realistic graphics and game engine. While I did like Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider movies, she did make the character lean a little too much like a female James Bond, with her own tech guru who gave her wonderful toys. Recently I renewed my HBOMax subscription, and saw that the 2018 Tomb Raider movie, with Alicia Vikander in the title role, was soon to be leaving the platform, so I decided to watch it before it did. Obviously intended to reboot the franchise, in this film Lara goes on her first quest to dete...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »