TV REVIEWS / The New Season : ‘Flash’ Lacks Comic Book Sensibility

Based on its premiere, “The Flash” traps a speedy man in a slow series.

It debuts with a two-hour movie at 8 tonight on CBS (Channels 2 and 8), bringing America a superhero spun from a DC Comics character who fights crime with blinding velocity.

It seems that Central City is being terrorized by biker punks led by a murderer named Pike who is mobilizing his leather-jacketed legions to take over the city. But he’ll do it only over the metabolically transformed dead body of a police forensic scientist named Barry Allen (John Wesley Shipp), who wears a red body suit and mask and calls himself The Flash after a lab accident changes him into a human missile.

His mission--which finally takes shape midway through the movie--is to avenge the death of his policeman brother at the hands of Pike (Michael Nader). Meanwhile, only scientist Tina McGee (Amanda Pays) knows of Allen’s special powers, and she fits him with a special red suit and monitors his body movements (and his body). Although her interest seems purely professional, she seems destined to supplant Allen’s present girlfriend. Yes, these kids are headed for romance.

With comic book characters so prominent in theatrical movies these days, a comparison is almost mandated. “The Flash” has neither the humor of “Dick Tracy” nor, even though much of its action occurs at night, the brooding darkness of “Batman.” Despite great swells of action music, moreover, it lacks a true comic book sensibility that would dramatically set it apart from the rest of prime time.

In his civvies, Allen is too much the generic, heroic-looking leading man. And as his antagonist here, the ruthless Spike is just too handsome himself, barely registering on the Villain Scale while wearing a scar that looks like it was applied with Magic Marker.

It’s ironic, meanwhile, that a series about a super swifty should be introduced with a story that moves so sluggishly. Fast is fun, and there are a couple of good sequences in which the Flash triumphs over evil by becoming a speeding blur. However, the story takes forever to explain Allen’s physical changes and reach the point where he can become a super hero capable of confronting Spike.

Perhaps the regular series will tend to speedy business. Based on the premiere, however, flush “The Flash.”