History YMMV / TheFlash1990

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The show was made at the very beginning of UsefulNotes/TheNineties and it shows not only in the fashion, but also the decor and the now thoroughly outdated computer and lab equipment.

** In in the episodethe Flash takes on the villainous Mirror Master played by Creator/DavidCassidy... [[Creator/KatieCassidy his daughter]] turned up on ''Series/TheFlash2014'', as part of her ''Franchise/ArrowVerse'' duties.

** In in the episodethe Flash takes on the villainous Mirror Master played by Creator/DavidCassidy.. on ''Series/TheFlash2014'', [[Creator/KatieCassidy his daughter]] as part of ''Arrowverse'' duties.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Iris West. She's Barry's wife in the comics and the aunt of Barry's sidkick and successor Wally West leading to some interesting possibilities for the character, but here is reduced to a one-off girlfriend who gets PutOnABus and isn't even a reporter.

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/{{Arrowverse}} here]].

** Creator/MarkHamill's performance as the Trickster ''really'' comes off as a dry run for his iconic portrayal of ComicBook/TheJoker in the Franchise/{{DCAU}}; his second, far more manic appearance in "Trial of the Trickster" -- featuring him acquiring a Harley Quinn-like sidekick, Prank, and getting [[https://youtu.be/TGS32ONjAgk?t=66s a new, mischievous leitmotif by Shirley Walker herself]] -- feels uncannily like a live-action B:TAS episode at times. In addition to which, Hamill later plays different versions of the Trickster in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' and ''Series/TheFlash2014'' (a mostly harmless and mentally-ill villain in the former, and two different versions of a sinister reprise of his 1990 role in the latter).

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The episode where Barry was thrown into the future could have been the ''perfect'' time to introduce the costume ring into the series.

%% ZCE * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Iris West

* HarsherInHindsight:
** A day short of the twenty fifth anniversary of the airing of this show's final episode, Creator/JohnWesleyShipp's character in ''Series/TheFlash2014'' was killed off. The Henry Allen character, at least; Shipp later comes back as Jay Garrick, Henry's Earth-3 doppelganger. Even ''worse'', the Arrowverse outright states that every single character from this show is dead, save for the titular character, because of the Monitor.
** In his final appearance on Arrowverse, in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', the Flash of this series sacrifices his life to save the Multiverse. In his last moments of life, he remembers Tina...before screaming in despair as he dies in disintegration.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight:
** The fact that the new ''[[Series/TheFlash2014 Flash]]'' series doesn't shy on giving homages to this show in any way they could. It was eventually even canonically made a part of the show's own multiverse. And then in the Season 2 finale Shipp even gets to play the Flash again as Jay Garrick, and then reprises the role of this series's Barry Allen in {{Series/Elseworlds}}.

** In one episode, Barry pretends to be the scientist who "created" the Flash, and uses the alias of "Professor Zoom" (a.k.a. ComicBook/EobardThawne, Barry's EvilCounterpart in the comics). Creator/JohnWesleyShipp would later actually voice Thawne in the "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster" episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''.
** "Tina, Is That You?" sees Yvette Nipar played a character named Lisa March. It woudln't be the last time she played a character named Lisa [[Series/RoboCopTheSeries in a show where a cop is also a superhero]].[[note]]Then again, Lisa Madigan is basically a [[AdaptationNameChange renamed]] [[Franchise/RoboCop Anne Lewis]].[[/note]]
** Creator/MarkHamill's performance as the Trickster ''really'' comes off as a dry run for his iconic portrayal of ComicBook/TheJoker in the Franchise/{{DCAU}}; his second, far more manic appearance in "Trial of the Trickster" -- featuring him acquiring a Harley Quinn-like sidekick, Prank, and getting [[https://youtu.be/TGS32ONjAgk?t=66s a new, mischievous leitmotif by Shirley Walker herself]] -- feels uncannily like a live-action B:TAS episode at times. In addition to which, Hamill later plays different versions of the Trickster in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' and ''Series/TheFlash2014'' (a mostly harmless and mentally-ill villain in the former, and two different versions of a sinister reprisal of his 1990 role in the latter).
** David Cassidy's (Mirror Master) [[Creator/KatieCassidy daughter]] would later play the ComicBook/BlackCanary in ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. It becomes a lot funnier since they both play characters with {{Alliterative Name}}s (Sam Scudder and Laurel Lance respectively).
** For ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fans, the actress who played [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Tasha Yar]] serving as therapist for the actress who will eventually play [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Seven of Nine]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Iris West

** [[spoiler: In his final appearance on Arrowverse, in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', the Flash of this series sacrifices his life to save the Multiverse. In his last moments of life, he remembers Tina...before screaming in despair as he dies in disintegration.]]

** [[spoiler:In his final moments before he died in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', Barry thinks only of Tina.]]

** A day short of the twenty fifth anniversary of the airing of this show's final episode, Creator/JohnWesleyShipp's character in ''Series/TheFlash2014'' was killed-off. The Henry Allen character, at least; Shipp later comes back as Jay Garrick, Henry's Earth-3 doppelganger. Even ''worse'', the Arrowverse outright states that every single character from this show is dead, save for the titular character, because of the Monitor.
** [[spoiler: In his final appearance on Arrowverse, in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', the Flash of this series sacrifices his life to save the Multiverse. In his last moments of life, he remembers Tina ... before screaming in despair as he dies in disintegration.]]

** In one episode, Barry pretends to be the scientist who "created" the Flash, and uses the alias of "Professor Zoom" (the name of Barry's EvilCounterpart in the comics). Creator/JohnWesleyShipp would later actually voice Zoom in the "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster" episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''.

** Creator/MarkHamill's performance as the Trickster ''really'' comes off as a dry run for his iconic portrayal of ComicBook/TheJoker in the Franchise/{{DCAU}}; his second, far more manic appearance in "Trial of the Trickster" -- featuring him acquiring a Harley Quinn-like sidekick, Prank, and getting [[https://youtu.be/TGS32ONjAgk?t=66s a new, mischievous leitmotif by Shirley Walker herself]] -- feels uncannily like a live-action B:TAS episode at times. In addition to which, Hamill later plays different versions of the Trickster in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' and ''Series/TheFlash2014'' (a mostly harmless and mentally-ill villain in the former, and two different versions of a sinister reprisal of his 1990 role in the latter).

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The episode where Barry was thrown into the future could have been the ''perfect'' time to introduce the costume holding ring into the series.

** Creator/MarkHamill's performance as the Trickster ''really'' comes off as a dry run for his iconic portrayal of ComicBook/TheJoker in the Franchise/{{DCAU}}; his second, far more manic appearance in "Trial of the Trickster" -- featuring him acquiring a Harley Quinn-like sidekick, Prank, and getting [[https://youtu.be/TGS32ONjAgk?t=66s a new, mischievous leitmotif by Shirley Walker herself]] -- feels uncannily like a live-action B:TAS episode at times.

** Music/ShirleyWalker's music for the two-hour pilot and all the episodes (Walker became the first woman to be entrusted with a show of this nature - and it was her work on this that led to her doing ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'').

** Creator/ShirleyWalker's music for the two-hour pilot and all the episodes (Walker became the first woman to be entrusted with a show of this nature - and it was her work on this that led to her doing ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'').

** Shirley Walker's music for the two-hour pilot and all the episodes (Walker became the first woman to be entrusted with a show of this nature - and it was her work on this that led to her doing ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'').

** A day short of the twenty fifth anniversary of the airing of this show's final episode, Creator/JohnWesleyShipp's character in ''Series/TheFlash2014'' was killed-off. The Henry Allen character, at least; Shipp later comes back as Jay Garrick, Henry's Earth-3 doppelganger. Even ''worse'', the Arrowverse outright states that [[spoiler:every single character from this show is dead, save for the titular character, because of the Monitor.]]

** The fact that the new ''[[Series/TheFlash2014 Flash]]'' series doesn't shy on giving homages to this show in any way they could. It was eventually even canonically made a part of the show's own multiverse. And then in the Season 2 finale Shipp even gets to play the Flash again as Jay Garrick[[spoiler:, and then reprises the role of this series's Barry Allen in {{Series/Elseworlds}}]].

** The PilotEpisode was shot (and aired) in 1990, the same year that Creator/GrantGustin, the actor who will eventually play Barry Allen in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', was born. It gets better since Creator/JohnWesleyShipp plays Barry's father there. Doubles as FridgeBrilliance.

** In this series, Barry has an older brother named Jay, whose identity is basically a revamped Jay Garrick (the first Flash in the comics). Come the 2014 series, John Wesley Shipp plays the actual Jay Garrick.

* {{Narm}}: Shipp doesn't commit ''at all'' to Barry's SkywardScream upon discovering his brother's body in the pilot, looking both bored and embarrassed.

* CompleteMonster:
** The Flash's ArchEnemy, [[FromNobodyToNightmare Nicholas Pike]], debuting in the Pilot, is a former police officer who was disbarred for [[DirtyCop his crooked involvement in criminal activities]], swearing vengeance against Jay Allen for bringing his corruption to light. Forming a biker gang, the "Dark Riders", Pike had his cronies terrorize Central City, torching streets and killing anyone in their way. When one member leaves out of disgust, Pike cruelly kills him by having him dragged on a motorcycle with a bomb and then detonating it. He later murders Jay for revenge. Storming the jail to free his men Barry Allen has arrested, Pike intends to use them to destroy the entire city regardless of any causalities. In "Flashfoward", after being released from prison, Pike returns for vengeance on Barry, firing a heat-seeking missile at him which sends Barry ten years into the future. An utter {{dystopia}} with Pike as {{mayor|Pain}}, he forces citizens to submit to him lest he have them executed or lobotomized if they don't bow down to him. A smug and wicked man motivated only by petty revenge, Pike cements himself as one of the most evil and personal enemies that the Flash has ever faced.
** [[MadScientist Dr. Carl Tanner]], from "Out of Control", is an amoral geneticist who ostensibly wants to better world. In truth, to erase the "shame" of having grown up in poverty, Carl intends to perfect a mutative formula to allow him to [[KillThePoor wipe out the homeless "vermin" of the world]], testing his formula on the vagrants of Central City and killing them through agonizing mutation. Lusting after and trying to mutate his former college sweetheart Christina [=McGee=], Tanner eventually uses the formula on himself, rampaging across Central City in his new monstrous form and attempting to massacre the nearest homeless den.
** [[TheAggressiveDrugDealer Bougart/Beauregarde Lesko]], from "Child's Play" creates an insidious hallucinogen called "[[FantasticDrug Blue Paradise]]", which becomes rampant in Central City. Creating a powerful physical addition, if users do not regularly take Blue Paradise, they die, much to Lesko's apathy. When suspected in the drug's production by a reporter, Lesko kills him by blowing up his car to destroy the evidence, also [[WouldHurtAChild trying to murder a teenager who manages to get ahold of it]]. [[KickTheDog Trying to force the teen into addiction to control him]], Lesko also tries to spread his drug over the city via helicopter, not content until he can control the entire population with his drug.
** [[AdaptationalJerkass James Montgomery Jesse]], better known as the "Trickster," is an [[AxCrazy insane criminal mastermind]] with a penchant for numerous murderous personalities and gimmicks leading to a string of murders over six states. Adopting the persona of the "Trickster" after he's smitten by private investigator Megan Lockhart--after failing to saw her in half--the Trickster [[CopKiller murders the cops]] who try to detain him; leaves an exploding Flash statue in a public square; takes the customers of a novelty shop hostage while murdering one of them for giggles; and attempts to drown Barry Allen in [[StalkerWithACrush his twisted crusade]] to make Megan his criminal sidekick "Prank". Busted out of prison in his second appearance by his twisted fangirl Zoey Clark, the Trickster butchers the host of a talk show and announces his new crime spree, torturing and brainwashing the Flash into his sidekick while causing wanton mayhem throughout Central City and endangering the lives of countless innocents. The Trickster finally tries to hold a "trial" for the city by killing those who prosecuted him after ruling them "guilty against crimes of good taste!" and, even after this is thwarted, [[UngratefulBastard ditches Zoey to the police even after she saves him]]. Zany, witty, and absolutely in love with his own murderous psychosis, Jesse's tricks murdered countless innocent people and cement him as one of the Scarlet Speedster's worst foes.

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/{{Arrowverse}} here]].

** [[spoiler: In his final appearance on Arrowverse, in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', the Flash of this series sacrifices your life to save the Multiverse. In his last moments of life, he remembers Tina ... before screaming in despair as he dies in disintegration.]]

** In his final moments before he died in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', Barry thinks only of Tina.

** [[spoiler: In its final appearance on Arrowverse, the Flash of this series sacrifices your life to save the Multiverse. In his last moments of life, he remembers Tina ... before screaming in despair as he dies in disintegration.]]
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The fact that the new ''[[Series/TheFlash2014 Flash]]'' series doesn't shy on giving homages to this show in any way they could. It was eventually even canonically made a part of the show's own multiverse. And then in the Season 2 finale Shipp even gets to play the Flash again as Jay Garrick[[spoiler:, and then reprises the role of this series's Barry Allen in {{Series/Elseworlds}}]].

* HarsherInHindsight: A day short of the twenty fifth anniversary of the airing of this show's final episode, Creator/JohnWesleyShipp's character in ''Series/TheFlash2014'' was killed-off. The Henry Allen character, at least; Shipp later comes back as Jay Garrick, Henry's Earth-3 doppelganger. Even ''worse'', the Arrowverse outright states that [[spoiler:every single character from this show is dead, save for the titular character, because of the Monitor.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: A day short of the twenty fifth anniversary of the airing of this show's final episode, Creator/JohnWesleyShipp's character in ''Series/TheFlash2014'' was killed-off. The Henry Allen character, at least; Shipp later comes back as Jay Garrick, Henry's Earth-3 doppelganger.