Thursday, January 3, 2019

The CW's Elseworld MiniSeries

What is The CW's Elseworld Series?

Readers of this blog know I'm a huge fan of pretty much any comic book series turned into a movie or television series. The CW channel does a great job with several comic book series shows, including The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Green Arrow, and Supergirl, to name a few.

Typically each year there is a crossover week in which several of the shows have a single story line and the characters cross over into the other shows. This year's crossover, titled "Elseworlds", combined Supergirl, The Flash, and Green Arrow. This year the Legends of Tomorrow did not participate, but there was a one line quote in which one of the characters made mention that it was the time of the year for the annual crossover, but they were a big no this year. LOL!

The Bad Science in Elseworlds

All three shows in Elseworlds are based on comic book characters, so of course there is a ton of bad science. Humans/aliens flying, shooting fire out of their eyes, running super fast, vibing, etc. Any fan of comic books has to let this bad science go to enjoy the story, but sometimes the bad science becomes a bit too much and usually with no reason. In the last episode of the Elseworlds crossover, officially a Supergirl episode, The Flash and Supergirl decide they need to slow down time. To do so, they must both move super fast around Earth, but in different directions, and exactly at Mach 7, seven times the speed of sound. Um...okay.

First, why Mach 7? I honestly have no clue. Mach 7 is seven times the speed of sound which equals about 5400 miles per hour. That's pretty fast. The Flash and Supergirl are trying to stop the rotation of Earth. At Earth's equator, Earth is moving about 1000 miles per hour (movement due to rotation only). So the two numbers don't even match, not that matching would mean anything.

Second, stopping Earth's rotation? Okay, let's assume that's possible. It doesn't stop time. It simply stops Earth's rotation! Time continues on!

Third, let's ignore the first two problems. Why do The Flash and Supergirl have to move in opposite directions? Theoretically you could slow down Earth's rotation by applying a large enough force. Assuming your super powers allow you to apply this force, it is possible, but by moving in opposite directions, The Flash and Supergirl are working against each other! They'd have much more success stopping Earth's rotation by combining their powers and moving in the same direction!

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this year's crossover special, Elseworlds, despite the bad science of stopping Earth's rotation and stopping time. If you haven't seen these shows and you are a comic book character geek, you are missing out! Check them out now. Just remember it is okay to enjoy these shows and at the same time nit pick the bad science!


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