Loved It? Hated It? What did you think of the Arrow Pilot?

[skully]

Pretty damn good. 8/10.

Looks like we'll be having a Crim of the Week as Ollie works his way through Dad's black book.

[darkphoenix21]

8 out of 10...great pilot. I don't want to give it a 9 or 10 just yet since there are still things to be worked out and the series has great potential.

[Rianna]

I was already excited, but I honestly wasn't expecting to love it this much, or feeling like I need to watch another episode soon.

Great start!

[Aquahyde]

This show reminded me alot of the Robinson Crusoe series that NBC did, with the whole island/I have been wronged thing going on. As far as the characters, I feel niether this show or Smallville ever got the character right. Smallville wanted Green Arrow to be Batman, I feel like this show wants him to be the Punisher. I am just not feeling it with show, I wish the crew and the CW the best of luck though.

I thought both shows captured quite a lot of the character, Green Arrow was originally very much close to Batman when he first originated until he got revamped to make him more his own person, he had an arrow car, arrowplane, a robin =speedy to keep up with the Joneses he said, lol he didnt want to be left behind. And Batman and Green Arrow also share some similarities due to just being billionaire superheroes who uses technologically advanced gadgetry, with a playboy history and having elite families. Oliver at the island is delt a lot in Green Arrow: year one so I think in the show it will feature a lot and will expand more on that than a comic can accommodate. I never watched Robson crusoe, tv show, only the cartoon lol, I used to like it, well I like anything near water. I agree this Arrow is a lot shades darker, but Green Arrow has killed in comics and grell mostly and other GA comics were mature and very dark. He wont always be this dark, I think.

Anyway different strokes, thanks for wishing the show luck

I was a bit thrown off when Ollie killed the guy, making me wonder if he was more of an anti-hero than a hero(but then again, Comics-Ollie wasn't anymore rosier was he?).

Anti-hero? I guess thats what he is.

Loved it. It continues the dynamic we grew to love with Ollie on Smallville but is different enough that they can go in their own fresh direction.

Agree.

I think there is enough "familiarities" (like sets) to have a "feel at home" for sv viewers, and new and original stuff to still make Arrow it own.

[costas22]

I really enjoyed it. It stayed true to the Arrow mythos, but it also gave us a couple of interesting twists. Can't wait to find out more about the Queen family secrets. Glad I tuned in for this.

And in a fun Smallville/Arrow connection, David Nutter wasn't the only common denominator between the two shows' pilots. So was Hiro Kanagwa, aka Principle Kwan.

[starflower69]

It was a brilliant opening episode which held me from start to finish. Was a bit unsure in the opening scene with Oliver running around rocks barefooted but I guess we're supposed to know he's tough. I also wondered if the hood he was wearing on the island was the one that his dad was wearing on the boat. There was so much going on in this episode but it didn't seem convoluted in anyway just great action and loved the flashbacks. Arrow looks like it's going to be my new Smallville and I can't wait to see the next episode. Also, I love the fact that Colin Salmon is in it, he's been in James Bond, he's a brilliant actor. I got really excited when he came on screen.

[Mikael]

I thought both shows captured quite a lot of the character, Green Arrow was originally very much close to Batman when he first originated until he got revamped to make him more his own person, he had an arrow car, arrowplane, a robin =speedy to keep up with the Joneses he said, lol he didnt want to be left behind. And Batman and Green Arrow also share some similarities due to just being billionaire superheroes who uses technologically advanced gadgetry, with a playboy history and having elite families. Oliver at the island is delt a lot in Green Arrow: year one so I think in the show it will feature a lot and will expand more on that than a comic can accommodate.
I agree this Arrow is a lot shades darker, but Green Arrow has killed in comics and grell mostly and other GA comics were mature and very dark. He wont always be this dark, I think.

Exactly, they got the character right, is just a more realistic, harder version of him. Liked it a lot, they made the main characters really interesting, the way Oliver's relationships evolve should be fun to watch.

[Mikael]

I thought both shows captured quite a lot of the character, Green Arrow was originally very much close to Batman when he first originated until he got revamped to make him more his own person, he had an arrow car, arrowplane, a robin =speedy to keep up with the Joneses he said, lol he didnt want to be left behind. And Batman and Green Arrow also share some similarities due to just being billionaire superheroes who uses technologically advanced gadgetry, with a playboy history and having elite families. Oliver at the island is delt a lot in Green Arrow: year one so I think in the show it will feature a lot and will expand more on that than a comic can accommodate.
I agree this Arrow is a lot shades darker, but Green Arrow has killed in comics and grell mostly and other GA comics were mature and very dark. He wont always be this dark, I think.

Exactly, they got the character right, is just a more realistic, harder version of him. Liked it a lot, they made the main characters really interesting, the way Oliver's relationships evolve should be fun to watch.

[ConnerW]

This is all new to me - I don't know anything about the Green Arrow - was a bit confused. I get him and his sister, but I'm not sure about his mom and her new husband. I get the bad guys are from the list his dad gave him - but they aren't the man antagonist - is that his mother and her new husband? I like the idea of redeeming himself - then there is the girl? What to make of her. She doesn't seem to have feelings for the friend like he has for her. The friend seems to be a good side kick but with the girl I can see that sometimes he might not be on his side. She seems to really care about him, wondering if they'll ever have a chance. I was looking for some good strong relationships in this but it looks like he might be all on his own - at least with Batman we knew he had Alfred and with Superman we knew he had his mom and dad. I don't like the idea of him being all on his own without someone to count on - maybe its just to early for me to trust anyone in his life and maybe too soon for him to as well.

Over all I thought it was pretty good. Anything anyone can fill me in about the legion of Green Arrow would be appreciated. I'd like the main antagonist to be made a bit more clear but I can go along on the ride. What I really need to see is that he is not alone - that someone is on his side, has his back. But I'm looking forward to more and that's the main thing. Well acted - good pilot to test the waters. Now the writers need to start making relationships happen.

[Jenerator]

Just posted this on facebook, and then realised I could try coming here to share my joy in this new series:
just watched the first ep of Arrow. Very impressed, even if he doesn't have blonde hair. Love all the "in" jokes - Judge Grell? And the artist of the police sketch was almost certainly Mike Grell (if not, it was a pretty good copy of his style). _Dinah_ Laurel Lance. And the bodyguard/driver is Doiby Dickles! Not sure who Tommy is yet, but I'll figure it out, I'm sure. Just have to read a few websites about it, I guess...

And having read other viewers'comments, I can say that the killing was a bit disturbing, but more than made up for by.... mmmmmmMMMMM.... that body! Wow! (OK call me shallow!)

[Jenerator]

This is all new to me - I don't know anything about the Green Arrow - was a bit confused.

Over all I thought it was pretty good. Anything anyone can fill me in about the legion of Green Arrow would be appreciated. .

Okidoke, so this from the pre-NEW52DC (which I've given up on, after 35+ years of collecting comics):
Green Arrow started out in comics as a photocopy (xerox?) of Batman. Rich playboy has many technological wonders, doesn't use guns (instead uses bow and arrows) and has a sidekick, an orphan kid he adopted called Speedy. (Yes they had an ArrowCar and and Arrow Cave etc etc).
GA was always a second-string character... until...
sometime in the late 60s they decided to change things up a bit. At the time there were laws (or at least rules) about what you could and couldn't show in comics (mostly self-policed - read up on the Comics Code Authority, and Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent for more info. But in the late 60s the writer Denny O'Neill (maybe only one l in his surname?) wrote a set of Green Arrow/Green Lantern stories where Ollie discovers his ward Speedy being true to his name: shooting up on the cover of the comic book. At that time nobody talked about drugs in comics which were supposed to be aimed at little kids.
After that issue, GL and GA and his girlfriend Black Canary (Dinah Lance - the Laurel didn't get added for maybe 20 or 30 years after that) travelled all over the country side (ask the Leyland Brothers! - sorry that's a local reference) in a series which has been collected in trade paperbacks called Hard Travelling Heroes, trying to come to terms with how the world had changed. Somewhere around here (maybe before that Speedy issue?) Ollie lost his business and money. He worked as a journalist at one time, I think for the Daily Star (please correct me if you think I've got facts wrong, this is all from memory, I am not checking these details out anywhere as I write them). And he also became Mayor of Star City for a while there. Oh and he cooks a mean chilli from what I've heard.

Shortly after that, Mike Grell became the artist on the series. I don't think I have heard whether Judge Grell in the series has the first name Mike or not.
The police sketch of the Green Hooded Guy appears to me to have been drawn by Mike Grell.
Annnnyway.... Skip forward to the 80s and a series called Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. Drawn again (and written I think?) by Mike Grell (after many years'absence from the series) it depicts a rougher world. Black Canary is kidnapped and (I think) raped and loses her superpower of a "sonic scream" as a result of PTSD and I can't recall whether it was in that series or a later one that it turns out that Ollie had had an affair with some woman who may have been a super villainess, and she had a child called Connor Hawke who comes back into Ollie's life. Dinah leaves Ollie and comes back for more many times.
Eventually Dinah and Ollie get married, but Ollie gets killed shortly after Superman died.
He comes back though, all the good heroes do.
While he was dead, Connor took over the role of Green Arrow. I think he was brought up in a buddhist monastery or something. So he has a whole different outlook on life than Ollie ever did.
Speedy grew up too, and also had an affair with an Asian super-villainess called Cheshire, and she had a daughter called Lian. Speedy was a (founding?) member of the Teen Titans. He now goes by the moniker of Arsenal.
Have I said enough? Have I said too much? I should really stop quoting old songs.

Jen in Sunny Oz...

[Ica013]

Great action sequences. I found some of the changes from Cannon (Starling City, Laurel) a why bother? Also while Ollie has killed in the comics (even on Smallville) - the thing I found disturbing was this iteration had no remorse for taking a guy out for what I deem to be a fairly lame reason and that was a BIG WT moment. It also made him in my world no better than the thugs he claims to be cleaning the city up from and made me care about his journey a whole lot less. Wont say I won't watch again, but not on my must see list.

DC is giving away a free 10 page tie in comic right now, so for those that are interested... over to the DC comics page.

[Caught_In_The_Sun]

10!

Great pilot and very exciting all the way through...can't wait to see what happens the rest of the season.

[sv&spn-girl]

It was a brilliant opening episode which held me from start to finish. Was a bit unsure in the opening scene with Oliver running around rocks barefooted but I guess we're supposed to know he's tough. I also wondered if the hood he was wearing on the island was the one that his dad was wearing on the boat. There was so much going on in this episode but it didn't seem convoluted in anyway just great action and loved the flashbacks. Arrow looks like it's going to be my new Smallville and I can't wait to see the next episode. Also, I love the fact that Colin Salmon is in it, he's been in James Bond, he's a brilliant actor. I got really excited when he came on screen.

Of course, colin. I was trying to figure out why i recognised him. (he actually reminds me a bit of crowley ) it will never replace smallville, but it has amazing potential. Really looking forward to seeing laurel develop. It seems like the oliver/tommy relationship is somewhat parralell to the clark/lex friendship on sv, the good friends who are destined to be ultimate enemies. Well that was a bit spastic, i'm just so exited!!

[darkraya]

I liked it, but I'm still a little confused about some things that were shown on the episode.

Do whe (or me) have to disregard the Smallville verison of Green arrow/Oliver Queen in order to make some sense out of this new project? I was suprised to see that Oliver's parents were still alive, or lived longer than in the SM storyline. the fact that he has a sister on the show made me raise eyebrows. I'm still wraping my mind around that one, but i like the idea.

Adam Hunt = Lex Luthor?

... no comment.

Also: in the last scene of the episode, whe discovered that Oliver's mother planned the attack/kidnapping of his son. Why ? what are her motives?

I guess I'll tune in next week to get some answers.