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Wednesday, September 05, 2018

Inconsistencies Make 'Freedom Fighters: The Ray' Unforgivably Pointless

Freedom Fighters: The Ray debuted last year at CW Seed, The CW’s online streaming platform, with six 5-minute episodes.   Season two, which added six more episodes, was released last July.   But soon after that, the 12 episodes were compiled into a 70-minute movie for home media.  In my opinion, it should have been released as a feature-length presentation in the first place.  I can’t think of any good reason why there’s a need to have a 5-minute episode format when all episodes were released at the same time.  It’s dumb.

Anyway, this animated web series/direct-to-video film started off – or, rather, was initially promoted – as a prequel for last year’s DCW mega-event, Crisis on Earth-X.  However, down the line, there was likely a falling out between the respective production teams of The Ray and Crisis on Earth-X, for the former turned out being heavily inconsistent with the latter.  This makes it completely pointless right from the start.
Constantine: City of Demons, if ever it’s intended for the Arrowverse, also has a problem with continuity.  But, at least, it didn’t make any outright attempt to connect itself with the live-action NBC show or the Arrowverse.  Hence, it could stand alone.  Heck, one can even consider it being set in the DC Animated Movie Universe; it’s a logical fit for it.

On the other hand, it’s obvious that The Ray was intended to tie up with Crisis on Earth-X and be set in the Arrowverse.  Thus, the plot dissonance is very irritating.  Also, this explanation – “It’s not set in the main Arrowverse world, i.e. Earth One, but in one of the 52 Earths of the Arrowverse multiverse that just closely mirrors Earth One” – doesn’t work, as it was implied in Crisis on Earth-X that none of the 52 Earths are similar with Earth-X – a world where the Nazis have taken over.  There’s just no getting around its unforgivable continuity errors.
Moreover – and most importantly – Constantine: City of Demons was actually good; The Ray simply isn’t.  The action can be thrilling, but this possible positive is completely overshadowed by the fact that the main storyline, subplots, and themes are awfully generic.

No way will there be a season three.

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