Freedom Fighters: The Ray
Freedom Fighters: The Ray | |
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Genre | |
Based on | |
Voices of |
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Composer | Daniel James Chan |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 12 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
Producer | Curt Geda |
Editor | Kyle Stafford |
Running time | 6–8 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | CW Seed |
Release | December 8, 2017 July 18, 2018 | –
Related | |
Arrowverse |
Freedom Fighters: The Ray is an American
Premise
Raymond "Ray" Terrill is a housing rights advocate who discovers a doppelganger of himself from another Earth. The man disappears, and gives him light-based powers, and he is recruited to join the Freedom Fighters on Earth where he battles the New Reichsmen.[1]
Cast and characters
Main
- Russell Tovey as Ray Terrill / The Ray: A public interest advocate who gains light-based powers from his Earth-X counterpart and becomes a member of the Freedom Fighters on Earth-X.[1][2]
- Jason Mitchell as John Trujillo: A co-worker of Terrill's that helps him learn about his newfound powers.[5]
- Mitchell also voices his Earth-X counterpart, Black Condor, who is member of the Freedom Fighters
- Dilshad Vadsaria as Jenny Knight: A co-worker of Terrill's.[5]
- Vadsaria also voices her Earth-X counterpart, Phantom Lady, who is a member of the Freedom Fighters.[6]
Recurring
- Melissa Benoist as Overgirl: An alternate supervillain version of Supergirl of Earth-38 who is a member of the New Reichsmen on Earth-X. Benoist reprises her role from "Crisis on Earth-X".[7]
- Iddo Goldberg as Red Tornado of Earth-X: A member of the Freedom Fighters.[6][5]
- Matthew Mercer as Black Arrow: A member of the New Reichsmen that resembles Green Arrow,[5] but is not the same as Dark Arrow. He is called Dark Arrow in "Crisis on Earth-X".[8]
- Mercer also voices his Earth-1 counterpart Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, replacing Stephen Amell.
- Scott Whyte as Blitzkrieg: An alternate speedster who is a member of the New Reichsmen on Earth-X.[9][5]
- Whyte also voices Barry Allen / Flash of Earth-1, replacing Grant Gustin.
- Cisco Ramon / Vibe of Earth-X:[10]A member of the Freedom Fighters.
- Sunil Malhotra as Jacob: Ray's original lover.[4]
Guest
- Matthew Mercer as Dollman[11]
- Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Grace Terrill: Ray's mother.[4]
- Bruce Thomas as Robert Terrill: Ray's father.[4]
- S.T.A.R. Labs. Panabaker reprises her role from The Flash.[5]
- Christopher Corey Smith as Donald: A politician.[4]
- Megalyn Echikunwoke as Mari McCabe / Vixen. Echikunwoke reprises her role from Vixen [9]
Episodes
Season 1 (2017)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1–6 | 1–6 | "A Hero Rises" | Ethan Spaulding | Emilio Ortega Aldrich, Lauren Certo, Marc Guggenheim, Sarah Hernandez, Elizabeth Kim, Sarah Tarkoff | December 8, 2017 | |
In Caitlin Snow of metahuman activity. John and Ray go back to the bar and Ray strikes up a conversation with the man, Jacob. As Ray and Jacob are walking down the street, they discover a lesbian couple being mugged. Jacob goes for help and Ray uses his powers to take the mugger down. While fighting a pair of bank robbers, Ray takes on "The Ray" mantle. On Earth-X, Vibe searches for signatures of the Ray, but is ambushed by the Reichsmen, who are then able to pinpoint the location of the cortex. On Earth-1, as Ray prepares for a date with Jacob, he is sedated by a poisoned dart and two shadowy figures appear over him. |
Season 2 (2018)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7–12 | 1–6 | "Earth-X" | Ethan Spaulding | Emilio Ortega Aldrich, Lauren Certo, Marc Guggenheim, Sarah Hernandez, Elizabeth Kim, Sarah Tarkoff | July 18, 2018 | |
Ray's captors are revealed to be his Earth's Curtis Holt / Mister Terrific, Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, and Barry Allen / Flash, who offer to train him. They team up with Mari McCabe / Vixen to defeat a giant robot running amok, causing Ray to be late for his date with Jacob, who breaks up with Ray. Earth-X Overgirl shows up at Ray's house and steals Red Tornado's cortex from Ray's house. Ray comes out to his parents, who tell him they don't want him to be anyone other than himself. Cisco sends Ray to Earth-X, where he warns the resistance that Nazis now know their location. The New Reichsmen and their soldiers, led by Overgirl, attack their base, but the Freedom Fighters fight back, eventually resulting in the Reichsmen's defeat and capture. The Freedom Fighters learn the location of the Reich chancellor from the detained Reichsmen. |
Production
The series was first announced in August 2016 by
Freedom Fighters: The Ray is also set prior to the events of the 2017 live-action Arrowverse crossover, "Crisis on Earth-X". Guggenheim added that the animated series featured some "continuity mix-ups... [and] inconsistencies",[9] as "Crisis on Earth-X" was conceived after Freedom Fighters was already written and Guggenheim "didn't see eye-to-eye" with fellow crossover executive producer Andrew Kreisberg on how tightly the animated series should tie-in with "Crisis on Earth-X";[9][15] Guggenheim hoped to address these with a comic book. On the series being a prequel to the crossover, Guggenheim revealed that it was not intended to be such, and was originally intended to be released before the crossover. However, once the decision was made to feature The Ray in live-action, it necessitated the casting of the correct actor, which lead to Tovey. Guggenheim explained: At that point, "we could either just continue to go forward as we already were with the animated series with a different voice and a slightly different look to the character of the Ray, or we could take the extra time to have Russell voice the character, do some design alterations, make the Ray's appearance in the animated series line up more with the way Russell actually looks. There was just no way to turn those kind of changes around and release it before the crossover. It was just more important to have Russell's voice in the series than it was to get it out early".[9]
Release
Freedom Fighters: The Ray premiered on CW Seed on December 8, 2017,[16][17] releasing the first six episodes of the series.[15] The next six episodes,[18] marketed as the second season, was released on July 18, 2018, after debuting at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.[19][20]
Home media
In June 2018, it was announced that the first two seasons would be made available as one feature-length presentation on Blu-ray and DVD, which was released on August 28, 2018.[21][22]
Reception
Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club gave the first three episodes a "B" rating. He felt "the story has an interesting structure, beginning with two episodes showing the dire situation on Earth-X before making a sudden jump across dimensions for the third episode," but noted that it makes "The Ray feel like a supporting character in his own show". Sava praised the conflicts in Ray's personal life "that are largely unexplored in the superhero genre, especially in film and television," with the show showing "how they can quickly add tension and depth to fantastic narratives". Regarding Tovey's performance, Sava said, "Tovey does strong work capturing Ray's anxiety and fear about coming out, and you can hear his disappointment in himself as he tries and fails to embrace his sexuality."[11]
Luke Y. Thompson of Forbes gave a favorable review of the Blu-Ray release. He stated that it was "the most emotionally stirring of all the DC animated movies [he'd] seen and reviewed." Thompson praised the animation saying it was "better than usual too, with more cel-shading on CG to give vistas real depth."[23]
Arrowverse
Tovey appeared as The Ray in "Crisis on Earth-X", the 2017 Arrowverse crossover event between Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Additional concepts and characters from Freedom Fighters were featured in the crossover.[24][2]
In November 2019, DC announced that they would be producing two tie-in comic books, to accompany the "
References
- ^ a b c d Roots, Kimberly (August 11, 2016). "Gay Superhero Show a Go at CW Seed, Arrow-verse Integration Eyed". TVLine. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
- ^ a b c Ausiello, Michael (September 22, 2017). "Arrowverse Crossover: Quantico's Russell Tovey Cast as Gay Superhero". TVLine. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
- ^ Episode 1
- ^ a b c d e Episode 3
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wickline, Dan (December 8, 2017). "Freedom Fighters: The Ray Season 1 Recap – Things Are Just Getting Started". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ a b Cecchini, Mike (July 21, 2017). "DC's Freedom Fighters: The Ray is a Dark Reflection of CW Multiverse". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^ TV Insider. Archivedfrom the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
- ^ Wickline, Dan (November 18, 2017). "CW Releases 92 Images From Arrowverse Crossover: Crisis On Earth-X". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Damore, Meagan (December 7, 2017). "Freedom Fighters: The Ray: Guggenheim Previews Ray's Earth-X History". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ Caron, Natalie (October 17, 2017). "The Flash's Vibe joins Freedom Fighters: The Ray's new CW poster". Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
- ^ a b Sava, Oliver (December 8, 2017). "The Ray gives The CW's new gay hero an animated showcase, but not enough spotlight". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ Cecchini, Mike (July 25, 2017). "DC's Freedom Fighters: The Ray Trailer Arrives". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^ Dornbusch, Jonathan (August 11, 2016). "CW Introducing DC's The Ray in New Animated Series and, Eventually, in Live Action". IGN. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
- ^ Adams, Tim (July 23, 2017). "The Ray Battles Nazis in First Trailer For Animated Series". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^ a b Mitovich, Matt Webb (December 7, 2017). "Arrow Boss Touts The Ray's Timeless Fight, Explains Crossover 'Continuity'". TVLine. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- TV Insider. Archivedfrom the original on October 16, 2017. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
- ^ CW Seed [@cwseed] (December 1, 2017). "Freedom Fighters: #TheRay premieres in ONE WEEK on CW Seed!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 1, 2017 – via Twitter.
- Den of Geek!. Archivedfrom the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
- ^ Anderson, Jenna (June 25, 2018). "'Freedom Fighters: The Ray' Renewed for Season 2 at CW Seed". ComicBook.com. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (June 25, 2018). "Comic-Con: Warner Bros TV Goes Big With 'Riverdale' Hall H Debut, 'Arrow' Return, 'Black Lightning' + More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
- ^ Wickline, Dan (June 6, 2018). "Freedom Fighters: The Ray Hitting Blu-Ray/DVD This August". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- ^ "Freedom Fighters: The Ray goes from CW Seed to Disc in August". ComicMix. June 7, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- ^ Thompson, Luke Y. "Blu-ray Review: DC's 'Freedom Fighters: The Ray' Lets A Gay Superhero Punch Nazis". Forbes.
- ^ Agard, Chancellor (September 22, 2017). "Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends unite for 'Crisis on Earth X' crossover". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
- ^ McMillan, Graeme (December 5, 2019). "How the CW's 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' is jumping to comics". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.