| "Pilot" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Arrow episode | |||
 Promotional poster | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | David Nutter | ||
| Story by |
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| Teleplay by | |||
| Featured music |
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| Cinematography by | Glen Winter | ||
| Editing by | Paul Karasick | ||
| Production code | 296818 | ||
| Original air date | October 10, 2012 (2012-10-10) | ||
| Running time | 43 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| Arrowseason 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Pilot" is the first episode of the television seriesArrow, which premiered onThe CW on October 10, 2012. It was written by series developersGreg Berlanti,Marc Guggenheim andAndrew Kreisberg, and directed byDavid Nutter. The episode introducesOliver Queen (Stephen Amell), a billionaire playboy, his motherMoira Queen (Susanna Thompson), sisterThea (Willa Holland), new bodyguardJohn Diggle (David Ramsey), best friendTommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), ex-girlfriendLaurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), and her father DetectiveQuentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne). It follows Oliver as he returns toStarling City, after having been shipwrecked for five years, and becomes a bow-wielding, hooded vigilante who sets out to right the wrongs of his father, who died during the shipwreck, and save the city.
Filmed inVancouver,Canada, the pilot features two timelines on display: Oliver in the present, fighting crime as a vigilante, and Oliver when he is shipwrecked five years earlier. The developers wanted to bring a realistic vision to the character, which translated into a functional costume and no superpowers being featured. The pilot became the highest rated show on The CW in three years. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, who generally cited Amell's performance as a highlight. The episode was nominated for various awards, winning three.
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Billionaire playboyOliver Queen is rescued from a remote Mandarin Pacific island of Lian Yu after being shipwrecked for five years. Oliver is welcomed home toStarling City by his motherMoira, new stepfatherWalter Steele, younger sisterThea, and best friendTommy Merlyn, though he refuses to talk about his time on the island or the scars riddling his body.
Oliver and Tommy visitLaurel Lance, now a lawyer suing corrupt businessmanAdam Hunt. Oliver tries to apologize, but Laurel rebuffs him as she blames him for her sister's death. As they leave, Tommy and Oliver are kidnapped and questioned about Oliver's dadRobert. Oliver breaks free and kills the kidnappers; he later tells DetectiveQuentin Lance that they were saved by a man in a green hood. Moira hiresJohn Diggle as Oliver's bodyguard.
Shaking off Diggle, Oliver begins building his base of operations at an abandoned Queen Industrial warehouse. He reviews a list of names on which Hunt is present. Disguised in a green hood and armed with a bow and arrows, Oliver threatens Hunt for $40 million to pay back the residents of the Glades, who had lost their homes and savings as a result of his company.
At Oliver's homecoming party, Laurel tries to make amends with Oliver, but he claims he hasn't changed and will only hurt her. As the vigilante, he confronts Hunt again and transfers the money himself. Moira secretly meets with a man who assures her that the police will not discover her connection to the kidnapping.
In flashbacks, Oliver is cheating on Laurel with Sara on theQueen's Gambit when the storm hits. On a lifeboat, Robert apologizes to Oliver and asks him to correct his mistakes and save the city, before shooting a surviving crew member and himself to ensure Oliver's survival.
On January 12, 2012,The CW began preparing a new series centered around the characterGreen Arrow, developed byAndrew Kreisberg,Greg Berlanti andMarc Guggenheim.[1] A week later, the network ordered apilot, now titledArrow, and brought inDavid Nutter to direct.[2] When developing the series, producer Marc Guggenheim expressed that the creative team wanted to "chart [their] own course, [their] own destiny", and avoid any direct connections toSmallville, which featured its own Green Arrow/Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley). They opted to cast a new actor in the role of Oliver Queen.[3] Unlike withSmallville, the pilot does not initially feature super-powered heroes and villains. Instead, the creative still took inspiration fromSmallville, as one of the main themes was to "look at the humanity" of Oliver Queen, asSmallville had done with Clark Kent. The decision not to include superpowers was, in part, based on the executives' desire to take a realistic look at the characters in this universe.[4]
Amy Brenneman made a point of really befriending me before we started shooting [Private Practice] [...] I was really taken with how she connected with me, person to person, before we tried to connect, actor to actor. So, I made a real point to do that [with theArrow cast] [...] I think that you can see that [we hit it off] [...] If you have to put your hand on somebody's shoulder, if you've done it before, it makes it easier to do. Sometimes it's imperceptible, but I think it's what takes things from good to great, or from 2D to 3D.
Stephen Amell was one of the first actors to audition for the role of Oliver Queen, and Kreisberg felt that he "hit the target from the outset" and "everyone else just paled in comparison".[3]Arrow's pilot script was the first Amell auditioned for duringpilot season, having received multiple scripts at the start of the year.[5]Producer Marc Guggenheim expressed that the creative team wanted to "chart [their] own course, [their] own destiny", and avoid any direct connections toSmallville, which featured its own Green Arrow/Oliver Queen who was portrayed byJustin Hartley. Instead, they opted to cast a new actor in the titular role.[3] Amell, who was already in shape fromRent-a-Goalie, did physical fitness training at Tempest Freerunning Academy out of Reseda, California. He received archery training as well, which included watching a video on how archery has been displayed inaccurately or poorly in television and film before learning the basics of shooting a bow.[3] For Amell, the appeal of portraying Queen was that he saw multiple roles tied to the same character: "There's Queen the casual playboy; Queen the wounded hero; Queen the brooding Hamlet; Queen the lover; Queen the man of action, and so on."[3]
Katie Cassidy was cast as Dinah Laurel Lance on February 15, 2012; Laurel is also the vigilanteBlack Canary in the comic books.[6] Cassidy said she was drawn to the show by Berlanti, Nutter, Kreisberg, and Guggenheim, whom she called smart, creative, and edgy.[7] It was announced in February 2012 thatColin Donnell was cast as Tommy Merlyn—a character whose surname is based onGreen Arrow's nemesis in the comics—andDavid Ramsey would portray John Diggle, Oliver's bodyguard and a character not previously established through the comic books.[8][9] Ramsey enjoyed the fact that he did not have to worry about matching the comic books. It allowed him to "just kind of take [his character], and run with it".[10]Jacqueline MacInnes Wood was cast asSara Lance, Laurel's sister, for the pilot. However, when the character returned in the second season, Wood was replaced byCaity Lotz.[11]
Production on the pilot began in March 2012 inVancouver,Canada.[12] The series features two distinct timelines, which requires more specific planning in the filming schedule. Filming for the island flashbacks takes place in Vancouver's Whytecliff Park area, near beachfront homes. The production team is tasked with keeping the buildings out of camera frame.[13] Additionally, producer Marc Guggenheim finds the process arduous: "Stephen [Amell] has to wear a wig, and his look has to be changed... there's a lot. It's actually incredibly ambitious to do these flashbacks every week, every single episode. Because like Andrew [Kreisberg] said, it's almost like it's its own show."[13]Hatley Castle, located inRoyal Roads University was used for exterior shots for the Queen family mansion. Hatley Castle had previously been used as the Luthor ancestral home inSmallville.[14] Vancouver's Terminal City Ironworks Complex doubles as the exterior for Queen Consolidated, Inc.[15]
When it came time to design the look of the costume for Oliver Queen's vigilante persona, the studio brought inColleen Atwood to develop a realistic approach to the suit.[16] According to Amell, it was important for the suit to be functional, and the best way that he knew for that was if he could put the costume on by himself: "If I can put it on by myself, I think that people will buy it. And that was our idea. That's our world."[4] The opening scene on Lian Yu features aneaster egg of aDeathstroke mask with an arrow through it. David Nutter wanted a foreground element andGeoff Johns, who was visiting the set, suggested using the mask. This easter egg eventually led to the introduction ofBilly Wintergreen inepisode five andSlade Wilson inepisode thirteen.[17]
Arrow's premiere episode drew 4.14 million viewers, making it The CW's most-watched telecast of any show on any night in three years, and The CW's most-watched series premiere sinceThe Vampire Diaries in 2009.[18] In Australia, the premiere received 1.32 million viewers, making it the third most-watched broadcast on the network that night.[19] The UK broadcast was the fourth highest-rated telecast of the week, with 1.85 million viewers.[20] In Canada, the first episode got 1.32 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched airing of the night and the twenty-third of the week.[21]
The pilot episode received generally favorable reviews upon release.Newsday's Verne Gay commended the series' start, specifically the casting of Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen and the pilot's ability to weave in the action with "a pleasing romantic triangle, interfamily intrigue, a flawed hero and [...] a mystery."[22] David Hiltbrand, ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer, characterizes the pilot as a "dark, gleaming gem", but acknowledges that the show's success will be built around how well it maintains the quality of the action sequences and the mystery behind Oliver's motives.[23]NY Daily News' David Hinckley praised the start of the series as being "lively" and "better than hard-core 'Green Arrow' fans expected"; Hinckley also pointed out that Amell does a good job of finding the proper balance for Oliver as he moves between his "old world" and "new world".[24]San Francisco Chronicle'sDavid Wiegand favorably compared the pilot toSmallville, stating that the series is fun and action-packed, and worth the same level of longevity thatSmallville received. Weigand praised Amell's performance and his ability to convincingly portray both the spoiled billionaire and his vigilante alter-ego, and gives credit to director David Nutter and the editors for putting together an episode that built suspense and kept the action fast and believable.[25]
Robert Bianco, ofUSA Today, characterized the pilot as aDark Knight version of the Green Arrow character. Bianco praised the action sequences, the emotional development with the characters, and the mystery of the plot. He contends that the biggest hurdle toArrow's success will be the network in which it airs.[26]Variety's Brian Lowry also said the pilot felt more like a lite version ofChristopher Nolan'sDark Knight saga, but believed the action could not hide the two-dimensional characters that were introduced. Lowry further commented that the series would have an "uphill climb" when it comes to mainstream appeal because of the "second-tier" nature of its primary comic book character.[27]The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman stated, if you can get past the implausibility,Arrow is entertaining and matches the type of brandThe CW is creating.[28] Sarah Rodman, of theBoston Globe, also said the pilot was cartoonish, specifically commenting on Amell's "stilted narration" and the storyline feeling "silly". She further stated that pilot would please fans of the genre, and drama fans who cansuspend their disbelief that an alcoholic billionaire "driven mad on a remote island for five years would now know how to hack computers".[29]
The pilot won multipleLeo Awards, including Best Cinematography in a Dramatic Series (Glen Winter), Best Production Design in a Dramatic Series (Richard Hudolin), and Best Stunt Coordination in a Dramatic Series (J.J. Makaro).[30] Glen Winter was also nominated for an award based on his work in the pilot episode by theCanadian Society of Cinematographers.[31]
