Green Lantern: The Animated Series

[Foggle]

Honestly, I'm so used to John Stewart from Justice League that I'd probably have a hard time watching something with Hal Jordan in it.

Now all those Twitter memories of "Why ain't Green Lantern black?" are coming back.

Inaccurate. You used capitalization and punctuation. You also spelled every word correctly.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'll be honest....I never really cared for John Stewart, and that's WITHOUT having any other GLs to compare him to. I don't dislike the character, but he was honestly my least favorite JL character next to Wonder Woman, and he never really quite interested me that much aside from his interactions with The Flash since the chemistry between those 2 were about the only times that I found him amusing to watch.

As for Hal Jordan, being that I'm not very familiar with GL and he was the original as far as I can tell (though I'm sure somebody will correct me by naming some golden age incarnation of the character who came before him or something to that effect), I find him to be a more than suitable choice for the character in this series for someone like me who wants to get better acquainted with the character and his lore.

[Spark Of Spirit]

My problem with Hal Jordan was that he was a pretty generic hero with a generic back-story. Which was fine enough, but then he lost his mind, went evil, and at the zero hour sacrificed himself to save the world. So he went from average to great in my books because that made him genuine to me. Then of course, modern comics being modern comics, ret-conned all of that in order to bring him back and explain away everything he did. Basically, they wanted him back because he was marketable, and that just doesn't work for me.

Kyle Rayner was flawed, but he tried really hard, and I really liked him for it.

Guy Gardner is just Guy Gardner. There's no one like him.

Basically, I could have dealt with anyone else as the Green Lantern, but Hal Jordan just doesn't sit right with me anymore.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, Kyle Rayner was the man among gods. Guy Gardner was the douche who'd lend a hand. John Stewart was the military nut. Sinestro was the Judge Dredd-type of crimestopper. And Hal Jordan, he's just Hal.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

My problem with Hal Jordan was that he was a pretty generic hero with a generic back-story. Which was fine enough, but then he lost his mind, went evil, and at the zero hour sacrificed himself to save the world. So he went from average to great in my books because that made him genuine to me. Then of course, modern comics being modern comics, ret-conned all of that in order to bring him back and explain away everything he did. Basically, they wanted him back because he was marketable, and that just doesn't work for me.

Kyle Rayner was flawed, but he tried really hard, and I really liked him for it.

Guy Gardner is just Guy Gardner. There's no one like him.

Basically, I could have dealt with anyone else as the Green Lantern, but Hal Jordan just doesn't sit right with me anymore.

But is that really justifiable grounds to blame the character in general? To me those faults you mention are the faults of the writers who brought him back in the comics. That shouldn't really have any bearing on this animated series's interpretation of the character. And that's really all these adaptations are, anyways. They are interpretations of these heroes brought into animated form. Even if the character doesn't sit well with you in the comics, that doesn't inherently mean that every version of him will be a poorly written character or have the same problems that you had with him in the comics.

At any rate, I think its a very good thing, then, that I'm going into this series with a fresh perspective. At least that way I can probably judge it for what it is, even if I have no clue what the original comic book portrayal of any of the GLs are like.

[Foggle]

I hope they tackle that "Hal Jordan goes insane and evil" plot in this series. That'd make for some absolutely epic TV.

[Spark Of Spirit]

My problem with Hal Jordan was that he was a pretty generic hero with a generic back-story. Which was fine enough, but then he lost his mind, went evil, and at the zero hour sacrificed himself to save the world. So he went from average to great in my books because that made him genuine to me. Then of course, modern comics being modern comics, ret-conned all of that in order to bring him back and explain away everything he did. Basically, they wanted him back because he was marketable, and that just doesn't work for me.

Kyle Rayner was flawed, but he tried really hard, and I really liked him for it.

Guy Gardner is just Guy Gardner. There's no one like him.

Basically, I could have dealt with anyone else as the Green Lantern, but Hal Jordan just doesn't sit right with me anymore.

But is that really justifiable grounds to blame the character in general? To me those faults you mention are the faults of the writers who brought him back in the comics. That shouldn't really have any bearing on this animated series's interpretation of the character. And that's really all these adaptations are, anyways. They are interpretations of these heroes brought into animated form. Even if the character doesn't sit well with you in the comics, that doesn't inherently mean that every version of him will be a poorly written character or have the same problems that you had with him in the comics.

At any rate, I think its a very good thing, then, that I'm going into this series with a fresh perspective. At least that way I can probably judge it for what it is, even if I have no clue what the original comic book portrayal of any of the GLs are like.

I don't blame the character, I just don't like the character anymore because they erased a core part of who he was in order to make the series more marketable. And since they went to such lengths to change that, you'll never see it in the movies or animated series thereby changing an important part of the Green Lantern series.

I'm not a big fan of comic's tendency to bring characters back from the dead in general, though I can accept it when done well. But in Hal Jordan's case it's actually a defining trait of who he was, everything that lead up to his death was so core to the character that getting rid of it essentially changes who he is. Basically whenever I see him now he's no longer the character he was and can never be again because DC went to such great lengths to erase it.

Which is why this:

I hope they tackle that "Hal Jordan goes insane and evil" plot in this series. That'd make for some absolutely epic TV.

Will never happen again.

I'm sure he's fine enough in the show, but I just can't get interested in anything related to him anymore.

[Spark Of Spirit]

But anyway, I don't want this to go into comic talk so I'll just say that if it's on TV I'll give it a go. 

[Avaitor]

I hope they tackle that "Hal Jordan goes insane and evil" plot in this series. That'd make for some absolutely epic TV.

Eh, they're going in that route with Razer now, so it'd be kind of redundant if they bring that back. And like Desen said, we'll never see evil Hal again.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I finally got around to watching the series, and finished up the season. I think its pretty good, overall. Hal Jordan is a pretty generic hero in many ways, but there's also a golden-age sort of integrity to his character that I find very appealing, and while I'm not sure how faithful this show is to the comics, in this series he's a great tactician which gives him bonus points in my book. One good thing that this series does is that it keeps the main cast relatively small, which is actually kind of refreshing after having gotten used to team-based superhero shows for so long. I mean, there is still a team in this show, but with just 4 primary characters it gives each character a lot of time to be individually fleshed out.

Then again, if I could criticize the show for anything, I suppose its that none of the characters stand out that much from other super hero shows. Its executed really well, but I can't help but shake off that feeling of cliche that is ever so present in this series. However cliche doesn't necessarily mean bad to me, and I like how the show is well executed and well paced. I also like how it doesn't try to tackle more than it can handle and take on too many plot-points and characters at once (something that has really pissed me off about Young Justice, lately, and is a problem that Avengers: EMH initially started with).

So, basically, going by this first season I think its a genuinely good show. Its nowhere near great (perhaps it could get there with more ambitious plots and character development in a later season), but I was thoroughly entertained while watching it and its yet another good animated show that DC has under their belt.

[Avaitor]

Really, I think they wrote Hal more as John Stewart, as a no-nonsense militarian rather than the hot-headed hero he is in the show.

I still haven't seen the season finale, so I need to keep up with that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, this series also had its finale this week, which I personally really liked. I think this was a decent show, overall. As someone who doesn't read comics, I have no Green Lantern source material that I can compare it to, so I'm not sure how faithful of an adaptation it is or anything of the sort, but as a casual viewer, I enjoyed the series. The characters were kind of cliches, and the plot was fairly predictable and a bit formulaic, which is why I wouldn't call it great, but I still did have fun watching this series, and I do feel that it could have gone on for longer and still could have been satisfying. As it stands, though, I do like how this show had a pretty solid conclusion as opposed to the cock-tease cliffhangers from Greg Weisman's shows (though, to be fair, TSSM is a much better show than this one).

Overall, I have to admit that I enjoyed this show a lot more than Young Justice, which as much as I tried to love that show, I really only found the 1st season to be OK and the 2nd season to be a mess. Both seasons of this show were fairly solid, though, IMO.

[Avaitor]

The last episode I've seen was the one with Sinestro, which was all sorts of epic. It also contains what I consider to be one of the best Star Wars tributes ever.

It's funny, Timm and crew wanted to avoid using Sinestro for as long as they could and focus on other parts of the GL mythology. I think they knew that they weren't going to have a third season, so this is why they added him in after all.

[Silverstar]

The series finale was handled well enough, even though I contend that the Aya plot was one of the lamest motivations for a heel turn I've ever witnessed: one robot lady gets dumped and the whole universe has to pay?? That's right up there with wrestler Rikishi's contrived heel turn in the WWF in terms of unconvincing weakness.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I admit, it was a lame twist, but I don't actually mind that Aya turned heel herself as much as I have a problem with the way it happened. Razor being an ass and saying that he doesn't love her causing her to turn evil was incredibly idiotic. I feel like the writers could have come up with a much more convincing way to have her turn evil, and they still could have had all of the drama elements of having Razor conflicted with having to put her down. That said, she did actually work quite well as a villain, and I'm OK with her having been the final big threat of the series.