Green Lantern: The Animated Series

The new Green Lantern: The Animated series, brought to life by uberscribe Bruce Timm, definitely has the goods.

It has good writing, a decent premise and animation, great voice acting and good character portrayal.

The show's CGI animation is actually not that bad, it grew on me. Hal Jordan's character seems a bit off here, to be honest. Instead of being stiff and serious, he's pretty much a space cowboy. It does feel a bit off, but I'm getting used to it.

All in all, the show has great writing and a strong premise. I really enjoy the show and will be glad to see it run at the very least a couple more seasons.

So much better than the mediocre at best movie anyhow. While not one of my favourite animated shows, I found Green Lantern: The Animated Series very interesting. I didn't think the animation was that bad actually, it is simplistic of course but with the fluid colours and backgrounds they do have a slickness too. The only disappointment for me in this regard was the rather goofy character design of Zox. The music is very cool in its intro and is atmospherically haunting in the background scoring. The writing is superb, it is humorous and in a subtle way, intelligent and also has some thought-provoking depth. The premise showed some great promise, and it is more than lived up to in the exciting and very well-written story lines. The characters at least do engage, Hal Jordan does take some getting used to and the guardians' rather petty personalities may also leave some people cold, but the villains(while not on the same level as Sinestro) are fun and I like Ganphet, definitely the most likable of the guardians to me. The voice acting is brooding and dynamic in equal measure. In conclusion, I do love this show, it is not perfect but the potential was there and it has met that potential and I do hope it continues to do so. 9/10 Bethany Cox

My first experience with this series was catching the occasional episode on free-to-air TV, and it honestly struck me as kind of stupid. But tempted by the art design, I sat and watched the series consistently and got hooked.

Off in the Frontier Zone, someone is killing Green Lanterns. Hal Jordan, Earth's Green Lantern, and his colleague Kilowog discover the Red Lantern threat and are tasked by the Guardians of Oa with gathering intelligence. On their ship the Interceptor, run by an AI (dubbed "Aya" by Hal), they start their return to Oa, meetings friends and foes along the way. But the Guardians have not told them everything ...

I love the art design and music for this series, but it's the characters that kept me watching. Hal, the maverick pilot who is always ready to accept people and give them a chance; Kilowog, gruff and by-the-book, but noble at heart; Aya, a genuine personality who develops a mind of her own; and Razer, a Red Lantern who makes the journey from despair to hope. The voice actors are well cast and genuinely good, able to make moments of drama or comic relief equally believable.

The story arc for each half of the series is broken up by some standalone stories, but many elements that seemed to be over and done with are brought together in later episodes. While the overarching plot is gripping, some of the episodes along the way are less strong as you might expect in a series. There are quite a few clichés and plot holes, it's true, but for me they are well and truly outweighed by the strengths of this series. One thing that particularly struck me with the scriptwriting was the adult approach taken. Strong emotions are in play here, sometimes justified, sometimes not; and while there are times when the characters make good decisions, at others times they don't. It's refreshing, and realistic, too, to see characters struggling with situations where there are no easy answers. You don't have to be a Green Lantern fan to enjoy this, as the scriptwriters did a good job of making the core concepts of the Guardians-Green Lanterns easy to pick up.

If there is a message from this series, it is that hope is never wasted; anger has its value; and love and friendship matter most of all. I'm not a Green Lantern follower, so I can't say whether this is a good addition to the history/concept or not. What I can say is that I love this particular version and I am genuinely gutted that no more episodes will be made.

This is a review for episodes 1-13, as it is one complete story arc.

Easy to contrast this against a horrible feature film and say it's good. But this 1st series stands alone as good Green Lantern canon on it's own. I like that the authors assumed we know that Hal Jordan was chosen and how he became a Green Lantern. Also like the realization of Oa and the Guardians. Art direction is top notch. Writing is even better. Excellent story obviously made by fans of Green Lantern Corps. Even with the cartoony style, it packs a lot more action, drama, and humor than the lame live action movie. (granted I know you have a better opportunity to develop characters in a series than you do in film).

All in all I compare this to the Green Lantern Corps comic book for it's scope and breadth. Top notch entertainment that doesn't insult your intelligence. Would like to have seen how this would do in a prime time slot on a major network. Bet it would crush stupid reality TV. People would remember..."Oh yeah, storytelling rocks!"

Also, this series encapsulates the true character of Hal Jordan. He's a cocky test pilot. I mean have you ever met a test pilot or even a fighter pilot? Very similar to the way Hal Jordan is portrayed here.

Another thing this series does well, is show the capabilities and limitations of the power rings. Very well done and spot on, the way it's portrayed in the comics.

Not to beat a dead horse, but the recent film got it wrong on even the characterization of Hal Jordan. Ryan Reynolds comes off as a smart ass. And while this is part of a test pilot's persona, it isn't the defining factor as it is with the way Reynolds played him. I suppose I can even go so far to say Reynolds was completely the wrong actor for the film. Hal Jordan in the comic book, is mid 40's early 50's, as he's retired Air Force and now a test pilot. Should have cast someone with the silver fox sides like the way Hal Jordan was drawn in the comic books.

That's my only gripe about this animated series. I suppose they expected the target audience to be 18 and under. So maybe a greying super hero was out of the question.

++++UPDATE+++ Recently finished watching episodes 14-26. It's even more engaging. Still blows my mind with the amount of money that gets put into live action film and promotions for "blockbuster" movies, that no super hero film I've seen comes close to this. It's that good. Once again, when a super hero comic is obviously written by comic book fans, and not your garden variety Hollywood ego-maniacs, (granted I'm assuming the creators of this series live and work in LA), you get a better story.

Ignore any negative reviews you come across, this show is dead good. In fact it seems to completely make up for the disappointment that was the Martian Campbell steered flick that had Ryan Reynolds donning the green suit and ring before eventually fighting a giant evil black bag of literally bones with a head that could be mistaken for radiating sick if not examined closely.

Unlike the Movie, This show is much better constructed. It's overall plot and premise isn't too heavily loyal to the original comics and while it does include a bunch of the old stuff from the source material, It also provides new elements and a different continuity and plot allowing it to attract old fans and bring in newer ones who are unfamiliar with Green Lantern.

The animation is simplistic yet slick and cool-looking with some great special effects that range from flying spacecraft to bright Green/Red Lantern constructs created from either Willpower or anger. The humour and drama of the sneak-peak which aired on Catoon Network is balanced out nicely. It is also the first part of a two-parter Which I will guarantee will leave you wanting to know more about some of the story threads introduced in that premiere.

So overall I'm asking you to give the show a chance even if you didn't like the recent Green Lantern movie (although I admit it wasn't that bad). Don't be put off by a bunch of the negative comments on this page. The Users who put those down probably had their expectations too high or they probably arn't into this sort of stuff. I'm into it. You probably will be too.