Warner Archive Collection

Green Lantern: The Animated Series Blu-ray Review

To Boldly Go Where No Power Ring Has Gone Before

Reviewed by Michael Reuben, April 4, 2014

When the Warner Archive Collection ("WAC") first announced its move into Blu-ray, no one expected it would prove such a boon to fans of DC Comics animation series. To date, though, WAC has issued three of those shows from its Cartoon Network "DC Nation" block: the first season of Batman: The Brave and the Bold ; the first part of season one of Beware the Batman: Shadows of Gotham ; and most recently the complete Green Lantern: The Animated Series. In many respects, Green Lantern is the most intriguing of the three. Though well received by DC fans, it was canceled after only a season, in large part due to the poor performance of the feature film starring Ryan Reynolds. TV series canceled early typically don't get Blu-ray releases unless they develop a fanatical cult following (e.g., Firefly ), which Green Lantern never had the opportunity to do. If you look at WAC's DVD program, however, the release of TV on Blu-ray is true to form. On DVD, WAC has issued not only hard-to-find movies, but also extensive TV fare that would not sell enough copies to justify the expense of creating extras, a full-scale pressing and major distribution. Through the "made on demand" (a/k/a "MOD") model, WAC has nevertheless made these shows available. WAC's Blu-ray program has been slow at getting off the ground, and fans have been vocal in their disappointment. Then again, WAC cannot do with Blu-ray what it has often done on DVD, which is to release an old master with the disclaimer that the material is presented "as is", without restoration. Blu-ray is too exacting a medium, and its purchasers too unforgiving an audience, to tolerate such an approach. Suitable source material has to be located and appropriate restoration performedall of which only adds to the appeal of recent animation series for WAC's TV releases, especially a show like Green Lantern, which was the first Warner/DC series to be entirely computer-generated.Green Lantern ran on the Cartoon Network from November 11, 2011 through March 16, 2013, with several breaks, including the entire summer of 2012. Individual episodes ran half an hour (with commercials and a recap of previous highlights), although the premiere featured an hour-long pilot that, on the disc, is divided into parts 1 and 2. While the series is described as a single season, in fact the 26 episodes divide neatly into two sets of 13, each of which sustains a separate continuing story. The inspiration of series creator Brian Timm was to leave the superhero origin story to the live action feature film and begin the animated series in midstream, with Green Lantern's not-so-secret identity and crime-fighting role already well- established. In fact, the animated series spends almost no time on Earth. Instead, Hal Jordan's Green Lantern (Josh Keaton) is immediately called away from his test pilot job and his long-suffering girlfriend, Carol Ferris (Jennifer Hale), to combat an intergalactic threat. Within a few episodes, he has become the captain of a warp-capable spaceship known as "the Interceptor", with a configuration distinctly reminiscent of the U.S.S. Enterprise (though much smaller), and a tiny crew whose trans-species diversity will seem familiar to even the most casual Star Trek fan. Kiliwog, another Green Lantern, has a drill sergeant's demeanor, which is appropriate, since, when he isn't gallivanting around the universe with Hal, he trains new Green Lantern recruits for the Guardians of the Galaxy, the strangely imperious blue race that is the source of the Green Lanterns' powers. Often dubious about Hal's lack of respect for the chain of command, Kiliwog is nevertheless devoted to his friend and captain. The same cannot be said for Razer (Jason Spisak), a former Red Lantern (more about them in a moment), who reluctantly joins Hal Jordan's crew but persistently questions every decision Hal makes. The fourth member of the crew is Aya (Grey DeLisle), which is how Hal pronounces the "A.I." that stands for "artificial intelligence". Initially a disembodied voice that speaks to the crew from the Interceptor's console, Aya was designed by the Guardians to control the ship's warp capabilities, but she soon develops far greater capabilities, including the freedom to interact with the physical world in a robot body she constructs for herself. Like the android Data and the reclaimed Borg, Seven of Nine, on Star Trek: Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager, respectively, Aya is constantly curious about what it means to be human. And also like those characters, her exploration of the issue takes many unexpected turns. In the first 13 episodes, the Interceptor's crew ventures to the outer reaches of the galaxy to repel an invasion from a race of Red Lanterns led by the vicious Atrocitus (Jonathan Adams), aided by his servile lieutenant Zox (Tom Kenny). Like the Green Lanterns, the Red Lanterns wear rings that allow them to wield enormous power, but their energy derives from hate and a thirst for vengeance. Their reason for invading Guardian space relates to a buried chapter of history about which the Guardians do not speak and which is only gradually revealed. Razer begins the season as a protégé of Atrocitus, but his alienation from the Red Lantern causeand his adoption as an ally by Hal Jordanis a major subplot. (Any resemblance between the power of the Red Lanterns and the Dark Side of the Force is purely coincidental.) In the second group of 13 episodes, the galaxy is threatened by an apparently unstoppable robot known as the Anti-Monitor (also voiced by Tom Kenny), which is capable of converting anything and everything into anti-matter, on which it then feeds. The Anti-Monitor also commands an army of robots called Manhunters, which it deploys for various purposes. Over the course of several encounters with the Anti-Monitor, secrets are revealed, shocking alliances occur and terrible choices must be made. Naturally, the fate of all life hangs in the balance. The advantage of the non-terrestrial format is that it allows the writers to create episodes with an almost standalone feel, as Jordan and the crew engage in space exploration. The beings they encounter may ultimately figure into the larger storyline (e.g., the Star Sapphires of Zamaron, whose rings are powered by love), or they may simply be a one-off encounter, such as Larfleeze (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), a member of the mythical Orange Lanterns, in whose character fans of a certain trilogy about rings will recognize an obvious precursor. But the freedom to veer off from the main story line for a side trip to some unexplored planet provides flexibility in plotting the larger story arcs, and the script writers make the most of it. The voice talent is first-rate, nimbly switching from light-hearted to heroic to serious and even tragic, as the moment requires. The CG animation, while obviously not as sophisticated or elaborate as the best that Pixar has to offer, smoothly captures the sensation of flight, the vastness of space and, perhaps most important, the giant scale of the battles between the various types of Lanterns, whose range is expanded through the use of the "constructs" their rings create: huge hammers, giants fists, massive bats (a favorite of Hal Jordan), enormous machine guns. Like good comic book art, the figures are simplified to their essentials, but by focusing on essentials, the artists have magnified what's important.