Movies / Animé and Toons

Green Lantern The Animated Series Season 1 Volume 1 Review

By Hervé St-Louis
August 19, 2012 - 14:30

Following the 2011 blockbuster Green Lantern, Warner Brothers Animation produced a new 3D animated series for the new DC Nation television block on Cartoon Network about Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Kilowog lost in space on the frontiers of the universe, trying to save several worlds from a new breed of vicious Red Lanterns powered by rage. Will the two Green Lanterns stop Atrocitus and his fellow Red Lantern in their quest to destroy the Guardians of the Universe?

The animation in this series works best when it’s off world. Whenever there was a scene on Earth, it just didn’t work. There were a few brief scenes where Carol Ferris walked that just didn’t look great. Even the trees and the buildings around the Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris looked odd and plastic-like. However, the series in terms of modeling, animation and special effects took off whenever the characters were in space. I understand that textures were kept to a minimum on the characters to allow them to render faster thereby simplifying the production on this groundbreaking series for the studio. Hopefully, in season two, more textures will be added to give the characters more grounding and eliminating the soft plastic look that even plagues their skin.

The lack of textures and the sometimes unrealistic animation are my biggest complaints against this series and what took away from an incredible plotline that went much further anything ever seen in Green Lantern in comics. The story, inspired by the Rage of the Red Lanterns from Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver’s run on Green Lantern was incredible and really showed Hal Jordan’s character much better than the 2011 Green Lantern film did. Not only was Jordan cocky, he was fearless and a real leader. This is exactly the Hal Jordan that has inspired and entertained readers for so many years. Jordan is more than a hot head. He is the same man whose intuition usually saves the day against the cold mechanical minds of his bosses the Guardians. He is the same Jordan capable of leading opponents like Kilowog and Red Lantern Razer to work together.

Speaking of Kilowog, he is his usual self here and I really like how his backstory as the sole survivor of his world was mentioned and how there appears to be “compatible” people for him to be with, in the universe. The third main player of the Green Lantern cartoon is a new character called Razer which, it appears, has not been used in the comic books before. Razer is unsure of his membership with the Red Lanterns and quickly turns on them after he is rescued by the Green Lanterns and assists them on a few missions. Razer has a budding relationship with the Interceptor’s artificial intelligence called Aya, also a new addition to the Green Lantern mythos.

Highlights of this series include Carol Ferris turning into Star Sapphire in a way that made sense for the first time ever. As a representative of the power of love, Carol Ferris taught the other Star Sapphires a lot and contributed to some of the most poignant moments in the story. I really like her in this series. She is no longer a Lois Lane clone. I have to say that I did not expect this series to be so good. I was expecting something mainly kid friendly with some moral message at the end of the episode. I wasn’t expecting a series that would explore deeply what it means to be a Green Lantern and run with it so well. This series, if the animation improves, has what it takes to take on Star Wars the Animated Series and finally show to the masses why Green Lantern is such a powerful and intricate character, the same way Batman and Superman are. On the merits of this series alone, another Green Lantern film should be made.

One thing that I need to mention is that Hal Jordan’s looks were modeled after Ryan Reynolds. There is but one extra in this DVD set. It’s a few pages from the Green Lantern Animated comic book adaptation. There have been several direct to DVD Green Lantern releases in the last few years, so I guess Warner Brothers ran out of material to include on the disc! The regular Green Lantern series will pick up again soon. I can’t wait to see where they take this series in the fall.

Rating: 9.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12