Green Lantern Ep. 1 “Beware My Power” Review
Long time DC Animated producer Bruce Timm makes his return to television with Green Lantern: The Animated Series, from Cartoon Network! How does it fare? Take a look and find out!
S1: Episode 1: Beware My Power
Well, the series starts off with a bang, as a Lantern attempts to save a broke down space ship, and is murdered by two Red Lantern’s. On earth, Hal ejects from a Ferris jet and saves a train from falling into a cavern. Hal & Carol then have a classic exchange, and Hal’s ring prompts him into action. Hal goes to Oa, is questioned by The Guardians over a recent mission, then learns that Lantern’s on the edge of Guardian jurisdiction are being killed. Ganthet shows Hal & Kilowog a prototype ship that travels at incredible speeds, which they steal and use to head to frontier space.
They encounter a Lantern being attacked by the same Red Lanterns, who they save and Hal blasts the RL’s into space. After traveling to the rescued Lantern’s home planet, Atrocitus makes his first appearance and gives a crash-course on the Red Lantern’s for all the little kiddies watching. Turns out a probe that Hal & co. had encountered planted a tracking device on their ship, and Atrocitus begins his pursuit. Atrocitus plants a huge bomb on the planet, and Hal decides to take the fight to the Red Lantern’s. Hal fights with Atrocitus while the rescued Lantern & Kilowog try to disarm the bomb.
One of the Red Lanterns’, Razer, attacks them, but eventually leaves the fight. The bomb goes off while Hal chases Atrocitus, and the whole planet is destroyed. However, Kilowog had saved all the natives and Aya, their ship, also survived, while the rescued Lantern sacrificed himself so Kilowog could save his people. Hal takes them to a new planet, and him and Kilowog go off on a mission to find and stop the Red Lantern’s, and we’re forced to wait until the spring to see the rest of the story unfold.
Overall this was a pretty good start for the show. As is common with shows directed at kids, many of the Corps’ concepts were simplified, and the Red Lantern’s savageness was toned down. There were some really cool moments in the show, mainly due to the dynamic between Hal & Kilowog. All the characters were established well, and we got a good sense of what drives them, especially Hal. Kilowog was extremely well-characterized, although I don’t remember hearing him say “poozer” at all which is a major fail.
The Corps dynamic is represented better than it’s ever been shown out of comics, even better than the recent Green Lantern film showed it. It reminded me a lot of the tone in Green Lantern Corps, which is a major plus for the show. Hal was characterized really well, as if his Silver Age, Bronze Age and modern day personalities were all rolled into one. My only complaint about Hal is that we don’t see much of his recklessness, although we do get glimpses of it.
The animation for the show is pure CGI, and for the most part it’s beautiful. At times it seems to lack detail, and every once in a while Hal’s body looks odd, but there weren’t any moments where I was shocked by bad CGI. The sound effects of the ring making constructs and shooting blasts are straight out of Justice League and the Green Lantern animated movies, but it fits for the most part.
There were some great character moments, from Hal, Kilowog, Ganthet, Appa Ali Apsa, and the rescued Lantern Shyir. Kurtwood smith was excellent as Shyir, and Kevin Michael Richardson does Kilowog major justice. Josh Keaton did well as Hal, but every once in a while his voice couldn’t help but remind me of The Spectacular Spider-Man. He had the character down to a tee, but sometimes he sounds a little off. Overall though, this was a great intro to the rest of the series, and I’m sure kids who were interested enjoyed it. I’m really excited for the rest of the series, and I can’t wait till Larfleeze shows up. I just hope Sinestro shows up sooner rather than later, because he’s a great villain and I’d love to see how he’s presented.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Characterization, overall good CG, voice over work was on point, and there were some really good character moments. A bit different than the comics, but that’s expected. | Hal sounds off every once and a while, Kilowog didn’t say poozer, and Hal’s body looks weird at times. |
| Rating |
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3 Comments
This seemed a little too rooted in the DCNU for me. Opening episode of a cartoon, theoretically for kids to enjoy, and we see two deaths and a planet destroyed?
I’m not a major fan of the Technicolor Lantern Corps and it seems that both, we’re not going to be seeing Earth (makes guest stars by other DC heroes unlikely) and that the Reds are going to be a major focus here.
Oh, and the train was saved from falling into a canyon. A cavern is a cave. ;)
I found the show quite stupid, tbh. I won’t be tuning in again. Atrocitus looks and acts like an idiot, and the concept for the storyline, atm, is pretty lame. Only good part of the show, imo, was Apa Ali Apsa basically being told to shut up.
My most major problem with the show, which I get the reason for most of the changes, was Hal himself. I kinda don’t understand his motivation. He chases after Red Lanterns while a good lantern sacrifices himself. I kinda think Hal would have figured out a way so this poor, lightly trained Lantern to live and would certainly NOT have tried to make his daughter feel better by saying “your dad was somethin’ else little one. Good life without him!” The main problem with both this episode and the movie was Hal being more like Tony Stark than Hal Jordan. I’m relatively interested in what’s to come on the show, but I’m not hopeful that Hal will be anything other than a mostly unlikable hot head.