Green Lantern Animated Series

[Midnite]

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Green Lantern: The Animated Series is set to premiere November 2011 on Cartoon Network. The image also confirms the series will be a CGI-animated series. In addition to an animated series, a new as-of-yet untitled Green Lantern direct-to-video animated feature is set to debut June 2011 from Warner Home Video. Further details on both projects are expected in the near future.

[Glitch Girl]

Well it aired this weekend...

It's not bad.  I confess I'm not a fan of Hal Jordon (he's at the bottom of my Green Lantern list) and I'm still not after viewing (though Killowog still rocks).  The writing is decent enough, which helped, though I hope it gets better as the series progresses (pilots tend to be a little rough as the writers are still getting a feel for things).  I admit little to no familiarity with Red Lanterns, so I went into this blind and can't compare with the comics.  Can't say I love the concept of the Red Lanterns, but they were clearly presented so I don't feel lost. 

Of course, the big sticking point with a lot of people, is the CG animation.  Watching it, I kept getting the feeling I was watching action figures or maquettes battling it out.  Bruce Timm's style works great in 2D, but in 3D it just feels kinda cold and lifeless, lacking a certain amount of fluidity that the drawing allows but the 3D models don't because you are dealing with a rigid body.  The animators do a good job overall - faces are expressive and character movements generally feel natural and shot direction is pretty solid - I just don't think the style works as well as it could. 

Overall, it's a decent effort, and I'm gonna stick with it a bit to see how it develops, but the art style and the main character are two hurdles that will have to be cleared before long.

[Xenolith]

I was kind of bored by it, but am pretty much on the fence.  I dont' really care about any of the characters except Hal and the Guardians.  If this is going to be an epic GL Corps series then I'll probably lose interest.  I'll check it out next week. Maybe that will shift my opinion one way or the other. 

I really liked the clay mation superheroes with kids voices.  That was great fun.

[Glitch Girl]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the shorts!

- Teen Titans, chibi style was cute.  It was mostly about belching, and I think they recast Raven's voice, but I still liked it.

-Aardaman's Batman short was also very cute, and much in the vein of their "Creature Comforts" short.  The kids' voices were very conversational mixed with the goofy visuals was very fun.

There was also an ad during the show for the whole DC Nation initiative that's coming up. Oddly enough, I spotted clips from the Batman:Imposters animated short, the Blue Beetle live action test footage (from a show I thought died in preproduction), and the Plastic Man pilot.  Also spotted the Doom Patrol in there as well.  Intriguing.

[Previsionary]

My quick thoughts on the first half of the show:

It was alright. Nothing more and nothing less. Hate the animation style for the reasons GG stated.

[Podmark]

I saw it, I liked it well enough. Curious if the rest of the show will continue to keep me interested.

Also Kurtwood Smith was in it! Yay!

[Cyber Burn]

On the fence, but I'll give the next episode a try.

[JeyNyce]

I like the GL story and characters so far, but the animation is killing it for me.  Also they kill off 2 GL in one show?  Just when I started to like a GL, bam! dead.  I hope they don't continue this trend.  Also it looks like the whole show will take place in space with Hal & Kilo as the main GL with guest GL popping up here and there.  Remember the ship (Ira) stated that it will take 9 months to repair the damage.

[Tomato]

I liked it. I agree with the general consensus that the animation is blah, but the story seems ok so far. I'm curious where they go with it more than anything though, especially since I hear there are currently no plans to introduce the greatest Green Lantern... which is very disappointing.

Just to jump on what JeyNyce was saying, was anyone else surprised by how up front the episode was with people dying? Like... speaking as someone who has always known cartoons to skirt around the subject "to protect the kids," even in shows which clearly intended that to be how it was taken, it was almost shocking to see death put forth so candidly outside of a direct-to-dvd movie.

[Previsionary]

Not surprised. Cartoon Network has been moving up in the age ranks to the point they casually say "die," "death," and "kill" in a few of their cartoons. This is recent for them as they weren't even this bold a few years ago. What did shock me was that a death happened 5 minutes into the episode.

[thalaw2]

I finally saw and I didn't have much a problem with the character animations.  However, I thought the ring effects were really blah.  Voice acting was good, but the story did more to push me away than draw me in...too many holes and a bit too illogical for me.  It was unnecessarily cowboyish in some parts.  This version of Hal seems to have no sense of responsibility whatsoever and can't make links between his actions and the effects to those around him. 

[UnkoMan]

...especially since I hear there are currently no plans to introduce the greatest Green Lantern... which is very disappointing.

You mean G'nort, right?

[Cyber Burn]

I liked it. I agree with the general consensus that the animation is blah, but the story seems ok so far. I'm curious where they go with it more than anything though, especially since I hear there are currently no plans to introduce the greatest Green Lantern... which is very disappointing.

Just to jump on what JeyNyce was saying, was anyone else surprised by how up front the episode was with people dying? Like... speaking as someone who has always known cartoons to skirt around the subject "to protect the kids," even in shows which clearly intended that to be how it was taken, it was almost shocking to see death put forth so candidly outside of a direct-to-dvd movie.

I'll agree about the death issue. I like being able to watch cartoons with my kids, having to preview them first though, is a big detractor to following them.

[Tomato]

I wouldn't say it was bad, actually... In terms of visuals and so forth, death was dealt with generally the same... it's just that they didn't try to talk down to the audience like "he's gone" or "he's gone to the HFIL" or some insanity. I appreciate it more for that, it was just weird watching it after living through decades of censorship on the subject.

All in all, I wouldn't be too worried about the whole thing as long as you're there in the room. We're not talking piles of dead bodies or anything, the deaths are off-screen and not dwelt on too much, but the show isn't really shy about saying "this person died" either.

[thalaw2]

The only problem I had with the final death parts is that it could all have been avoided if Hal wasn't such a knuckle head....either it was his real character or terrible writing. 

[BentonGrey]

So, I just caught my first mostly full episode of this, and I was...well, not exactly impressed, but at least not disappointed.  This is a solid show.  The dialog is a bit clunky in some spots, and the animation leaves a lot to be desired.  There is just no energy to anything.  The fights, though full of action, just feel weak and slow because the animation just doesn't convey any sense of kinetic impact or movement very well.  It really makes you miss the animation of JLU, whatever faults their designs may have had.  On the plus side, the actual story was pretty good.  I was pretty darn surprised when a hero died and a planet was destroyed.  That's impressive, and not just done for the shock-factor either.  This show isn't JLU, and it isn't even Young Justice, but it's not bad.

[Cyber Burn]

Still watching, my only quelm is that it doesn't yet have a re-watch factor like JL/JLU or even YJ. Those shows I could watch over and over again. GL not so much. Hopefully it will improve,

[Cyber Burn]

Still watching, my only quelm is that it doesn't yet have a re-watch factor like JL/JLU or even YJ. Those shows I could watch over and over again. GL not so much. Hopefully it will improve,

And it is improving, the last two episodes, very good.

Spoiler

Watched the Mogo episode three times, and enjoyed it each time. 

[Tomato]

Well, I've been in the majority about the "mediocre but decent" sentiment this series has received, but this last episode... wow. There's a lot going on, and I'm happy to see real development finally start to happen.

[Midnite]

Season 2

Promo 1

Promo 2

[JeyNyce]

I've only seen bits of the first season.  Season 2 looks good.

[docdelorean88]

I need to catch up on season one, because this looks like its really great quality. Id love to have seen a justice league done cgi. Even just a direct to dvd would have been neat.

[Cyber Burn]

Guy Gardner and the Manhunters??? Saturday mornings are looking up! 

[Tomato]

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Jolt17/news/?a=63945

-Anti-monitor is the villain for the "second half of season 1"? What!?!

[Midnite]

[Cyber Burn]

It looks like the first season is out on DVD. 13 episodes on 2 disks. 

[Midnite]

Cartoon Network Pre-Empts DC Nation Programming Block For Remainder Of October 2012 

[Cyber Burn]

This stinks!!!

[Tomato]

I know this is kind of thread necromancy, but... ZOMG LARFLEEZE!



I know I know, it'll probably only be a mediocre rendition of him ( GL being a mediocre series and all ) but Larfleeze is a ton of fun in the comics and I can't wait to see him brought to life in animation. I'm actually more excited for Green Lantern then YJ now, which doesn't really happen.

[BentonGrey]

Haha, I'm glad you're excited 'Mato.  I've been thinking that this show has been showing some signs of improvement over the last few season.  The animation still lacks energy, but I think the writing has gotten somewhat better.  The episode where the Lanterns couldn't understand each other was fairly clever.