Monsters of Television

“I won’t lounge here in luxury while evil triumphs!”

I’m still not likely to return to routinely writing about Green Lantern: The Animated Series when its second season starts, but it’s nice to go out on a high note.

“Homecoming” manages to achieve a very nice balance of its plots, both to this specific episode and paying off the season-long Red Lantern threat. It has solid action, some decent humor, and seems to indicate, at least I hope, that the next season may be a little more Earth-bound (though I doubt it).

I’d actually go so far as to say that it is likely the best episode the series has released. Read more »

“I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if we get out of here.”

As predicted, the Maelstrom and Lighthouse provided with some attractive looking set-pieces in a perfectly acceptable action-heavy episode (with some pleasant cutaways to Saint Walker beginning his journey). But as we close in on the end of the first season (the next episode is the season finale), I think I’m about done writing about Green Lantern: The Animated Series.

I know I should probably be announcing that next week (and the finale will be covered, of course), but since this episode is pretty much what the show does well at this point (slick looking action sequences with solid Razer one-liners), I don’t see much reason to hold back on that. I’ll likely continue to watch the show beyond the first season finale, but not sure it’ll be back on the blog unless there’s a particularly compelling (negatively or positively) episode. Read more »

“You look like a warrior with all that scar tissue on your face. Or were you born that way?“

…Wait, what? But then, how did they…? I don’t understand. …Why is there…WHAT?

“Flight Club” is a good episode. There’s solid fight sequences, good dialog, and we’re keeping up with the Red Lantern fleet storyline. Sure, the episode kicks Razer and Aya to the side to make room for Hawkmen and Goggin doing ink farts (I was fine with the Hawkmen, less fine with the ink farts), but they get to come back at the end for a couple of a nice moments.

But, guys, please tell me, WHERE THE HELL DID THIS MAELSTROM/THE LIGHTHOUSE THING COME FROM?!

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“I disagree strongly with your moral calculus.”

As we move into the finale (only 13 episodes per season here it seems), things seem to be ramping up. I don’t want to suggest that the show has been spinning its wheels, but only that the show’s forward momentum hasn’t been terribly quick. Most of the show’s legitimately strong episodes have been connected the Red Lanterns in some way, showing the series may be more suited to heavier serialization than dabbling in the mix of episodic and serialized storytelling (which, really, is a much harder feat to pull off than doing only one or the other).

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“I’d enjoy aligning myself with you, Hal Jordan.”

I was not exactly thrilled when I read the description for “In Love and War,” and the episode lived up to the concerns. Which, I suppose, is better than being worse than I expected. If anything, the fact that I had a pretty good gut feeling about how the episode would play out is perhaps an indication of not only the show’s consistency but also that the show may not have many surprises in it (and say that, and I am still interested to see what happens in the next episode).

The fact is that I didn’t think that “In Love and War” had earned Carol becoming a Star Sapphire before I saw the episode, and I was pretty much correct. They did add insult to injury in how the episode concluded that particular non-story. You could argue that this was a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I like being wrong about shows. I like when they do something bold, even if I do think it’s a horrible idea. Read more »

“You look like a Norm.”

If there’s one thing to like about Green Lantern: The Animated Series, and there is more than one, it’s the gradual unrolling of the yellow power rings. The fear-inducing, power draining properties of the yellow minerals are being developed across episodes, as opposed to just appearing with Sinestro (who hasn’t been seen or mentioned). I like this slow build about a very important aspect of the Green Lantern universe.

But that’s about all the good I have to say about “Fear Itself,” which I think is a remarkably dull and predictable episode. While I’ve been talking about how Green Lantern recycles tired and true plots of broader science fiction stories (and this one is no different), “Fear Itself” does little to alter the general scope of the “partners on different sides of misunderstood rival factions”, leaving it dead in the water. Read more »

“Ah, a lost son has returned to me.”

When I read the episode description, I was a bit worried it was too early for this particular story to play out. No one’s really been recruited (meaning no one’s officially joined the team before our original members), we haven’t checked in with the Guardians at all, and there hasn’t been much in the way of headway in the investigation in locating the Red Lanterns’ base.

That being said, the episode still works really well as a sort of conclusion for this section of the story, particularly for Razer. And it also supplies the next big concern in regards to this massive fleet that Atrocitus has waiting in the wings. A really massive fleet. Read more »

“Do you have a problem with you?”

And so we continue with a “Hasn’t this been done before?” approach to narrative on Green Lantern. I’m not saying this as a knock since this approach, like I said last week, can work just fine and help us think through our characters. Like the crime procedural and its formula, using tired-and-true story formats (in this episode an isolated planet with a group of not what they seem survivors), the pleasure comes from both knowing the narrative arc (though your mileage may vary on this point) and seeing how our characters interact in and with it. Read more »

“Yes, we’ll have a nice clear plummet into the pinhole.”

“For future reference, when in my physical form, I prefer not to be pushed into the dirt.”

Apologies for no review last week. Nick didn’t have time to get to it, but I’m glad he managed to tackle last week’s Young Justice for me. As a result, this will be a 2-for-1 post, with thoughts on both “Into the Abyss” and “Heir Apparent.” (Sadly, I have nothing to offer about the DC Nation Short that aired with “Into the Abyss” since I cannot seem to find them online.)

Of the two, “Into the Abyss” is a snappier, more engaging episode than the paint-by-numbers predictability (and lousy action beats) of “Heir Apparent.” Both trade in space opera plots — ship stuck in a black hole and engaging in gladiatorial/knightly combat for the sake of a princess — and that makes it difficult to keep those ideas fresh and interesting for a season viewer.

But seasoned viewer doesn’t necessarily mean me. How often have these two plots been recycled in other shows? Ben 10 or Star Wars: The Clone Wars, for instance? Those are two other space-based shows that I imagine have (or will at some point) do plots rather similar to both of these here with Green Lantern. Did a kid, while watching either of these episodes, say, “Man. They totally copied Ben 10!”

I wonder. Read more »

“It just means I have more people to hate.”

“Razer’s Edge” isn’t so much a fresh new episode as it the epilogue to the 2-parter that the show premiered with. We get Razer’s backstory, and Aya is given something to do besides steer the ship. It’s actually not a bad epilogue, but I’m eager to see where the show intends to go from here, now that we’ve established the team (a team without, thankfully, Goggin, or whatever that one-eyed mynock was named).

It’s another episode, like part 2 of “Beware My Power” that says more the show’s potential than it does about the show itself. But like that episode, there are promising signs of a good show here. Read more »