Lots of thoughts on Green Lantern: The Animated Series

Spent the better part of yesterday watching Green Lantern: The Animated Series and I don't even care. Well actually I do, it was pretty good! Especially for a show that 1) I have never heard of, and 2) my Green Lantern fan buddy had never heard of.

I was hooked about two minutes in, when Carol Ferris shows up and as soon as she starts yelling it's "OH MY GOD SHEPARD! /ladyboner" and that excitement carried me through the "meh, Hal Jordan" feeling that lasted until the appearance of the character who is arguably the real hero, Razer (did this guy even exist before the show? I don't care.)

The reason I sat down to watch in the first place? Not Jennifer Hale, I didn't even know she was there: my tumblr dashboard was exploding with love for a pairing that is essentially red lantern/spaceship, and you know that'll pique my interest.

Partly because: red lanterns? In a kid's show? The red lanterns famous for spewing magical angry!blood from their mouths at all times? Those guys? Okay maybe someone out there knows them as the lanterns of anger, but I mostly remember them as the lanterns that puke floating blood of rage or whatever, because it makes me squeamish just to look at them. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. It's kind of unforgettable.

Yes, those lanterns. Except this time around there is no blood vomit. Which, you know, improves things by quite a lot, and I am less distracted from what's going on. They are just very ANGRY and have FEELINGS ABOUT STUFF which as expected does not exactly lead to a cohesive fighting force-- at least in the case of our team member Razer. There's a story about a crusade that is actually not terribly unbelievable/eyerolly as many Green Lantern stories tend to be (I don't remember what the red lantern plot was from the main continuity/Blackest Night/Milligan's run, really, because blood puke), even for people who are opposed to rainbow lantern shenanigans. I forgive rainbow lantern shenanigans for dumping a red lantern on the main team-- a team which, by the way, is Hal Jordan and Kilowog. Kilowog! A show all about Kilowog!

Also Bleez is back, but she doesn't look like a pornstar anymore (seriously comics, she's actually covered up and you still draw her in a ton of disempowered, sexy poses?) which bonus points, but her wings are not as cool either. There is also no weirdo tension between her and Atrocitus, she is just a commander-type. It's a damn shame the cartoons are so much better on the misogyny front than comics, but good too I guess, 'cause kids. No sign of Dex-Starr, and trust me, I looked for the angry kitty lantern.

Anyway. So the team is Kilowog (Kilowog!), the ship's navigation AI (Aya), Hal Jordan, and the red lantern they picked up, Razer. While Hal Jordan is... Hal Jordan, the show is more of an ensemble cast giving a lot of time to each of the characters, but Razer and Aya are the only ones with an appreciable story arc (because Hal Jordan doesn't change, it's in the rules, and there is no improving Kilowog). Okay, I'll stop ragging on Hal for a second: this is maybe my favorite incarnation of him, where he is at his most inoffensive. He's actually clever and witty, and since it's a kid's show the weirdness that occasionally shows up between him and Carol is kept to a minimum. So he's still dumb in a Hal way, but not face-palmingly so, and the brains show up when necessary. He's still my least favorite GL ("my" Lantern is Jon Stewart since Justice League introduced me to the universe, but I'm also fond of Kyle) but a lot is forgiven for bringing Jennifer Hale back into my life.

Most of the plot is pinned on Razer being Razer, since he connects the team to the red lantern story, and he's the perfect counterpoint to Hal and Kilowog being... them by being grumpy (you can kind of feel the show giving up on who's the main character because toward the middle of the season, Razer's the one that does "previously, on Green Lantern.") He's just the secret-softy antihero that I love, and I think lots of people love too, though he's less terrible than a lot of other lovable jerks. Aya is mostly the earnest straight man, which means the Razer/Aya pairing is ridiculously adorable even in the show, and the stuff on my dash was pretty amazing to begin with.

But mostly... oh my god you guys! There is a red lantern on the main team! I never even realized how much I wanted this until I saw it! It is so great to look at the main cast and see a mortal enemy in the mix! And sure, Hal is the "hero" because he's Hal, but Razer gets all the hero points because Hal is Hal and the only way to make me care about Hal is to team him up with Carol and that destroys the dynamic DC wants between them.

The mythos is simplified-- a lot-- which is to the show's credit, and it helps the rainbow shenanigans feel less shenanigan-y, because there's a lot of cartoon-philosophy about emotions and the nature of rage ("the orphan child of fear and despair," that's heavy, Cartoon Network) and hope (you can spot the blue lantern from a mile away-- or, if you're on tumblr, you know who it is before you even watch, but he doesn't appear as a blue lantern until the last few episodes so don't be expecting blue lantern magic early on). This isn't without its problems, namely the star sapphires, who are taught the "true" meaning of love by Carol (and they later credit Hal with the knowledge, except Hal stood there dumbly while Carol explained things, so what gives?) It's a shame because I kind of liked their approach to love/domesticity, though it made me grit my teeth because it was all about women taming the aggression out of men with their lady wiles.

But it gave me Jennifer Hale yelling a lot as a star sapphire so... points?

Also their costumes are not great but they're very 50s inspired (especially Carol's) and far better designed than in the comics (for your comparison: comic book Carol Ferris vs. animated series Carol Ferris). But the few female GLs we see are fully clothed! Granted I can only think of one off the top of my head. Aside from the star sapphires, this is not a show that passes the Bechdel test.

It's still a girl friendly-ish show because the women are competent, but I'm not sure that's a problem so much anymore, as opposed to actually casting enough women to make a believable population (because this show has maybe 1 woman per 20 dudes if we count all the mooks, which means no species would be able to maintain its numbers ever and the entire universe is going to go extinct from lack of uteri).

Still! It's a good show. DC makes much better cartoons than comics, and this is no exception.

Also there is a lot to be forgiven for bringing space opera back into my life. I didn't realize how much I missed it until there was a black hole episode, complete with ridiculous non-science. I am tired of sci-fi that's all "we will never travel at the speed of light and really things are too far apart to travel to so it's unbelievable and not sci-fi." Shut up! Sci-fi encompasses fantasy in space, and you killjoys will let me enjoy it in peace.