Review
Green Lantern: The Animated Series Complete Series Blu-Ray
Studio: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Warner Archive Collection
Release Date: March 18, 2014
Closed Captioning: Yes
Run Time: 572 minutes
Episodes: Hunted, Secrets, Tests, Safe, Broken, Toxic, Families, Allies, Control, Sacrifice, Instinct, Attraction, and Fall (Episodes 1-13)
Synopsis: In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night! Green Lantern shines bright in DC's radiant, groundbreaking CGI animated series. The Green Lantern Corps patrols the galaxy, fighting evil. But in the farthest reaches of deep space where few Lanterns patrol, a new evil is rising - the Red Lanterns! Hal Jordan and fellow Lantern Kilowog defy The Guardians of the Universe and board a new experimental spacecraft, the Interceptor, and race to the Guardian Frontier to face the evil Red Lanterns head-on! But a menace lurks beyond the Red Lantern invasion and Hal, Kilowog and fellow Green Lanterns Tomar-Re and Aya discover an even greater evil that threatens to extinguish all life. It's an interstellar race to destroy the mechanical Manhunters, aid Saint Walker and his Blue Lanterns and stop the planet-eating Anti-Monitor! Pick up this exciting double-disc complete series set to see if Green Lantern's light can defeat these powerful new enemies! If not, the universe will fall into darkness!
Green Lantern: The Animated Series... wait, Green Lantern: The Animated Series?! I remember when the news first came, I couldn't believe it. Someone surely spread another rumor online! But could it be true. Could 13 years of wishing and pining be over? Ever since I first saw an artist named Kyle Rayner become a Green Lantern in an episode of Superman: The Animated Series, I wanted a Green Lantern spin-off. While the Green Lanterns were well-represented in the years to come, in animation, the mythos explored was just a small fraction of a universe of continuity. Then came the press release and my dream had finally come true. As always, reception online was lukewarm. Not many wanted a CG animated series, a DC show set in space sounded like sacrilege, Hal Jordan and Kilowog stuck with two original characters - how could that work?, and no Sinestro left nerds up in arms figuratively.
A community of differing opinions should be treasured but sometimes you have to just watch and decide for yourself! Another in a growing line of shows taken too soon, fans can enjoy all 26 episodes of Green Lantern: The Animated Series for time immemorial in stunning Blu-Ray. The perfect cast of actors, the versatile writing, the unexpected impact of every episode, the amazing soundtrack - a mix of epic orchestral and haunting beats done with a combination of the electric violin, cello, and several wind instruments, breaking new ground in DC Comics animation, the small but larger than life group of characters, imaginative designs, fisticuffs, the dichotomy of willpower and hope, and
Hal Jordan is the star of Green Lantern: The Animated Series and is voiced by Josh Keaton, drawing in fans with his bravery and perchance for going off script. He is complimented with former drill sergeant Kilowog, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Richardson animates Kilowog with gruff and stern. Both instill the classic buddy cop formula - grizzled veteran and reckless poozer - er - partner. Initially the only character from Earth, Hal is the lynchpin and voice for viewers as the show takes them to the fringes of outer space and introduces alien civilizations. The other half of the main cast are the artificial intelligence Aya and reformed villain Razer, voiced by Grey DeLisle and Jason Spisak respectively. Even though this show's got 'Green Lantern' in the title and we're led to believe Hal is the main character, in the fullness of the series, Aya and Razer stole the spotlight. Their growth and their relationship turns out to be one of the most important storylines. This space-opera comes full circle in the final episode but leaves the door open for many more adventures, more answers, more questions and more Lantern Corps.
The Completed Animated Series is offered by the Warner Archive Collection arm of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. While the 2 disc Blu-Ray set lacks bonus content, this show was hands down made for the high definition format. The audio and video quality is awe inspiring. CG and Blu-Ray are a marriage made in Heaven! The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is equally divine. It's more than enough to outweigh the lack of special features. A commentary track with the cast and crew would have been enough. The only real gripe I have is the subtitle track is ripe with a lot of misspellings. Granted the show has a LOT of alien names to go around, previous releases in the DC animation line haven't had this problem.
Warner Archive has rewarded fans with a beautiful Blu-Ray set for a perfect but underrated character driven show. Green Lantern: The Animated Series is will get your blood rushing, it will make you laugh, it will leave you speechless, it will throw your emotions into a blender and wreck havoc but there's no other experience like it. Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama - it's all there. You won't regret it. Green Lantern: The Complete Animated Series on Blu-Ray. Welcome to the Corps.