Superman TAS

Screen Shots

Synopsis

Kyle Rayner is a frustrated comic book artist working as a illustrator for the Metropolis Daily Planet. Only his friend and colleague, Planet Photographer Jimmy Olsen, seems to appreciate his comic book work. Jimmy is trying to brighten Kyle’s spirits after another round of rejections when a thug snatches Jimmy’s camera off of the cafe table. Kyle is quick to react and snatches Jimmy’s camera back using his old high school quarterback skills before disarming the thug and knocking him to the floor. While Kyle has been playing hero for Jimmy an out of control alien capsule is hurtling towards the Earth. It accidentally clips a four-person NASA shuttle craft. Jimmy’s other heroic friend, Superman, in his alter ego a Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, had been watching the shuttle’s progress on television and rushes to their aid. He stabilities their descent and guides them to their rendezvous with a US air craft carrier.

While Superman has been saving the shuttle the capsule that had started the emergency has crashed into a remote wooded area. Its lone occupant is a dying pink skinned alien called Abin Sur, a member of the Green Lantern Corps. He commands his green power ring to seek out a worthy successor and flies into the sky. The ring zips around Metropolis seeking a worthy successor to Sur until it finds Kyle Rayner in the Daily Planet washroom. At first he thinks somebody has thrown the ring at him and surprised when it transforms his clothing into a Green Lantern costume when he puts it on. The ring responds to Kyle’s desire to restore his original clothes leaving him unsure if he imagined the entire episode.

Superman finds Abin Sur just as he dies, but his questions are still answered when Sur’s killer arrives. A red skinned alien introduces himself as Sinestro and demands that Superman hand over the Green Lantern power battery (which Sur had hidden before he passed away). Superman explains his ignorance, but Sinestro doesn’t believe him. A brief battle ensues, but Superman is little match for Sinestro’s yellow power ring. It is only after Sinestro has left that the Green Lantern power battery reveals itself.  The Guardians of the Universe, the masters of the Green Lanterns, have been aware of Superman’s existence for some unspecified time, but only now reveal themselves to him through the battery. They explain about the existence of the Corps and that Sinestro had been one of their greatest recruits until he turned to evil. They beseech Superman to help their new Green Lantern defeat Sinestro before he kills again.

Back in Metropolis Kyle has been unable to take the ring off and throughout the day the ring has randomly responded to his stray thoughts manifesting images he’s been drawing or otherwise flaring up. He takes a walk in the park to clear his head. Everything clicks into place when a small girl wanders into the path of an on coming truck. Kyle reponds instinctively becoming the Green Lantern to scoop her out of harms way. He then uses the ring to free the drive of the crashed truck and to put out a small fire. He’s pretty amazed with his new powers and the reaction he recieves from a thankful public. Kyle’s elation is cut short by the arrival of Sinestro. He forces Kyle to fight for his life in the skies above Metropolis as they match ring constructs. However, the rookie Green Lantern is ill equipped to fight his more experienced foe.

The charge on Kyle’s ring eventually runs out just as Sinestro has him at his mercy. Superman intercedes just in time to sweep Kyle away from Metropolis at super speed. In Nevada, far away from civilians, Superman explains to Kyle about his conversation with the Guardians and the origins of his new ring and opponent. It doesn’t take Sinestro long to catch up with them and Superman tries to delay long enough for Kyle to recharge his ring from the power battery. Sinestro makes short work of the Man of Steel by trapping him in a ring construct that pulls him to the centre of the Earth. The fully charged Green Lantern is left to fight Sinestro on his own. Their battle is intense and eventually leads them to a nearby airbase. Kyle manages to trick Sinestro into lowering his guard before zapping him with a giant replica of the Lantern. As Sinestro passes out his ring constructs fade and Superman is freed from his prison. Superman then destroys Sinestro ring just to be safe. Green Lantern and Superman are praised by the Guardians, but Kyle is still humble about his new found power.

Commentary

Kyle Rayner was not the original Green Lantern and this isn’t really his origin. The name Green Lantern dates back as far as the Golden Age of comics and is almost as old as Superman. However, the original Green Lantern was a blond hero called Alan Scott who owned a magic green wishing ring what could make what ever he visualised. The ring’s power only lasted for twenty-fours hours before it had to be recharged from the a magic lamp – the green lantern from which the hero took his name. As you can tell from the description the basic concept was very influenced by the magic lamp from the Arabian Nights. Scott’s original name was even going to be Alan Ladd, as in Aladdin, but there was a movie star by the same name so went with a difference surname.

Spin forward fifteen years to the late 1950s DC was rebooting each of their big superheroes and updating their mythology to fit in the era of the space race and atomic power. For Green Lantern the magic element was completely rejected and instead they went with high concept science-fiction. The Green Lantern Corps was a force of 3600 “space rangers” spread out across the entire universe. Each of them was armed with a power ring and green lantern (the battery) in the same fashion as Alan Scott, but their small lanterns were only relay beacons for the massive Central Power Battery situated on the planet Oa at the centre of the universe. The Corps was overseen by the Green Lantern’s masters – the enigmatic Guardians of the Universe. The Guardians were the classic highly evolved 1950s sci-fi god race – they evolved powerful brains at the same time that their bodies had become stunted and unused (think of the Talosians from Star Trek painted blue).

The set up of the Green Lantern corps obviously allowed for multiple Green Lanterns and there have been a string of human Lanterns. The first GLC Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, a test pilot, who assumed the mantle of the Green Lantern after the alien Abin Sur, Green Lantern of our region of space (Sector 2418), died in the line of duty. Jordan is the quintessential Green Lantern. He was the lead of the GL comic book and a founding member of the Justice League. So generally when older fans talk about Green Lantern they implicitly mean Hal. The third Green Lantern was Guy Gardner, a college quarter back who served as Jordan’s deputy for a time. When Gardner was unavailable the ring selected a fourth Green Lantern called John Stewart to be the new deputy.  Kyle Rayner was the fifth Green Lantern and only became a Lantern after… well it was a very convoluted plot that’s been completely undone by more recent plot-lines. It is sufficient to say that the Corps had collapsed and for a time Kyle was the only remaining Green Lantern.

At the time that this cartoon was being made Kyle was lead in the Green Lantern comic book so it was rather obvious that he’d be the Green Lantern with the highest recognition and the one they should adapt. However, the Kyle we get is this cartoon is something of a mix and match of the various comic book Green Lanterns. His alter ego as an illustrator is pretty much unchanged, but the entire Abin Sur crash is lifted from Hal Jordan’s origin. Watch closely when they crash into the airbase – it’s Hal Jordan’s plane that Kyle collides with and the airbase is called Broome Lake (a reference to John Broome the 1960s GL writer). It may not be deliberate, but the line about the high school quarter back feels like a nod to Guy Gardner’s background. About the only modern Green Lantern they don’t overtly reference is John Stewart – the black Green Lantern that they chose for the Justice League series. There are a number of characters in background shots you think could have been him.

Sinestro has been part of the Green Lantern mythology pretty much since the GLC was introduced. Every hero has their opposite number, the one villain who has the identical origin or has identical powers. Well Sinestro is that villain for Green Lanterns. He was once one of them, but he overstepped the Guardian’s rules and tried to set himself up as the virtual dictator of his space sector. He was stripped of his ring and expelled from the Corps. In the comics he wasn’t responsible for Sur’s death – indeed in the more recent comics it was revealed that Sinestro was Abin Sur’s best friend in the Corps and that he didn’t go rogue until after Sur was dead. Nevertheless there is a certain Sinestro swagger that translate rather nicely to the animated screen Maybe its the trademark villain mustache, but their is just something timeless about Sinestro. While Kyle doesn’t make the transition to the Justice League Sinestro and voice artist Ted Levine with does make the transition and even guest stars in Static Shock.

If you think you recognise the voice of the one of the Guardians that’s because you probably do. Guardian #1 was voiced by legendary TV actor Peter Mark Richman. You may not know his name, but you’ll recognise his face instantly as he’s guest starred in pretty much every TV series made during the 1960s and 1970s.

Great Moments

Where to begin, this episode if filled with great moments. The Green Lantern Oath, Kyle’s speech to the Guardians, the appearance of Sinestro. They’re all brilliant.

Oddities

Count the number of ring constructs that Kyle and Sinestro use of the course of this episode, this single episode, compared to the rather conservative John Stewart in the first season of Justice League.

My Thoughts

This is a fantastic episode. Easily one of the best of Superman: The Animated Series. Time and again while watching this episode I was reminded of Superman: The Movie. It has the same deft balance between seriousness and humour and even apes the format of the superhero origin. It could have been a real mess given the number of new concepts that are introduced (the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians of the Universe and Sinestro), but the script never looses the viewer or the pace to unnecessary exposition. After just watching Justice League: Secret Origin the animation on Superman: The Animated Series appears so different. It almost feels like its from a different age entirely. The music is also so much better. Generally when I write these reviews I watch an episode through once normally and then go back through it more slowly to make notes and to take screen grabs. However, this time around I keep forgetting to slow down – the episode is too good at keeping my attention.

5.0