News Green Lantern-Inspired Series in Works at HBO Max, From Greg Berlanti
- Thread starter Enterprise is Great
- Start date
I dunno, it's hardly the only work of SF or fantasy that assumed people were romantically eligible if they were physically mature, regardless of their chronological age. See Elizabeth in V: The Series, Kes in Star Trek: Voyager, or Liam Kincaid in Earth: Final Conflict. Or androids or synthetic characters that are treated as sexually available adults despite being only recently created, e.g. Rachael and Pris in Blade Runner, the Vision in Avengers, or the Doctor in Voyager. (Data averts this trope because he's already in his 20s at the start of TNG. Although that raises separate questions about why he's so naive if he's that old.)
I see it as a variant on the same principle that romance with humanoid aliens is acceptable and not seen as bestiality. Fantasy/SF characters are ultimately just allegories for regular humans and our feelings, choices, and relationships, so characters that look and act like adult humans are treated as adult humans regardless of their in-story origin or nature.
Although with nonhuman characters, there's a valid argument that different species mature at different rates. A cat or a dog is an adult after a year or so, a horse after about four years, etc. So it's not unreasonable that a sapient alien species might be legitimately adult at a much younger age than a human would be, and it would be ethnocentric to judge their maturity by human standards. It's an iffier question with rapid-aging human-alien hybrids like Elizabeth or Kincaid, though.
<rimshot>
Pervert? She’s legal age.
In the 1980s, After Hal Jordan turned her down, for being a child, for the "millionth" time, Arisia used her magic ring to make herself taller.
Not older: Taller.
They were dating an hour later.
A few Crisis' later and Hal Jordan did not murder half the green Lantern Corps, did not get a drunk driving conviction + jail time, and did not fornicate with a child.
He's a bad dude.
I caught the last half of Green Lantern on HBO last night.
The things I remember being wrong with it are, in fact, worse than I remembered. There are still large parts of it I liked a lot, being a GL junkie since the beginning. I like the performers, though Sarsgaard definitely got the short end of the stick.
I did not realize until the end credits last night that Hal's friend Tom was the director of Thor: Ragnarok.
Reynolds did what Reynolds does - his schtick depends on how good the material is.* That, sadly, is the long and short of Jordan's cinematic debut.
The fact that Berlanti was a writer on this one - and it's the script that's the biggest failure - does not fill me with hope for the HBO Max series. Much of what's wrong with GL here is what's wrong with the CW superhero shows, an awful lot of superficial writing that lacks subtext because the dialogue is all "this is an emotional moving, profound moment because the characters are telling one another it's an emotionally moving, profound moment. You get that, right?"
*Some actors are great enough to elevate bad writing, some can't. RDM saves a lot of what he's given in the MCU; the first Iron Man movie hangs on his performance.
The things I remember being wrong with it are, in fact, worse than I remembered. There are still large parts of it I liked a lot, being a GL junkie since the beginning. I like the performers, though Sarsgaard definitely got the short end of the stick.
I did not realize until the end credits last night that Hal's friend Tom was the director of Thor: Ragnarok.
Reynolds did what Reynolds does - his schtick depends on how good the material is.* That, sadly, is the long and short of Jordan's cinematic debut.
The fact that Berlanti was a writer on this one - and it's the script that's the biggest failure - does not fill me with hope for the HBO Max series. Much of what's wrong with GL here is what's wrong with the CW superhero shows, an awful lot of superficial writing that lacks subtext because the dialogue is all "this is an emotional moving, profound moment because the characters are telling one another it's an emotionally moving, profound moment. You get that, right?"
*Some actors are great enough to elevate bad writing, some can't. RDM saves a lot of what he's given in the MCU; the first Iron Man movie hangs on his performance.
Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim's relationship to the Green Lantern movie is the same as Joss Whedon's relationship to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie; their script was so heavily changed so as to no longer actually be theirs despite having their name(s) on it.
Yeah, no.
The WGA arbitrated screenplay credits are:
Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim
and
Michael Goldenberg ... (screenplay)
The first team receive credit for the screen story as well.
The Berlanti/Green/Guggenheim draft is available online, so you can see that what you say is wrong. All the big problems with the movie are in it, and a few more (it's got a lot more sprawl and fan service, for one thing).
The WGA arbitrated screenplay credits are:
Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim
and
Michael Goldenberg ... (screenplay)
The first team receive credit for the screen story as well.
The Berlanti/Green/Guggenheim draft is available online, so you can see that what you say is wrong. All the big problems with the movie are in it, and a few more (it's got a lot more sprawl and fan service, for one thing).
IMO, the biggest single problem with the GL film is the assumption that they were going to kick off a franchise with it, introduce Sinestro in the first film complete with origin story, and save depicting him as a villain in a yellow suit for some future installment. When I looked at the mid-credits scene with SInestro in yellow, I wasn't thinking "I can't wait for the sequel," I was thinking, "That's what this film should have been about, you numbskulls." If you're going to have a good vs evil story, it's better to have the evil guy be an actual character than a disembodied force of nature. Throw all the VFX at it that you want, but if a non-person is what the good guys are fighting, and that's what the Green Lanterns were fighting in the form of Parallax, then I just don't care.
SInestro, on the other hand, a type of fallen angel, is an interesting character. Instead of Sinestro learning about Parallax at the point in the story when he did, it could have occurred before the story actually started. When we learn that Parallax was once a Guardian, that's when Sinestro reveals that he had discovered this himself and has already forged his yellow ring. He puts the ring on and gets his yellow costume to go fight Parallax, and perhaps there are other yellow rings for Sinestro's followers. Then, the problems are compounded, and with the Corp weakened and turned against itself, we can start feeling a little fear ourselves that defeating Sinestro, his followers, and Parallax with what's left won't be so easy. That's when Jordan can shine, save Earth, and send the SInestro Corps running.
Or tell a different story altogether, but use your main villain up front.
There were other problems, too. I thought they spent way too much time on Hammond, and Waller, sadly. Baassett was a big-gun actor in an irrelevant role.
SInestro, on the other hand, a type of fallen angel, is an interesting character. Instead of Sinestro learning about Parallax at the point in the story when he did, it could have occurred before the story actually started. When we learn that Parallax was once a Guardian, that's when Sinestro reveals that he had discovered this himself and has already forged his yellow ring. He puts the ring on and gets his yellow costume to go fight Parallax, and perhaps there are other yellow rings for Sinestro's followers. Then, the problems are compounded, and with the Corp weakened and turned against itself, we can start feeling a little fear ourselves that defeating Sinestro, his followers, and Parallax with what's left won't be so easy. That's when Jordan can shine, save Earth, and send the SInestro Corps running.
Or tell a different story altogether, but use your main villain up front.
There were other problems, too. I thought they spent way too much time on Hammond, and Waller, sadly. Baassett was a big-gun actor in an irrelevant role.
Hammond as he was conceived was a definite misstep - okay, that's understating it.
If you're going to do Sinestro in the first movie, I'd just as soon see him turn sometime near the climax - that's generally better than explaining a character by filling in backstory, IMO. And it lets them tie the events and motives that create Jordan GL with those that produce Yellow Sinestro.
I mean, they put Sinestro and the creation of the yellow ring right at the climax of the movie - and then they don't use it.
The loss of Abin Sur is the turning point for Sinestro, and his disdain for Jordan is part and parcel with his disillusionment with the blue boys.
I've said before that I think they treated the details of GL continuity with too much reverence. Ferris Aircraft, for one, is as out-of-date and implausible as The Daily Planet - a company like that would be a minor subcontractor making widgets for Lockheed-Martin or its fictional equivalent (and their super would be eating their lunch
). It doesn't "smell" right, when you get to the scenes involving flight demos and the big launch party (which is presented with all the extravagance and scale of a successful accountant's daughter's wedding reception). But then instead you get nonsense like the company vice-president flying a fighter exercise alongside her test pilot, trying to rev up Carol's part in the movie at that point.
If you're going to do Sinestro in the first movie, I'd just as soon see him turn sometime near the climax - that's generally better than explaining a character by filling in backstory, IMO. And it lets them tie the events and motives that create Jordan GL with those that produce Yellow Sinestro.
I mean, they put Sinestro and the creation of the yellow ring right at the climax of the movie - and then they don't use it.
The loss of Abin Sur is the turning point for Sinestro, and his disdain for Jordan is part and parcel with his disillusionment with the blue boys.
I've said before that I think they treated the details of GL continuity with too much reverence. Ferris Aircraft, for one, is as out-of-date and implausible as The Daily Planet - a company like that would be a minor subcontractor making widgets for Lockheed-Martin or its fictional equivalent (and their super would be eating their lunch
). It doesn't "smell" right, when you get to the scenes involving flight demos and the big launch party (which is presented with all the extravagance and scale of a successful accountant's daughter's wedding reception). But then instead you get nonsense like the company vice-president flying a fighter exercise alongside her test pilot, trying to rev up Carol's part in the movie at that point.
Last edited:
I've already read that script draft, which is why I said what I said and why I stand by what I said.
For me, the first half felt epic, the 2nd half felt like TV's Crisis...
I wish we had Hal fight alongside some GL's in the final battle...but having HUMAN things like relationships (which Hal could have used to distract Hector) and creativity (creating things not like the "usual" GL created stuff) would have cemented The DCFU Hal as a hero
I wish we had Hal fight alongside some GL's in the final battle...but having HUMAN things like relationships (which Hal could have used to distract Hector) and creativity (creating things not like the "usual" GL created stuff) would have cemented The DCFU Hal as a hero
Any fans of the animated series here? I enjoyed it thoroughly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern:_The_Animated_Series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern:_The_Animated_Series
Agreed. He did not understand what the heart of the GL character was--and it was not tired movie tropes of the hero finding himself (far different than his comic origin) or predictable romance story beats.
Yes; someone is trying too hard to defend Berlanti's hack job on the script, when its typical of his writing, which was continued in many of the CW-DC series. That is no coincidence.
I adored it. Michelle and I binged it, to my surprise, at her insistence after watching a couple of episodes. I really want to know why Aya and Razer aren't regulars in the damn comics.
Anywho...one virtue that's been built into GL from the beginning has been functional gender equality within the Corps and the revolving cast - regardless of whether there's been sexism in the writing of a particular character at a particular time. If the writers want to draw inspiration for female Lanterns from the comic they're spoiled for choice - Katma Tui, Soranik Natu, Boodikka, Jessica Cruz, Arisia Rrab...just to name some.