Green Lantern: First Flight Review

Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond your wildest

imagination. The ring, it has chosen you. Take

it. You are now one of the protectors of the

universe. Welcome again to Animation Aficionados,

crossing over with Tooncast Beyond. We are still

continuing our look through the DC animated original

movies. I am your host, Ben, and we're joined

by my co -host, TV's Mr. Neil. In blackest day,

in brightest night, watermelon cantaloupe, yada

yada, a superstitious and cowardly lot with liberty

and justice for all. And we have with us again

the host of Tooncast Beyond, WTFG1Mike. Yeah,

no. That's not... Someone tried to get that trending

or catching on at one point about a year or so

ago. That's not happening. Do you want me to

say it again? Do what? Do you want me to say

it again or do we just keep going? Just keep

going. Okay. I want to see if you actually caught

that and he did. No, I caught it. That's why

I said that's that's not gonna catch on because

it's someone tried to get it to cat like WTF

TfU and Mike tried somebody tried to get it to

catch on about a year or so ago That was Neil

and it no wasn't was not me You said it like

eight months ago you said it in a comment Yeah,

but that was eight months ago. Not a year. Yeah,

no, no this this was Somebody on Twitter was

was trying to figure out what TFG to Mike's personality

would be like and they had said WTF TFG when

Mike so this was a while ago. This is before

before Neil and I had our Transformers fan Wars

here but yes, we're here to talk about superheroes

and the Green Lantern Corps and Why is Elliot

Stabler Stabler voicing Hal Jordan because he

actually did a damn good job of doing it He did,

I'll give him that. Look, all he needs is a hair

piece, he could be a live action hound as well.

I love the guy, but you know, he... male pattern

baldness has not been kind to the man. It's...

It's funny. Oh, I first found out about this

simply because I am a law and order fan and because

I've always kept up with like whatever the next

thing is and as I said, I believe it was last

episode or it might have been episode four where

I usually find the special behind -the -scenes

features on because they'll usually post them

on YouTube about a month before the movie even

gets released like it behind the voices stuff

or whatever else and I find it absolutely hilarious

that Elliot Stabler from Law and Order Special

Victims Unit, Chris Maloney, is Hal Jordan Green

Lantern, and Victor Garber, Jack Bristow from

Alias, is Sinestro. This is awesome. What I love

about this movie is, and something I mentioned

in the pre -show, is the plot is at the basics,

extremely similar to the Ryan Reynolds piece

of shit. And a little note is the round rails

piece of shit is number 11 in the top movies

that have lost the most money It beat Final Fantasy

the spirits with it and losing the most money

And nothing can beat Cutthroat Island. Yes. Yeah,

the one that's after Green Lantern is stealth

Wow, so yeah, just check it out on Wikipedia

IMDB. They both have the same list Yeah, Green

Lantern the grand rail's movie is number 11 and

losing the most money Yeah This one I Didn't

actually see this when it first came out. I saw

it when it hit on demand cable and For me this

movie goes way too fast something I didn't get

to mention something I forgot to mention about

Justice League new frontier new frontier went

For me, it felt like you blinked and it was over.

This one, I watched the whole movie and I was

like, wait, I just started this. How can it be

over already? I don't know if it was the fact

that it was good because I don't know if it was

the fact that I was enjoying it or if it was

the fact that it just went by too fast. I think

it's because you were enjoying it because sometimes

when I watch an animated movie more than once,

I try to watch it twice in as many days. Right

in the second time. I usually skip around a little

bit. This is one of the few ones I don't skip

around because I'm like just around no I just

want to keep watching and I think that's part

of what that that's part of what kept me and

I'd love the animation style in this I think

this is this is a perfect amount of detail with

simplification for for a for a feature movie

animation style that you know This is something

that the deal and I have talked about in the

past where you know Some of the newer DC anime

stuff Looks, you know has very plain faces now.

Yeah, and this one was This one was very well

the the faces are very well articulated and drawn.

Well Expressive. Yeah about the length though.

Yeah, this is a cool 80 minutes So this is right

in the range that I like but strangely enough.

It's the same length as as wizards and Wizards

feels like it's about two hours long. Yeah, this

one just kind of breezes by it's amazing How

what do you have a compelling story? It just

blows right by like I said the fact that this

is pretty much the exact story as as As the Robin

Reynolds piece of shit, you know mine is some

key details, but all the elements are pretty

much the same It just tells you what happens

when you have a good writer versus a bad writer.

When you have Jeff John sticking his nose in

versus Jeff John not sticking his nose in. It's

where you have just the yellow power battery

versus having the yellow goddamn fear monster.

The only thing I didn't really care for on this

movie, and this is a trend for me in all future

Green Lantern stuff so far at this point, I didn't

like the design on Killawog. At all. Yeah his

his was a little clunky, but I got to say that

One thing that really threw me is, you know the

character buddha cut if people have actually

read the comics Budica is like her namesake.

It's obviously she's not really named after the

the the Britannia warrior queen, but the writers

who created the character, based her off that.

You expect a really harsh face with the character,

Boudica, people who read the comics would, but

they gave her such a gentle face, and her voice

actress isn't what you expect. To give reference,

every other voice actress who voiced Boudica

wasn't Trisha Helfer. It was Grey. Grey Delisle,

yeah. Yeah, what does that tell you? Neil what

about you for this movie as far as your just

initial thoughts? Well what I liked about it

was that they got the origin story out of the

way really quickly because I'm getting really

sick and tired of like every movie franchise

based on a comic book having to retell the origin

story over and over and over and it seems like

Green Lantern is very prone to this because every

time some Some new series or movie comes along

that introduces the Green Lantern. We have to

go through the whole alien thing Yeah, it's over

and through it's over before the opening credits.

Yeah, but one thing I have to say is they really

sent tied up that costuming Yeah, but you know,

I don't mind all they did was the the the pink

the pink bubble background in the and outlining

his body and But like I said, what I like about

it is it starts. It starts. Hal is already doing

the test flight and he's saying some things that

Carol Farris isn't liking him saying. And you're

getting a feel of Hal's character. He's a hot

shot pilot and him and Carol had a relationship

that she doesn't want people to know too much

about without him being an asshole or Ryan Reynolds.

Right. And I think because this movie happened

before, the Ryan Reynolds atrocity really was

buzzing around. The movie for comparison to the

Ryan Reynolds film is Emerald Nights, and Emerald

Nights is a hell of a lot better. But for this

one, I think where they were going from is we

need to tell an original Green Lantern story

that isn't the origin of Hal Jordan, because

for the DC Universe animated movies, we just

had the origin of Hal Jordan in New Frontier,

even though this is a completely different film

from that. Because it's from the same people

that did the other film not the exhibit like

Bruce Tim and you know all those guys You know

they wanted to do something just to tell an actual

story rather. You know people know the origin

at this point Yeah, that's the thing about the

origin story is that even if it's a different

continuity all these all the These timelines

all have the same vestiges of what the origin

story basically is so We did it already. We know

that Batman's parents got gunned down in an alley.

We don't need to have this retold every single

time. Thank you, DC, for not spending a lot of

time in the origin. What I also like is, like

I said, this is more space opera, less soap opera.

I really love the space opera events because

the whole idea is that there's this whole universe

of ... aliens and power structures and governments

that we aren't even expect to. That's why I love

that they just barely touch it, but the fact

that they just sort of open the veil a little

bit is what I like about it. And especially I

like the whole, like I said, I just love the

character of Boudica in this, even though, spoiler

alert, yes, she is a bad guy in this. But like

I said, it really throws you because number one,

they made The Buddha has so much gentler than

what you're expecting if you read the comics

So that's number one that when it throws you

and then when all of a sudden when she does turn

coat You know, it just sort of hurt hit you that

much harder in That was a awesome fight. They

kind of had to do that because otherwise you

would have been See, I what I was afraid of was

that it was just gonna be like a waiting game

to see when Sinestro was gonna turn because we

all know the Sinestro is the bad guy Well, his

name is his name has sister written all over

it I know, it's almost as bad as having a villain

called Darth Sidious. Or Mr. Sinister. Or Dr.

Doom. I mean, you know he's the bad guy from

the very beginning. And so, there was that curve

in there that kept you interested. It was like,

oh my god! You know, when she suddenly blasts

Killawog. And then he blasts her back and called

her a pooser. I just... Kind of, I mean, to talk

about the voice cast, I just can't get JLU Dennis

Haysbert's Kililog out of my head. I just - Michael

Madsen did a hell of a job. He did do a hell

of a job. I'm not going to deny that. He did

do a hell of a job. But when it comes to stuff

like Poozer and all that, I just can't get Haysbert's

version out of my head. One thing that bugs me

though is this this is a comics continuity guy

here. Yeah, you know yes, they actually did like

in the second half of the movie really pushed

a resia hard and No, she's she's underage now.

Stop it And and well, you know what this movie

is just great I mean, I mean It the animation

is beautiful that the fights are fantastic. I

especially liked Well, you know this movie is

definitely is this the movie of PG -13 Mike.

Yes, they're all PG -13 Yeah, because because

the orgasm ball scene is yeah Yeah, I don't know

how you can how you can slip that past the PG

Yeah, yeah all of the DC movies are RPG 13 Yeah,

I just want to get that out of the way because

yeah, it's I because I don't think the orgasm

ball ball would pass by 13 And you got to think

though and and I will always mention this Whenever

we talk about superheroes and Bruce Tim and his

crew Bruce Tim and his people have been pushing

the sensors for years at this point Yes, they

have I mean they know how to push buttons without

actually pushing buttons and This the swearing

was well, it wasn't it wasn't overt but it was

it was noticeable that they were The the language

was like a lot more adult in this that it would

have been prior. Yeah Yeah, and How'd you guys

feel about chip? Chip guy in the wheelchair.

Oh You mean the squirrel guy? He has the squirrel

Green Lantern chip I don't know, I kinda like

them. But I'm in a wheelchair and it'd be cool.

As long as you have courage! Well, like I said...

God, how do we come back from that? With Chip,

I think this is one of the few times that the

Scrappy isn't annoying. Well, it's because he

didn't take over every single scene. He was just

there and he had a couple lines. And he was kinda

funny. versus being, let me at him, let me at

him, puppy power. And what I love is - And he

wasn't in a wheelchair. What I love is one of

the guardians' name is Apa Aliapsa. They actually

made a point to pronounce that because I've been

reading the comments for years. I'm like, how

would they pronounce Apa Aliapsa? And I love

I love how it's you know, Larry Drake has got

that actually says up alley opposite but he says

it really fast I'm like how long was Larry Drake

practicing that? And of course cans are a row

played by Kurt would Smith There to call a dare

to call the bunch of them dumbasses Yeah, which

it's a call back to Justice League because Kurt

would actually voice the prosecutor in Black

as Night. You wanna fly, Bobby? And the one thing,

this is kind of like on a tangent at this point,

because I mentioned the Justice League episode,

I never noticed it before until a couple years

ago. Superman the Animated Series, the Kyle Rayner

episode, in brightest day, jump to Justice League

in Blackest Night. And there is no JLU, no evil

shall take my side. Yes. No, this movie was really

weird. It wasn't weird. It was really good. I

think it was good that they cast Christopher

Maloney as Hal simply because it's Elliot Stabler

on a... Grand scale. I mean what I love is there's

there's a scene where he's being questioned by

the lanterns and he's going Oh, yeah, my dad's

a cop. He let me go outside. I'm like, wow I

just love how how is so natural in this environment

just like oh, yeah Yeah, he adapts to it very

quickly I don't mind when someone adapts to new

powers or new things very quickly. What I do

mind is, you know, the old Power Ranger adage

where as soon as they jump into a news or exhort,

they immediately know what the hell they're doing.

That's what really pisses me off about when someone

gets a new power. But no, he adapted very, very

quickly in this. And as I said before, Victor

Garberus and Estro, I mean, that's some of the

best voice casting ever at this point. One of

my favorite scenes is how Hal destroyed the yellow

power battery. Yeah. I mean, he was in no way

subtle. Oh, no. You know, any other Green Lantern

would try something subtle, but no, Hal Jordan,

no, he grabs two moons and he just sort of squishes.

I mean, I really don't know. I would say that

at this point in the history of the DC Universe

movies, I would say probably New Frontier, Wonder

Woman, and this are the three best at this point.

Oh yeah. Because let's face it, Doomsday and

Gotham Knight, they just need to be forgotten.

Got the night especially. Yeah, that was a travesty.

That was some dark of the night That is so funny,

um, what else do we want to say about this one?

Get it. Yeah, I get it. Yes get it exactly I

guess we could go into what it made. First Flight

made $6 ,180 ,635 and it sold 380, 611 units.

So it actually got, it actually made money versus

the round Reynolds piece of crap. Yes. Take that,

Geoff Johns. No one wants a goddamn yellow fair

monster. Neil, this is the part where you throw

in the spades. Fuck you! I don't know how to

go find that. I have it saved somewhere. You're

gonna have to donate that to me. Oh, I will because

that was... Yeah, for people who don't know,

me and Neil were on the This Week in Geek Green

Lantern movie special. Yes. Spada walked out

halfway through the movie to know how the Ryan

Reynolds Green Lantern movie ended and for the

people who are listening that don't know how

it ended Hal Jordan round Reynolds made it was

racing towards the Sun with the goddamn yellow

fear monster following him and he made the construct

of two fighter jets basically acting as the Rockets

in the wild Wiley Coyote really sharp turn move

And because parallax is bigger he couldn't quite

make the turn and that's what happened Yeah,

and that's it fuck you actually he stuttered

for five minutes first, yeah, yeah he did that's

because Some stuff breaks our brains. I means,

you know, it's just See I would rather have to

Moon's crushing a yellow power battery over that

Because you know that's actually kind of badass

versus the cosmic entity not being able to turn

Yeah, now a lot of these movies some of them

most of them have soundtracks to them or have

soundtracks CD releases to them What did you

guys think of the? Music overall in the movie

as far as whether it be background or whether

it be the main title or anything like that Did

you guys notice the music at all? You know what?

I really wasn't paying attention to it How about

you Ben not really Sorry So Wow short episode

But it's a good it's a good movie it really is

it yes this is fast to be one of my favorite

versions of how Jordan I've seen because Like

I said, I always see how as a flawed hero, but

he in the end he he makes the decision to be

a hero nonetheless versus You know how has to

make mistakes how's not perfect how's not without

sin how has sinned You know, it's... So basically

what you're saying is he's not Jesus. I'm saying

fuck you, Jeff Johns. Okay. So for the IGN replacement

crew, zero to four, which I forget what the zero

was. I have to go back and listen to Gotham Night

now. It's find someone who owns the movie and

punch them in the mouth. Ben, what do you give

first flight? I give First Flight a four. Neil?

I'll give it a four as well. I will as well.

So we, let's see, the home media releases obviously,

single disc, blu -ray, two disc. The special

features include on the double disc press release

for production feature its commentary preview

of Superman Batman public enemies trailers of

the DC Universe features digital copy download

of course and two episodes of Justice League

picked by Bruce Tim oh yeah I gotta go I gotta

go get this DVD right now I forgot this had the

loon turn on it see Bruce Tim knows how to poke

fun at himself I love the Green Moon turn in

the Duck Dodgers episode. So how come it's okay

for Kevin Smith to be in one cartoon you like,

but not okay to be in another? Wait, which one

is the one I didn't like? He was in Superman

Doomsday. Doomsday? Because it wasn't really

that big of a role. He was on screen for what,

five seconds? But he was Kevin Smith playing

Kevin Smith. Okay. Doomsday is so bad. Know but

I thought that Kevin Smith was like like that

little wedge of lemon that little bit of a city

to cut through it is but Me going back and watching

doomsday was just torture and not even this the

like the second or third time that I've Seen

the movie and since it came out Not even Kevin

Smith could have saved it for me at that point

It's not it's not a slight against Kevin. It's

it's a slight against that film because that

that shouldn't even be called a film So we on

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back to King Gas. Yes, thank you, Bubbles, for

welcoming us back to the Tooncast Beyond Animation

Aficionados crossover. Alright, guys, Neil, final

thoughts on First Flight? Excellent film. It

was the best episode of Duck Dodgers I've ever

seen. Oh, wait. Both seriously, yeah. I don't

know, I don't have any final thoughts, really,

because I think I said everything that needed

to be said. Yeah. So go buy it. God damn it.

Yeah, I mean for a solid standalone Green Lantern

project This knocked it out of the park for me

Even though I felt it was because really for

me when I said earlier I felt it went like it

just went by like that. It was mainly like It

was kind of like wait, that's the end it's over.

I want more That's really what my reaction was

when I first watched it What about you Ben? I

would rather be wanting more than wanting less

Right. Well, I'd rather be wanting Stabler over

wanting Wilder And see the other thing was when

they first announced the cast for this I was

like really because really what I wanted and

I probably never will get this unless He agrees

to do it again Nathan Fillion. No, I Wanted Boreanas

again as Hal, because I loved him as Hal in New

Frontier. Well, they pick good Hal's. They're

not really shallow Hal's. Wow, a Jack Black joke.

Lovely. You know, Jack Black was almost Green

Lantern. It would have been an improvement over

Ryan Reynolds. No, I've read the script. No,

I'm saying putting Jack Black in the role would

have been better than Ryan Reynolds. I'm going

to tell you the story about the jack black green

lantern movie and then we'll and then i'll let

you let's move on because I don't think you heard

the story before mike I don't know. I don't think

so, but i'm betting my brain is about to break

jack black is green It gets the green lantern

ring and he and throughout the whole movie in

this script He totally fucks everything up until

finally there's this yellow comet hanging towards

the earth and he can't touch the comic because

it's yellow So he uses the green lantern ring

to move the earth out of the way, but that causes

all these this definite devastating horrible

things on the planet and he can't be in a decides

i can reverse time is a realtor but i can create

a green superman with my reek at the greece or

it could reverse time and fix everything and

that's what happens and then it is a black screen

with the courage to decide also have a green

superman let him do everything i'll just goof

off now and just so there he he got the idea

from watching superman two Yes, that's what I

was just gonna say so that would have been a

Superman 2 animated series or an animated movie

Wow No, no, this was a live -action movie. Oh

Okay No, that thing is this you hear this and

you hear that that was canceled for the Ryan

Reynolds one that makes you almost think Yeah,

kind of does it makes you think would I have

really wanted the Jack Black one instead It might

become a cult classic. Kind of like Mortal Kombat

Annihilation. Yeah. Thank you for joining us

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