Green Lantern: The Animated Series “Steam Lantern” Review

Hey guys. I’m back for another DC animated show on Cartoon Network review. This time I’m reviewing Green Lantern: The Animated Series. Like Young Justice, it was on hiatus for months. Is GL’s return an epic one? Warning: contains spoilers.

Previously, Green Lanterns Hal Jordan (Josh Keaton), Kilowog (Kevin Michael Richardson), Tomar-Re (Jeff Bennet), and Aya (Grey DeLisle) had teamed up to stop the Anti-Monitor (Tom Kenny). They failed in the worst way possible, and Hal Jordan was “Killed” by Anti-Moniter’s energy blast. Or was he?

For me, this is the first dissapointment. It was obvious that Hal wouldn’t be offed so early in the arc, but I was also hoping that maybe he would become a Black Lantern. Instead, the energy blast….warped him to another dimension. Huh? How does that work? Anyway, this dimension is a world that runs on steam and where everyone talk like it is the Victorian-era, which makes for interesting Steampunk visuals. But that is about it.

In this “Steam” planet, Hal makes two friends: Steam Lantern (Robin Atkin Downes), a lantern who runs on, yes, steam, and Lady Catherine, his lover and biggest cheerleader. In this world, Steam Lantern is a hero because he defeated….Anti-Moniter. However, not all is right; an evil dictator has made all the denizens of Steam Planet his slaves. But…is this dictator really all he seems?

Anyway, unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this episode at all. For one thing, the whole premise is ludicrous. Hal Jordan gets warped to another dimension via energy blast? A lantern who runs on steam? Minus those gripes, the whole thing has a dull feel to it. In this 80s style planet, there isn’t any threat to Hal. There isn’t any sense of danger, so compared to the previous few episodes, it is almost down-right boring. Hal’s friends, sadly, get nothing to do in this episode at all.

And the “villain” has the most anti-climatic ending. The heroes inform him that he is evil, he goes, “Oh, whoops”, and becomes a good guy. Okay? Meanwhile, Catherine is very grating. Her thing for tea gets old. And my biggest complaint is: in the second half of the episode, one character is revealed to be a huge liar. After he reveals this, everyone…cheers. Huh? Otherwise, a pretty solid effort, I suppose. Tge voice acting is solid, and the animation (at this point you either like it or don’t) works. But that plot.