HOW TO MAKE A GREEN LANTERN SHOW WORK ON THE CW.
With the Flash and Green Arrow holding down the CW’s Tuesday and Wednesday nights…and an obvious DC TV Universe coming to fruition…what is the next logical choice for a TV Show?... Hal Jordan as Green Lantern!...Why do you ask? Who is the one person who is know for being a connector between the Flash and Green Arrow?...Hal Jordan! Logically, DC/WB won’t use the trinity on TV because it just draws attention away from the universe that is built already and the characters that they are using. However, DC/WB SHOULD use a trinity to hold down their building universe, and that trinity should encompass Green Lantern, Flash, and Green Arrow., three “buddies” with completely different personalities, and different power sets.
Simply put aliens, space travel, lasers, new weekly sci-fi concepts. This is the core of Green Lantern, and has been done over and over and over on TV for years.
The problem, and by problem we mean relatively insignificant issue is... how do all the constructs on a TV budget' and the answer is simple: you don't. In order to do Green Lanterns on TV, the powers of the average Green Lantern would have to be reduced to that of your average TV spaceship: shoot lasers, block with forcefields, fly through space, and minor(ish) constructs. That's what an average GL does, so make that canon.
Now you can still do some constructs, but make them something very special that only gifted/chosen/extra talented Green Lanterns can do: Sinestro, Hal, Guardians, and even then only with great willpower and ring charge usage. And then make them practical effects, more of an object summoning power than anything else. If GL is going to make a sword, have the prop guys rig up a green sword. If he's going to make a giant baseball bat... make it. If he's going to make a green suit of battle armor... well... clearly it's the season finale, obviously if done right there is room for this in the budget (to do in CGI). You can even do Hal's trademark hand/glove/punch stuff actually by superimposing a hand and doing the results practically, though there's a bit of cheese there, it's a cheesy move even in the original comics. So, that really is the key to doing a GL show on TV: maximizing practicality, something the comic never had to take into consideration. And while I'd agree that constructs are a widely used and popular part of the power set, when you actually read and look at GL comics, and certainly animated adaptations of GL, constructs are surprisingly rare, especially amongst alien lanterns. Think of all the times Kilowog has appeared... has he ever had any memorable constructs? Maybe the sun in the movie... it's just so rare that constructs are actually have an effect on the story. If pretty much just shooting lasers is a poor representation of their abilities, then most adaptations are poor representations of their abilities. That's generally an Earth Lantern thing, in my experience.
The hardest power to deal with would actually be flight, as you'd basically have to string people up in harnesses on green screen for hours in order to shoot the space fights and space travel conversations. After that, superimposing them onto space (no need for shadows or other integrations) with a green glow is incredibly easy, as SFX shots go. The challenge would be atmospheric flight, where you'd basically have the GLs doing up up and away in the Lois and Clark Adventures style as opposed to GLs leisurely floating in the air.
In terms of aliens, they shouldn’t become rubberforehead aliens. You'd need an experienced prosthetics team, perhaps even culled from sci-fi TV veterans but Kilowog isn't a tougher nut than, say, Star Trek's Morn. Salaak does not demand more CGI than Dr. Who's Moxx of Balhoun, Even the Guardians need not appear more frequently or more alien than Stargate's Thor. All these shows have smaller budgets than Arrow or Flash, by all accounts. It's not about having a big enough budget to do aliens. The key would be to hire established visual effects artists that have worked on Sci-Fi television series before. I'm all for practical makeup effects whenever possible.
As for there enviorments…which should be, a combination of filtering on-location shots, many of which are available in that Canada area, especially since unlike Arrow and Flash, GL wouldn't be an urban setting, but beyond that adding a great set/prop/practical effects team to set the soundstages into something cool week to week. I imagine a standing set for some Oan locations and then a soundstage that changes from episode to episode depending on whatever exotic locale is required. Or not, I don't know too much much about TV production.
Other than the powers being dulled down ever so slightly to a more realistic level and aliens being a tad more practical as well, the major tradeoff would be a need for 'bottle shows' either with GL grounded on Earth, either without charge or without mission to deal with Ferris Aircraft and the Earth cast or on some practical standing Oa sets for basic training, day to day GL procedures or some other CGI-less thing that a more personal story can be sat upon, but that being said…having story outside of hero persona give the character true depth and allows for unspoken development within multiple characters. And again on that note…I would dare say that limiting GL's powers in this way makes him a more interesting character for drama and tension and resourcefulness. I can recall the only times I liked Hal Jordan were when he was low on charge and had to use his limited charge well while at the same time finding a creative way to get a recharge, or not. If that happened every week, even Hal-averse guys like me would love the character.
All in all there are definite limitations on a TV budget, but the core of who Green Lantern is, the coolness of our hero creating something out of thin air, and the functional action of his stories are all very much doable (and have been done) on a TV show. Patrolling alien planets and facing utterly unique problems, dealing with a corps of aliens with a creed and internal politics, using incredible sci-fi devices creatively to solve said unique problems. To me, that makes it worth it, that makes it possible to do justice to the character, even if you can't do all the spectacle of a movie. I believe these characters are awesome enough that they're still compelling without major spectacle, just like your Dr. Whos, your Jean Luc Picards, your Mal Reynodses.
In terms of suits/costumes…It should be fairly easy to adapt GL. The costume is more basic than Flash's, and could be enhanced by the glowing effects we've seen with Barry and the speed force in the series previews.
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Credit to DrCosmic for these insights
) as Nightwing...he is a one of the few good choices for a CW Hal
