I’ve been struggling to write this particular post for a while now and it’s one reason I’ve been a bit behind on posting reviews of late.  The reason I have to write this now rather than several years down the road still causes quite a bit of anger, but rather than dwell on that I want to instead turn my energies on what is more important.  That’s my utter appreciation and respect for the talented people who brought us Green Lantern: The Animated Series.  I hope that some day we will revisit this universe and that as many of the people who worked on the show will be able to be a part of it.  This is just my “thank you” to these amazing people and I hope you’ll indulge my heartfelt expression of gratitude as sappy as it may read.

I’ve made no secret that the Green Lantern universe helped the adolescent me find the inner strength to overcome life threatening complications from a birth defect and as goofy as it sounds I quite honestly would not be here if not for Hal Jordan and how he taught me that our will is the strongest force in our own little universe.  Since then I’ve wanted the rest of world to understand how great this mythology is and I’ve waited for some movie or tv show to put it out there for the masses to see.  While we can debate the merits and shortcomings of the live action movie I was just thrilled to see it become a reality, and if not for the movie we might never have gotten this far superior animated series.

Perhaps the greatest strength of the show has been the writing.  The scripts for the series have been tightly crafted, playing with and embracing the mythology while telling us something about life, the value of friendship, the meaning of love and the incredible strength to be found inside each and every one us no matter what color ring we wear.  I’ve watched an incredible number of superhero movies and cartoons in my forty eight years and while I know I am clearly a biased individual here let me just say that this show has been the best written of the bunch to have accomplished so much in so few episodes.  To the writers a great deal of the credit for the quality of Green Lantern: The Animated Series falls to you.

To the cast that breathed their voices into Hal, Kilowog, Aya, Razer and everyone else – you guys rocked it and rocked it hard!  The emotion, humor and humanity you put into the scripts has given them dimension and emotional resonance that clearly connected with us as viewers.  There are moments in these all too few episodes that carry more dramatic weight than most prime-time shows for adults and you guys executed them perfectly.  Perhaps the greatest tribute I can pay you is for you to know that when I read my comics it is your voices I’ll hear coming from the pages.

The animators, directors and Frederik Wiedmann – I tip my hat to you for the great visuals and score that gave the words and voices a canvas to play on.  That this show received two Annie nominations for its soundtrack speaks volumes about the quality of the work.  Just as I hear the cast’s voices speaking the dialogue in my comics it is the score for this series that literally fills my ears as the soundtrack when I read them.  The visuals in the series have been stunning, particularly in high definition where the amount of detail really stands out.  Throughout the show the big moments have played bigger and the emotional moments more dramatic in large part as a result of the visual storytelling and craftsmanship you brought to the series.

Finally, Bruce Timm, Giancarlo Volpe and Jim Krieg let me just say this to you – you nailed it on every level and for that I am so incredibly grateful to you.  You boiled the essence of these characters down to their purest form and then, despite the fiscal limitations, crafted a universe for them to inhabit that was everything I could have ever wanted. Not having cable I happily plunked down the money to buy a season pass for the show digitally and eagerly awaited to see what magic you guys would make each week. Not once was I disappointed and the love and care you put into bringing these characters to life has been apparent with each and every episode.  You guys made the kid in me very, very happy and for that I can never truly say “Thank You” enough.

I frankly would have liked this show to go on as long you felt you had stories to tell, and I’d hoped that at some point I could have continued to bring the people working on the series to the Podcast of Oa as a way to communicate to the fans.  Now that the show is over should you ever be willing, interested and able to talk Green Lantern or any project you’re working on my door is ALWAYS open for you and I would be honored and humbled to have you as a guest or perhaps making more commentary tracks for the DVDs.  I hope that in some way this site and podcast have been good ambassadors for the series and you’ve found something of value in our words.

For now it is a goodbye and tomorrow when the last show airs it will be gone.  It’s my greatest hope that some day soon we will be able to re-visit this universe again.  I know in my mind and my heart that Hal and the crew of the Interceptor are still out there somewhere shining their light and illuminating the darkness for all of us.

In Brightest Day!