World Do you think Green Lantern can work on TV?

[Rorschach2012]

Guardians of the Galaxy should NEVER come up when we're talking about adapting Green Lantern into live action. Completely wrong tone for Green Lantern.

Guardians of the Galaxy was a scifi comedy. There can be humor in Green Lantern, but NOTHING like the humor in GOTG, that was way too much.

and no to an Alan Scott series as well. Hal Jordan is the only one that should be attempted, he has by far the most potential for a movie/tv series.

 

[Zionite1]

Posted this a while back in another Thread

Rebooting Green Lantern
1.Make Coast City a Space city:I have often heard people whine about the earth scenes in GL movie but can you really blame them.Fact is tht Gls civilian life is earth based and important members of his civilian life like his love interest,best friend are earth based.You cant simply brush them aside as they are an important part of Gls life and neglecting them is taking away the human out of GL.As long as Green lanterns civilian life is based on earth there should be earth scenes.

Solution?Move Hls civilian life away from Earth.

Heres how Id do it .Id have Coast city be a human city in Space-to be precise a Space station.That permanently eliminates any need for earth scenes and allows Green lanterns role as a space cop and Coast city hero intersect perfectly-his coast city adventures and space adventures will blend together as being one and the same and there'd be no need to neglect his human life

Obviously Hals job as a Test-pilot would have to change.I say make him a Space pilot

2.Western Flavor:Even though many call GL a space cop,a space ranger is a more apt description of who he is.The western genre has many ranger heroes-so I think GL cld do with some inpiration from westerns.

Make Sector 2814 a lawless town with outlaws running around the place.GL is the new sherriff in town to bring this outlaws to justice.




So in short heres my premise.
Deep in sector 2814,is a floating space station known as Engine city.It was created by Hank henshaw as a home for humans in space.This city has frequent contact with the various alien life in neighbouringplanets.

Unfortunately sector 2814 is a lawless region,Galactic outlaws run amok here.Engine city and other Alien cities suffer b/c of this.

Oa is currently wrapped in a deep war .Only one Lantern is able to come to sector 2814 help-The Legendary Abin sur. Unfortunately he gets killed just as he arrives in the sector leading him to choose a new Lantern.

That Lantern is Hal Jordan.A Reckless,Brave,Noble Space pilot from Engine city.Its is now his job to help all the cities in Sector 2814 human or otherwise-until reinforcements form OA can save the sector

 

[Rorschach2012]

I gotta say no way to that, I'm sorry.

The mythos really don't need to be changed much at all to work on tv.

Coast City should remain the way it is in the comics, Hal should have his typical origin story.

Start the show off with an adaptation of Secret Origin, foreshadowing the War of Light.

Hector Hammond, Kanjar Ro, Manhunters, Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns can be the major villains of season 1.

Season 2 features Sinestro and the Sinestro Corps as the season long baddies

 

[The Overlord]

Farscape, Star Trek TNG, Battlestar Galactica prove it can be done

it can work. no question imo. a lot of the cgi would just be GL flying through space, and the suit and alien effects can be practical . Syfy channel has plenty of shows right now that prove GL can be done. Green Lantern could be the next big scifi show. I'd hope that they'd build towards the War of Light just like the GL TAS show did.

Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica cut several corners to fit into a TV budget. In TNG most of the aliens either looked exactly like humans or looked a lot like humans, but had a bumpy forehead. Battelstar had the human Cylons appear more then the robot ones as a way to save money. Both of those shows had many bottle episodes to save on money.

You would break the budget simply by having non human looking aliens as regular cast members, not mention neither Star Trek nor Battlestar Galactica would have something as expensive as Green Lantern's constructs on a regular basis.

I think some characters could work on a TV budget, but not Green Lantern.

I think there is a reason why all of the Star Wars forays into television have all been animated rather then live action.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Farscape dude ^ one of the main cast members looked very similar to Kilowog.

I'm sorry but you don't know what you're talking about. It can be done.

Some corners would be cut but it can totally be done.

Like GL TAS, and countless other scifi shows, much of the series can be set within a ship, that'd save costs. How expensive would it be to show a ship floating through space, or to show Greeen Lanterns flying in space? Both effects are simple and similar stuff has been done for years on tv

 

[The Overlord]

Farscape dude ^ one of the main cast members looked very similar to Kilowog.

I'm sorry but you don't know what you're talking about. It can be done.

Some corners would be cut but it can totally be done.

Like GL TAS, and countless other scifi shows, much of the series can be set within a ship, that'd save costs. How expensive would it be to show a ship floating through space, or to show Greeen Lanterns flying in space? Both effects are simple and similar stuff has been done for years on tv

I never watched Farscape, so I cannot comment on that. But you did mention those other two shows and I have seen what they did to cut corners to make these concepts work on a TV budget and both of those shows were far more down to Earth then Green Lantern is, Green Lantern is way more over the top then either of those shows. Neither of shows had a character who could create energy constructs at will.

A ship is easy, Green Lantern's energy constructs, those tricky and if he hardly ever uses them for budgetary reasons, will this show really feel like Green Lantern? Or will it just be a watered down imitation of Green Lantern. Most live action super hero shows have been terrible for a reason, they try to adapt a concept that was not made for a TV budget and it always felt like a watered down version. If you have a Flash TV show and he hardly ever uses his super speed, what it still feel like a Flash TV show? Something like Star Trek and Battlestar was meant to be a TV show, Green Lantern is not necessarily meant to be a TV show.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I can't comment on how much Flash uses his speed in the CW series, I havent seen the pilot. But i've only ever heard people saying positive things about the speed effects on The Flash.

I actually think the constructs would be very easy to pull off on a live action budget. I'd imagine the constructs would typically be fairly simple like in JL TAS and GL TAS. There's typically not a need for super intricate constructs.

on those animated shows, the constructs were typically just spheres, swords, shields and beams. Mostly spheres and beams. I'd be satisfied with those types of constructs. The intricate constructs can be cool, but a tv series would work and has worked fine without them for the most part.

 

[The Overlord]

I can't comment on how much Flash uses his speed in the CW series, I havent seen the pilot. But i've only ever heard people saying positive things about the speed effects on The Flash.

I'm not commenting on the special effects on the Flash show, super speed is a power that is fairly easy to do in live action. I am saying if Flash hardly ever used his super speed on a show, it really wouldn't feel like Flash would it?

I actually think the constructs would be very easy to pull off on a live action budget. I'd imagine the constructs would typically be fairly simple like in JL TAS and GL TAS. There's typically not a need for super intricate constructs.

on those animated shows, the constructs were typically just spheres, swords, shields and beams. Mostly spheres and beams. I'd be satisfied with those types of constructs. The intricate constructs can be cool, but a tv series would work and has worked fine without them for the most part.

That's animation though, not live action, even these simple constructs might be trickier then you think to bring into live action. Anyone remember the bad 90s made for TV JLA movie and the bad Green Lantern effects that were in that?

I also remember that back in the early 2000s, some people were complaining that John Stewart didn't do enough crazy stuff with his ring.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Now you're citing the 90s made for tv movie as a reason to not do Green Lantern on tv? Alright....
I don't think you understand how easy it is to create green beams of light . The simpler constructs like spheres and beams would be cheap.

 

[The Overlord]

Now you're citing the 90s made for tv movie as a reason to not do Green Lantern on tv? Alright....
I don't think you understand how easy it is to create green beams of light . The simpler constructs like spheres and beams would be cheap.

Hey I would love to be proven wrong, I would love to see a great awesome Green Lantern TV show. I think all the terrible and lackluster TV action super hero shows have made skeptical about super hero comic TV adaptions, most of those TV shows are good. I do have hope for the Marvel Netflix shows, mainly because they are adapting street level characters who are not particularly special effects driven and because it is on Netflix instead of one of the major networks.

Maybe I am making assumptions on how difficult it would be adapt Green Lantern to live action (I'm basing that on a lot of the behind the stuff I read about in regards to Star Trek TV shows and movies, so I am aware of sci fi shows cut corners to meet their budget), but maybe you are making assumptions on easy it would be. Unless you are involved in making sci fi television shows, you really don't have superior knowledge then me on this subject.

I do think it would hard to have a really cool Sinestro vs. GL fight on a TV budget. Neither would something more creative then a beam?

Also I thought the CGI on the Green Lantern movie was bad and that had a huge budget and came out 3 years ago.

 

[dnno1]

Straight forward question. I ask because of the Flash and Green Arrow TV shows and how Ferris Airlines is being teased in them. It would be cool to see GL on TV in the same universe as them. Obviously, budget concerns is what would stand in the way, but do you think there is some way they can pull it off?

I have commented on topics like this in other threads and other websites.the Green Lantern mythos is basically space based science fiction, not unlike Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Wars. One could easily write a TV show in that same fashion and get similar ratings. Keep in mind, go, the target market for a show like a Green Lantern would beyoung male in there early 20s to mid 30s and the show could be produce at the same cost that a Battlestar Galactica.

 

[metaphysician]

Out of costume scenes are much cheaper. They need the supporting characters to save money for FX in the actual GL scenes.

Note, this is a very good reason for having the GL costume be *clothing*, rather than SFX. If its just an outfit you wear, then you can wear it during downtime and interaction scenes without devouring your budget.

 

[Batmannerism]

I'm still on team yes for this one. I thought the most recent GL animated series was great. Yes, the SFX/CGI budget is a concern, but there ain't no reason it can't be done.

Hell, if Battlestar can do it, so can GL, IMO. Maybe they'll need to make
13 episode seasons, rather than 24 episodes.

I still think the story arcs and the big cast of characters lend themselves better to TV than a film..... IMO.

 

[WBwins]

I think they should make Ferris air base a secret Government base that studies crashlanded Alien ships.Hal as a test pilot on this base will therefore complement his extraterrestial adventures as GL .Just like Barry being a Forensic for the Police complements his Secret Crimefighting as Flash

Adding to the show, keeping from the comics... semantics. If they're missing, what have you lost in terms of character development and entertainment value? GL animated series says not much. First Flight says not much. GL2011 says they're very important, and it suffered for being split so completely. Either GL is a space hero or he's an earth hero. Having two completely separate supporting casts is a bad idea, unless you're doing some really cool parallel type stuff, and I think that's way outside what the CW is about.

Making Hal a wise cracking Han Solo type would absolutely not be out of character, and shamelessly aping successful superhero movie franchises is what the CW DC verse is built on.

Hal living on Earth doesnt stop make him a Earth hero.As long as his hero activities take place in space/Alien planets Hes a Cosmic hero irrespective of where he lives.

Also having Alien and human supporting cast members as always been the case with GL.

 

[Zionite1]

So what Budget do you think a GL tv show will cost per episode?

I think they should make Ferris air base a secret Government base that studies crashlanded Alien ships.Hal as a test pilot on this base will therefore complement his extraterrestial adventures as GL .Just like Barry being a Forensic for the Police complements his Secret Crimefighting as Flash

This Story structure could work.

 

[DrCosmic]

I don't think some of you have an appreciation for how rarely constructs and flight would be used. When I was more excited about the idea, I thought about what if constructs were done practically, and not CGI, how that could save on budget, it would limit the cost, but also limit the potency. Making a sword could be done anytime... making a giant floating head with a straw to suck the water out of a river... not so much. The ring would be a spaceship basically, spaceflight (when it's relatively cheap to do against a black background) and shooting lasers. That'd be what GL does 90% of the time, and by that I mean 90% of the time during flights. Compound this with the fact that his most celebrated enemies are also lanterns... you've got a lot of laser fights, basically with some melee weapons thrown in.

That doesn't sound like a good show to me...
(EDIT: I take that back, it sounds like a good show to me, but I don't think it'd be a good GL show, I think it would draw a lot of criticism from fans who expected something like what they see in the comics.)

I think they should make Ferris air base a secret Government base that studies crashlanded Alien ships.Hal as a test pilot on this base will therefore complement his extraterrestial adventures as GL .Just like Barry being a Forensic for the Police complements his Secret Crimefighting as Flash

Hal living on Earth doesnt stop make him a Earth hero.As long as his hero activities take place in space/Alien planets Hes a Cosmic hero irrespective of where he lives.

Also having Alien and human supporting cast members as always been the case with GL.

Turning the Ferris Air company into an Airbase is actually a really good way to integrate these things, but just FYI, the most successful adaptations so far, GLTAS and GL: First Flight have not had an Earth supporting cast, so it has not always been that way.

 

[dnno1]

I see. I was looking for something that would result in a higher quality or more watched show on CW, and there's nothing to indicate that, unless you think Arrow is not also broadcast to tens of millions internationally. I'd love to see the source for your numbers by the way, I have no idea where to find international viewership.

So I'll take a bad fit if it means a better show, both in terms of character development and sci-fi budget. After all, there's nothing stopping SyFy's audience from coming to watch CW GL, but CW's audience will never watch SyFy GL. The only thing a SyFy GL would have over a CW GL is a lack of character drama, which, the more I think about it, isn't actually a good thing.

At the end of the day, for me, CW is proven when it comes to superheroes. SyFy isn't. I'll take The 100 over Defiance personally, but that's more a personal taste thing. Just because they specialize in sci-fi doesn't make them the best at it, and it certainly doesn't give them a bigger audience.

My source was a piece in the Vancouver Sun. I added the link to it in my original post.

 

[DrCosmic]

^Good stuff, thanks bro!

 

[WBwins]

Whilst I do think GL is possible on tv I doubt CWs budget is enough.Syfy budget would be best.On the other hand I dont care for Syfys writing.
Best if the CW team created the show whilst Syfy aired and financed it

I don't think some of you have an appreciation for how rarely constructs and flight would be used. When I was more excited about the idea, I thought about what if constructs were done practically, and not CGI, how that could save on budget, it would limit the cost, but also limit the potency. Making a sword could be done anytime... making a giant floating head with a straw to suck the water out of a river... not so much. The ring would be a spaceship basically, spaceflight (when it's relatively cheap to do against a black background) and shooting lasers. That'd be what GL does 90% of the time, and by that I mean 90% of the time during flights. Compound this with the fact that his most celebrated enemies are also lanterns... you've got a lot of laser fights, basically with some melee weapons thrown in.

I thought Practical non-cgi constructs wld be cheaper?

Turning the Ferris Air company into an Airbase is actually a really good way to integrate these things, but just FYI, the most successful adaptations so far, GLTAS and GL: First Flight have not had an Earth supporting cast, so it has not always been that way.

True.But earth scenes save Budget.

 

[DrCosmic]

I thought Practical non-cgi constructs wld be cheaper?
True.But earth scenes save Budget.

It would be, but with practical constructs he easily becomes "Arrow in Space." Shooting, hiding behind cover, pulling out melee weapons for close fighting. He's even The Green something.

Earth scenes would save budget, but for my vote, I'd replace 'earth scenes' with 'Oa scenes' on a standing set to save budget instead. But that might just be me.

Edit: CW's budgets are higher than SyFy's budgets, and their production quality standards are as well.

 

[WBwins]

It would be, but with practical constructs he easily becomes "Arrow in Space." Shooting, hiding behind cover, pulling out melee weapons for close fighting. He's even The Green something.

Earth scenes would save budget, but for my vote, I'd replace 'earth scenes' with 'Oa scenes' on a standing set to save budget instead. But that might just be me.

Edit: CW's budgets are higher than SyFy's budgets, and their production quality standards are as well.

All the bolded sounds awesome to me.Well if the practical constructs are Otherwordly in look and you factor in flight I think you dont have to worry about Arrow in Space comparisons

You sure about CW budgets being higher than Syfys?I heard Defiance is 4mil per episode whilst Superntaural is around 2mil .

 

[DrCosmic]

Interesting WBWins. I'm not sure, actually. I was assuming so because Supernatural has more viewers. While I'm not sure Defiance is quite at $4M per episode, it looks like CW has spread their budget a little wider than SyFy. It looks like CW is spreading their higher budget around on about 6-8 shows and pockets more profit while SyFy spreads it more liberally over 2-3 shows. SyFy needs help... badly. That's scary when the best (in terms of ratings) sci fi shows like Falling Skies and The 100 are on other channels. It's scary that they're putting more money into failing shows. They need a turnaround like what CW got a few years back.

 

[WBwins]

Interesting WBWins. I'm not sure, actually. I was assuming so because Supernatural has more viewers. While I'm not sure Defiance is quite at $4M per episode, it looks like CW has spread their budget a little wider than SyFy. It looks like CW is spreading their higher budget around on about 6-8 shows and pockets more profit while SyFy spreads it more liberally over 2-3 shows. SyFy needs help... badly. That's scary when the best (in terms of ratings) sci fi shows like Falling Skies and The 100 are on other channels. It's scary that they're putting more money into failing shows. They need a turnaround like what CW got a few years back.

Interesting.I thought Syfy was bigger than CW.
Yeah Defiance is 4m.I think that should be minimum for a Gl show.everyone else an be done on a normal budget.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I'd love to see Green Lantern on syfy. GL has such a strong mythology that he doesn't need to be connected to the CWverse

 

[NickWechsler]

Green Lantern Movie Sucks!
As a long time Green Lantern fan, I had high hopes and went in hoping for the best. But I was so disappointed. I don't want to be disappointed again when it is on TV.