Headscratchers / Green Lantern: The Animated Series

• In "Lost Planet", Hal and Kilowog somehow manages to drain their power batteries (not just their power rings). Is that even possible?
  • My understanding is that the batteries only hold a finite amount of power, so it is possible to run them down. However, the batteries also recharge themselves (unlike the rings) so it takes a lot of use to do that, and they'll still be back to normal in a while if you just let them sit.
• Wait, the Star Sapphire Corp can teleport someone from Earth to the Frontier almost instantly, a distance that needs either 18 months conventional travel or a prototype starship. Why aren't they trying to get this ability to bring in a large number of veteran Green Lanterns to the Interceptor?
  • Because, at the time, the Star Sapphires were enemies. When they weren't, Hal found out that ability carried with it some stipulations, namely it only worked if love can guide you and kind of drives you crazy over longer distances. More to the point, it only works to and from Zamaron, so you can't bring people there unless someone they love is already nearby. It loses a lot of its versatility under those conditions.
• In Prisoner of Sinestro did they ever say why the wanted lists never said what Neroxis had done?
  • Neroxis was noted to be a highly competent assassin. The lack of details would be because they didn't know about his body-stealing abilities.
  • I got the impression that the wanted list never says what the criminal has done, the green lanterns are just told to bring them in and not ask questions.
  • Neroxis wipes out the local spider guild and tries to kill everyone on board the Interceptor. From that I gathered that he's a 'no survivors' kind of guy. The Guardians know about him and that he's dangerous but they don't have details because no one had lived long enough to provide them.
• How come the ring of the Green Lantern who died in the Spider Guild space prison did not fly back to Oa ? Did they explain it was because of the yellow crystals?
  • That's exactly why. The ring was dead and the crystals block all but the translator function. His ring wouldn't be able to get back.
• If the Frontier Lanterns are meant to operate solo in uncharted space for months and months upon a time, why are they given less training than the rank and file Lanterns?
  • Because there aren't other Green Lanterns there to train them. The teaching capabilities of the rings are rudimentary.
  • To add to that, the Frontier Lanterns are locally recruited. The rings are sent out to them and give them a basic primer. The point is they can't fly Lanterns out there in a reasonable time frame.
• Do you really have to chant the single unique oath for each corps in order to recharge? I recognize that Aya suggested a new one for Razer and it didn't work, but let's be honest, Aya's sucked, and didn't embody the spirit of rage at all. Is it possible that was the problem? Could he be able to recharge without saying the horrific and vile red lantern oath if he simply said an oath that still embodied rage, but in a more heroic, "Righteous fury" fashion? Like:
  Through crimson rage that cannot wane,
  shall evil meet its match and bane.
  Let those whose evil fuels my pain
  not dare to harm the weak again!
  • Possibly after all somebody had to make the Oath up in the first place. The problem is finding an Oath that flows well and embodies the respective emotion is difficult.
  • Not a Green Lantern scholar or anything, but the Tropes pages for the Green Lantern franchise indicate that the Oaths are mostly superfluous. Many have custom Oaths (such as a "Green Lantern" from an area where there is no light, so the Oath refers to sounds instead of light and "Green Lantern" is "F-Sharp Bell"), and it's mentioned the Oath is more about how long it takes the ring to charge than a requirement for the charging process to happen. But adaptations (including the live-action film) have altered this piece of lore so that, yes, the Oath is required to charge the ring. Which makes a kind of sense, since the Oaths are one of the most recognizable parts of the Green Lantern mythos, central to each Corps, and just plain awesome, so placing additional weight on them serves the narrative. Short answer: In the comics, no, the Oaths aren't necessary. In adaptations, they can be if the adapter decides they are.

• Doesn't Galia have a daughter? Who's taking care of her now that she's a Star Sapphire?
• When Aya travels to the beginning of the universe, we see the pre-Big Bang universe being held in what looks like a human hand. Is that supposed to be God? If the writers are implying the existence of God and that he's involved in the Big Bang and creation of the universe...doesn't that raise the question of whether the big guy is going to allow a psycho robot from the future to royally mess up his creation?
  • It is possible or even probable that the entity apparently setting the universe into motion, if possessing omnipotence and omniscience, saw any intervention as ultimately irrelevant given that Aya was able to be talked down by Hal and Razer. Though the whole matter is extremely vague to begin with. Additionally, it's not the first time a big hand was shown to have a part in the big bang among DC animated adaptations.
  • Just because something resembling a hand is shown at the formation of the universe does not mean it's meant to be an actual omnipotent being, and it definitely doesn't mean it's the same being as the Christian God.
• It is established multiple times throughout the series that the Star Sapphires can reconnect one with their loved ones. Then why didn't Razer use this in the finale to find Aya, or at least see if she was out there?
  • How do we know he didn't? The last episode ends with him flying off to search for her? Even if he did try the Star Sapphires and they weren't able to find her, it's doubtful that would convince him to stop looking.
• In "Heir Apparent", why did Iolande getting chosen by a GL ring made Kothak acquire a newfound respect for her all of a sudden? He had shown absolutely no respect for the other Green Lanterns in the episode.
  • He didn't respect them because they were outsiders, so not part of the planet's political system, and he didn't respect his political rival who was a Green Lantern because he was a political rival. Through the episode, the idea is that the Queen-to-be is pretty much a trophy to be won. She has the throne, but any man who marries her can be the King, and thus the actual power. Kothak wants that power for himself. When Iolande is chosen by the Green Lantern Ring, she proves herself a power in her own right, not one to be used by others. So Kothak respects that she can rule on her own terms, not serve as bloodline legitimacy for her husband.

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