Intro to Lanterns

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[00:00:40] People shall escape my sight. Let those who worship people's might. Green Lantern's Light. Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast. I'm Jason Cabassi And I'm Kirk. And I'm Jim. And this is Wax Episodic.

[00:01:10] I'm back here with a new set of co-hosts that you just heard, Jim and Kirk, and a new show to cover, the upcoming superhero mystery detective drama thing, Lanterns, which premieres Sunday, August 16th on HBO. And for anyone who, this is your first time hearing one of our shows, we're part of the Podcastica network. We've been covering TV shows for 16 years, almost to the day now, going back to The Walking Dead back in 2010.

[00:01:39] And we aim for fun, in-depth, detailed episode-by-episode coverage of shows that we're genuinely into. We never do podcasts about shows that we don't care about. We only pick the ones that we're fans of or that we hope are good, like this one, because we haven't seen it yet. Yeah, if it's bad, I'm out. Yeah, that's right. First episode.

[00:02:02] We get into the lore, but I don't know about you two, but personally I care more about good stories and characters and moments and things like that. Amen. You know? Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, sometimes the lore can weigh you down a little bit. A little bit. A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. But we love, well, we get into all the Green Lantern stuff, but we also like it to be conversational with you listeners. So we'll be asking for your thoughts and theories and whatever reactions you have. You can send in a message, either voice message or text.

[00:02:33] And if you've heard my podcasts, you might think this show, Lanterns, is kind of a weird fit for me. So this is our introductory episode where we're going to tell you a little bit about what that show is, what we know about so far, and why we'd want to podcast about it. And I hope that you stick around, even if you're not automatically sold on anything superhero or like me, if you have a little bit of superhero fatigue, too.

[00:02:58] Because there are some things about this show that I think are intriguing that have nothing to do with the Green Lantern-ness of it at all. Although I am a comic geek, I gotta say. Anyway, I thought these two, Jim and Kirk, would be perfect for this because we're all comic book fans. We love to geek out on this stuff, but we're not going to like something just because it has superheroes in it. We like great shows with good storytelling. And Kirk is an incredible artist.

[00:03:25] He draws tons of comic characters and pop culture art. And Kirk, I think you notice things about visual storytelling and design that maybe we won't. Maybe. I doubt it. Maybe not. I wouldn't bet on that. Well, that's the pressure. Yeah, great. Thanks. Jim's a teacher. I think you're really good at breaking down ideas and talking them through.

[00:03:53] But the thing also that I really like about your podcasting is you're just so enthusiastic and you're a passionate follower of these kinds of things. And that can be contagious. And Jim and I have worked together before on a comic book podcast. Which should, yeah, the fear of Kirk and Jim like letting rip a two and a half hour episode. I know. I mean, between the three of us, these things are going to be so long. I'm going to have to put us on a leash.

[00:04:24] We also all have strong opinions, so it's going to be fun. That said, let's get into what this show is and why we're podcasting on it. Jim, you want to read the premise? Green Lanterns are intergalactic peacekeepers who wear rings that give them extraordinary powers.

[00:04:40] The series follows experienced Lantern, Hal Jordan, and new recruit Jon Stewart as they investigate a murder in Rushville, Nebraska, which Jordan believes is an extraterrestrial incident and leads them to darker mysteries and reckonings. Just the premise is, I mean, it's intriguing for me because Green Lantern is cosmic. Yeah.

[00:05:08] So this is like the, I don't know, like the bare roots of it all. You know, the detective story of it all, which is what intrigued me about Green Lantern to begin with as a kid. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, the Green Lantern Corps is kind of like a space cops. Right. You know what I mean? So. Space cops, though, not regular cops. Well, maybe space cops, intergalactic police.

[00:05:36] In other words, they police planets. Not Rushville, Nebraska. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my, my, I thought, whoa, this is weird. This is a weird take on the Green Lanterns. Um, but it is, you're right. It's, it, there is inherently in the Green Lanterns that they are cops, but this feels like a small town murder mystery. So I'm intrigued. Yeah.

[00:06:03] I mean, they're going to have to have, you know, the, the intergalactic or the cosmic aspects of it come in or else it's not going to work. But at the same time, taking this aspect of the, the lore and, and making it the focal point, or at least in the beginning, uh, I think is, is, is probably a good idea. It's interesting.

[00:06:29] I mean, so one of the reasons why I'm interested in it, that might be the main reason why they did that, um, is because of the creative, the, the showrunners, the, the writers, uh, it's created and co-written by Damon Lindelof, Tom King, and Chris Mundy. And Chris Mundy is the showrunner.

[00:06:53] And I'd never heard of him before, but he's the showrunner of Ozark, which is a fantastic show. If you've never seen it, it's a crime show. It's kind of Breaking Bad, but different. And, um, so knowing that he's the showrunner makes it make more sense why that's the scale of it. Like a mystery murder mystery in, um, what does it say? Rushville, Nebraska. So that's kind of interesting. Lindelof is pretty good too.

[00:07:22] Well, and he, he, there's always with Lindelof, there's always kind of a, a new, you know, when you think of what he did with Watchmen, there's, there's always a kind of an intriguing piece that he brings to it. Um, you know, since lost and some of the shows that he's done, there's always that underlying mystery that just kind of goes along with the, with the, with the show.

[00:07:43] And he's also big on lore and kind of reshaping that lore to fit, uh, kind of a new, uh, current take. So I'm, I'm really curious to see how he does that with this show, especially when you consider, um, the, the story between the two versions of the Green Lantern that are, that are the stars of the show. His writing too tends to, you know, emphasize relationships and character interactions.

[00:08:12] And, and, and I think that's good. You know, I don't, I think if this camp, this has, if they're going to go this dark kind of routine, they're going to need to, to have the relationships be strong.

[00:08:22] Uh, all these writers, uh, Chris Mundy, Tom King, and Damon Lindelof, they, the crazy, fantastical, supernatural at a time or superhero-y circumstances are a part of the story, but they serve to reveal character. You know, like they're about like Chris Mundy, his shows, uh, he also worked on true detective, but Ozark's the big one.

[00:08:51] There's a lot of pressure and slow build. Um, but it, it's taking these circumstances to either reveal or shape character. Like how are these normal seeming people going to act when they suddenly get wrapped up in this drug selling conspiracy thing or whatever. And Damon Lindelof, you know, lost. Yeah. Right. I mean, that's in the first episode, but yeah. Lost, lost.

[00:09:13] If people don't know lost, it's the crash landing on this Island and there's weird, mysterious things happening, but it's all about the characters and the leftovers. Uh, what? 2% of the people just disappear. But then it's just about how that impacts the people who are left. Watchmen was brilliant. Like for me, I don't always love Lindelof's writing, but it's never dull. And often I think it's brilliant. So I'm excited to see what he's going to do. He did the HBO Watchmen, right? Yes.

[00:09:42] That was fantastic. The creativity of that show. Yeah. I'm turning that, that show into what it was. And, and, and, you know, I don't know where we're at with spoilers for Watchmen, but it was such an, a unique take on, on, on that, that DC property that, that, I mean, I can't get enough of it. It's one of, one of my favorite shows that and leftovers. I just love those two shows. So I'm excited about this. Leftovers.

[00:10:08] I, the first season, I, it just felt so, I, there's something about it was depressing and I didn't know if I wanted to keep going. But then season two and three, I just fell in love with it. Yeah. I really love that show. So, um, and then there's Tom King, who's the third guy involved in this. And he's one of my favorite modern comic book writers. He's never done TV, TV before.

[00:10:35] He did this amazing mini series on the vision, which is the Marvel hero. Who's an Android basically where the vision tries to build this normal suburban family with his robot wife and kids. And it turns into this existential horror. And it was like Tom King comics are, are often about like emotionally fraught, but psychologically nuanced stories that can just go really wrong.

[00:11:02] And there's a lot of trauma, but it can be funny and compelling. It's, he's just a great comic writer. So when I saw his name, I was like, cool, cool, cool. The core of that comic is what they used for WandaVision, right? If I remember. Yes. Yeah. Big chunk of it. Yeah. Absolutely. And his, um, Mr. Miracle, uh, run, he did a series that was fantastic as well. And I believe they're making that into an animated movie or series. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

[00:11:31] I think he used to be in the CIA too. I did not know that. That's relevant, but it's kind of interesting. And then, uh, the other one is, well, I guess that's all of them. Yeah. So that's one of the reasons why I'm interested is because I follow creators a lot. And so if somebody does a few things that I think are cool, that I'm going to be interested in what they're doing next. And just the fact that it's on HBO, because I think they've had such quality shows going

[00:12:01] back to Sopranos. And I was just looking down a list of shows that they did six feet under. That's one of my favorite all time game of Thrones, true detective. Uh, we mentioned the leftovers and watchmen succession. The last of us, the white Lotus is a current favorite of mine. So, I mean, they don't all, they're not all hits like that, but they have a pretty damn good track record. Well, I think they allow their creators to create, you know what I mean? They're not, they're not on top of them. It doesn't seem like. Yeah.

[00:12:31] It seems like that. Yeah, absolutely. They pick the right people and let them go. They aren't afraid to find it. It's interesting. I did a, I dug a little bit into the Wikipedia. I thought it was interesting to hear Greg Berlanti was originally developing this show back in 2019 and he did, um, he did Arrowverse. He did Doom Patrol and Titans. Um, and, uh, I just thought it was kind of interesting that he, he was no longer involved.

[00:13:00] I mean, those shows I enjoyed, but they're not the kind of show I would want to podcast on. Right. Doom Patrol, Doom Patrol was pretty wild. Uh, yeah, that's pretty good. But Titans was, yeah, I agree. Titan and Arrows. I think, I think that, for example, Arrow, when it started, um, that first season of Arrow was such a, um, a harsh, uh, for, for CW, um, was a very harsh, like death oriented show.

[00:13:30] Um, and then, you know, it got into that whole Arrowverse and it kind of, kind of flipped the script on it and, you know, kind of lost me a little bit, but, um, yeah, it, you know, I'm a Green Arrow fan. We'll talk about that. And I, I think when we talk about the roots of why we want to do this show, I, I, um, I really enjoyed the first season of Arrow. I, which is kind of funny to say when you consider all of the other seasons of Arrow and Flash

[00:13:56] and all the other shows that were connected to those, but I'm glad, not nothing against Berlanti, but I'm glad it went this way because as you were saying, Jason and Kirk, I think the, the prestige that HBO brings to it. And then when you bringing in kind of these, you know, Lindelof, who's done some great shows on HBO already, um, connected to, you know, what, what James Gunn is trying to do with the DC universe. And this was one of the first shows that this is one of the first things that he talked

[00:14:23] about, um, when he kind of laid out that, like his plan for the, the new DC universe works for a couple of years. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then I think they did, you know, I'm sure we'll talk about casting here in a bit, but I think they did a, a very outside looking in. I'm really excited about the actors that are in this. Um, it seems like the, the cast is really strong, including an old friend, Garrett Dillahunt.

[00:14:49] Um, yeah, supporting character, but, oh, but, but I hadn't watched John Dory on our favorite show. Fear the Walking Dead, by the way, the worst show with the best character. Yeah. Well, and I didn't, I, I, you know, to, to be, to be fair, I, I hadn't paid too much attention to the casting until I watched the trailer. I knew of course the leads, but, um, when I saw him pop up onto the screen, it made me extra excited. Absolutely.

[00:15:18] He plays, uh, William Macon, a modern cowboy who hides his self-righteous conspiracy minded personality behind a charming facade, according to the wiki. That'll be fun. A cowboy related character. Go figure. Um, yeah. Well, since you brought up the cast, uh, Kyle Chandler's the lead. Well, one of the co-leads, he plays Hal Jordan, a veteran Green Lantern. And I've loved him.

[00:15:45] I mean, I, I first saw him back in a show called home front in the early nineties where he was young back then. He was like 20 years old or something about, um, soldiers coming home from world war two. But Friday night lights is his standout thing for me anyway. Coach Taylor. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. He, Friday night lights is a great show. Um, it is, it's a great show. And he, he kind of in, in the pantheon of Jim Pete, like he's, he's one of those actors

[00:16:15] that if he's attached to it, you got a pantheon. How do you get one of those? I want one of those. You just proclaim it. You just proclaim it. But he was in, he was in bloodline, which is a really interesting show, um, where he plays a character very not like his character and Friday night lights and the, the, the, the variants of characters that he plays. And I'd forgotten about home front, a great show.

[00:16:41] And then he was in early edition to kind of a, a lighthearted kind of serial. Wait, that was where he would read the newspaper and it would have the next day's news or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. He would get the newspaper, um, the day before. Right. Uh, so he's just been in a lot of really. Things are happening. Yeah. I, I initially, I was initially nervous about his selection. Um, I. As how, how. Yeah.

[00:17:06] And mainly cause he didn't quite fit the part in my mind in terms of personality and look. But, uh, after watching the previews, um, trailers, I think he's, I think he's wonderful. Yeah. He's cocky and yeah, that's all you need really for how Jordan. Well, cocky. And I, I think he multiple F bombs in the trailer. Yeah. He's kind of a grumpy grizzle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:34] He's having to train his successor and, and is, um, not happy about it. Well, I, I don't know if this is a spoiler. If I, if it is, then I won't, I won't talk about it, but in the wiki, there's a slight description about what they're doing a little differently with the new, you know, the new recruit. Um, can I go through that? Yeah. Go for it. Yeah. I think it's okay. Um, whatever they have in the wiki should be fine. Right.

[00:17:59] So, so Stuart is considered an anomaly, I guess, because he's the, going to be the first green lantern in the core history to have been recruited by the guardians of the universe. I assume that's the guys on Oa, right? The little blue guys. Instead of being chosen by the power, by a power ring, which is the customary way that it's done. And I think that's interesting because it sets up a, like, why, you know what I mean? Why, why did they do that?

[00:18:29] Why did they break this tradition, this forever tradition of letting the ring choose the right person? Oh, also what it does, because when you have the ring going around choosing people, you think, okay, this magic ring knows just the right person. But then you think, oh wait, but this guy got chosen a different way. So he's going to have to prove himself. He's not automatically just, you know, known to be worthy or whatever. Yeah.

[00:18:55] I think it also, it, it, it makes me wonder if there's going to be conflict between Hal Jordan and the, the guardians. The guardians. Yeah. And that this is kind of their effort to go around the ring choice and make their own choice because they don't trust his choice or something like that. I don't know. I just thought it was an interesting dynamic that, that I don't believe has ever been done in the book. I don't remember that. Yeah.

[00:19:24] Not the books that I've read anyways. And, uh, you mentioned Jon Stewart. I'm surprised, uh, they would have the host of the daily show in this, but that was an interesting choice. Just kidding. Same name. Younger guy. He's played by Aaron Pierre. Jon as Jon Stewart. If you watched, uh, justice, the amazing justice league cartoon in the nineties, Jon Stewart was the green lantern of that. And, uh, he, I've never seen Aaron Pierre in anything.

[00:19:54] I guess he was in Krypton. He played the voice of Mufasa in Mufasa, the lion Kings, but he looks good. Can you imagine the real Jon Stewart with a, with a power ring? I wonder what he would do. I feel like he would just be goofing around. I don't know. He'd be pretty funny. He wouldn't be look very intimidating. Uh, Nathan. Nathan Fillion's in it too. Yeah. I thought that was interesting.

[00:20:21] I mean, he played Guy Gardner already in the Superman movie and Guy Gardner. So if I don't know if we explained this well, you read the premise, but green lanterns are this core of space cops and there are several who are from earth, but they're also a bunch from other planets, but Guy Gardner is one. And he, there was this amazing run on justice league comics where it was kind of a comedy and Guy Gardner was this total asshole, but it was great for, it was just a great run

[00:20:51] of comics. It's hard to explain why, but, um, Batman punched him in the face one time. Anyways, um, when they cast Nathan Fillion for the role, I thought it was perfect. They got to work on that wig though. That's right. The hair, man. The hair in that movie was really bad. I mean, I think they gave him that wig on per, I mean, it's such a Nathan Fillion wig.

[00:21:16] Well, I saw a clip, I guess, an interview with, um, James Gunn and he was saying that originally they were not going to do the hair in that style. And, um, because it just, they just didn't take, they pulled off. And I guess then they told Fillion, he's like, absolutely not. You know, I need the hair, the hair. And it is true. I mean, the hair is what really defines him physically. Yeah. Yeah. They just should have done a better job at it, but he needs the bowl cut. Yeah.

[00:21:45] Just grow his hair out and then cut it. Yeah. Uh, I mean, those are the most notable cast members that I noticed, but, um, what else about it? Like Jim, you started a minute ago to just talk about why you'd want to cover this, why you're interested. Well, I mean, for me, um, you know, growing up a kid in the seventies, I would, you know,

[00:22:10] the first comic book I ever bought was a green lantern, green arrow run, um, in the seventies. Uh, and so green lantern has always been, you know, he has the best powers. I, you know, he can fly, he can kind of do anything with the ring, the ring of power. And I thought, um, growing up, um, with two green, the green arrow, um, green lantern comic book run was them sort of being kind of grassrootsy kind of crossing the country.

[00:22:39] Um, getting into all these, um, really unique stories, uh, for comic books that were, you know, very, very personal based, uh, you know, I, you know, without diving into the depths of my family life, um, in a lot of ways that comic book kind of taught me life a little bit because it talked about, you know, drugs on the street and it talked about, um, and

[00:23:05] it was very unique interplay between, uh, this intergalactic Hal Jordan who had to kind of follow certain rules and then green arrow, um, two very different arrows. Yeah. But their person, their personalities and powers were very, very different. And, and so I always thought conservative or left and right, right? Like, yeah. Yeah. It was a bit more conservative green arrow. Yeah. Was. Yeah. So that Denny O'Neill, uh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:34] Who's the writer, uh, artist, uh, Neil Adams. I don't remember who the artist is. Neil Adams. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I have a ton of those comics and then, you know, I mean, you know, I, I, the super friends, you know, I love the super friends and he was such a big part of that, that cartoon. So I've always been a green, green lantern fan and, um, you know, and then of course the, the fabulous movie with Ryan Reynolds. I liked that movie. Screw you guys.

[00:24:01] I, the, the, the, the hope has always been for me would be to, to create a story for green lantern that felt to me like those seventies comics. So when I heard about this show, um, it felt very much like that to me. So, so it being kind of set Nebraska, this really unique storyline between these two

[00:24:26] characters who seem to be fighting over the ring now, um, in a sense, and, and, and, and the confines of telling this detective story, um, really fits that, that wheelhouse for me is, is, um, in storytelling because that's really kind of the story that was told in those comic books that, that I grew up with. So, so I'm really, it's the, the very, without really giving too many spoilers of the trailer, you know, there is that grassrootsiness to it.

[00:24:55] And then you see how Jordan kind of fly away and, and there's just a dichotomy to that, that I'm really looking forward to. Yeah. The dichotomy of scale. And it's interesting because one of the things, so the green lantern rings, they create these energetic constructs and it's only limited by the character, the person's imagination and willpower. And so it's super powerful.

[00:25:22] Uh, and so under lesser writers, it's not as good. You have to be a really imaginative writer to make it work, but it's interesting to pair that with a detective story where you're not just trying to defeat some enemy, but you're trying to figure something out. So then it's like, well, the, how the ring can help with that, but they have to use their brains for it, you know? Well, and in, in the midst of that story too, um, you know, figuring out the lore, like,

[00:25:50] do we, do we find out how, how Jordan becomes green lantern, you know, the story in the comics is, you know, the test pilot story, which it seems like there's kind of pieces of that, that you see in the trailer. And I'm just curious, the thing I like about Lynn, Lindelof storytelling is, is when he tells a story, there's a lot of, there's a lot of piecemealing of a story, a lot of flashbacks and a lot of little pieces that we find out along the way.

[00:26:18] Uh, and, and you mentioned the, the normal story of, you know, how Jon Stewart becomes green lantern as opposed to what they're doing here. I think there's, there's so much they're doing it in a different way, which I think leads these three storytellers to really tell a great story. So I'm just curious to see where it goes and how long they plan on it going because they're

[00:26:43] the, the way you can interplay and having Guy Gardner already be a part of the story in the Superman movie. Um, and how that plays into it, I think having these three characters, you know, in the same show is, is going to be pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, I'm a green lantern fan going back to being a kid, read a few green lantern comics with Hal Jordan, watched him on challenge of the super friends and, um, justice league.

[00:27:12] And then, um, when, um, how Jordan became evil and turned into the parallax and then died. And then this is spoilers for like 40 year old comics, but, uh, they brought it. He, I think he killed the whole green lantern course. So there was only one left. It was Kyle Rayner. He was an artist. So it was interesting to have an artist in the role because then he could make more interesting constructs. Cause he had an artist's imagination.

[00:27:38] Um, and I, I was upset that Hal Jordan was killed, but then I liked, I ended up liking Kyle Rayner and then, uh, Jeff Johns brought Hal Jordan back in this mini series called green lantern rebirth. And it was fantastic. And it really kind of recontextualized or clarified some of the mythology around green lantern because it was all about, he used to be the man without fear.

[00:28:04] He was this test pilot that could, you know, just didn't care daredevil, whatever. But then they changed it to more like, no, it's about overcoming fear and it's about using your willpower. And so only someone who had the willpower and could overcome fear could use the ring. And then the ring always had this weird impurity where it was, um, vulnerable to the color yellow.

[00:28:27] And so his, uh, nemesis was this villain Sinestro who had a yellow power ring and they changed yellow because yellow represents fear. You know, that's just sort of a metaphorical thing that's been around for a while. So they incorporated that into it. And I think just from the trailer, they're going to really have that be a part of it. Like, do you have what it takes to overcome your fear and wield this ring? Cause they keep saying over and over again, I'm not afraid in the, in the trailer. And, uh, so I, they're like incorporating some of that.

[00:28:55] It looks like Jeff Johns mini series into it, which I think is pretty cool. But then I think Jeff Johns went on, I don't know if he co-wrote or at least was a consultant on the Green Lantern movie with Ryan Reynolds. And for me, it was just a little bit too comic book nerdy and didn't bring enough. I don't know what was wrong. I haven't seen it in such a long time, but I liked it. Okay. But I don't know. It looks like they're going to actually have Sinestro in this.

[00:29:22] He's listed as a reoccurring, um, character, ruthless yet undeniably charming former Green Lantern. And that's part of it too. Cause I think he trained. Yeah. He was his mentor. Yeah. Yeah. And now how is supposed to be training this guy, but Sinestro turns into a bad guy. I hope we're not spoiling too much, but, um, well in the comics, yeah, from the comics. So that whole thing will play into all of this too.

[00:29:52] I also noticed they've, they've got a, an actor listed, Paul Ben Victor, who plays a character called Antan and is listed as an extraterrestrial who is devoted to exposing the truth and exacting vengeance against those who wronged his people and delivers his own brand of justice. So there will be some alien cosmic aspects. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Yeah. I want to see both.

[00:30:19] And I kind of like, I get the feeling that they're holding back with the information on this show. I hope so. You know? Yeah. I hope so too. Yeah. But I mean, in a way that's, um, because I feel like I'm hungry to know, wait a minute, what exactly is going on with this show? You know, in a way that I don't necessarily feel with other shows, it feels like there's some secrets. Yeah. I guess you're right. Every show does that. A little bit. Yeah.

[00:30:47] We got to talk about the fact that, I mean, Aaron Pierre, Aaron Pierre. Yeah. Jon Stewart guy. What a perfect, perfect, uh, casting for, for John Stewart. I think, um, he not only physically looks the part, but he's also, he's a really good actor and I think, uh, is riveting to watch. So I'm excited. I've only seen him in the trailer and he looked bang on to me just from that little bit.

[00:31:16] But, and, uh, he's going, my understanding is he'll be in the new Superman movie as well. Right on. That makes sense. Yeah. I, I, I saw, um, an interview with, uh, James Gunn where he said, John Stewart, like to, to him, he's the main guy, uh, in the show. So, uh, he in my head is kind of the one who's going to kind of carry on throughout this.

[00:31:43] And I, I think just, you know, with, again, I, I don't want to spoil anything, you know, for people who don't want to watch the trailer, but I think, I think that watching Aaron Pierre, John Stewart, try to find out a way to overcome whatever fear he has. Um, and I guess if you're not watching the trail, I think you can see a little bit of that in the trailer. Um, I think whatever that is, is going to be part of the mystery of this show to see if

[00:32:12] he can overcome it. So I, I, I agree. He was in, um, he was in a movie called rebel Ridge that I really liked. And he played Malcolm X in a movie too, that I thought he did a really nice shot. He's just a really good actor. I, I was super thrilled. Uh, he's the first person I heard of that was cast in this and I was really excited about that. So when Kyle Chandler, when I heard Kyle Chandler's name too, I, I, and then Jason Ritter's in this as well. And I'd love Jason Ritter. I, again, I, I just think this is cast really well.

[00:32:41] Laura Linney is in it too. Oh, cool. From that Ozark connection. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I, you know, I think, I think that they're, they're character wise, they've got the right character actors to, to pull this off, whatever, whatever it turns out to be. Yeah. Yeah. The other reason why I like it is because this is when this may be a little silly, but I've always liked things with magic rings and rings of power.

[00:33:11] I love Lord of the Rings. My aunt used to read it to me when I was a kid. Yeah. Um, I used to go through the dungeon master's guide of D and D and go right to the ring section and just read the powers and wish I had like an invisibility ring or, you know, walking across water or whatever else. Yeah. Like shoot fireballs. And then, um, I loved green lantern. So I want to get a prop ring and wear it while we podcast.

[00:33:37] Well, I, when I got my first class ring, my, my school colors were red and I wanted a green ring. So I didn't tell anybody in high school. That's why I wanted a green ring, but I didn't get one. Well now, then they went and did the whole emotional spectrum thing where there's core, core for each color. And so red means you're the anger one. Yeah. There's red, there's yellow, there's green.

[00:34:07] There's, and then they did blackest night, I think, which was the black rings, which made everyone zombies. Yeah. Yeah. And they had just killed off a bunch of heroes. So then they were all zombie Batman and zombie whoever. Oh yeah. It was so awesome. I bet that was, I bet that was fun to draw. Oh, I bet. Kirk, what was your roots with, with green lantern? Very similar to yours.

[00:34:32] Uh, I'd say in the seventies, uh, uh, the comics version, cause, uh, my brother had collected those and, um, I got to see those and those covers for those books grabbed me because of Neil Adams work, which was real realistic, you know, very not funny. Not photo realistic, but just anatomically they, they looked like movie posters, you know?

[00:34:57] And, um, and I think also politically at the time it was, you know, the end of the sixties, early seventies and a lot of civil rights issues were still hot and, um, sadly coming back. Um, but, uh, you know, it was cool. The, the, the idea of, you know, I black green lantern was pretty controversial at that time. And I was excited by the fact that they were doing that. Yeah. That was, that was early in this. That was like 70, 71. Right.

[00:35:26] When, when John Stewart became a prominent character, uh, dude, I'm old. Yeah. Well, well, I mean, I don't know that he, he, was he the first like main black superhero? No, no. Black Panther had been around and I'm sure there were DC characters. Although I don't, I don't know any off the top of my head. I was not ever a big DC fan that I would say it was the green lantern and the green arrow books where, where, um, green arrows dealing with drug addiction and, or his son,

[00:35:55] his, uh, Robbie, his, his partner or whatever it was, or I don't remember what its name was. He was, he was speed in the comics and he, he, and what I think was addicted to heroin in the comic books in the, in the seventies. Yeah. So, you know, those, the topic was also, you know, interesting and different and, and I think grabbed my attention. So that's when I kind of first got into it. The concept of the ring was always cool to me.

[00:36:23] The idea like, um, Jason, you were talking about the, the ability to, um, you know, manifest whatever you, you needed at the time. And it was only restricted by your imagination. That was kind of cool. I thought really cool. Although a lot of times I was very disappointed with what people did with it. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I think that's one thing I'm excited about. Yeah, exactly.

[00:36:48] I think these writers are, um, smart enough to figure out some things we've never seen before. And if you watch the trailer, I won't spoil it, but there's already one in there that was kind of funny. I'll put the link for the trailer in the show notes, by the way, if you want to watch it. Well, I thought the other thing that was kind of interesting was the, the one they show in the trailer, um, where he walks into a bar and someone starts shooting at him. Did you notice? Did you see that in the ring? I don't remember that. The ring like puts a blanket around him or puts him in a bubble.

[00:37:18] Automatically. Automatically. Which I thought was. That happens in the comics too, I think. Okay. Cause I wasn't. I think so. I was, I was a little thrown off by that cause I was like, there's no time. He had no time to even think about it. You know? Yeah. I could be wrong, but I feel like sometimes it'll just do that. To protect you. Yeah. It makes sense. Yeah. It makes sense. But yeah. So that was my, my background. Again, I was never a big DC fan. Um, I, I, or collector.

[00:37:45] Um, I loved Batman, but, uh, those, those books were pretty powerful and I, I, I gravitated to them and they've kind of been stuck in my head ever since those early green lanterns. That's cool. I didn't know that. It's great. I'm the same. I was much more of a Marvel kid growing up, but you know, I think we all crossed over. I'm curious as to what, what they're going to do too with, with how, because.

[00:38:15] Uh, I don't know anything, so I'm not spoiling anything, but I wonder if he's going to die in this. Um, and, and when they're focused on the fear, like you said, and they make it seem like it's Jon Stewart, who's got to come to terms with his fear. I think it's probably going to be how that has the fear. And I think it's going to be wrapped up in his whole experience with Sinestro. And now he's supposed to be training this new guy. And that's exactly what, you know, he's kind of like now the mentor and, uh, his mentor screwed him.

[00:38:44] And, uh, there's going to be some issues there, I think. And he, just from the clips, you can see that there, you know, he's, he's, he's really not into this or it doesn't seem like it seems like he's a little resistant to this concept, um, of doing this. And, uh, so, but we know, yeah. And we know that, yeah. We know that Jon Stewart is going to become the new lantern is in the Superman movie and all that stuff. So, so what's going to happen to how they're just going to have three lanterns. I don't think so.

[00:39:15] Well, we know there's, I mean, they've, they've already announced the second season of the show. So really, I didn't know that. No, I didn't know that either. That's cool. That's cool. I thought it was going to be a limited series, but I, uh, yeah, I came out of, I mean, I have a little interview bit for the news where Chris Mundy said, if we get a season two, then, you know, he has stories planned, but that was, I guess that came out before they announced it. So that's what they've, and if they've done that, then they, I mean, they clearly have

[00:39:42] seen it and feel like it's strong enough to keep going. Yeah. That's good. It's great.

[00:40:18] Okay. I just wanted to read a little bit from an interview that Chris Mundy did with entertainment weekly to give a little bit more color on it, on what it's going to be like, uh, about the rings. He said, it's the power of creativity to a certain extent. You're thinking on the fly. It's the power of whatever your brain decides will solve the thing in front of you. So we try to have fun with that. There are times where we use it as a funny thing in the middle of a situation. And then there are times where we use it practically.

[00:40:47] Sounds like he has a pretty good handle on it about it being a grounded earth-based mystery. He says, we wanted to tell an on the ground story. And that has a couple of different mysteries inside of it. We, uh, what we have going for us is that it's Green Lantern story. They can conjure anything from the ring. They do go off the planet. There's a confirmation of that. There's all these other powers that they have. We want to use everything that's great about the mythology of the Green Lanterns.

[00:41:13] But at the same time, we want it to feel like an upscale mystery, a very emotional, tangible story about these people that are in it. There was also, uh, there, if you want to read more about this article, I'll post it in the, um, show notes. But I'm just reading from a few different things. There was this quote unquote controversy when the first trailer came out because the show was called Lanterns instead of Green Lanterns. And there was no green in the trailer.

[00:41:38] And even Green Lantern or even, uh, DC writer Grant Morrison just totally like dissed it. And I'm like, come on, dude, you haven't even seen the show yet. But, well, I think it was a, I think it was a combination of that. And then also the fact that there was absolutely no use of the ring. Yeah. In the first trailer, none at all. And, and so there was no effects, no nothing, no. Right. And it's like, is this going to not have, you know what I mean?

[00:42:09] It's going to be Green Lanterns without Green Lanterns. Wasn't Morrison reacting specifically to Damon Lindelof saying green is stupid? If I remember right. Was it? I'm pretty sure that when they asked Damon Lindelof why it's just Lanterns, he said, and I, I'm pretty sure this is a quote. He said, green is stupid.

[00:42:30] And I think that Morrison, the backlash from Morrison was based on Lindelof saying that green, green was stupid, which I, I get because I, as we talked about when we were kind of pondering the name of the show, like the first thing I think of with Green Lantern is the green. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right.

[00:42:50] It says, um, legendary comic writer, Grant Morrison criticized HBO's Lanterns because they were appalled by resurfaced comments from showrunner Damon Lindelof who had dismissively stated, we all agreed that green was stupid. So now it's just Lanterns. And, um, uh, yeah, I don't like that either. And I think he was just kidding. And, um, he apologized later. There was a whole like domino effect. Yeah. So Lindelof had to publicly apologize. Like, I'm sorry, I said it.

[00:43:17] And then Nathan Fillion's like, I mean, that's ridiculous. Nathan Fillion immediately came out and said, well, I thought it was funny. And, you know, James Gunn was fine with, I don't know. It's just the whole thing. And, but honestly, I like it. I like all of it. I, I like that. I like that. He said it. I like the grand horse that got pissed. I like that. Everybody's up. I love all that. Like I, it adds to the show to me. I mean, it, it's all kind of important and kind of silly at the same time. It is. I feel the same way.

[00:43:47] I mean, another thing that's even sillier than me liking rings is another reason I like this series. And I've always liked Green Lantern is because green's my favorite color. I'm 55 years old and I have a favorite color. Okay. I mean, I'm wearing green. I'm holding up a green shoe that doesn't really show off on a podcast. I love green. And so I agree with you. I was sort of like, oh, this is silly to have a controversy over this. And also what do you mean green stupid? Come on. So anyway, Chris Mundy said it's a green.

[00:44:16] Well, they've sort of fixed that by having a trailer where they show him using the ring. So that helped. But he says it's a Green Lantern show. So there's green. The aesthetic of the show is supposed to be very grounded and real. So we're shooting practically in places. We're not heavily green screen. It's not like Day Glow in his presentation or anything. I think Green Lantern's fans will not feel like we've somehow made a brown show of their green comic at all. It's very much we're in the world. And then when we use the constructs, they're what people would expect them to be.

[00:44:44] We could have put out a trailer that was tremendously green. So the fact that people are talking about it just means to me that they're excited about the show. We have a lot of respect for the source material. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing this show. I think when people see it, it won't be a controversy. So there's your PR control. I mean, playing devil's advocate with the way that they have evolved the rings to basically cover every color in the rainbow.

[00:45:15] So it's not a horrible idea to say, well, let's focus on really the power source, which is the lantern. They charge their rings through the lantern, and that's all of them, whether they're yellow, black, red, green. So that's kind of an interesting idea that if we take the color off, we kind of cover all of the lantern rings. And that can become, you know, I don't know.

[00:45:43] But I mean, the green is associated with the cop aspect, I think. The green lantern, yeah. People forget about the lantern, I think, too. And they're clearly not forgetting about it in the show. I think that's so good. Like, the scene where Jon Stewart is walking down a street that's just been blown up, and he's, like, disheveled, and his stuff is torn and everything else, and he's carrying the lantern. That's just a really powerful, cool visual, I thought.

[00:46:14] Yeah. Yeah. And that's why we decided to call ourselves Casting Light, because lanterns cast light, and we're podcasting, and we're hopefully casting light on things for you guys. I'm bro-call. We're very literal and very mystical as well. So there you go. People always say that. Literal and metaphorical at the same time.

[00:46:39] Okay, I'm cutting in here a few days later, because Comic-Con happened, and there was a huge lantern thing, like a panel, a trailer, a big experience that made us realize that we put this podcast, we recorded this podcast a few days earlier than we should have. So we decided we should, let's talk about what happened at Comic-Con. And it might be kind of spoilery, as you heard through this podcast, we tried to be spoiler-light.

[00:47:06] So I'm adding what we're about to say about all the Comic-Con stuff to the very end. So stay tuned after we sign off here to the very end if you would like to hear that. All right, that is our show. Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

[00:47:33] Next episode in a few weeks, Lantern Season 1, Episode 1, premiering Sunday, August 16th. If you want to write in or leave us a voice message about it, you can send it to brightestday at podcastica.com. Or you can leave comments in the Podcastica Discord or in our Facebook group, where you can also chat with us and other listeners about lanterns or whatever else you're watching. Links are in the show notes. All right, that is our show.

[00:48:02] Thanks for listening. In brightest day, in blackest night. No evil shall escape our sight. Let those who worship evil's might. Beware our power. Green lanterns lights. Okay, we're back at the end. As I said, we're going to talk about the trailer that came out at Comic-Con and other stuff,

[00:48:29] the Comic-Con panel, maybe a little bit more of a spoilery discussion. Kirk is busy preparing for a convention, so he's not with us. He'll be back once we start talking about the show. But Jim and I are here. We just watched the trailer again. So what springs to mind for you? I want to say one thing. I can't believe they actually said the oath. And somehow, what's that? Kyle Chandler? Yeah. He actually makes it sound kind of cool. Yeah.

[00:48:57] Because it's usually the goofiest thing you've ever heard, like when we just said it. Well, he made it. He gave it that Star Trek quality, right? Yeah. That Shatner. He just did it. Yeah. I gave you, you know, some, I was like, the first time I saw the trailer, that's what made me want to do this, to add this on, was that, because I got chilled by it. You know, if you watch, we'll talk about the panel, our Green Lanterns do it at the panel.

[00:49:27] And that was kind of- You can mix that in if you want. It's fine. Yeah. Yeah. That was kind of a great moment too, when we had- Oh yeah. All three of them did it. Billy and Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler all doing together. Because they're the three Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan, Jon Stewart, and- Guy Gardner. Guy Gardner, yeah. Yeah. So they set the oath together at the panel. I think that seeing that, it just gives me hope.

[00:49:53] I mean, I think the overarching theme of watching that trailer, which maybe should have been the first trailer that they put out, along with the panel, I think the one thing that just strikes me is, a lot of times when you watch these panels, you can tell some are just kind of going through the motions. No, they're stoked. Oh, I mean- Yeah. Tom King was just like, wait, before I answer your question, I just want you to know, I fucking love the Green Lantern, you know?

[00:50:19] I mean, the fact that Damon Lindelof was basically silent through that whole panel. Yeah. You know, and then, but the three Green Lanterns, I mean, just absolutely. I think that Aaron Pierre, by the way, you had mentioned this, I think, when we recorded earlier in the week. Aaron Pierre is living for this role. Like he, everything that now, now I'm kind of watching it through his lens and watching that trailer.

[00:50:48] And he seems to be, I think he's the heart of the show. Yeah. This is about transferring of power from the old guard to the new guard. Right. And it's interesting. It's from a white guy to a black guy. I bet you there might be some race, ethnic background stuff in there, which is good, I think. Yeah. But he just has this, I've never seen him in anything before, but just from the trailers

[00:51:15] and the interview, he's got a sense of being, of self-possession and power and charisma and just, you know, he's, I think he's going to be awesome. You could see in the panel that he very much, when you, you mentioned the lantern piece of it, like he, he had a moment with, with Kyle Chandler where he was sort of trying to say, Hey, wait a second, I'm the green lantern.

[00:51:45] And then Nathan Fillion makes us, if you haven't seen, you know, if you're watching this after the first episode or before the first episode, make sure you watch it because Nathan Fillion is Nathan Fillion. Of course he comes roaring in, um, in hall H and, and he's got this, um, like I'm the best gardener. He had this really kind of cool t-shirt and then Aaron Pierre stands up and he's got a coat on that has green lantern stuff on it. And he's got the ring. He's got a green lantern necklace.

[00:52:14] He's got green lantern high tops on. I mean, I mean, let's go. I, I, yeah, I, I, uh, I'm all about the emotion of an, of a show. And I think that, um, they figured that part of it out. I think there's watching the trailer. Um, there's a lot of anger. There's a lot of angst. Um, there's a lot of fear. There's a lot of hero. Um, there's a lot of fun.

[00:52:41] You, you were saying that maybe they should have had this trailer first. I think I also read an interview with Damon Lindelof and he, they were asking him, why did you take this angle into it with the green lanterns? Are these space cops cosmic heroes? Why the small murder mystery? And he said something like it's to kind of introduce us to this world in a more relatable, manageable setting and then go bigger later.

[00:53:09] He said, so who knows if it goes two or three seasons, we might be getting space wars or something like that. But I think he wants, I mean, one thing that they said, uh, I think during the panel is there are two, or maybe this was also another, um, interview. I think it was the one I read in the news the other day, but it was like, they have two legacies to live up to the HBO Sunday night show and the green lantern or the comic book story. Right.

[00:53:37] And I love that because I love both those things and like superhero stuff, but I love even more the prestige TV. Sure. So this marries these two things together. And if they can manage to do that well, which I I'm pretty optimistic at this point, then I think that's pretty awesome. So, so I, all this is just to say, I think they were trying to, before they just went, look at this colorful space comic book thing.

[00:54:03] They were more like, Hey, these are real people that you're going to be interested about despite the superhero stuff. Well, and I think that's what, uh, if you look at, if you watch the first trailer versus the second trailer, uh, you watch the way that how flies in the first trailer versus what we see in the second trailer. First trailer looks very comic bookie second trailer. There's a couple of very subtle scenes of him flying that look really. I mean, I realistic would be the best way to say it.

[00:54:33] Um, you mentioned the relatability piece. And I think the thing that, that, the, the, the phrase that I remember the most from the panel, uh, they asked Aaron Pierre, you know, what, what people are going to get out of this show. And he said this, this, the almost exactly what you just said. He said, and I quote tangible relatability. Um, and I just, I, when you're describing, if you would have asked me as a kid, what a TV show

[00:55:00] would look like for the green lanterns, I don't think tangible reality would have, you know, you, you know, we're running around as kids with rings on, like pretending to throw massive punches and, um, of all the heroes, especially D well, I wouldn't say especially, but the green lantern is in some senses the most goofiest or far out. I mean, I love green lantern. He's been one of my favorites since I was a little kid, but there's street level heroes

[00:55:30] like green arrow and Batman. And then there's green lantern out in space. But, um, there, I mean, you guys talked about those Danny O'Neill, uh, I always forget the artist's name. He's one of the most famous art, Neil Adams. Neil Adams. Yeah. And I mean, that was not, you know, green lantern was around a long time before that came along, but it became a definitive take on it and it was grounded and gritty and it feels like they're going more for that in this show. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:56:00] Um, and they mentioned that, uh, somebody in the panel, I think mentioned, yeah, it was Tom King. He's one of the writers. He mentioned his love for the Neil Adams, Danny O'Neill comics. Yeah. That's big too, for Tom King coming from the comic book world too. I think the, the show runners, the writers, the, the, they come from all different places, but similar standing. Um, one comes from the comics, one comes from that prestige television that they aren't shying

[00:56:29] away from, by the way. I think, um, all of them have used that phrase. If you've watched interviews, um, they keep saying prestige television. Like they, I think these, this crew, this whole crew really feels like they're onto something special. Yeah. Yeah. And Aaron Pierre in the panel, he said it was elite level writing. They're really trying to get across that it's, it's a good story. Well-written. Yeah. Which good. I mean, I'm so, I'm so excited.

[00:56:58] Um, now speaking specific to the trailer, I think the one thing that stood out to me is they mentioned that we've had this in our text chain to this, this discussion about the, they mentioned the man hunters, which I think maybe was, uh, maybe the point of the trailer was to kind of get a couple of little Easter eggs out there. And, and, you know, we had this, I think, interesting discussion about what are we talking about? Are we talking about the man hunters, police force, androids, are we talking about Martian man hunters?

[00:57:35] Mm-hmm. I think, and again, I don't, I don't know anything. I mean, I just watched the trailer. So if you're listening to this part, there's no spoilers to this, but there's so many clues to this that make it seem like they're Martian man hunters as opposed to man hunters. Just so people who don't know anything about the lore. So if you watch the trailer, Jon says, what do you know about man hunters and houses? Where'd you hear that word?

[00:57:59] And, um, they talked about how, uh, someone said man hunters are the most dangerous beings to ever exist in the galaxy. They can take the form of any species. And John says, so it could be anyone. So I think the point they want to get across to people who don't know the lore is their enemies are shapeshifters and they can disguise themselves. So you don't know. So it's sort of one of those things, which I always liked those where you don't know if someone could be posing as someone and actually a bad guy, but, um, in the comics, the man

[00:58:28] hunters, uh, so the green lanterns are space cops. They've been given power rings by these beings called the guardians of the universe. Laura Linney plays one in this show. Uh, and the man hunters were the guardians first attempt at an intergalactic police force before the green lantern core, but they were emotionless robots. Whose motto is no man escapes the man hunters. And, um, they rebelled and they became villains. Yeah.

[00:58:54] And, uh, so there's also the Martian man hunter who is, if you know anything about justice league, the green Martian guy, who's a shapeshifter and he has a lot of other powers, but he's a single, I don't know if they call the other, um, Martians. Well, he was the last of his kind, but anyway, it does seem because the man hunters that were the green lantern villains were not shapeshifters.

[00:59:20] So maybe they're melding the two together in the DC universe or something. I mean, I think later on in the DC comics, they said that the man hunters were inspired by Martian man hunter or vice versa. I forget which, but anyway, maybe they're melding it together somehow, you know? Yeah. Well, we'll see. I mean, I think the lore of the Martian man hunter is there's white and there's green and

[00:59:47] there's a couple of little really quick snippets of a shapeshift, some, something shape shifting with a white head. You know, I mean, I don't want to dive this into like speculation, but, um, it'll be fun kind of figuring that all out. And I think the one thing, you know, we talked about the Damon Lindelof specifically. And I think the one thing that he likes to do with shows like this is he likes to play around a little bit with the lore. If you watched Watchmen, he very much did that.

[01:00:16] Um, he kept to the roots of the show, but he also incorporated some new twists. Uh, I could definitely see Lindelof like having some fun with something like that. So it'll be disappointing if he doesn't, what are you doing? Why were you on this show? Yeah. Yeah. Um, I, I guess I, what were your general thoughts on the trailer? I, I really, really thought it was great. I thought you mentioned the, they, they can shapeshift and then they did that like cut

[01:00:46] scene to like four different characters. Like, could it be you? Could it be you? We got our first Jason Ritter appearance, like in the, in the trailer. Uh, he's not really been anywhere talking about the show that I, that I've seen. I've actually seen a couple of interviews now with him in it, but, um, I thought the trailer was great. Yeah. I mean, so if you're listening to us for the first time, uh, you know, we're not really

[01:01:14] the type to go frame by frame and talk about each thing and where it comes from the comics and speculate on what it's going to mean, because I feel like that kind of steals the joy from the discovery of it once we watch it. So once we watch it, then we'll get more into that kind of stuff. But, uh, and I usually don't even watch a lot of trailers, but we're just starting this. So I figured, all right, I'll watch this one. And I thought it was awesome. And I, and I, and I, it was just great to see the setting does go out into space.

[01:01:42] And when he goes out and there's Sinestro is apparently in some space prison. Yeah. Uh, there's probably some analog to that in DC comics. Um, it might be related to where like general Zod was, but I'm not sure. Anyway, but anyway, so it seems like Hal Jordan has already a long history, right? He's probably had many battles with Sinestro and now Sinestro is being held captive, but

[01:02:09] I'm sure he'll get out at some point and become a villain for the series, probably in season two or three. That would be my guess. You know, I'm just glad to see him in it. Cause I think that's cool. It's very much, uh, as a Green Lantern fan, you want to see that. Yeah. And, and you immediately get, you know, you get the vibes of silence of the lambs. Like we have. Yeah. Um, I do, you know, they, you know, it's really happening. How I'm being replaced.

[01:02:41] Also, it was great to see Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner in the, in the trailer. And he said, he's going to send an army to put you down. And I, I don't know why, but I wondered if he was talking about Superman. That doesn't sound like Superman though, but what is he? It sounds like he, to me, it felt like he was talking about some of their hero, but who knows? I guess we don't really know. Well, yeah. And I don't know.

[01:03:07] I haven't really been following the DCU very much to know like what the plans are going forward with who's going to show up where, but I would be surprised if we didn't get a surprise or two characters involved in this, especially with James Gunn involved. Um, yeah, that, you know what? I said that about Superman, but I didn't actually think he would show up in this series, but he could, he could, he definitely, he definitely could.

[01:03:33] Um, I, I do think that, um, Guy Gardner in this show, um, I watched an interview with Tom King and Damon Lindelof and they were both kind of riffing on just having Fillion involved. And, um, they sort of made a kind of off the cuff statement that he was just, you know, kind of a trailer in the series. And they very pointedly said, oh, he's more than a trailer in the series.

[01:04:01] So, uh, we, I think are going to get some fun interplay between those three characters. Um, and who knows, I mean, could the army be more lanterns? Uh, which is what I thought when he, when he, when he was talking about that, but I, I, I don't know, we'll see different colored lanterns. Who knows? Yeah. I think they showed some clips at Comic-Con, but that wasn't in the YouTube version of the panel.

[01:04:29] They cut those out, but I read somewhere that maybe there's a suggestion that there could be some red lanterns in there, which are just another type of lantern core, but green lantern is willpower based. Red lantern is anger and they'll barf up blood all the time. And there were, there were, I counted seven stops. So there's seven clips. That's a lot of clips. Yeah, I know. I was glad at not to see him. Honestly, I'm like, good.

[01:04:59] They didn't show him. I don't want to see everything. Jeez. Um, I liked that. We saw the battery and saw them charging up the rings. Oh, that was really cool. That was so cool. Yeah. I just want one of those rings so much where we decided off. The line that we're going to have to get some replicas. I think, yeah, I think Kirk had sent a link for, for replicas within 13 seconds of you posting that idea. Right. I kind of want to see if they'll do a little bit of a better way, but there was also a

[01:05:27] big, they're really doing it up for this show. There was a big green lanterns training headquarters at Comic-Con that let fans train as lantern recruits and do an escape room or something. And I think they all got cool green lantern rings. And I've seen a couple of those up on eBay now for like $150 each. And they look pretty good. But I imagine, you know, I want to wait a little while and see who on Etsy makes the best one. Oh, you know.

[01:05:54] And I will say that everybody sitting up on the panel had not just the three green lanterns, but everybody sitting on the panel had green lantern rings. And they all flew off at the end. It was pretty cool. Yeah. It was really cool. It was amazing. Like I said, it was realistic flying. So yeah, that's awesome. The only other things I have to say about all of this, actually, we've pretty much covered it all.

[01:06:19] But I always, if you ever have like a trainer or a coworker or anything named Sinestro, just keep your eye on him. Who kind of looks a little red with a slightly width. I mean, all he had to do was start like moving his fingers along his mustache. Twirling his mustache a little bit. And I know we're not going to talk about what they're doing with the rings. I know we're not. But I will just say this.

[01:06:50] It makes me laugh. There's a lot of little things that happened with the ring in the trailers. Oh, you mean like what they're making? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're a little bit more spoilery now. So I think it's okay. What they did in the trailer. How Jordan specific. Like he's, we've got a dollar bill. So, and we've got. In a vending machine. And we've got a bottle opener to open beers. You know, I mean. Yeah.

[01:07:16] The way that was played was pretty fun because he looked like he thought, oh, this is really charming and impressive. And the woman was like, no. Nope. And what else? Oh, it was John trying to fly and he instead conjured like a little robin or something. Yeah. There was a bird. A little sparrow. That bird. Is there? I see it twice in the trailer. It's like they're later. Interesting. So I don't know. Maybe it becomes his little buddy or something. Yeah.

[01:07:45] Well, it's a living thing, which. No, it's not a living thing. It's a construct. Yeah. No, I know. But it's a bird, you know? It's weird. It's weird. It's just. Yeah. I mean, this will be so much fun to see them really get creative with what the ring makes with these guys. I think it's, it could be one of those things where as they get more and more creative and they start building their own lore, like who knows what they're going to come up with?

[01:08:15] Because there's lots of little different things that happen throughout the show or throughout the trailer that are, you know, we've got the punching stuff. We got the shield. Shield. Yeah. That's always in the comics all day. And it does seem to be a lot more thought-based as opposed to necessarily ring-based. I mean, it's all ring-based. Don't get me wrong. But the way that they come out, it's definitely different than the comics, which is kind of what I was hoping for, to be honest.

[01:08:41] I think that they do have a, being live action, they have an avenue here to do some new things, some creative things. So go to your own lore. Yeah. I'm excited. And I, you know, it's interesting because I used to really want something like this. I want a Green Lantern something. And then the Ryan Reynolds movie came out and I thought, nah, not that great.

[01:09:08] And then that part of me kind of died, I think, but it's waking back up now. So that's good. Yeah. Well, and I was still a little wary. I mean, I, I, I don't know. I didn't hate the Ryan Reynolds as much. I, there were things about it. I didn't hate it, but. I mean, I honestly, right now can't remember it, which is probably, probably says as much as you possibly could say about it. But, um, yeah, you know, it was sort of like Ben Affleck doing that Daredevil movie for,

[01:09:37] for a guy like me who loved Daredevil. And I kind of, and then they did this Green Arrow movie or the Green Lantern movie. And I was like, oh, come on. Why do they keep doing this to me? And you kind of think it goes away. And then they figure out another way to a TV show. I mean, it turned out like Daredevil was saved by TV and it, you know, perhaps the Lantern Corps will as well. Yeah.

[01:09:57] I think they're really trying to fix what a lot of people think was wrong with the Green Lantern movie, which is, it wasn't relatable. It just functioned on that geeky comic book level, but not on the prestige TV level or the good characters and great writing level, you know? So they're trying to preserve the comic book-y stuff, but add in where we actually feel something when we watch it, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

[01:10:26] Well, and that's what I want. I think hindsight, Ryan Reynolds, I think is built for certain things. And I don't know, I don't know that that was what he was built for. I mean, I think you see him. He's so Deadpool. Yeah. I mean, he is Deadpool. He is Deadpool. If, you know, you watched whatever that pizza show was called and it, you know, when we were in our mid twenties, the two guys that Pete, whatever TV show, he was Deadpool in that. Yeah.

[01:10:54] And you know, I, I used to love Deadpool in the comics when he got all snarky and meta and everything. Yeah. And they talked about making a movie and I'm like, Oh, that'd be too hard. How are you going to capture that on screen? And then he did. Yeah. And he barely seems like he has to try. And I'm like, right on dude. It's impressive. I think. Yeah. Anyway, that's Deadpool. This is Green Lantern. Yeah. I think that's pretty good. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, hope you guys enjoyed that.

[01:11:22] Hope you're as excited for the show as we are. And we will be back after episode one. Yay.