Summary: Following a mix-up at the
dry cleaners, Duck Dodgers gains the powers of a Green Lantern. Hilarity
ensues as he abuses his new powers, but he is quickly drawn into a plot to
destroy the Corps.
GLC
Roll Call:
Amanita, Arisia, Bivvix, Boodikka, Breeon, Chaselon, Ch'p,
Cimfet Tau, Gailus-Zed, Green Lambkin, The Green Lantern of Aeros, The Green
Lantern of Penelo, The Green Lantern of Rojira, The Green Man, Guy Gardner,
G'nort, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Katma Tui, Kilowog, Kwo Varrikk, Larvox,
Medphyl, Olapet, Oliversity, Salakk, Tomar-Re,
etc.
Featured Character:
Duck Dodgers
Villain:
Sinestro
Cartoon Network on "The Green Loontern": "Due to a mistake at the dry cleaners, Dodgers gets a Green Lantern uniform instead of his own. Donning the garment, mask, and ring, Dodgers gains full Green Lantern powers [...and] must twart the wicked Sinestro's plan to usurp the combined power of the Green Lantern Corps (courtesy of Cartoon Network)."
Spike Brandt on a Green Lantern
series: “[Tony Cervone and I]
had done a development of Green Lantern
and had all these designs for a slightly more cartoony animated Green
Lantern show. So [when we
started the Duck Dodgers series], we were like ‘Wow!
We should use these (courtesy
of Starlog Magazine)!’”
Tony Cervone on a Green Lantern
series: “Since all the work was
done, we had to use it.
Our original Green Lantern Corps idea was going to be a young Kyle Rayner
being trained by Kilowog. It was a
cool idea. Who knows, it may be a
cool idea in the future. [However],
as far as Duck Dodgers is concerned, we’ve done Green Lantern (courtesy
of Starlog Magazine).”
Paul Dini on "The Green Loontern"
#1: “One of the ideas we came up
with early [in the development of Duck Dodgers] was, ‘Wouldn’t it be
funny if we put Dodgers in a situation where he has to join a group of
intergalactic peacekeepers like the Jedi Knights or the Green Lantern
Corps…and then he [completely] destroys the organization?’
“We did this episode with
Dodgers picking up the wrong green uniform at the cleaners, [and] lo and behold,
it belongs to Hal
Paul Dini on "The Green Loontern"
#2: “Daffy accidentally finds
himself in possession of a legendary superhero’s ring and becomes the new
Green Lantern of Earth. Doing a
cameo voice-over turn is Clerks director Kevin Smith as everyone's
favorite Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.
"When Spike Brandt, Tony
Cervone, Tom Minton, and I were thinking up stories for the first season of Duck
Dodgers, it dawned on us that it would be fun to have Dodgers mistakenly
join a group of space-going heroes like the Jedi Knights or the Green Lantern
Corps. Spike, Tony, and I had
already done an animation development on the Green Lantern Corps a few months
before, so the models were already done. Though
the characters were a bit more cartoony in design than those on Justice
League or even Teen Titans, the tone of the show was going to be fun,
straight-forward adventure, and we always regretted that the Green Lantern show
did not move forward into full production. We
pitched our Duck Dodgers / Green Lantern crossover story to Paul
Levitz at DC who was very amused and gave us his thumbs up. We
thought Green Lantern would be the natural one to team up with Dodgers, as he's
the hero that fits best into the futuristic space theme of Dodgers' series.
"Dodgers doesn't really
have any powers—except maybe super-ego—so having an all-powerful Green
Lantern ring is certainly a boost for that. During
the course of the adventure Dodgers meets up with just about everyone who has
ever been a member of the Corps, so long-time Green Lantern fans will have a
field day spotting characters like Kilowog, Katma Tui, Tomar Re, etc (courtesy
of The Pulse).”
Tony Cervone on "The Green
Loontern": “We talked to DC
about doing the crossover and they asked which Green Lantern we wanted to use
and we said, 'All of them.' So
everyone is in it. It's going to be
a freeze-frame show because we did go crazy with this stuff (courtesy of
[website name removed]).”
Images
Duck Dodgers Image | Hal Jordan Image #1 | Hal Jordan Image #2
Boodikka Image | Ch'p Image | Guy Gardner Image
Katma Tui Image | Kilowog Image
Tomar-Re Image | Sinestro Image | Sinestro Attack Drone Image
Commentary
"Join forces with me, or be obliterated."
"Okay."
"Don't be such a sanctimonious fool! You don't realize the—did you say okay?"
"Yeah, sounds good to me. Ground floor of the new cosmic order, baby."
"Really?"
"Whoa, wait! You had the whole 'hero / villain seduction' speech worked up, didn't ya?"
"Uh...no, no, no, no—well, maybe a little, heh. You see, most heroes aren't so easily swayed."
An exchange between Sinestro and Duck Dodgers from "The Green Loontern"
Rather
than mimic their appearances on Justice League, the creative team of Duck
Dodgers took the opportunity to pay homage to some of the wilder elements of
the Green Lantern Corps mythos. Against
the backdrop of the Looney Tunes style, some of the more absurd-looking Green
Lanterns (Chaselon, Ch’p, Medphyl, even Green Lambkin from DC’s Captain
Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew series) seemed perfectly plausible standing
next to Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. In
addition, the Lanterns indulged in some of the more cartoonish applications of
the power ring—including generating giant baseball gloves, alarm clocks,
mallets, and explosive walnuts—which delighted some fans who applauded their
“proper” use of the Green Lantern power.
As for the individual characters, different voice actors were used to portray the Duck Dodgers versions of the guest stars (John DiMaggio replacing Dennis Haysbert as Kilowog, Tara Strong replacing Kim Mai Guest as Katma Tui, and John DeLancie replacing Ted Levine as Sinestro) but, considering that this episode takes place outside of League continuity, this is noteworthy only as trivia. Also worth noting is that the designs for Sinestro and Hal Jordan pay homage to the designs used on the Superfriends series, and that Katma Tui and Ch'p resembled—both in terms of appearance and characterization—Jayna and Gleek from the Wonder Twins, respectively.
Finally, through the interviews offered about the episode, it has been revealed that these character designs originated as part of a failed attempt to sell a Green Lantern series to the network. Of course, it is a relief that the series didn’t sell, as the existence of the show would have tied up the rights to the Green Lantern character (ensuring that John Stewart wouldn’t be available for the Justice League series), but it serves as a reminder that for every animated DC Universe series that makes it to the air, there are several that don’t make it past the drawing boards. Thus, the Green Lantern series proposal joins other proposed pilots for Robin, Catwoman, Shazam, Lobo, Impulse, Supergirl, and the Legion of Superheroes in the slush pile of television history.
Images courtesy of The
World’s Finest, Cartoon Network,
and
