# Lanterns (the green kind) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [August 17, 2026, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374 "2026-08-17T05:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/281 "2026-09-24T21:51:56Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Hal showed John in, IIRC, the second episode that hitting the ring on a flat surface somehow allowed access to an additional five percent power. Was the ring manufactured by Acme Corporation? The series is from Warner Bros. Television so it could be a callback. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/282 "2026-09-24T22:55:36Z")
I’m late to the thread (was waiting for more episodes to land before getting into it), but can someone help me understand if the tone this show is taking is comic-book intentional? Or just bad writing. The first episode (especially) grabbed me with the promise of a more grounded noir mystery. Now I’m stuck on this sniper scene. John Stewart jumps out of the back of a C-130 wearing a decidedly non-spec-ops kit – standard uniform, single backpack. They didn’t wait for good weather (I think there’s a throwaway line about this) so his chute gets damaged and he’s (potentially) severely wounded. It looks like he loses his backpack in the river (but somehow finds it again). So right off the bat, this is terrible mission planning and the fact that he survived the landing seems like pure luck. I’m willing to suspend disbelief so far but this seems like sloppy writing designed to show how tough John is. OK, so then he sets up his sniper’s nest and camps out. He camps out for NINE MONTHS. Nine. Months. He eats, during this time, “nuts and berries.” He’s a vegan, and the show suggests that he’s not eating big game (he’s not bothered by a nut and berry diet because of this). This location was so difficult to get into that they had to drop him off during a thunderstorm, so it’s not like can forage for miles. Plus he’s looking through the gun scope all the time. Nine months. 800,000+ calories. Where are these calories coming from? Why did they pick such a ridiculous timeline? This is cartoon writing. Is this comic accurate or something? Because it’s no longer a noir mystery grounded in reality. Yes, I understand it’s a story involving aliens and magic rings. I’m still going to get annoyed by being told a marine sniper survived 9 months without a reasonable food source. Just make it 9 days. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/283 "2026-09-24T23:20:53Z")
I think your expectations are wildly out of sync with how things are portrayed in ostensibly serious real life military thrillers let along a comic book show. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/284 "2026-09-24T23:42:47Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > ’m still going to get annoyed by being told a marine sniper survived 9 months without a reasonable food source. I thought the leaders said that they had information the target was going to be at the compound, so it was important to drop John right away despite the bad weather. Due to the injury and crash John didn’t get an opportunity at the target, so John stayed until the target came back. Because John has no fear, he is not afraid to stay one more day, so he never presses the recall button, showing that he is in fact an idiot. Being afraid to suffer the hardships required to complete the mission, and having the wisdom to know the mission is a failure and it’s time to abandon it are two very different things, and John doesn’t get the difference. 2026 John probably has learned the difference. Also, I thought he was eating bugs, too. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/285 "2026-09-24T23:44:39Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Being afraid to suffer the hardships required to complete the mission, and having the wisdom to know the mission is a failure and it’s time to abandon it are two very different things He was literally about to accomplish the mission when Hal showed up. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/286 "2026-09-24T23:52:27Z")
And regarding John’s mission, it could plausibly keep the involvement of the American military hidden but for Hal Jordan to fly in and bring the subject to the United States presumably caused an international incident. Plus it was contrary to Hal’s instructions as a Green Lantern. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/287 "2026-09-24T23:58:05Z")
Probably, I’m the guy who people don’t want to watch media with because I gripe about dumb stuff. But I only gripe if I’m otherwise not very entertained, and the show is starting to lose me. In any case, I suppose I could excuse some of my gripes (the uniform, equipment, etc) as budgetary or minor, but they’d have achieved the same narrative point if they’d said “9 days” instead of the laughably impossible “9 months.” I just don’t understand it, unless it’s a direct reference to a comic and the writers felt they had to include that detail even though it made no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/288 "2026-09-25T00:18:21Z")
9 days would have said nothing about John’s character. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/289 "2026-09-25T00:21:59Z")
Neither does 9 months, since it relegates his character to a wizard. You don’t think 9 days in a prone position with no food staring through a scope is impressive? No sleep, very little water? You’re tougher than most. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/290 "2026-09-25T00:24:58Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Neither does 9 months, since it relegates his character to a wizard. A) no it doesn’t. B) it’s a _comic book show_ > [@steronz](#): > > You don’t think 9 days in a prone position with no food staring through a scope is impressive? No sleep, very little water? You’re tougher than most. Not sure why you’re assuming he didn’t sleep, had little water, and stared through the scope the entire time he was there. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/291 "2026-09-25T00:27:00Z")
“You failed your mission, John.” “I watched that house for 9 straight days. I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat. If that’s not enough to prove myself to you…” Done. Dialog written. Of course, as written, he _did_ sleep, and he _did_ poop, but he also could not have come up with 800,000 calories to survive that long. I get that it’s a comic book, but in that particular comic book he’s a normal human, and normal people require calories. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/292 "2026-09-25T00:39:06Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I just don’t understand it, unless it’s a direct reference to a comic Here’s how the character was first introduced in the comics: [![](https://i.ibb.co/Z6T4ByVn/comic-excerpt-john-stewarts-first-appearance-green-lantern-v0-nfi9a98jtst91.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/Z6T4ByVn/comic-excerpt-john-stewarts-first-appearance-green-lantern-v0-nfi9a98jtst91.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/293 "2026-09-25T07:55:41Z")
OMG, a “chip on his shoulder”?! Talk about clueless. I felt sick reading that. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/294 "2026-09-25T09:43:30Z")
It is heightened because it is fiction but it’s meant to show both Jon’s tenacity and how he can rightly have a grudge against Hal which it does well. Is it realistic? I don’t know but a Japanese soldier lived for decades out in a jungle after WWII so it can be done. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/295 "2026-09-25T10:48:49Z")
Did Hal ever know about the car catching on fire? Or did he die thinking that he had just trapped John away from the fight. To me that’s the only way the diner conversation really makes sense. By leaving John stuck in the car Hal thought he was taking on both all the danger, and all the bad karma resulting from the fight. Not knowing that he effectively burned John to death, he was incapable of understanding why John is not the one person in the world he can count on to understand that he took the high road. He’s fully expecting gratitude after the fact, and confused by the anger. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/296 "2026-09-25T11:15:59Z")
The nine month thing was stupid, but it also wasn’t important - it’s not as if anything significant happened during that time. If John had said nine days or nine weeks it wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’m willing to ignore a bad line if it doesn’t have any consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/297 "2026-09-25T18:51:17Z")
Okay, yes, the idea that John Stewart camped out in the Kamchatka Peninsula for nine months while waiting for the opportunity to kill his target was implausible, especially if he maintained a vegetarian diet while doing so. But other aspects of the story also don’t stand up to scrutiny, like the Green Lantern Corp itself. My understanding (mostly from Wikipedia articles) is that there are about seven thousand Green Lanterns operating over 3,600 sectors of the universe. Except that today there are believed to be a couple trillion galaxies across the universe. So just how big is each sector? It’s implausible to imagine Hal Jordan covering just our one galaxy effectively, and yet he hardly seems to leave Earth. (It might be more plausible to imagine that the Green Lantern Corp only covers our galaxy.) In short, don’t think about it too much. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/298 "2026-09-25T19:02:27Z")
Are there even other inhabited planets in our galaxy? I figured it was all empty space for most of those sectors. I know there are plenty of aliens in the DC world, but its not Star Wars. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/299 "2026-09-25T20:53:44Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > But other aspects of the story also don’t stand up to scrutiny, like the Green Lantern Corp itself. My understanding (mostly from Wikipedia articles) is that there are about seven thousand Green Lanterns operating over 3,600 sectors of the universe. Except that today there are believed to be a couple trillion galaxies across the universe. So just how big is each sector? It’s implausible to imagine Hal Jordan covering just our one galaxy effectively, and yet he hardly seems to leave Earth. (It might be more plausible to imagine that the Green Lantern Corp only covers our galaxy.) By “the universe”, do the Guardians mean the actual universe, or the _known_ universe? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/300 "2026-09-26T03:44:06Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Are there even other inhabited planets in our galaxy? Heck, in main DC comic book continuity, there are (or were) other inhabited planet(s) in our solar system. [Martian Manhunter](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/J%27onn_J%27onzz_(Prime_Earth)) (a.k.a. J’onn J’onzz) is a member of one of several intelligent races of Mars, though most of them died in a calamity. [Mister Mind](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Mister_Mind_(New_Earth)) is a wormlike alien from Venus. There are also lots of beings (mostly humans) on the planets and moons of the solar system in the 30th/31st century continuity of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but AIUI, most of those are presumed to be the descendants of colonists from Earth, having traveled out into the solar system in the thousand years of the future. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374.md?page=16)