Monday, April 6, 2015

"Mr. Spock. You have the ability to overcome great fear..."

So I was pretty excited to see this come up today:

From StarTrek.com

From the official website:
"U.S.S Enterprise crew members meet Hal Jordan and the entire Green Lantern Corps Green in an adventure that spans space, time and all the colors of the spectrum. Set inStar Trek's 23rd Century, the balance of the universe will be tested when the Green Lantern Corps' Power Rings come into the possession of certain Star Trek characters while a dark and powerful evil looms around every corner. Only the combined power of the Green Lantern Corp and the Federation stand any chance of stopping those who worship evil's might."
This is one of those team-ups that always seemed like it was pretty obvious to me, and (if done right) could be a lot of fun. Green Lantern has done this sort of thing before, and probably more; that's just the one I happen to have. Star Trek has also done this sort of thing before, which lead to this awesome exchange:


... plus a sequel and a novel and heaven knows what else. A post for another day, perhaps.

As a big Star Trek fan and a big Green Lantern fan, this is a concept I've played with before. For those unfamiliar, each color represents a different part of the "emotional spectrum" created by all the sentient beings of the universe. If you've never played the "let's figure out who would be each color lantern" game, you totally should. It works for all sorts of "geek" properties, and especially well for Star Trek... although it looks like I'm going to deviate a bit from what the cover of the new crossover shows.

  • Red Lanterns -- Klingons: This one is obvious to me, anyway, although I can see why ol' Chang would be a Yellow Lantern on that cover. Sinestro is the Big Bad for Green Lantern, so they would want to choose a Big Bad from Kirk's time as captain. However, for me, the Klingons are better suited to the Rage and anger of the Red Lanterns,
  • Orange Lanterns -- Ferengi: There is no other choice for this one, c'mon. Greed, avarice, & Ferengis. Imagine a weasely Ferengi getting the ring and immediately declaring himself Grand Nagus of EVERYTHING.
  • Yellow Lanterns -- Borg: I was less certain of this one, but when it comes to creating Fear in the hearts of everyone, you can't do better than the Borg. Before Janeway started kicking them around like it wasn't even a thing, just the sight of one Borg ship was usually enough to make even a battle-hardened Starfleet commander need a change of shorts.
  • Green Lanterns -- Vulcans: The first impulse is to pick humans, because it almost always is, but really... who has more strength of will than the ever-logical Vulcans? To suppress and deny one's strongest impulses, day-in and day-out shows amazing Willpower. Plus, it's already been established:
  • Blue Lanterns -- Humans: Humanity gets to represent Hope in my little line-up. Since Star Trek itself represents hope for humanity's future, and for the galaxy itself, I think this is fitting.
  • Indigo Lanterns -- Betazoids: This one is tough. I eventually settled on Betazoids for Compassion, since we see so much of that from Deanna and Lwaxana Troi. Initially I wanted a more traditionally alien species here, in keeping with their representation in the comics, but I couldn't think of any that worked as well. Plus, having and empath as an Indigo Lantern is fitting.
  • Violet Lanterns -- Deltans: This one was also tough, but for different reasons. The Lanterns o' Love are not always treated with the most... sensitivity, let's say. Their costumes are racy and the focus on the female form is (in my opinion) not the strongest representation of women in comics. That being said, if you're going to pick a Star Trek race to focus on love... well, let me leave it to Gene Roddenberry to explain: 
"Deltans ... are a sensual race – they enjoy the sensation of feeling hunger and fulfilling appetite in every form from satisfying their palates with exquisite foods, to the caress of a warm breeze or the bite of a bitter wind, the touch of an infant's hand, and especially all the shared communications and physical sensations of acts of love."
So those are my picks for what species could match each Lantern. Of course, individual characters will be more likely to play the roles than entire races, but it's still a fun mind game to play. I look forward to nabbing the books and seeing how it works out (and if I got any right).

... in the meantime, looks like one of my new favorite blogs already touched on this. I am not surprised.

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