Into the Abyss

"Into the Abyss" is the fourth episode of the first season of Green Lantern: The Animated Series. It aired on March 24, 2012.

Overview
Tension is high on the Interceptor as Razer is now part of the crew. When a merchant ship is being sucked into a pinhole, a tiny black hole, the three unlikely crew members are forced to work together to save the ship. Meanwhile, Aya is convinced she will become a Green Lantern, placing her system into a new robotic body.

Synopsis
As the interceptor makes its way through space, Kilowog enters the mess hall and "accidentally" bumps Razer on his way to the table. As Kilowog digs into his bowl of grubs, Razer taunts him over his eating habits and a fight breaks out until Hal breaks it up. Aya informs them that Captain Goray of the Truvedon is sending out a distress signal: he's caught in a gravimetric pinhole. Kilowog suspects a Red Lantern trap, but Razer assures him that it's not because he was the one in charge of setting such traps. Hal calls Goray and tells him to stay put while they rescue him.

When the interceptor arrives at the pinhole, Aya tries to deploy a tractor beam, but the gravitational well redirects it as well as the grappling lines that they try to shoot to the cargo ship. As the Lanterns prepare to go out and attach the cables manually, Aya wonders why their bothering to risk three lives to save one and Hal tells her that's what Green Lanterns do. They attach the cables to the cargo ship, but when Razer falls behind as they enter the ship, Kilowog ignores his distress. Hal helps Razer and they get into the ship via the airlock. As Razer goes ahead, Kilowog tells Hal that he has no interest in helping a raw recruit or a Red Lantern.

The Lanterns find Goray, who tells them that he has a cargo of eggs that are about ready to hatch. Aya confirms that the eggs are from a rare species from a now-extinct planet, but Razer doesn't care and says that they should get out. Goray agrees that they should evacuate, warning that the starboard engine is offline. Hal overrides them and tells Kilowog and Razer to get the engine online while he takes Goray to the interceptor. When they get onboard, Goray says that Hal is crazy and Hal doesn't dispute him. Aya starts to suggest a way to conserve energy aboard the cargo ship, but Hal ignores her and orders the AI to keep the interceptor out of the gravity well.

Kilowog and Razer make their way to the engine room, arguing over their differences. When Razer proceeds via a catwalk, a cargo container falls down, narrowly missing Kilowog. He blames Razer, who insists that the ship is falling apart and doesn't need any help from him. Hal returns to break up their arguing and tell them to focus on the task at hand.

On the interceptor bridge, Goray is trying to relax when the power goes out and Aya fails to answer. The ship starts to drift into the pinhole and Goray contacts Hal. Hal also gets no response from Aya and Goray panics and tries to leave. The grappling lines part and the interceptor jerks and then halts, knocking Goray unconscious. The cargo ship starts to "fall" into the pinhole, causing the Lanterns to plummet toward the rear end of the ship. Kilowog breaks their fall and they brace the hull and Hal continues to insist that they save the eggs. Kilowog tells them that he'll buy them time then flies outside, wraps cables around the cargo ship and creates a energy-jetpack to blast himself out of the gravitational field and hold the ship in position. As he tells Hal to fix the engine quickly, he warns his comrade to also keep an eye on Razer. Razer isn't convinced and tells Hal that Kilowog will die because of their pointless mission.

Despite Kilowog's efforts, the cargo ship enters the pinhole's crush zone and begins to compress. Razer is briefly trapped, but manages to get free and they fly up toward the cargo bay. However, the eggs have hatched and metallic spider-creatures are eating the power lines. Hal tries to remove them using his ring, but they appear immune to the green energy. Razer is able to blast them back with his red energy, but Hal holds him off, warning that they don't want to wipe out the rare species.

When Goray wakes up, he contacts Kilowog and informs him that Aya isn't responding. He pilots the interceptor toward Kilowog to take up the slack, since the Green Lantern's power ring is almost out of charge.

The spiders move past Hal and Razer toward the engine and the Lanterns realize that they'll have to exit the ship and proceed up the hull to bypass the creatures. The increasing gravitational pull prevents them flying or creating any constructs ahead to pull themselves up and they start climbing. Razer loses his grips and plummets toward the pinhole, but fires his ring at full power and the recoil propels him upward toward the engine room. Using the same idea, Hal fires his ring as well. They enter the engine room and seal the doors behind them just in time, only to discover that the engine is frozen over because the hatchlings ate through the heater lines.

With time running out, Hal tells Kilowog to abandon them, but the Lantern refuses to leave them. As Razer prepares to blast the creatures as they chew through the door, Hal realizes that they're not the hatchlings. They're service robots that Aya has animated by placing her own AI into them. She had them eat throw the power lines to shut down non-essential systems and conserve power, just like she tried to advise Hal earlier. The robots burrow through the door and Aya directs them into the engine, where they restart the engine.

The starboard engine swings into position, but Hal realizes that they're too close to the pinhole to escape. Hal goes to the bridge, unaware that Kilowog has passed out from the strain and is plummeting downward. Razer sees the unconscious Green Lantern and rescues him and then they get to the bridge. Hal plots a course down into the pinhole, moving perpendicular to the gravity waves. Using his piloting skills, he uses the gravitational pull to increase the ship's speed and then use the increased velocity to escape the gravitational pull.

Later, the Lanterns repair Goray's ship and bring the real hatchlings over to the interceptor and Goray promises to make sure they get to their destination. Razer and Kilowog end up eating together again and Razer points out that Kilowog was foolishly brave. Kilowog tells Razer the same and thanks him for saving his life. Hal comes in, satisfied to see his teammates working together and thanks Aya for rescuing them. However, he then points out that she disobeyed orders and they need to set some parameters for her behavior. Aya notes that she did what she had to because Hal said that Green Lanterns save lives no matter what. Kilowog realizes that she thinks she's a Green Lantern and points out that corps members can't inhabit a bunch of robot drones. With that, Aya creates a new robotic body and inserts her consciousness into it.

Cast
For full credits click here.

Heroes

 * Hal Jordan
 * Kilowog
 * Razer
 * Aya

Villains

 * Red Lantern Corps (mentioned only)

​Other characters

 * Captain Goray (only appearance)
 * Phymarians (only appearance)

​Locations

 * Frontier Space

Items

 * Green Lantern Power Ring
 * Red Lantern Power Ring

Vehicles

 * Interceptor
 * Trubadon

Quotes

 * Razer: Who cares? Only vermin and insects hatch from eggs!
 * Kilowog: I hatched from an egg.
 * Razer: My point exactly.


 * Captain Goray: I heard of you Green Lanterns. I know you're brave and all, but you're crazy to go back.
 * Hal Jordan: Brave, crazy, it's a fine line.


 * Razer: Even with the engines back online, we're past the point of no return.


 * Hal Jordan: The ship's too smal for this nonsense. I want you two to shake hands. It's an old Earth custom to show there's no hard feelings. Come on, shake hands.
 * Razer: (shakes his fist at Kilowog)
 * Kilowog: (shakes his fist at Razer)
 * Hal Jordan: (puts down their fists) Not like that!

Trivia

 * Shortly after Razer used his red energy to propel himself upward out of the pinhole, it is briefly shown that he was smiling (something he never really does).


 * Aya puts herself into a robotic body.


 * There are scenes of Razer and Kilowog eating twice.

Background

 * The earlier drafts of this episode was to be a ghost story, where an alien lifeform would infect the Interceptor.