Teen Titans
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| ♥ | This article is dedicated to Derrick J. Wyatt (August 10, 1972 – December 16, 2021), may he rest in peace. |
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Teen Titans is an animated series based on the DC comic book series of the same name that aired on Cartoon Network from 2003 to 2006.
Plot
The show focuses on the titular Teen Titans, five teenage superheroes that protect Jump City from various supervillains including the main antagonist Slade, whom Robin is obsessed with defeating.
Why It's GO! Time
- Just like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) which came out the same year, the animation is outstandingly amazing as it perfectly assembles an anime-esque art style.
- Awesome voice acting by the talents of Scott Menville, Hynden Walch, Khary Payton, Greg Cipes, and Tara Strong.
- Great and catchy soundtrack, especially the intro theme and outro theme song.
- It has a great Saturday Morning Cartoon vibe to it.
- Some episodes feature the theme song in Japanese courtesy of Puffy AmiYumi, which is very hilarious, have a listen!
- There are a lot of amazing episodes. The best way to watch them is to go from the beginning.
- All the Titans have their own personality, making them unique in their own ways:
- Robin is the main leader and the brain of the team.
- Beast Boy is a funny vegetarian comic relief.
- Cyborg is half human and half you guessed it half cyborg.
- Raven is a demon who has a bad relationship with her father Trigon.
- Each season focuses heavily on a specific Titan and their character development.
- Season One focuses on Robin and his obsession with defeating Slade.
- Season Two focused on the temporary Titan Terra, whom Beast Boy falls in love with.
- Season Three focused on Cyborg and his grudge against the H.I.V.E. leader, Brother Blood.
- Season Four focuses on Raven and her evil father, the demon lord Trigon.
- Season Five focuses on Beast Boy and his maturing into a fine hero as foes from his past resurface to destroy all young heroes.
- The feature film, Trouble in Tokyo, focuses on Starfire and her relationship with Robin as the Titans face off against a Japanese crime lord and the foe that's controlling him.
- Season Two and Season Four focused on two major Teen Titans comic arcs. Season Two is based on The Judas Contract, and Season Four is based on The Terror of Trigon.
- It sometimes tackles dark subject matters in a good way such as: Racism.
- The main characters have good chemistry which makes them unique from each other, for the most part.
- Just like the Power Ranger series, it has a perfect mix of Drama, Comedy, and Action.
- The humor is witty and hilarious as it has funny anime-styled facial expressions such as white eyes, and big heads.
- Silkie is a cute mutant caterpillar.
- There are several original villains made just for the show, such as Billy Numerous, Cinderblock, The Amazing Mumbo, Control Freak, and Red X.
- Billy Numerous, Cinderblock, and Red X would eventually make their way into the official DC Comics canon thanks to the show.
- The popularity of Raven in Teen Titans brought her so much new popularity that DC resurrected her in the comics.
- Slade is arguably one of the most terrifying villains in cartoon history, especially thanks to his manipulative nature and machinations.
- Some of the villains are rather likable, especially Jinx (who later on became a fan favorite/fan service among people), who eventually turned good in the final season.
- The show is perfectly faithful to the DC Comic Book series.
- It spawned three great games based on the show: Teen Titans 1 and 2 for the GBA and Teen Titans (video game) released for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in 2006.
- It's responsible for introducing Cheshire's now-iconic cat mask.
- Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, the TV movie is amazing.
Qualities That Should GO! Away
- The series' cancellation left a lot of things unresolved such as the true identity of Red X, who was responsible for the toxin in Slade's mask, and how Terra came back from the dead.
- This is the first TV series to make use of the annoying flash hits that trigger when someone is about to be hit.
- Out of all the main characters, Starfire never got a whole season focused on her.
- "The Beast Within" is a very mean-spirited episode with the Titans acting out of character.
- The show was made lighter than most DC Animated Universe shows (despite being set in its own universe) to be suited for a younger audience (like Static Shock) but lacked the nuance of those other adaptations as a result.
- Villains often had sympathetic motivations removed in order to not appeal to kids (a notable example being Slade, who in the comics, had a grudge against the Titans for the death of his son).
- Some episodes have more childish plots and storytelling than most, though not a huge problem.
- The last episode, "Things Change", wasn't a good series finale, due to it resolving nothing and ending the show on a cliffhanger.
- Worse still, Cartoon Network has shown zero interest in ever reviving the show, despite being announced that if the film does alright it might have a chance that the original series might get a season 6.
- Despite being amazing, Trouble in Tokyo ignores the events of "Things Change" and doesn't resolve the cliffhanger.
- The 2013 spin-off/reboot Teen Titans Go! is terrible and it's a giant middle finger to fans of the original series. It ruined the charm of the original series and is also panned by this show's fans.
- The 2019 crossover movie with Teen Titans Go! called Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, although it was positively received by critics, it wasn't well-received by fans of the original show because of the original Teen Titans being completely out of character.
Reception
Teen Titans was one of Cartoon Network's most beloved shows, with its animation style and character development being especially praised. It spawned its own comic book series, feature film, and video games. Even years after its cancellation, fans still seek a sixth season and curse the existence of Teen Titans Go! for soiling the name of this series.
Trivia
- Hidden Easter Egg: When the theme song is played in Japanese, it usually means the episode will be light-hearted.
- The theme song was sung by the Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi in both English and Japanese, who later got their own show, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.
- It spawned a comic book called Teen Titans Go! (not to be confused with the terrible TV series) which ran from 2004 to 2008 for 55 comics.
- Ciro Nieli, one of the directors for this series, would later be worked on two TV shows:
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: a Disney cartoon that was aired on Jetix block on ABC Family and Toon Disney from 2004 to 2006. The series used an anime-influenced and most of the voice actors from Teen Titans voiced some of the characters, especially Greg Cipes as Chiro, the show's main protagonist.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): a Nicktoon which was a 2012 reboot of the same name and it was aired on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons from 2012 to 2017. The series was also anime-influenced and some of the voice actors from Teen Titans voiced characters. They even have an anime-type show like this called Super Robo Mecha Force V and it contains several references and inspired characters from SRMTHFG.
- In 2023, the show's spin-off Teen Titans Go! became Cartoon Network's longest-running acquired animated series and the network's second longest-running series overall, the first being Ed, Edd n Eddy.
- The show became famous in Japan, mainly because of lots of anime-styled elements and Starfire and Jinx being somewhat of a Moe Girls.
- Just like My Life as a Teenage Robot which also aired in 2003, (at least in North America), it spawned several NSFW adult parody videos by YouTuber ZONE-SAMA, which can be found on Newgrounds and YouTube.
Videos
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