Teen Titans is an American TV show based on the DC Comics characters of the same name, that premiered on Cartoon Network and The WB in 2003. It is based primarily on the run of stories by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez in the early 1980s New Teen Titans comic book series. The show was created by Glen Murakami, developed by David Slack, and produced by Warner Bros. Animation.
The series premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003 with the episode "Divide and Conquer," and the final half-hour episode "Things Change" aired on January 16, 2006, with the film Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo serving as the series finale. A comic book series, Teen Titans Go! (2003â€"2008), was based on the TV series.
On June 8, 2012, it was announced that the series would be revived as a comedy series entitled Teen Titans Go!, which later premiered on April 23, 2013. It had aired reruns on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang, but as of June 2014, the show has not appeared on the channel.
Premise
Characters
Teen Titans centers around the five main members of the superhero team: Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven and their leader Robin. They are situated in Titans Tower, a large T-shaped structure featuring living quarters as well as a command centre and variety of training facilities, on an island just offshore from a fictional West Coast city (identified as "Jump City" in the Teen Titans Go! comic series as well as the Teen Titans Go! TV series and the movie, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo).
The team deals with all manner of criminal activity and threats to the city, while dealing with their own struggles with adolescence, their mutual friendships, and their limitations. Slade, their main enemy, is a newly designed version of the DC villain Deathstroke. The team encounters several allies throughout the series; including Aqualad in the first season; Terra in the second season (who is integral to that season's story arc), as well as Speedy, Hotspot and Wildebeest; Bumblebee and Más y Menos in the third season (who join Aqualad and Speedy to form 'Titans East') and numerous other heroes adapted from the DC universe in the fifth season to aid in the battle against the Brotherhood of Evil.
- Robin (Scott Menville): The leader of the Teen Titans. He has great leadership skills that makes him a natural leader and leads the team well. He is the only Titans member who doesn't have any powers, but instead has amazing fighting skills and many gadgets that help him in battle. Robin also has secret romantic feelings for Starfire (which are obvious to everyone, including the villains) since the day they met; at the end of the movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo they admit their feelings for each other, and become an official couple.
- Starfire (Hynden Walch): An alien princess from the planet Tamaran. She's bubbly, curious and a funny girl. She is often oblivious to the ways things are done on Earth. She also harbors romantic feelings for Robin which are kept secret (even though they are obvious to everyone) and at the end of the movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo they admit their feelings for each other and finally become a couple.
- Cyborg (Khary Payton): A half human, half robot; also a mechanical and technological super-genius. His "system" (body) operates the security systems of the Titans' home, and he provides upkeep for their vehicles and appliances. He goofs around with Beast Boy and has an enormous appetite in spite of his intellect.
- Raven (Tara Strong): A girl from the parallel world, Azarath, who holds immense dark energy and psionic abilities that is triggered and strengthened by her own feelings and emotions. This is why she is almost always stoic and monotone. Her father, Trigon, is a demon lord.
- Beast Boy (Greg Cipes): He is the ditzy, good-natured prankster of the group. Originally a member of the superhero team the Doom Patrol. According to the DC comics, he was bitten by a green monkey as a child, which infected him with his color and the ability to shapeshift into all species of animals; including extraterrestrial ones. He eventually developed the uncontrollable ability to transform into a ferocious and violent werewolf-like form. He is also a vegetarian.
- Terra (Ashley Johnson): A girl with tremendous power to control the earth. She joined the Titans as the 6th member in the second season lacking control over her powers. She has a romantic relationship with Beast Boy. She betrayed the Titans in the second season by Slade tempting her with control over her powers but later redeems herself by stopping a volcano she started which resulted in her sad fate that turned her into stone. She returns later only to have no recollection of her memory.
Unlike most other superhero television series, the Teen Titans characters maintain their superhero identities at all times, with any hints at the concept of an alter ego or secret identity rarely explored. Traditionally, in the comics, the characters Raven, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Terra don't have secret identities (Starfire being a translation of her Tamaranean birth name, Cyborg's real name being public knowledge, Beast Boy's natural appearance being a dead giveaway, and Raven & Terra simply not taking another identity).
In particular, some fans debated which Robin leads the Teen Titans, with several hints throughout the series suggesting it is Dick Grayson. These include Robin's alternate dimensional counterpart Larry in the episode "Fractured" being named Nosyarg Kcid ("Dick Grayson" spelled backwards), Robin's future counterpart in the episode "How Long Is Forever?" having taken on the identity of Nightwing (Grayson's identity in the DC continuity), and a glimpse into Robin's consciousness by Raven in the episode "Haunted" showing the memory of two acrobats falling from a trapeze (the death of Grayson's acrobat parents being the catalyst for him becoming Robin). Further connections to the Batman mythos include two references in the episode "The Apprentice, Pt. II", when Robin responds to a suggestion by the villain Slade that he "might be like a father to [him]" with "I already have a father" (which transitions to a shot of flying bats) and a fight scene on the rooftop of a building labeled Wayne Enterprises.
It was really important to me that little kids watching it could identify with characters. And I thought that the minute you start giving them secret identities then kids couldn't project themselves onto the characters anymore. And that was important to me. I know it's kind of important to have secret identities and stuff like that but we wanted everything to be really, really, iconic. Like, "Oh, there's the robot guy. There's the alien girl. There's the witch girl. There's the shape-changing boy." There's the we [sic] just wanted it really clean like that. We wanted it like old Star Trek. We just wanted it simple...
...And the whole "Who's Robin?" controversy is really kind of interesting to me. My big concern is just trying to make Robin cool. And just really set Robin apart from Batman. So if it seems like I'm avoiding the question, I sort of am. Because I don't think it's really important. My concern is how do I make Robin a really strong lead character without all that other stuff. And I feel that way about all the characters. How can I keep all the characters really iconic and really clean.
The policy of not mentioning the characters' secret identities is broken in the fifth season, where the Doom Patrol members refer to Beast Boy by his real name, Garfield (though the Titans still continue to call him Beast Boy). In "Go", the Titans ask Beast Boy about his mask and he states it hides his true identity, though Raven points out that with green skin, pointed ears, and fangs, he "has no secret to hide".
Style
Teen Titans frequently used self-referential humor and its animation style is heavily influenced by anime. Along with its heavy anime influence, the animation also has signs of past DC cartoon styles seen by Glen Murakami, and previously Bruce Timm. While certain aspects of all characters are changed to accommodate a lighter hearted anime style, different aspects can be compared to earlier shows such as Batman Beyond or Justice League, and bear resemblance.
On different episodes, the series' theme song's lyrics alternate between English and Japanese, sung by the J-pop duo Puffy (called "Puffy AmiYumi" in the United States to distinguish it from Sean Combs). Voice director Andrea Romano revealed in an easter egg on the season 3 DVD that the Japanese theme song means it will be a silly episode, while the English theme song means it will be a serious episode (except "Nevermore" and "Every Dog Has His Day").
Episodes
Each season contains a distinct story arc that is centric to a specific Titan on the team. The only Titan not to receive a story arc is Starfire, though individual episodes centered on her appear throughout all five seasons.
Cancellation
In mid-November 2005, TitansTower.com reported that prospects for a sixth season were looking extremely unlikely, and fans were urged to express their support for the show to Cartoon Network. Several days after this initial posting, word came that Cartoon Network had officially terminated the show. According to Wil Wheaton, the actor who provided the voice of Aqualad, the series was terminated by new Warner Bros. Feature Animation executives who made the decision not to renew the series based on its sixth season pitch. Wheaton's story was contradicted by series story editor Rob Hoegee, who stated that the decision came from Cartoon Network, not WB, and that there were never any plans for a sixth season.
After the series finale, Warner Bros. Animation announced a feature called Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo. The film premiered at San Diego Comic-Con International and was shown on Cartoon Network first on September 15, 2006, aired on The WB on September 16, 2006, and finally released on DVD on February 6, 2007.
Towards the end of 2011, Internet rumors speculated that a sixth season of the show was in the works. Such rumors were based on reports that Greg Cipes, the voice of Beast Boy on the show, had stated that work on a new season was underway and that a live action Teen Titans film was planned for release at the end of 2012. Around 2012, Derrick Wyatt (animation designer of the series) also stated the next arc would feature the Titans setting up International Towers, and battling the monster from the Season 5 Finale. On June 11, 2013; Derrick Wyatt said there will only be a Season 6 if the crew came back, but the crew have decided to come back for another season if fans can help and try to show support.
DC Nation shorts and revival
The series was revisited as a series of new shorts in 2012 for the DC Nation programming block on Cartoon Network. Dubbed New Teen Titans, the shorts began airing on March 3, 2012. The shorts featured the Titans in chibi form, with the principal cast members of the original series returning.
Teen Titans Go! was announced as a spinoff but not related whatsoever to both the Teen Titans series, and the New Teen Titans shorts. The series premiered on April 23, 2013.
Impact on DC continuity
Teen Titans has never been established to be a part of the larger DC animated universe or The Batman animated series. Series producer Bruce Timm stated the series would not cross over with Justice League Unlimited. The character Speedy, who first appeared in the episode "Winner Take All", later appeared in Justice League Unlimited with the same costume design and voice actor (Mike Erwin) as the Teen Titans incarnation (though he is older in appearance). Kid Flash was voiced by Michael Rosenbaum in his appearances in the show, who was the same actor who voiced the Flash in Justice League Unlimited. The follow-up series, Teen Titans Go!, will feature an appearance by Batman voiced by Kevin Conroy. Both Batman and Alfred Pennyworth appear in DC Nation's New Teen Titans "Red X Unmasked."
Much like X-Men: Evolution and Batman: the Animated Series, the series has had an impact on the comics that initially inspired it, including: Beast Boy adopting the series' purple and black outfit during DC's "52" storyline and later appearing with the pointed ears and fanged teeth originated by the series, future Cyborg having the same armor pattern of his animated counterpart in the Titans Tomorrow storyline, Raven adapting her animated counterpart's costume design in the "One Year Later" storyline, the characters Más Y Menos making appearances in 52 and the Final Crisis limited series, the character Joto was renamed "Hotspot" during 52 to match his cartoon counterpart, and the villain Cinderblock appearing in a fight with the most recent comic incarnation of the Titans.
Media
Comics
Toys
Bandai released a line of action figures based on the Teen Titans animated series. The line included 1.5 inch "Comic Book Hero" mini figures, 3.5 inch action figures (including "Teen Titans Launch Tower Playset", "Teen Titans Command Center", "Battling Machines", "T-Vehicles", "T-Sub Deluxe Vehicles"), 5 inch action figures, 6.5 inch plush Super-D Toys, and 10 inch figures. Amongst the characters included in the line were the main members of the Teen Titans, Titans East, and various allies and villains.
Reception
Early into the series' run, Executive Producer and Cartoon Network V.P. Sam Register responded to criticism regarding the style of the show with a statement slightly contradicting Murakami's statement about wanting Robin to "be cool" with his metal-tipped boots:
Justice League is awesome and Samurai Jack is awesome and we buy a lot of anime shows that are great, but those shows really are directed more towards the nine to fourteen age group, and the six and seven and eight-year-olds were not gelling with the Justice League and some of the more of the fanboy shows...The main mission was making a good superhero show for kids. Now if the fanboys happen to like the Teen Titans also, that's great, but that was not our mission.
However, while the series' creators initially stated that younger children were the intended audience for the series, Teen Titans Go! writer J. Torres notes that the progression and deeper themes of the show widened the appeal to a much broader audience:
... [The show] started out skewed a lot younger... but along the way, I think the producers discovered it was reaching a wider audience. ... [the show] got into some darker story lines, and they introduced a lot more characters, so they expanded on it, and they let the show evolve with the audience.
In 2009, Teen Titans was named the 83rd best animated series by IGN. In 2014, WatchMojo.com ranked Teen Titans as the sixth best cartoon to have gotten cancelled.
Awards and nominations
- 2005 Annie Awards
- Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production (Nominated)
- 2004 Annie Awards
- Outstanding Music in an Animated Television Production (Nominated)
- Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production (Nominated)
- 2004 Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards
- Best Sound Editing in Television Animation (Nominated)
See also
- Justice League (TV series)
- Justice League Unlimited
- Young Justice (TV series)
References
External links
- Official website
- Teen Titans at TV.com
- Teen Titans at the Internet Movie Database
- David Slack Interviews: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5