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[Xe4]

There be unmarked spoilers in this thread, don’t read below if you haven’t seen the show, and don’t want to be spoiled! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I remember when I was younger, I would watch cartoons on kidsWB, and one of my absolute favorites was Teen Titans. It seemed to me that it eclipsed other cartoons in a great many ways, from great action sequences, to amazing character interaction, and fantastic villains. I never caught the entire series, just quite a number of select episodes, but from what I saw, I loved it.

Recently, I finally got around to watching the entire series, the movie, and the lost episode. I confirmed the suspicion that I had about the show, which is that it is amazing. That’s not to end of t say it’s perfect, so I suppose I should list some of the faults I found of the show, along with some of the things it does great.

Some Pros
Character Interaction
This is probably the biggest reason anyone watches the show; it’s just fun to watch Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven interact. They are all completely different characters, and on their own would probably not be entertaining, but as a whole they work so well. My favorite character dynamic is between Raven and Beast Boy, which I think is wholly underappreciated. Despite their contrasting personalities, and the fact that they fight all the time, it is clear they both care for each other a lot. They also have some of the deepest moments in the entire series, and really bring the tone above some high school drama show.

The Season Arcs
Despite most of the episodes being monster/villain of the week type deals, I found each of the seasons to have an interesting arc featuring one of the members of the titans. In particular I found season four to be standout, with Raven struggling against her father and her inner demons being the central theme of the season. It also contains my favorite episode of the series, “Birthmark”, which I consider to be a top 20 episode from any western cartoon, period. Everything about this episode was pitch perfect, which is something I don’t say altogether too often. On the flip side, I found season three to be rather lacking, which is a shame, because there was so much of Cyborg’s character to explore, from the way society treats him, to his struggles to accept himself and what it means to be different, but it seems they only did a surface level analysis of him.

Some Cons
Really, Really Wants to be Anime
Teen Titans came at a time in the early 2000’s when many shows were trying to emulate popular anime. Some of it I didn’t mind, such as the way the fight scenes were orchestrated. Others, especially them including chibi in most episodes, became very grating. Usually, it was sporadic, but some episodes took it way, way over the top. That's not to say I dislike anime, and inspiration from different sources is great, but when said inspiration is used too frequently and voraciously, a show can loose it's identity, which I feel happened to Teen Titans a bit.

Too Many Monster/Villain of the Week Episodes
I feel like the show had some amazing season arcs, so it’s a shame it chose to ignore most of them until the end of the season, and instead focusing mainly on episodes entirely unrelated to one another. Season two was especially bad, as Terra’s betrayal would have been so much more effective if she had spent the majority of the season with the team, instead of just 3 and a quarter. Season four, and especially season five seemed to improve on this dramatically, I just wish the first three seasons were the same.

Overall, it was a great series, and it’s sad it didn’t get a sixth season focusing on Starfire, but five seasons was pretty good for old CN. The movie was ok, I suppose. It’s nice they finally actually did something with Robin and Starfire’s relationship, instead of hinting at it for the ten millionth time.

I really wish more action shows like it would come back to CN. Not that I have a problem with comedies, but they are vastly overrepresented in the current lineup. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it!

What are your thoughts of the show?

 

[Polioliolio]

Is this streaming anywhere?

I was marathoning it on youtube, but something came up and I didn't get to finish. Was around episodes 50 or so? Didn't know there was a movie..

 

[Jimnymebob]

Yeah, I really enjoyed Teen Titans. I don't think I ever caught the last season or two. I remember

Spoiler

Trigon

being in it, and I remember

Spoiler

Terra

going out of it, but nothing much past that. I may have caught the last episode though, I can't remember.

I kinda prefer Teen Titans GO!, and I definitely prefer Robin in that (Beast Boy too, although I didn't mind him that much), but the original was one of my favourite series at the time. The episode with the clay/tar looking guy stands out to me for some reason, but that may have been the first episode.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

I will never forget when the Teen Titans theme stuck in my head, and then I got to that one episode where the Japanese intro started playing.

I literally had the biggest wtf face of life.

 

[Uzumaki Goku]

I remember when I first saw the show, my reaction was: "That was... different. I'm not sure what I think." I fell in love with it over time.

 

[-sdp]

Reading the OP it seems you don't get the essence of Teen Titans and you like it for something it is not. It's a character driven show and the season arcs are second to them, if you don't like the villain of the week episodes then you don't like the actual show, they're easily some of the best episodes and many of the story arcs are rather weak. The anime influence is a big part of the show and it does a great job at it and set it apart from the DCAU which was going on at the time, it doesn't "over do it", it is doing what it is inspired by anime and it wants to show it proudly. So yeah those two are important parts of the show that you mention are the things that you don't like..

For me it was Teen Titans that got me back into cartoons when I was a teenager, I liked it because it kept things serious but also kept things extremely silly, it was a nice mix and a breath of fresh air for what I thought I had "grown" from (animation). All 5 seasons are fairly good, my least fav. season is 4 as it tried to take things too seriously but it didn't work and it had the weakest villain of the week episodes. S3's arc was also weak. I really enjoyed S5 and loved the ending, at the time this was a very controversial ending but people didn't understand that it was as the title of the episode "Things Change" but fans didn't get it.

Slade was an awesome villain and couldn't get enough of him and Red X was awesome as well too bad we'll never know who he was meant to be since the creator of the character keeps mentioning "I won't reveal who because I want to wait and see if I can actually still do it". The revival it had as super deformed shorts with DC Nation was pretty good and it caused the renewal of the comedy oriented show Teen Titans Go which I also feel is good since it keeps the spirit of the original in terms of comedy. Of course I'd love a few more serious episodes of TT but again fans missed the points, while it could get dark the show was meant to be fun and keep a balance of never getting too dark since it was a comedy action show.

 

[Shaanyboi]

I very rarely watched this when I was younger. The bad attempts at wannabe anime-isms really turned me off. After watching Teen Titans Go and how it makes fun of the cliches of this show, trying to watch this is insufferable.

 

[InfiniteBento]

One of my all time favorite animated shows ever

Seriously wish they had brought back a new season instead of that mini teen titans go nonsense

 

[SigmasonicX]

Back in the day on boards like Toon Zone, there was a lot of Teen Titans vs. Justice League rivalries, with people worrying the former would be the future of DC animation. Nowadays, people are much more accepting of the show's good qualities.

Before the show began, I remember that Cartoon Network put a Flash fighting game on their website that was decent for what it was.

Season 1 started off kind of weak, but it got better as it went on, especially when Slade got more involved. I remember how people got so hyped up when Robin told Slade that he already has a father (and Batman proceeded to never appear). Season 2 was probably the highlight of the show, with how Terra's story arc was handled; though they really should have had a "normal" episode with Terra on the team. Season 3's story arc was terrible, with Cyborg constantly getting his ass kicked and beating Brother Blood first due to his machine parts and second due to his human parts. A lot of people like season 4's story arc, but I thought the Raven story episodes were dragged out and didn't give enough attention to the other characters. Season 5's focus on other heroes didn't work well, I thought.

Overall, it was an enjoyable show.

Also, I'm convinced that the upcoming Cyborg movie is just going to be a stealth Teen Titans movie that leaves out Robin/Nightwing.

 

[Mathieran]

I don't remember many details about the show since I haven't watched it for over ten years but I remember greatly enjoying it. If it showed up on one of the streaming services I have I would definitely give it a rewatch.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

I really like the show. The blending of anime stylized direction with western comic stories was something new and cool to see. You really end up loving the 5 OG Titans the more you watch and stay with them. Slade was fucking awesome and terrifying and pretty much stole the show whenever he was around. I'm honestly surprised at how everyone but Starfire got their own season to shine in.

Madame Rouge was an underrated villain btw. Easily one of the freakiest users of elastic powers I've seen.

 

[Gravidee]

Is this coming to BD like some of the other DC shows anytime soon? Even Go came out on blu-ray before the original series...

 

[Xe4]

Is this streaming anywhere?

I was marathoning it on youtube, but something came up and I didn't get to finish. Was around episodes 50 or so? Didn't know there was a movie..

No, I only got around to watching it by renting the DVD's from my school's library.

Reading the OP it seems you don't get the essence of Teen Titans and you like it for something it is not. It's a character driven show and the season arcs are second to them, if you don't like the villain of the week episodes then you don't like the actual show, they're easily some of the best episodes and many of the story arcs are rather weak. The anime influence is a big part of the show and it does a great job at it and set it apart from the DCAU which was going on at the time, it doesn't "over do it", it is doing what it is inspired by anime and it wants to show it proudly. So yeah those two are important parts of the show that you mention are the things that you don't like..

For me it was Teen Titans that got me back into cartoons when I was a teenager, I liked it because it kept things serious but also kept things extremely silly, it was a nice mix and a breath of fresh air for what I thought I had "grown" from (animation). All 5 seasons are fairly good, my least fav. season is 4 as it tried to take things too seriously but it didn't work and it had the weakest villain of the week episodes. S3's arc was also weak. I really enjoyed S5 and loved the ending, at the time this was a very controversial ending but people didn't understand that it was as the title of the episode "Things Change" but fans didn't get it.

Slade was an awesome villain and couldn't get enough of him and Red X was awesome as well too bad we'll never know who he was meant to be since the creator of the character keeps mentioning "I won't reveal who because I want to wait and see if I can actually still do it". The revival it had as super deformed shorts with DC Nation was pretty good and it caused the renewal of the comedy oriented show Teen Titans Go which I also feel is good since it keeps the spirit of the original in terms of comedy. Of course I'd love a few more serious episodes of TT but again fans missed the points, while it could get dark the show was meant to be fun and keep a balance of never getting too dark since it was a comedy action show.

I don't know if there is some sort of universal "essence" of a show for someone to get or not to get. People like things for different reasons, and are free to criticize the show (or not) based on that, as long as they are willing to be criticized back.

Maybe I should have been more clear; I have no problem with the monster/villain of the week type episodes, I thought they were just too numerous in the first three seasons. In particular, I felt that the seasons would be more effective if they built up to the finale rather than ramp it up at the very end. I feel season two should have had Terra as part of the team for a longer period of time, so the betrayal was more surprising, for instance. I believe some of the cast hold this view as well.

I watch a lot of anime, and the thing that bugs me the most is chibi, so seeing that a lot in Teen Titans could be pretty annoying, especially if it was right after an intense action sequence. I'm definitely not the only one with this problem (see below) but if you like it, that's great!

I suppose people like different shows for different reasons, and I liked Teen Titans because it wasn't just comedy. It had moments that were deep, and moments that were intense. As much as I liked the comedic episodes, I don't think I would've had as positive impression as I do without the more serious stuff to balance it out. There were tons of TV comedies back in the day, Teen Titans stood out because it didn't treat kids like idiots.

I agree that the last episode was great, showing really well that even though things change, you have to move on, and there's always going to be another challenge to deal with. It was absolutely the best ending possible since the season got cut around seven episodes short.

I very rarely watched this when I was younger. The bad attempts at wannabe anime-isms really turned me off. After watching Teen Titans Go and how it makes fun of the cliches of this show, trying to watch this is insufferable.

I wasn't a big fan of the anime-isms either, but there are some really stand out episodes and arcs. You should definitely consider giving it another go, or at least the really good episodes another try : )

Back in the day on boards like Toon Zone, there was a lot of Teen Titans vs. Justice League rivalries, with people worrying the former would be the future of DC animation. Nowadays, people are much more accepting of the show's good qualities.

Before the show began, I remember that Cartoon Network put a Flash fighting game on their website that was decent for what it was.

Season 1 started off kind of weak, but it got better as it went on, especially when Slade got more involved. I remember how people got so hyped up when Robin told Slade that he already has a father (and Batman proceeded to never appear). Season 2 was probably the highlight of the show, with how Terra's story arc was handled; though they really should have had a "normal" episode with Terra on the team. Season 3's story arc was terrible, with Cyborg constantly getting his ass kicked and beating Brother Blood first due to his machine parts and second due to his human parts. A lot of people like season 4's story arc, but I thought the Raven story episodes were dragged out and didn't give enough attention to the other characters. Season 5's focus on other heroes didn't work well, I thought.

Overall, it was an enjoyable show.

Also, I'm convinced that the upcoming Cyborg movie is just going to be a stealth Teen Titans movie that leaves out Robin/Nightwing.

Haha, I remember playing that flash game. It was awesome to me as a kid, although I'm sure it's not as good as I remember.

My favorite season was four, because it was the one that seemed to have me on edge every episode wondering if this was going to be one where shit went down again. Add that to me loving Raven's arc and it's conclusion, it was my favorite season for sure. I'd put season two right behind it, wishing as you did, that they showed Terra a bit more. Luckily, her arc is so amazing (and Ashley Johnson portrayed her sooo well) it makes up for her not being in many episodes.

I agree season three's arc was trash, although it did have some great episodes.

Is this coming to BD like some of the other DC shows anytime soon? Even Go came out on blu-ray before the original series...

Not that I know of : ( I think Go came out on Blu-Ray because it's a newer show. I'm sure if the OG Teen Titans premiered today, it would get its own blu-ray release.