Teen Titans Go!

[hobbyfan]

I noticed there hadn't been a thread devoted to Teen Titans Go! yet, so I thought I'd start one and see where it goes.

I've only seen two episodes, which, to be frank, is all I need to know that this series isn't all that funny. It is, as Cyborg put it in "You're Fired", lamey-lamey-lame. It's a 180 degree turn from the 2003 series, which was mostly straight action-adventure with an Americanized Anime look.

Let's start with Beast Boy. He wasn't exactly the smartest kid in the room in the earlier series, but here, he's just plain oblivious. It's as if Glen Murakami and his staff didn't do their research on him at all.

The romantic dynamic between Starfire & Robin, which was developed slowly (and rightfully so) in the earlier series, is gone, and they're back to square one, which suggests that if there was any continuity to this show at all, and I haven't seen any evidence of that yet, this would be a prequel to the '03 show.

Let me talk about "You're Fired", which I just viewed On Demand. It illustrates the point I made about BB to a tee, and it shows how the producers have dumbed him down lower than the rest of the team. The auditions were a satire on "American Idol", with Cyborg in the Simon Cowell role. Now, that, buddy, is lamey-lamey-lame.

The Wonder Twins enter the picture (with Khary Payton & Tara Strong as Zan & Jayna), but you know in advance this will not last, as this is mostly fanservice for those haters on the internet who've dismissed the Twins derisively in recent years. Much as I love Jayna, and I had envisioned a hookup with BB in the books back in the day, she was royally dissed here. Honey, a better writer would've helped you out.

It would've also helped if this was a full-length episode instead of running 10-11 minutes.

Anyone want to jump in?

[RacattackForce]

I noticed there hadn't been a thread devoted to Teen Titans Go! yet, so I thought I'd start one and see where it goes.

I've only seen two episodes, which, to be frank, is all I need to know that this series isn't all that funny. It is, as Cyborg put it in "You're Fired", lamey-lamey-lame. It's a 180 degree turn from the 2003 series, which was mostly straight action-adventure with an Americanized Anime look.

...It is supposed to be a comedy series. That's the point.

Let's start with Beast Boy. He wasn't exactly the smartest kid in the room in the earlier series, but here, he's just plain oblivious. It's as if Glen Murakami and his staff didn't do their research on him at all.

Murakami has nothing to do with Teen Titans Go!, dude.

The romantic dynamic between Starfire & Robin, which was developed slowly (and rightfully so) in the earlier series, is gone, and they're back to square one, which suggests that if there was any continuity to this show at all, and I haven't seen any evidence of that yet, this would be a prequel to the '03 show.

It's supposed to be an alternate and sillier take on the characters. That's why everything is back to square one and the characters are brought down to their most basic qualities and exaggerated.

The Wonder Twins enter the picture (with Khary Payton & Tara Strong as Zan & Jayna), but you know in advance this will not last, as this is mostly fanservice for those haters on the internet who've dismissed the Twins derisively in recent years. Much as I love Jayna, and I had envisioned a hookup with BB in the books back in the day, she was royally dissed here. Honey, a better writer would've helped you out.

The Wonder Twins have always been the butt of a number of superhero jokes, so I don't know why you say "recent years". But in any case, it's a lowbrow comedy show. If you wanted a nice, nuanced look at these characters, then you wouldn't get it here.

It would've also helped if this was a full-length episode instead of running 10-11 minutes.

I personally feel that a comedy of this type wouldn't do well with 22 minute episodes. It's too fast-paced and frantic for that.

[Daikun]

It's a 180 degree turn from the 2003 series, which was mostly straight action-adventure with an Americanized Anime look.

Not really. In fact, Teen Titans was the most lighthearted DC series for its time, and this show pretty much sparked the trend for later series that wanted to get away from the "srs business" tone that other DC shows were doing at the time.

[hobbyfan]

...It is supposed to be a comedy series. That's the point.

Dude, there's no disputing that point. I'm saying it isn't funny, and I don't think the kids who are the target demo for this show will get a lot of the bad jokes here, either.

[RacattackForce]

...It is supposed to be a comedy series. That's the point.

Dude, there's no disputing that point. I'm saying it isn't funny, and I don't think the kids who are the target demo for this show will get a lot of the bad jokes here, either.

*shrug* Well, I like it.

[Silverstar]

Really, the only things I don't like about Teen Titans GO! are how the stories tend to get unnecessarily dark, the "we can ruin, injure, mutate or kill the Titans any way we dang well please and not bother trying to fix things at the end since we're just gonna hit the reset button and everything will be back to normal again by the next episode" endings and how on this show Raven has the power of deus ex machina, allowing her to be as powerful as a gag or a script calls for her to be. Other than those nitpicks, I think it's an OK show, not a great show, but how often do you see a great show?

The stories and events of TTGO! don't fit in with the previous show's continuity, but it's not supposed to. TTGO! isn't supposed to be a continuation of the previous series; the best way to view it is as a goofy, Looney Tunes-esque knockoff series inspired by the previous series.

And hobbyfan, I too get tired of the Wonder Twins always being regarded as jokes, especially Zan. In fact, I blogged about how the Twins and Aquaman get no respect here, but I wasn't expecting a serious or respectful take on the characters here. Just not that kind of show.

And RacattackForce is right: 22-minute stories just wouldn't work on TTGO! The plots are too simplistic and the pacing is too fast. It would be like trying to stretch a Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry short or an episode of Homestar Runner to a full half-hour. TTGO! would just feel padded and get boring at that length.

[Goldstar]

Teen Titans GO! isn't Teen Titans, season 6. That's the first thing to keep in mind when watching this show. It's not a continuation of the previous TT series, nor are any of the events of the previous series ever referenced on TTGO! Case in point: in the episode "Dog Hand" (I don't know if that's one of the 2 eps that you saw, hobbyfan), the Titans don't know that Trigon the Terrible is Raven's father until she tells them at the beginning of the story, and also, they act as though they're meeting Trigon for the 1st time, even though they've already done battle with him in season 4 of TT.

TTGO! should be viewed as a separate series that's not connected to TT:TAS or any of the previous DC animated series. It's basically TT meets Looney Tunes. There are no story arcs or heavy action scenes, because the series is meant to focus on what the characters do on their down time when they're not saving the world, which is an idea that I actually like. Unlike some fans, I'm cool with TTGO! being a non-canon strictly-for-laughs deal rather than picking up where TT:TAS left off.  Having said that, there are some aspects of TTGO! that don't sit right with me:

I don't like how so many of the endings are non canonical. How there will be a conflict or an irregularity and said conflict won't be resolved by the end of the episode, or how the Titans will be killed, mutilated or whatever and that's how the short ends, because the writers just hit the reset button and everything will be restored to normal by the next episode. I get that TTGO! is a zany comedy, but still, how about some feeling of consistency? "Ghost Boy" in particular didn't work for me; the Titans are flippin' super heroes, and yet Robin can die from just falling from a cliff and Cyborg's robot body can withstand the force of a laser, yet an attack from one ordinary wolf can kill him? Seriously? Even for a comedy, that's a little hard to swallow.

I don't like how Robin now gets tongue-tied and stupid around Starfire, while Star is blissfully unaware that Robin is hot for her. It's too out of character for both of them. Starfire is the over emotional one, while Robin is the rock of the team. This role reversal just seems to be another attempt to make Robin look stupid.

I don't like how Robin was made look like the loser of the team in the short "Super Robin". Robin's lack of super powers has never been a weakness for him before. What makes Robin cool is that (like his mentor Batman), he's able to hold his own and run with the Big Dogs despite his not having powers. Yet in "Super Robin", Robin is made to look like a scrub how can't even bring down a B-list villain like Mammoth without help. Plus, the ending of that short was just plain stupid.

I don't like how here Raven has the power of Deus Es Machina; her magic can do whatever is necessary for that particular story or scene. Raven is now so powerful that she can give Robin a bunch of super powers? So basically, Raven is God on this show? I know that none of this is canon, but allowing Raven to do or make anything and everything with her magic just smacks of lazy writing.

[talonmalon333]

The original Teen Titans show was an adequate superhero show. But as for Go!, I won't call it a bad show. It's just not for me.

[hobbyfan]

Really, the only things I don't like about Teen Titans GO! are how the stories tend to get unnecessarily dark, the "we can ruin, injure, mutate or kill the Titans any way we dang well please and not bother trying to fix things at the end since we're just gonna hit the reset button and everything will be back to normal again by the next episode" endings and how on this show Raven has the power of deus ex machina, allowing her to be as powerful as a gag or a script calls for her to be. Other than those nitpicks, I think it's an OK show, not a great show, but how often do you see a great show?

The stories and events of TTGO! don't fit in with the previous show's continuity, but it's not supposed to. TTGO! isn't supposed to be a continuation of the previous series; the best way to view it is as a goofy, Looney Tunes-esque knockoff series inspired by the previous series.

And hobbyfan, I too get tired of the Wonder Twins always being regarded as jokes, especially Zan. In fact, I blogged about how the Twins and Aquaman get no respect here, but I wasn't expecting a serious or respectful take on the characters here. Just not that kind of show.

And RacattackForce is right: 22-minute stories just wouldn't work on TTGO! The plots are too simplistic and the pacing is too fast. It would be like trying to stretch a Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry short or an episode of Homestar Runner to a full half-hour. TTGO! would just feel padded and get boring at that length.

I read your blog piece when it first came out a couple of weeks back. The producers are making a joke out of the Titans and other heroes just to get a rise out of folks like us. FWIW, the only other short I've seen was the abysmal "Pie Bros", the first week.

As you note, Starfire & Robin are out of character, even in correlation to the previous series. Shoot, Beast Boy was out of character in the previous series as well, but that's another story altogether.

As far as comedy is concerned, and you can relate to this, Silverstar, I wouldn't even equate this with Looney Tunes at all. That would be an insult to both franchises. They're trying to write the Titans as humanoid LT's, and it ain't working.

[Avaitor]

You know, I've been watching some of TTG! as it airs before Steven Universe, and it isn't all that bad. It can be pretty obnoxious, but at the same time, I think the humor might be a little stronger here than in the original Titans.

They definitely do play with the characters to the extreme, though. The one thing I notice in particular is how Starfire adds "the" to basically every other nouns. Examples include "I will give him the hugs", "Oh no, I hope you don't feel the sad", "The bank saves money, and they are using me, and I am the fool". I don't remember her doing that very often in the old series.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, TTG! isn't really a bad show. While it can be grating at times, I do think it has some good moments here and there, and it gets some good laughs out of me time to time as well. The characters are very exaggerated versions of old selves, but personally I don't mind. For instance, Robin is considerably different than how he used to be, but at the same time he manages to be the funniest character in the show, so hey, it works for me.

[Avaitor]

Do you know what surprises me the most? Beast Boy is the most tamed character on the show. He's still goofy, but exactly how goofy as he was in the original.

That balances out Robin's creepy one-sided feelings towards Starfire (which I'm not a fan of, personally), Cyborg's constant yelling, and Starfire's dumbing down.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Well, I'd say Beast Boy is much dumber than he was in the original. But yeah, he's definitely the closest to his original characterization among the group.

I don't like Robin's one-sided feelings towards Starfire either. I'm not sure why they even did that, since the feelings were mutual in the original. Though, I never much cared for Robin/Starfire relationship episodes in the original, so I guess not having to deal with much of those in this series is a plus.

[Avaitor]

I remember the slumber party episode, where Robin was laying how badly he wanted to kiss Starfire SO thick. That's not even funny, just creepy.

I do like it when Robin's the butt of other jokes, however. He reminds me of Numbah One from the KND pilot, when the other kids didn't take him seriously. I always kind of wish that they stuck with that in the show.

[Peanutbutter]

Teen Titans Go is okay, its just very hit-and-miss. Usually, the best episodes are the ones that directly lift stuff off the original show like Trigon being a sitcom dad (my personal favorite thing from this show), Blackfire showing up and getting Star locked in prison, and when Star and Raven went spelunking with Jinx. I just hope in future seasons it'll be more consistently funny.