
That is what Puffy Amiyumi would sing for each episode and we loved it growing up. Those of us who watched Teen Titans that is. Now I am not gonna lie- I did NOT read the Teen Titan comics when I was a kid, I watched the animated series on WB kids every saturday morning or on Cartoon Network during Toonami.
A Series that took 3 years to cover five seasons, Teen Titans followed Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven- the five super teens as they protected the city from the Evil Slade and other villains. (Mad Mod, Cinderblock, Plasmus, HIVE, etc)

Now I will proclaim this- Teen Titans got me back into super heroes when I was a 13. I mean I grew up with the Batman Animated series, SpiderMan, X-Men, all the 80s-90s super heroes cartoons, but in the late 90s-early 2000’s I kinda fell out of that genre and focused more on anime. Then Teen Titans came out and BAM my Robin love came back…and my developed crush on the always ditzy yet hot as hell Starfire- YEAH I thought the red headed ditzy alien girl WAS hot….I blame her outfit.

Now seeing as each season was ABOUT 12-15 episodes a piece I’ll review season 1 today and another season at some other point. JUST BECAUSE I CAN!
Part 1- The Cast

The Titans- Robin, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy. Five random heroes (random to me any way growing up) that united to live in Titans Tower and become what I saw as a the “Teenage Justice League” (I apologize for my arrogance back then, my only real evidence of heroes was not the comics- it was the animated series for D.C Related stuff…Marvel comics were my vice not DC)
any way the main cast contained those five along with an onslaught of villains that tested each Titan’s special abilities for 13 great episodes. (ok a few were kinda lame but I loved them either way)
Robin

obviously was in charge of the group, either because he was emulating Batman and how he “unofficial ran the justice league (Financially obviously)or just because he had most of the leadership qualities hands down. He was also quite the one track minded obsessive type (cough- just like Batman)who caused his humanity as a leader to show through a lot reminding us that not ALL leaders were perfect, a lot- if not all- had flaws/weaknesses too.
Raven and Starfire-


the female sex appeal for kids/teens. Not kidding what boy didn’t love seeing Raven in her leotard or Starfire in her two piece week after week. I sure as hell loved it. Not to mention Raven was hot as the “weird chick” the purple hair, the outfit, her taste in things (mostly her room period). Then Starfire had her bubbly personality that no one could hate in the end, the ever curious nature that made guys like “hmmm cute” not to mention she was for intents- the kindess/gentle of the Titans, always asking villains to please stop as they didn’t wish to harm the opponent if they didn’t have to.
Beast Boy!!!

DAMN everyone has a beast boy in their group of friends. The immature, prankster, kinda stupid in common sense but pulls through when you really need him. Not to mention the fact he is a GREAT gamer/awesome taste in music…and is a fucking shapeshifter. I repeat- the dude can turn into ANY ANIMAL he wants…at will. My only drawback on him- was that he was a freaking vegan…dunno why but back then I found vegans weird. Plus I still find Tofu gross.
Cyborg-

Tolken black kid…calling tolken black kid…oh wait he was always black? cool, nevermind, still though- Cyborg in this series was the stereotype black kind among white friends. He didn’t turn white but he obviously felt the need to push for his brothas back in the hood. Now don’t get me wrong- Cyborg rocked. Loved his car and all- but I dunno maybe as a reviewing standpoint- he might have been a BIT too “black” for the early 2000’s, You know- just escaping political correct 90s.
Now for the baddies- (naming main ones only)
Cinderblock- kinda a throw away villain, really dumb…made of concrete and really had no development to his back story in season 1. He primarily was just a “hire” villain sent to distract/piss off/beat up the Titans. (his design was cool though)
Plasmus- DUDE!? What the fuck made this guy become a walking hazmat container. This guy seriously only is human when sleeping but when he wakes up- he goes radioactive goo bent on killing/destroying/and creeping out.
BlackFire -The naughty Starfire, the fun one, the dangerous chick that every guy had hots for but knew starfire was their true girl. Blackfire is the older sister of Starfire (kinda wondering if Fire is their last name here? O.O SOKKA STOLE THEIR LAST NAME!)
Gizmo, Jynx, Mammoth- to sum up best without screwing them out of credit where it is due. Gizmo= tech genius in ADD midget form. Jynx- Raven’s lolita cousin with pink powers of bad luck who caught Cyborgs attention (ha- black guy liking the lolita) and Mammoth- …..the dumb brick who hits things…..yeah.
Mumbo- Blue, Magician, corny, lame, kinda unable to be taken seriously. Mumbo is somehow able to do lame party magic tricks for evil and uses those tricks to be a thief, and villain. Mumbo is kinda a one trick pony. That trick is a never ending railroad mess of puns. Not kidding.
Puppet King- creepy creepy creepy. Seriously- which person thought of this villain.
Trident- One time villain but a good one, gave a reason to introduce Will Wheaton…shit I mean Aqualad lol Sorry Will, had to reveal your secret identity.
Slade-

But No really- Slade is DeathStroke (Slade Wilson from the comics)
Now on to part 2 of this seasons Review-
The Plot
The story arc episodes of the first season focus on Robin’s obsession with stopping the crime lord Slade, while enduring horrible mind games created by the villain. Robin’s conflict with Slade culminates in the season finale “Apprentice”
Over the course of 13 episodes the Titans deal with a bunch of different things not all pertaining to Slade. In fact I think it only was 6 episodes that actually had him fucking with Robin. The other six were just side missions for the Arc.
Part three and the final wrap up of this review (seeing as for a whole season of a show I feel the need to do this part)
The NITPICKING/Critique
Alright this season was a good one, it opened up for the viewers a great retelling of from what I hear- a great comic series for the younger generation of D.C heroes (and Slade) at the same time telling it in a new light. (Raven gets a leotard…not a skirt)I will say though a few things did get to me.
1- Robin is not the same- Not kidding from what I’ve gathered (if wrong I’ll change this) in the Original Teen Titans Comics; Robin was Dick Grayson. NOT Tim Drake. If this was done due to the fact that Dick was Nightwing in all the other batman animated series that were airing at the same time- I’ll get that but I just was curious to why they would change that. Seeing as Robin may be in fact symbolically the same person. The different PEOPLE behind that robin mask are extremely unique to their own devices. (Dick was the best one by far, Jason sucked, Tim was a bit too cocky for his young age.)
2- Did they have to OVERPLAY Starfire’s ditziness? I mean I get it, she is not from Earth, but seriously in the time she has been there (which I am presuming is a while now) she should have adapted to the habits, customs, behavior, etc of our cultures. Hell if it wasn’t for her explodey sneezing of doom, no one would KNOW she wasn’t form Earth.
3- Lack of really revealing some of the villains. I mean you had 13 episodes I get that- it’s probably hard to compress everything you wanted done into 13 thirty minute episodes while still being entertaining but maybe instead of many villains for the FIRST season, just have a few and have there be developments and explanations, etc. HELL Dive into Slade. Why did he pick Robin to torment? Why didn’t Robin go “yo! BATS NEED SOME HELP HERE…WHO BE THIS BIOTCH SLADE?!” kinda thing? I dunno if Teen Titans is to be taken a BIT more seriously (granted the series is QUITE comical and I love that) they should have taken the baby steps for the first season and not worried about a variety of badies to thrash.
Anyway guys that is the Teen Titans. I know reviewing a Season is not easy and I didn’t really TALK about specific episodes. I admit that I did that on purpose. Seeing as the show is as old as it is- I am presuming A LOT of you guys have either seen them all. OR just would rather I don’t spoil a good series that you possibly missed by giving the synopsis of 13 episodes, dragging this out more.
The season finale though I will quickly talk about- Apprentice parts 1 and 2.
My god, when I first watched TT- I was soo pumped for this watching the first 11 episodes, it was totally worth the wait. It revealed that Robin DID in fact have way more then a little obsession with stopping Slade, and it even revealed a few ugly truths about Robin that most of his fans probably hate being seen. I personally thought it was great to remind us that even though he is a spit fire from hell, he is still human.
SO back to what I was going to say- yeah Season 1: great opening to a great series. Amazing story line. AWESOME cast. GREAT comedy and enough action to make me happy.
I have to be honest and say my biased review of season 1- is a 9/10
my critiquing half though does say because of some minor things here and there that just can’t help but be noticed- 7/10 (mostly again too many villains not enough development of MAJOR cast)
So here it is and there it goes. Till next time. TITANS GO!
jM