This is the transcript for the episode "Stranded".
Prologue[]
(Opening shot: a stretch of outer space, empty except for the myriad of stars that shine in the distance. A large space station floats slowly into view and away from the camera, followed by the speeding T-Ship-rebuilt after its run-in with that bionic squid in "Wavelength", as Earth's orbit carries it onto the screen. Cut to inside a docking bay and pull back; the Titans come in for a quick landing, and a flashlight beam plays across a dark, deserted, wrecked control panel. Cables hanging from ripped-out overhead panels, sparks crackling randomly here and there; the place appears to have been hit by a tornado.)
(The flash is in Robin's hand; he moves ahead, as does Beast Boy with one of his own.)
Robin: Looks like we've found out why communication relays from this space station have stopped.
(Starfire and Cyborg come up. She, too, has a light and fingers some of the dangling wires; he has his shoulder flash at work.)
Starfire: Everything has been destroyed.
(Cut to inside one of the damaged control panels, the camera pointing out at all five Titans. Raven is the only one without a flashlight. Cyborg leans in for a good close look at the damage.)
Cyborg: I knew it. (Pull back out of the hole.) We've got a malfunctioning bifurcating dialator. (Cut to Raven.)
Raven: Yeah. That was my first guess. (Pan ahead.)
Robin: Can you fix it? (Stop on Cyborg.)
Cyborg: (cracking his knuckles) No problem.
(He retracts both hands into the forearms and extends an impressive array of tools from each. In no time flat, he is on his back and working furiously at the circuitry.)
Cyborg: I've just gotta cross the conjoining wires with the transistor couplers, connect the oscillator to the main data port, (straightening up with his hands and makes one last hookup) and we're good to go.
Beast Boy: (to Robin) Can't he ever just speak English?
(During this line, a large shadowy form clambers along the support framework overhead, unnoticed by the Titans. As it passes o.c., the lights come on thanks to Cyborg's repair work; the other four smile and a panel winks to life while he pats it lovingly. Pan to frame him.)
Cyborg: (wipes his hands) She's purring like a kitten. Let's go.
(The rest of the team heads back toward the ship at a wave from him. Close-up of them.)
Robin: Why would somebody trash the communications station?
(A glob of liquid drops onto the hood of Raven's cloak, bringing everyone up short; pull back as they look upward.)
Raven: Not somebody.
(Pull back again to frame the thing whose silhouette climbed along the ceiling, then cut to a close-up. Thick arms, spindly legs, large stumpy body with no visible neck, deep-set eyes, hide in two different shades of brown, wide drooling mouth that made a mess of Raven's hood.)
Raven: (from o.c.) Something.
(Pull back as it looses a thundering roar that shatters all the lights and tears up the catwalk leading to the repaired communications equipment. Cyborg does his best to stand against the onslaught, but the stress proves too great for his circuits and they start to blow out. One by one, each Titan is swept off his/her feet and flung screaming across the station. Next, the control panels short out again and the wide observation windows crack as the ceiling begins to cave in. Cut to just outside them briefly, then back to the Titans as the debris stops falling. They sit up with a round of woozy groans.)
Beast Boy: What was that thing?
(Fade to black.)
OPENING THEME (sung in Japanese)
Act One[]
(Opening shot: an intact catwalk within the space station. The creature that knocked the lights back out drops onto it, ready for another round, and the Titans have gathered to face it.)
Robin: Titans! Go!
(They do so. As the beast thunders toward them, Raven creates energy platforms for Beast Boy and Cyborg to ride and sends the pair on ahead. They leap clear, at which point the platforms turn into darts that strike the monster with explosive force. In midair, Beast Boy turns into a kangaroo, which Cyborg seizes by the tail and slings to the catwalk. The changeling comes down as a triceratops and lets his horns smash into the huge brown head; just as quickly, he takes the form of an ankylosaurus and swings his clubbed tail only to have it caught. Now Cyborg's sonic cannon comes into play with a head shot, but this has no apparent effect and the beast simply hurls Beast Boy toward the big man.)
(Slipping up behind Cyborg, Raven swings out her cloak to envelop him and drops them both through the catwalk an instant before the huge green dinosaur skids in. She emerges, many times taller than normal, behind the brown behemoth and opens her arms so that Cyborg can charge from the lightless interior, but it meets his attack with a bone-rattling roar. He is driven backward into Raven, who has reverted to her normal proportions, and both tumble to the catwalk as the monster advances.)
(A rain of starbolts connects with the back and causes it to turn around angrily; now Starfire touches down and Robin moves in to back her up.)
Robin: We've gotta stop it before it screams again!
(Cut to a close-up of the running creature, mouth open for another yell, during this line. Starfire takes the lead, throwing a shot that flashes neatly down the immense throat and explodes within. The Boy Wonder leaps up to seize a hanging chain, builds up momentum with a couple of swings, and comes down to the catwalk hard enough to get a length free in his hands. A quick twirl wraps up the opening mouth like a gag, leaving the thing unable to roar and momentarily off balance against Starfire's next bombardment. However, it soon figures out which way is up and reaches the ceiling in one improbable leap. Back to Robin on the next line.)
Robin: Starfire, watch out!
(The words are barely out of his mouth before it lands and slams one meaty fist into the deck plates; she follows his advice just in time and counters with a huge eye blast. The beam slices along the length of the catwalk, scoring it but not dong any visible damage to the hunched beast in its path. Now it is good and angry, and it starts trying to swat her out of the air without success. The skirmish affords Robin a chance to jump on a support column, then push away and land on the head hard enough to drop the foe face first to the deck. Leaping away again, the young man flings three discs and scores three explosive direct hits.)
(A weak bellow is heard within the smoke as Robin touches down from his acrobatics, but when the view clears, the creature is still on its feet and starts into a fresh charge. The two Titans flee along the catwalk; Robin begins to panic upon realizing that he is about to reach the edge with nowhere to go. When he gets to the rail, he leaps over it and, with Starfire by his side, plunges into a cavernous vertical shaft directly beneath; not to be stopped by a little thing like gravity, the monstrosity drops after them.)
(Robin and Starfire continue their dive, arms and legs tucked in to gain maximum speed, and clasp each other's hand as they plummet toward the fluorescent liquid reservoir at the shaft's bottom. One mighty heave from the Tamaranean reverses the drop and carries them up past the beast, which can do nothing but watch and hit the surface like a ton of bricks. Back on the catwalk, the other three Titans lean anxiously over the rail, Beast Boy back in human form, for a long moment before the two jumpers ascend past it.)
Cyborg: Good job!
Beast Boy: Sweet!
Raven: Nice! (Robin and Starfire touch down.)
Robin: Great work, Starfire. (He thumps her shoulder; she blushes.)
Starfire: I could not have done it without your assistance.
(She returns the friendly gesture, but goes a little too far with it and ends up knocking him over; he gets up, wincing and rubbing his shoulder.)
Robin: Uh...nice arm.
Starfire: I, too, admire your abundant limb strength. (Pan to the others.)
Cyborg: Let's go... (smirks) ...unless you want to stay here goofing around with your girlfriend.
(Big sweat drop on the back of Robin's head, followed by a major-league facial tic as he tries to keep from blowing his top. Close-up of the R insignia on his tunic; a beating heart with throbbing vein superimposes itself here for a moment. Now he gasps for breath, clutching his chest, and the camera pans from one observer to the next, all with smug, knowing looks fixed on their mugs.)
Robin: (from o.c.) Okay.
(Back to him and Starfire; he is boiling mad and a vein throbs in his forehead.)
Robin: She's NOT my girlfriend!
(Those four words hit her like a telephone pole upside the head; her jaw drops and she keels over for a second. When she gets up, she has recovered some of her composure.)
Starfire: I am not your friend?
Robin: (at a total loss) Uh...
(A loud rumbling from o.c., hard enough to shake the camera, saves him from having to dig himself out of this hole. It is accompanied by the echoing scream of the monster far below. Robin rushes to the edge for a look and is greeted with the sight of the thing leaping up the walls and poles of the shaft. The chain around the head has been torn away, leaving it free to sound off.)
Starfire: I am not a girl?
Robin: Maybe this isn't the best time.
(The eruption of a patch of catwalk behind him reinforces the point. He backs away and nearly runs into her.)
Starfire: (irked) If I am not your girlfriend, then what am I?
(Realizing where she is, he whirls to face her with a classic deer-in-the-headlights stare, then turns it back toward the emerging problem. Once the monster has climbed all the way up, it lets go with a roar that sets the ceiling collapsing.)
Cyborg: She's gonna blow!
(Whether he is referring to the station, or to the now-furious Starfire behind whom flames are erupting, may never be known. Robin eyes the former, trying to think up a new gambit, but the throbbing forehead vein shows it to be a lost cause.)
Robin: Titans! Run!
(The team begins a full retreat ahead of the charging leviathan, Beast Boy turning into a cheetah to pick up a little speed. A piece of an overhead beam crashes down in Robin's path, but he vaults over it and keeps going while Cyborg punches through another fallen chunk. Now a fresh roar throws all five Titans to the deck, not far from the docked T-Ship; Robin starts to get up with a weary groan and is helped by Starfire.)
Starfire: Robin! (It closes in; Robin scrambles up.)
Robin: Get out of here!
(The Titans race for their craft. As the ceiling keeps caving in, they climb into their individual cockpits, Robin being the last one in and Beast Boy back in human form. The T-Ship turns 180 degrees to point toward the docking bay hatch, which opens to let them out as the snarling enemy approaches.)
Starfire: Robin, may I--?
Robin: Give me space!
(The engines fire up, throwing the beast backward with their exhaust, and the Titans make a very hasty exit along the tunnel leading to outer space.)
Robin: Brace yourselves!
(Perhaps taking the order a little too seriously, Beast Boy becomes an octopus and shoves all eight tentacles against the cockpit walls as a sweat drop works its way down his head. Cut to a slow pan across the exterior of the station, now disintegrating in a series of explosions, then to a long shot. The entire structure overloads and disappears in a cataclysmic blast, throwing the T-Ship toward the camera at insane velocity. Cut to a close-up of each Titan in turn; they spin out of control, Starfire screaming to boot, and we then see a slow pan through the flying debris of the station. One final explosion is heard, after which the T-Ship slowly drifts into view; hull badly damaged, engines shot, no guidance of any sort. Cut to Raven, whose face goes bright green from motion sickness as she is spun like a sock in the washing machine.)
Robin: (over the headset) Is everyone okay?
Raven: (moans and her normal color returns as spin stops) Define "okay."
(Outer space again. The bits and pieces hurtle all over the place as the T-Ship drops slowly toward an orange-tinted planet whose splotches of color make it look something like Tamaran. Something bangs into the hull, a different shape from the fragments; inside, Robin eyes his controls, turns in his seat to eye the impact site, then faces front again and finds the roaring beast hanging onto the canopy. It goes without saying now what hit them. Cut to Beast Boy, back in human form.)
Beast Boy: This thing just won't take a hint!
(The thing in question digs into the fuselage near his cockpit, throwing up a mass of sparks, and the now-operative engines carry the T-Ship on. Cut to just inside the huge, closed mouth, which opens on the next line so that the camera points straight in at Robin.)
Robin: I think we can shake it. Don't separate! (Inhales.) I repeat... (Outside; it is about to roar.) ...don't separate!
(The assault comes as expected as the craft zooms away from the camera, far enough so that he cannot be seen.)
Robin: (over headset) I repeat...
(Close-up of the Titans' insignia, which marks the borders of a four-way split screen. Throughout the following, a group of asterisks indicates a spot garbled by static.)
Robin: (over headset) ***separate! (Pull back; one of the other Titans is in each section.) I repeat, ***separate!
(One by one, the quadrants fill with static; cut to Starfire.)
Starfire: As you wish.
(She presses a button, whereupon the camera cuts to the exterior of the T-Ship. As in "Betrothed," the five sections pull apart and take off on different headings. The combination of this communications breakdown and her earlier argument with Robin have led to her bad call. Cut to an extreme close-up of her palm, pressed against the cockpit canopy; she drifts briefly away from the camera before firing her thruster. Robin's bow section floats into view, carrying one angry stowaway and one totally panicked pilot.)
Robin: NOOOOOOOOO!!
(He grips his steering yoke almost hard enough to bend it double and fights to stay in control. This piece of the T-Ship hits the atmosphere, setting up a white-hot glow around the creature's tough hide, and plunges toward the orange-dribbled planet. Only a last-ditch corkscrew throws it free to screech its way back through space; now four more bright spots descend toward the planet, marking the paths of the other Titans. Robin hurtles into the crimson clouds, wrestling with his useless controls all the while, and somehow manages to pull up just short of the ground. The change in trajectory sends him crashing through a forest of thick, leafless trees and o.c. to a final crash; cut to ground level, pointing up at him in the branches and the huge red-streaked moon above.)
(The craft has lodged itself in such a way that the canopy faces the ground. This blows free after a moment to leave Robin hanging upside down in his seat. He pulls off his headset and brings out his communicator.)
Robin: Titans, come in. Are you all right? Titans!
(He taps at the device but gets only a snarl of static. Giving it up, he undoes his harness and drops free to land on a fallen trunk. His voice takes on a lugubrious echo.)
Robin: Cyborg? Beast Boy! Raven!
(No response; he hangs his head dejectedly. Dissolve to a longer shot of him atop the tree, his cape waving in the slight breeze with no one to impress. Silence for a moment.)
Robin: STARFIRE!!
(Pull back slowly and fade to black.)
(Fade in to a stretch of the oddly tinted red sky. Tilt down after a moment to ground level, where the central portion of the T-Ship has crashed down and is smoking profusely, and zoom in/dissolve to a close-up. Recall that this is Beast Boy's seat; when the canopy blows out, it reveals him almost tied in a knot due to the impact. His foot is twisted up into his face, allowing him to sniff his own boot sole, which makes his eyes water profusely.)
Beast Boy: Ewww!
(He drops free of his harness with a yell and winds up in a heap on the ground. While sprawled out in this thoroughly undignified manner, he spies the stern section of the vessel: Cyborg's portion, smoking quietly to itself not far away. Its canopy has already gone; Beast Boy runs over to survey the wreck, but the sound of o.c. machinery draws him in another direction. Cut to a small tree or oversized bush, in whose leaves one bionic leg kicks back and forth.)
Beast Boy: Huh? Cyborg! Dude, am I glad to see--
(The leg drops out of the branches near the camera; pull back to show that the rest of him has not come along with it. A short scream of terror from Beast Boy, who picks up the limb sadly.)
Beast Boy: Cyborg, what happened to you? I'm gonna miss you, buddy. I know I never told you this, but you were my best friend. (He sniffles and rubs his cheek on the metal.)
Cyborg: (from o.c.) Yo! Beast Boy!
(The holder of the loose leg lets off a surprised little squeak and looks off to one side.)
Cyborg: (from o.c.) I'm over here!
(He turns his head the other way and heads in that direction, toward the voice. Cut to a patch of dense undergrowth, which he parts from behind for a clear field of view. His eyes pop; cut to a close-up of Cyborg, buried up to his neck in the dirt. A horrified yell from Beast Boy.)
Beast Boy: You're just a head!
Cyborg: I'm all right. Just...some assembly required.
(On the last three words, he pulls his arms up, or rather just the stumps of them, as the bionic portions have been knocked free.)
Cyborg: Now get a grip on your green butt and dig me out!
(Heaving a great sigh of relief, the owner of that butt becomes a bloodhound and gets down to it. Unfortunately, the dirt he claws up splatters into Cyborg's face and brings a frustrated groan out of him. Cut to an overhead view of a thickly wooded patch of forest, through which a few bits of wreckage can be seen on the ground. The vegetation parts and the camera zooms into show Raven laid out flat, with bits of her part of the T-Ship scattered all around. A smallish silhouette eyes her from a low branch and hustles o.c. after a moment.)
(She comes to with a small groan and gets her eyes partway open; cut to her perspective as she works the lids up the rest of the way. The silhouette in question is one of many that have gathered, with huge heads and bulbous, bright pink eyes. No other facial features can be discerned, save the outline of something atop the head and a pair of antennae. High-pitched murmurs ripple through these observers as the camera cuts back to Raven. These shots have revealed the sky to be an entirely different, lighter shade of red. Combined with the unfamiliar trees, this fact suggests that she has either come down on a different planet or in a region far removed from the other crash sites.)
Raven: Okay. You have me outnumbered. (She stands up and rubs her head.) But I have you outsized. Weird.
(Now the light comes up to show the faces, white, with long black antennae/eyebrows; the things atop the heads look like tiny crowns topped with wrenches. These are called Shallas.)
Shallas: Weird! Shalla!
(The exclamation catches her off guard. Cut to Robin, hacking a path through the brush with a birdarang and hurrying along. He pushes through a curtain of vines and catches sight of some smoke rising in the distance; his eyes pop and he rushes ahead. Cut to a long shot of this crash site, panning across the landscape to show the last piece of the T-Ship lying at the end of a fresh, smoldering trench. Robin races toward it.)
Robin: Starfire!
(He leans into view over the closed canopy, then attacks the edge of it with gusto. Cut to inside as he heaves it up and throws it aside.)
Robin: (reaching in) Starfire!
(Something green takes a clawed swipe from inside, dumping him backward. It emerges from the cockpit; a large bearlike creature with violent green eyes and wide, snarling mouth. One of the jagged teeth has a piece of material caught in it, and as the beast advances, we can see it clearly: a piece of Starfire's violet outfit. A lunge fills the screen with the mouth's drooling interior before the view fades to black.)
Act Two[]
(Opening shot: a close-up of Robin, both physically and psychologically floored by what he has just seen. Getting himself under control in very short order, he leaps far and away, out of this new creature's reach. Its six legs propel it forward with surprising speed; cut to him as he starts a charge of his own.)
Robin: What did you do to Starfire?
(Pull back to show his image as the reflection in one of those huge eyes. He catches the beast with a flying tackle, and both go tumbling across the barren territory and over a cliff. Down they go, bouncing off one rock face after another, and Robin finds himself glued to the chest by its slimy secretions. Crash, boom, bang, and then they hit a rock formation and get stretched in opposite directions, anchored to the same patch of slime. The tendrils snap after a long moment to send them hurtling toward the ground.)
(The monster hits the slope and bounces along, but Robin gets himself into a more controlled slide and winds up on a small outcropping at the foot. He stays on it for only an instant, though; a flying kick lances toward the green monster, but his foot gets mired in that sludge. Both fists end up stuck when he tries to punch; as it tries to chow down on him, he brings up his one free foot and shoves hard enough to yank himself off.)
(The holes in the abdomen seal themselves up; this thing is literally a walking sack of goop, and it charges anew. Robin, however, still has residue all over his hands and feet and is unable to move from his spot. When he pulls a disc from his utility belt and tries to throw, it merely snaps back into his hand; the next thing he catches is a headbutt that knocks him to his back, but does not free his feet. It does, however, leave his hands glued down as well to put him in a very undesirable spreadeagle.)
(Now the Boy Wonder gets a faceful of that ugly maw, with the shred of Starfire's clothing still hanging from the teeth. As the monster gets ready to make a meal of raw Titan, an arrow with a stone head whistles into view and pops it like an overgrown water balloon. Robin is left lying in a swamp of green muck; when he finally is able to sit up, he sees his salvation, a bow-wielding silhouette standing atop an overlooking peak, with the full moon shining behind it. Cut to a close-up and zoom in as the shooter moves into the light; even before it can be seen in full detail, the height, build, and hair give it away as Starfire.)
Robin: (overjoyed) Starfire!
(He rips himself free of the slime and rushes over to her; she does not move or react, and her voice remains emotionless throughout the following.)
Robin: You're all right!
Starfire: Greetings to you, fellow Titan Robin. To see you unharmed is satisfying.
Robin: (puzzled) Starfire?
Starfire: We should make with the haste to find the others. (She sets off.)
Robin: What's wrong with you? (After several steps, she stops.)
Starfire: Hmph!
(Off she goes again, leaving one severely confused teammate standing frozen; finally, he gets going after her. Cut to a close-up of Cyborg, from the shoulders up. A harness is strapped around his chest, and he is moving straight ahead. His perspective: a set of sights roves back and forth across the path as analysis readouts wink at the edges of the screen. After some distance, the sights lock onto a piece of equipment lying on the ground; cut to him and pull back. His arms and legs have not been reattached, and the source of his motive power is actually Beast Boy, who has strapped the rest of the big man to his back like a knapsack. The green yo-yo groans wearily as his knees buckle.)
Cyborg: (points with his arm stump) Over there! (Both collapse.) Ow! Aw, man, you gotta find my hands!
(Beast Boy gets his head out and his eyes pop.)
Beast Boy: Sweet!
Cyborg: You found 'em?
Beast Boy: Nope.
(Pull back to show a different item lying a short distance away.)
Beast Boy: But I found this cool round thingamajig.
(He stretches out one arm and reels it in. Sight gag: he sits in a rough-hewn stone chair and faces Cyborg, propped up behind a podium as if lecturing a class.)
Cyborg: It's not a thingamajig. It's a thermal coupler required for sonic stabilization, and it's not round, it's octagonal.
(On the end of this, a little spark flies from the stump of one arm and an octagon traces itself around his head. Beast Boy then holds the coupler up to overlay the shape.)
Beast Boy: Looks like a shiny donut. Hey! You think there's a donut shop on this planet?
(He starts sucking on it; the gag ends and he hoists Cyborg back onto his shoulders.)
Cyborg: (annoyed) Focus. If you can't find my hands, you're gonna have to be my hands and help me rebuild.
Beast Boy: (tosses his coupler aside) No problemo. I once put together a bicycle-ten-speed.
(As he says this, the camera tilts up slightly and a panel appears above Cyborg's head. Within it is the proud young bike-builder and his effort, which is nowhere close to being roadworthy. The limbless Titan moans dejectedly, a burst of smoke fills the panel, and the camera tilts down as it floats away. Beast Boy claps both hands onto the sides of Cyborg's head and chucks him down; pull back to show that he has landed on a table, lying on his back along with his other parts, including the leg that was in the tree. A scared little yelp greets the approach of the would-be builder, who then pulls out a sledgehammer to coax a yell from Cyborg.)
Cyborg: Wait! I haven't explained!
(His perspective of Beast Boy, who towers over the camera as the hammer pounds up and down to send nuts and bolts in all directions, and Silkie goes flying as well.)
Cyborg: (amid yells of pain) That doesn't go there!...Stop!...What are you doing?
(Pull back to frame both. The upshot of Beast Boy's blunt-force repair job has been to smash away every part of Cyborg's upper body except his head and shoulders. A few shards of upper arm protrude like wings, while little tree branches and boughs have been stuck on like a bird's legs and tail. Beast Boy has effectively turned Cyborg into a robot chicken, and the latter is considerably put out at this change of circumstances.)
Beast Boy: Ta-da! (He kicks the loose leg away.) Um...did I get it right?
Cyborg: Does this look right to you? (Light bulb by Beast Boy's head.)
Beast Boy: Uh...
(He turns into a Sasquatch-like giant; question mark by Cyborg's head, followed by a scream as the disconnected parts are dumped on top of him. A mighty stomp fills the screen with dust, which clears to show an extreme close-up of the disgruntled Titan's face. Pull back to show that he has been drastically reconfigured: the circuit panels on his head now form a domed cover, and two of the T-Ship's engines have been attached to his back. Sight gag: Beast Boy, now a very tiny human dressed in a schoolboy's blazer and shorts, stands on one shoulder and adjusts some controls set into the temple.)
Cyborg: What is the matter with you? Do you even have opposable thumbs?
Beast Boy: Most of the time!
(The engines roar to life, carrying them both into the distant stratosphere-and then, when they have shrunk to just a speck, the entire assembly blows apart in an impressive but brief light show. Fade to black, then in to ground level as they pop into view, smoking like mad. Beast Boy is back to his normal size and clothing, and Cyborg's makeovers have reversed themselves. The latter does his best to contain an outburst while the smoke slowly clears.)
Cyborg: Okay. I'll make this simple. (Close-up.) Let's start by attaching the thermal coupler to the volt relay meter.
(On the second half of this line, a string of equations extends from his mouth and the camera pans slowly to Beast Boy, who stares pie-eyed as the symbols pile up in a jumble and shatter. He stares dumbly over at his partner; sight gag: his whole face has worked its way down to practically hang off his skull.)
Beast Boy: Uh...can you make it more simpler?
(Cyborg groans in frustration. Dissolve to a shot of the flat tops of the trees in the area where Raven crash-landed and tilt down slowly. She is walking along a broad limb, followed by a crowd of the shallas who found her.)
Raven: I have to go find my friends.
Shallas: Friends! Shalla!
(In close-up, we see a vein throbbing in the air by her temple as she stands with her back to them and lets off a nervous little laugh.)
Raven: Cute. (She wheels on them.) Shoo!
Shallas: Shoo! Shalla!
(Having had quite enough of this foolishness, she takes flight; cut to a brief close-up in which her cloak pulls tight, stopping her cold, and dissolve/pull back to a longer shot of the limb. The little fellows have caught the hem to keep her from leaving.)
Raven: Hey, stop that!
Shallas: Stop that! Shalla!
Raven: I'm not joking!
Shallas: Joking! Shalla!
Raven: I tried to be nice.
(Her hood has been down to this point; now she pulls it up and gets ready to cast a spell.)
Raven: Azarath Metrion--
(Before she can finish it, she is yanked down and slams face first into the wood, her hood falling back again.)
Raven: Don't! Go away!
Shallas: Don't go away! (Close-up of Raven; at a loss; they continue o.c.) Don't go away! (they lean in around her) Don't go away! Shalla!
(She groans as they back off. Cut to a long shot of a cliff under the dark red sky; it runs along a ravine filled with smoke and orange light from an o.c. heat source below. Starfire strides ahead on the edge, with Robin hustling to catch up, and the camera cuts to the pair.)
Robin: Starfire, wait up!
(She quickens her pace, not looking at him; every time he tries to catch her eye, she ducks out of his way.)
Robin: Star, why do you keep running away from me?
(Pull back to show that they have reached an outcropping on the edge of this abyss, with a broad, flat-topped column across the way to form an island. One easy leap puts the Tamaranean neatly atop this, after which she finally breaks the silent treatment.)
Starfire: I am giving you the space. Is that not what you require?
(Another super-high jump takes her into the treetops so she can make her way easily from one to the next. Robin gets to her side of the chasm and bounds after her, keeping pace without too much of a strain.)
Robin: You're still thinking about that? Starfire, we're stranded on a hostile alien planet! (They stop on a rock.)
Starfire: (accusingly) I know. Did you hope the perilous space station explosion, followed by our calamitous crash, then combat with the horrible slug creature, would make me forget? (Cut to him.)
Robin: (floored) Uh...yes? (Pull back to frame her.)
Starfire: (turns away) Hmph!
(She starts away, leaving him to stare bug-eyed at her departing back. A camera shift shows the source of the heat rising from below: an ocean of lava running among the stone bridges and columns.)
Starfire: (jumping/walking along; Robin follows) Perhaps we would have more success if you searched the left half of the planet and I searched the right. (He plants himself in her path; she stops.)
Robin: I don't want to split up. (She shoulders past him; he catches up.) Look, will you please just stop and talk to me? (Both stop.)
Starfire: So, you are now prepared to explain why I am neither a girl nor your friend?
(He tugs nervously at his collar as smoke rumbles up behind him from below; a fitting complement to his visible unease at being put on the spot.)
Robin: I...w...well...
Starfire: (walks past) It appears that the grishnik has got your tongue.
(He pulls one hand down his face, blowing out a visible sigh, and lets his shoulders sag.)
Robin: Shoulda let that slug eat me when I had the chance.
(Cut to a long shot of the two, trekking across the scorched landscape, and pull back to frame something in the foreground. It straightens up after a moment, shakes off the fuming rock fragments, and reveals itself as the same beast that tore apart the space station and attacked the T-Ship during its escape. Snarling, it sets off in another direction.)
(Cut to an extreme close-up of Cyborg's shoulder. A drill is fitted into it and put to work, after which we see Beast Boy skidding backward from the camera past the T-Ship's remains. He holds up his index fingers and thumbs as if framing a photograph or picture.)
Beast Boy: One fully assembled Cyborg!
(His perspective. The fingers box in the big man, who has indeed been put back together, save for one key detail: his hands are missing.)
Beast Boy: Well, almost. (He lowers his hands.)
Cyborg: (shrugging) Let's try to get the T-Ship flying. First, interlock the two pods.
(Back to Beast Boy, now totally flummoxed. A gust of wind blows past his head, appearing to go in one ear and out the other, and Cyborg slides up to get in his face.)
Cyborg: (wearily) Roll 'em back together.
(Pull back to a long shot of this area; their two parts lie not far from one another. A huge light bulb snaps on next to the green teen's head and he runs toward his own section. In an instant, he has become a Sasquatch, much larger than before, and hoisted it overhead. A couple of steps put him next to Cyborg's pod, and he starts banging one into the other with great enthusiasm. The almost-rebuilt big man's jaw drops lower and lower in pure disbelief as loose parts fly past him; finally, Beast Boy stands on the two joined pods, reverts to human form, and lets Cyborg shudder at him. This gives way to a shadow of self-control and a weary shake of the head.)
Cyborg: Now carefully take out the configuration disc.
(Question mark by Beast Boy's head; he then dives into the machinery and works his way down, the camera tilting to a hatch at ground level. This pops open so he can poke his head out.)
Beast Boy: You mean the thingie that looks like a pizza with eyeballs?
(He holds it up as he says this; it looks like a slice of the aforementioned deep-dish. Cut to inside the hatch, just behind him.)
Cyborg: Why can't you just call it a configuration disc?
Beast Boy: Why can't you just call it an eyeball pizza thingie?
(Close-up of Cyborg, annoyed to the point that he pulls his head into his shoulders and groans to himself. Cut to Robin and Starfire; the former leads the way through a field of rocks floating on lava. Smoke boils up through the crevices here and there, leaving them quite ill at ease.)
Robin: I hope we find the others...soon. (Starfire stops him.)
Starfire: (softly) Shhh! No talking. (Close-up of her feet; she continues o.c.) The ground is very unstable here.
(Pan to follow her through a few tentative steps among the miniature eruptions and shifting rocks, then pull back to show both well on their way.)
Robin: Look, Starfire, I--
(He is flung screaming toward the heavens when a gusher blows its top. Starfire can only watch, aghast and wordless, as he hurtles down into a ravine with his lungs still working overtime. Cut to between the rocky bluffs; with a few feet to go before executing the world's most painful cannonball dive, Starfire's hand shoots down and seizes his. He is lifted to the cliff's edge and finds himself staring her in the face.)
Robin: Thanks. (Both get up; she turns away without a word.) Uh...
(Now they set off again, she giving him the coldest shoulder she can muster before he stops her with a hand on her arm.)
Robin: Starfire, look. (smiling) It's not that I don't like you, it's that... (Cut to her, nonplussed, on the end of this line.)
Starfire: It is that you do not like me as a friend who is a girl.
(She moves out; from the end of a nearby crevasse, a jet of smoke boils up to hide both Titans.)
Robin: (from within the smoke) I don't think you understand.
(They emerge on opposite sides. Shift to his, the smoke having cleared enough to show them both, and cut to each in turn.)
Robin: On our planet, "girlfriend" means--
Starfire: --A female with whom you have a pleasant and special association, including the sharing of enjoyable recreation and occasionally the buying of bountiful floral arrangements.
Robin: Okay...maybe you do understand.
Starfire: WHAT?
(Her shout echoes over the fissure. Back to his side; he faces a wall of fumes, which clears to show that the two are now standing on two cliffs separated by a very great distance. Their respective paths have carried them far apart from one another without either one realizing it. A slightly tense silence is broken by a sustained tremor that causes both their perches to disintegrate into showers of rocks. They drop into the canyon, Starfire screaming all the way and reaching out for any handhold she might be able to get.)
Starfire: Robin! (Robin strains toward her.)
Robin: Starfire!
(They are unable to grab each other, and she ends up clinging by her fingernails to a slab that juts from the mountainside. She begins to haul herself up; cut to Robin, who musters every bit of his agility in order to leap from one falling boulder to another. He works his way up to a ledge, which begins to slide free on the next line.)
Robin: Starfire! Fly!
(Back to her; she has nearly gone over the edge again and her perch is coming loose as well.)
Starfire: I cannot!
Robin: What?!
(The slab fractures to drop her screaming into the abyss. Fade to black.)
Act Three[]
(Opening shot: Robin, still on his rocky vantage point and staring in disbelief over its edge where Starfire has fallen. As bits of rubble rain down around him, the camera pulls back and he hurls himself after her. This second try leaves the two Titans in one another's arms during their free fall; a look ahead reveals the mouth of a passage farther down the mountainside. Robin fires a grappling hook, hitting just above the top edge of this opening as a new avalanche thunders down around it. Cut to just inside the passage: the mouth of a cavern; he and Starfire swing in a moment before rocks pile up behind them and the view fades to black.)
(Snap to the planet's surface. Beast Boy's and Cyborg's rejoined T-Ship sections sail crazily up over the distant trees and toward the camera.)
Cyborg: (from inside) Whoa! Careful! You'll strip the gears! (The rear slams down.)
Beast Boy: (from inside) My bad.
(The partial vehicle continues on, dragging the ground, and the camera cuts to Beast Boy in Cyborg's cockpit. Each control or lever he tries is met with an awful screech of metal on metal, justifying Cyborg's past refusals to let him drive the T-Car. A little panel pops up, showing the big man's head within and wearing its own headset-he has traded places with the rookie pilot.)
Cyborg: Look, this isn't rocket science!...Okay, so it is rocket science. But it's not that hard!
Beast Boy: Look, it'd be a lot easier if you'd stop yelling at me in techno-lingo!
(The fractional vessel zooms along, now clear of the ground and on a relatively level course; it drops sickeningly out of sight for a moment, but soon rights itself.)
Cyborg: (sighing, patiently) Just ease up on the cylinder bypass and give a little gas to the turbo.
(An alarm starts to beep, drawing a surprised gasp from him, and the camera shifts to show the pair headed straight toward a very high cliff. Beast Boy yells in fright, as does Cyborg while climbing out.)
Cyborg: Engage the thruster mechanism!
(Panicked stammering from the green stand-in flyer as he tries to figure out which control will let him do that; meanwhile, the ship races toward the rock walls. Finally, Cyborg leans into Beast Boy's face from outside the cockpit.)
Cyborg: Pull the red candy-cane thingamahoozit, NOW!
(This item is located and pulled in short order, bringing the thrusters to full power and carrying the boys into a near-vertical climb just short of a collision. Both go screaming up over the pea, Cyborg still spreadeagle on across his own cockpit, and they hurtle toward the camera. The inside of the usual driver's mouth blacks out the screen.)
(A short pan brings the interior of the mountain cavern into view. The dimness is only accentuated by a campfire burning near the far wall. Starfire huddles near it for warmth as water drips hollowly somewhere in the distance. Close-up of a low-hanging tree branch; Robin breaks it loose, then returns to throw it on the fire, but his teammate only turns her face away.)
Robin: Starfire...what happened back there? Why couldn't you fly?
Starfire: Tamaranean powers are inclined by our emotions.
Robin: So the way you feel affects your ability to fly.
Starfire: And right now, I feel unfamiliar confusion.
Robin: But we've faced danger before without your powers failing.
Starfire: It is not danger that confuses me, Robin. It is you. (Close-up of him; she continues o.c.) I do not understand...us.
(Zoom in quickly. That last word jangles his nerves badly and causes a huge sweat drop to pop out on his temple. Back to her.)
Starfire: Ever since Cyborg said the "girlfriend," things are different between us.
Robin: (trying to play it off) It's...just a misunderstanding. Everything's okay.
Starfire: Everything is not okay. (She crosses the cavern.) We are not okay. I fear we will never be okay again, and you will not tell me how you feel. (He approaches.)
Robin: (tugs his collar) Uh...y...I'm not very good at that. (Starfire sniffles and wipes her nose, then turns to Robin.)
Starfire: Do Earth boys come with some kind of manual, then?
Robin: (smiles) That would make things easier. (Starfire moves to him at the fire.)
Starfire: How am I to know what you think about me?
Robin: (very rattled) Starfire...I think...uh...it's...awesome...the way...you shoot starbolts.
(Her eyes shine. Sight gag: hearts scroll past on a pink background behind her.)
Starfire: Yes? And? (Cut to their shadows on the wall; the gag ends.)
Robin: (from o.c., a bit more confidently) It's, uh, also cool that you're brave and the strongest girl ever. (Back to them.)
Starfire: And you do not mind having a friend who is a girl?
Robin: (takes Starfire's hands) Mind it? Actually, I kind of--
(The heartfelt moment ends, with all the subtlety of a train wreck, when the screaming beast that wiped out the space station and followed the Titans down crashes in through the wall. It lets go with a fresh howl that cracks the ground as Robin and Starfire run for it. Jumping clear, he hooks up and sees the thing bearing down on him; it tries a long string of punches, which he dodges, then lands a solid hit that drops him on his back.)
(As he gets to his feet and faces off against the three-time foe, Starfire gets a good look at the situation. Her eyes squeeze shut for a moment, then open to blaze green under lowered brows, accompanied by a short growl of rage. Robin backs up to a rock and leaps away just in time to avoid a strike that pulverizes it, whereupon a blast lances into view from behind and scores the muscular brown back. It turns toward the source; the Tamaranean sharpshooter, who is now racing in with both pupils going full tilt.)
(One huge leap carries over the punch it sends her way and onto the back, from which she pushes off for a high somersault. In the middle of this, she gets off both an eye blast and a double handful of starbolts; once she has dropped out of view, Robin comes up and crashes his fighting staff into the side of the beast's head. Her uppercut and a second staff strike leave it reeling; now she uproots a massive rock formation and carries it back to the combat zone.)
(Robin has climbed onto the back, riding the monster like the world's biggest and angriest rodeo bull, and is whacking away with his staff. He jumps free, then again to keep from taking the next hit, and it gets a piece of the rock in the back. Turning angrily in that direction, it catches sight of her just in time to get the rest of the huge outcropping swung right into its face. It bounces gracelessly across the cavern and fetches up against the wall; even before the dust has cleared, Robin and Starfire close in, ready to finish the job.)
(The creature is soon back on its feet and uncorking another high-octane roar, which sets both heroes running all over again as the floor begins to fall apart. Cut to a ledge high on the mountainside; the rock face blows out, indicating this to be the other side of the cavern wall. Inside, Robin and Starfire eye the brand-new exit and the thing that created it; as it gets ready to shout again, he whips out a disc and lets fly. It bursts into a spatter of gooey liquid in midair, which glues itself squarely across the huge round mouth and shuts the monster up in a hurry.)
(Robin's grapple comes into play again and snags one of those thick forearms; a savage yank on the line whips him off his feet, through a fast circle, and smack into Starfire's face. Both go flying back toward the hole in the wall, and the camera cuts to outside as they skid across the ledge. They stop just short of a very long drop into the next life; here comes the brown behemoth as they get to their feet. Close-up of Robin, who lifts his grapple launcher and pulls its trigger only to get a click, and then he realizes that the last face-off broke the line. They have nowhere to go and the enemy is closing in.)
Robin: Let's fly.
(Starfire looks away worriedly. Cut to a close-up of her foot and pan slightly to frame the brain-bending fall waiting just behind it, then back to her.)
Starfire: But--
(Close-up of her hand; Robin takes it in his own, and the camera pulls back to frame both.)
Robin: As long as we're together, we'll be okay.
(He gives her a reassuring smile, which she returns, but again the mood is ruined, this time by the monster's growling from o.c. It charges along the ledge; they hold their ground as long as they can and then go over the edge. A long bound brings the attacker down on that spot, which crumbles under its weight to drop it into the depths. Just as in the space station, the two Titans plummet hand in hand toward certain death, her eyes flaring green on the way down.)
(Overhead view of the abyss. They drop into view and away from the camera, disappearing into the blackness, and the creature does likewise. Silence for a moment after all have gone-and then, just as before, Starfire rockets back up with Robin in tow. Her power of flight has returned, and she sets him and herself down on a ridge. Cut to just behind them, the camera focused on their still-clasped hands, and tilt slowly up to their faces.)
Starfire: (softly) Robin...
(This is followed by a warm, king-size hug, which is in turn followed by the ascent of the reassembled but beat-up T-Ship from the other side of the ridge. A panel pops up, showing Cyborg's head; he clears his throat loudly and Starfire gasps.)
Starfire: Friends! It is glorious to see you!
Robin: Are we gonna be able to fly home in that? (Cut to Cyborg.)
Cyborg: Just missing a few pieces. (holds up his forearms) Like me. (Pan to Beast Boy.)
Beast Boy: (pointing o.c.) Somebody's waving at us.
(Cut to a stretch of forest. In the distance, something very tiny is moving among the treetops; a close-up reveals it to be Cyborg's left hand, which is indeed waving.)
Beast Boy: (from o.c.) And it's you!
(Tilt down to show the right hand, still manipulating a loose steering yoke, in a lower bough. Back to the beaming bionic teen.)
Cyborg: Well, all right!
Robin: You guys seen Raven?
Starfire: I hope she is not suffering the atrocities so abundant on this planet.
(Cut to a close-up of the fifth Titan, face contorted and groaning loudly. Sight gag: little black spirals, the sort drawn in to replace the eyes of someone who has been knocked silly, spin behind her on a white background. Loud snaps and pops accompany her sounds of discomfort, but then she smiles placidly and the camera pulls back as she lies down on her stomach. A few of the Shallas critters who found her come up behind. The gag ends.)
Raven: Mmmm...now a little to the left.
Shallas: (jumping) Left!
(Pull back to show plates of fruit at her head and feet. Several of the little guys have formed a totem pole to hold a bunch of grapes at mouth level for her to eat, and the jumping ones are on her back, massaging it. The reason for the groans and pops is now quite clear. In addition, a few others are kneading the muscles of her legs and feet.)
Shallas: Shalla!
Raven: Mmmm...
(Pull back again. This tableau is set on the broad, flat top of a tree; a knot of creatures perches on a higher bough and fans her with a huge feather, while others watch from a lower limb. Flowers float in the bright pink sunlight. From here, dissolve to an outer-space view of the orange-splotched planet that served as the milieu for the other four Titans' travails. Apparently, Raven came down in the one hospitable region.)
Shallas: (voice over) Mmmm! Shalla!
(Fade to black.)