Teen Titans (series)

Teen Titans is an animated series created and developed by Glen Murakami and David Slack, based on the DC Comics characters of the same name. 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. Initially, only four seasons were planned, but the popularity of the series led to Cartoon Network ordering a fifth season. It first premiered on July 19, 2003 at 9:00 PM as part of the Saturday Video Entertainment System (S.V.E.S.) block and its series finale, "Things Change", aired on January 16, 2006 at 4:00 PM, though it was later followed by a film that premiered on September 15, 2006 at 7:30 PM, serving as the series finale. A comic book series was published called Teen Titans Go!. This series focuses on the characters from the animated series, rather than the original Teen Titans.

In 2013, the show spawned a spin-off, Teen Titans Go!.

Heroes

The original Teen Titans.

Teen Titans

• Robin
• Starfire
• Beast Boy
• Raven
• Cyborg
• Terra (formerly)

Titans East

The Titans East.

• Bumblebee
• Speedy
• Aqualad
• Más y Menos
• Cyborg (formerly)

Titans North

• Kole
• Gnarrk
• Wonder Girl
• Red Star
• Argent

Titans South

• Pantha
• Hot Spot
• Wildebeest
• Herald
• Jericho

Titans West

• Bushido
• Melvin
• Timmy Tantrum
• Teether
• Bobby

Honorary Titans

• Thunder
• Lightning
• Kid Flash
• Jinx
• Killowat
• Tramm
• Ravager

Remaining Titans

• Beast Boy (leader)
• Mas
• Pantha
• Herald
• Jericho

Villains

Major villains

• Slade
• Brother Blood
• Trigon
• Brotherhood of Evil
• Brushogun

H.I.V.E Five

• Jinx (formerly)
• Gizmo
• Mammoth
• See-More
• Private H.I.V.E. (formerly)
• Billy Numerous
• Kyd Wykkyd

Other Villains

• Angel
• Atlas
• Adonis
• Andre Le Blanc
• Blackfire
• Cheshire
• Cinderblock
• Control Freak
• Ding Dong Daddy
• Doctor Light
• Fang
• I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R.
• Johnny Rancid
• Kardiak
• Katarou
• Killer Moth
• Kitten
• Krall
• Mad Mod
• Malchior
• Master of Games
• Mother Mae-Eye
• Mumbo
• Overload
• Plasmus
• Professor Chang
• Psimon
• Punk Rocket
• Puppet King
• Soto
• Steamroller
• Ternion
• Trident
• Trogaar
• XL Terrestrial

Other Characters

• Arella
• Chu-hui
• Cron
• Fixit
• Galfore
• Kai
• Larry
• Red X
• Rorek
• Sarasim
• Soto's Dog
• Spike
• Val-Yor

Style

An example of anime influenced animation 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 more light-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").

Discontinuation and proposed rebranding

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 not renewed the show. Series story editor Rob Hoegee and series director Heather Maxwell stated that Cartoon Network chose not to renew the show, and that the ending to the fifth season was written with the awareness that it would probably be the series finale, thus there were never any plans for a sixth season, otherwise they would not have ended the fifth season the way they did with "Things Change".

In August 2006, reports have been made that Teen Titans would have undergone a possible rebranding, with producer Glen Murakami citing the 1995 hiatus of Batman: The Animated Series, which was retooled in 1997 as The New Batman Adventures. According to Hoegee, this had been suggested by executive producer Sam Register after he and producer David Slack had left the show, leaving Murakami and story editor and writer Amy Wolfram to develop and put together a pitch for the rebrand that would have expanded the team with the characters introduced in the fifth season, and bring in a brand new villain who had ties to some classic Titans villains from the comics. Murakami also expressed interest in using Phobia, Mister Twister, and Ravager. When Murakami and Wolfram had sent the pitch in, it was ultimately declined. Wil Wheaton, the voice of Aqualad, stated that new Warner Bros. Feature Animation executives made the decision to not renew the series based on the repitch. Slack said that he was given different reasons for not renewing the show; either the ratings dropped after the "scary" season 4 or Mattel wanted the show dead because Bandai had the show's toy deal.

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 released on DVD on February 6, 2007.

Towards the end of 2011, internet rumors speculated that a new 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.

During a WonderCon panel in March 2018, Teen Titans Go! producer Michael Jelenic said he could "almost guarantee" the original Teen Titans series would be returning. A mid-credits scene from Teen Titans Go! To the Movies featured the original Titans' return, in which Robin states they've "found a way back".

Shortly after the Teen Titans Go! to the Movies premiered, Greg Cipes took over the Movie's Instagram and Twitter accounts for Q&A, a fan asked for one word about the mid-credit scene to which he replied "Our fans will always get what they want." Warner Bros. would then release a crossover film featuring the Titans from both shows, titled Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans. The film premiered at San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2019, followed by a digital release on September 24, 2019 and a DVD and Blu-ray release on October 15, 2019.

In April 2021, ComicBookMovie.com founder Nate Best reported acquiring pitch documents for the rebrand and shared details in an exclusive article. According to Best, the rebrand would have been titled New Teen Titans, and would have featured a rotating cast rather than focusing on the five original members. It was slated to introduce new villains such as Athena, a popular golden girl with the Midas Touch to give and take away superpowers whenever she felt like it, and she would be accompanied by the Boyfriends, an ever-changing roster of superpowered suiters, as well as a posse of mean and beautiful robot girls that take care of Athena's dirty work. It would also have other groups of teenage villains as throwbacks to previous villains, including the "Mad Mods" and a "Battle of the Geeks" as new nerds attempt to replace Control Freak. The pitch documents included information on a holiday episode, as well as a plot line in which Herald would unknowingly create a rift in "Dimension X", allowing a microscopic, self-replicating creature to travel to Earth. According to the late Derrick J. Wyatt, this would have tied back to the White Monster from "Things Change". Series artist Brianne Drouhard had also helped with visual development on a major character not mentioned in the reporting.

Reception

Some fans of the comics criticized the series for having a "childish nature". The Teen Titans were based on their DC Comics iterations. However, the TV series often showed the heroes in cartoon states.

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.

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:

Years after its finish, the show maintains a loyal fan base, and has recently experienced a resurgence of popularity thanks to its addition to the cartoon lineup on Boomerang. 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.

The original Teen Titans returned to Cartoon Network for reruns on August 7, 2017.Since then, the program has aired on weekday mornings at 6:00 and 6:30 AM EST, as well as weeknights at 5:00 and 5:30 PM EST.

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)

Movies based on Teen Titans

The movies based on 2003 Teen Titans are as follows.

• Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006)
• Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans (2019)

See also

• List of widescreen errors in the 2017 rerunning on Cartoon Network.