Teen Titans Season 2 (Double DVD)

I watched the first season of Teen Titans when it came on Cartoon Network, but I never got around to watching the second season. Fortunately for me its just been released on DVD (released 9/12/06, “Own it Now” as they say). If you’ve never see the cartoon or comic book before the set up for the Teen Titans is relatively simple: 5 teenage superheroes (Robin, Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg) who live together in a giant letter T and defend their “City” from a mysterious terrorist called Slade. There are no mentors and its no accident that the only reoccurring adult in the series is the villain Slade.

If you’ve only see the Teen Titans comic book then you’re going to be in for something of a shock. Gone are the now grown-up twenty something former sidekicks and instead we have a pseudo-anime version of the Marv Wolfman and Geroge Perez 1980s Teen Titans. Each of the characters is very identifiable and surprisingly they haven’t changed that much between the comic book and the cartoon. The biggest change is probably for the main villain, Slade. In the comics he’s a mercenary called Slade Wilson who goes by the professional name Deathstroke (alias the Terminator). His cartoon version is arguably more enigmatic than the comic book version, but he also loses some of the moral ambiguity that surrounded his later adventures.

This season follows two thematic strands – the first one is an adaptation of the Terra story arc (albeit heavily rewritten for a younger audience). She’s introduced in “Terra” as a potential Titan, but doesn’t join the team proper until “Titan Rising”. Despite being made a Titan she only appears once in a non-plot arc episode and that’s only as a non-speaking cameo. The major turning point for her character’s development is the episode “Betrayal” which sets ups the drama for “Aftershock”, the two part season finale. Her arc described in the WB synopsis as:

Dangerous enemy or lifelong friend? That’s the question of Season 2 when Terra, a free-spirited teen with awesome earth-manipulating powers, rolls into town. As a skilled fighter, she makes a powerful addition to the Titans’ fight against crime, and as a fun-loving, no-holds-barred hero, she jives instantly with their team chemistry. But the Titans aren’t the only ones interested in recruiting the new girl. Robin’s archnemesis Slade is on the prowl for an apprentice, and the combination of Terra’s volatile powers and personal vulnerability make her a perfect target for his twisted plans. Trusting this newcomer could prove to be a fatal mistake for the Teen Titans!

The second strand is a recurrent theme of isolation. This manifests itself in a series of standalone episodes where each of the Titans’ fears is spotlighted — Raven’s fear of her powers is explored in “Fear Itself”, Cyborg’s fear for his humanity in “Only Human”, Robin’s fear of failure in “Fractured”, Starfire’s fear of her body’s changes in “Transformation”, and Beast Boy’s fear of being alone in “Every Dog Has His Day”. Even Terra has to explore her fears in the season finale. You get the feeling these kids really need each other’s support and companionship.

The Terra and isolation arcs deliver some fantastic sequences and episodes throughout the season, but for me the three-exemplar episodes are those that aren’t part of those arcs. “How Long is Forever”, which, as well as sounding like a classic Star Trek episode title, also plays with the classic science fiction device of the alternative future. “Date With Destiny” has Robin being blackmailed into date a supervillain’s daughter — complete with Starfire’s jealous reactions. “And Winner Takes” it all is an all out action episode with an excuse for many Titan cameos.

The individual episodes:

First up is this season is How Long Is Forever? I noted the classic science fiction device of the alternative future previous, but in this case it’s the future that comes to pass when Starfire isn’t there to bond the Titans together. The biggest fan payoff in this episode is the appearance of the future Robin as an oh’so cool Nightwing (complete with Batman TAS/Beyond bat-computer and Robin costume in the tube). 20.0
The second episode, Every Dog Has His Day, is superficially lighter in tone with Beast Boy being mistakenly kidnapped by a dumb alien who thinks he’s his green doggy. The visual inventiveness of character design is fantastic as Beast Boy shifts between numerous forms, but I found the alien to be a little unsettling if ruminated too long. All the controls of his spaceship are duplicated from baby toys, he wears a baby grow, and its quite clear from his emotional state that he’s just a toddler, yet the Teen Titans are still made to look cool by beating him up. 17.5
Terra, will be familiar to any reader of the Teen Titan’s comics, and her connection to Slade is nicely foreshadowed by the tendency of her fringe to overhang her eye in a manner that apes Slade’s mask. I liked her first appearance best, but she was never a character I took too. Don’t get me wrong her story arc is brilliantly played out, but it’s best that you know nothing of her or of her original form from the comics. 15.0
The Cyborg episode, Only Human, is a by-the-numbers “you don’t know your limitations” / “don’t underestimate yourself” episode, but its nicely done. We get a tiny bit of back-story when Cyborg mentions his time as an athlete. The guest badguy, Atlas, is fairly undeveloped and could have lifted the episode if he’d been more interesting. Only Human and Every Dog Has His Day nicely demonstrate the sense of isolation that Beast Boy and Cyborg share and underlines the common ground between these friends. 12.5
Fear Itself is an interesting spin on the haunted house / horror movie conventions. The entire episode keeps you off kilter with the subdued music and he horror movie pacing. The opening sequence with Control Freak made me nostalgic for the Real Ghostbusters and I’m rather shocked that Beast Boy never changed into a great dane, but maybe that would have broken the mood of the episode. I wasn’t quite sure about the animation on this episode, it seemed to fit, but I wasn’t sure if it is off kilter feeling was deliberate or not. 17.5
One of my favourite episodes this season was Date With Destiny. Killer Moth is normally a lame villain at the best of times, but the Teen Titan spin almost makes him cool. As a Brit I’ve always found the torture US kids grow through at school rather inexplicable and I’ve sometimes wondered how all those Proms that aren’t part of a TV shows survive the mandatory monster attack. One of the light touches that I liked in this episode was Robin’s hair momentarily copying Jason Todd’s hair (further reinforcing my pet theory that this Robin is Todd). 22.5
Another of my favourite episodes is Transformation. It’s another nice little morality story, this time about appearances and how people look. The puberty subtext is fairly strong, but it doesn’t get too preachy. The one bit I did find slightly odd was their choice of Plasmas for the stock monster as in the cartoon continuity he’s a Jeckle and Hyde character who uncontrollable transforms into a rampaging monster and, in that aspect, mirrors Starfire’s transformation. The pacing in this episode seems perfect with the biggest laugh probably had at Beast Boys bathroom problem — does the T-Tower seriously only have one bathroom? 17.5
The return of Terra in Titan Rising makes for one of the more dramatic episodes thus far this season. I did find the Raven/Terra feud to be a little overplayed, but the initial volleyball match was great. Giant Mechanical Worms ™ reminded me of an old Superman comic (first one I remember reading actually), but they’re a great foe for any superhero. And Beast Boy’s crush on Terra is too cute for words. 17.5
Winner Takes All is an outstanding twist on the hero versus hero battle. Our heroes are pulled into a faux version of Streetfighter, a “Content of Champions,” to find the best teen hero. Part of you just wants a Teen Titans beat-em-up video game so you can replicate this episode. The cameos by Joto (Hotspot) and Wildebeest are nice and Speedy’s use as a Robin parallel works well. This episode is written by Dwayne McDuffie and there is a nice reference to Green Arrow’s first Justice League Unlimited appearance in Speedy’s flashback/intro (in the comics Speedy is Green Arrow’s sidekick). 20.0
Betrayal is the pivotal episode in the evolution of Terra’s character, but it’s also a great episode. I thought it would have been nice to see more of Terra as a regular Teen Titan, but I guess that’d confuse the ordering of the repeat episodes. Most of this episodes switches between two great sequences – the Titans unleashing against an army of Slade’s robots and the Terra/Beast Boy date. I also loved the face off between Beast Boy and Slade, it’s not very often that we get to see Beast Boy prove that he’s actually one of the most versatile and dangerous of the Titans. 20.0
After the darkness of Betrayal’s ending it feels as if Fractured is carrying on the same tone, but the altered title sequence quickly dispels you of that notion. This episode features comedic first appearance of Larry The Titan, a version of Robin from somewhere near the Fifth Dimension (think of a Robin version of Batmite). This also completes the isolation/fear arc with Robin’s feeling of being just a kid despite him being the coolest and most adult of the titans. You’ll either love or hate Larry, he’s that sort of character. 12.5
The two part season finale is Aftershock and features the final confrontation between the heroes and their traitor. It is a fine example of how the stylistic freedoms of this show’s format excellently allow the writers to switch between outlandish comedy and uber-dark drama. There are some very slick moments in the second episode with the Titans operating from the concealment of a fog, but I was always left wanting to know more about why Slade wants to destroy the city. 20.0

The two-disc DVD set is well put together, but there aren’t any extras or real special features. Okay, yes there is one, a music video style montage of clips from the first season, but you’ll find enough of those on Youtube. It would have been nice to of had a director’s commentary or even a commentary by Marv Wolfman, but then I’m the type of fan who digs that sort of stuff.

I liked this two-disc set. There were no duff episodes and even several classics. The Terra arc is something that’ll either grab you or it won’t. You aren’t left on baited breath for her next appearance, but she they do occur they’re enjoyably well done.

Average Episode Rating: 7/10 Season Rating (as a coherent whole): 17.7DVD Presention: 6/10 DVD Extras: 2/10