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REVIEWS
Episode #62 - Go!
Original Airdate - December 17th, 2005
How did Robin meet Starfire? What was Beast Boy's first joke? Why did Cyborg
build his Sonic Cannon? When did Raven first call the Titans her friends? Return
to the very beginning and see how it all started - from the word "Go!"
Review by Bird Boy
Media by Bird Boy, Jim Harvey |
Titans Writers
Written by David Slack
Directed by Michael Chang
Music by Kristopher Carter
Animation by Lotto Animation
Titans Voices
Greg Cipes as Beast Boy
Scott Menville as Robin
Khary Payton as Cyborg
Tara Strong as Raven
Hyden Walch as Starfire
Gary Sturgis as Trogaar |
Review
In what may be the only episode of Teen Titans I was anticipating
for a good season or two, I’m met with an episode that has a plot
fit for season one, really strange animation and generic music.
Maybe if this was season one (why do an origin story in season five,
if, originally, this show was never meant to have an origin), I’d
have loved this episode. As is it’s just an incredible back-pedal
through time where all of the character progression we had with the
Titans is thrown out the window and they have all regressed to their
former state of being uncomfortable around each other.
Of course you’ll say “well it wouldn’t make sense otherwise!” I
agree completely with that, but that’s not my major problem with the
story. The fact that it’s taken place in not only the fifth but
final season of Teen Titans…it seems wasteful. This is series opener
material and not a two-years-later story.
So if I didn’t want an origin story this late in the game, why did I
anticipate this episode? Well I quite frankly thought it’d be
something entirely different. Instead everything about this episode
is what I’ve used to describe this season: generic. Familiar story
lines, uninspired animation and fights and some of the poorest
character interaction between the Titans I’ve seen this season.
Perhaps the creative team is getting bored with the show, I don’t
know. All I know is that this is starting to get really, really
aggravating that I can’t seem to enjoy an episode without feeling
like I’ve seen or watched half of it already.
Now with my major complaints aside, there were a few positives in
this episode. Seeing Starfire angry and Hynden Walch giving a great
performance (especially with all that Tamaranian dialogue she was
spouting), the obvious fan-boy pleasing references to Batman, the
re-use of Robin’s theme from Return of the Joker (in what sounded
like some kind of annoying keyboard version) and the throwback to
Beast Boy and the Doom Patrol. Raven was given no exposition in this
episode, she just randomly showed up and Cyborg…well he was about
the same as Raven, aside from snapping and calling himself a
“monster” because of all his half-techno self.
The story was kind of interesting, but I felt it dragged on way too
long. David Slack said he had trouble writing this story around five
origins, but it really served as one origin (Starfire) and
throw-a-way references to pasts (everyone else), that took all of
ten seconds of the episode. Perhaps the real task in this episode
was trying to keep it interesting for twenty minutes and if that was
the case…well, I think everyone knows my opinion by now.
Through it all I love Teen Titans…but this last season is really
nothing but a bunch of boring episodes with an overall story arc of,
so far, nothing interesting. A few random good episodes here and
there, but nothing that we really haven’t seen in past seasons; I
will be lynched for saying it, I’m sure, but this series really
should’ve fallen prey to Cartoon Network’s fifty-two episode limit.
It would have been better off.
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