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REVIEWS
Episode #22 - Winner Take All
Original Airdate - March 6th, 2004
Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy are transported to an alternate dimension.
There, the mysterious Master of Games invites our heroes and five other
superpowered teens (Aqualad, Speedy, Gizmo, Joto and Wildebeest) to
participate in a friendly competition: The Tournament of Heroes. As the
contest rages on, Robin becomes more and more determined to win -- while
Cyborg becomes more and more worried about what happens to the losers
after they disappear. Will Robin realize that winning isn't everything
before he loses the only thing that matters: his friends?
Review by Bird Boy
Media by Bird Boy, Jim Harvey |
Titans Writers
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Directed by Ciro Nieli
Producer Glen Murakami
Producers Linda M. Steiner, Bruce Timm
Music by Lolita Ritmanis
Casting and Voice Direction Andrea Romano
Animation Services by DongWoo Animation Co., LTD.
Titans Voices
Greg Cipes as Beast Boy
Scott Menville as Robin
Khary Payton as Cyborg
Tara Strong as Raven
Hynden Walch as Starfire
Jim Cummings as Master of Games
Mike Erwin as Speedy
Wil Wheaton as Aqualad |
Review
What’s the first thing you see when the WB logo fades away? A giant pile of
cards, featuring various acts of nature, all besting each other the higher
you go. It was like watching rock-paper-scissors being played with cards—of
course, it could've been a spoof or homage to some sort of D&D or Magic: The
Gathering card game - I really don't know, I never played them. Reminded me of
Pokemon somewhat though....
Ah…where was I? Oh yeah...the card game. After about a whole five seconds of
playing, Robin declares himself winner, only to find out Cyborg has one
final card: the asteroid. Apparently this card is one-in-a-million and can
destroy anything and everything (what if Thunder, Tornado and Rain combined
forces and destroyed it before it hit earth though? Hmmm…), thus, not only
making Cyborg the winner, but giving Robin a small "I lost, and now I'm
ticked" scene, complete with the kooky effects we've come to know and love
from the series. But wait—all this moping around is cut short by the sudden
disappearance of Robin, Beast Boy, and then Cyborg, leaving the girls alone
in the tower (two which we later see as Raven knitting and Starfire hanging
by the phone), completely oblivious to what's about to take place.
Fast forward past the intro and we're now at the Tournament of Heroes, a
contest to see who, out of the eight chosen (Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy,
Speedy, Hot Spot, Wildebeest, Aqualad and Gizmo), who is the best at doing
what they do. After a short explanation of what's going to happen, what the
prizes will be (there will be prizes—but no moped, much to Beast Boy's
dismay) the opponents begin to talk to one another. Hot Spot comments on
something that smells (Wildebeest), Cyborg confronts Gizmo and wonders why
the heck he's even there (a "hero", Gizmo is not), Beast Boy and Aqualad
exchange quick quips, and Speedy and Robin share quantum physics information
on their light arrows and power discs. No sooner can Robin spit out a
complicated sounding formula that the matches begin.
Paired up with Cyborg is Gizmo, Robin with Hot Spot, Beast Boy goes up
against Wildebeest, and finally Speedy and Aqualad. We're treated to some
more expertly choreographed scenes, ranging from Hot Spots flames spitting
and licking all around Robin, Speed and Aqualad's water and light arrows
fight and, perhaps one of the cooler parts of the episode, Cyborg and
Gizmo's battle, where we see the two duke it out for a second time, and
ending with an awesome scene of Cyborg ripping Gizmo's wings off, which
cause his spider-legs to spring out automatically, sending Cyborg flying to
a platform below, only to have his boot shoot a power blast into Gizmo,
shredding his legs apart and eventually sending him back down to the ground
where Cyborg removes his equipment. Winners of the other battles are Robin (K.O.ing
Hot Spot), Speedy (turning Aqualad into an icicle), and Wildebeest (Beast
Boy's T-Rex transformation destroyed their cage).
Resting in-between matches, we learn what Master of Game's true intention
for the match is: to gain the loser's powers and become one of the most
powerful beings on earth. Finding this out, Cyborg tries to take him on—only
to be defeated in a matter of seconds, allowing the Master to gain his
powers as well.
Waking the next morning, Robin, Speedy and Wildebeest are the only one of
the eight chosen that remain. Thrust into a fight, Wildebeest is quickly
taken down by a combination of Robin "riding" him into the ground and him
getting sucker-punched by one of Speedy's arrows, we get into what the fans
have been waiting for since their first encounter: Robin and Speedy squaring
off. Not only do we see some awesome acrobatics employed by Robin, excellent
archery skills displayed by Speedy, but we have some of the coolest
animation I've seen out of this show. Perhaps the coolest part in their
fight was Robin literally "rocketing" out of a huge cloud of smoke his power
discs created around Speedy, allowing him to sneak up on him and finally
take him out. The way the smoke hugged and then disappeared from Robin's
body was some of the nicest smoke-effects I've seen since Return of the
Joker. So, what's left in the episode except for Robin to take down the
big, bad, voodoo daddy of the episode? That's right, nothing. So let's get
to it!
Robin's filled in quite quickly about the situation at hand: his friends are
trapped inside Master of Game's device, and he has to free them. Challenging
Master of Games to a match ("How can you be the most powerful if you don't
have me?"), we see fire, water, light arrows, ape arms, brute strength and
blasts of blue energy all being thrown at Robin. At first it looks like our
heroes not going to make it, but then throws a quick kick to the device
hanging around the Master's neck—throwing Cyborg and Speedy out. With their
help, Robin's able to move faster—Cyborg shoots steady blasts of energy at
Master, while Speedy waits for the right moment—then sees it: the device
hanging in mid-air. Firing an arrow, it pierces through the device and frees
the remaining heroes. Defeated, the Master "disappears."
For their services in helping the Titans, Robin gives Speedy, Wildebeest and
Hot Spot all badges that make them honorary Teen Titans members (that makes
four honoraries now, for those keeping count). They're transported back
home, leaving the device behind. This is where one of the more surprising
(and humorous) moments of the episodes come: the Master comes back to the
same place, only this time, now it's the Tournament of Heroines. We
see Starfire with a worried look on her face before the episode fades to
credits. How's that for an ending!
Music, sounded almost Static Shock-ish this time around, but not so much so
that I wanted to break something—it offered the right mix of techno "noise"
in the fights, giving you a sense of speedy and excitement throughout them.
The animation, as mentioned before, was excellent as well. Aside from the
first few episodes, I think I have yet to see a poorly animated episode yet!
All in all, another enjoyable episode—unfortunately now the series is on a
break which will likely go on for a few months…
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