As I said in my last review, I’m going to review some of my favorite animated series. I have decided to do one that I first hated, but it got better as it improved.

Like most super-hero shows, Teen Titans is based on a comic-book. The concept behind the comic book was essentially putting famous super-hero sidekicks in one group together. The leader of the group was Robin, and it was the first time that he stepped out from Batman’s shadow.

I first discovered the Teen Titans when I was in elementary school, in comics form. At the time the book was written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Perez. These guys had a run on this comic that was just plain great. These were actually the “New” Teen Titans, and it felt very mature. This comic came after X-men’s famous “Dark Phoenix” plot, which really created a dark storyline with interesting subplots and character development.

Generally, when something goes from book (even comic book) to the screen, something gets lost. Since this show was on the Cartoon Network, the Teen Titans cartoon would be targeted for children. I thought that more would get lost here.

It certainly seemed that way during the first season. The show’s producer, Glen Murakami, gave this show a very whimsical spirit. It clearly is inspired by Japanese animation, as the eyes are huge and the actions are way too animated.

Although the comic dealt with the superheroes outside of their costumes, the Teen Titans seems to show these five teenagers living completely in their identities. It reminds me from the old show Super Friends, my first exposure to super-heroes of any type.

The characters are quite different from their comic-book counterparts, but it actually works. Robin is a karate-master mentor of the group, and he never mentions Batman, at all. Cyborg is this…cyborg who is this athletic smart techno guy. Beast Boy is essentially the class clown who can turn into any animal. Starfire is this alien powerhouse who has a very naive personality. Raven is a complete change from the comic, as she is more this goth girl than whatever the heck she was in the comic.

The characters and the way they interact really makes this show. As I mentioned before, the show has a whimsical spirit that actually worked well for it. One of my favorite episodes is “Detention”, which featured a villain named Mad Mod, who does the classic evil thing of kidnapping our heroes and putting them in a house of traps. Everything is so crazy and fun that I just could not help but love it.

In addition to the characters and fun, the show also could be very serious. When I saw that they were introducing Terra, this got me thinking “no”. For those who are not familiar with Terra in the comics, she was a deliberate traitor who placed herself within the team so she could find out their identities and destroy them from within. On the show, she is a person who can’t control her powers, and eventually goes to the Titans worst enemy for help. I don’t mean to spoil anything, but neither of these plots ends happily.

Teen Titans also was epic in its scale. During its last season, the group fought against a group known as the Brotherhood of Evil, and it begins with the Doom Patrol (another super-team from the comics) and ends with a huge epic battle. I loved it so much, but the final episode looked like it was meant to lead into another season that never happened.

In short, I highly recommend this series that aired from 2003-2006. The reason why I had to add a specific date on this is because there is another Teen Titans series known as Teen Titans Go, and it is terrible. These episodes turn up the whimsical dial to 13, and it does not work at all. There is one where Beast Boy and Cyborg just keep saying “Waffles”. What the heck?