What happened to Teen Titans?

[Srebak]

I'm referring to the original 2003 Tv show; that show might have had its funny moments, but the story arcs knew when to be serious, the main villains were legitimately threatening and the fight sequences were well done.

I've compared it to the later show "Ben 10" on occasion, but while Ben 10 got 3 sequel shows that upped the action, stories and drama, Teen Titans got a sequel show that focused on nothing but comedy, that just rubs me the wrong way.

Your thoughts

 

[Light Lucario]

Teen Titans Go isn't really a sequel series. It clearly isn't in the same universe as Teen Titan was. It's more like a spin-off series that uses most of the game characters. The other Ben 10 series, on the other hand, are sequel series since they take place within the same universe. Personally, I didn't really like the heavy focus on comedy in Go, which is one reason I dropped it. I wasn't a huge fan of Teen Titans, or its humor for that matter, but it did a fairly good job with balancing out the tones and knowing when it should be comical and when it should be serious.

 

[Silverstar]

The reason we got Teen Titans GO! instead of Teen Titans season 6 was because the New Teen Titans shorts which aired on DC Nation proved popular with fans, hence a new series with the focus on comedy and squashed versions of the characters.

As Light Lucario already pointed out, TTGO! is not a sequel to TT, but rather a wacky knockoff series inspired by the former; it's not meant to be canonical to the 2003 series, so it's best not to view it or judge it as such. TTGO! is not TT season 6, nor was it ever intended to be. It's basically New Teen Titans Shorts: The Series.

As for the Ben 10 comparison, Ben 10 has become a cash cow which is constantly getting fed; the reason there have been so many Ben 10 shows is because young boys are still taking to the show like a cat to a saucer of cream. The TT series, by contrast, ended in 2006 and was mostly forgotten about on CN up until the New Teen Titans shorts showed up. So the Ben 10 comparison doesn't really work, as the 2 franchises are different animals which are treated and regarded differently by the higher-ups.

Personally, I'm glad we didn't get a 6th season of TT: TAS. While I agree TTGO! is hit or miss at times, I actually like the idea of a pure comedy show, as I prefer comedy cartoons over action cartoons overall, plus I personally think TT was at its' best when it was being comedic; the action aspects of TT didn't quite work for me, and I felt that the quality of TT began to slip around season 3, so I'm actually glad we didn't just get more of that.

 

[Monte]

Frankly, one thing i feel like many of the old fans don't consider is whether or not a season 6 of the original show would even be any good. Its been over 5 years since the show ended and all the crew members have moved on. You might be able to copy the art style and get the old voice actors back together, but things may not work out well if you can't get the writers and directors. Now granted it would be possible to get some of them back; One of the directors has been working on the DC nations shorts, so they could pull him for a TV show at any time... and one of the writers on TTG actually is a writer from the old TV series, so they have her already. However i'm not sure if the old crew is even still interested in working on the old show, and if they lack that passion that could in turn effect their work.

We have no Guarantees how the new season would measure up to the old... I mean look at the recently revived Xiaolin Chronicles; the first series was great and after years of being cancelled it got rebooted, but so far the reboot has fallen quite short; it feels more like a pale imitation than a true continuation. Another example might be the last season of Gargolyes; That series was great for its first 2 seasons, but after it was cancelled it was renewed with a new cast of writers and animators for a third season... and it just didn't quite work out. Teen titans had a good run, and while it might be fun to see it continue, i also don't want to see it revive just to see flop

Personally, i've been enjoying TTG for what it is, and get some good laughs and amusment from its humor.

 

[Srebak]

I guess my problem is that Teen Titans, like a few other shows i could mention, was a good show that i would have liked to see go all the way. So when i see a show that reminds me of it somehow: like Ben 10, Young Justice or Ultimate Spider-Man, and see them surpass the show somehow: be it by the originality in the story, the better action scenes and the overall popularity of the show, i can't help but feel bad that one of my favorite shows was outdid.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Young Justice and the Ben 10 franchise all did great things that Teen Titans didn't, heck, YJ even had Greg Weisman; one of the best story arc writers of all. And today, Teen Titans is now remember through a comedic reboot that throws almost everything we knew about the main characters out the window.

 

[Silverstar]

I guess my problem is that Teen Titans, like a few other shows i could mention, was a good show that i would have liked to see go all the way.

The show got 5 seasons when it was only supposed to get 4, as well as a TV movie. That's more than a lot of shows get. I'd say it went far enough.

So when i see a show that reminds me of it somehow: like Ben 10, Young Justice or Ultimate Spider-Man, and see them surpass the show somehow: be it by the originality in the story, the better action scenes and the overall popularity of the show, i can't help but feel bad that one of my favorite shows was outdid.

None of these shows are in competition with one another. And how did any of those other shows you mentioned surpass or outdo Teen Titans, exactly?

Ultimate Spider-Man, Young Justice and the Ben 10 franchise all did great things that Teen Titans didn't

It could be due to my general indifference to action cartoons, but I'm not sure what you mean by that, nor do I see why what these other shows do matters at all in relation to TT, since it was long gone by the time they all came along. And based on what I've seen of Ultimate Spider-Man, I have yet to see that show do anything great, or even good.

Heck, YJ even had Greg Weisman; one of the best story arc writers of all.

Who so far hasn't been able to break the 2 season curse. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Weisman's over-reaching story arc structure, but to each their own.

And today, Teen Titans is now remember through a comedic reboot that throws almost everything we knew about the main characters out the window.

TTGO! isn't a reboot. It's a knockoff series that exists within its' own self-contained universe, so nothing about TT been through out the window, since TTGO! isn't canonical to the previous show. Anyway, TT:TAS took a lot of liberties with the comic book franchise it was inspired by, so everything's relative. Anyway, if GO!'s existence bothers you so much, just ignore it. Just because it's based on the Teen Titans characters doesn't mean that you have to watch it.

 

[Srebak]

The show got 5 seasons when it was only supposed to get 4, as well as a TV movie. That's more than a lot of shows get. I'd say it went far enough.

I meant like getting its own franchise, like DCAU, Marvel Universe or the Ben 10 Franchise

None of these shows are in competition with one another. And how did any of those other shows you mentioned surpass or outdo Teen Titans, exactly?

Ben 10 surpassed TT because of all the original stories, Alien species, alternate universes and even concepts involving timelines. The details that they used to describe certain alien races and other dimensions clearly shows that they put a lot of originality in the franchise. Young Justice had story arcs that always seemed to add up and always had an air of mystery, drama and adventure to it, it was hard to tell who was good and who was bad in that show. And finally, Ultimate Spider-Man, at first i saw it as similar to Teen Titans, but Teen Titans didn't have guest appearances from famous Superheroes like Iron-Man, the Hulk, Captain America and Thor, or well-known baddies like Doctor Doom or Loki.

It could be due to my general indifference to action cartoons, but I'm not sure what you mean by that, nor do I see why what these other shows do matters at all in relation to TT, since it was long gone by the time they all came along. And based on what I've seen of Ultimate Spider-Man, I have yet to see that show do anything great, or even good.

Ultimate Spider-Man is going to air an episode with a team of Monster superheroes in October (a fitting time to do so), when has Teen Titans ever done something like that? What's more, Ben 10 had an entire story arc dedicated to revealing four alien villains based on four horror movie monsters, the most Teen Titans ever did was an episode involving a werebeast.

TTGO! isn't a reboot. It's a knockoff series that exists within its' own self-contained universe, so as long as you remember the original series, nothing about it's been through out the window. Anyway, TT:TAS took a lot of liberties with the comic book franchise it was inspired by, so everything's relative. Anyway, if GO!'s existence bothers you so much, just ignore it. Just because it's based on the Teen Titans characters doesn't mean that you have to watch it.

I probably should do that, but to be perfectly honest, this show is getting a few laughs out of me

 

[Dragnatek]

The 2003 Teen Titans was only good when it was a comedy. the series "story arcs" which really can't be called that as they were hardly stories were rushed with poor conclusions. The only main villain who was that interesting was Slade and it was only his voice that made him cool otherwise we just had a dull mysterious villain whose motivations were all over the place.

When the show tried to be serous most of the time it was boring. The writers idea of a mystery was intentionally not explaining things. Red X's identity loses impact since it's clear the writers were never going to relieve it and probably don't know themselves.

Don't get me wrong a couple of the serous episodes were great but Haunted seemed to be the exception to the rule.

The episodes that were pure comedy or action comedy were where the show shined. The ones where the anime humor gags did not stand out as much and did not break the mood of the episode.

I think Teen Titans Go is a better show then the 2003 Titans because at least Go knows what it is. The old Titans seemed to have multiple personality disorder and it really kept me from getting too involved in the show.

 

[Silverstar]

Ben 10 surpassed TT because of all the original stories, Alien species, alternate universes and even concepts involving timelines. The details that they used to describe certain alien races and other dimensions clearly shows that they put a lot of originality in the franchise.

So Teen Titans has to do everything Ben 10 does? If Ben 10 stood in front of an oncoming train, would you want TT to do that too? Seriously, it's not a competition. These are different shows with different continuities. Ben 10 had more original stories and concepts because it was an original concept. TT by contrast was based on a decades old comic book franchise. TT had 20+ years of comic continuity and stories to draw its' inspiration from, where as with Ben everything had to be made up from scratch. For anyone who wants to see those levels of depth and details in a Titans story, I'd recommend checking out the comic book series.

Young Justice had story arcs that always seemed to add up and always had an air of mystery, drama and adventure to it, it was hard to tell who was good and who was bad in that show.

That element of YJ always bored and annoyed me personally, especially by the time they got to Invasion, but different strokes for different folks. Anyway, YJ clearly skewed toward an older audience than TT:TAS did, so it's not really fair to compare the 2 shows in that regard.

And finally, Ultimate Spider-Man, at first i saw it as similar to Teen Titans, but Teen Titans didn't have guest appearances from famous Superheroes like Iron-Man, the Hulk, Captain America and Thor, or well-known baddies like Doctor Doom or Loki.

A show isn't automatically better just because it does crossovers. They're OK when done well, but they're hardly a necessity. Ultimate Spider-Man also boasts some of the worst writing, pacing and character execution that I've ever witnessed on a show. USM is hardly anything for a show to aspire to.

Ultimate Spider-Man is going to air an episode with a team of Monster superheroes in October (a fitting time to do so), when has Teen Titans ever done something like that? What's more, Ben 10 had an entire story arc dedicated to revealing four alien villains based on four horror movie monsters, the most Teen Titans ever did was an episode involving a werebeast.

So TT was shortchanged just because they never did an episode with movie monsters? Really? I still don't get why you feel that TT has to do everything Ben 10 and USM does. The 3 shows aren't connected to one another in any way, and again, it's not a competition, so I really don't understand this "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. Just because one viewer sees similarities between these shows and TT doesn't make the TT producers obligated to copy these other shows.

Personally, the only thing about the original TT that I liked were the comedic moments. The story arcs, drama and adventure elements came off as weak, dull, rushed and uneven, and the anime-mimicking art style bugged me. So I actually prefer TTGO! in that respect, 'cause GO! at least knows exactly what it wants to be and doesn't try to be anything else. I guess I'm in the minority since I don't miss TT:TAS and don't really care about crossovers, drama and mystery.

I probably should (just ignore Teen Titans GO!), but to be perfectly honest, this show is getting a few laughs out of me

Then why complain at all? TTGO! is supposed to be a self-contained comedy. It's not TT season 6, nobody ever promised that GO! was going to be TT season 6. Why complain about GO! if it's entertaining you? Just relax and enjoy the show.