Ever since Teen Titans Go began airing on CN, I have thought about returning to the first series. I didn’t see much of a reason why until a few weeks ago when Teen Titans Go To The Movies became a hit in theaters and DC dropped a trailer for their flagship series Titans which takes the characters in a “darker” route. I see that this series was very influential for millennials- myself included. But why is that? What really made us click with this show? Let’s take a look back at the very first episode of Teen Titans and give it a fair estimate no matter what we find. Let’s take a peak at Divide and Conquer.
Synopsis
The show starts off with Cinderblock-a giant humanoid made out of concrete-breaking into a prison. The Titans arrive on the scene to stop him, but Robin and Cyborg screw up a special move that just takes out the rest of the team. Cyborg & Robin get into a huge dispute which ends with Cyborg leaving the group seemingly for good. To make things worse, Cinderblock manages to get away with what he came for: Plasmus-another humanoid figure made out of…well…goo I suppose. Cinderblock also seems to be taking his orders from a shadowy figure (like we all don’t know who it is). The Titans are quite upset by Cyborg leaving-though Robin is more so than anyone else. Plasmus arrives at a factory to consume toxic waste which makes him stronger. The Titans attack, but they prove to be no match since Plasmus just goes all “John Carpenter’s The Thing” on them. Of course, Cyborg shows up at the last minute. He and Robin make up and do their finishing move correctly thus wiping out Plasmus. The mysterious shadowy figure (I know you know who it is, but this is just so much fun) is upset and swears next time won’t be the same.
Art
It’s odd seeing how different this show’s art style is from the modern reboot. Recent cartoons tend to have more “poppy”, bright colors, but very few shadows. The Titans have very deep shadows and range from anime-like “realism” to very cartoony. Many shows animation tend to not hold up compared to more current fare, but I can actually say the opposite. Not to say that more modern cartoons’ animation is bad, just that the Titans show is some ways has more “complex” art-for lack of a better term. Many modern cartoons-CN especially-tend to be goofy, ligthhearted comedies…and that’s it. Teen Titans is that plus well planned action scenes and teen drama so it shows that in the animation.
The Writing
When I was doing research for this show, I found out that the show was actually inspired by the original Star Trek. In a throw away moment, Raven is messing with some controls and you can actually hear an old Enterprise sound effect. Just a fun bit of trivia. The characterization in this episode also oddly reminds me of the same dynamics on the Enterprise. Raven is a distant, cold & calculative person who secretly holds back emotions like Spock. Robin on the other hand is a brash leader who is confident, but also very loyal like Kirk. We also get Starfire’s signature “fish out of water” type dialogue. At times, she can be cute, but then certain moments make her feel like Balki from “Perfect Strangers”-annoying and a painful stereotype. Cyborg & Beast Boy also get some time to shine. BB has his typical dumb jokes and clutzy moments, but shows him as a competent fighter. Cyborg was also likable in how he isn’t afraid to back down, plus a razor-sharp wit to boot. What really stood out to me was how Robin & Cyborg got over themselves. Not some sort of a big event or realization about each other or some other cliche. They both just were doing their thing-fighting crime-and realized how much they needed each other. Nothing spectacular, but a nice departure from the typical.
My last statement is how I would sum up this pilot. Nothing groundbreaking, but for what it is, they did an excellent job. Many kids show weren’t expected to take their audience seriously, but Titans did. They had fun, but also created something with real effort behind it. And in terms of first episodes, Divide and Conquer has to be on the list of the Top 100 Best Pilots. You get a feel for what the show is about, good character development, good set up for what’s to come, and a well-made story. That’s a lot of balls to juggle. If you grew up watching Titans, it’s worth going back to revisit it.
DC Fanboy! Superman is the greatest comic book character of all time. Favorite movies are Man of Steel, Goonies, Back To the Future
