Teen Titans Go! (2013) – SMCB 239

I gotta admit, I never cared for the original Teen Titans show. I just always thought that Justice League/Justice League Unlimited was a better written and more tonally consistent show. Then years later Young Justice came along and gave me what I always wanted from Teen Titans. So I didn’t come into this show with the baggage that other people do, and it certainly didn’t ruin my childhood (If I may be harsh for a second, but if the existence of a sequel or reboot to a property you love has ruined your childhood then you didn’t have one to begin with, or at least one not worth remembering). That said, I find this show to be the very definition of hit-or-miss.

While there certainly are great episode of this show there are episodes of this show that just feel too hyperactive or too random to enjoy. For example, there’s an episode where Beast Boy and Cyborg only saying the word waffle over and over, while the other characters act confused/annoyed/angry. That is basically the only joke of the episode and it gets old really fast.

The first episode of this show didn’t really do it for me either, with the only joke that really landed for me was Robin mentioning how tough going to the grocery store was, with everyone else looking worse for wear.

40%, 40%, 20% on the other hand is an episode I love, with a great song, great artstyle, and the Optimus Prime moment, as it seemed like just a typical reference joke actually came back in a fun way. I would say that’s probably the best episode of the series.

Classic Titans is the episode I have the most to say about as I feel like it should’ve been a fun episode but it mostly falls flat. Don’t get me wrong, it was a funny episode and I liked how they took jabs at the Superfriends, but the problem is that they took jabs at the Superfriends and not the original Teen Titans cartoon. I feel like the message of this episode is lost by parodying the Superfriends instead of the older Teen Titans cartoon, as it’s not like Teen Titans fans are comparing this show to Superfriends. Honestly this episode probably would’ve worked better as an episode of Thundercats Roar.

Classic Titans also represents a problem with this is show, and that’s that the writers really seem to like making fun of their critics. Now, the occasional jab is fine, even doing an entire episode addressing your critics would be fine, but this show has done multiple episodes where it’s just them bashing the critics of the show, including one episode where they’re basically saying ‘adults shouldn’t be watching this show anyway because cartoons are for children’. Episodes like those just make the writers come off as unnecessarily bitter about what some people on the internet are saying, despite their show being very successful.

Compare Control Freak to Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. Control Freak is used in the show to represent and make fun of the critics of this show. While Comic Book Guy is also used to make fun of critics, and obsessive fanboys in general, but he still gets a few character moments and developments that help make him more than just a mouthpiece.

Speaking of the Simpsons, there was a really good episode this season (yes, I still watch and enjoy The Simpsons, despite what most people say about the show nowadays. So I can actually relate to you guys loving this show despite most people hating it), called Do Pizza Bots Dream of Electric Guitars that I feel addresses entitled nostalgia better than Classic Titans. In the episode, Homer finds out that an animatronic band from a pizzeria he used to work at as a teenager is being rebooted by J.J. Abrams and he tries to stop it (despite the fact that he himself rebooted them while he worked there to make them more appeal to his generation).

I’m glad you guys really enjoyed this show, even if it’s just middle of the road for me. That said, I do love the movie and think it’s one of the best things to have come from this show.