Titans Together! Teen Titans Appreciation

[Krivus]

Given that Donna is the last original Titan standing, she's probably the one that he was most interested in. Donna led based on what she thought that Dick would do in this issue and it led to the wrong decision, and Miss Martian said that with Nightwing no longer there she has to step up because she is the JL liaison - so I think the team will start to trust M'Gann more now until it comes out as a white martian.

I do not get why the whole thing of the withe martian can bring trust issues at this point

[Harpsikord]

I do not get why the whole thing of the withe martian can bring trust issues at this point

Because she is hiding something HUGE from them and White Martians caused the end of Martian Manhunter's people. Meanwhile, since she's telepathic, they can have no secrets.

[Krivus]

Because she is hiding something HUGE from them and White Martians caused the end of Martian Manhunter's people. Meanwhile, since she's telepathic, they can have no secrets.

I mean, she's there because she was assigned by the League and has been mentored by Martian Manhunter. It would be like distrusting Raven.

[Harpsikord]

I mean, she's there because she was assigned by the League and has been mentored by Martian Manhunter. It would be like distrusting Raven.

But... They did distrust Raven once. That's a thing that happened, and now, Raven can't feel their emotions. There's plenty of reason to distrust everyone on this team except for Garfield and Natasha, but Donna and Raven haven't given them reason to, while M'Gann has - which is frankly included in the fact that she is the league's Liaison.

[Godlike13]

So, what did you guys think about the show? It was interesting if not a bit extreme.

[byrd156]

So, what did you guys think about the show? It was interesting if not a bit extreme.

Posted my thoughts in Dick's appreciation thread, I'll post them again.

Enjoyed Dick and Raven but so far the over the top violence, blood, and death just feels wrong. I don't get why Detroit was chosen but I do like how Dick's behavior was called out by the news and cops. Didn't like anything about this version of Starfire at all.

I really don't care for the roster of the team, don't care about more watered down Wolfman imitations. Very excited to see how Hawk & Dove and Donna are handled. Sad that there isn't a good theme or interesting intro for the show.

Also the idea of the Titans forming with the original sidekicks coming together bothers the hell out of me. Just like it did with the cartoon series. Without Donna why the hell would they call themselves Titans?

That's just a personal gripe.

[Digifiend]

That's a good point - the original team didn't actually become Teen Titans until Donna joined, their first appearance was just marketed as "Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin". Donna joined them in their next story.

[godisawesome]

So, what did you guys think about the show? It was interesting if not a bit extreme.

It's bold, but risky. Whether or not those risks pay off is going to depend on the rest of the series. I personally *liked* the pilot, and had some fun with it in a recap, reaction, and review.


The show *does* have strong acting, with Raven being the closest to a weak spot but still leaning more towards too much (always better than too little.) Anna Diop especially does a great job with an amnesiac Starfire, carrying her scenes by herself with strong eye-centered acting and a sense of humor. The show also has good action... Though one of the big risks is still centered on Robin's tactics and whatever their full intentions are with him and Batman. Still, overall, the pilot makes good on that proclamation that the characters will basically carry different genres of film, especially with Raven having a full on Carrie/Excorcist hybrid.

Now, here's the big questions that the next few episodes have to answer:

- How is Beast Boy going to be presented? I have faith in Ryan Potter and his one scene was entertaining, but he's clearly going to be the lightest element of the show, and if they can nail that, we may have more balance with the show than it seems right now. If not, then we have a problem...
- What is Starfire's "true" final personality going to be? If she's got amnesia, than we're probably going to have her memory return and modify her behavior; I'm betting it'll turn out she's hunting Raven originally and is going to befriend her before realizing she originally wanted to kill her. They're using the more aggressive version of comic Starfire, but kind of like with Beats Boy, we need to see her personality done well. Diop has a good delivery fro the few jokes she has, now let's see her being sweet towards someone.
- Can they live up to the potential of Raven's story? Teegan Croft is young and a little raw, but clearly knows what emotions and reactions the character should have, and the idea of a Carrie/Damian character becoming a hero and having her soul fought over by good people and bad people is a strong one; her classmate Matt standing up for her, her mother's faith in her, and Dick's protectiveness make a nice contrast to the fanatic trying to kill her to stop Trigon and the bully on the bus.
- and lastly, and most importantly... Is there a plan and purpose behind having Robin be so brutal and Batman be a killer? If it's just about trying to be edgy, then its a bad move that may poison the show. IF they have a plan, IF that plan involves making Robin dynamic and Batman dynamic as well, and if the basis is a story idea with a plan... Then it *might* be a smart gamble.

[billee0918]

I liked it much more than expected.
I have issues with the tone and violence, for sure, and wish they’d gone a bit brighter.
The Starfire elements were my favorite and I think the actress did a great job, plus she’s beautiful with a strong presence.

[Jackalope89]

Dick supposedly left Batman because Batman was/became a killer. Proceeds to slice up a bunch of goons. With some "injuries" that I'm almost sure are fatal.

Starfire somehow has amnesia, and apparently thinks killing people (even if they are bad guys) is hilarious. And why does she still have that 50 cent wig!?

Raven... I don't know. I can kind of see where they're coming from with her, but not sure if I like it. Her also being the youngest of the cast by a considerable margin, is questionable.

Beast Boy was the only one not grim dark (honestly half expected him to maul the poor store guard, and was glad he didn't).

Whomever was the art director needs to be fired. It made the DCEU look vibrant and cheery, with Batfleck dropping in and asking Dick, "Why so serious?"


I'll stick around for episode 2, but yeah. Really should have had Marv Wolfman's input over Geoff Johns. Johns is a good comic book writer, but this just did not feel like the Titans.

[Harpsikord]

I suspect that there was a version of the "teen" Titans that existed before the team that we're getting in the show, and that maybe Donna did name them. Dick is friends with Hank, Dawn, and Donna already so it isn't far fetched.

[BatmanJones]

Dick supposedly left Batman because Batman was/became a killer. Proceeds to slice up a bunch of goons. With some "injuries" that I'm almost sure are fatal.

Starfire somehow has amnesia, and apparently thinks killing people (even if they are bad guys) is hilarious. And why does she still have that 50 cent wig!?

Raven... I don't know. I can kind of see where they're coming from with her, but not sure if I like it. Her also being the youngest of the cast by a considerable margin, is questionable.

Beast Boy was the only one not grim dark (honestly half expected him to maul the poor store guard, and was glad he didn't).

Whomever was the art director needs to be fired. It made the DCEU look vibrant and cheery, with Batfleck dropping in and asking Dick, "Why so serious?"


I'll stick around for episode 2, but yeah. Really should have had Marv Wolfman's input over Geoff Johns. Johns is a good comic book writer, but this just did not feel like the Titans.

Wolfman's Starfire was a joyful warrior that absolutely found pleasure in battle and in killing before Dick and the team persuaded her to be otherwise. It was a point of contention between Kori and Dick early on.

Starfire does have amnesia in this episode and why she still has the wig may be a part of that mystery. Her character will become clearer as the series advances.

None of Robin's attacks were fatal. The death counts of the various characters have been confirmed and Robin did some dang brutal things, but apparently he didn't kill.

As for me, I liked it more than I expected to and mostly I liked it for its promise. So it's an open question as to whether it will fulfill that promise or not. So far I'm enjoying what they're doing with the characters and am very excited for the guest spots to see as many Titans characters in live-action as possible. And Robin looks freaking perfect. So do Hawk and Dove.

I've seen it explained elsewhere that the reason only Robin (and Hawk and Dove) have comics-accurate costumes is that they're the only ones that are superheroes at the series' start. Others will become superheroes as the series progresses and will adopt more familiar looks when they do.

As for the acting, I thought the actress playing Raven was a touch inhibited and I'd like to see a more nuanced performance from her, though I sort of figure this is what you get when you cast this complex character so young and I've never liked Raven's de-aging in the comics or cartoons. She seemed on the verge of 18 in NTT #1 and then, like 30 years later, she was 12 or something. So her age is not inaccurate to the comics; it's accurate to some of them. Whether it works remains to be seen. I do enjoy her dark persona more than her more human one. Her human version is sometimes in danger of seeming like she's whining rather than holding in being horrified. For her age, I think she's doing a fine job.

I thought this version of Robin was very well played for what was written. He's far more violent than I like Dick Grayson to be but if that's the way they're going, the actor pulls it off with aplomb. There were times I felt I was seeing Robin on screen for the first time. Dick Grayson too. For such a famous character he's been portrayed in live-action relatively few times. Since the serials from the 40s, there's been Burt Ward and there's been Chris O'Donnell. So he hasn't been portrayed in live-action since like 1997. I'd say Thwaites is my favorite of the three live-action Robins but only because he's the only one to have played the character seriously. Obviously Burt Ward is also the greatest of Robins; just different Robins with the same secret ID's.

I agreed with a lot of critics that Diop was the most appealing of the bunch, at least so far, and the most interesting and entertaining. And I'm so glad she's so strong after all the internet hate she's had to endure for being a black woman cast in the role of an orange alien. The best revenge is living a good life as is said and Diop seems like the breakout star from Titans so far.

Not enough of Beast Boy to say anything about Ryan Potter though I did like the sort of camel face he had in between being a lion and a human.

I was very tickled to see Audrey from Twin Peaks as Raven's mom. I hope she's Arella and I hope she'll be back in spite of what happened in the pilot.

My main takeaway is that the whole season is an origin season for the team and much is yet to be revealed about the main characters so I'd caution against judging the show to be similar to or different than any prior take on the team. We just can't know yet except that this is clearly a far more violent bunch than any prior DC superhero team.

As for negatives, I won't call the excessive violence a problem until I'm more familiar with the world of the series, though it was sometimes off-putting to me and other times I could only think, "Wow, I can't believe Robin's doing that to that guy! That seems more like a badass move from Lobo or Deathstroke but you have my attention!"

And the music was possibly the most grating music I have ever heard and that's saying something since I booked noise bands at a punk club in the 90s and lived upstairs from where they played each night so I've heard some aggressively bad noise pollution. This was that and then some. It's rare that music can be so bad it can be the worst thing about a (promising-but-flawed) series premiere but this music was that bad. Fix that please, DCUniverse.

Looking forward to Hawk and Dove a LOT. Have always loved the characters, LOVE the costumes and the action scenes we've seen with them, and am a fan of the casting as well.

[Kon93]

She was NOT hated on for being black,and to say that is to be a ASS.she has a shitty wig,which is terrible,mostly considering she has beautiful natural hair herself,and would look more the part with her own hair.also the clothes were good awful in all the promos,which after watching the pilot almost makes sense,so the costume department gets a pass.

Dick was giving those goons injuries that would stay with them for the rest if their lives,he didn't have to kill them to make torturing and scarring them bad.

Those were the negatives,the actual show has promise and I can't wait for the next episode

[PyroTwilight]

Because she is hiding something HUGE from them and White Martians caused the end of Martian Manhunter's people. Meanwhile, since she's telepathic, they can have no secrets.

The White Martians caused the Green's extinction now? Where'd they establish that, Martian Manhunter's last solo book?

[Frontier]

Dick supposedly left Batman because Batman was/became a killer. Proceeds to slice up a bunch of goons. With some "injuries" that I'm almost sure are fatal.

I get we're supposed to think Robin being this brutal is because working with Batman and in Gotham made him this way, but you'd think if he was conscious enough of that to leave Batman and Gotham then he would then try and not fight crime like that.

Although maybe that's really the only way he knows how to fight crime, which I guess then begs the question of whether Dick was acting like this when he first became Robin.


And "@$%# Batman" was still a dumb line even in context.