Let me state from the outset that I recognize and respect the changes which have to be made when a superhero comic book is translated for television or film. I had no problem with Spider-Man's web spinners being biological instead of technological. I fully understand why the film version of Xavier's School for Gifted Children is a hodgepodge of the *X-Men* title roll-calls of the past several decades. There have been enough different visions of the Superman and Batman characters that I am not surprised by the variety of interpretations in the many films and television series on these characters.
That said, this cartoon series is a demeaning take on the classic *Teen Titans* comic book title which revitalized the D.C. Comics line-up in the 1980s and 1990s and a demeaning take on the modern American teenager.
In the comic book title, the Teen Titans are thoughtful college-age teenagers who grapple with ethical uncertainties.
The cartoon turns them into anorexic anime' clichés behaving in that sort of tritely false junior high way only adults who have completely forgotten their teenage years could write, with an almost desperate pretense of hipness to it.
Robin the protégé' of The Batman is given a tolerable interpretation, although in the title Tim Drake (Robin) lives at home with his wealthy father, and Dick Grayson (the original Robin of the Teen Titans) was a college student living with The Batman.
However . . .
Raven is a shy, quiet empath with tremendous survivor's guilt and a control over the shadows of the human soul, not a poorly done goth imitation of MTV's Daria!
Beast Boy (Changeling) is a witty trickster and adopted son of one of the richest men in the world, not an emaciated Eddie Munster with all the wit of one of the Brady Bunch kids!
Starfire is a buxom, statuesque warrior princess who can fire off devastating star bolts, not a pre-pubescent anime' fairy princess flinging energy gobs like a monkey flinging poo!
Cyborg is a brilliant engineer, son of the designer of Titans Tower, not a stereotypical Black kid like every other stereotypical Black kid shown on television (at least he avoids wearing the requisite basketball uniform or mouthing the hackneyed efforts to imitate rap!)
Terra is a cigarette-smoking sexual predator and violent psychopath, not a waifish orphan girl given to collapsing into tears whenever the plot needs Beast Boy to seem like the rescuing male!
Unlike the Batman animated series or the Justice League cartoons, this cartoon is nothing but a wasted effort which trivializes teenagers as empty-headed posturers.
AVOID!
That said, this cartoon series is a demeaning take on the classic *Teen Titans* comic book title which revitalized the D.C. Comics line-up in the 1980s and 1990s and a demeaning take on the modern American teenager.
In the comic book title, the Teen Titans are thoughtful college-age teenagers who grapple with ethical uncertainties.
The cartoon turns them into anorexic anime' clichés behaving in that sort of tritely false junior high way only adults who have completely forgotten their teenage years could write, with an almost desperate pretense of hipness to it.
Robin the protégé' of The Batman is given a tolerable interpretation, although in the title Tim Drake (Robin) lives at home with his wealthy father, and Dick Grayson (the original Robin of the Teen Titans) was a college student living with The Batman.
However . . .
Raven is a shy, quiet empath with tremendous survivor's guilt and a control over the shadows of the human soul, not a poorly done goth imitation of MTV's Daria!
Beast Boy (Changeling) is a witty trickster and adopted son of one of the richest men in the world, not an emaciated Eddie Munster with all the wit of one of the Brady Bunch kids!
Starfire is a buxom, statuesque warrior princess who can fire off devastating star bolts, not a pre-pubescent anime' fairy princess flinging energy gobs like a monkey flinging poo!
Cyborg is a brilliant engineer, son of the designer of Titans Tower, not a stereotypical Black kid like every other stereotypical Black kid shown on television (at least he avoids wearing the requisite basketball uniform or mouthing the hackneyed efforts to imitate rap!)
Terra is a cigarette-smoking sexual predator and violent psychopath, not a waifish orphan girl given to collapsing into tears whenever the plot needs Beast Boy to seem like the rescuing male!
Unlike the Batman animated series or the Justice League cartoons, this cartoon is nothing but a wasted effort which trivializes teenagers as empty-headed posturers.
AVOID!