It's been like...what...20+ Years Since I last saw Teen Titans on TV?
I feel like I'm playing an unfunny joke to myself about my age but yes, it's true, I did watch the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon on CARTOON NETWORK back in 2004 when I was a 6 year old lad being taken care by a friend of my mother who goes by the name of Gregoria.
Now Gregoria had the best SHAW Television Cable plan that money could buy back in 2004...
This was before the infamous acquisition by ROGERS COMMUNICATION...
Anyway, back to 2004.
With this Cable Plan, she was able to access any Channel her digital box had to offer.
Sure, I had my share of watching her favorite Spanish Soap Operas but at the off-chance, She tuned the Cable Box to other channels as well.
While it was nice to watch the various cartoons on both Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, I was also blessed to watch the various cartoons on CARTOON NETWORK.
I mean, after all, she had to support the other cable channels because she had a son name Joel, who would actually watch those programmes on that Shaw Cable Box.
While I have watched the likes of Ed Edd N Eddy, Codename: Kids Next Door, Billy & Mandy, Dexter's Laboratory, etc.,
The one cartoon from the good old days of CN that really had an Impact on me was the 2003 Adaptation of Teen Titans.
Yes, that TEEN TITANS, a show that my generation loves like it's their own child and one they also consider superior to any other adaptation regardless of puppet rigs, anime aesthetics, or sticking as close to George Perez's original source material.
"No arguments here. I prefer the 2003 Adaptation too."
HEY ROBIN, THAT'S MY LINE!!!
But Teen Titans sure didn't start with the Cartoon Network adaptation.
It began as a comic book series starting with BRAVE AND BOLD in 1964.
But for many in my generation, they didn't start Teen Titans with the comics. Instead, they started it with the 2003 cartoon adaptation on Classic Cartoon Network.
So what makes the 2003 so much better than any other adaptation regardless of body mechanics construction or animation style?
Could it be the Anime Style aesthetics?
This is not from the show itself but rather Fan-Art.
Kudos to Brenda Murasaki for this wonderful piece of fanart.
Or the totally kickass theme song that even after 20+ years,
I can't get it out of my head.... in a positive way.
The theme song's scored by Japanese pop rock duo PUFFY AMIYUMI if you're going to ask.
Or could it be.....
No, Teen Titans is perfect enough as is even 20 years after it's first episode aired on CN.
Alright, I know, I need to provide my retrospective.
It sure could be the anime style aesthetics that charmed 6 year old me back in 2004 since the mid-2000s sure was a perfect time to imitate anime aesthetic since that form of animation was getting very popular by the dozen,
what with Pokémon,
Dragon Ball Z,
Yu-Gi-Oh,
Inuyasha,
etc. getting popular within the U.S Crowd back in the day.
And what better way to welcome that emerging fandom was to imitate the anime aesthetic in the western cartoons.
We had the likes of Avatar, Ben 10, etc. to come along and bank on that but for a lot of my Late Millennial generation, they'll say Teen Titans takes the cake for all that.
Example of Anime Aesthetics used is this shown below where in CHIBI form, a Mighty Pissed CYBORG educates BEAST BOY about having a clean and organized environment.
As you can tell, BEAST BOY is not amused.
As a matter of fact, the casting is great through and through.
Scott Menville is the perfect Robin both for his being Team Leader and having his competitive nature.
Hynden Walch is the perfect Starfire, mostly for how cute she portrays her but also for channeling her supportive nature for her fellow teammates.
Believe it or not, I actually had a Crush on STARFIRE back when I was 6 years old.
TRUE STORY!
Khary Payton's the perfect Cyborg, mainly for channeling that athletic gusto onto his fellow teammates as well as providing all that much needed encouragement.
"I made BOO-YAH a real cool catchphrase before those Squid Kids made it cool."
Nothing can stop him. Not even a depleted battery will halt our man Khary from providing such an awesome performance.
Tara Strong, an actress known for her characters who are bubbly in personality or optimistic in portrayal, managed to successfully subvert the pigeonhole by being cast as the stoic Raven who often is portrayed as withdrawn and uninterested but deep inside, she supports her teammates as her inseparable family.
Greg Cipes as Beast Boy...
If Naruto during his pre-Shippuden years considered him the hyperactive one, then Beast Boy takes the cake. Sure he's still the comic relief in this version but what he makes up for it is his ability to transform into different animals. You can't ask for anything more badass than a guy who shapeshifts.
And yes even in 2003, this incarnation of BEAST BOY was still promoting his vegetarian lifestyle as always.
Here he is trying to promote his FAMOUS TOFU MEAT to Raven...
with no success....
"I respect that you don't eat meat. Please respect that I don't eat fake meat."
Just don't introduce BEAST BOY to a certain Monday-hating cat because I was deeply surprised that Beast Boy's real name is Garfield Logan but then again, I doubt Arnold Drake was inspired by the works of Jim Davis.
What about the writing?
Don’t get me started because nothing can top the writing in anyway.
Why don't we get that type of treatment with today's cartoons?
Aside from AVATAR or THE OWL HOUSE.
Today's Animators and Writers should borrow a page from
AWESOME CARTOON WRITING 101
Circa 2004.
The stories are deep. Whether it's dealing with your sister,
Time travel to a dark future, which one can change if they put the effort,
To Character mind swaps,
To letting in a newcomer with a troubled past,
Sure, the stories can be dark and deep but it still has it's brevy of some memorable moments.
Some which are more heart warming than one would realize.
When I heard that Teen Titans was rebooted in the early 2010s, My opinion was mixed on that but when I saw a few snippets at a friend's house, I sort of lost it.
That's because in order for the concept and the comedy to work, the writers on GO! derailed the characters and deviated from both the 2003 version and George Perez's comic books.
No fan was happy about the BEHIND THE SCENES drama going on.
And despite GO! having it's own theatrical film in 2018 which did manage to earn a CERTIFIED FRESH rating from ROTTEN TOMATOS, people still hated the film since it's tied to their most reviled version of PEREZ's creation.
That and they felt robbed that TROUBLE IN TOKYO was only given the TV MOVIE treatment instead of a Theatrical treatment.
The Fandom is absolutely volatile when it comes to the Teen Titans to they point they'll all say they prefer the 2003 version.
But unfortunately, even before Zaslav's antics, the CN Executives don't care about Fandom Preferences. They only care about ratings and the money the reap from those ratings.
For the fandom, If there's a sliver of Puppet Rigs or a Live-Action Version where Robin curses at Batman, they will not only refuse to watch it but urge others not to watch it for the sake of 2003 Adaptation Supremacy.
True Story by the way.
And yes, I happen to belong to the 2003 Adaptation Supremacy group, otherwise why would I be writing about the 2003 Adaptation.
Sure, I had only on-the-air antenna back when I grew up but I should be blessed that I was being taken care of by Gregoria and watched TEEN TITANS on her SHAW cable box while my mother was studying at Vancouver Community College.
......
Oh what the hell... I guess I'll say it.
Despite my intense hatred for David Zaslav for his anti-art attitude when it comes to I.Ps,
in my opinion, Teen Titans GO!, as well as the 2018 Live-Action version should both be claimed as a $650 billion Tax Write-Off instead of shitting on Final Space, Infinity Train, etc.
With both GO! and the 2018 Live-Action version written off for taxes and therefore wiped off the Map,
The 2003 Adaptation Fans would be glad to receive all those residuals away from Zaslav just because we all have faith for the much better received 2003 version since that's still on MAX.
And to a lesser extent, at least for Canadians like me:
CRAVE.
*cough*BELLMEDIA*cough*.
If you happen upon the 2003 Teen Titans on DVD, Netflix, MAX, Crave, or even better, THE INTERNET ARCHIVE, I highly recommend that version. It's so good compared to all the other adaptations that it can't be beat by others that have come and gone.
And 2003 Teen Titans is 10x better than ADVENTURE TIME in my experience but that's also sort of like saying AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER is 10x better than SPONGEBOB.
We have our preferences and I'd prefer if executives and shareholders should at least take our side of the Preference Cake than to force their views about Cash cows down our esophagus.
In my experience, God-Tier titles trump the Cash cows in terms of Critical Reception.
I initially promised to do this blogpost throughout June 2024 but I got carried away and lost track of time due to my PC build, my new chair, my Airport Job, and of course, the change of bedrooms at the basement suite I live in on August 15 2024.
I got a lot more blogposts to do,
And yes, I'm more than happy to share my TEEN TITANS (2003) screenshots more often....
For the sake of the 2003 adaptation fans.
And as always, I'm not done with this blogpost. I'll update with more things like additional screenshots and fanart when the time permits. I promise.
Update as of December 29 2024:
Read that both the superior TEEN TITANS and the maligned GO! were removed off of MAX as per part of ZASLAV's obsession with cost cutting........
And I'm mixed on this.
I'm not happy that 2003 was removed off of Streaming but at the same time, with GO! removed off of MAX, I think we should take this with a grain of salt.
But regardless, make sure you still hold on to your DVDs of 2003 Teen Titans.
And be sure to burn the DVDs into your Computers to preserve the episodes in your SSDs.
And be sure to check out the INTERNET ARCHIVE for any digital copies and hope said copies are rips from the original DVDs from the mid-2000s.
Digital Copies ripped from DVDS stored on ARCHIVE.ORG are much better than VCR/DVR recordings because I prefer the lack of artifacts and lack of Network Watermarks.
