Teen Titans Go

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Okay, before I inevitably rant about this miserable excuse for a show, I need to start from the beginning. Originally, Teen Titans started out as a comic book by DC Comics in 1965. And yes, this was LONG before the two TV shows that most people are familiar with today. But I'm not so sure how well known the comics are today, and I'm not so sure they're as well known as other DC Comics franchises like Superman, Batman, or Justice League. But moving on. Decades later, Warner Bros. gave us "Teen Titans", an animated TV series that first premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003. Now, I had just graduated from high-school when this show first aired. But all the same, I knew I had to watch this show just to satisfy my curiosity. Because back in those days, cartoons were starting to lose their flavor and their originality. With bland and mediocre titles flooding the market, I started to lose faith in cartoons. But up until I saw the original Teen Titans, I was blown away. I was amazed at how awesome a show it was. I'm not joking when I say that Teen Titans was one of the best animated TV series I've ever seen in my life. One of the things that made the original Teen Titans so unique is that it was kind of a mix between an action cartoon and a comedy, much like how Road Rovers was. It blended the two genres together quite well, had adequate character and story development, and all in all it was a pretty entertaining show. While some of the stories were kind of stupid and nonsensical along with the random moments of silliness displayed in certain episodes, that didn't hurt the show too much in the long run. And today, Teen Titans is one of my favorite TV series of all time right next to so many others. The show starred its own renditions of classic characters like Robin (who reminds me so much of Tetsuo from Akira because of his hairdo), Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy (who acts as comic relief). One of the other things I noticed about the show is that its animation style is heavily influenced by Japanese anime. And along with its heavy anime influence, the animation also has signs of past DC cartoon styles seen by Glen Murakami, and previously Bruce Timm. While certain aspects of all characters are changed to accommodate a lighter hearted anime style, different aspects can be compared to earlier shows such as Batman Beyond or Justice League, and bear resemblance. But with all that said, the original Teen Titans cartoon is a show that I absolutely love. It had everything going for it; well executed action scenes, balanced humor and drama, great animation (even though its the same style that was used for every other DC Comics cartoon), and the attention to the character interaction and story development makes it one of the most memorable TV series of all time. Teen Titans is without question a favorite among the fans, and it deserves the praise and the respect that it's gotten.

But sadly, despite the praise and high ratings that the series has gotten from its loyal and loving fanbase, Teen Titans was canceled during its prime for the stupidest reasons Cartoon Network could come up with. You know, because that's just how it is in the business. People don't care about quality shows these days. And they will go as far as to cancel good series in favor of crappy, boring, and uninspired series like Annoying Orange (a show I REALLY freaking hate). Needless to say, fans were furious over the cancellation of the original Teen Titans, and for good reasons I might add. What's even more upsetting is that the original Teen Titans ended on a cliffhanger. And we all know that ending a series on a cliffhanger is never a good idea, as that often leads to disastrous results, and it leaves the audiences hungry and desperate for more. But sadly, as was the case with Demon Knight, Ninja Resurrection, Wild Knights Gulkeeva, and many other titles that come to mind, the original Teen Titans show will never get its cliffhanger resolved, leaving many questions unanswered to this day. And that's very unfortunate considering people's expectations. But, 10 years later, Cartoon Network created a brand new Teen Titans show. When word began to spread, fans were hyped up as hell, and they thought for sure that this would be an official follow up to the original Teen Titans cartoon. But as for me, I was rather skeptical. And for the right reasons. Sure, another Teen Titans cartoon was on the horizon. But somehow I knew that this show would turn out to be a disaster since that's normally what happens when you allow the rights to a franchise to fall into the wrong hands. In this case, we have the two assholes Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath to thank for this. And now begins the subject for today. Here we have "Teen Titans Go", a disaster that has virtually nothing in common with the original cartoon, and takes things into a completely different direction. And unfortunately in this case, that's not a good thing. Now, I know what some of you are thinking; "You're an idiot, MDT! You're so old-school! Don't be so nostalgic! You can't accept change!" WRONG! I can accept change, and I can adapt to newer things as long as its done right! But that is sadly not the case with "Teen Titans Go". Bare in mind, as with every other long running franchise, there has been some experimentation and evolution, and there has been some ups and downs throughout the years. Which vary depending on who you ask. Now, spin off series can work out when done right. As was the case with the original Teen Titans show since it was based on a comic book series. But Teen Titans Go was basically Cartoon Network's way of spitting on the faces of fans of the original just for laughs. And I'm being flat out honest when I say that Teen Titans Go is nothing more than a shameless mockery of the original show. It tries WAY too hard to be a sitcom, and fails miserably at it. And that's the thing with this show; the humor is VERY poorly executed, and the show itself does not take things very seriously whatsoever. But what REALLY seals the coffin is that the creators of Teen Titans Go have boldly admitted that they never watched the original show, therefore dooming it from the start. Why would you make a show based on a popular franchise and not bother to familiarize yourself with the franchise's roots? That's just blatant idiocy at its worst!

Contrary to how the original Teen Titans was an action cartoon first and a comedy second, Teen Titans Go is a comedy first, and an action cartoon last. But in this case its not particularly done all that well. In fact, it's poorly done. And I mean POORLY. But you want to know what's even more upsetting? This show replaced the series called "Young Justice", which was such a kick ass show with so much potential. But then again, as I keep saying, people don't care about what has potential. They do as they please. And as usual, they canceled good shows in favor of crap like this. And you know what? It's gotten old! I refuse to accept this! Now, as with Transformers Animated, I tried my best to give Teen Titans Go a chance. And I forced myself to watch one or two episodes of it. But after watching those two episodes, I was immediately turned off by its utter stupidity and its lack of effort. Once you've seen one episode of this show, you've seen them all. This show doesn't do the original cartoon justice in anyway shape or form. Much like how Transformers Animated doesn't do its source material justice in anyway shape or form. But in this case, it's much worse. Yes, I said that; MUCH worse. Teen Titans Go is even more a slap in the face and a middle finger to the source material its based on. Not just the original cartoon, but to the entire franchise. Yes, I know I went on about how Transformers Animated mocked G1, but at least it never sank as low as Teen Titans Go did. Sadly, whereas Transformers Animated received the fate that it deserved, Teen Titans Go isn't finished yet. I hear that they're renewing this piece of shit for a third season. Yes, I know. It's sad, but that's just the way it is. And from here on out, things are only bound to get worse. And many fans feel the same way I do about Teen Titans Go. But how anybody could find this entertaining is beyond me. How could this have made it past development stages? How could this have been accepted let alone see the light of day? Does modern society favor crap over quality? Do we live in a time when effort has absolutely no meaning at all when creating something to show to the public? If that is the case, then I've lost all hope for the future of animation. I have little expectations now because things only get worse as time goes on.

Now to further vent my complete and utter disgust and hatred of Teen Titans Go. This show is wretched! A festering sack of shit! This show is nothing more than an abomination, an insult to the franchise, a MAJOR slap in the face to the fans, and a miserable excuse of a Teen Titans cartoon. And not only that, but it's a pathetic attempt of a sitcom. There's absolutely no thought or effort put into it whatsoever. The jokes are so retarded and uncreative, and they just make me cringe more than they make me laugh. There's little to no substance, there's no excitement, there's no plot or character development, it's just a train-wreck! And what can I say about the animation? The animation is completely shit. Like most modern cartoons, it's bland, uninspired, generic, and the bright colors make me want to vomit. One of the most retarded gags this show has is in the episode "Waffles", where Cyborg and Beastboy say nothing but the word "waffles" over and over again, and they have the "waffles" song, which is basically just the word "waffles" repeated over and over again. Gee, that's really creative! That's really genius! MY ASS! That's the most retarded song I've ever heard! Each episode features a lesson that's never learned, incoherent nonsense for plots, and jokes that are just not funny and fall flat on their faces. Some of the jokes are outright explained by the characters to the audience. If you have to explain a joke, there is NO JOKE! And what's even worse is that the characters are totally out of character from how they were portrayed in the 2003 series. They don't act the in way fans remember them, and when I say "out of character", I specifically MEAN "out of character." As in they have no differences in their personalities, and they all act like the same person. They all display the same childlike stupidity, and are completely indistinguishable from each other. It's even worse than Ruby Spears' interpretation of Megaman X. Everybody in this show acts like they're in 3rd grade, and none of the characters have any sense of maturity or common sense whatsoever. Robin is a power hungry control freak, Raven is a brony who is totally unlike her 2003 counterpart who was stoic and serious, Starfire is dimwitted and clueless and always says the word "the" all the time, and Beastboy and Cyborg are complete idiotic and annoying jackasses. How could they screw up the characters so badly? Was this show written by a bunch of five year olds? Was this intentionally made just to piss off the fans? Because that's pretty much the response that Teen Titans Go has gotten. On top of that, this show does an absolutely piss poor job at trying to teach younger audiences important morals. And oh boy... Does this cartoon fail on so many other levels. It just boggles the mind why ANYBODY thought that this was a good idea. You see, the 2003 series was handled more competently and with some ACTUAL EFFORT put into it. And because it had more effort put into it, it was not only watchable, but it was also enjoyable, hence the reason for its ongoing popularity among fans. Teen Titans Go is NOTHING compared to the 2003 series! And why they replaced that with this shit is a mystery in itself.

Honestly, I feel ashamed to live among the same species that created this terrible train-wreck of a show that basically shits on the original cartoon and ignores everything that made the original so great. Teen Titans Go, in short, is less of a true follow up, and more like a bad fanfiction where everything is utterly shit. It's not funny, it's not creative, it makes no sense, it's incoherent and idiotic as hell, and it makes me wonder if the people behind it were snorting cocaine when they came up with the very concept for it. I'd rather watch "Evil in the Woods" 24 hours straight than watch this heap of garbage ever again. Okay, I don't really mean that. Because in reality, I'd rather not watch that wretched pile of shit ever again. Because I already explained how unwatchable it is in one of my past reviews. Although Evil in the Woods, for as bad as it was, it was an unlicensed independent film. So it barely counts. But you get what I mean; I'd rather not subject myself to this miserable excuse for a show ever again for as long as I live. I even go as far to say that Transformers Animated wasn't as bad of a bastardized series as Teen Titans Go is. This just makes me glad that we had WAY better shows back in the day. And you know, this is just sad. Because the original Teen Titans was not only a much better show, but it deserved MUCH better than this. And it deserved to have its cliffhanger resolved. Sadly, that's just not going to happen. And Teen Titans Go was basically just a big slap in the face to fans everywhere. And seeing how Cartoon Network can make shit like this, I can honestly say without hesitation that I've lost all faith in them. This show is so bad, so awful, and so abysmal, that it doesn't deserve to exist. It's the most poorly written, poorly executed, and half-assed excuse for a reboot I've ever seen in my life. If Bennett the Sage thinks 8-Man After is an example of a reboot done wrong, Teen Titans Go is an even BIGGER example of a reboot done WORSE. It does not belong on the air, it does not deserved to be acknowledged, and it should have been cancelled during production. I've lost half my sanity just from watching this mockery of a cartoon. And to preserve what's left of my sanity, I'm not even going to bother with the third season. I'm just going to avoid this show like the plague because it's just not even worth my time. As far fetched as this may sound, I hope that the creators grow ashamed of this show, just as Germany grew ashamed of ever having listened to and followed Adolph Hitler. It's THAT bad! But to properly conclude this review, it's time to give Teen Titans Go the grade it deserves; an "F" for epic fail!

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SesameStreetFan2003's avatar

IRYO on Teen Titans Go! (like)