Teen Titans Go! (TV series)

Teen Titans Go! is an American animated television series based on the DC Comics fictional superhero team, the Teen Titans. The series was announced following the popularity of DC Nation's New Teen Titans shorts, both of which are based on the 2003 Teen Titans TV series. Teen Titans Go! is a more comedic take on the DC Comics franchise, dealing with situations that happen outside of saving the world.

Sporting a new animation style, Teen Titans Go! serves as a "comedic" spin-off with no continuity to the previous series, and only certain elements are retained. Many DC characters make cameo appearances and are referenced in the background. The original principal voice cast returns to reprise their respective roles. The series is rated TV-PG for sci-fi violence, rude humor, and suggestive content.

The series now airs every Wednesday night at 7:30 pm, and then rebroadcast as part of the DC Nation block on Weekend mornings.

On April 3, 2014, Cartoon Network showed it will air on Wednesday at 6:30/5:30 ET

Plot
Teen Titans Go! is a TV show that follows the Teen Titans when not saving the world and when living together as teenagers without adult supervision. The Teen Titans must deal with situations such as teenage pranks reaching a whole new level, having to retake a driver's test after wrecking the Batmobile, taking part in dodgeball tournaments, and other humorous antics.

Main characters

 * Robin (voiced by Scott Menville) - Robin is the slightly power-mad, perfectionist leader of the Teen Titans. He shows signs of mental instability and has an inferiority complex due to the fact he is the only member of the team that does not have special abilities. He is head-over-heels in love and romantically smitten with Starfire.


 * Starfire (voiced by Hynden Walch) - Starfire is an extraterrestrial alien girl from the distant planet Tamaran, which she is princess of and second in line for the Tamaranian throne. She struggles to fit in and learn the ways of Earth. When very mad and angry, her eyes glow bright green and throws a barrage of unusually strong and destructive bright green-colored, glowing energy blasts from her hands, which she calls starbolts. She is also Robin's main love interest.


 * Raven (voiced by Tara Strong) - Raven is a sarcastic, deadpan demon girl who would rather be left alone. She is the daughter of the evil interdimensional demon Trigon. When very enraged she has four red eyes, sharp teeth and a distorted demonic voice. In this version, her short hair is black with dark violet streaks as opposed to being all violet-purple like it was in the original series. She also has romantic feelings for Beast Boy.


 * Cyborg (voiced by Khary Payton) - Cyborg is a laid-back, half-teen, half-robot who's more interested in eating pizza and playing video games than in fighting crime. He also has quite a huge and strong romantic crush on Jinx, despite that she is one of his enemies.


 * Beast Boy (voiced by Greg Cipes) - Beast Boy is a bright green-skinned boy who is Cyborg's best buddy. He is a slightly dim but lovable loafer who transforms into all sorts of animals, which are always bright green, when he's not eating pickles, tofu, playing video games and watching TV. In "You're Fired", he was fired from the Teen Titans, but tried to rejoin as Beast Babe.

Recurring characters

 * Silkie (Voiced by Tara Strong) - Starfire's pet grub and mascot of the Teen Titans.
 * SparkleFace and ButterBean - Characters from "Pretty Pretty Pegasus", a fictional television show that Raven enjoys to watch, probably a parody of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic which Tara Strong (Raven's voice actress) also works on.
 * H.I.V.E. Five - A group of young super villains that work for the H.I.V.E.
 * Jinx (voiced by Lauren Tom) - Member of the H.I.V.E. Five who has the ability to cause bad luck.
 * Gizmo (voiced by Lauren Tom) - Member of the H.I.V.E. Five who is a mechanical genius.
 * Mammoth - Member of the H.I.V.E. Five that is unusually strong.
 * Billy Numerous - Member of the H.I.V.E. Five who has the ability to make, and recall copies of himself.
 * See-More - Member of the H.I.V.E. Five who uses an eye helmet.

Minor characters

 * Vixen - A superhero that has the ability to mimic nearby animals who tried to join the Teen Titans in "You're Fired".


 * B'wana Beast - A superhero that has the ability to combine two animals together that tried to join the Teen Titans in "You're Fired". His name spawned a number of jokes from Cyborg, such as, "I bet you B'wana get some pants!", since B'wana Beast doesn't wear pants.


 * Brother Blood (voiced by John DiMaggio) - A supervillain and the headmaster of the H.I.V.E academy. He is the villain in "Waffles".


 * Detective Chimp (voiced by Scott Menville) - Detective Chimp is an incredibly smart chimpanzee that tried to join the Teen Titans in "You're Fired".


 * Wonder Twins (voiced by Khary Payton and Tara Strong) - Zan and Jayna are two twin superheroes that, when they touch each other and speak the phrase, "Wonder Twin Powers Activate", they can shapeshift. They temporarily joined the Teen Titans in "You're Fired".


 * Aqualad - Member of the Titans East who makes a cameo appearance in "Starliar".


 * Batgirl (Voiced by Tara Strong) - Batgirl makes a cameo appearance in "Starliar" at the Titans East party. In "Staring at the Future", she is shown to be Nightwing"s (future adult Robin) wife mothering three children with him. In "Sidekick", when the Titans follow Robin to the Batcave, Starfire tries on a Batgirl costume, much to Robin's awe.


 * Bumblebee - Member of the Titans East who makes a cameo appearance in "Starliar".


 * Más y Menos - Two twin brothers with superhuman speed, who are members of the Titans East and make a cameo appearance in "Starliar".


 * Terra (voiced by Ashley Johnson) - Beast Boy's "girlfriend" who is actually a villainess that is using him to get information on the five Titans. She joined the team momentarily in "Terra-ized" until Raven exposed her true nature. She returns later in the Valentine's episode "Be Mine".


 * Doctor Light (voiced by Rodger Bumpass in "Caged Tiger"; Scott Menville in "Colors of Raven") - A supervillain with light-themed powers. In "Caged Tiger", he decides to quit being a supervillain and join the Teen Titans but Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy beat him up before the two superheroines save him.


 * Cinderblock - A stone-based villainous monster with incredible strength.


 * Plasmus - A ooze-based creature with many green eyes on his body.


 * Trigon (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) - The demonic father of Raven and might, all-powerful dark lord. He posed as a sitcom father to win over the approval of Raven's best friends and then attempted to order her to destroy them.


 * Speedy (voiced by Scott Menville) - Member of the Titans East that uses a bow and arrow and seems to be a duplicate of Robin in design, and is also after the affections of Starfire in "The Date". He appears in "The Date" and makes a cameo appearance in "Starliar". The voice of Speedy was, in the original series, done by Mike Erwin, however to show the similarity's between him and Robin, he is voiced by Scott Menville.


 * Batman - Robin's former mentor and protector of Gotham City that frequently makes cameo appearances.


 * Commissioner Gordon - Father of Batgirl and chief of the Gotham Police that makes cameo appearances alongside Batman.


 * Couch Spirit (voiced by Khary Payton) - A spirit that lives in the couch. In "Dude Relax", he showed Robin the power to relax. He appears in "Lazy Sunday" hanging out with Cyborg and Beast Boy.


 * Control Freak - A red-headed man who is slightly obese, and was a recurring villain in the original series. He makes a cameo appearance in Robin's dreams in the episode "Nose Mouth".


 * Killer Moth (voiced by Scott Menville) - A moth-based mercenary who bio-engineers mutant moth creatures. In "Missing", Killer Moth offers Silkie a reward if he comes back with him.

Main cast

 * Greg Cipes - Beast Boy
 * Scott Menville - Robin, Speedy (ep. 3), Detective Chimp (ep. 7), Doctor Light (ep. 13), Treadmill Spirit (ep. 14), Birdarang (ep. 15, 23), Mockingbird #2 (ep. 21), Red X (ep. 22), Pain Bot (ep. 23), Killer Moth (ep. 23)
 * Khary Payton - Cyborg, Zan (ep. 7), Couch (ep. 4, 14), Universe Tree (ep. 10, 23), Stone (ep. 22)
 * Tara Strong - Raven, Old Lady (ep. 6), Jayna (ep. 7), Raven Emoticlones (ep. 13), Kitten (ep. 13), Batgirl (ep. 16), Butterfly Silkie (ep. 23)
 * Hynden Walch - Starfire

Additional voices

 * Eric Bauza - Second Santa (ep. 18)
 * Jeff Bennett - Ed (ep. 2)
 * Rodger Bumpass - Doctor Light (ep. 17)
 * John DiMaggio - Brother Blood (ep. 20)
 * Nika Futterman - Sonia Conchita Hernández (ep. 5)
 * Ricky Jay - The Voice in Robin's Head (ep. 3)
 * Ashley Johnson - Terra (ep. 11, 20)
 * Tom Kenny - Cyborg's Nose (ep. 18), Mockingbird #1 (ep. 21)
 * Kate Micucci - Parry (ep. 9)
 * Kevin Michael Richardson - Trigon (ep. 2)
 * Lauren Tom - Jinx (ep. 7, 8, 11, 21, 22), Gizmo (ep. 4, 11, 13, 17, 21, 22)

Crew

 * Aaron Horvath - Producer
 * Michael Jelenic - Producer
 * Glen Murakami - Based on Characters and Character Designer
 * Sam Register  - Executive Producer
 * Lisa Schaffer - Casting and Voice Director

Reception
Teen Titans Go! has been met with mixed reviews from critics and fans, with praise toward the return of the original principal voice cast and criticism aimed toward the new direction of the show.

Common Sense Media gave the show 4 out of 5 stars and called it "Superheroes' new look, comical feel invites younger kids". IGN gave the show a 7.8 out of 10, a "Good" score on the review scale, stating that "DC Nation revamps the beloved Teen Titans series for a new generation -- with pretty fun results".

Writing for Slant Magazine, Lee Wang gave the show 2 stars out of 4, criticizing the lack of emotional depth compared to its predecessor, the Flash-based animation style commonly found on the network, and generic humor: "If not for the actors, whose talents can't save this lackluster material, Teen Titans Go would offer little to even the most ardent Titans nostalgists and completists."

The pilot episode brought in 2 million viewers. On June 11, 2013, Cartoon Network renewed Teen Titans Go! for a second season, citing successful ratings.