Bleeding Fiction

The problem is the entire fifth season -- it wasn't meant to exist. The 3-part finale of season 4 brought the series to a reasonably satisfying conclusion. Season 5 is trying to be Teen Titans Unlimited. No dice.

CN, like most broadcasters of American animation, normally uses a 52-episode cutoff rule. In the days when cutoff rules were enforced with extreme prejudice, we complained because we couldn't see seasons 3 or 4 of ReBoot outside of Canada and that ABC axed the one good version of Sonic the Hedgehog just when it was becoming great. But now that the cutoff rules are being relaxed, I can sorta see why they exist. Shows run out of gas. Creative gas. Usually some time around episode 52. There should not have been a 5th season of Jackie Chan, for example.

Of course, there are about 800 episodes of Pokemon and somewhere around 10,000 of Power Rangers, so maybe the audience is the problem.

On that note, you had better start watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon, because if it gets canceled, I will be MAJORLY upset.

Okay. Done ranting now. I need a cookie.

But do you think the 5th season of Titans was actually bad, Ben?

I mean, I agree that the three-part Trigon fight that closed out season 4 was a satisfying conclusion to the series, but I didn't think that season 5 was the Titans "running out of gas." I hope I didn't give the impression that I did. I really liked the season. It definitely came off as "the Beast Boy season," but no more than season 4 came off as "the Raven season." The two episodes that didn't have the regular 5 Titans at all were a break in format, but they weren't bad episodes (actually, the Kid Flash episode had me cheering).

The biggest change, I think, was that instead of tossing in a new villain every week they used mostly the same set of villains (Brotherhood of Evil) and tossed in a new hero. Since every last one of those heroes was from the Titans comic (this season - I don't know where the hell the fast hispanic wondertwins come from), I thought of it as an awesome continuation of the pattern the show'd set out for itself - namely: re-using all of the old Titans plots (Robin/Starfire, Slade, Terra, Trigon, the HIVE). I just wish they'd been able to bring in Wonder Girl.

Doesn't mean that a hypothetical sixth season would be any good, but I don't think we have to worry about it - according to wikipedia, the capstone for the series is a direct-to-DVD movie called Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo. What that'll actually involve is anyone's guess.

My guess is that it will take place in Amsterdam, and everything will be cool.

Now that I read what I wrote, it did sound a bit harsh. I didn't hate the fifth season, I just thought it wasn't necessary. It felt like they were straining to come up with new stuff.

It may be a personal prejudice of mine: I was an avid reader of the TT comic back in 1985, it was one of the first I remember buying regularly. The staff of the animated series pulled some ideas (Terra, Trigon, Slade a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator) from the comics and changed quite a bit. Understandable. Sometimes it was a hit for me, usually a miss. I guess Batman TAS and JL just spoiled me.

Okay. Having now seen the finale, I can say the series ended on a high, if unfinished, note. I had always hoped they would start doing more character stories and fewer episodes that are essentially just 22-minute fight sequences. After all, even a person who can bend steel girders or shoot beams from their eyes is still a person, right? I can understand the decision to not give them secret identities and make them go to high school and such, but wouldn't you think that being in hero mode 24/7 would cause a person to go crazy, or at least angsty, after a while? There's some good story ore in there. Some real good story ore.

The best and worst thing about superheroes is that hero work is never personal. That has to take a mental toll after a while.

I dunno, Ben - the work seems pretty personal to Batman, and he's not exactly in the best mental shape...

But, yes: the better episodes of Titans are always the ones that focus on the characterization. That's one of the reasons I'm such a fan of the Robin/Starfire episodes.

Also, it amuses me to no end that I lived with you all throughout college but didn't find out that you were a Titans fan until last year.

You never asked.

I maintain that Bruce Wayne had to create Batman to avoid going crazy. He's not exactly the picture of mental health now, but he would surely have self-destructed by now if not for dividing the two personalities.

This, of course, applies to every incarnation except the 60s series and the uncool movies. Think of the poles of the Dark Knight as the Adam West version on one end and The Dark Knight Returns on the other. All who love comics should build a shrine to Frank Miller and kneel in worship.

Also: I like the Robin/Starfire eps too, though I prefer Raven stories, as she's got the richest backstory. How would you take the news that you're the biological offspring of the Beast of the Apocalypse and that you're destined to summon his destructive wrath upon the world?

Point on Batman. I heard that phrased a different way, once. Wish I could remember where: "Becoming Batman is the only sane response to what happened to Bruce."

As for Raven, well, I love the girl, but... oh! Teh Angstzorz!