TEEN TITANS, SEASON ONE (2003)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                              PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*

MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological* 

Based on my having re-watched the first three seasons of TEEN TITANS, I find that my overall mythicity rating must be "fair," as it is for most serial groupings. However, so far I've yet to find any episodes that rate as outright "poor," in contrast to most full seasons I've reviewed here. Even the well-regarded BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES had a lot more poor episodes, though it's arguable that's because the raconteurs on that series attempted a wider range of subject matter than TEEN TITANS did in its five seasons. But in many ways I found this cartoon adaptation more engaging that the Wolfman-Perez comic book that spawned the idea.                                                                                                          Because there's not as much variation, it seems easiest just to review all the "fair" episodes together, and the same for the "good" ones.                                                                                                      FAIR                                                                                                    "Final Exam"-- this was the first episode, introducing the five young heroes-- Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy-- in their HQ, Titans Tower. Since complete newbies had to become familiar with the characters over time, the writers made all five sympathetic by having them getting kicked out of their home. Under the command of the mystery mastermind Slade, the three super-villains of "H.I.V.E."-- Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth-- eject the heroes, and they have to summon their fighting-spirit in order to triumph.                                                                                        "Sisters"-- Starfire's conniving older sister Blackfire visits Earth, allegedly to bond with her younger sibling. However, this episode was good for establishing the (never consummated) romantic arc between Starfire and Robin, since one of the first things Blackfire does is to hit on the Teen Wonder, as well as making Starfire think her friends like Blackfire better. But as in the comics, Blackfire never does anything without an evil ulterior motive.                                                                                                                                              "Divide and Conquer"-- The Titans' attempt to bring super-crooks Plasmus and Cinderblock to justice goes awry when alpha males Robin and Cyborg argue about who has authority in the group.                                                                                                  "Forces of Nature"-- Slade hoaxes two immortal beings, Thunder and Lightning (also from the comics), into running amuck, and the Titans have to make these wild god-children understand the consequences of their actions.                                                                                                                                                                "The Sum of His Parts"-- Cyborg's mechanical parts suffer battery failure, and he gets some timely aid from a scientific genius named Fixit. Unfortunately, Fixit's permanent solution to the hero's problems is to get rid of all those unnecessary biological parts. The original-to-cartoon villain Mumbo also debuts.                                                                                                                                     "Switched"-- The cartoon's version of the comic's Puppet King seeks to transfer the heroes' souls into his special puppets. He succeeds with the males, but the spirits of Starfire and Raven get switched into one another's bodies. The two females are forced to understand one another's powers, as well as their emotional natures, in order to overcome their adversary.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         "Deep Six"-- In one of the weaker stories, the Titans descend into the deep blue sea in pursuit of a merman-criminal named Trident. The heroes receive aid from new hero Aqualad, but Beast Boy feels threatened by the aquatic adventurer.                                                                                                                                                                   "Mad Mod"-- in a conscious updating of a moldy oldie comics villain, the evil Brit megalomaniac Mad Mod (voiced by Malcolm McDowell) introduces himself to the Titans by abducting them and forcing them to attend a school of hard knocks.                                                                                                                                         GOOD                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        "Nevermore" -- Raven's team-mates barely know anything about her, least of all her involved demonic heritage. Cyborg and Beast Boy trespass in Raven's private room and get sucked into a magical mirror that she uses to suppress her human emotions. In the mirror-world, the two heroes encounter various simulacra of Raven's emotions-- anger, timidity, gaiety-- as well as the deadly image of Raven's father Trigon. Though Raven had to rescue her partners from peril, she gains some interesting insights into her own emotional complexities.                                                                                                                                                         "Masks"-- though Slade was visually modeled after the comics-villain Deathstroke, this master manipulator is barely comparanble to the idiotic comics-character. Since Slade has repeatedly hurled menaces at the Titans but has always escaped retribution, leader Robin becomes obsessed with the goal of capturing the evildoer. To that end, Robin goes "deep cover" without informing his friends of his plans. The young hero assumes the identity of a costumed crook, Red X, and confounds his partners in order to fool Slade into enlisting Red X as a henchman. The gambit not only fails, it drives a wedge between Robin and his team-mates.                                                                                                                             "Apprentice"-- The two-part final episode of Season One shows cool customer Slade attempting to "one up" Robin by forcing the young crusader to be his apprentice. Though Batman's name is never mentioned, and his history with Robin is only indirectly suggested, clearly Slade has a devilish desire to be an anti-Batman, corrupting Robin just for pure Schadenfreude. Robin is forced to serve the master villain for a time to preserve the lives of his friends, but he still manages to save them and thwart Slade in the end. Slade's plotting, however, would attain more epic proportions in the second season.