The Teen Titans on Television
A Team of Youthful Sidekicks Fight in the Shadow of Their Mentors
Dec 16, 2008
Officially debuting as the Teen Titans in The Brave and the Bold #60, the group's genesis actually occurred in an earlier issue of the same book when the sidekicks of Batman (Robin), Aquaman (Aqualad) and The Flash (Kid Flash) teamed up to battle a common foe. By the time issue #60 arrived on newstands, the team had been named The Teen Titans and added a fourth member, Wonder Girl. Over the years, many other members have come and gone from the team.
It didn't take long before the Titans found their way onto television screens.
The Superman/Aquaman Hour
Three Teen Titans adventures were produced to air during the 1968 season of The Superman/Aquaman Hour. These three adventures included a slightly different line up than the comic books, substituting Speedy, the sidekick of Green Arrow, for Robin. Kid Flash, Speedy, Aqualad and Wonder Girl would have those three adventures repeated during the half hour Superman and Aquaman shows that would replace the hour long program.
Kid Flash and Aqualad also appeared along with their respective mentors in other adventures on the show.
Only Kid Flash's outfit was altered for television, trading yellow for red and vice versa. He was also given dark hair instead of blond. Other than those changes, the Titans appeared very much as they did in the comics of the day.
Super Friends
Robin was a regular character in every season of the Super Friends from 1973 to 1986, while Cyborg a 1980's addition to the Teen Titans, appeared in the final season of the show, also known as The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.
Robin also appeared in every Batman cartoon in the 1960's and 1970's and all the modern Batman animated shows except for Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Teen Titans Aborted Series
During the run of the Super Friends series, a spin off show featuring various sidekicks was proposed. Unfortunately, ABC declined to pick up the Teen Titans as a series.
The character designs from the aborted show were used in an anti-drug commercial. Wonder Girl, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Kid Flash and Protector (a character possibly designed to replace Robin who was at the time a Super Friend) all appeared in the Nabisco sponsored spot.
Titans in the Twenty-First Century
In 2003, the Teen Titans finally got their own series. Running for five seasons and centering around core members Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire, the show also included guest shots of various heroes and villains from the comic books. Speedy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Bumble Bee, Terra and other Titans all showed up at one time or another.
Direct to DVD
The direct to DVD feature, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo also included the five core members from the Teen Titans television series. Robin appears briefly in the direct to DVD movie, Justice League: The New Frontier, while the entire team appears during the closing montage that overlays John F. Kennedy's famous New Frontier speech.
To the Silver Screen
A rumour surfaced in 2007 about a Teen Titans feature film, but that rumour vanished when the Justice League movie was announced. Now that the Justice League film has been shelved, it is likely that the Titans film gossip will start up again soon.
 |
 |
