We’ll cut right to the chase. Most of you know me. dl316bh, Damien Lockrow, The Great Destroyer, I’ll answer to any of those names. But I think what is most known about me by now is my serious dislike for the animated series of Teen Titans. I’m here to tell you not to worry. I am not here to relentlessly bash the animated series. No, that is not my job here at all. What I plan to do is detail many of the things about the animated series of Teen Titans that were vastly different from the comics they were “based after”. To detail the changes they made to classic lore and storylines.

But before we delve into that, let’s first take a look at exactly what constitutes acceptable change and what is, as I call it, butchery. In the instance of an animated series, you would be surprised by what we comic fans are looking for. Some get the misconception we wish for the comic storylines to be copied word for word, page for page. This is not true. What we expect is for the storylines that we hold dear to be done right, for the stories to be done proper justice, to both the themes and emotion that the classics entailed. One of the finest examples of this would happen to be the “Enter the Phoenix” and “The Dark Phoenix” saga’s that were adapted for the 90’s X-Men animated series. Not everything was done exactly as the comics. For “Enter the Phoenix”, before the subplots with Juggernaut and Black Tom even began they added a subplot about the space aliens and dreams that were plaguing Professor X. It added to the storyline and was different from the comics, but most everything else was the same as it were comic wise. The characters were not the same as the comics either. Nightcrawler and Collosus, for instance, played roles in the comic storylines, but were absent in the animated series, only occasionally appearing throughout the rest of the show. On the same token, Gambit, one of the main characters of the 90’s series, had not even been invented back when the comic story was crafted. While the comic stories were made reality in the 70’s, Gambit did not make his first appearance in the comics until the very early 90’s.

My point is that change is not bad as long as it is kept to an acceptable and reasonable level. In some instances, the creators of an animated series have so much respect for the source material they actually improved the story in certain instances. Perhaps the most well known of these instances lies with the much beloved Batman: The Animated Series, done by DC Animated Universe overseer Bruce Timm. He took a character with nothing more then a gimmick and made him something special and sympathetic. The character in question was Mr. Freeze. In the comics before the show, he was merely a jewel thief with a cold gimmick, much as Two-Face had his gimmick with the number two. There was no real point to the character, but Bruce Timm changed that. He and co-writer of the series, Paul Dini, made Mr. Freeze into a far more tragic and sympathetic character. A man who lost his wife to an incurable cancer, he cryogenically froze her until he could find a way to cure the disease. He was using lab equipment illegally and was found out. In the ensuing scuffle, the cryogenic equipment was ruptured and he was affected, made unable to live without extreme cold. For the longest time his wife was believed dead and he developed a “Heart of Ice”, which was the name for the award winning episode this new origin was made in. It was so very well received that fans demanded it be brought into the comics. It was, as DC brought in the same men who made the animated series tale to do it.

So there is an acceptable level of change, and sometimes it can even be better then the things that inspired it. But there is an unacceptable level. It mostly lies with too much change, oversimplification of concepts and completely changing both the point and endings of the storylines. The Teen Titans animated series did all of this. In the opinion of several, myself included, it was a show that treated kids like they were stupid and changed deep, beloved characters beyond recognition. Yet, because very few people had heard of Teen Titans before it and did not know the extremity of the changes, many ate it up and it inexplicably became a popular show. It became so popular in fact, that the changes began to affect the comics of today, a move that is being widely despised, but that is another article for another day.

What are these changes? Why does such a “wonderful” series anger you so much? These are questions some of you may be asking and I’m sure you have asked yourself before in encounters with me. That is what I’m here to detail. The changes made to the comic lore that amounts to what I consider “butchery”. Let us begin.

For starters, the animation style and tone for the series was all wrong. Teen Titans had long been a more serious series with deep characters and meanings behind everything. It always used a more serious style. In the animated series, which the creators of claimed to be paying homage to said comics, they used a style that did not reconcile with the tone of Teen Titans. The show forgoes the style Bruce Timm had coined, a style that would have fit the Teen Titans well, for a far more cartoony and light hearted tone, using a style that amounted to a lot of rip offs of Japanese conventions and style used in Japanese anime. The silly tone was not suited for the serious and deep stories the comics held and there were other alternatives. Such a cartoony style would have fit an adaption of the comic Young Justice far better. Young Justice was a comic series that used a lot more humor then anything else, with its cast consisting mostly of Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Secret and Kid Lobo. The style used in the animated series of Teen Titans would have suited the comedic and sillier tone of Young Justice far better; while the more serious take someone like Bruce Timm would have given the series would have suited Teen Titans far better. Granted, they did do a bit more of a serious tone for Season four, but the story they adapted, Terror of Trigon, was so hacked up it wasn’t funny and many comic’s fans disregard it, stating that in their eyes “Terror of Trigon” was never truly adapted as of yet.

Another change had to do with secret identities. In the comics, most superheroes have secret identities or an alias to protect them as they walk in civilian clothes. The animated series completely jettisoned any thought of secret identities as the producers apparently felt it was unnecessary and overcomplicated things that might be confusing for kids. This treats kids today as unintelligent, something Batman: TAS and X-Men: TAS never did. What the series was left with was a quintet of full time superheroes, which is an idea that makes no sense in and of itself. How could you possibly be a full time superhero and make a living? How could you do anything outdoors? In any more realistic setting the heroes would have been mobbed the instant they walked out the door. Also, would any self respecting hero wear their spandex all the time? No superhero would, which is why in the comics they show the heroes in civilian clothes during downtime, something the animated series completely ignored. Batman does not even work full time. The rest of the Titans could have been explained away with this if the need really be, but there was no reason for Robin to not have a secret identity. The Titans did not even know each others real names, something else that caused some problems. The premise of the show itself was that of teen superheroes hanging out and fighting crime. That they were friends. But how can one take this concept seriously if they don’t even know each others true names. It belies a lack of trust or at the very least goes against the very point they tried to make for the series. Unless each season took place weeks apart, there was no reason Cyborg should not have known Beast Boy’s real name long before the fifth season.

Beginning with the characters, we’ll start with Robin. In the comics, Robin was a chivalrous young man. The kind you would trust and wish to have as your friend. In general, he was a rather cheerful young man, made to be the link that keeps his mentor Batman in the light. Through the course of the Teen Titans comics it was shown that he had good leadership skills as well. Plus, in the early years he had a decent relationship with all of his team. All of this is in stark contrast to the animated series version. While there was no reason for him to be that way that early in his life, as he should have been cheerful, they made Robin into a brooding jerk, which some speculate is simply for the reason that the Robin character is “bat-spawn”, or a character that originated from the Batman mythos. This also helped place Teen Titans out of the DCAU, despite the fact that some people bend over backwards to force it into continuity, because if Teen Titans were to take place before Batman: TAS like some try to claim, Robin would not be cheery in Batman: TAS. He would be a brooding mess like in Teen Titans.

Robin also contradicted the comics on the sense of leadership. Some fans may like to claim he was a good leader, but shouting a call to action and having your team manage to win fights does not make you a good leader. To be honest, aside from his battle cry and getting the team to the scene, Robin didn’t do any real leading. There were rarely any plans or strategies and most fights generally turned into a free for all after the battle cry was shouted. Team members are supposed to work well together as a team as well as individually and the show Titans did neither really. They only did marginally well on their own and never seemed to team up for attacks or use any real teamwork. Not to mention that when one of them went missing, the rest of the team falls apart. This amounts to bad leadership. Yeah, maybe Robin made them train, but obviously not on team maneuvers. If the show Robin were truly a good leader, the Titans would have been able to close rank and fight back even if they were short a member.

He also was not the greatest person to most of his teammates. The only person he showed any true kindness too was Raven, which was done badly. They apparently were trying to show that the two understood each other and were friends, but they overdid it. The whole thing felt very forced. He didn’t seem to treat Starfire that nice most of the time, and she is his love interest. Robin did not have that close a friendship with Raven in the comics either. He got along with Cyborg well enough, but in the earliest episodes he actually got in a fight with Cyborg over something small and in the Titans East arc he came off as a bit of a whiny baby trying to make Cyborg feel bad about wanting to lead his own team. Then there is Beast Boy, and these two hardly qualify as friends in the show. This may be consistent with the later years of the comics, but in the years this show is based after there was not any real animosity between the two and they got along well enough. In the show they never really interact outside of Robin giving orders and accusing Beast Boy in Beast Within, plus threatening to jail Beast Boy, his teammate and supposedly his friend, which is not a good way to treat your teammates. Finally, there’s Starfire, who is supposed to be his girl, or love interest. Yet for a lot of the show he doesn’t pay any real attention to her and yelled at her on the rare instance.

Speaking of Starfire, she was changed quite a bit too. In the comics early years she was indeed naive, but also an intelligent person who expressed her emotions freely. In the animated series one could argue that Starfire is intelligent, but she is naive beyond belief, almost to the point of stupidity at rare times. The over-naivety made it very had to take the animated series version serious at any real point, which in a way is a betrayal of the character, as she could almost come off as stupid sometimes (not saying she was).

Cyborg was changed very little in the animated series and is the only character other then Jericho who is much at all like their comic counterpart. However, the older sibling figure of the Teen Titans did suffer from the shows over-kiddified nature, making far too many jokes when he was a much more mature person in comic history.

Beast Boy was reverted to a jokester in the animated series and unlike the comics, he never really seemed to grow up much. He also coddled Terra’s memory like a lost puppy, which starkly contrasts the comics. He always seemed to be very whiny and joked way too much. Comic Beast Boy did indeed joke around to hide his emotional pain, but not to the degree he does in the AS and in the comics, he eventually grew up. They did some semblance of growing up in the last episode, but he still hung on to the memory of Terra instead of just letting it go and moving on. Some people have chosen to disregard the episode and pretend it had never occurred.

Raven is one of the two characters changed to the point of butchery the most. In the comics she was a shy, reserved empath who is more of a pacifist. She acted more as the team’s medic. She hated insulting people because her empathy allowed her to feel their hurt and pain at her words. After Trigon was destroyed she had better reign over her emotions, deciding to explore them, something the AS producers didn’t bother with. The animated series version was just a mess. She was transformed into a sarcastic, bratty goth archetype, something the comic version never was. Plus she had telekinetic powers and used them to the effect, something comic Raven would never use as she doesn’t like hurting people due to her pacifistic ways. Also, the animated series producers never could settle with what they wanted Raven to be able to do, so her powers are a constantly changing mess.

Pantha was another they should not have used at all. In the comics she was a cat like bestial character, created by the Wildebeest Society. She went in search of her origins during much of the time she was in the book. She had quite a temper, rather easily comparable to Wolverine and did not take authority well. In the animated series they made her a wrestler, throwing out her comic origins and form completely without as much as a nod to any of it. Her costume was also atrocious.

The HIVE itself was changed. In the comics they were more of a freaky cultish group working behind the scenes to have the Titans gotten rid of. In the animated series it was made an academy for budding super villains. Plus in the animated series the HIVE Five were connected with HIVE. In the comics there was no such connection and they were known as the Fearsome Five. Jinx also never turned good guy at all in the comics, another contrast.

Slade is the other major change that amounts to serious butchery. His comic’s counterpart is a man of honor, something that lead him in battle against the Titans to begin with. His son Grant died fighting the Titans and Slade picked up his sons contract, intending to finish it so his son could rest in piece. He was never a good or bad person; he was merely a mercenary who would fight for the side that paid the most. When his job was done with the Titans he left, not to be seen by them for a long time. When Beast Boy wanted to kill him, Slade dragged him off to a diner, explaining about Terra, telling Beast Boy that he was one of the better Titans and he merely needed to stop making so many jokes. A shade of grey in a world that predominantly consisted of black villains and white heroes. He fought side by side with the Titans on later occasions and Beast Boy considered Slade his friend. The animated series threw all of that out. The animated series Slade could be described as an eco terrorist villain. He was more evil then some villains I have seen elsewhere, a stark contrast to the comics. In many ways, it was a mockery of his character from the comics, whether he was a bad@$$ or not.

Brother Blood was changed too, to a rather large degree. In the comics he is the leader of a cult trying to bring forth an apocalypse that will cleanse the earth of all people but his followers. He was always chasing after Raven for the connections to her father by blood and were prominent, even in today's stories. In the AS all of that was chucked aside and he was given a gimmick, made headmaster of HIVE and went all technological. To quote myself, “where were they getting this from, the magical bunny?”

Then there's Terra. Basically they tossed out the entire point of the character. She was supposed to be a bad person at heart. To show that some people don't need a reason to hate or despise. To be evil. That was what Marv Wolfman wanted to show in the comics. The point was that she was evil, spiteful and hateful. She did not have the cliché last minute revelation and turnaround. She was not a good person. She ended up destroying herself. Beast Boy eventually got over her and was a better person for it. Instead, the producers tossed out the entire reason for the characters existence, gave her the last minute turnaround and made Beast Boy basically act like a lost puppy over her. She was a lost kid in the show, which was not what the character was in the comics. It was not the point of the character. Basically, it has been said that they might as well have not even used Terra.

Blackfire was screwed up too. In the comics she was more of a political figure. A conniving woman who constantly schemed to gain control. She despised her sister Starfire and unlike early in the animated series, made no attempts to hide it. In the animated series she was just a bratty older sister, one who stole and generally got into trouble.

In general, the animated series changed a lot, delving deep into the territory of butchery. In essence, most people had never heard of the Teen Titans before the animated series, so it got away with it. Many comic fans I have talked to write this series off, wanting to forget about it and look forward to the possibility of a more faithful adaption someday. In general, it is too large to overlook. The animated series took too many liberties with far too much to be a truly credible adaptation.

The animated series even began to affect the comics, a slap in the face of what the originals were and stood for, but that’s another discussion for another day.