Teen Titans 1.13

Car Trouble

- Cyborg builds a car for the team and it gets stolen, first by a couple of punks and then it is stolen from them by Gizmo; with a big assist from Raven, Cyborg catches up to Gizmo
- Overload, a villain whom the Titans battle in the beginning of the episode, shows up again at the end and takes over the car; feeling as though he has no choice, Cyborg destroy the car and recaptures Overload
- Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy more or less drop out of this episode after the car is stolen

- I wasn't too crazy about this one until Raven showed up to help Cyborg; early in the episode she had been very nonplussed by Cyborg's car; at first it seems that she is just their for emotional support but she plays a crucial role in the capture of Gizmo

- not a great episode to end the season
- not a great season but it had its moments; still it falls short of the high bar set by JLU and Young Justice

Teen Titans 1.12

Apprentice: Part 2

- much more fun than the first one
- considerably more humor in the second half of this two-part story
- there seemed to be a lot more focus on the others than there was in part one
- I hate it when Robin gets all moody and judgmental but there was very little of that here
- not everything made sense, for instance Robin getting infected with whatever Slade infected the other Titans with just because he tore apart one of Slade's machines
- on the whole a much more heartfelt episode
- loved the moment when Beast Boy explained his theories of what was wrong with Robin; the visualizations of his theories looked like something from EC Comics
- there were references to Batman (bats, Wayne Enterprises) even though he did not appear in the episode

Teen Titans 1.11

Apprentice: Part 1

- opens with Robin having a dream about fighting Slade
- Soon thereafter the Titans are contacted by Slade who reveals that he has a Chronoton Detonator (a device that stops time) and that he plans to use it
- the Titans track him to Pier 41 where they do not find him or the detonator but are attacked by a bunch of his robot assistants; Robin is moving in overdrive and despite the fact that his teammates seem perfectly capable he takes out everyone of the robots himself
- Robin is way too keyed up and a bit out of control
- unsure of what to do next the Titans eventually turn to Starfire's allergy to Chromium, which is one of the components of the detonator, to track it down
- as they race through the sewers after a boat with the detonator and some of Slade's robots, Robin is separated from the others and gets into a fight with Cinder Block which eventually leads to an encounter with Slade
- while Robin and Slade fight the other Titans catch up to the boat and get their hands on the detonator; Cyborg attempts to defuse it but in the end it turns out to be a fake; it was all a trap and the purpose of it was to get the other Titans infected with nanobots
- Robin is then given an ultimatum; Slade wants Robin to be his apprentice; if he says no then Slade will kill his friends using the nanobots in their bloodstreams; Robin agrees to become Slade's apprentice and in the last scene is shown donning a new uniform similar to the one that Slade wears

- definitely another Robin-centric episode, or more accurately a Robin-Slade-centric episode
- Starfire's sneezes were explosive; there was this cute moment where Starfire sneezed when Cyborg was trying to defuse the detonator; Raven enclosed Starfire's head in a bubble so that her sneeze wouldn't impact the detonator; Starfire's hair looked all messed up immediately afterward but a couple seconds later it was back to normal
- pretty good on the whole but not as good on the character moments, really hoping that Robin seems a little more human after part 2; if any of the Titans could stand to seem more human it is definitely Robin; he seems a little too guarded and lacking in emotional moments

Teen Titans 1.10

Mad Mod

- with no explanation as to how they got there, other than a throwaway line about sleeping gas, the Teen Titans find themselves the prisoners of Mad Mod, a British villain who talks like he is running a school when what he seems to be trying to do is kill them; they spend most of the episode fighting for their lives until Robin finally figures out what needs to be done to stop Mad Mod
- Mad Mod's world was very trippy and MC Escher-esque
- Mad Mod's world also reminded me of murder world, Arcade's death dealing amusement park that the X-Men dealt with in Uncanny X-Men 123-124, 145-147
- I was really looking forward to watching this ones, it wasn't great but I think I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, mostly due to the trippy nature of some of the visuals
- Robin seems to be the main character in this one; we don't get to see  CYborg and Raven escape, they just meet up with Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy, after Robin saves Starfire, and they rescue Beast Boy

Teen Titans 1.09

Masks

- Slade returns with an army of robots
- Robin goes under cover as the Red X to try and catch Slade; he doesn't tell the others what he is up to but eventually they figure it out, unfortunately for Robin, Slade also figures it out
- In the end Robin does not catch Slade but only a robot that looks like him
- plotwise a solid episode but a bit lacking in character development moments, especially for Robin
- so far, of all the characters, Robin seems the most monolithic or two-dimensional

Teen Titans 1.08

Deep Six

- Underwater adventure as the Teen Titans team-up with Aqualad to battle Trident
- Beast Boy gets the biggest spotlight in this episode as there is much team-up between he and Aqualad
- with the exception of the beginning and the end of this episode it all takes place under the sea
- Trident turns out to be one of many clones
- At first Beast Boy and Aqualad don't get along but eventually they become friends after being forced to work together
- Beast Boy's fave creature in this episode is a giant squid
- Raven and Starfire go ga-ga for Aqualad
- On the whole lots of fun even if everything wasn't really explained in the end; where did all those Trident clones come from? could Slade be behind this?

Teen Titans 1.07

Switched

- Teen Titans vs. Puppet King
- Titans vs. Titans; Boys vs. Girls
- A package with puppets in it is delivered to the Titans Tower; there are 5 puppets, each one resembles one of the Titans
- That night the Puppet King strikes and traps the spirits of Robin, Cyborg, and Beast boy in their puppets; their bodies are then his to control Puppet King tries doing the same to Starfire and Raven but Raven's magic instead causes the Puppet King's spell to make their souls switch bodies
- Much hilarity ensues; this is the best part of the episode; how they deal with one another trapped in the other's body, Raven can't figure out how to make Starfire's powers work, Starfire can't help but use Raven's powers too much; the key to their situation is that Raven needs to be more emotional to get Starfire's powers to work and Starfire needs to calm down in order to get a better hold on Raven's powers
- Raven and Starfire end up having to battle their friends after getting a better hold on their powers; in the end everything gets switched back and Raven and Starfire grow closer

- probably my favorite episode yet, even though it was mostly Raven and Starfire with very little of Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy

Teen Titans 1.06

Nevermore

- delves into Raven's background
- mostly just Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg
- begins with all 5 fighting Dr. Light; Raven snaps and turns dangerously scary during the fight and then again later on back at Titans Tower
- Raven retreats to her room; Cyborg and Beast Boy go to talk to her and winds up traveling through a mirror and into Ravens mind where they meet different facets of her personality
- Cyborg and Beast Boy also meet Raven's father, Trigon, while inside Raven's mind; Trigon is ultimately defeated by Raven after all her personalities merge into one white-cloaked form of herself

- the ravens in R's mind were creepy
- animation looked very polished
- just noticing that six episodes in and still no origin episode; not a problem

Teen Titans 1.05

The Sum of His Parts

- Cyborg experiences battery failure and before he can get the problem fixed his battery goes dead and he falls into a hole
- he is found by a creature called Fixit which at first glance seems to be all machine, but is later revealed to be partly organic
- Fixit recharges Cyborg's battery but then wants him to stick around so he can do some more work on Cyborg; he wants to replace all of Cyborg's human parts with machine parts
- the other Titans show up to rescue Cyborg but what finally does it, changes Fixit's mind, is what he sees when he attempts to download Cyborg's memories before operating on him; it makes makes Fixit change his mind about operating on Cyborg and wish he were part human
- the Titans also battle a magician named Mumbo, mostly without Cyborg

- definite body horror angle to this one; it wouldn't take much of a turn to make it very icky
- I like the little twists in this one
- the Cyborg part of this episode was much better than the Mumbo part

Teen Titans 1.04

Forces of Nature

- the Titans clash with Thunder and Lightning, a couple of guys with powers that are appropriate given their names; Thunder and Lightning are just out to have some fun but their reckless ways endanger many lives; in the end they see the error of their ways and help to save the day
- Starfire gets caught in a trap that Beast Boy set for Cyborg; Starfire is not amused and for most of the episode holds a grudge against Beast Boy, eventually she forgives him
- Slade shows up in disguise and eggs Thunder and Lightning into creating a fire monster, inadvertently, which almost destroys the city; Robin and Slade go toe to toe while the other Titans plus Thunder and Lightning are dealing with the fire monster
- a Beast Boy-centric episode
- the highlights were definitely the Beast Boy-Starfire disagreement or feud and Robin fighting Slade for the first time

Teen Titans 1.03

- 1st villain: Cinder Block (?)
- 2nd villain: Plasmus - not sure if the background they show here is consistent at all with his past in comic books
- Robin and Cyborg get into a fight over a misunderstanding when they are battling Cinder Block, who has broken into prison to retrieve Plasmus, who is being kept in deep sleep in human form; when he wakes up he turns into a Clayface like form able to split himself into separate entities and reshape himself into other shapes and forms
- Slade is behind Plasmus and Cinder Block, although the Titans don't know that yet
- Cyborg quits the team for a while but in the end comes back when the team needs him most
- good character moments, especially when the team is mourning Cyborg's departure

Teen Titans 1.02

Sisters

- Blackfire comes to Earth an visits with her sister, Starfire, and the rest of the team
- Blackfire is the older sister; she charms her way into the lives of the team which leaves Starfire feeling very undesired
- It turns out that Blackfire is on the run from the police from another star system (Vega?)

- simple enough story but great job with the characters and character moments; especially Starfire
- love how some things are just left unexplained like how Robin got on that spaceship or how the alien probes know exactly where on Earth Blackfire is located or how the alien probes mixed up the two sisters

Teen Titans 1.01

Final Exam

- not an origin episode
- the Titans battle 3 new graduates of the HIVE Academy: Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth
- ultimately Slade is the one behind the attack
- love the characterizations of the Titans more than the story
- the Titans hadn't heard the name Slade before now and don't get a glimpse of him