Writer: Various
Director: Various
Cast: Scott Menville, Greg Cipes, Khary Payton,
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Date: November 20, 2007

It’s hard to argue with how great the vast majority of cartoons are that Warner Bros. puts out. Teen Titans is one of the most popular Warner Bros. cartoons of the present day. Superhero cartoons are always very popular and Teen Titans is no exception. I’d heard quite a bit of buzz about the show, Teen Titans, but had not caught an episode before I received a copy of Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season for review. While I’ve always been a fan of Batman, I’ve never imagined a cartoon could be led by the Boy Wonder, Robin. Nevertheless, I was impressed by how well the story actually works for this series.

If you’ve never watched Teen Titans, but enjoy superhero based cartoons, you need to check it out. The characters are funny, entertaining, and unlike most cartoons, I didn’t find any of them overly annoying. Teen Titans has enjoyed success since it debuted and continues to do so despite not having its sixth season renewed on the Cartoon Network. However, fans of the show who watch reruns can possibly revive the series, if enough viewers check out the episodes when they’re on. Nevertheless, you can enjoy the seasons that are available as all but season five have been released on DVD.

Release Information:
Teen Titans premiered on television on July 19, 2003. The show lasted through five seasons and ended on January 16, 2006. At the present time, no new episodes for season six have been scheduled. Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season featured 13 episodes and aired from January 7, 2005 until July 16, 2005. All of the seasons of Teen Titans, excluding season five, have been released on DVD.

Warner Home Video released Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season on November 20, 2007. The Teen Titans DVD has two discs. It can be purchased at an online retailer, such as Amazon, for $14.99 USD.

The Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season Plot
Teen Titans follows the escapades of a group of heroes led by the Dark Knight’s sidekick, Robin. In this cartoon, which is based on the 1982 superhero group known simply as the Teen Titans, there is no mention of Batman. The five superheroes that carry the show are Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg. The five live in Titan Tower, a T-Shaped building in the middle of an island. The Teen Titans protect their city from trouble, but not without getting into some trouble themselves!

There were a lot of great episodes in Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season. The 13 episodes include a three part season finale. This season explores some of the storylines that first debuted in the Teen Titans comic books so comic book puritans may actually enjoy the actual interpretation of the comic book stories come to life. One of the biggest surprises of this season is the return of one of the Teen Titans greatest enemies, Slade, and he returns with even more power than ever before.

The episodes for Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season are as follows:

1. “Episode 257-494”
2. “Cyborg the Barbarian”
3. “Birthmark”
4. “The Quest”
5. “Employee of the Month”
6. “TROQ”
7. “The Prophecy”
8. “Stranded”
9. “Overdrive”
10. “Mother Mae-Eye”
11. “The End: Part 1”
12. “The End: Part 2”
13. “The End: Part 3”

I enjoyed most of the episodes, but a few of them stood out in particular. I really enjoyed “The Quest”. In it, Robin goes on a quest to find a ‘True Master’ to train him and help him improve his martial arts skills. His journey is what makes this episode so enjoyable. “The End” as a three part finale works well. I don’t want to give too much away on this one. Just know it involves Trigon and Raven, who is forever changed by the events at the end of this season.

I also liked “Employee of the Month” because it was quite funny. In it, Beast Boy gets a job at a Fast Food Restaurant so he can save up money to buy a moped. However, at work he ends up finding out about a plot…that involves aliens. To add humor to an already funny episode is the fact that Beast Boy, a vegetarian, works at a restaurant called Mega Meaty Meat. Yum!

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The full frame video, which was transferred at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, is pretty typical for an animated television show. The visual quality was decent. It isn’t any worse than what you see when watching the television show on Cartoon Network. I’d say it was typical, comic television series visual quality fare in terms of how good it was. There weren’t very many if any visual problems and the colors were bright and vibrant. Overall, the visual quality is decent.

The audio, Dolby Digital English Stereo 2.0 is also available with a stereo dub in Portuguese. The sound balanced out between the front and the back with full bodied explosions and other sound effects falling near the back and dialogue swelling to the front. This was a great soundtrack considering it is available in the standard format used by television shows. I didn’t have any volume issues. I only wonder why they chose to dub in Portuguese and not a another language that is spoken more frequently such as Spanish or French. However, that is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There is only one bonus feature included in the Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season DVD set. I guess beggars can’t be choosers considering many Warner Bros. cartoons come with no bonuses whatsoever. This time around, Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season features a 15 minute featurette entitled, “Teen Titans: Know Your Foes”. As you probably have already guessed, this featurette is about the more popular villains on the show.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Teen Titans - The Complete Fourth Season is a must have DVD not only for fans of the show, but also for those who enjoy cartoons, in general. This show was great and it’s sad that Cartoon Network did not see the potential the show had, that would make it worthy enough to keep making episodes. For diehard fans, we’ll have to stick to watching our DVD collection and hope the network comes to its senses.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Teen Titans, The Complete Fourth Season, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., Superhero, Robin

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