For a certain segment of adult men, nothing is more important than children’s cartoons. A recent example would be the outrage over the new ThunderCats Roar series, which some irate fans think lacks the gritty maturity they require in a kids show. Luckily, an upcoming movie about DC’s Teen Titans might present everybody with a win-win scenario.
Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, a feature film adventure starring the excitable heroes of Teen Titans Go!, hits theaters on July 27. It looks pretty funny, as the first trailer made it seem like a meta, all-ages version of Deadpool’s humor. It’s very much fitting with the comedy-focused Teen Titans Go! series, a popular spin-off/reboot of a more traditional, narrative-based Teen Titans show that premiered in 2003. Many fans of that show were irritated when it was canceled after five seasons and reborn as Teen Titans Go, a chibi-style take on the same characters and same voice actors, only much, much sillier.
It’s okay to be upset that a story-driven show you liked was canceled and a goof-machine replaced it, but Teen Titans Go! is a very good and widely enjoyed goof-machine. The two shows do different things with the same material, and that’s not a bad thing, even if the nastier OG Titans fans want to get on a high-horse about it.
This all brings us to Friday, when Tara Strong, the voice actress behind Raven in both shows, tweeted that some higher-up at Cartoon Network or Warner Bros. said that a sixth season of the original Teen Titans could happen alongside Teen Titans Go! if the movie does well.
“So go see it! Even if you hate us!!” Strong wrote, clearly aware of the Teen Titans Go! backlash.
What we have here is, perhaps, a rare opportunity for two things to exist at once. Should Teen Titans Go! to the Movies perform well, fans of the original series might be able to see the old show continue alongside the much-hated reboot, and younger fans of the reboot will be able to continue to enjoy Teen Titans Go! as well. Maybe some folks will even watch both shows, because the Teen Titans vs. Teen Titans Go! battle is not a hill that anybody should die on.
For what it’s worth, there’s also a live-action Teen Titans series, Titans, on the way.
