TRAILER
PARK
By
Rob Allstetter
 Cartoon
Network might have a Titanic hit on its hands. Teen
Titans, a new animated series based on the DC
Comics characters, is set to begin on Saturday, July 19.
Thirteen episodes are being produced for
the first season, and work on a second season has already
begun, a strong vote of confidence for the Warner Bros. Animation
series. The show will air both on Cartoon Network and Kids'
WB!, which recently ran a Teen Titans preview during a superhero-themed
Saturday morning.
Teen Titans should have a wide appeal, creators
of the show say.
"I wouldn't say
it's like a boys show or a girls show," says producer Glen
Murakami. "I wouldn't say it's for little kids or I wouldn't
say it's for teenagers. I think everyone's going to like it."
"You give parents
something that they can enjoy with their kids, where they're
not sitting there rolling their eyes while some sort of thing
with a television in its stomach dances around," says story
editor David Slack.
The Titans team
will consist of Robin,
Cyborg, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy. According to Slack,
the show will focus on the characters as heroes.
 "They
don't take classes; we don't even deal with that," Slack says.
"The board of education never comes by to wonder why teenagers
are living together in a high rise (the Titans Tower). It's
the ultimate cool clubhouse."
The main cast
of Teen Titans includes Scott Menville as Robin, Tara Strong
as Raven, Greg Cipes as Beast Boy, Khary Payton as Cyborg
and Hynden Walch as Starfire.
Strong, who was
one of the actresses who provided Batgirl's
voice, is really the only Teen Titans cast member with extensive
experience in this genre.
"They're
terrific, just wonderful to work with," Romano said of the
youthful cast. "It's sort of a clean slate. There are no preconceived
notions and no one is jaded."
Among the guest
actors in the show are Wil Wheaton and Malcom McDowell.
 Early
previews of the show reveal an anime flavor, a different feel
and a different look than other DC shows such as Batman,
Superman
or Justice
League.
"To Cartoon Network's
credit, we were asked to do something that you almost never
get asked to do in television," Slack says. "We were asked
to take risks. Some of the only notes we got were, 'It's not
weird enough. Make it cooler. Make it something that I haven't
seen before.'"
Teen Titans will
debut with an episode titled "Final Exam." Following that,
the series will continue to occupy the 9 p.m. Saturday time
slot with "Sisters" on July 26 and "Divide and Conquer" on
Aug 2.
Rob Allstetter,
Deputy Sports Editor for the Detroit News, has been a comics
journalist for the past decade, having written for numerous
publications. He currently publishes The Comics Contiuum.
He can be reached at: RobAlls@aol.com.
|
The
Trailer Park Archive |
- July
2 2003 - Hellboy
- June
25, 2003 - Ang Lee
- June
18, 2003 - Eric Bana
- June
11, 2003 - Spider-Man Animation
- June
4 , 2003 - Lou Ferrigno
- May
27 , 2003 - Teen Titans
- May
20 , 2003 - Bryan Singer
- May
14 , 2003 - Al Gough
- May
8 , 2003 - Kelly Hu
- April
22, 2003 - Aaron Stanford
- April
18, 2003 - James Marsden
- April
15, 2003 - Jaime King
- April
8, 2003 - Halle Berry
- April
2, 2003 - Anna Paquin
- March
26 , 2003 - Scott McNeil
- March
21 , 2003 - Alan Cumming
- March
18 , 2003 - Michael Rosenbaum
- March
14 , 2003 - Ted Raimi: The "Other" Raimi Is Coming Back
- March
11 , 2003 - Maria Canals likes the call of the wild
- March
7 , 2003 - John Shea - Welcome to Mutant X
- March
4 , 2003 - Anthony Cistaro - Witchblade
- February
27 , 2003 - David Kaye - Professor X
- February
18 , 2003 - Victor Webster
- February
14 , 2003 - Ben Affleck
- February
11 , 2003 - Colin Farrell
- February
7 , 2003 - Comic Controversy?
- January
31 , 2003 - Static Shock
- January
24 , 2003 - Jennifer Garner
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