Teen Titans Go!: 10 Things You Never Knew About The Making Of The Cartoon

For fans of the original Teen Titans series on Cartoon Network, the creation of Teen Titans Go! was a bit bittersweet. Instead of getting a reboot of the original or a direct follow up to the open-ended Season 5, fans were introduced to a whole new kind of show. Specifically, this was a show more for really young kids rather than fans of the original show or the comics, which is a demographic mostly made up of teenagers and older people.

Yet, over time, Teen Titans Go! has won over most fans of the original with its quick pace and wit, with the occasional fart joke mixed in for good measure. So, what interesting content goes on behind the scenes? Here are ten interesting things you never knew about the making of Teen Titans Go!

10 Raven’s Obsession With Pretty Pretty Pegasus Is Based On Real Life

For a character as dark and emo as Raven to be obsessed with a show called Pretty Pretty Pegasus, the concept appears to be far-fetched. After all, it just doesn’t fit with her outward persona or how she views the world around her. Though, the answer to that question has more to do with what goes on behind the scenes rather than Raven’s personality.

The real reason Raven is so fascinated with glittery ponies is that her voice actress Tara Strong plays Twilight Sparkle on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic cartoon series.

9 Clips From The Original Series Are Used A Lot

Teen Titans have always been popular among comic book fans but rather obscure to those outside of comic book stores across the world. Which makes sense, since none of these characters — not even Robin — could hold down their own TV series. Individually and even as a team, they just don’t have the wide appeal that other superheroes do.

So when the original Teen Titans appeared on Cartoon Network, it was a bit shocking how successful its five years run actually was. Bits and pieces of clips from the original show are shown throughout certain episodes of Teen Titans Go!. This reached its extreme when the two shows crossed paths in Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans.

8 Trigon Kept His Thanksgiving Promise/Threat

While the original Teen Titans and their comic book versions take on a more serious attitude, Teen Titans Go! is full of running gags that even hardcore fans would miss if they weren’t paying attention.

In the episode “Caramel Apples” Trigon, Raven’s father is sucked into a portal screaming “I’ll be back for Thanksgiving”. In another episode “Dog Hand” Raven remarks her father will be back for Thanksgiving. Sure enough, Trigon shows back up for their Thanksgiving episode. Got to love a supervillain good on his word.

7 Beast Boy Doesn’t Eat Meat To Avoid Accusations Of Cannibalism

Oftentimes people take for granted specific features of their favorite characters. Most times, they don’t even notice if he or she is a vegetarian or meat-eater nor should they. Those obscure details are usually just there for the hardcore fanbase.

With that said, the reason Beast Boy is a vegetarian is that the showrunners felt it would make him into a cannibal since he can turn into any of the creatures he would eat for dinner. Thankfully, this is something the showrunners thought about because it would appear quite weird for him to eat chicken as a chicken.

6 The Creators of Teen Titans Go! Never Watched The Original Series

It almost feels lazy when someone tries to wing a specific project by not doing their fair share of research on the topic or reading an instruction manual. After all, it just seems like a good way to set yourself up for failure. So it is a bit shocking when creators of a massively popular DC show fail to even understand or learn about the characters they are there to work with.

In one interview, showrunners Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic stated that they might have watched one or two episodes of the original series at best. Whether this was a good or bad creative decision is left up to the viewer, but this explains so much of the show’s polarizing depictions of otherwise familiar characters.

5 Aquaman’s Octopus Makes A Cameo

It shouldn’t be that shocking to learn that a show like Teen Titans Go! would have a few guest appearances by heroes, villains, and sidekicks that are known throughout the greater DC lore. In fact, it happens almost every other episode with some figures from the comics or popular DC television adaptions to stop by.

Usually, the characters that drop by are recognizable figures to fans but sometimes lesser-known heroes and villains will appear. In the episode “Pirates,” the purple octopus that is shown onscreen is actually Aqua Man’s sidekick Topo. Topo had a quick cameo in Aquaman, and was seen banging the war drums during Aquaman’s gladiator fight with Ocean Master.

4 The Title Has A Japanese Reference

Teen Titans have always had a fascination with Japanese culture, especially anime. This was evident in how their original theme song that was created and sung by a popular Japanese pop band, how many of the fights were animated, and everything about their TV movie Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo.

While all of these date back to the original show, there are a few references Japanese culture that still remain from the new Teen Titans Go! adaption. One of those references has to do with the jokes made in Japanese dubs about the word “GO,” which in Japanese means “five.” Coincidentally, this is the exact number of Titans on the show.

3 The Show Owes A Lot To Its Toyline

Money talks, especially to executives of major cartoon networks. These executives do not just concern themselves with ratings but, instead, focus more on various merchandise sales, particularly toy lines.

When Cartoon Network started making shorter shows (around 10 to 15 minutes per episode) that were popular among younger audiences, executives determined that a show like Teen Titans Go! would bring in high merchandise sales. More importantly, it could appeal to a wider younger audience than the original ever could, so they wanted it to keep going as long as possible. The fact that Teen Titans Go! has 285 episodes (and counting) to its name while Teen Titans only got around 50 is proof of this.

2 Flash Animation Was Used For Budgetary Reasons

Making cartoons is expensive; just ask any TV executive that works for any world-wide cartoon network. This is precisely the reason why animation studios only come out with a handful of movies and TV series a year and why they tend to focus on more well-known products that they know will generate an immediate profit from more established fanbases.

Despite being only five seasons long, Teen Titans was unbelievably expensive to produce. With that in mind, the showrunners decided to go with the less expensive Flash animation for Teen Titans Go!.

1 There’s A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Connection

It is no surprise that voice actors would throughout their career appear in countless films, cartoon series, video games, and other smaller shorts. That is just the nature of the business. Sometimes, fans can recognize their favorite childhood cartoon’s voices in another children’s favorite cartoon’s voices. It’s always fun to spot a familiar voicing someone else entirely.

Greg Cipes, the voice actor for Beast Boy, has had a long and storied career voicing various cartoon characters. One of those happens to be Michelangelo in the 2012 run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Various references to this can be found throughout Teen Titans Go!, including a guest appearance by the turtles in one of the episodes.

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