‘Teen Titans Go!’ Premieres Tonight On Cartoon Network

From 2003 to 2006, Teen Titans was one of the most fun and enjoyable translations of the DC Universe to television, but sadly, all good things must end. I learned that from Star Trek, so it has to be true. Sometimes, however, good things manage to make a comeback, and tonight at 7:30 Eastern, Cartoon Network is proving that to be true with the premiere of Teen Titans Go!, a new show that reunites the cast and characters from the original animated series for all-new adventures.

CN was nice enough to send us an advance copy of the first two episodes, and you guys, they are pretty great.

Unlike the original show, which got a little dark there at the end once Deathstroke the Terminator started showing up and, you know, being Deathstroke the Terminator, Go! takes its cues from the shorts that originally appeared as part of the DC Nation block. As a result, there's a much bigger emphasis on comedy, and fortunately, the gags are pretty solid.

My personal favorite -- and the premise of the entire first episode -- is the bit where Raven (voiced by Tara Strong) is trying to get the rest of the Titans out of the tower so that she can watch a parody of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which also features Tara Strong:

It's a great gag, and it's far from the only one on the show.

Despite the laughs, though, it still follows the format of an action adventure show, albeit one that's oddly focused on food. The Titans go off to fight adventures (in search of sandwiches) and battle with supervillains (who make pies), and there's plenty of superheroic action mixed in with the jokes. There's even a helping of violence, most of which is inflicted on Cyborg, because he's a character who can have his arm ripped off and be perfectly fine in the next scene:

Incidentally, those particular moments have a nice touch of Dan Hipp's signature style, which makes sense since he's currently working at Warner Bros. Animation. That'd probably be enough to get me interested in the show, even if I didn't already like its predecessor.

Point being, it's pretty great, and definitely worth checking out. Catch the first two episodes tonight on Cartoon Network, and again on Saturday Morning's DC Nation block at 10 a.m. if you miss 'em.