The animated television show Teen Titans Go! is normally a short 15-minute episode event, but it has had a few TV movies and even one released in the theatres. But this time they are on a straight-to-video crossover release with another animated series, the DC Super Hero Girls. This second group of teen heroes is comprised of Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Batgirl (Tara Strong), Supergirl (Nicole Sullivan), Zatanna (Kari Wahlgren), Green Lantern (Myrna Velasco), and Bumblebee (Kimberly Brooks).
In the Teen Titans’ universe, they are busy installing their new, but really dilapidated entertainment center, when they are visited by one of their most formidable enemies, Control Freak (Alexander Polinsky). Knowing that he will somehow manipulate their lives, Robin (Scott Menville) and the team are immediately concerned about what his visit means. His objective is to put them in a television crossover with the DC Super Hero Girls so that one lesser show can glom off the popularity of the other. The Titans sit back on their couch and are made to watch what the other team is doing in the other universe.
Lex Luthor (Will Friedle) is gathering all the villains to create the Legion of Doom. Their goal is to wipe out all the superheroes and take over the planet. To accomplish his goal of world domination, he has found an amulet from Krypton. This is no ordinary piece of jewelry as it contains the soul of an evil Kryptonian goddess named Cynthonnia (Missi Pyle). The necklace gives Luthor the power to banish anyone to the Phantom Zone, which he quickly does and manages to remove everyone but the Super Hero Girls. Unbeknownst to Luthor, the more he uses the amulet, the stronger Cynthonnia becomes. And she has her own plans to rule the universe. It’s up to the remaining superheroes to stop them both.
The Blu-ray is presented in 1080p High Definition with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The video aspect is very sharp and clean with lots of vibrant colors, but the audio seems to be lacking and nothing special about it stands out. There’s not much difference in watching a regular episode on television.
There are three Special Features included in this presentation, one is an episode of DC Super Hero Girls and the other two are Teen Titans Go! episodes.
- “Small Victories”- Tech genius Bumble Bee tries to move Diana/Wonder Woman into the 21st century by having her help with an experiment. Bumble Bee has invented a machine that instead of shrinking her will turn her into a giant. Unfortunately, there is a malfunction, and it does the exact opposite, causing her to continuously shrink. It is up to the technologically inept Diana to find a computer store, get a replacement chip for the machine, and fix the problem.
- “Titan Saving Time”- Robin tries to teach the team about Daylight Saving Time. Unfortunately, they are completely confused and decide they must rescue the hour of time from an evil farmer who must be stealing it in order to take revenge on all the people who eat his vegetables.
- “Operation Tin Man”- Cyborg (Khary Payton) decides to hang out with his girlfriend Jinx (Lauren Tom) at the villainous HIVE headquarters. While he is there, Gizmo (Tom) convinces the Teen Titans that they have captured their friend and demands a ransom. The Titans try to find a way to rescue Cyborg who is getting on Gizmo’s last nerve as the two battle in a prank war.
If you are a fan of the two shows individually, then you know exactly what you are going to get. A little bit of serious story with a lot of silliness and buffoonery provided by the Teen Titans. But in this case it’s not what you are going to get at all. Yes, the Titans are silly but the title is completely misleading and more of a bait and switch. Instead of getting a real crossover, you are actually getting a DC Super Hero Girls movie with a few cameos by the Teen Titans. They only appear at four different times for two to three minutes each time. The first is to set up the story, the second is to make fun of the fact that they aren’t in the story and how they hate gimmicks like they are doing to get people to watch, the third is for Raven (Strong) to inspire Zatanna and suppress her dark side, and then finally at the end to wrap it up and make a final joke.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why viewers will be angry about the obvious deception. Not so much when watching it for free on TV, but if they have gone out and paid money for the DVD or Blu-ray, then that would certainly lead to some upset individuals. I reviewed the film and am not so thrilled about it myself. The one saving virtue is the fact that it’s not a bad film. Having only seen DC Super Hero Girls a couple of times, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. A lot of TV shows can’t hold up for a feature-length movie, but it had a decent story and was entertaining. I would have preferred more Teen Titans, but it did make me interested in watching a few more episodes to see if the show is any good. And that was exactly the point of the crossover marketing strategy.
