A title that will invariably make fans of the original show think of "Date with Destiny," where not only did Starfire clearly have feelings for Robin, but the two of them shared a romantic dance.
Ah, the pairing that launched a thousand shippers. |
But I'm not going to criticize the show for trolling its audience. Because I've seen the later episodes, and I know what it looks like when Teen Titans Go! trolls its audience. This is not what such trolling looks like.
They have not yet begun to troll. |
Cyborg: "It's one of those fortune teller games that the little kids play."
Beast Boy: "Ha ha! Robin plays baby games!"
Don't be so quick to laugh, Beast Boy. Have you ever tried
to make one of those things? I'm automatically impressed with anyone who can
actually do it.
Robin tries to take it back, but Cyborg and Beast Boy decide
to be hypocrites and get a fortune.
For those of who who have never played with one, you fold
the thing back and forth a certain number of times, usually determined by the
number of letters in your name or your favorite color.
Beast Boy: "You know my color, bro!"
Cyborg: "G-R-E-E-E-E-N."
I can't really criticize the spelling. I mean, it's not like
we've seen any of the Titans go to school ever.
Beast Boy wants to be a millionaire...
Cyborg: "'You will... marry Starfire'?"
Beast Boy: "Well... doesn't mean I won't be a
millionaire."
Cyborg's fortune comes out oddly similar.
Cyborg: "And my fortune is 'You and Starfire will have
seven kids.' What?"
Beast Boy: "That's gonna be awkward since I'm already
marrying her."
Heh. Okay, that made me laugh. And the light physical comedy
with Beast Boy trying to take a peek at Robin's cootie catcher was fairly well
done.
See, I don't have a problem with this show trying to be an
off-the-wall comedy.
My main problem with the series up to this episode is that
the writers are shying away from doing the style of comedy they obviously want
to do. If they're going to do wacky comedy, I just want them to stop trying to
make the jokes fit within the framework of a more grounded show.
They've admitted that they struggled with this until they
decided to embrace their silliness and write about a "Meatball
Party," but there are a few glimmers of inventiveness that spring up more
and more often as the series continues.
So bring it, show. You wanna get nuts? Come on. Let's get nuts.
Cyborg notices that the fortunes all seem to revolve around
Starfire, and Robin admits that the cootie catcher's fortunes are all for him
as Cyborg tosses it onto a large pile of cootie catchers.
Cyborg: "Starfire does make you act a little nuts,
doesn't she?"
Narrator: "There was something about Starfire that made
him nuts. Not the kind of nuts that put a knot in your stomach or made you want
to climb a mountaintop to shout out your feelings. No. The nuts that made you
feel voices in your head. Voices like mine."
Okay. That was not what I expected when I invited this show
to "get nuts."
Robin shakes his head to make the voices stop and explains
that there's a new restaurant opening up, and he wants to take Starfire
there... but he doesn't know how to go about asking her out.
Cyborg: "We can help you!"
Robin: "Really?"
Beast Boy: "Me and Cyborg have asked out tons of
girls."
Robin: "And they went out with you?"
Cyborg: "No."
Beast Boy: "Course not."
Cyborg: "But we asked!"
Yeah, like any girls would ever go out with Cyborg or Beast
Boy. He said, knowingly.
So Cyborg and Beast Boy make a model of a woman and show how
best to grovel on the floor and beg for a date.
Wait, if this is a reenactment of how they ask women out... Sweet merciful Thor, do they regularly mutilate women and fight over the remains!? |
Even with this advice, Robin finds himself pacing back and
forth in front of her door, trying to come up with the right words.
Robin: "Hola, Starfiré'."
But he manages to knock on the door and enter the room. Then
Starfire gives him this look.
What, no soft focus? |
Both: "Too! Ah! Shamma-dabba-ding-bam! Boom boom."
Starfire leads Robin back to the door and tells him that she
had fun playing his game, but he manages to stick his hand in the door before
it closes and actually ask if she'd like to go that opening of the new
restaurant.
Starfire: "I would love to!"
Robin: "You would?"
Starfire: "Indeed! But I cannot. Speedy has already
asked me to go with him."
As if on cue, Green Arrow's sidekick...
Narrator: "Speedy had always been the chief rival of
Robin. First as a sidekick, then a hero, and now for the affections of a
strange but endearing alien princess. At that moment, Robin knew he would do
anything in his power to stop Speedy from winning over Starfire. Even though reason said he should be more concerned with the voice he kept hearing in his
head."
Again, Robin shakes the voices away and tries to argue his
own merits over Speedy. Namely that he's ugly with a stupid voice.
Starfire: "I have always felt that you visual and
auditory similarities."
Especially with that redesign and recasting. |
Starfire: "Is that not the purpose of the date? To find
out if one is compatible?"
Excellent point, Starfire. Not even Robin can debate it, and
he simply groans and leaves. In a fit of rage, he heads into the living room
and destroys the first lady shaped like a broom that he sees. Thankfully, Marzipan is nowhere to be found, so Robin breaks Beast Boy's training dummy in half.
Angry, that is. He's certainly gone mad. |
Robin will wear Speedy's clothes, dye his hair orange, take
his place at the date, act like a jerk in Speedy's place, and forever ruin
Speedy's chances with her.
So... if he'd already formulated this plan and tied Speedy
up, why was he mad enough to murder Beast Boy's broom girlfriend?
Speaking of him, he and Cyborg aren't willing to watch the
real Speedy while Robin enacts his plan.
Robin: "Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?"
This changes their minds, because...
Because Scooby Doo reference? |
Starfire: "Why, thank you, Speedy! I find your being a
gentleman compatible with several traits I possess!""
Is she E-Harmony-ing herself?
But Robin pulls the chair out from under Starfire, lowering
her opinion of the scarlet bowman.
Back at the tower, the real Speedy has finally decided to
bite through his gag. Then Speedy and the others repeat the following for a
bit.
Speedy: "Let me go!"
Cyborg/Beast Boy: "No."
After a card saying that half an hour goes by, Cyborg and
Beast Boy ask Raven to watch Speedy while they get some food, and she agrees.
After the two fly off, Speedy escapes from his bonds because Raven couldn't
care less what happens. In fact, she wants Speedy to leave.
Raven: "Exit's the other way."
then he turns around and walks in the opposite direction, which is still not the way out.
then he turns around and walks in the opposite direction, which is still not the way out.
The way out is behind the couch, not to the left or the right. |
Eventually, she decides that Speedy IS just an inferior
version of Robin after all and leaves the tabel
Robin: "Yes!"
But before she leaves the restaurant, Speedy (dressed as
Robin) enters.
Robin: "No!"
Before Speedy can explain anything, Robin shoots a boxing
glove arrow at him, triggering a fight between the two. It's mostly a bunch of
sight gags, which I won't bother to list here, but also has some well-paced and
dynamic action between the two heroes.
No joke, this is actually a cool fight. |
Robin: "I hear he's a little, uh... You know."
Robin, his drug-addled past isn't something for you to make fun of. For shame!
Narrator: "He's not the one hearing voices."
Robin: "Don't make me come in there!"
You know, there's no doubt in my mind that Robin would try
to drill a hole through his own head.
Starfire says that she's beginning to fall for Robin, but
the moment is ruined by the voice in Robin's head claiming that Robin feels
terrible for what he did. And after a while, Robin actually does feel terrible.
Narrator: "He told her everything. And hearing his
actions out of his own mouth only made him feel worse. His actions were just
terrible. Terrible!"
Robin is fully prepared for Starfire to hate him. But she
asks him if he really went through all that trouble just for her... then she
punches him in the face.
Starfire: "You must be out of your glorber!"
Narrator: "That's what I've been trying to tell
him."
Starfire: "Huh?"
Narrator: "I don't believe we've met. I'm the voice in
Robin's head."
Starfire: "And I am..."
Narrator: "Absolutely stunning!"
So... Robin's madness has taken form as an incorporeal
presence in the real world?
The two of them leave to continue the date elsewhere as the
narrator plays them out.
Narrator: "And what started as a chance encounter between
a voice and a girl would soon blossom into the most wonderful..."
Starfire: "Are you coming?"
Narrator: "Er- sorry! Be right there!"
And as the disembodied voice flips Robin's cape over his
busted face, the episode stops. Now let's review... and see whether or not this cloud has a silver lining.
No comments:
Post a Comment