Animator and showrunner Glen Murakami’s legendary show Teen Titans has been one of the most beloved animated DC shows. While many are fans of DC’s other classic animated offerings such as Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League, Murakami’s show had a different edge and tone that made it perfect for both children and adults.
Teen Titans brought the underrated comic to the forefront as characters such as Robin and Cyborg became much more than their usual sidekick personas. The show also gave more of an edge to Robin, bringing him out of Batman’s shadow. One decision that Glen Murakami took to make sure the series was better than other DC shows was to make it both kid and adult-friendly.
How Did Glen Murakami Transition From Mature Shows To Teen Titans?
Glen Murakami reportedly got on board Teen Titans as a showrunner when Cartoon Network’s then-Senior VP Sam Register wanted to develop a show based on the comics. Register had reportedly been a fan of the comics and grew up with them, and hence wanted to pay his tribute to the comics. Murakami had worked on Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League at the time.
Both Murakami and Register reportedly wanted to go in a different direction than the previous shows, which were known for their mature themes. While Teen Titans also dealt with more mature themes, the makers reportedly wanted to make it appealing to a whole new generation of kids who did not know the characters beyond the Batman series.
In an interview with Animation World Network, Murakami mentioned how it was not too difficult to transition from the darker themes of Batman: TAS to a more kid-friendly tone in Teen Titans. He said,
“After working on those shows since 1991. 10 years of working on those shows it was kind of nice to move in a different direction with superheroes. The show is more for kids, but I don’t think it excludes an adult audience. I think Teen Titans is lighter and has humor, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a parody or a spoof, and I don’t think we’re making fun of the essence of the characters.”
Murakami mentioned that since he got to work on the mature themes in Batman and Justice League, it felt fresh for him to work on Teen Titans as he catered to a younger audience. One of the reasons the show is still revered is due to this decision to change the demographic of the show, as the darker themes of other DCAU shows were not suitable for kids.
Glen Murakami Distilled Some Of The Aspects Of The Teen Titans Comics
The Teen Titans show brought characters who were previously known as sidekicks to the forefront. Characters such as Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg became household names after the show, especially with kids as the show was made even for a younger demographic. However, the comics were reportedly not as kid-friendly as the show.
Most of the show’s plot reportedly took inspiration from Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s iteration of the comics. While the original comics had also been inspired by tensions at the time such as the Vietnam War, Wolfman and Pérez’s The New Teen Titans also reportedly dealt with mature relationships and demonic depictions.
Glen Murakami mentioned that he distilled many issues to adapt the show properly. Murakami mentioned that he even spoke to Wolfman about some of the mature themes in the comics and the comic book writer reportedly told him that he would have done things differently. Murakami said to Animation World,
“We kind of have to take into consideration that we’re not making this cartoon just for fans of the comic book, the ones who know all the backstory and know all the continuity. We have to tell the Starfire story in half an hour! I think we took all those things into consideration, but there’s just some things you can’t do for children’s programming.”
The makers seemed to have made the show keeping the kids in mind and even went as far as tampering with the source material to make sure that they did not lose out on their vision and key demographic.
Teen Titans, available to stream on Max.
