If you are someone who was a young individual during the early 2000s, then you would’ve of course watched an episode of the iconic Teen Titans on CN. And just like that, you would’ve seen your interest in the show rise as you gave a go to another episode week after week.
In fact, this show became such a popular hit with children and young teens that it is still extremely loved to this day.
Although some might remember this animated series fondly from their childhood memories, the readers of the comic book series would have a totally different thing to say, especially when the source material had a significant amount of adult topics in them.
This is when Glen Murakami made the decision to keep all of those themes away from the story of the show as much as possible, which led to its success.
Glen Murakami Made The Right Call To Keep Adult Themes Away From Teen Titans Animated Series
The power of a good cartoon or an animated series from a young individual’s past can go a long way and become etched in their cherished memories, something that CN’s Teen Titans easily managed to achieve with its 5 season run.
For this success, WB had no one else but showrunner Glen Murakami to thank with everything they have, especially since he turned it into such a beloved kids show.
Naturally, making such an iconic piece of silver screen entertainment wasn’t an easy feat, especially considering the source material he was given to work with.
In a past interview (via AWN), the showrunner revealed that there were a lot of adult themes in the Teen Titans comic series from DC Comics, which included topics like r*pe, su*cide, and some instances of adultery.
Since the show was to be a kids animated series, all of those themes would have to be removed or appropriately changed from the show while maintaining the mostly serious tone of it. Murakami said:
“When youre working on Batman you’ve got 40 or 50 years worth of material to take and distill down into its best parts. Same for us. We kind of have to take into consideration that were 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 theres just some things you cant do for childrens programming.”
Fortunately, the end product was a hit among the young fans of the show, while also satisfying the expectations of the comic book readers.
Why Is Teen Titans So Iconic?
Arguably one of the most important reasons why this series, even after almost two decades, is such a popular topic of discussion is because of the memorable nature of it.
Most of the fans that rally behind the show today are fans who grew up watching this series in their homes during their younger days, and that familiar sense of excitement kept them stuck to it.
But even when we take that away, it’s still attracting new members into the fandom because it struck the perfect balance between adult seriousness and childish naivety, which makes it well suited for all ages to enjoy at any moment in the future.
Teen Titans, streaming on Max.
