Pie Groans

We're back! This next episode Pie Bros draws from the Mother Mae-Eye episode of the original series. To say that episode was weird is a bit like saying Santa Claus is putting on a little weight. It's a fairly standard story of Cyborg brings home enchanted pie, Titans eat pie, Titans wake up mind controlled by Mother Mae-Eye a witch with a nice grandmother form and a hideous evil form, Titans get treated like little kids by Mother Mae-Eye, Titans fight villains in ridiculous outfits, Starfire gets clonked on the head and snaps out of it and realizes Mother Mae-Eye feeds off of their love and plans to bake them into a giant pie, Starfire whacks all of her friends to knock them out of it, Titans beat up Mother Mae-Eye, Titans deliver enchanted pie to villains from earlier. You know, stuff you've heard a thousand times before.

This episode...not so much. Raven comes in on Beast Boy drawing Cyborg as a dog (who resembles Cyber Scooby Dooby Doo) and himself as a robot. He says that it's his present for Cyborg who is his best friend and that he'll love it. Raven questions this and Beast Boy demonstrates by predicting what Cyborg wants to eat. It's Pie and they launch into a little quick chant/song thing about pie. It's okay.

Next we cut to Mother Mae-Eye's Pies. The Titans all have pie and Beast Boy is a total gentleman and sticks his finger into Raven's pie and eats some of it (Jerk Counter: 1). Raven understandably pitches the pie. They begin discussing how Mother Mae-Eye makes her pies so good and Raven says that she hears Mother Mae-Eye puts people in her pies. All the Titans laugh at this silly notion as we see Mother Mae-Eye do some kind of weird wo-wo-wo thing with the same old man Robin ran over earlier and they wander off to the back room.

The discussion turns to Cyborg's birthday and Starfire volunteers to plan the birthday party (Starfire is probably the most entertaining part of this whole episode). Robin says it might be a bad idea, but Cyborg counters with the party can be lame as long as the presents aren't. It is here we find out that Cyborg wants a video game (Bubble Bots) and thinks that's what Beast Boy is getting him and so Beast Boy lies and says he is even though he knows he can't afford the game and Cyborg says that's why he's his best friend. I know it's just a comedy but why is a Candy Crush clone selling for the same price as Skyrim, Fallout, or Call of Duty? The game might not ACTUALLY be a Candy Crush clone but it looks like someone mixed Bloons with a mobile game.

We cut to Beast Boy in front of the store lamenting that he has no money and then seeing a hallucination of Cyborg and complaining to it that he doesn't have any money. The hallucination tells him to get a job and Beast Boy decides that is a good idea.

What's funny is that the original series also had this as a plot point. Major differences. Beast Boy's motives were a bit more selfish in just wanting a moped rather than purchasing something for a friend. Also, there was sentient alien tofu voiced by Pinky that was running a fast food chain to bring about the destruction of the world. I'm pretty sure you want to go watch that rather than this. 

Anyways like in the original series, Beast Boy fails at all the jobs he attempts although at least in the original series no one went to jail (one of his attempted professions was lawyer and he argued for a guilty client). He is sitting glumly dejected with the other Titans in the pie shop. Starfire is detailing her hilarious misunderstandings of birthday customs (balloon animals being animals trapped in balloons is a favorite) and that she has decided to hold the birthday at the pie place. Robin checks in with Beast Boy who admits his dilemma and Robin tells him friends don't care about money just the thought. Robin then attempts to prove this point and miserably fails by offering Cyborg his half finished drink as an early birthday present and then getting all annoyed when Cyborg calls him out on it. (Jerk counter: 2) No Robin, it isn't the thought that counts when you clearly put about zero thought into it. While Robin is telling Beast Boy that the cheapskates need to stick together, Mother Mae-Eye comes over and wo-wo-wos the dude working there and then puts out a Help Wanted sign.

Beast Boy takes the job and there is a montage of him doing his stuff. Cyborg comes in and makes fun of Beast Boy's ridiculous hat. This goes on for way too long. (Jerk counter: 3) He then becomes disappointed that Beast Boy has to work during his birthday party. At the actual party, Starfire is amazing dropping ducks and geese one people.

Cyborg does a toast and begins "accidentally" knocking over things that Beast Boy has to clean. Beast Boy fumes as he's trying to afford Cyborg's video game and cracks. They then launch into a massive pie fight. The other Titans watch and then Mother Mae-Eye comes over and wo-wo-wos them. She puts them in a big giant machine while Cyborg and Beast Boy keep fighting. Eventually Beast Boy shows Cyborg his picture and Cyborg actually quite funnily yells how much he likes it. They bond over the pie and Mother Mae-Eye brings out three pies that look like Robin, Starfire, and Raven. Cyborg and Beast Boy guzzle down the pies saying the main ingredient of Mother Mae-Eye's pies is love.

We then cut over to the other Titans holding a tied up Mother Mae-Eye and saying. "Really?" The episode ends.

This one had some genuinely funny moments but seems to resort to cliched plots we've seen a billion times and character acting like complete and total jerks. I don't recall it getting any better but I'll trudge forward.

Legen-Wait-For-It-Dary Sandwich

So I am going to do something that I am both excited for and dreading. What I will be doing is going through Cartoon Network's show Teen Titans Go! one episode at a time and detailing thoughts. I don't know how often I will update or whatnot but I will try to be on top of things. The exact format is undecided but I think I'm going to start by basically going through the episode and detailing the plot with commentary. I may change things up a bit, but we'll see.

Why Teen Titans Go! Several reasons. One, I think there is a lot of material to be funny and you might watch my slow descent into madness. Two, I really enjoyed the Teen Titans cartoon and this feels like a travesty to be so closely related. Three, it might have gotten good and I didn't realize it. Five, I want to. Six, I've never done something like this before but it feels like a great place to start. Seven, did you notice I skipped four?

Okay, so first a little background. Teen Titans was a cartoon series that aired from 2003-2006. It was... atypical for a superhero show but that isn't a bad thing. Not everything was perfect and the show had some flaws but it managed to seamlessly work in episodes that felt like something out of Adventure Time with episodes that felt like they belonged in Batman: The Animated Series and often utilized several anime tropes.. It ran for 5 seasons and an okay movie with Seasons 1,2, and 4 being of better quality than 3 and 5 in my opinion. Okay before I get started, here is a quick rundown of the major characters and what they were like in the original Teen Titans show.

Robin - This might be the most interesting version of Robin I've seen. While any connections to Batman were never explicit, there were a few cool nods. Robin was a very cool martial artist and a very interesting leader. He was extremely determined to get things done, but could lean back and take it easy if need be. He oftentimes had to learn to rely on his teammates in his episodes, but he was also very understanding of them. Could be a bit of a hothead at times. He became romantically involved with Starfire in the movie after a long will they won't they.

Cyborg - The second in command and basically a cyborg with a ton of cool gadgets hidden within him. He was a big guy who loved going all out and also a tech genius. He could be a bit of a loudmouth and rivaled Robin in the hothead department but he was a dependable guy who loved getting his hands dirty and dishing out his catchphrase "Boo-yah" and was best buds with Beast Boy and the two did a lot of activities together, mostly video games and partying and some friendly rivalry stuff. There was a lot of internal struggle between being half man, half machine and it was handled very nicely.

Starfire - She was an alien (Tamaranean) who was very upbeat and still trying to figure out Earthly customs. For the most part she was the heart of the team, keeping everyone together and almost always finding joy in the situations. She also did things like drink mustard. When she got angry, you did not want to be in her way as she fought fiercely to protect her friends with starbolts (energy missiles that she shot from her hands and later her eyes). While she was a bit off with her weird alien customs and misunderstanding of ours, she was a valued teammate. She never received a story arc like the other four which was a bit disappointing but Starfire centric episodes were nearly all very good.

Raven - Half demon, half human (Azarathean), Raven was my favorite character on the show and may be responsible for my love of telekinesis. She utilized magic but there was little explanation given to how exactly it worked. Her go to weapon of telekinesis was represented by whatever she was controlling being covered in a black aura and then completely under her control. While the how of her powers were never quite explained, we do know they ran off of emotion and so there was a definite ebb and flow there along with her having to deal with basically being created as a portal for her demon father to enter our world and rule it. She was even worse than Starfire when angry or not in control of her emotions so she usually kept a tight lid on everything. Still, a fascinating character.

Beast Boy - He was able to change into any animal he wanted and was a strict vegetarian having been those animals (which led to many hilarious confrontations with him and Cyborg who loved meat). He transformed into a wide variety of creatures throughout the show and displayed some excellent creativity. He could be a bit immature and lazy and those were his story arcs along with a past of having worked under the Doom Patrol which operated significantly different from the Titans. Both seasons 2 and 5 allowed for a lot of good Beast Boy moments.

Okay so, I should note that I've watched the first bunch but forgot a lot of them and we'll have to see how it goes so let's dive in with our very first episode: Legendary Sandwich.

The episode starts with Raven watching a My Little Pony parody (Pretty Pretty Pegasus which makes me think of Hungry Hungry Hippos) on a laptop (It's a nice homage since her voice actress Tara Strong does some voice work for MLP {As a note, all the main characters have the same voice actor or actress}). She however keeps getting interrupted by Robin telling some story about beating up a guy which is drowning out the show.

The guys are all eating sandwiches and come over and start eating them by Raven covering her in crumbs. Raven tells them they eat like animals with Beast Boy at least having an excuse. They then detail about how amazing Robin's sandwiches are and Robin is proud of his sandwich making. Raven asks if they will leave if she tells them where a good sandwich is. They agree but only if it is a "legendary sandwich" (Cue Barney Stinson).

She says that there is an ancient sandwich of power locked away to keep people from using its power for evil. Robin, understandably laughs at this as being ridiculous and made up and his sandwiches are superior. Raven produces a book out of thin air and proceeds to tell the legend with Starfire getting interested as well.

What follows is actually solid as the animation goes storybook style with Raven narrating over it. A king asked his sandwich wizard to make him a sandwich of power. After 6 days, the wizard returns with a sandwich that will grant the king eternal life and was also delicious. Then, the prince decided to take it and the king realized that it was too powerful and needed to be split apart a la every artifact of power in a video game ever. They are guarded by Sandwich Guardians and it could be reforged if they're all brought together.

Despite several holes big enough to fly the Enterprise through, (one of these ingredients is in space and the story was set in medieval times, how they knew it was delicious despite there never being any bites taken out of the sandwich {maybe the sandwich regenerates}, that an immortal king could simply just carry the sandwich on his person at all times to keep people from getting it, etc.) the gang believes the story and wants to go get the sandwich ingredients.

Raven sends them to different locations. First, she tells of bacon in a volcano area which Cyborg volunteers for since he is heat proof. (Okay...) Second, is lettuce deep underground which Beast Boy volunteers for by turning into a gopher (or badger I couldn't quite tell, it was green and furry and had claws). Third, is lettuce located "in space" (super helpful) which Starfire volunteers for. Robin presumes the most difficult task is left for him and finds out that it's acquiring pretzel bread at the supermarket.

Quick time out here. The above joke is one of the things that hurts this show. Pretty much the instant Robin opened his mouth I knew where the joke was going. TTG! is intended to be a more humorous, less serious version of the show so I'm not going to harp on them for not really going in depth on things but their jokes need to actually be funny. 95 times out of 96, if your audience knows the punchline the joke isn't funny which is how I felt about a lot of the jokes in this.

Anyways, they head off to get their respective ingredients and Raven goes to watch Pretty Pretty Pegasus. She also starts playing with the action figures and gets Starfire's pet Silkie (some kind of glowworm thing) involved. Raven does just about zero after this point. The MLP knockoff was a bit clever the first go round but the joke here just seems to be "HA HA. Moody emo Raven likes ponies" which isn't that funny.

So Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy each have basically the same narrative. Find Sandwich MacGuffin insanely fast, fight Sandwich Guardian (which look really stupid, they basically look like giant golden robots.), lose some body part in the fight (Cyborg's arm, Starfire's hair, Beast Boy's teeth), beat the Guardian, and get the item.

Prepare to be toast. Get it? GET IT? (What a lot of jokes on this show feel like)
Robin in the meantime gets to act like a crazy psycho in the supermarket. He first runs over an old guy with an out of control shopping cart and then terrifies a fellow customer with his bo staff (albeit accidentally, and the guy's face was kind of funny), but mostly just waits around until his number is called.

Ingredients in tow, the Titans return to Raven's surprise since she made up the whole story. However, she makes the sandwich which Robin says still is not better than his. An argument breaks out as far as who gets to eat the sandwich whether it be the leader or whoever lost the most in the battle. While arguing, Silkie wanders over and eats the sandwich, gets a glow and begins to ascend before upchucking the sandwich.

Robin reiterates that the sandwich wasn't great and asks if anyone wants to watch Pretty Pretty Pegasus.

All in all, it wasn't AWFUL but it didn't strike me as particularly original. I knew where every single joke was going and about 90% of the plot. It ends without really resolving anything and seems to feel like just referencing something (Pretty Pretty Pegasus) is good enough for a joke. It felt like someone had a paint the dots on a kids' comedy routine. Also, Robin was a jerk which becomes something of a recurring theme sadly.

Overall, it was good enough to keep me watching originally, but going through it again I see a lot of the warning signs I should have listened to. That's all for now. No giant descent into insanity. Nothing super major, just the start. Hopefully they'll get better from here on out.