Releases - DVD - The Complete Fourth Season
Release Information
Announce Date: 8/1/07
Street Date: 11/20/07
Closed Captioning: Yes
MSRP: $19.98
Packaging Type: Amaray Case
Disc Configuration: 1) 9-Dual Layer 2) 9-Dual Layer
Run Time: 297
Subtitles: Portuguese
Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio - 1.33, Standard [4:3 Transfer]
Sound Quality: English: Dolby Surround Stereo 2.0
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Episodes: Episode 257-494, Cyborg The Barbarian,
Birthmark, The Quest, Employee of the Month, TROQ, The Prophecy,
Stranded, Overdrive, Mother Mae-Eye, The End Part, 1, The End Part, 2,
The End Part, 3
Special Features
Access Top Secret Files from the Teen Titans: Know Your Foes
Featurette Gallery
Synopsis: The series revolves around main
team members Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven. While it is
an action cartoon, the series is also character-driven, with a focus on
the main characters' struggles with being teenage superheroes, their
mutual friendships, and their limitations. Seasons four is based upon
one of the most popular New Teen Titans arcs, "Terror of Trigon". Many
characters from the comics, including Aqualad and Speedy, appear
throughout the series. 13 action-packed adventures from the hit TV
series this Deluxe 2-Disc Edition feature 13 exciting episodes from this
smash TV series plus behind-the-scenes bonuses.
Review
Anyone who has read my reviews of the past sets of Teen Titans or
even of the episodes themselves will no doubt know my feelings toward
the latter half of the series. After the third season of the show, I
felt that it was slowly wearing out its welcome; the lackluster Brother
Blood story was weak from the get go and with the show never mixing it
up, it became the same old story. That is, until season four premiered
and immediately began throwing together stories that made the Titans
such a fan-favorite. With “Episode 257-494” opening up the season with
the zaniness that only Teen Titans could provide, fans were taken
on a thorough history of Raven’s past which culminated in the three-part
“The End” finale which remains the only three-part episode in the shows
history.
Of course that’s not to say that the season didn’t have its downs. The
second episode, “Cyborg the Barbarian”, was incredibly disappointing
(perhaps I just don’t like Cyborg, but his episodes were never that
strong), but with the Raven focused episodes and the Robin-costume
filled “The Quest”, the shows lowpoints in its fourth season were few
and far between. There were no other “weak” episodes in the season so to
speak; Raven’s story occupied five of the thirteen episodes and the rest
of the episodes were one-shots that were almost one-hundred percent fun
to watch.
The only episode I have a real problem with this season is “Mother
Mae-Eye”, which to this day disturbs me to no end. I don’t know what it
is about the episode; I loved the Mad-Mod episodes, but something about
Mother Mae-Eye just made for one strange episode. I thought it was
because I was ill when I originally saw the episode, but rewatching it
proved it to be just as weird as before. Of course that’s also part of
the charm of the episode; though she may be a one-shot villain that we
only truly see once (aside from the cluster-bomb of villains in season
five), she certainly sticks in your head as being something more than
that.
Also an interesting occurrence this season was the shows attempt to
tackle an issue in modern culture. Much like how Batman Beyond
would tackle issues kids would face in school (drugs, peer pressure), Teen
Titans tackled racism in “TROQ.” It’s almost an uncomfortable
episode to watch, but in the end it’s a pivotal study of Starfire that
adds more depth to her character. “Stranded” also brings Starfire and
Robin closer together in the “relationship” area, which we later see
come to some sort of fruition in the “Trouble in Tokyo” film.
Overall this season of Teen Titans comes Recommended. Its
ups were far more frequent than its downs and it almost always remained
a good time to watch.
The DVD
Arriving in the standard two-disc amaray casing that past seasons have
been released in, this set is almost identical to past releases except
for one small detail: there is no insert detailing the disc contents.
Perhaps I simply got a set without the insert, but if not then it’s
strange that this is the first of the four season set releases to be
void of the insert. Menus contain music over the main menu only, with
subsequent menus being static and audio-less.
Video and audio quality is a notch up from the last season. I didn’t
notice a single bit of interlacing/ghosting on this video transfer,
which for animation is rare. It truly looked pristine and clear at all
times. The only downside is it’s still not in widescreen, but I guess
that’s to be expected. Having just purchased a widescreen set, however,
it’s definitely disappointing. Audio is the same standard Dolby 2.0 and
remains as clear as ever.
On the extras front we get fifteen minutes of character profiles. The
profiles cover “Control Freak”, “Bob & The Source”, “Billy Numerous”,
“Mother Mae-Eye” and “Trigon.” Each character gets input from the crew
of Teen Titans, ranging from Glen Murakami to Andrea Romano.
Character designs, voice casting, history and more is revealed in these
short little featurettes, each running around three minutes each
combined for a near fifteen minute total. Not quite as impressive as
Season Three’s extras, but certainly way better than what we got on
Season Two.
The only other extras here are some trailers (LEGO Batman and Scooby-Doo).
We’re a bit on the light side and some commentaries would have been
nice, especially considering that Raven was perhaps the most beloved
character in the show (for both good, bad and disturbing reasons).
Still, for the price you get a solid bit of content, what with near
three hundred minutes of episodes alone. Recommended. |
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