Episode Reviews - Hide and Seek
Episode #59 - Hide and Seek
Original Airdate - November 11th, 2005
With the other Teen Titans off fighting exciting battles with the Brotherhood of
Evil, Raven is left with the worst task of all -- transporting three
rambunctious future superheroes to safety. But this simple task turns into an
adventure in babysitting as Raven and her young charges are chased through the
Alps by the Brotherhood of Evil's Msr. Mallah.
Reviews by Bird Boy
Media by Bird Boy |
Titans Writers
Written by Amy Wolfram
Directed by Michael Chang
Music by Kristopher Carter
Animation by Dongwoo Animation Co., LTD.
Titans Voices
Greg Cipes as Beast Boy
Glenn Shadix as Monsieur Mallah
Tara Strong as Raven, Teether
Russi Taylor as Melvin, Timmy |
Review
So here we are again with the second “zany” episode this season (or
so the Japanese theme intro would dictate). While it’s not quite as
crazy as “For Real” was, it was also a lot more…generic than “For
Real” was as well. I know I’ve used the word “generic” a lot of this
season so far, but it’s what I honestly feel.
Fans of Raven no doubt loved this episode and while I would consider
myself a fan of Raven, I wouldn’t put myself in the same class as
the other “’shippers” are. I enjoy her character and beyond
that…actually for me there is nothing beyond that, it’s a cartoon.
But, nevertheless, Raven was accurately portrayed here with her
usual angst attitude and her reaction to babysitting was quite
humorous, as well as her obvious lack of babysitting skills towards
situations that popped up along the way. The ending was also
something to be expected of Raven: all the children hug her and the
episode ends with her saying “Okay, that’s enough.”
There were quite a few positives for me this episode. First off was
the music—Carter did an outstanding job. I say this because it
sounded like something that would’ve fit in perfectly with Batman
Beyond, one of my favorite animated DC shows. Not to mention the
fact I’m a huge rock / metal fan, so everything about the music in
this one gave great joy to me, especially during the first and
second Raven / Mallah fights.
Animation was pretty much the same as it has been, with a few of
those “shakey camera” movements that we first saw in Justice
League Unlimited’s second season premiere, “Cat and the Canary.”
At first, I really liked those movements, it gave a cool feel to the
action but it quickly began to feel gimmicky. As Justice League
Unlimited used it more and more, it seems Teen Titans
picked up on it and it was used again in this episode, must to my
dismay. I did think it was neat during the fight atop the lift car,
but when it was used again later at the end of the episode I became
disheartened at the overabundance of the technique.
I can pick apart the rest of the episode all day if I wanted to (and
had the time). As I said earlier, everything about this episode was
kind of generic and reused feeling. Even the toilet joke (Timmy had
to pee, upon which we cut to a shot outside of the train passing a
giant waterfall) felt like it was lifted from season two’s
“Transformation” potty gag.
I know I’m being too hard on the show. I think that it’s after four
seasons the fifth season just seems stale. I’m sure the kids, and
they’re the most important audience here, are still loving the show
and they don’t notice such minute details as I do. I wish I could
get the same enjoyment out of the show I used to (and like I did
with “Homecoming, Pt. 1” and “For Real), but when I look back these
new episodes I just begin to wish that the bastard fifty-two episode
rule would’ve applied to this show as well.
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