Show-Teen Titans
Episode Title-The Sum of His Parts
Air Date-August 23rd 2003
Season 1
Episode 5
Teen Titans
TEEN FRICKIN TITANS.
Oh my god I loved this show as a kid. To be honest I only recently took the time to go back and re watch it and it was just as great as I remember. The characters are all colorful and unique, the stories are deep and fun, the fight scenes awesome,and there is just so much to praise. It really is up there with some of my favorite cartoons.
My favorite episode is a hard one to choose but I decided to review this episode as it has a great message at the end (the opposite of the last episode I reviewed which had a really downer message.)
So take a seat on the nostalgia train as we dive right into The Sum of His Parts.
The episode starts at a park.
There the Titans are enjoying a delicious picnic.
This first scene is mostly just the Titans interacting. The characters are all so well made and the relationships they share are just so endearing. This is a really nice scene. Sometimes all we need is to see the characters play off each other which was really the heart of the show.
Anyway Starfire seems to be obsessed with the mustard.
Oh yeah can't forget to mention that the comedy is also great. Honestly it's not one of the shows high points but it still cracks out a funny joke every now and then. And even then it's still funnier than a lot of shows that are supposed to be made for comedy.
*Cough* *Cough* Family Guy *Cough*
So we get another fun scene with the Titans playing Football. It's just another nice scene with them interacting which by the way will make the end of this episode much more powerful.
I just also wanna point out how cool it is seeing them play football with their powers.
Dude, I think it's physically impossible to be cooler than a dinosaur playing football.
However the game does not end well as Cyborg runs out of power and falls to the ground.
But enough about that, it's time for the theme song.
Come on I know you know the words.
When there's trouble you know who to call.........
What, no. You just want to get on with the episode. Fine but the theme song is awesome and you know it.
So anyway we see that Cyborgs reserved energy supply is coming on.
When he gets up the others rush towards him obviously worried about him.
Cyborg explains that there is nothing to worry about. His energy cells are just running out and he needs a new battery. He says he has to switch it out every couple of years and that it's just "a natural part of being unnatural"
Man......I kinda just wanna give this guy a hug.
So he goes back to get a new battery telling the others to have fun without him.
On his way back he sees a little kid claiming to be just like him as he has a prosthetic arm.
Nah, I kid, but wouldn't that be awesome.
The kid actually looks like this.
The kid also seems to be a big fan.
Cyborg gets an alert that there's a crime and tells the kid he has to go. So we cut to the villain of the week for this episode, Mumbo-Jumbo. I love this guy. He's not really meant to be a complex, deep, or threatening villain he's just meant to be pure fun (this episode has another villain who is supposed to be complex.)
As I was saying though this guy is pure fun. I love him.
He's also voiced by the same guy that voices Spongebob, Tom Kenny.
Anyway he steals a diamond and runs to a junkyard where the other Titans are waiting for him. We then get a fight scene. Cyborg shows up in the middle of it though.
Robin is obviously worried since he didn't get to recharge but Cyborg says that it's fine as he has an external battery pack.
Back to the fight scene. It's good. This show is an action show after all so the fight scenes better be good. Luckily most cartoons based on DC comics seem to get that right.
But Mumbo-Jumbo just makes this fight so much more fun. His tricks are just so fun to watch.
I mean look at that. He's using fricking bunnies as a weapon. Fricking bunnies.
It's just so much fun watching him. The way he moves and talks also helps with that.
So Cyborg goes to face him head on.
Unfortunately he gets squirted with water.
Obviously the battery can't get wet so it loses power. Leaving Cyborg with no more energy. So he powers down.
Mumbo gets in a trash truck and drives away. The Titans follow behind thinking that he has Cyborg. In reality Cyborg fell in the garbage.
A mysterious figure comes by and takes Cyborg.
Cyborg wakes up later. We then see who the mysterious figure was. His name is Fixit.
He's.....also voiced by Tom Kenny. Seriously, wow. I can kinda believe Mumbo but if you compare most of Tom's other voices to this one they are on opposite ends of the voice spectrum. Just goes to show the talent this man has.
Any way he's the other enemy of the week for this episode. What makes him more interesting though is that he thinks what he's doing is good. He doesn't think he's evil.
What is it exactly that makes him the villian, well we'll get to that when we get to that.
He apparently fixed Cyborg. Cyborg looks around and sees all kind of other robots.
Including this one.
Yes even after almost a year I'm still not over how stupid this was.
They actually look like this.
Fixit apparently collects parts thrown in the garbage and uses them to build these.
In his own words, things come to him broken and he fixes them.
Cyborg thinks it's about time to leave as his friends may be worried about him. He thanks Fixit and is about to leave but Fixit stops him saying he still has repairs he needs to make on him.
Cyborg says he feels fine but says he'll stay anyway. He tries to call the other Titans but Fixit pulls some kind of techno magic and messes with Cyborg's arm phone thing.
This convinces him that there really is something wrong with him. He stays and hopes the Titans won't be worried about him.
Fixit says they won't.
We cut back to the Titans who are in the middle of being worried about Cyborg as they continue to chase Mumbo down.
Fourtenetly he's very easy to follow.
A mailbox spitting out a rabbit.
Nah, that can't be Mumbo.
I especially like this screen shot here.
That woman doesn't even seem the slightest bit worried about what's going on.
Hey, you know what they say, sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.
The Titans find Mumbo stealing money from an ATM.
Mumbo runs off and the Titans chase.
Back to Cyborg.
Fixit keeps talking about removing "the biological components" of Cyborg.
Cyborg doesn't like the sound of that so he tries to leave. Fixit uses his technopathy though to make his robots stop Cyborg.
They then proceed to tie him up.
He tells Fixit he's making a mistake and that removing the biological components would take away everything that makes him who he is.
Removing these biological components will take away his humanity.
Fixit says he's being foolish and shows him his new robot parts.
You can just hear and feel the genuine worry and fear in Cyborg's voice.
You can hear he's really scared that his humanity could be taken from him.
It makes you feel worried for him.
That and you can really relate to Cyborg so when something like this happens to him you can't help but to feel worried.
Back to the rest of the Titans.
They get in a fight with Mumbo.
Like I said before the fight scenes are good.
The Titans come out on top however and break Mumbo's wand. This causes Mumbo to revert to a normal form.
They see he doesn't have Cyborg so the Titans go back to the dump to look for him.
Oh but before that Mumbo gets a really funny line which I won't spoil.
This episode does really have a good mix of comedy and drama. In fact the entire series does.
Back to Cyborg he manages to escape his confines. However Fixit's technopathy allows him to capture Cyborg again.
Cyborg manages to pull off Fixit's robe though while trying to reach out to him.
Under it is living biological parts.
Fixit covers it up and says the biological components are getting worse in Cyborg.
Back to the Titans we see them traversing the garbage can that Cyborg fell into. Unfortunately some robots try to stop them in their path.
So we get a brief fight scene.
Back to Cyborg
That didn't take long.
Cyborg continues to tell Fixit he's making a mistake. That he wants his humanity and that it makes him who he is.
Fixit says that he will still have his memories after the operation and tries to store Cyborg's memories.
He sees the memories though which causes him to fall backwards in pain.
Really it's just a brief clips of the park scene from the beginning so I don't have to take new pictures. Yay for being lazy.
Oh, you thought I was joking.
No man I was serious.
Anyway Fixit falls back in pain. This also causes the robots the others were fighting to power down. He says he forgot how amazing life is through the eyes of a human.
This message man. Oh my god. I would like to remind you this show was targeted towards kids. Do you know how easy it could've been to say "eh, kids will buy anything we don't have to try" but no they put their heart and soul into it. As a result it's still remembered as a classic.
But back on track this message is an amazing one. Life is beautiful.
I'm not saying its perfect or that it's fair but it is a beautiful thing.
Life can be a constant struggle and you will have moments where you just wanna give up for whatever reason.
But if you hold out a little longer you will find happiness and beauty.
And it's really the small moments that matter the most. For example the thing that makes Fixit see how beautiful life is is that he sees the entire day Cyborg had at the park. It's small moments like that where you just have fun with your friends and loved ones or your alone enjoying a good book or nature or anything really that make life something special.
The small moments that we tend to ignore but when we look back on them they just make us so happy.
Do I sound preachy. I'm sorry if you think so it's just I know so many people who complain about the way life is going for them. Who focus on the hardships of life.
People who have even thought about giving up and in turn start self harming or thinking about suicide.
All because of life's hardships.
There is plenty of beauty in life though.
You just gotta look for it.
Like I said I've been there. I haven't gone into depression, but I know how hard life can be.
Life is very confusing. Just the way things work out.
Good guys get punished, the bad ones get by Scott-free etc...
Life can be stressful, embarrassing, hurtful, and brutal.
But if you can overcome those challenges you can just sit back and enjoy the beauty that is there.
There are good people out there and some truly amazing things can happen if you keep moving forward.
But just take the time to admire the many small things that make this world so fascinating.
The plants, the creatures, the people that live here, the small happy moments that we barely give any thought to. If you keep looking you will find beauty and value.
There is nothing more complex or amazing than a human life.
I hope you can understand what I'm saying and think about it.
Maybe I'm just an optimist but I feel this is important.
Sorry for that long winded speech, back to the episode.
Fixit says he has forgotten how beautiful life can be. Cyborg gives him his hand and says that maybe he can teach him.
So the episode ends on a pretty happy note.
We cut back to the park where the Titans are continuing to have a day of fun.
The boy from earlier returns with a friend and says again that he's just like Cyborg.
Cyborg says it's not the arm that makes them alike but what's on the inside.
That's slightly cheesy but I would be lieing if I said it didn't fill my heart with joy.
And the episode ends with Cyborg playing football with the kids. Continuing to enjoy his humanity.
While we, humans, are very flawed creatures and some of us can be complete douchebags humanity is great.
There are some moments and people that make you wonder how we even are the most dominant species on this earth, but there's plenty of kindness and amaziningness out there that make you realize "Eh, humans aren't to bad after all"
Trust me I've been there.
None of us may be perfect but that's just a part of who we are.
I'm being really preachy this episode aren't I. I'm sorry guys I don't mean to hammer this message in its just I feel this is important. You may agree or disagree but either way I feel it's important.
But this isn't a presentation about living a good life, this is a review of one awesome show. So what did I think of the episode.
Eh, it was OK. Nothing special.
OK that was a lie. It was a great episode.
The characters are relateable. Especially Cyborg as you can feel his fear when he thinks he's going to lose his humanity, the thing that makes him......him.
And then there's Fixit who thought that the biological parts on him were a flaw.
As I said earlier we are naturally flawed creatures but that's who we are. We just gotta learn to get past our flaws.
However that's not to say that we shouldn't try to improve. But you shouldn't worry and waste your time trying and be 100% perfect.
Being flawed doesn't make you an awful person.
I like to use this phrase 'perfectly imperfect'
But the true message that this episode was trying to teach was the life is an amazing thing. And it really is.
As for the rest of the characters they're all great as well. The action is good and it has a nice blend of comedy and drama.
It's a great episode.
Best Part-The message at the end.
Worst Part-Uh......I can't think of one. I'll go with a line Beast Boy said when they were chasing Mumbo and saw all the weird crap he was doing. "Well I'll give him this, he's an easy act to follow" or something like that.
It's not a bad joke in fact I like it, I really do, but something needs to be here.
Overall-9.5/10
So yeah an amazing deep episode with a lot of layers. Like an onion or an ogre............. wait I already used that reference and it's still just as unfunny as it was the first time.
Oh.....well then.
So yeah that's the episode.
Hey we're almost done with Chapter 2 of the first season. Next episode will be the finale episode to be a part of Chapter 2.
And it's a milestone as its gonna be our 10th episode.
My god, we're in the double digits.
Well what should I do. Since I reviewed 2 good episodes in a row it looks like I have to do a bad one. But what?
Wait a minute, isn't there a spin-off to this show.
Oh Nooooooo
Next Animated Critc-Gorilla (Teen Titans Go)
Next Quick Thoughts-Steven's Birthday Bomb
Anime Critic #1 wil also come soon.
Other Future Reviews
Every Man's Dream (The Simpsons)
On The Run (Steven Universe)
Driven to Tears (Spongebob)
Just One of The Princes (Sofia The First)
And once again sorry if I came off as preachy here.
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