I don't need it explained to me why it's different. I just don't want it to be different in that way. It's somewhat like it. Naturally any adaptation is going to take its own approach. But it seems reasonably faithful to the basics of the characters. It's just a question of the tone they're taking. The Teen Titans are often compared to the X-Men. They both started out as relatively ordinary titles in the '60s, then had innovative reboots that came along around the same time in the '70s, had a similar approach to their characters and storytelling, had a similar seismic impact on the industry and fandom, and made superstars of their creators. Much like the X-Men, the New Teen Titans comics told sophisticated, soapy character-driven stories with a good supply of drama, humor, and everything in between. Some of their storylines were very dark and tragic, particularly the plotline involving Terra and Deathstroke. But some of their most memorable dramatic moments were in more upbeat stories, like the formula-breaking issue where Dick Grayson applied all his detective skills to help Wonder Girl discover her real name and reunite with her birth family. One of the things I liked best about the 2003 Glen Murakami-produced Teen Titans animated series is that, although it could be extremely goofy and silly and often seemed to be nothing more than that, it also was willing to go to some really intense, dark, and emotionally powerful places, within the limits of what a show aimed at preteens was allowed to do on commercial TV. But it was the willingness to mix both tones, to go all-out and push the envelope with both frivolity and darkness, that made it so memorable and effective.
Watching it again, and this may only be cuz it's a teaser, but it feels a bit claustrophobic. Most of the shots seem to be really close up without a lot of sense of space. I guess we'll see but you get that sometimes in cheaper green screen stuff like web series and low budget stuff.
Guess I'm used to the DCAU to much. Its like with Star Trek Disco.. I can't let a pre teen watch it. I remember when I was 5 watching star trek, but now F this, blood and guts that, so dark you need a maglight to see anything.. Now if it was Constantine.. R rate that thing!! It calls for it. As been said, IF the story calls for dark, go ahead, just don't do it to be Edgy and Cool nstuff, mostly.. at night..
I think the stuff with Raven looks pretty accurate actually--it is the excessive bone crunching and F-Bomb that bothers me a little bit. Now there is the possibility that Robin and Dove's excessive violence might be plot based, as in Trigon or another demon might be influencing their behavior.
A piece on CBR suggests that Robin wasn't actually shooting the thugs but firing over their heads: https://www.cbr.com/dc-live-action-titans-robin-batman-no-killing-rule/
Does that mean Marvel should have refrained from making movies like "Infinity War", "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", "Captain America: Civil War", or "The Incredible Hulk"? Or perhaps even the Marvel Netflix shows like "Daredevil", "Jessica Jones" and "Luke Cage"? It's amazing how so many people want DC Comics to refrain from making angsty comic book hero movies and television, but at the same time, tolerate other comic book movies that are angsty and "dark".
It's not that "medium" to me. Especially not the Netflix shows. This demand that comic book movies or television shows should be subjected to a certain kind of tone strikes me as narrow-minded and unoriginal. I loved the narrative for "Thor: Ragnarok". I just hated the comedic tone, because I thought it didn't suit the narrative. Then again, I never had a problem with the Ant-Man films, because the tone for those films seemed to suit its narratives. I don't care whether a movie is "dark", "angsty", "light-hearted" or whatever. As long as the tone and style matches the narrative, I'm happy.
Quoted for truth. It's like saying that "book movies" should have a certain tone. Comics are just a medium.
The thing is with superheroes--especially with DC, is that they need to inspire. They need to be people that help other people, selflessly, because that's just who they are and what they want to do. They are just genuinely good people that help people that can't help themselves. That's Superman. And that's the tone DC should take. You can have horrific villains, dark villains. But the heroes themselves should not be so dark. Marvel ironically, has heroes that should be darker than DC, but aren't in recent years because I feel DC has gone away from its strength. And that includes Batman too. I think the DCAU is a perfect tone for their movies. It wasn't campy at all, but it wasn't so dark that you just didn't like anyone. Superman was a true hero. The one that cared. But he wasn't too much of a "boy scout" either. Darkseid was pure evil, but Superman wasn't. So the viewer could hate Darkseid but root for Superman that much more. Nightwing existed in the DCAU, and I felt his tone was perfect as well. It's fine that he and Batman had a falling out, but Bruce was still as close to a father as Dick had. Families fight, but they don't really hate. Not real ones. Camp is an extreme, but so is being too dark. Superhero movies should have some fun to them.
I think whether or not it ends up on Netflix overseas, probably depends on whether or not DC Universe will be available in your country. The tone of the trailer was definitely not at all what I was expecting, but it did look like it could be good. I'm not totally sold on it yet, but I would definitely like to see more. So if this is going this far, I wonder how far they'll take things in the Harley Quinn show? She's already a fairly sexual and violent character in the comics, so they could go pretty far with her.
It feels like grimdark Birds of Prey/Smallville/Mutant X. I thought we moved away from that style of superhero show. The kind where zero thought was put into it. This is the era of Arrow (Seasons 1-2 & 5), The Flash (Season 1), Legends of Tomorrow (Seasons 2+), Black Lightning, Daredevil (Seasons 1 and the opening 4 eps of Season 2), Jessica Jones (Season 1), Agent Carter (Season 1), Agents of SHIELD (Seasons 4-5) and Legion. The game has been upped. You can't just grimdark that old shit 2000s shit and call it a day. I mean, for fuck's sake. It's not even a question of budget. Look what R.J. Stewart & Rob Tapert (Xena: Warrior Princess), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and David Greenwalt & Jeffrey Bell (Angel) were able to do in the 90s/early 2000s with zero money. If Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season 3 showrunner Mark Verheiden's Swamp Thing looks this bad, I riot.
As someone who has watched all of Smallville and Birds of Prey, this is way darker then those shows. Not just because they can curse and show more blood, the whole attitude is darker. Both those shows could overload with angst, but neither got as bad as that trailer showed. Plus, Smallville was actually not too bad once Clark was out of high school and they let comic elements enter the show more, and I doubt Titans could get to being legitimately good instead of just funny bad. As for Birds of Prey...ok it sucked, but hey the woman who played Oracle would have been awesome as her in a good show, and everyone in Titans just seems to be really shit (although with that material I doubt anyone could get it to work). But, again, if Titans is funny bad that will still make it more entertaining then any of the DCCW shows have been in years, and 1000 times better then stuff like Marvel's Runaways (although I'd put IF and Inhumans over Runaways too, so that's a pretty low bar).