"Revolution" is the seventh episode of season three and the overall 33rd episode of the Teen Titans series.
Synopsis
It's the Fourth of July and everyone is ready to celebrate... that is until Mad Mod crashes the celebration. He brainwashes the entire city, reclaims it in the name of England and proclaims himself as "King Moddy the First". The Titans are ready to bring him down, but during the fight, Mad Mod uses his cane and steals Robin's youth which turns him into a weak old man. It's now up to the rest of the team to stop Mad Mod, save the city and rescue Robin.
Plot
Beast Boy (badly) giving a history lesson on the Boston Tea Party.
It is the Fourth of July and everyone prepares for the traditional evening fireworks. But just two seconds before their start, Mad Mod suddenly pops up on the city's public TV screens and announces that the American Revolution has never happened; right after this, he activates his hypno-screens. The Titans are already wise to his tricks, but the rest of Jump City's population is not so fortunate and easily falls under Mod's sway, who reclaims the city in the name of England, proclaims himself king, and attempts right away to conform his brainwashed subjects to British culture.
Robin as Mod's prisoner
The Titans confront Mad Mod in the subway, but he manages to separate Robin from his teammates and activate a device in his cane which drains Robin's youth into Mad Mod, restoring him to his young age and reducing Robin to a decrepit old man. Mad Mod makes his escape, and Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy find themselves back in a black-and-white pop-artésque facsimile of London, England. They are soon attacked by Mad Mod's robot army, and outmatched, they are forced into hiding.
Once they have regrouped, however, the Titans start bickering about how to proceed: Starfire suggests finding Robin and restoring his youth so he can lead them in defeating Mad Mod, Cyborg votes for thrashing the robots in a full frontal assault, Raven wants to find and apprehend Mad Mod first, and Beast Boy ... well, his proposal to assemble and train a gerbil commando force is unanimously disregarded by the others. They try out the first three plans one by one, but whatever they do, Mad Mod anticipates their intentions and gets them caught in an ambush.
Long live the revolution!
Evading the robots, the Titans end up in the city hall, dejected. But then it is Starfire, as an alien, who realizes one of the inner principles of democracy: Compromise. When Mad Mod parades through the city, the Titans combine the key elements of their respective plans, including Beast Boy's gerbil commando suggestion, depriving Mad Mod of his cane. Before he can retrieve it, Robin manages to get hold of it, reversing the aging effect and then, by breaking the cane, eliminating Mad Mod's control over the city, which reverts back to normal. The Titans gather proudly, only to be forced to chase after Mad Mod yet again when he tries to slip away and escape justice.
Characters
Main characters
Supporting characters
Villains
Trivia
- Robin's red soul is seen again in this episode, first seen in "Switched", and later again in "Mother Mae-Eye".
- When the hypno-screens are destroyed by Raven, the hypnotized people regain their consciousness immediately. However, whenever Beast Boy was hypnotized, the Titans had to make him laugh to wake him up.
- This episode's title song is sung in Japanese.
- This is the first time Starfire hugs Robin in this episode (not counting an off-screen part from "Final Exam").
- The chess pieces that Mad Mod uses are the same as the figurines made in the 2000s of the Teen Titans.
Cultural references
- The facsimile city, Mad Mod's appearance as God in the skies, Beast Boy's cry of "Run away!", and the foot squashing the other Titans as they try to run are references to the TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus, and the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- The city's transportation after Mod's alteration consist of red AEC Routemasters, otherwise known as the iconic double-decker London buses, and black and white Austin Minis.
- The bus Raven drops on the guards has the name Arriva on the front. Arriva is a British bus company.
- The shape Mad Mod adopts in his final confrontation with the Titans is a version of a Blue Meanie, while Cyborg's detached arm is reminiscent of the Glove, both from the animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine. A Yellow Submarine double also nearly torpedoes the Teen Titans as they try to attack Mad Mod via boat á la "Washington Crossing The Delaware".
- The whole city, while converted, looks like a tribute to the Liverpudlian scenery from the Yellow Submarine's "Eleanor Rigby" segment (animated or estranged black-white photographs; including the forest of street signs).
- Mad Mod immortalizes the Beatles in place of the famous Presidents at Mount Rushmore.
- The android foot soldiers are obviously a parody of the famous British Coldstream Guards, with their distinctive headgear.
- While transformed to 'British', Beast Boy speaks with a British accent. After he is told to stop talking, he just says "You're just jealous because I sound like a rockstar!", referring to the countless British rock bands that sprang up in the last fifty years (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Queen, etc.). This could also be a reference to Beast Boy's voice actor, Greg Cipes, who is a musician. Furthermore, Beast Boy's behavior changes to a typical gentlemanly (and stiffer upper lip-ish) attitude (i.e. he helps Raven up after she fell), making one wonder whether that transformation was such a bad thing (especially after he transformed back into his old obnoxious 'American' self).
- The guitar Beast Boy plays during the 'rockstar' cut-away gag closely resembles a Rickenbacker 325 electric guitar. This is the same guitar used by John Lennon during the height of the Beatles' popularity.
- The planes in Mod's "Royal Army" are Supermarine Spitfires, UK-produced Allied fighter planes famous for their association with the Royal Air Force in World War II, and as an iconic symbol of British air supremacy of the time. However, the tanks in this army are falsely based off the French FT-17s from WW1. They were the first tanks with 360°-revolving turrets.
- In a short scene during the chase, the Teen Titans cross a zebra walk in slow motion. This is a reference to the famous Beatles cover depicting them crossing a zebra walk on Abbey Road.
- The three items Beast Boy mentions are traditional British dishes: "Bangers and mash" = sausages and mashed potatoes; "bubble and squeak" = potatoes and leftover vegetables fried together, sometimes with meat; "toad in the hole" = sausages baked into Yorkshire puddings.
- In his first suggestion of raising a gerbil army, Beast Boy imitates George C. Scott and his role as General George S. Patton in the movie Patton.
- When the four Titans are cornered in a doorway with a spotlight, they strike a pose that recreates the cover of the 1973 album Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings.
- When the four Titans are chased through a building with them only being seen through the windows from the outside, the building is from the cover of the 1975 album Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin.
- The school uniform Mad Mod wears upon his rejuvenation is reminiscent of AC/DC guitarist Angus' Young's favorite outfit.
- Perhaps it was an unintentional example, but on one instance, the Android soldiers are seen engaging the Teen Titans by firing in a special double row formation. This method was in fact popularized by the British Army, and it was one of the most important advantages against the French Forces in the Battle of Waterloo.
- The tunnel for Mad Mod's private train turns out to be a stand-in for the The Tube.
- The saying "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" Mad Mod quotes is a quote from British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke (1729-1797). The quote is often attributed to Spanish author George Santayana (1863-1952).
- The nickname "limey" refers to the historical fact that the British Navy was the first to ferry regular supplies of lime juice as part of their ships' provisions to combat scurvy. Originally used in reference to British sailors, the term has since spread to British people in general.
- The Teen Titans chasing Mad Mod away in the end is a distant homage to a typical Benny Hill chase.
- The title may well refer to the Beatles' song "Revolution".
- Some scenes like when Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg are on the telephone booth while Beast Boy reading the newspaper is a reminiscent of some scenes in the Beatles' movie "A Hard Day's Night".
- The scene where the Titans are opening car doors and coming out in different cars is also a reminiscent of a scene in "A Hard Day's Night".
- Towards the start of the musical montage of the Titans running there's a scene of Benjamin Franklin messing up while signing the declaration of Independence. On his shoulder can be seen a small mouse wearing a tricorne hat. This may be a reference to the animated short by Disney Ben and Me in which a retelling of the latter years of Ben Franklin's life is told by an anthropomorphic mouse named Amos who assisted him with many of his great contributions.
- The Titans' final surprise attack is a reference to Led Zeppelin's hit song, "Immigrant Song".
- When Mad Mod proclaims "Your revolution will not be televised", it references Gil Scott-Heron's famous spoken-word poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".
Goofs
- When Cyborg gets punched back against a wall, his teeth quickly turned from gray to white.
- While the Titans peek under the manhole, Raven's hood is down.
- When the scene cuts to Act Two where the squad of android Beefeaters level their guns at the Titans, Mad Mod's mouth did not move as he said "Fire!".
- After the androids are gone while Beast Boy and the others lower the newspapers and hang up the telephones and leave, there was a weird, quick glitch on Cyborg's eye and head.
- When Raven and Starfire grab and throw Cyborg while he fires his cannon full blast, his mouth did not move when he yelled in fury.
- In this episode, there are several goof scenes when Cyborg's left ear is human instead of metal:
- As Robin says, "Class dismissed, Mod. Your twisted history lesson is over!", we can see Cyborg's left ear turned human instead of metal.
- As Starfire slings Cyborg's body at one of the androids, his left ear turned human for a split-second.
- After old Robin growls and the scene cuts to Cyborg delivering a punch to another android, his left ear is human instead of metal.
- When the four Titans slide into view, Cyborg's left ear is human instead of metal.
- Right after Beast Boy gave the an all-clear wave to the other three and they came to the door, Cyborg's ear is human again.
- Also, the left robotic part of his face is the same color as his skin.
- Then after Raven tries to twist the handle open and before the Titans turn around being spotted, the left robotic part on Cyborg's face and his left ear quickly turned back to normal.
- Also, the left robotic part of his face is the same color as his skin.
- During the chasing scene when Mad Mod strikes the bell and the Titans cringed as the scene fades to Cyborg and the other three in a tea cup, Cyborg's left ear is human again.
- During the city parade, the center panel of the three-panel screens turns into the Union Jack, with the saltire appearing blue instead of red.
- As Mad Mod's body turns into a Union Jack sphere, the top right saltire changes color from red to blue.
- Each figurine of the Titans on the checkerboard has the Teen Titans logo on their base.
- On Cyborg's base, the letter 'N' on 'TITANS' is colored red instead of blue.
- On Starfire's base, the second 'E' of 'TEEN' is colored yellow instead of green.
- Towards the end of the episode when Robin and Starfire realized Mad Mod had slipped away from their capture, Starfire's stomach was colored purple, matching her outfit.
Regional differences
- Beast Boy's suggestion on having a "cargo plane full of shaving cream" is replaced with "a plane full of ice cream" in the Korean dub.
- King Norm, one of the names brought up by Beast Boy in his made-up story, is renamed to "King Charles" (Carlo) in the Italian dub.
- In the Polish dub, Raven thinks Beast Boy learned history from a comic book instead of a cereal box.
- In the Latin Spanish dub, the old women walking outside the fish stall has an additional dialog, with the first woman replying to the other, "Well, then that's fine."
- While the Titans are hiding in the shell hole, the gag on British terms by Beast Boy is entirely rewritten in the Thai dub, replacing with the comment, "This way, that way, wherever we go, they're everywhere!"
Gallery
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Transcript
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