Campfire!

"Campfire!" is the thirty-seventh episode of the fifth season of Teen Titans Go!, and the two-hundred-forty-sixth overall episode of the series.

Synopsis

The Titans put on a show but Robin warns that the performance must be boring or else they'll wake up the wolves.

Plot

It's another day in Superhero Summer Camp, and the Titans and Bumblebee are sitting down apparently bored when Robin bursts through the cabin door with some exciting news. Cyborg asks excitedly if they're going home, and Raven cheekily asks if Robin is doing so before Robin angrily dismisses her. Robin reveals that they will be putting on tonight's campfire. The Titans misunderstand Robin and assume that he is talking about building an actual fire and excitedly decide not to wait for the night but to build a fire now. They all run off to gather a bunch of kindling, and Starfire sets it on fire with her Star-bolts, causing the wood to erupt into a huge blaze, which begins to spread to the nearby trees. Raven blames it on Beast Boy, claiming that he didn't clear the proper 10-foot radius. Beast Boy hotly disagrees, saying that he doesn't even know what a radius is so how was he going to clear one. Bumblebee states rather obviously that the fire will cause millions of dollars in property damage, and Starfire asks why did the campfire went badly even though it was her Star-bolts that caused the huge blaze in the first place.

After the fire forest fire burns out and a good chunk of the forest is burned down, the Titans apologize to Robin for ruining his campfire. But Robin says that nothing except the forest has been ruined and then begins explaining that a campfire is not, in fact, a pile of flaming wood but a mildly entertaining performance consisting of skits, songs, and stories and that tonight, the Titans will be putting one on! Star, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, and Bumblebee are all ecstatic about this exciting revelation and begin celebrating. Cyborg is excited about finally living out his dreams of being a performer while wearing a Shakespeare costume and mustache. Starfire also wishes to be a star and also a moon but not Pluto because it's not even a planet. Raven flatly states that she can't wait to make the crowd laugh.

Robin reveals that he has already planned it all out. They will start with some groan-inducing comedy, then an agonizing sing-along that will for sure make the audience cringe, and finally, they will close out the night with his very special musical number, sure to leave everyone asleep by the end. Beast Boy objects to this, saying that it sounds boring, but Robin says that is essential that they stay true to the traditional boring campfire, otherwise... They will wake them up. Bumblebee asks Robin who he's talking about, and Robin dramatically says The wolves, and the shot switches to a spooky skull-shaped cave. The Titans are all skeptical, so Robin explains that if a campfire audience laughs and cheers too loudly, they'll attract wolves, hungry wolves that will devour them all. That is why the traditional boring campfire protocol must be followed. All the Titans are terrified except Bumblebee, who seems convinced that Robin is making all this up and that he just wants to do his cheesy skits. Raven states that she doesn't want to be eaten by wolves, and so it's settled that the Titans will perform the greatest most boring campfire of all time! Robin asks the other Titans who's with him, and they all agree though they appear to be less than excited about it. Their lack of enthusiasm pleases Robin, however, as he says that they don't want to attract any wolves with unnecessary enthusiasm.

It's now night, and almost time for the show to start! Robin asks the others if they can feel the apathy in the air, but they simply look at him doubtfully, which makes Robin mad, but he moves past this and gives the Titans their scripts and tells them firmly to memorize them. He reminds them that their performances need to be stilted and forced. The Titans seem very unimpressed by their scripts, and bumblebee asks them if they want to embarrass themselves with this cringy material. The Titans seem convinced at first, but Robin says that it's either this or get eaten by wolves, which freaks Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven out. The shot fades to the creepy cave again, and a wolf's howling can be heard. Bumblebee is still not convinced, saying that there are no wolves, but just then, a wolf can be heard howling, which further freaks out the other Titans while Robin appears smug. He says they should keep it nice and boring.

The audience, which appears to be made up of Kid Flash, The Wonder Twins, Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Mas, Menos, Aqua lad, Miss Martian, and Super Girl, are all waiting for the show to start. Robin walks onto the stage with a guitar and begins playing as the stage light focuses on him. He wishes the other campers good evening and welcomes them to tonight's campfire. He says that they got a whole lot of wholesome fun planned, so they should get ready to chuckle lightly and slap politely. Robin pointlessly states that that rhymes, then pretends to be shocked as Cyborg walks onto the stage and begins performing a half-hearted skit; he says the viper is coming. Robin looks at the audience and says that that sounds menacing, but the audience doesn't seem to think so. Next, Raven walks on stage and flatly says as Cyborg has said that the viper is coming. Robin pretends rather badly that he is terrified, then Bumblebee walks fly on stage to say that the viper is here. The stage light suddenly focuses on the corner of the stage, and a silhouette of the viper is shown; it's Starfire! She is walking on stage and is apparently there to wipe the windows because of her usual misunderstandings. This skit is met with a painful silence, for which Robin begins happily thanking the audience. He walks off the stage, pushing Starfire along with him while promising the audience that there is plenty more bland entertainment where that came from.

Now backstage, Robin is celebrating his success with the other Titans, who appear to be mad at that skit. They tell him that the skit was horrible, and Robin agrees to add that it was executed with a perfectly awful performance. Then he congratulates the Titans on their mediocre jobs and starts preparing for the next act, a musical number, which turns out to be the row row row your boat song. Beast Boy angrily says that that is a baby song, but Robin says it's not with the way he sings it. He says that they will divide the crowd into three sections, and they will each start at a different time, creating a cascading waterfall of harmonies. He enthusiastically says that it will be so gentle and that he can't wait to hear it, then he runs off to prepare. Beast Boy and Starfire refuse to sing the song, and Bumblebee agrees with them, saying that they should put on something to get the crowd going instead. But Raven is still terrified of getting eaten by wolves, which causes the others to freak out about the wolves, again, all except Bumblebee, who firmly states that there are no wolves and they should just put off a good show. This convinces the Titans.

Robin is now on the stage addressing the audience, unaware that the Titans have other plans for the next act. He tells the audience to get ready to sing the popular baby song Row row row your boat, which prompts a less-than-amused look from Kid Flash. Robin starts singing the first few verses and then tells the audience on the right to join in, but suddenly, the Titans crash Robin's performance and begin their own version of row your boat while Robin looks on in horror. The audience starts to go wild, and Robin watches on in dread while continuously shaking his head. Shots of the cave are once again shown until the ominous howling of the wolves is heard. Robin immediately puts an end to the loud performance with a few Birdarangs and furiously orders all the Titans off the stage, much to the audience's disappointment.

Backstage, Robin is lecturing the Titans that under no circumstances is this supposed to be fun and that do the Titans want to be eaten by wolves. The scene flashes once again to the cave. Beast Boy says that they think he's crying wolf, but just then, a wolf's ominous howl can be heard. Robin asks what he calls that and then proceeds to answer his own question: a wolf! Bumblebee points out that hearing wolves in a forest is normal since that's where they live, but Robin thinks that they're not taking this threat seriously. So he says that the Titans must go out and take the energy down by performing his special musical number, which prompts an exasperated groan from the other Titans. They say that nobody wants to hear that song and start walking away, saying that they are out. But Robin desperately calls them back, asking them if they could perform a funny comedy skit instead, but they still weren't interested. Until Robin pulled out the big guns: Toilet humor! The Titans are completely on board now, wanting to know more about the skit. But Robin tells them to first promise that they will do exactly as he says, and they agree after making sure with him that the skit did, in fact, contain toilet humor. Robin starts telling them about the skit, which is called The wee skit. The Titans seem much more enthusiastic about this. However, when they go on stage, their expressions change to show that they're not impressed. The skit starts with Beast Boy asking Raven (who is playing the bus driver in the skit) to go wee. Raven tells him that he just has to hold it, but then Robin also states that he needs to go wee, and lastly, Cyborg and Bumblebee chime in as well with the same request. Raven finally stops the bus and tells them to go wee, but it turns out that they, in fact, wanted to make the sound wee as Robin begins saying it. Batman and Commissioner Gordon are not amused by this, and Robin seems pleased with himself, saying that it was a wholesome punch line. Beast Boy disagrees with him, saying that that wasn't the punch line and then promptly begins wildly spraying the audience with a hose, saying that he's gonna wee on them. The audience seems to enjoy this and begin laughing, much to Robin's horror. He runs up to Beast Boy, yelling that this skit was supposed to result in a half-smile at best and that the crowd will eat these shenanigans up. But of course, poor Robin is completely ignored and then ends up getting whacked unconscious in the head by the hose that Beast Boy is swinging around.

The crowd is still laughing continuously, and then flashes of the cave are shown again, zooming in on the opening until five pairs of glowing red eyes are shown coming out of it. The wolves! Howling is heard back at the stage, and as everyone looks around in confusion, suddenly, a bunch of wolves burst through the bottom of the stage, causing the Titans to be horrified. In addition, a bunch more wolves burst through the ground around the audience and begin attacking them. Chaos unfolds as everyone is mauled by wolves, Raven yells that she specifically said she did not want this, and Cyborg says that they can't fight these wolves. Robin finally regains consciousness and gets up to see the utter chaos of the Titans and the audience getting thrashed around by the wolves.

However, instead of being fazed, Robin confidently says that there is only one thing that can stop these wolves: his very special musical number! He instantly takes out his guitar and begins singing his song, which results in the wolves cringing away from his terrible high voice singing. As the wolves finally retreat to the woods, the other Titans thank Robin, saying that they could have never made the wolves cringe that hard. Robin says that he hopes they understand the importance of making campfires stilted boring and cringe-worthy, which they agree until Robin brings up on also not waking up the bears. They seem doubtful about the bears when suddenly a group of bears burst through the stage floor, and the episode ends with Cyborg begging the bears not to kill them while he and the other Titans are being attacked by them off-screen.

Characters

Trivia

Starfire screaming at the Pluto for not being a planet might be considered impertinent, but she is true: Pluto has long been kicked out of the list of the Solar Planet System since 2006 after being redefined as a dwarf planet by International Astronomical Union (IAU) researchers.
Robin is revealed to have a horribly off-key singing high voice which can scare wolves away in this episode.
- Although he sang wonderfully in previous episodes, he probably only sang off-key to save the campfire from the wolves and his singing voice returned to normal afterwards.
This episode marks the final time Robin uses an acoustic guitar as one of his main instruments as he already retired from playing the electric guitar from “Throne of Bones” and started playing the saxophone and the flute as his main instruments for the remainder of the series.

Continuity

Raven is seen unhooded for the 99th time in the series.
Beast Boy says that the scripts aren't even "Hot garbage" but rather just garbage could be a callback to the title of the season 2 episode "Hot Garbage".
Robin sings his musical number to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, which was recited in "More of the Same".

References

This episode was actually the tributes of the 2018's disaster and horror film, "A Quiet Place".
- It is also inspired by the saying "If they can hear you, they will hunt you down".
The Titans did the old school joke "The viper is coming" in their first performance.

Errors

TBA

Running Gags

Robin warning the Titans about the wolves.
The Titans being scared every time Robin mentions the Wolves.
The creepy cave where the wolves live is continuously shown when Robin mentions them.
The Titans performing cringy skits.
Robin telling the Titans to keep their performances bad and them not listening.