Raven teaches the other Titans how to dance properly, but soon, they are captured by the Dance Demon, who teaches them "forbidden moves" from an ancient book of dance.
Plot[]
The episode begins with the Titans (except for Raven) dancing some awful dance moves to some terrible music with Beat Box and Birdarang in the living room. Raven shows up and tells them that their dancing is terrible. They advise her that even though it's terrible, it's fun. Robin asks what she knows about dancing. She takes off her cloak and performs her stunning dance moves from "Legs," with some new ones. They are quickly impressed, and she offers to teach them how to dance. After changing into awesome dancewear (plus some awesome butt dancing from Robin), she shows them a few moves, but she soon learns they have no rhythm, so she calls upon the Dance Demon. He gives her a book called The Power of Dance and tells her not to go to the back of the book as that is where the forbidden dances are.
After a quick montage of them learning, Raven is happy with their progress and goes to take a break. Then Robin suggests that they do the forbidden dances. The others worry about the Demon's warning, but they conclude that he wouldn't be mad. Beast Boy does the shopping cart, and toaster waffles show up out of thin air. They all become excited, and Robin (who is now eating the frozen waffles) says that the Dance Demon must have not wanted to share, so he kept the moves secret. They all do some pretty 80's dance moves that come to life (The Sprinkler, Running Man, Cabbage Patch, etc.), and then Raven comes back. She asks if they had finished the forbidden moves, and they all make up some lies, except for Beast Boy, who says: "Yeah, we read it." The Dance Demon comes back and says now they're good enough to be his backup dancers and possesses them before taking his leave.
Dance Demon possessing the four other Titans!
Raven then takes Beat Box and Birdarang with her to act as her backup dancers as she travels to the Dance Dimension to rescue her friends. Once they get there, they must dance (Fighting doesn't work here) their way through the crowd. After reaching the stage, Raven confronts the Dance Demon and asks if he's going to give back her squad or if she gonna have to take them herself. Regardless, he offers her a bargain: a dance competition. If she wins, the Dance Demon will give her friends back; but if he wins, he will claim her great dance moves. She accepts the challenge, and the dance contest commences, but unfortunately, he succeeds. Once she is stripped of all rhythm, Raven remembers the one dance that takes no rhythm or skill at all. The Overbite, aka the awful dance the Titans were doing at the beginning of the episode. She manages to get the entire crowd doing it and defeat the Dance Demon by getting him to do the dance too and free her friends from the spell, they all do a group hug, and Raven admits that dancing isn't about being good, it's about having fun. The episode finishes off with the Dance Demon laughing one final time.
Sometimes, dancing with your friends is just all about plain fun!
Birdarang wears his robot suit again for the second time in the series. The first time was in "Brian".
Cyborg performs the same Peanuts dance he used as his victory dance in "Artful Dodgers".
Raven without her cloak is shown to be visibly happier and more open. As seen in "Legs", her cloak had dark power of its own that can drastically alter the wearer's personality.
References[]
Dance-offs are a common trope in many moves, including West Side Story and Beat It.
The dances the Titans (except for Raven) perform at the beginning of the episode are the same iconic ones performed in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The Titans learn a variety of so-called "Forbidden Dances" which just turn out to be popular dance moves such as the Lawnmower, the Sprinkler, the Shopping Cart, the Moonwalk, the Peppermint Twist, the Running Man, the Superman, the Electric Slide, the Hustle, and the Cabbage Patch. Also, as indicated by some of the things their dances conjured, they also did the Mashed Potato, the Peanut Butter and Jelly Dance, the Locomotive, and the Chicken Dance.
Starfire performing the Running Man dance conjured Arnold Schwarzenegger, dressed in the same costume he wore in the 1987 film The Running Man.
When the Titans do the Moonwalk, a melody similar to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" can be heard. The Titans are also wearing white fedoras, like in the "Smooth Criminal" music video.
Raven putting on her dance outfit in an empty room on a chair is a reference to Flashdance.
When Raven loses her rhythm and starts dancing for fun, she does a dance called the Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The backing track resembles what's used in the show, titled "It's Not Unusual".
Errors[]
The other Titans are shocked to find out Raven can dance, but they should have already known that, since they saw her dance in "Legs".
This is because "Legs" has no continuity with other episodes, therefore probably the four other Titans have forgotten that Raven can dance.
While in her ballet/dancing outfit, Starfire's legs appear differently. Instead of having her usual pencil shaped legs, they appear more curvy like Raven's.
When Robin, Beast Boy and Starfire are sliding to the side and appear in space, they gasp for air, but Starfire should not have had to do that since she is immune to it.
Running Gags[]
The Titans (except for Raven) performing the Peanuts Dance.
Transcript[]
The transcript for "The Overbite" can be found here.
Gallery[]
The image gallery for The Overbite may be viewed here.
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