"Truth, Justice and What?" is the thirty-sixth episode of the second season of Teen Titans Go!, and the eighty-eighth overall episode of the series.
Synopsis[]
Pizza is the source of the Titans' goofy humor.
Plot[]
The episode begins at the Titans Tower, where the Titans arrive back home after another mission, and Robin congratulates them on not singing, dancing, or making him look foolish on the battlefield. As a reward, and after a lot of miss-communication, the Titans start blurting out what type of toppings they want on their pizza reward. But, when Robin finally gets the Titans' attention, he tells them he couldn't afford any toppings. The delivery guy arrives, and after grabbing the pizza and kicking the delivery guy into the elevator, Robin throws the pizza onto the computer.
Of course, the Titans start drooling all over the pizza. After a mess of acting crazy, Robin sighs and says that acting crazy was what pizza has done to the Titans. He says that when he formed the Titans, he was going for truth and justice. But when he was desperate, he turned to TMNT to help him. Mikey shows him that he needs to add pizza. After the other Titans try to tell Robin that pizza is important, Robin establishes a pizza ban. The ban causes the other Titans to quit the team and join the TMNT, just for their pizza. Robin tells them that they are not mutants or turtles. The other Titans drink toxic ooze and form into scary-looking mutated turtles, while Robin watches in horror and disgust as the Titans fall on the ground, leaving Robin with no choice but to take them to the hospital.
The Titans wake up eventually, still in bed but slowly recovering while Robin is standing there, saying that he hoped that something stronger than pizza was holding the Titans together. But since he sees that pizza is the only thing holding the Titans together, Robin calls to order a pizza. But apparently, no pizza places had any pizza left. Robin tells the Titans that there was only one group who could have done this.
The Titans journey into the sewers, which are full of disgusting waste, and walk towards the TMNT's hideout. First, they need a password to enter. Robin randomly guesses correctly. The Titans meet up with TMNT, who admit there wasn't any pizza left for them since the Titans took it all, so they did the same thing to them. TMNT weren't satisfied to eat only sandwiches as they claim those aren't cool, but Robin tells them that they are good. Still inconvenienced, both teams fight for the pizza. However, the Titans are defeated temporarily due to their goofy moves, until Robin claims that they can run around silly and everything. He shoots his grappling gun, which makes the mountain of pizza stacks fall on the Titans. As they eat a large amount of pizza, the Titans get enough goofy energy to fight back against the TMNT, winning the battle. Finally, Robin claims that truth and justice mean nothing without some pizza after a job well done. When Starfire wonders what they should do with the knocked out TMNT, Robin has a plan to steal their turtle shells, masks, and skateboards, as the Titans roll around the sewers the same way the TMNT did, with slices of pizza prepared by Beast Boy who has transformed into a rat resembling Splinter for their next adventure.
Characters[]
- Robin
- Cyborg
- Starfire
- Raven
- Beast Boy
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Pizza Deliverer #2 (cameo)
- Splinter (debut, cameo)
- Crab
Trivia[]
- This episode aired one year after "Missing".
- This is the third crossover episode in the series. The other ones are "The Best Robin," and "Let's Get Serious".
- The pizza box that Beast Boy shares with the Titans at the end reads "Pizza in a Half-Shell" which is a reference to "Heroes in a Half-Shell", one of the slogans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Michelanglo is voiced by Beast Boy's voice actor, Greg Cipes, who actually does voice Michelanglo in the TMNT 2012-2017 series on Nickelodeon.
- Donatello is supposedly voiced by Rob Paulsen, but instead he was voiced by Scott Menville.
- Coincidentally, Menville reprise his role for Donatello in the "Turtles Take Time (and Space)", a TMNT 5-minute short.
- Animation from "Let's Get Serious" is reused.
- Pizza is revealed to be the source of the Titans' silliness, and it makes them go crazy as well.
- According to Greg Cipes, he jokingly said almost got into trouble with this episode thanks to the writers who "like to be controversial", as he got a call from Nickelodeon who said the crew shouldn't be doing that, and in response he told Nickelodeon to tell that to Sam Register instead. [1]
Continuity[]
- Robin mentioning that the Titans didn't embarrass him on the mission for once, maybe a reference to "Let's Get Serious", where the Titans were messing around.
- This is the second appearance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, this is their official debut aside from their cameo. Also, in "Mas y Menos", Cartoon Network was sued for the reference, but in this episode, they weren't.
- This is the second time Cyborg has complained about someone else using a catchphrase similar to his, the last time it happened in "Uncle Jokes" when Starfire wanted to use "Boo Ha Ha" as her catchphrase.
- This is the fourth time the hospital appears. ("Super Robin", "Second Christmas", "Pirates")
- Robin talks about sandwiches being cool, possibly referencing his sandwich obsession from "Sandwich Thief."
- This is the second time in which other TV characters are shown. ("I See You")
- Beast Boy's "surprised face" look from "Real Boy Adventures" is recycled.
References[]
- The premise of this episode is very similar to an issue of the Teen Titans Go! comic, "Truth, Justice, Pizza!". The exact words even appear at the end.
- It is also from a quote from an old Cartoon Network promo of the original Teen Titans show, where the narrator says that they're fighting for "truth, justice, and the last slice of pizza".
- The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles make an official debut in the series, as opposed to the cameo they had in "Más y Menos".
- However, they are only referred to as "turtle dudes" in the episode, and none of their names are ever said.
- Splinter, the Turtle's martial arts teacher from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, makes a cameo when Robin looked into Donatello's shell, and he kicks Robin.
- The poster Robin uses to attract Teen Titan recruits features a picture of him as he appeared in the original Teen Titans series.
- Whenever the Titans act crazy, it is a reference to the black and white Flickering Funnies that aired back in the early 1950s.
- The Turtle, in the beginning, says "Booyahkasha," Mikey's catchphrase from the Nickelodeon show.
- As well as the Titans saying "Cowabunga", which was the Turtle's original catchphrase.
- As Robin bans pizza from the Titans, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire decide to join the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but, as Robin points out, they're not mutants or turtles. So they drink some toxic ooze to become mutant turtles. In this scene, they're all wearing bandannas with the same color as the original Mirage turtles, and belt buckles with their initials, as a reference to the 1987 TV series.
- After their mutation, Cyborg's shoulder pads are replaced by turtle shells, much like the ones Bebop wore on the 1987 TV series.
- The manhole which the Titans go through to reach the Turtles' lair is near a pet shop, a reference to the Turtles' origin as pet turtles.
- References in the turtle's hangout location:
- A graffiti of one of the turtles' faces with lips is a reference to the 2014 film turtles.
- A "D+A" inscription on the wall is a reference to Donatello's crush on April in the 2012 TV series.
- A punching bag with a drawing of Bebop's face on it.
- A drawing of the Nickelodeon's Rat King face, next to the word "Rats", on the wall.
- The computer screen display resembles the one in the 2014 film.
- When the Titans dress up as the Turtles in the living room, Starfire says "it is just the mask" referencing a line from the 2014 TMNT film.
Errors[]
- Robin claims to not have enough money for toppings, yet could afford to buy dozens of plain ones all at once. Though it's possible he was lying just to get out of purchasing the toppings the other Titans wanted.
- The Turtles are all about the same size, but when the Titans put their shells on, the shells respectively change sizes.
- Despite Robin's assertion, Beast Boy is, strictly speaking, classified as a mutant (a human child whose genetic code was chemically altered).
- Since the TMNT are Turtles, Beast Boy didn't have to drink toxic ooze to become one, as he could simply shapeshift into a Turtle, and since Beast Boy can transform into any animal, as long as he has seen it before, he could theoretically transform into a Mutant Turtle, as he had met the TMNT (which are revealed to exist in the same universe as Teen Titans Go! and are thus neither fictional nor mythical).
- Cyborg flings his butt out, but in "Gorilla" it's revealed he doesn't have one, as his rear end only contains cogs and an exhaust port (this is also seen in "Tower Power").
- The mutagen that the Titan's use should not have mutated them into turtles. It's confirmed in most incarnations of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that you'll mutate into any animal judging by the last non-human DNA you touched.
Running Gags[]
- Robin kicking the pizza guy over.
- Beast Boy mishearing the phrase "pizza ban", and getting excited over something else.
- The Titans going crazy when eating pizza.
- The Titans mentioning cheese.
Transcript[]
The transcript for "Truth, Justice and What?" can be found here.
Gallery[]
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The image gallery for Truth, Justice and What? may be viewed here. |
References[]