DEVELOPMENT HECK

You know one of the reasons it took me so long to get a website together? Because, believe it or not, I really, really don’t like blowing my own horn. I don’t like saying “I did this” or “I did that” because it seems boastful and bragging on some level.

I came to realize, however, that keeping one’s mouth shut in this day and age simply means that you get ignored. So I thought I’d supplement the recent announcement of the new Teen Titans animated series by mentioning that I helped get it sold in the first place.

Six months ago I was contacted by Paul Levitz at DC who asked if I’d be interested in working with development folks at Kids WB and Warners Animation on a Teen Titans animated series. Why me? Because although the concept was to go back to the Wolfman/Perez era of characters, they decided they wanted it to have the sensibilities of YOUNG JUSTICE (because, really, the characters from the Wolfman/Perez days were far more “Titans” than “Teens.”)

So I re-read as much of the Wolfman/Perez and Wolfman/whoever-else “Titans” that I could find, had meetings with various folks, and wrote a bible. I then did a couple of revises on the bible, got the okay to write the pilot, did so, and did a revise on that. I also wrote a stripped down summary of the series’ premise for a market research session they were going to be holding with some young viewers.

I hewed to DC continuity where I could, but also made a variety of changes for assorted reasons. I won’t go into detail as to what because I don’t *recall* signing a confidentiality agreement, but if I did and just forgot about it, I wouldn’t want to violate it. Anyway, my initial work on the project was strong enough to help get the series green lit.

Was I annoyed that no mention of my participation was made in the press release? Nah. I mean, it’s not as if I was singled out to be omitted; they didn’t mention other development folks either. I’m not listing them here simply because I’m not sure if they’d want their names bandied about, although I should note that one of whom gave me some absolutely kickin’ Samurai Jack action figures. Furthermore, I haven’t seen much of the project for a few months; I’ve no idea how much of what I contributed remains. For instance, I didn’t have them set in some future period as implied by the press release. That wasn’t part of the mandate I was given.

Bottom line, I got paid a nice buncha money for the work, and it also led to my involvement in developing another animated series for another DC hero…and no, I’m not going to say which one until we hear whether that’s a go or not. Although it’d be cool if it did go forward, since then I’d be two for two.

PAD

26 comments on “DEVELOPMENT HECK

  1. Wow… you developed Teen Titans… will wonders never cease? And do you sleep?

    Anyway… let’s take a wild guess on who the “other” DC hero could be that Mr. David here is developing… hmmm… a certain Super Girl maybe? Or an Antlatean maybe?

    Personally I hope you help develop Hawkman. Of course you would have a hard thing to follow with how great the current book is now.

    But maybe Mr. David is working on… uh… MAZING MAN!

    Yeah… ‘Mazing Man! Please let it be ‘Mazing Man… that would be so awesome!

    Oh I know it’s not that but a guy can dream can’t he.

  2. So, if they wanted the show to have the sensibilities of “Young Justice,” why didn’t they just ask for a “Young Justice” series, especially since Justice League is doing so well? I would think that obvious tie-in characters like Superboy, Wonder Girl, Impulse, and Robin would be more marketable than Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and Changeling.

  3. They couldn’t do a Young Justice series because then they’d have to _explain_ Superboy, Wonder Girl, et al, and their ties to the originals.

    With the Titans, you have the “instant recognition” factor of Robin, as well as four characters who can be quickly explained without confusion. (Somehow, I doubt Gar is going to have the Doom Patrol in his background in this incarnation).

    Cyborg: body rebuilt after accident by his father the scientist

    Starfire: alien princess on the lam

    Changeling: serum to save his life gave him shape-shifting powers

    Raven: psychic, daughter of mad tyrant

    Donna Troy, Aqualad, Speedy, etc. would all require convoluted explanations. Especially Donna!

  4. PAD,

    How cool is that. Congratulations. Since you helped write the bible, will you be writing any scripts? Please please please.

  5. I’ll miss having Donna in the show. They could have simply called her Troia to escape the Wonder Girl explanation.

    Oh well. Should be interesting to watch.

    Bobby

  6. You have to understand something about DC characters: Different licensing situations exist for all of them. The characters who were chosen to be in TT were the ones who were most available from a licensing and rights point of view.

    My assumption is that they wanted to go with “Teen Titans” instead of “Young Justice” because there’s simply more name recognition for “Teen Titans.”

    PAD

  7. OK, so a while back, there were a bunch of rumors that YOUNG JUSTICE and TITANS were going to be merged into one book called THE NEW TEEN TITANS. Now, this revelation makes me wonder if that wasn’t the source of the rumors — PAD working with the classic Wolman/Perez Titans in a YJ-style for TV.

    So that reminds me of *another* big PAD-related rumor that was making the rounds a while back — that being that he was to be writing DC’s (original) Captain Marvel. Which PAD has debunked.

    Except…

    Could the source of that rumor have been a similar situation — PAD working on developing a Shazam! Animated Series?

    I don’t expect you can confirm, Peter, but if that’s the case I hope it makes it to the screen — that would be so cool!

    Best,

    Julio

  8. And all of the sudden, a TV show I immediately dismissed as just another kid-oriented cartoon from the people who brought us Justice League is more than meets the eye.

    All of the sudden, I may actually be interested.

  9. Peter, no disrespect meant and I’m certainly glad you had input into the series in terms of thinking that bodes well for it, but any idea why they asked you instead of Marv? Particularly since Marv both has animation experience and is located in LA…and of course was co-creator of more than half the characters used. My guess would be either that Marv was busy, or else there might have been complications since he’s set up as Wolfmill Productions which might have its own irons in the fire.

  10. Thanks for the news, Peter – the fact that your pilot wasn’t set in the future is very intriguing – From what I’ve read over at toonzone.net’s forum’s, that aspect of the new show is the most frustrating.

    I hope the future aspect mentioned in the press release was merely an exaggeration referring to the sci-fi nature of the show.

    But can I ask you – is this show linked in any way to the ongoing animated continuity? Please say it is!

    And is that the Tim Drake Robin?

  11. This is very interesting news, and this clears up a lot of questions. However, I have a few questions that I am wondering if you would be able to answer. Don’t feel pressured to answer anything though…

    A) Which “Robin” is Robin? Is it Ðìçk Grayson, Tim Drake, or some new Robin that we are not familiar with.

    B) I’m not sure how familiar you are with the other DC animated series’. Are you going to attempt to keep the show “in continuity” with the others (with the possibility for crossovers, since this is another CN show), or is this a completely new universe? If this is in continuity with the other animated shows, how does the Return of the Joker flashback scene impact Robin?

    C) Is there any chance of Ðìçk Grayson / Nightwing appearing? Have you considered him as part of the show, or would it be possible to work him into the show eventually?

    Thanks!

  12. I’m way jazzed about the Titans series! I was a HUGE fan of the comic, and BTAS and all its subsequent WB animated series have been a big chunk of my viewing most of my adult life. It’ll be vaguely surreal to see Tim leading the group instead of Ðìçk, but I’m a total sucker for Gar, Raven, Vic and Kory and it’s so keen to see them animated (Vic’s Superpowers team season soooooooo doesn’t count). It’ll be vaguely surreal to have a Titans without Donna, but I can see why there’s no Wonder Girl mentioned in the press release or shown on the model sheet (especially since Donna’s origin got frelled, what, four times? And Cassie just doesn’t quite work for me). I really wish Joey was a part of it, but on teh flip side, could we really trust KoKo to animate ASL?

  13. Why didn’t they get Marv? That was my first question, actually. They said they wanted me because the tone of Young Justice was exactly what they were looking for.

    Could Marv have tailored it to their desires? I’ve no doubt. But Hollywood tends to “cast” directly to their needs. “Get me the writer who did this particular project.” In this case, the tone and style of YJ was of greater importance to them than the specifics of the characters.

    PAD

  14. What I want to know is, where did the Samurai Jack action figures come from? Are these prototypes that will be released to the masses soon? I’d kill a grown man for a Jack figure to bless my home. Yes, that’s a rather sad statement, isn’t it?

  15. CONGRATULATIONS, Peter!!

    But if the second series goes through, wouldn’t it be THREE for THREE, given “Space Cases”? Or were you only talking about DC characters?

  16. “I don’t like saying “I did this” or “I did that” because it seems boastful and bragging on some level.

    I came to realize, however, that keeping one’s mouth shut in this day and age simply means that you get ignored.”

    You’ve learned an important lesson, PAD. In the words of Golda Meir, “Don’t be humble. You’re not that great.”

  17. It occurs to me that this might not go well. If Kids’ WB is involved, anyway. They’re the same jáçkáššëš that decided kids would rather see The Mummy instead of Jackie Chan Adventures every morning.

    Nobody liked The Mummy! It was a terrible cartoon! It’s about as well-written as The Super Friends!

  18. well, I like this concept. After watching the first Teen Tians cartoon back in the 60’s, and then looking at the test footage from the 80’s Titans cartoons, it is nice to see that the Titans are finally comeing to the media. After talking to Mattel about there JL lineup, they let the cartoon slip out some weeks ago, and I new about the line up,and got excited about it.

    It is nice to know that next year we will have on TV:

    Smallville

    Birds Of Prey

    Justice League

    Static Shock

    Teen Titans

    This is great for DC, Mattel, and fans alike. Comic Books are finaly getting there due, and DC is leading on the TV front.

    (since Alex Ross verison on Captian Marvel didn’t get the green light, I remeber something about Aquaman in the wroks for a toon. This would be great and just in time for the new comic book series. With Aquaman, Mera, Aquababy, with possible Aqualad, Aquagirl, Dolphine and many other water character this would be great.)

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DCanimated/

  19. Until now, I had no idea that you took part in working on the production of a Teen Titans cartoon series on TV. Well now, this is wonderful news, Peter!

    One question though, if you don’t mind: you will always continue to work in comics of course, right? Cary Bates, who was a very talented writer, and the one who came up with Captain Atom during the post-Crisis era in DC, seems to have left comics for animation in the past decade. I really wish he’d return. He was one of the best writers for DC, and I’d very much like to see him return there soon.

    And I sure hope that with any luck, Young Justice and the current version of The Titans will eventually be made into a cartoon series too. They too deserve some time in the spotlight.

  20. Ok, I don’t even know if anyone is gonna see this, but…

    Personally I have a question. Which Robin are they using?? I mean, Ðìçk,Tim? That would be nice to know.

    I would prefer a Young Justice series, or maybe something with WonderGirl and Secret, but eh..And could someone get an animated Oracle please???

    Congrats PAD!

    Col

    P.S. I like Jackie Chan Adventures! Its just like a JC movie really…

  21. Hi, I’m a John Byrne board regular and know that INSTANTLY makes us enemies (: ) but I wanted to say I’m glad to hear of your involvement on Teen Titans. Those early Wolfman/Perez issues were some of the first comics I read, and remain as fond memories of my youth (not to mention kick-ášš stories).

  22. so toonzone.net is now reporting that an Aquaman series is in the works. with PAD’s revelation that he was working on “another character” for DC, and his well known and loved run on the same series…could this be the one?

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