Rock 'n Roar
Ahoy, loyal voyagers! Welcome to Let The Ship Sail! This your captain Loveseeker speaking! This week, I'm going to tell you about one of the oldest ships I've ever been a fan of. They're a couple of superpowered teen crime fighters. Give it up for Beast Boy and Terra from the series Teen Titans. Or as I like to call them, Rock 'n Roar.
Once again, I can only speak as far as the animated series from 2003 since that's the material I'm the most familiar with. Also, spoilers will be included. Now let's get this started, shall we?
Beast Boy is a green-skinned shapeshifter with the power to turn into animals. He's the self-proclaimed "funny guy" of the team and has the sense of humor (and poor luck) to back it up. Terra is a rough-and-tumble tomboy with the power to manipulate the earth. She has a pretty complicated history, but what superhero doesn't?
Terra first appears in the Season 2 episode "Terra." She impressed the Titans by taking down a monster all by herself and they invited her to stay with them. Beast Boy, for one, was especially impressed. He took an immediate liking to her and did everything he could to become her friend. He was the first to discover that she had trouble keeping her powers under control, which she made him swear to keep secret. Unfortunately, after an attack from the Titans archenemy Slade forces her to lose control, the secret comes out and Terra leaves in shame. She's also angry at Beast Boy because she believes that he was the one who told them.
Several episodes later, Terra comes back, this time with a much better handle on her powers. After helping to stop Slade and earning everyone's trust, she is officially welcomed as a member of the team.
Her next major episode is one of my favorites of the whole series. It's a cornerstone episode for her and Beast Boy's relationship. Beast Boy gets up the nerve to ask Terra out on a date and even though she's hesitant at first, she eventually agrees and the two of them go out for a night on the town. Their evening leads them to a carnival where they go on rides and play games together in one of my favorite romantic montages in all of animation. It's such a pleasure seeing BB and Terra having fun together and enjoying each other's company so much.
Sadly, their fun doesn't last as Slade shows up to crash their date. He reveals to Beast Boy that Terra had been secretly working for him all along. He doesn't believe it at first, until she confirms that it's the truth. She tries to apologize, but Beast Boy is so upset that he turns his back on her, which turns out to be the final catalyst that pushes her even further into Slade's grasp. When she finally shows up again in the season finale "Aftershock," she has only one thing on her mind: to destroy the ones that she used to call her friends.
Still, even after all that, Beast Boy refuses to give up on Terra. It could be seen as ironic, since he had a chance to save her before and he pushed her away instead, but I like to think that he's had enough time to clear his head since then and now he wants to make up for it. He is ultimately the one who saves Terra from Slade's control, causing her to turn against her former master and destroy him.
One comes next is truly heartbreaking. A volcano is about to erupt and destroy the city and Terra is the only one who can stop it. In the end, she sacrifices her life to save her friends and everyone else, her body encased in stone and immortalized as her own memorial statue.
Terra may be gone, but her memory still lives on. The time she spent with Beast Boy and the Titans was wonderful. Just as Terra will always have a place in BB's heart, both of them together will always have a place in mine. She will never be forgotten as long as... Wait, what? She's alive?!
Yes, by some strange unexplained twist, Terra shows up again in the series finale episode "Things Change" after somehow being brought back to life. Except there are two things wrong: 1) she's lost her memory, and 2) she's lost her powers. Beast Boy tries to get her to remember her old life, but she doesn't seem to remember anything about him or the Titans or being a hero. Although, there is a possibility that she's just faking memory-loss because she's so desperate to put it all behind her and live a normal life. In the end, she tells Beast Boy that the Terra he knew is "just a memory" and that he needs to move on, after which she disappears into a crowd, never to be seen again.
It doesn't make a lot sense premise-wise, but it's still a very deep episode. Even so, I still have too much love for BB and Terra as a couple and as individuals. Their personalities just compliment each other so much that I can't help but smile every time I see them. It may never come true in canon at this point, but hey, that's what fan fiction is for, right?
Once again, I can only speak as far as the animated series from 2003 since that's the material I'm the most familiar with. Also, spoilers will be included. Now let's get this started, shall we?
Beast Boy is a green-skinned shapeshifter with the power to turn into animals. He's the self-proclaimed "funny guy" of the team and has the sense of humor (and poor luck) to back it up. Terra is a rough-and-tumble tomboy with the power to manipulate the earth. She has a pretty complicated history, but what superhero doesn't?
Terra first appears in the Season 2 episode "Terra." She impressed the Titans by taking down a monster all by herself and they invited her to stay with them. Beast Boy, for one, was especially impressed. He took an immediate liking to her and did everything he could to become her friend. He was the first to discover that she had trouble keeping her powers under control, which she made him swear to keep secret. Unfortunately, after an attack from the Titans archenemy Slade forces her to lose control, the secret comes out and Terra leaves in shame. She's also angry at Beast Boy because she believes that he was the one who told them.
Several episodes later, Terra comes back, this time with a much better handle on her powers. After helping to stop Slade and earning everyone's trust, she is officially welcomed as a member of the team.
Her next major episode is one of my favorites of the whole series. It's a cornerstone episode for her and Beast Boy's relationship. Beast Boy gets up the nerve to ask Terra out on a date and even though she's hesitant at first, she eventually agrees and the two of them go out for a night on the town. Their evening leads them to a carnival where they go on rides and play games together in one of my favorite romantic montages in all of animation. It's such a pleasure seeing BB and Terra having fun together and enjoying each other's company so much.
Sadly, their fun doesn't last as Slade shows up to crash their date. He reveals to Beast Boy that Terra had been secretly working for him all along. He doesn't believe it at first, until she confirms that it's the truth. She tries to apologize, but Beast Boy is so upset that he turns his back on her, which turns out to be the final catalyst that pushes her even further into Slade's grasp. When she finally shows up again in the season finale "Aftershock," she has only one thing on her mind: to destroy the ones that she used to call her friends.
Still, even after all that, Beast Boy refuses to give up on Terra. It could be seen as ironic, since he had a chance to save her before and he pushed her away instead, but I like to think that he's had enough time to clear his head since then and now he wants to make up for it. He is ultimately the one who saves Terra from Slade's control, causing her to turn against her former master and destroy him.
One comes next is truly heartbreaking. A volcano is about to erupt and destroy the city and Terra is the only one who can stop it. In the end, she sacrifices her life to save her friends and everyone else, her body encased in stone and immortalized as her own memorial statue.
Terra may be gone, but her memory still lives on. The time she spent with Beast Boy and the Titans was wonderful. Just as Terra will always have a place in BB's heart, both of them together will always have a place in mine. She will never be forgotten as long as... Wait, what? She's alive?!
Yes, by some strange unexplained twist, Terra shows up again in the series finale episode "Things Change" after somehow being brought back to life. Except there are two things wrong: 1) she's lost her memory, and 2) she's lost her powers. Beast Boy tries to get her to remember her old life, but she doesn't seem to remember anything about him or the Titans or being a hero. Although, there is a possibility that she's just faking memory-loss because she's so desperate to put it all behind her and live a normal life. In the end, she tells Beast Boy that the Terra he knew is "just a memory" and that he needs to move on, after which she disappears into a crowd, never to be seen again.
It doesn't make a lot sense premise-wise, but it's still a very deep episode. Even so, I still have too much love for BB and Terra as a couple and as individuals. Their personalities just compliment each other so much that I can't help but smile every time I see them. It may never come true in canon at this point, but hey, that's what fan fiction is for, right?
Image by ponyboyjohnny
That's all for now, folks. Thanks for setting sail with me again today! Until next time... Let The Ship Sail!
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