Car Trouble

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Car Trouble is the 11th episode of the Teen Titans series and of the first season.

SynopsisEdit

Cyborg has just finished constructing the Titans' official land transportation vehicle and now proudly presents it to his teammates: the T-Car. Everyone but Raven is excited, and an alarm provides the proud constructor the opportunity to demonstrate the car's virtues ... or so it should be.

The alarm leads the Titans into Cook's Electronics, where they apprehend the electric villain Overload. Just before he gets in, Cyborg proudly boasts his car's attributes to two juvenile bystanders, Sammy and Cash, and while the Titans are busy, the two do-no-goods promptly nab the car and take it for a joyride. Distraught and worried that some harm might befall his car, Cyborg separates from the team and goes looking for his 'baby'.

Sammy and Cash decide to participate in a race on the notorious course Crash Alley. A tiny car proves to be their only, albeit tough, competition until they hit the T-Car's nitro booster, winning the race. But right thereafter, the tiny car's driver reveals himself as Gizmo, who promptly appropriates the T-Car for his own, leaving Sammy and Cash in a force field bubble for Cyborg to find. Upon learning that now Gizmo has the car, Cyborg goes after his diminutive nemesis but fails to apprehend him, partly because of his obsession for his baby.

Dejected, Cyborg is found by Raven, who despite her initial lack of excitement, tells him that she can emphasize with his feelings, since she essentially has to put her heart and soul into her magic as well in order to make it work. They spot Gizmo, who gets away again, and in order to pursue him, they simply 'borrow' Sammy and Cash's sports car. On a highway, they desperately try to stop Gizmo, but the T-Car ends up crashing into a prison transport - the one Overload just happens to be in. He promptly takes over the car and drives it at Cyborg, confident that the latter would never dare destroy his most precious possession. But Cyborg manages to overcome his attachment and in cold blood blasts his own car, stunning Overload, who gets ferried to jail along with Gizmo, Sammy and Cash.

As Cyborg looks sadly at the remains of his car, Raven encourages him, saying that what made the car special lay not in the car itself, but its builder. And with Cyborg's spirits restored, he and Raven proceed to build a new T-Car ... together.

QuotesEdit

• Raven: Can we go now?
  Cyborg: You bet, Raven. I'll take you anyplace you want to go.
  Beast Boy: The beach!
  Robin: The movies!
  Starfire: The swamp moons of Drenthax Four!
  (The two boys are so floored by this that they keel over; she blushes in embarrassment.)
  Starfire: He said anyplace.

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• Starfire: I understand your pain, Cyborg. When I was small, my favorite zarnik was eaten by a rampaging gloorg. Believe me, after your zarnik has been inside a gloorg, you do not want it back.
  Cyborg: My car wasn't eaten. It was stolen!
  Beast Boy: Hey, look on the bright side. At least it wasn't my fault.
  Robin: Not helping.

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• Cyborg: Boo-yah! Check out my baby's proton cannon! [catches a stern glance from Raven] Er ... I mean ... oh no.

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• Sammy: Yeah, see, um, the thing is, we sort of lost it in a race.
  Cyborg: You lost my car?!? My car lost a race?!?
  Cash: No way! We beat him easy. She handled like a dream.
  Cyborg: [excited] She did? How'd she take the curves? 'Cause, you know, I've been working on the suspension for a-d-d-d-d-d-d ... [angry again] Don't try to distract me. Who has her now?

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• Cyborg: [to Gizmo] Get your tiny butt outta my car!

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• Cyborg: No! Keep those nasty plastic brushes off my baby! She's hand-wash only!

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• Overload: Only way to stop Overload is to destroy your precious car!
  Cyborg: [softly, earnestly] She's not my car anymore.

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• Cyborg: [to Raven] From the day I designed her, I knew she was gonna be special and I worked so hard. Every fuel injector, every spark plug, I made her perfect. I put my heart, soul and circuits into that car. And, now she's gone forever. Maybe you were right; maybe it was just a car.
  Raven: Maybe, maybe not. When I use my powers, I have to put a little of my soul into whatever I'm moving. I become a part of it and it becomes a part of me. That's kind of what happened here. It wasn't just a car. It was... your baby.
• Cyborg: [smiles a bit] Yeah. Thanks, Rae.
• Raven: [smiles, but, then frowns, abruptly] And someone's eating onion rings in your baby...