Fear Itself
Fear Itself is the 18th episode of the Teen Titans series and the fifth episode of Season 2.
Synopsis[]
Terror on the loose
The episode begins with the introduction of Control Freak, who is terrorizing the video store. The Teen Titans arrive and stop him by activating the fire sprinklers, thus short-circuiting his remote. After the fight, Beast Boy digs out of the mess a famous, and by reputation very frightening, horror movie, Wicked Scary, and presents it to the team back at the tower. The movie turns out to be extremely frightening, so much in fact that even a hard-boiled mind such as Raven finds herself unnerved. But she refuses to admit it to the others.
Later in the night, the Titans hear a scream in the Ops. The lights go out, and out of nowhere appears the monster from Wicked Scary, ready to devour them all.
The Titans try to fight the creature off, but the beasts' strength is in paramount, and things go from bad to worse when Raven's powers suddenly stop working.
Just as things appear grim, the monster suddenly vanishes just as mysteriously as it appeared. Concluding that all of this is just Control Freak's attempt as payback, the Titans search throughout the tower to get to the bottom of this.
Along this grim investigation, Beast Boy keeps jibbing Raven that she must be afraid, which Raven hotly denies. But each time she says so, something grim occurs, such as her and her teammates getting chased and one of her teammates being snatched up and vanishing: first Beast Boy, and then Robin, who, after finding Control Freak's remote still in the place where he left it, and before being taken right before he can reveal what's really going on, are pulled away by shadowy tentacles; Starfire is buried under a horde of demonic rats in the basement, and finally Cyborg also disappears without a trace.
The end of a long, dark night
Now totally alone, Raven is beset by horrifying monsters made out of pure darkness. Cornered by all the creatures she's encountered, she admits that she truly is afraid. She's able to regain control over herself and the monsters disappear. She wakes up and the Titans deduce that Raven had accidentally created the monsters out of her denying her fear.
Now, as the sun rises, the Titans decide to catch some sleep over the night's events. Beast Boy then asks if Raven would want to do this again for Halloween, and Raven clearly says "I'm afraid not."
Trivia[]
- This is Control Freak's first appearance.
- Many of the other monsters share a striking resemblance to the monsters in Nevermore.
- The counter girl working at the video store resembles Sarah Simms, Cyborg's love interest from the Teen Titans Go! comics.
- In the scene where Cyborg and Raven are the last two remaining, both of his eyes are human eyes. This is clearly an animation error.
- In the Justice League Unlimited Season One episode: Wake the Dead, a DVD cover for the movie, Wicked Scary, can be seen in the college kid's room.
- The Titan puppets and control from “Possessed”, (even though the control was destroyed) Slade’s summon box from “Forces of Nature”, the chips from “Mask”, Trident’s broken trident from “Deep Six”, Gizmo’s tech and decoy from “Final Exam”, appear in the evidence room.
Cultural references[]
As the "evil fanboy" he is, Control Freak makes several obvious references to well-known movie franchises, including:
- Star Trek, particularly Star Trek V and the TV episode "Trouble with Tribbles"
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
- His personal introduction is reminiscent of the way Darkwing Duck introduces himself.
The scenes of the wicked scary monster attacks are reminiscent of classic horror movies. The Titans themselves play archetypes of horror characters:
- Beast Boy is the funny knowledgeable movie geek similar to Randy Meeks in the Scream series. He is the first to get taken by the monster.
- Robin is the Detective similar to Arbogast in the movie Psycho. Like Arbogast, he is the second victim, who is taken when he was about to disclose important information.
- Starfire is the Cheerleader archetype similar to many minor female characters whom get scared easily. She is the third to be taken.
- Cyborg is the athlete, a tough person in his field but on the same level as the cheerleader in terms of bodycount. He is the last one to get taken by the monster.
- Raven is the Scream Queen, the final girl who figures how to defeat the monster. In a surprising twist she is also the Antagonist, since the monsters were her powers expressing her bottled fear.
The monsters revealed to be part of Raven's mind is reminiscent of the following horror flicks, The Fiend Without a Face, and The Forbidden Planet. Both monsters were created by a person's mind.
Quotes[]
- Control Freak: Well, well, well. If it isn't my old arch-nemesis...ses - the Teen Titans!
Beast Boy: Um, yeah! [aside to Cyborg] Who is this guy?
Control Freak screen images: I am the master of monsters! I am your darkest nightmares come to life! I am...Control Freak!
Raven: [unimpressed] A couch potato with a souped-up remote. I'm petrified.
Control Freak: You will be. You will be. - Beast Boy: [with shining eyes] Dude! Wicked Scary is out on video?!
Control Freak: [with shining eyes] I know! Director's cut, digitally remastered, alternate ending! It's great.
Beast Boy: Cool! [realizes he was talking to Control Freak] Not cool. - Cyborg: ALRIGHT! If y'all are biting Cyborg, Cyborg's biting back! [munches up some of the living candy] Mmm-mmm! Never knew evil tasted so good.
- Beast Boy: Is it over?
Starfire: I dare not open my eyes to find out.
Cyborg: Now I'm really sick to my stomach.
Robin: I've fought psychotic villains, robot commandos and giant oozing monsters, but that is the scariest thing I have ever seen.
[all of them burst out laughing] - Beast Boy: Split up?! SPLIT UP?! DID YOU NOT SEE THE MOVIE?! When you split up, the monster hunts you down one at a time, starting with the good-looking, comic relief guy: ME!
- Starfire: Eeek! Someone's claws are on my grebnacks!
Beast Boy: Heh ... My bad.
Cyborg: There was a monster here, right?
Robin: But where did it go?
Starfire: And from where did it come from?
Beast Boy: HELLO! Isn't it obvious?! The movie's cursed! Watching it opened a portal to another dimension! The monster came through the portal, now it's goingn to hunt us down and eat us! And- I'M PROBABLY DELICIOUS!! - Cyborg: Look, y'all, big scary monkey!
Beast Boy: Yeah, Raven you should've seen the look on your face.
Raven: You mean, THIS LOOK? [gives him a Death Glare]
Beast Boy: No, that's more angry than scared.
Raven: I already told you, I don't. Get. Scared! [eyes flame] - Starfire: [quickly] Oh, well! Our friends are not present! Let us quickly go back up and see if they-eeek!
- Beast Boy: Okay..... Don't even try to tell me that did'nt scare AHHHH!!
- Beast Boy: WHAT DID I TELL YOU?? FUNNY GUY GOES FIRST!!!!
- Cyborg: Bad candy! Bad candy! [runs away]
- Beast Boy: You mean Raven made all those creepy crawlies by accident?! Raven: [blushes] Ahh... sorry?