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Aqualad: "It's called telepathy"
Beast Boy: [thinking mockingly] "It's called telepathy"
Aqualad: "I heard that."Originally aired: September 13, 2003 Written by Marv Wolfman
Directed by Alex Soto
When a mysterious amphibious villain called Trident makes off with a boatload of dangerous toxic waste, the Teen Titans hop into the T-Sub and go on an undersea adventure to find out what Trident is up to -- and put a stop to it. Beast Boy is stoked: this is his big chance to morph into all sorts of cool undersea animals and show the team what a big hero he really is.But unfortunately for BB, another big hero shows up to steal the spotlight: a good-looking water-breathing teenage do-gooder called Aqualad. A fierce (but funny) rivalry quickly grows between the two heroes. When it's up to them to save the day, will Aqualad and Beast Boy be ready to take on Trident -- or will they be too busy competing with each other?
Wil Weaton as Aqualad
Clancy Brown as Trident
Dave Coulier as Captain
First appearance of Aqualad, voiced by Wil Weaton
Producer/Story Editor David Slack on developing Aqualad: "We went back to same formula: If this is high school, who is he? So we decided Aqualad is the swim team guy - the pro surfer guy. Not the pro surfer "dude", but the guy who's serious about it. So that gave us a clue how to write him and make him look. Glen gave him a more streamlined look, wearing something that was like a wetsuit. And he made him just a little bit taller than the guys. A lot of what influences character is also what we need them to do in an episode. We thought Aqualad would be a good rival for Beast Boy, since they both had powers that related to animals.""We thought of him as the guy who comes from his own world and has his own set of rules. He's a strong, athletic, intelligent, very good-looking confident guy who wasn't trying to impress anybody. That was part of the point of the story. Sometimes people aren't trying to compete with you - they're just good at doing certain things. There's no reason not to like them."
Producer/Story Editor David Slack on recording DEEP SIX: "And recording DEEP SIX was a lot of fun. Meeting Wil Wheaton [the voice of Aqualad], I was completely star-struck. And I told him that. Wil Wheaton is a big fan of comics. He was star-struck to meet Marv Wolfman. So I saw like, "Wow, it's great to meet you and it's an honor to work with you." And he was like, "Mr. Wolfman! Can you sign my script?" [laughs] But he's a great guy. And he's written a few books - and they are really entertaining. You can get them on amazon.com."
Wil Weaton on Voicing Aqualad: "So here's something unexpected: I did a voice today on this new show called "Teen Titans." The call came on Friday, and here's the cool thing: the director, a wonderful woman named Andrea Romano, who has won seven emmy's called my agent and requested me, based on my work with her last year on "The Zeta Project."
"I did the voice of "Aqualad," and I was told when I left today that they were so happy, I would probably be asked back to do the role again in the next thirteen episodes. The episode I did was written by this really nice guy named Marv Wolfman, who co-created and wrote for "Teen Titans" for sixteen years, created "Blade," and was just an all-around cool guy. We spent some time geeking out about comic books today...it just killed me that he was referring to Alan Moore as "Alan."
"Animation is really fun, because it's really quick work (usually less than 4 hours for an episode), and the people who do it are all really cool...but it's also very hard to break into the animation world, because the community is extremely small, and very protective. Being asked by a very respected director to come back, based on her previous experience with me, is just HUGE, and it makes me feel really good, and it may signal my entry into the world of animation."
Marv Wolfman On Writing DEEP SIX: "They were recording "Deep Six," an upcoming episode Teen Titans animated show over at Warner Bros.TV Animation today and I was invited to watch the procedings. The show is based on the DC comic George Pérez and I created back in 1980 and features many of our characters, villains included.""There are changes, of course. While our Titans was written for a teenage and older comic book reader, this show is written for the younger TV audience. Several of our characters have origins that are a little excessive for the Kids WB where it will be shown (along with The Cartoon Network). For instance, in the comic, Raven's mom was raped by an inter-dimensional demon and Starfire was sold into slavery by her father. Not exactly kiddie fare. This show emphasizes action and fun. All the Titans favorites are here: Robin, Beast Boy (I still prefer the name Changeling) Cyborg, Raven and Starfire. I hope people will like the show when it airs sometime next year. "
"The people at Warners have all been great. Most of my conversations to date have been with story editor, David Slack, who I finally got to meet. I also spoke with producer Glen Murakami and most of the actors. The actor playing Cyborg was, unfortunately for me, in Romania working on a film so they were going to record his voice later on. Although I had not heard of many of the actors - voice people are often sadly overlooked - I knew Wil Wheaton who played this episode's guest star, Aqualad. Wil, of course, was on Star Trek: Next Generation. As a Trek nut - I've seen every episode of every Trek - it was great meeting him, and the fact that he turned out to be a nice guy and a comics fan helped a lot."
"All the actors were wonderful and they all asked me to autograph their scripts which felt very strange. I mean, I'm the writer, they're the actors. It's supposed to go the other way. Several asked questions about their characters and I answered best I could, but I don't think I could provide a lot of help; these Titans are very different in so many ways and I didn't want to confuse them with the comic book versions which they weren't playing. I'd like to thank David for inviting me, Glen for being so kind as to let me watch, and all the actors for being so wonderful."
Aqualad was one of the founding members of the Teen Titans - along with Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Speedy - and served as a member in the first series that began in 1966. He was an orphan child found and raised by Aquaman in Atlantis. He later grew up and became a powerful hero known as Tempest.Trident appeared as a thief who operated in New York City. In truth, three criminals were taking turns at committing several large robberies. It was believed that Trident was only one person. Eventually, the Sammy Jaye Trident tried to cheat his two partners out of their share of loot. The other two killed Sammy, and his costumed body was discovered by the New Teen Titans. It was Starfire who eventually figured out that there was more than one Trident. This story was told in New Teen Titans #33 [1983], which was written by Marv Wolfman.
For more information on the comic book versions of the characters - including many images - visit titanstower.com's meeting room page.
The Aqualad episode.Aqualad's a tough one. He was always the lamest member of the team back in the day. He even once developed a sickness that was a manifestation of his inferiority complex about being the 'weak link.' So the animated Aqualad is surprising - in that he's almost the polar opposite. The animated Aqualad is not defined by his mentor, Aquaman - nor by his Titans teammates. And, he's got nothing to prove. He's just a confident capable hero in his own right. A neat take on a much-maligned character.
This episode is also a fun twist on Marv Wolfman's original Trident story back in the comic book series (written twenty years before this episode aired). Interesting that Marv was able to rewrite the Trident tale all those years later!
The interplay between Beast Boy and Aqualad was good. Once again, the series gets points for having fairly believable conflict... Beast Boy is imagining a rivalry that doesn't exist. More interesting than some silly, pat misunderstanding. And Greg Cipes' line reading add even more humor to the proceedings.
There's nothing particularly groundbreaking or new in DEEP SIX. But it's a fun romp. The equivalent of a good popcorn movie. Grade: B+