 |
|
| << previous episode | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
<< previous episode
Starfire: "In my world, Rekmas means "The Drifting," the point in which close friends begin to drift apart... and their friendship begins to die..."
Robin: "We're not going to drift apart, Star. I promise. We'll all be friends forever."
Starfire: "Forever?"Originally aired: Jan. 10, 2004
Written by David Slack
Directed by Alex Soto
A super-thief from the future called Warp travels back in time to steal a priceless antique. But when the Teen Titans show up to stop him, the villain tries to escape. And in a last-ditch effort to catch the crook, Starfire is pulled into his Time Vortex - and accidentally hurled 20 years into the future. There, she makes a disturbing discovery: in this future, her friends are not friends anymore, and the Titans are history. Can Starfire stop Warp and fix the past so that this grim future never happens?
Xander Berkeley as Warp
This is the first appearance of Nightwing on TEEN TITANS.
Producer/Story Editor David Slack on HOW LONG IS FOREVER: "That was a really fun episode to write and I was pleased with the way it came out. It was a nice way to start the second season because we had found some material we didn't explore in season one. Can our weird wacky animated cartoon do something thoughtful? And really pretty sentimental. Another thing I liked about the episode - besides the time travel (I'm a sucker for time travel) - is that it roots into a basic fear of childhood: Will we be the same people when we grow up? That one was a joy to write. I like the way it came out in the end.""Nightwing was one of those things that occurred to us along the way. Sam, Glen and I talked about season two and took things from the top-down. We talked about things we remembered from being kids and looking at things we hadn't done in season one. And also looking at doing a time travel one. We thought that would be cool. My original working title for that one was "Best Friends Forever" - which is a bad title. But it seemed to be something everyone could relate to. I think everyone has someone from their childhood that they can't relate to as an adult. So I thought there was something emotionally powerful there.
"So it was a fusion of those two things: "Looking for experiences and fears from childhood" and "Wouldn't it be cool if we did time travel?"
"Once we got the basic concept, it fell into place quickly. That story broke quickly. Glen and I did have a disagreement about how it should end. I had this idea: That as Starfire went through the vortex, she saw the future change for the better. But Glen said "You don't want to SHOW that" And he ended up being right about that."
Producer/Story Editor David Slack on the fates of the characters: "That took a lot of discussion. Sam was concerned we were going too dark, initially. So we backed off a bit. Glen does concept sketches as we talk about these things; He had done a sketch of an older version of Cyborg silhouetted and slumped against a building with cobwebs and stuff. Great visual."
"As soon as we started talking, we decided: Robin's Nightwing; Cyborg's broken; Raven's crazy; Beast Boy is just terrified. It just grew out of who they were to a certain extent. And DC was kind enough to let us use Nightwing for that one episode (there's complicated rights issues with that sort of thing). And, y'know, we can't just always go into the future all the time. "
The first Robin later becomes his own heroic identity as Nightwing in the pages of Tales of the Teen Titans #44 [1984].When Raven is cleansed of her father's evil, she wears a white cloak, as seen in this episode.
Warp is a villain from the comic book series. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Evil, a group of international terrorists. He first appeared in New Teen Titans #14 [first series] in 1981. The French villain is able to create dimensional warps from one place to another. However, he is not a time traveler, as he is in the animated series.
For more information on the comic book versions of the characters - including many images - visit titanstower.com's meeting room page.
Flat out, this may be my favorite episode of the entire series.The series has always dealt with the theme of friendship. But HOW LONG IS FOREVER? Takes that theme to an entirely different level.
The episode deals with complex emotions and fears. On the surface, Starfire fears the Titans may drift apart as friends. In the future, each Titan deals with isolation and abandonment in their own way. What could be a typical 'alternate reality future shock' story becomes a meditation on friendship - and an insight into each of the Titans as people. The fates of the Titans reveals a lot about them... Beast Boy is an insecure mess, Cyborg has given up hope and Raven has gone insane. Only Robin fares better - but he's still isolated and alone in his sterile cave headquarters. Each of these fates is consistent with issues these characters have faced in previous episodes.
This episode would be strong on that alone... but it also works as a sci-fi yarn, a fun fanboy-ish future romp, a comedy and a sweet fable. It takes a deft hand to juggle these themes and ideas effectively; The balance is just right.
Then there's Nightwing. This tip of the hat to Robin's future persona propels this episode into fan-favorite status on that point alone. And he's given some great moments both with Starfire and his battle with Warp. A fantastic nod to Titans history!
Much like SISTERS, HOW LONG IS FOREVER is sentimental and sweet without falling into the trap of becoming cloying. The real victory isn't Warp's defeat... it's the survival of the Titans' friendship, which will endure. One of the best episodes, hands down. Grade: A+