Episode 23: Betrayal
"She is not your friend. She is my apprentice."
- Slade to Beast Boy
Originally aired: July 31, 2004
Written by Amy Wolfram
Directed by Alex Soto


After a few weeks as a Teen Titan, Terra has everything she ever wanted: a nice home, good friends, and even a little romance with Beast Boy. Everything seems perfect ... but is it?


Ron Perlman as Slade
Ashley Johnson as Terra


Terra betrays the team this episode
The whole Terra arc has a recurring theme of reflections; Beast Boy gives Terra a heart shaped box with a mirror. Terra looks at her reflection twice in the diner... once in a spoon and the next, she sees Slade in back of her at the window. The climax to the episode takes place in a hall or mirrors.
The face on the diner menu is modeled after series director Ben Jones


Producer Sam Register on the Terra arc: "We chose [JUDAS CONTRACT] because of all the Wolfman/Pérez stories, that was probably the best story that they did. It was sort of their uber-story. It was one I remembered as a kid. I talked to [comics writer] Marv Wolfman and he said, at the time, Kitty Pryde was really big at Marvel on the X-Men. And they wanted to do an evil version of Kitty Pryde. And that’s where Terra came from. And from day one, when they greenlit the show, me and Glen [Murakami] always knew we wanted to do Terra. So second season is when we decided to do it."

Producer Sam Register on Terra/Beast Boy: "Yeah, for the Beast Boy and Terra relationship to work we really needed to not make her completely evil - otherwise it wouldn’t have worked. And we have a shorter amount of time to tell a story than they do in the comic books. We can’t write as much as they wrote in the books."

Producer David Slack on Terra: "I think the important thing with Terra was to drag you back and forth with her. To make you like her, then you hate her, then you like her again, then we make you hate her again. Because Terra is "the bad friend." The kid you know that... well, something isn't right there. Something's going on. That felt more useful to us with our audience. I think people do get lost. Look at the state of the world today. Bad things happen. And I think from my own aesthetic, I'm always more interested in WHY people do bad things than just evil itself. [...] And I think in the end, Terra is still a little bit of a bit of a puzzle. Why was she like that?"


Terra is revealed to be working with Slade in this episode. In NEW TEEN TITANS #34 [1983], it is revealed that Terra was a spy planted in the group to learn all their secrets.

Terra used a camera contact lens to gain footage of the team; The freeze frames and analysis of each team member in the opening sequence seems similar to that.

In the comics, Beast Boy developed romantic feelings for Terra. He was crushed when he learned of her betrayal. The comic book version of Terra was much less sympathetic; She hated the Titans for no particular reason. In the cartoon, her feelings for Beast Boy seem more genuine, since she seemed willing to spare him.

For more information on the comic book versions of the characters - including many images - visit titanstower.com's meeting room page.

 

EPISODE SCREEN CAPS