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"Smashing, luv. Jolly good laugh [Yelp] Oh dear. I'm a tommy... a limey... a Brit!" "
- British Beast BoyOriginally aired: October 16, 2004 Written by John Esposito
Directed by Michael Chang
The Titans' Fourth of July festivities are cut short when Mad Mod crashes the party, declaring the American Revolution is a hoax and reclaiming the city for Jolly Old England. If that wasn't enough, old Mod uses his high-tech cane to steal Robin's youth, making "King Moddie" young again while Robin turns into a withered dried up old man.
Malcolm McDowell as the Mad Mod
Second appearance of Mad Mod; He first appeared in season one's MAD MOD
Terry Gilliam and Monty Python
This episode features several references to the wildly creative Terry Gilliam. Gilliam may be best known as the director of "The Fisher King", "Time Bandits" and "12 Monkeys." But Gilliam 's revolutionary animation was featured in "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Gilliam was part of the Monty Python comedy troupe; He also contributed to their movies, as well as "Flying Circus." Here's some Terry Gilliam/Monty Python references seen in this episode:
The Beatles
This episode also contained quite a few references to The Beatles:
Producer/Story Editor David Slack on REVOLUTION: " REVOLUTION happened because we all went to a British pub for lunch. That's the whole reason REVOLUTION happened. Glen wanted fish and chips for lunch so we went to this British pub and we were talking about what to do next. And Mad Mod came up. We initially had this idea of a rift within the Titans - some discord over who was in charge. That all came together. ""[...] It also tied back to the Cyborg arc; About Cyborg feeling like he didn't have a voice on the team. So the idea was to have the team struggle amongst themselves - to not only find a leader but find a way to save the day. Ultimately, they learn it doesn't take one person to lead the team. It's really all of them. Just because Robin is the guy saying "Titans Go!", it doesn't mean that he's any more important than the rest of them. Then, put on top of that, this crazy madcap adventure with everyone's favorite Mad Mod!"
"[...] And the animation on that one came back incredible. I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam and the Beatles so that was a lot of fun to work on. Mad Mod episodes are always difficult - particularly since the first one came out so well. It was hard to find a way to bring him back that would have a chance of topping that first episode."
"Turning everything British was fun. It's been fun seeing the response to it. Some people have said "You shouldn't make fun of America." And other people said "It's not nice to make fun of the British." The truth is, we were making fun of both and honoring both. So we thought we were pretty even-handed. We're making fun of Britain while we're honoring all the great creativity that's come out of there. And we make fun of America with Beast Boy's "Ugly American" attitude - while at the same time honoring democracy."
"Originally we were thinking about Beast Boy having the English accent the whole time. But Glen thought of something -- that there ARE people in the United States who have absolutely no appreciation for other cultures. We thought that would be a fun attitude for Beast Boy. That he would have that jingoistic ignorance. And Beast Boy can get away with it because he's such a charming character. But ultimately - the episode is more about "Mad Mod is a crazy old nutjob" than it is about international politics."
Producer/Story Editor David Slack on REVOLUTION: "That was a difficult story to break. I story edited that and it was written by John Esposito. He did a great job in a short amount of time. We had a great character in Mad Mod and a fantastic set-up for an adventure, but also a whole lot of story and plot to reconcile. The crux of that story was how the Titans sort of take Robin for granted as their leader... so what would happen if circumstances took him out of the picture? Who would be in charge then? How would they survive without him? "
"[...] We have to give credit to the artists on that one. They took a script that was pretty good and they made it a whole lot better. "
Mad Mod was a British super-villain who had a disdain for American culture. The Mad Mod was a fashion designer who lived on Carnaby Street in London, where Mod clothes were the rage. Mod used his fashion label as a front to conceal contraband items in the clothes he made. He first appeared in Teen Titans #7 [1967].With all the Beatles references, it's worth noting that The Teen Titans first appeared at the height of The Beatles' popularity. DC used to refer to the original Teen Titans [Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Wonder Girl] as the "Fab Four" - a term also used to refer to The Beatles. When Speedy was retro-actively made a member later on, fans came to refer to the founding five Titans as "The Fab Five." To this day, Titans fans still call the original members The Fab Five.
For more information on the comic book versions of the characters - including many images - visit titanstower.com's meeting room page.