The series is based on the revamped version of the silver age super-hero group The Teen Titans that was launched in 1982.  The Titans are five teenagers living together in Titan Tower.  Batman's sidekick Robin is the unofficial leader of the group. (Batman is never mentioned in the series though.)  Cyborg, half machine and half human, provides the muscle of the group, and Beast Boy, who can change into any animal, (previously a member of the Doom Patrol,) provides a lot of the comic relief.  The group is rounded out by a pair of women; Starfire an alien who can fly and shoot power blasts from her hands, and the contemplative Raven, a mystic with the power to levitate objects and create solid shapes with her mind.  From their base in Titan's Tower, a giant T shaped dwelling located on an island in the middle of a river, the group protects their city from whatever evil may befall it and bicker amongst themselves.

Once again this season has an overriding story arc.  This time around the show retells that Terror of Trigon story arc from the comic series, and it's an exciting chapter in the Titan's lives.

Slade is back.  This is a bit of a surprise because he was last seen falling into a pool of lava and certain death at the end of season two.  Not only is he not dead, but he's much more powerful than he ever was before, and he's also working for someone now.  He gets the Titan's attention by causing havoc, but his motive isn't wealth or power, it's to talk to Raven.  He has a message for her from her father, the evil demon Trigon.  According to Slade, Raven is the portal that will allow Trigon entry into our universe.  It's the thing that she was born to do, and though she may fight it, there's no way she can escape her destiny.

Raven keeps this a secret from her team mates, but they know something is up and work to try to solve the mystery concerning Slade's return.  Though they try their best it's just not good enough and Trigon makes his move in the thrilling triple episode conclusion to the series.

While the Terror of Trigon story line is exciting, most of the other episodes are a lot of fun too.  Cyborg gets blasted into the past and becomes a hero in Cyborg the Barbarian, Control Freak returns in the appropriately named Episode 257-494, and in the most comical episode of the season, Employee of the Month, Beast Boy, the vegetarian, takes a job a fast food restaurant, Mega Meaty Meat, in order to save up the money to buy a moped.

There were a couple of clunkers in this season however.  While Troq was kind of dumb with it's subtle as a flying mallet message that racism is wrong, the only really bad episode was Stranded.  In this poorly thought out show the Titans battle a mysterious monster on board a space station, and throw it into a lake of pink lava-like goo.  (Apparently all space stations have such a lake.)  When that doesn't stop him they jump in their space ship and make tracks, but the monster jumps on and latches on for a ride.  Thinking quickly, Robin speeds up, and the wind of interplanetary space blows the creature off, but not before the Titans crash land on a plant with a breathable atmosphere and life that's right near Earth.  The idiotic plot devices just multiply from there, but luckily this nonsensical show was the exception to an otherwise solid season.

This set includes all 13 episodes from the third season on two DVDs in a single width keepcase.

There is one odd thing about these discs.  There are no chapter stops in the middle of the episodes. It would have been nice if they had included one after the opening credits and again half way through the show.

Audio:

There is an English stereo track on this DVD as well as stereo a dub in Portuguese.  (I'm not sure why they replaced the Spanish and French audio tracks that the earlier seasons had with Portuguese.  Surely there are more Spanish and French speakers in region one.)  The sound was very good for a TV show.  The explosions and fight scenes were fairly dynamic and there was some use made of the front soundstage.  There wasn't any noticeable hiss or other common audio defects.  There were also subtitles in English and Portuguese.

Video:

This show looked pretty good.  The fullscreen image was bright and clear, with nice looking colors and sharp lines.  There was a little bit of aliasing, causing some curving lines to have a stair-step effect, but this was minimal.  A nice looking show.

Extras:

The only bonus this time around is Teen Titans:  Know Your Foes, a fifteen minute look at some of the Titans more powerful villains.  Clips from episodes are interspersed with comments from the producer and writers.  Not that enlightening if you've seen the shows, but it's a nice recap.

Final Thoughts:

The show continues its run of strong shows in this season.  There's a lot of action, a good amount of humor, and even a few touching scenes.  A fun show that's guaranteed to bring out the comic geek in everyone.  Highly Recommended.