Few animated series have the pop culture IQ of Teen Titans Go! — and yet everyone has their blind spots. When it comes to Beast Boy, Robin, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire, theirs is they haven’t seen ‘90s classic Space Jam. Coincidentally, they’re all the property of Warner Bros, and with a new Space Jam film on the way, it’s time for the Teens to believe they can fly like Michael Jordan.
On June 20, Cartoon Network will air Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam and it’s exactly what the title delivers. It’s the Teen Titans watching the 1996 film Space Jam and commenting on it, like Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Now, a trailer for the special has been released and we see that there’s a bit more to it too.
So the special isn’t just going to be the Teens watching the movie. There’s a storyline on top of it involving the villains of the first Space Jam, the Nerdlucks, who famously became the Monstars and took on Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes in the original film.
You have to think in addition to gags like the butt count and pausing Space Jam, there will be some healthy humour about just how dated everything in Space Jam is. From all the NBA players to the VHS tape, it’ll be interesting to see how much the Teen Titans will have heard of — or if they’ll just incessantly make fun of it all.
Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam — starring the voices of Scott Menville, Hynden Walch, Tara Strong, Greg Cipes, Khary Payton, and more — will premiere Sunday, June 20 at 6:00 p.m. EST (June 21, 8:00 a.m. AEST) on Cartoon Network.
Also, this is all in service of Space Jam: A New Legacy, which hits theatres on July 15.
In that, Michael Jordan is replaced with LeBron James and, well, you’re gonna want to click here to see how that film will be even more meta than this one.