Glen Murakami. Photo courtesy of WB TV Animation.

Glen Murakami spent the last 12 years working on such notable shows as Batman: The Animated Series, Superman, Batman Beyond and Justice League prior to being tabbed as producer for Cartoon Network’s new Teen Titans series. He won an Emmy in 2001 for his work on Batman Beyond.

Dr. Toon: Congratulations, Glen, on your new series, Teen Titans. I was wondering how it was decided to go with the 1980s version of the team as opposed to the 1964 originals or even the Titans of the mid-‘90s?

Glen Murakami: Sam Register (svp of original animation), who came aboard at Cartoon Network, was really interested in developing it since it was a comic he grew up reading. Then I was brought on board. I’m from that generation where those were the characters that I read about growing up too. That led to the decision as to why the 1980s (Marv) Wolfman and (George) Perez Titans were chosen. I think we wanted to portray characters that hadn’t really been seen before, and we were trying to make something that was different from the Justice League.

Using Robin as the lead, well, he’s the type of character that everyone can identify with. We definitely wanted to show the audience a different Robin than they thought they were going to see, rather than someone who’s normally a sidekick character. It’s like taking Batman and putting him out of your mind: How would you portray Robin? We made him confident and really kind of cool. A lot of people say, “Well, Robin has no superpowers.” I don’t think that matters. There’s kind of a nice balance to the group now — an alien, a robot, a shape-changer and a witch. It’s very iconic.

Murakami took home an Emmy for his work on Batman Beyond. © Warner Bros. Animation.

Dr.T: Is that why Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) and Wally West (Kid Flash) didn’t make the cut?

GM: Pretty much. We wanted to show characters that hadn’t been seen before.

Dr.T: Glen, Batman The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, all of these series you worked on before taking on Teen Titans were very popular with a late-teen to adult audience. Sam Register stated in an interview that he was going for a slightly younger demographic with this cartoon. Was it difficult for you to switch gears after doing those other shows and design a show for younger viewers?

GM: No, it really wasn’t. After working on those shows since 1991 — 10 years of working on those shows — it was kind of nice to move in a different direction with superheroes. The show is more for kids, but I don’t think it excludes an adult audience. I think Teen Titans is lighter and has humor, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a parody or a spoof, and I don’t think we’re making fun of the essence of the characters. I think we stayed true to the intent of the characters, we just skewed it a little bit younger. I’ve gotten a chance to do the darker, more adult stuff, I think, with Batman and Justice League, so we felt it was OK to go in a very different direction with the Titans.