| The Night Begins to Shine | |
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| No. of episodes | 10 |
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| Release | October 21, 2015 (2015-10-21) – July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10) |
"The Night Begins to Shine" episodes are a series of half-hour television specials or episodes in the animated series Teen Titans Go!. The series is mostly dedicated or based on the actual song of the same name, itself written and performed by B.E.R.[1]
The series centers around Cyborg, whom he as a strong liking to the song (which he can't stop singing to it) and it also comes to a revelation that this song is his "true willpower" than his robot parts. They're known for featuring music numbers (from B.E.R. themselves) and the episodes mostly take place in the radical dimension outside of their normal setting. The first episode of this trilogy titled "40%, 40%, 20%"[2] (as part of Season Three) was released on October 21, 2015 and it received higher critical acclaim from fans of the original show and the haters of TTG.[3] As of 2024, only 10 episodes are currently available.
The radical dimension setting (central part of this trilogy) combined with elements to the 1980s (the style of the setting) and it's also known for the blend of Science Fiction and there is plenty of action included as well. Overall, it is considered to be one of the most favorable and enjoyable series of episodes among others.
In "The Day the Night Stopped Beginning to Shine and Became Dark even though it Was the Day", members of Fall Out Boy and CeeLo Green only made special guest appearances.
| No.in TNBTS episodes | No.in series overall | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S3E10 | "40%, 40%, 20%" | Peter Rida Michail | Ben Gruber | October 21, 2015 (2015-10-21) | 114 | 1.53[4] |
| 2 | S4E27 | "The Day the Night Stopped Beginning to Shine and Became Dark Even Though It Was the Day (CH1: I Saw You Dance)" | Luke Cormican & Peter Rida Michail | Michael Jelenic & Aaron Horvath | August 1, 2017 (2017-08-01) | 180 | 1.59[5] |
| 3 | S4E28 | "CH2: The Story in Your Eyes" | Luke Cormican & Peter Rida Michail | Michael Jelenic & Aaron Horvath | August 2, 2017 (2017-08-02) | 181 | 1.54[6] |
| 4 | S4E29 | "CH3: Playing Hard to Get" | Luke Cormican & Peter Rida Michail | Michael Jelenic & Aaron Horvath | August 3, 2017 (2017-08-03) | 182 | 1.72[7] |
| 5 | S4E30 | "CH4: The Night Begins to Shine" | Luke Cormican & Peter Rida Michail | Michael Jelenic & Aaron Horvath | August 4, 2017 (2017-08-04) | 183 | 1.87[8] |
| 6 | S6E20 | "TNBTS CH1: Mission to Find the Lost Stems" | Peter Rida Michail | Brady Klosterman | July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10) | 283 | 0.81[9] |
| 7 | S6E21 | "TNBTS CH2: Drums" | Peter Rida Michail | Brady Klosterman | July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10) | 284 | 0.81[10] |
| 8 | S6E22 | "TNBTS CH3: Guitar" | Peter Rida Michail | Brady Klosterman | July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10) | 285 | 0.81[11] |
| 9 | S6E23 | "TNBTS CH4: Bass" | James Krenzke | Brady Klosterman | July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10) | 286 | 0.81[12] |
| 10 | S6E24 | "TNBTS CH5: You're the One" | James Krenzke | Brady Klosterman | July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10) | 287 | 0.81[13] |
According to NPR, the series doesn't have it's composer, so the producers try to find what they can use in Warner Bros. In-house music library.[14]
"That whole episode, I was scoring it with an '80s vibe," says Michail. "So I literally went into the '80s rock genre and [was] rummaging through these albums and found ["The Night Begins to Shine"]. I was like, 'Aw dude, this song's awesome!'"
Peter Rida Michail, on "The Night Begins to Shine"
The song itself was performed by B.E.R.[15] (Carl Burnett, Franklin Enea and William J. Regan) and it was finished in 2005 and it'll not be shown to the public until 2014 with the release of an episode from Season 2 of Teen Titans Go! titled "Slumber Party". It was used as a throwaway joke from one of the show's producers, but later on, an episode for Season Three titled "40%, 40%, 20%" was released on October 21, 2015 where the song being the main focus to the episode.[16]
Animation for the series were handled at both Copernicus Studios in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and Snipple Animation Studios at Quezon City, Philippines.[17][18] Junpei Takayama (who previously did character designs for Motorcity and Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja) did the character designs for the Titans in their "radical" forms.[19][20]
Following the song's initial debut and the large positive reception from fans of that said episode, they were finally able to produce a 4-part miniseries as the second installment dedicated to it entitled "The Day the Night Stopped Beginning to Shine and Became Dark even though it Was the Day". This special had its official premiere on Cartoon Network marketing as "The Night Begins to Shine" and it ran from August 1 to 4 of 2017. It is the first in the series of specials centering around TNBTS to feature original music for this event including Forever Mine and Rise Up that they were released under the WaterTower Music label.[21][22] Plus it features a rendition of the main song from Fall Out Boy, CeeLo Green and Puffy AmiYumi.
Two years after the premiere of the first TNBTS special, a 5-part sequel special titled "The Night Begins to Shine 2" premiered as part of its Sixth season and it was released on July 10, 2020 as the third installment to the Night Begins to Shine trilogy.
Occasionally, The Night Begins to Shine was also mentioned in other episodes of Teen Titans Go! including:
Unlike Teen Titans Go! with its reception being mixed, The Night Begins to Shine series of episodes has received critical acclaim from fans of the original Teen Titans and the haters of TTG, being topped as one of the best episodes/trilogy of the series with "40%, 40%, 20%" still serves as the series' highest rated episodes with the score of 8.5/10 (9/10) on iMDb.
Cartoon Network and HBO Max (now called Max) announced a Spin-off based on those specials which is going to serve as a continuation of the Night Begins to Shine trilogy.[23][24]
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