Recap / Teen Titans S 4 E 2 Cyborg The Barbarian

"Don't do anything, don't touch anything! Sci-fi rule number one: you start messing with the past, you end up with monkeys ruling the future!"

—Cyborg

While updating the technology in Titans Tower, Cyborg gets transported five thousand years into the past. There he comes to the rescue of Sarasim and her warrior tribe, which is under attack from gruesome invaders. Unbeknown to the others, Krall—a member of Sarasim's tribe—has awoken a witch of great power to aid him in his ambitions to become a legendary hero. She is the one responsible for both the invaders and Cyborg's sudden appearance. In the absence of any means of recharging or repairing himself, however, Cyborg's continued defense of Sarasim and her people begins to take its toll. Cyborg stakes everything on one final battle between the forces of Sarasim and Krall, but the Titans rescue him before the outcome is decided. A despondent Cyborg worries about Sarasim's fate until Raven presents him with a book containing the history of Sarasim's tribe, including their victory over Krall.

Tropes:

• 24-Hour Armor: Discussed. Cyborg explains to Sarasim why he can never remove his armor and she sympathizes with his burden.
• Action Girl: Sarasim, the leader of a strong barbarian tribe, is a formidable fighter with or without her armor and it's these aspects that definitely garner Cyborg's interest (although not exclusively the reasons).
• Ambiguous Ending: A Freeze-Frame Bonus shows that Cyborg was able to fire one last shot before being whisked away. Whether or not he made the shot or if this was the reason the village defeated Krall is left up to the viewer.
• Anti-Climax: The final battle has the tribe getting overwhelmed by giant insects, Sarasim suffering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from a monstrous Krall, and in the Darkest Hour, Cyborg ready to sacrifice what remains of his energy to turn the battle around only to be unexpectedly dragged back to the present by Raven. And then it turns out Sarasim's tribe had won, after all.
• Anti-Villain: The Witch, who is truly the one responsible for the monster invasion and Cyborg being pulled into the past. Despite this she creates a time portal to return to the present, even after Cyborg discovers Krall's plot. She also never directly does anything harmful to Cyborg or the villagers, and only really causes trouble because she's bound to serve Krall.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Cyborg and Sarasim meeting for the first time has them fending off the monster horde side-by-side.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Which Krall is too stubborn and prideful to realize.
• Big Dam Plot: Cyborg managed to turn the tide of his second battle around by smashing open a dam and dissolving the army of monsters, at the cost of losing much of his right hand.
• Bug War: A Medieval version, which has an ancient tribe being constantly attacked by giant green beetle-like monsters and Cyborg thrown into the middle.
• But Now I Must Go: Cyborg tries to distance himself from the villagers after saving them because he knows the longer he stays the harder it will be to leave.
• Butterfly of Doom: Referenced by Cyborg, see the page quote.
  • Despite that, Cyborg's escapades in the past doesn't seem to affect the present in any way; you'd expect Cyborg introducing the concept of electricity, laser cannons and robotics to an ancient tribe would result in a massive leap in technology, but nothing happens.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: At first, Cyborg avoids interfering with the past to avoid accidentally affecting the future. However, seeing Sarasim overwhelmed by one of the monsters makes him throw caution to the wind and lend a hand.
  Cyborg: Monkeys or not, it's time someone went Bronze Age on your butt!
• Compressed Hair: Sarasim hides long hair under her helmet.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Cyborg initially takes down an entire monster army in seconds with his sonic cannon.
• Deadpan Snarker: Raven: "Evil beware, we have waffles."
• Deal with the Devil: Krall's bargain with the witch.
• Dragon-in-Chief: The Witch is responsible for nearly all of the threats in the episode, even though she technically is bound to serve Krall. Her dark magic actually causes just as many problems for Krall as they do the rest of the villagers.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: At full strength, Cyborg may very well have defeated Krall even in his monster form. However, since he's trapped in the past with no way to recharge or repair himself and is already damaged and extremely low on power to the point he can't even use his sonic cannon, he's easily defeated.
• Engineered Heroism: Krall forces the Witch to make him look heroic in front of his tribe by creating powerful beasts for him to defeat. Unfortunately for him, she is a Jackass Genie and these monsters end up humiliating him at every turn instead. It gets worse for him once Cyborg ends up in his time period.
• Eternal English: Cyborg and Sarasim have no trouble understanding one another.
• Evil Is Petty: Once Krall is turned into a monster and gains the upper hand against Cyborg, the Witch points out that the portal back to the present time is still open. Krall refuses and fully intends to kill Cyborg as payback for upstaging him at every battle.
• Exact Words: A part of the Witch's single-targeted Jackass Genie tendencies aimed at Krall.
  Krall: (struggles fighting Cyborg) Witch! I need more power!
  [The Witch summons the creatures to cover Krall.]
  Krall: What...what are you doing?
  Witch: I do as you command, Master.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Baby Warp from "How Long Is Forever" makes a cameo during Cyborg's time-travel fantasy.
• Giving Radio to the Romans: An interesting variation, which the "Romans" in this case, managed to figure out the "radio" part themselves. Cyborg's first attempts at trying to recharge himself don't work out too well but when Sarasim and her tribe find the nearly dead Cyborg, they use a much larger version of his generator to try and recharge him to a slightly more successful degree. Though their version fares no better than Cy's earlier attempt to recharge did.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Exactly how the battle concluded after Cyborg was pulled back to his own time can only be guessed at, but Sarasim was clearly victorious.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: In-universe. In the painting depicting the village's victory over Krall, Cyborg is shown shirtless and cybernetics-free. In the actual battle, he was wearing full armor.
  Raven: Interesting. You're the only one without armor.
  Cyborg: Yeah. Didn't need it.
• I Choose to Stay: Once Cyborg discovers the truth, he chooses to stay and help the village, history be damned.
• Immortal Apathy: The witch only begrudgingly serves Krall because he freed her from eternal slumber. That said, she has no reservations about the damage and devastation caused by Krall's wishes.
• Jackass Genie: Played with, while the witch is Krall's ally and helps him on his plan on becoming a legendary hero. She also grants his wishes in ways that are unpleasant to him as possible, but actually quite generous to Cyborg, offering him a portal to his own time for no condition whatsoever. Unfortunately, Krall has other ideas.
• Killed Off for Real: Krall's body is shown in Raven's book. He was also one of the few villains not to join the Brotherhood of Evil even though the Witch did, further proving this.
• Literal Genie: Krall demands more power from the witch only to be made into a monster.
• Made of Explodium: Cy's first attempt at making a generator to restore his depleted energy almost immediately and inexplicably explodes as soon as he starts using it, despite the fact that he only used Bronze Age technology and his own cybernetic equipment to build it. Later, the generator that Sarasim's people manage to build to help Cy recharge also inexplicably explodes, though it does manage to give Cyborg a little more juice before the final battle.
• Mythology Gag: "Sarasim" is a homophone of "Sarah Simms", who was Cyborg's love interest in the comics. A later comic has Sarah Simms actually appearing and looking like Sarasim, and is implied to be a descendant.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: After being pulled back into the present, Cyborg laments this as he fully realizes he can't go back to save them.
• Never My Fault: Krall never accepts responsibility for his actions, blaming the witch for granting his wishes improperly, not realizing he could have prevented everything by not abusing the witch’s power in the first place.
• Nubile Savage: Sarasim, again.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: It turns out that Sarasim and her tribe were able to successfully defeat Krall and his monster army after Cyborg was brought back to the present by Raven.
• Out-of-Genre Experience: For Cyborg, as he is forced to fight in a time period without technology or any of his usual futuristic weapons.
• Outside-Context Problem: Invoked when the witch pulls Cyborg from five thousand years in the future to deal with the invaders.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Likely the witch's intent while dealing with Krall.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: Of Conan the Barbarian.
• Power at a Price: Invoked by the Witch and considering how much of a Jackass Genie she is to Krall definitely her intentions.
  Witch: With every wish comes a price.
• Samus Is a Girl: Sarasim, at first Cyborg confuses her for a man thanks to her full-body armor, but he is naturally surprised when she takes her helmet off.
• Send Me Back: Quoted by Cyborg, when the Titans unwittingly retrieve him from the worst possible moment. Unfortunately, Raven's spell was irreversible. Though the tribe end up winning the battle anyway.
• Ship Tease: Quite a lot between Cyborg and Sarasim, unfortunately we never get to see her again after Raven and the Titans bring Cyborg back, but Raven at least gives him some closure.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Both Cyborg's and the Sarasim's tribe's attempts at building a generator to recharge Cy usually end up exploding after a few moments of use. Although at least the latter attempt managed to give him more juice.
• Sudden Video-Game Moment: When Cyborg is trying to avoid the battle, the art-style shifts to a parody of Frogger.
• Taking You with Me: Cyborg attempts to save Sarasim from Krall by blasting him with his sonic cannon, even though he barely has any remaining power. This could easily end up shutting him down while stuck in the past, and Cyborg knows it.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Krall, after being transformed into a giant monster by the Witch.
  Krall: (to Sarasim) I may have failed you as a hero, but I will triumph as your conqueror!
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never revealed what became of the Witch, following Krall's (failed) attack. But she's no longer under Krall's servitude. Given that Krall mentions having awoken her from an ancient slumber, it’s possible that she just returned to said slumber. She briefly appears in season 5 with several other villains recruited by the Brotherhood of Evil, but she isn't sent to attack any heroes nor does she appear in the final battle.
• Time Travel Episode: The second one since "How Long is Forever?". Instead of sending Starfire to the future, this one sends Cyborg to the past.
• Wolverine Claws: When decked out in full armor, Sarasim's gauntlets have hidden blades that she uses to a pretty effective degree against the monsters, against Krall however, not so much.
• Worf Had the Flu: Ordinarily, Cyborg would have had no trouble defeating Krall in single combat but with his battery nearly drained he stood little chance, especially with the witch assisting Krall.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Cyborg thinks any action he takes in the past could end up changing the future via Butterfly of Doom however Raven's book seems to imply that his time-travel journey was all part of a Stable Time Loop.

---