The Night Begins to Shine (Teen Titans Go!)

"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.

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%" (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. 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.

Main Cast

 * Scott Menville as Robin
 * Hynden Walch as Starfire
 * Khary Payton as Cyborg
 * Tara Strong as Raven
 * Greg Cipes as Beast Boy
 * B.E.R. (Carl Burnett, Frank Enea & William J. Regan) as Themselves

Minor Cast

 * Malcolm McDowell as Baxtory (3rd Installment; debut; final)
 * James Hong as Turtle (3rd Installment; debut; final)
 * Jaleel White as Miner (3rd Installment; debut; final)

Antagonists

 * Jonathan Adams as Ultralak/Neil Adams (3rd Installment)
 * David Kaye as Dragon (2nd Installment; first debut; final)
 * Dan Bakkedahl as the Sheriff (3rd Installment; debut; final)
 * Peter Stormare as Fibulon (3rd Installment; debut; final)

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.

Development of this trilogy
According to NPR, the series doesn't have its composer, so the producers try to find what they can use in Warner Bros. In-house music library.

The song itself was performed by B.E.R. (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.

Animation and Character Designs
Animation for the series were handled at both Copernicus Studios in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and Snipple Animation Studios at Quezon City, Philippines. 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.

Marketing and Promotion
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. 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.

In other episodes
Occasionally, The Night Begins to Shine was also mentioned in other episodes of Teen Titans Go! including:


 * Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition (airdate: November 21, 2018) - B.E.R. returned in an alternate ending of that episode performing "Chimerical". NOTE: Both the Titans and the H.I.V.E. were disqualified in this version.
 * Had to Be There (airdate: July 22, 2019) - the Titans time travel to past adventures and insert the Bumblebee into their memories, and one of them being TNBTS, including Bumblebee in it. Unfortunately, it ended too soon because Bumblebee begins to lose control and crashes into the other titans.

Reception
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.

Future Spin-off
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.