DC’s Titans: Here’s Why Beast Boy Only Transforms Into A Tiger (So Far)
Garfield Logan, played by Ryan Potter has so far spent more of his time in the sidelines, appearing only briefly in two episodes, ie. first and the third. But with Doom Patrol now available on DC Universe, Beast Boy has assumed a more prominent role and a familiar animal form. It turns out that there’s a good reason behind why he has only taken the shape of a tiger on the live-action series.
Written by Geoff Johns, the episode spends some time on Garfield’s backstory, showing him as the only survivor of a mysterious outbreak in the Congo. Left to die by the medical exam, he is saved by Dr Niles Caulder, founder of Doom Patrol and one his miraculous serums.
The side effects of the serum, however, are his green hair and skin, and his shapeshifting abilities. But as we get to know in Doom Patrol, these have limitations.
“Chief thinks I can unzip my DNA and rearrange it,” Gar tells Rachel Roth (Teagan Croft) over dessert with the rest of the Doom Patrol. “It took me a while to figure it out.” As to why he, thus far, only transforms into a (green) tiger, “He thinks it’s psychological. Tigers have always been my favorite, ever since I was a kid.” That explains the green paw patch on his jacket, too.
This is actually a clever way to address the reality of serialised television. Although in Comics and animated films and series, Beast Boy would change from an elephant to a gorilla to an eagle in quick succession, such a CGI display would affect the budget of most live-action series. But with a couple of lines of dialogue, Titans manages to wave off what otherwise could’ve been a shortcoming while at the same time, setting up the moment when Gar assumes an animal form required to rescue the team.
Now there’s just one mystery left unsolved. Where do his clothes go when he takes the tiger shape? Does he just leave them on the ground and then come back to get them? Well, seems like this may require more than two sentences to answer.
