What do an antique clock, a time-traveling thief and an alternate future have in common?

One word: Nightwing.

That’s right, just when we all got comfortable accepting that Robin could be any of the three comic incarnations of the Boy Wonder, and the DC Animated Universe continuity debate had reached a standstill, what does Murakama and company do?

Why they throw a kibosh at us the size of a freight train. That’s what.

Before we get too wrapped up in what I refer to as “The Nightwing Debacle,” lets take a moment to catch up to speed here.

Starfire feels that her friends and teammates are slowly drifting apart due to minor roommate-type squabbling. She attempts to mend the fences to no avail.

We get introduced to a new villain who answers to the name of Warp. Warp is no stranger to the Titan comics so it was nice to see a familiar character pop in for a cameo.

The Warp of the animated series possesses time traveling capabilities, and he has traveled back in time in pursuit of an antique clock. It would seem that in the future riches could be made from precious artifacts from yesteryear.

Ok, maybe it’s not that different from the here and now. Either way, Warp has undergone some minor tweaking in his animated form.

In the comics, Warp was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil, capable of summoning dimensional warps that allowed him to travel great distances. These distances, however, were always confined within the boundaries of time.

So for the animated series, Warp’s power has altered slightly, making him a time traveling thief, which allows us a device to explore the fate of our beloved Titans should they allow their friendships to continue to dwindle.

Where there is a lesson to be learned, there is a way.

Starfire is our central character for this adventure into the future. As she pursues Warp she ends up being sucked into his time warp and thrust years into the future.

Time traveling episodes and teenage comic book characters have a great breadth of history with one another. The interesting thing about time travel in regards to heroes is that by jumping forward in time we are given the chance to see them in circumstances or situations that would otherwise not be plausible in their current timeline.

You couldn’t kill off Robin in the present, but you might get away with killing him in the future and blaming it on a mistake in the space time continuum, which of course can be mended and therefore prevented.

Then again, we couldn’t kill off a character in this show to begin with, so strike that.

I’m sure you get my point, despite the ramifications and restrictions of children’s programming.

Watching “How Long Is Forever?” I couldn’t help but recall the "Days of Future Past" arc over in the Uncanny X-Men books. Ok, shoot me, I’m crossing the DC / Marvel line here, but I have a point.

"Days of Future Past" allowed writers to have characters die, and thereby amplify the tension in the present day arc by illustrating what awaits our heroes in the future should something not be remedied in the present.

Could you imagine a future without Wolverine?

The same device is employed here; however, this episode is far more akin to Back to the Future than it is to The Terminator. The fate of existence does not ride on the outcome of the present day friendships among the Titans, but life could be a whole lot sweeter if their relationships blossomed as opposed to dwindled.

Starfire learns this when she visits the future incarnations of her teammates. She finds Cyborg living in the now defunct Titan Tower. His power cells have long since corroded, and he has been forced to feed off of the tower itself, which means he can never leave the premises again.

Beast Boy has been reduced to a freak show attraction by his own hand. He is fat, balding, and chooses life behind the bars of his cage to keep people out.

It would seem that Raven has finally cleared herself of her father’s evil, as she is found to be donning a white cloak. Fans of the comics are sure to grin at that sight alone. However, the cost of this cleansing seems to have rendered her a bit stir crazy as she has resorted to isolation and constant babbling to herself when Starfire visits her.

Which brings us back to Nightwing. That’s right, our future Robin has become Nightwing, a walking, talking, nearly carbon copy of his mentor’s design.

This leads to complications, because any comic book fan knows that Nightwing is actually Dick Grayson, the first Robin from the comics. So does this mean that Robin is in fact Dick Grayson?

Well, the episode does stress that this is one possible future for our precious Titans, which is a safe way of saying “we’re not saying.”

Ultimately, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Seeing Nightwing appear was a fun twist in the episode, which overall seemed to be a bit on the week side for a season opener. Especially the bomb that was dropped in the two-part season one finale.

Then again, it was nice to see things somewhat back to “normal” as it were. The Titans didn’t have any pressing drama or conflict to face in this episode, but rather we are treated to a lesson in how important each of these characters are to one another. Seeing the aged Titan’s reform into a team to take on Warp had a warmly charismatic feel to it.

We also get a tiny little spark of romance between Nightwing and Starfire, which only does justice to stoking the fires of speculation back in our present timeline. Sadly, Star must leave her future friends and return to her time, which got me thinking, where was future Starfire this whole time?

Back in the present, it’s Starfire who remains the glue holding the group together. Let’s hope for Beast Boy’s sake she succeeds.

Next Week: You wanted it, you got it! It’s thirty minutes of 100% pure unadulterated Beast Boy. Consider this fair warning! Be here next week for "Every Dog Has Its Day!"

Mario Anima