 If you've never taken much interest in TMNT, or your childhood memories of them have long since faded, these insights into the characters and their mythos may give you an idea of what draws fans like myself to love them so much!  How strong are the TMNT? Do they really possess the combined strength to lift a van over their heads, or was that just some cartoon writer's wacky idea back in 1988? Does age play a factor in their abilities? It would certainly explain how in the 2003 series they had such a hard time fighting Shredder who turned out to be a thousand year old alien! How is April able to withstand a sword match with Karai in the 2007 movie, knowing full well that the latter most likely has had way more training in her life? In the 2012 series it's implied that Raphael is by far the strongest and most aggressive of the Turtles, followed closely by Leonardo, while Donatello is more likely to use his scientific genius to win a fight, and Michelangelo is more of a pacifist who would prefer everyone just got along. In the end it's all up to whoever's telling the story. To quote the late, great Stan Lee, these are fictitious characters in the long run.  We all know by now each of the Turtles' signature weapons, but sometimes for whatever reason they have to change things up and give the green team different weapons. Michaelangelo having to relinquish his nunchucks for a grappling hook was of course due to complaints from overseas that considered the nunchucks to be incredibly lethal, though having people running around with sharp knifes and swords was perfectly fine. When The Next Mutation came around Mikey got another different weapon, the tonfas. In the 2003 series the Turtles maintained their trademark weapons exactly as they did in the comics, with the exception of the Ninja Tribunal storyarc in season 5 where they had to master their mystic powers. There was also that one time in the Triceraton prison where their weapons were confiscated, so they had to resort to using random items they picked up. Then of course in the 2012 series Donatello's simple wooden bo staff has a retractable blade, which made it into a naginata. Similarly, Michelangelo's nunchucks would convert to a kusarigama via a retractable blade and extended chain. In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles they initially started out with their signature weapons, except for Donnie who has all sorts of wild tech at his disposal! But then the other Turtles lost their weapons at the hands of Baron Draxum's thugs and ended up going into the hidden city where they discovered mystical weapons, which turned out to be merely training wheels. By the end of season 2 they all went back to using their traditional weapons. I tend to like seeing the Turtles master different weapons and even each others' which happens once in a while.  Back when my second cousin Joey and I watched the original cartoon, we always got a laugh out of Raphael addressing the audience, explaining how they're professionals and that we should never try these stunts in real life. As if any of us kids would find ourselves hanging off a helicopter!  Fans love to obsess over the rivalry between Leonardo and Raphael, but sometimes it's fun to watch all four of them bicker over who's better at something, like in the "Don vs. Raph" short by Invader Zim creator Jhonen Vasquez. There was also a really funny short during the 2003 series era where Leonardo and Donatello were arguing over who made a better dinosaur trainer during their time stuck in Earth's Cretaceous Period.  If there's one thing that the TMNT is universally known for, it's scarfing pizza, and they can never get enough of it... especially Mikey! But do they have human digestive systems like us? Do they ever get gassy from too much melted mozzarella? I don't even want to think about how they go to the bathroom!  During the run of the 2003 series, it was made pretty clear that Peter Laird wanted 4Kids to avoid showing the TMNT eating pizza. So instead they'd eat ordinary food, like hot dogs, scrambled eggs and potato chips. Just because you don't have them obsessing over one specific food doesn't mean they're not going to eat. After all, they are growing teenagers!  Going as far back as the early days of the original Mirage comics, the TMNT have always had to deal with people judging them, simply because they were considered freaks of nature. Usually we tend to see the more narrow-minded older generation taking a dislike to them, while the younger people hold the utmost respect for their heroic endeavors. Real life also mirrors this as those of us who grew up with the Ninja Turtles remain faithful fans to this day, while our elders stand by baffled as to why we took a liking to these crazy characters in the first place.  Being a vigilante isn't always what it's cracked up to be, and while we usually see the TMNT triumphantly trash the villains, there are times where the badguys got away to some degree. Lets face it, the show wouldn't be that much entertaining if the Turtles won within the first five minutes of the episode.  Another element of the TMNT that goes all the way back to the source material is that the Turtles are in fact teenagers who just want to enjoy life like any other teenager in America! While the original cartoon's theme song states that Michaelangelo is the sole party dude, they're technically all party animals who enjoy their down-time, but just in different ways. Typically, Donatello enjoys inventing things or doing research on the computer, while Leonardo likes to learn the ways of ninjitsu. In most cases Raphael just wants to go out and rough up criminals with his buddy Casey Jones, however in the original cartoon he prefers to veg out on the couch. There was even that one episode where he got into stand-up comedy!  Grief is a strong concept to deal with, and the TMNT are certainly familiar with the pain of losing a loved one. In a few iterations we've seen them deal with the tragic demise of their beloved Master Splinter, and in every version (even the original cartoon) they've faced the possibility of losing him time and time again. Then there's the possibility of losing each other and which one would be the soul survivor of the four. We've seen this type of situation played out in many different forms, the most recent being IDW's The Last Ronin. Sadly we must all face the fact that our time here on Earth is limited, and we must learn to cherish what little time we have with our loved ones.  Whether he starts out as a simple pet rat or Hamato Yoshi mutated into a rat, (or in the case of the IDW comics, Hamato Yoshi reincarnated as a rat and then mutated) Master Splinter knows what's up! He's not always perfect though. On some occasions his over-protectiveness comes at the cost of the Turtles almost being unable to save the day. In both the original cartoon and Archie comics it seemed like the TMNT could have a candid conversation with Splinter without fear of backlash, although he would get angry at them if he felt they were becoming too lazy. In the 2003 and 2012 versions however he is quick to scold them for getting themselves in trouble. The same can be said for the live action films where we see him punish them for picking on each other.  This is kind of what started my idea for this page in the first place. In just about every version of TMNT, Master Splinter possesses some extreme psychic abilities, as he would spend a lot of time meditating. He can see into the distant past and near future, switch bodies with other fellow ninjas and astral project himself. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if Splinter does this type of stuff more often than we realize. For instance, in the episode "Shredderville" the Turtles came home after having their shells handed to them by Shredder, and Donatello lamented that the world would be better off if they had never been mutated. Leonardo shared the sentiment, despite Splinter's best efforts to get them out of their funk. What followed shortly was a strange adventure into a world where the TMNT got their wish and found themselves in an alternate reality where they never got mutated, and as a result Shredder ruled the Earth (and did a lousy job at it). In the end it turned out to have all been just a dream. But what are the odds all four of them had the exact same dream? It's almost as if Splinter himself orchestrated the entire thing, like he had some Inception type powers as well.  Once in a while we see the TMNT split up into pairs, or just one of them will leave the group and the other three will make due without him, but personally I think the best moments happen when the four of them remain together. Their brotherly comradery always shines more that way!  Did you know during the making of The Next Mutation in 1997 Kevin Eastman was going to have April O' Neil removed from future TMNT projects and possibly erased from the original comics? A lot of this had to do with what was going on in his personal life, though I'm glad he never went through with that decision, and that Peter Laird saw to it during the 4Kids era that the character would remain a pivotal role, as in most cases she is the very first human the Turtles befriend. Casey Jones on the other hand is a different story. I like him in the movies and his occasional appearances in the original cartoon, but in both the 2003 and 2012 series I could hardly stand the guy. I get that he's supposed to be a foil to Raphael's hot headed nature, but he was just way too much of a dummy! I will say though, I liked how they rewrote him in the Rise series Netflix movie.  Once in a while we get these one-shot kid sidekick types that show up for an adventure and then we never see or hear from them again. Even the first live action movie had that with April's boss Charles Pennington's son Danny. But of course you can never forget old Keno. The dude was a hoot, and I always kind of wish they would use him in some way shape or form in one of the current iterations. Mona Lisa was a one-shot character from the original cartoon, but in the years since her brief presence left many fans like myself wishing they would have brought her back for more!  Some fans flat out detest Zach. I mean lets face it, the kid was kind of a brown-noser, always kissing up to the TMNT. That being said, how many of us at that age and time would not have acted just like him had we got the chance to meet the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and go on adventures with them? I basically was this kid growing up, wishing that the Ninja Turtles were real and I could go on wild adventures with them. Of course I also wished everybody in the entire world would quit growing older. Zach isn't the only recurring character who gets a bad reputation. The Neutrinos were real wild cards, popping up every once a season (except for those last three seasons) and just creating mayhem for the Turtles (and the corny 1950's dialect got old fast)! Of course Michaelangelo seemed to have this off-camera thing going with Kala. There's also Carter from the last two seasons of the series, but I never cared that much for him. No matter how you might've felt towards these characters, they were sworn allies of the TMNT, always willing to lend a hand!  When the evil Shredder attacks... well, you know the rest! Oroku Saki has been the sworn enemy of the TMNT since that very first story drawn and inked by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird back in 1984, and his back story always involves Hamato Yoshi to a certain degree! That being said however, too much of him can get stale and tiresome. It's nice to shake things up from time to time and see the Turtles deal with their other many adversaries.  Bebop and Rocksteady; Tokka and Rahzar; Groundchuck and Dirtbag; Dog Pound and Fish Face. For whatever crazy reason Shredder likes to have his hench-mutants in pairs, though it would really make more sense to have all of these guys in one big group, then they would out-number the TMNT 2 to 1. Of course their combined IQ would still be no match for the Turtles' cunning and intellect! Some mutated creatures are nothing more than mindless beasts easily controlled by the badguys. In the case of Tokka and Rahzar from Secret of the Ooze, they were mere infants at the time of their creation, so it was easy for Shredder to have them imprint him as their "Mama". Similarly, there was the time in the original cartoon where Bebop and Rocksteady accidentally created an enormous ice creature about as tall as the Channel 6 building! After pulling a missile out of the ice mutant's hand Bebop became its master, which almost spelled doom for the boys in green!  I always find it funny when the Turtles decide to adopt a pet, especially when you take into account the fact that they once were pets. Often it's a stray cat Mikey finds, though once in a while you get something unexpected, like a 2-story apartment sized dinosaur from a strange subterranean world buried deep within the Earth itself!  Some villains come up with pretty crazy, hair brained evil schemes, like this phantom looking dude who was skulking around the sewers and terrorizing a Chucky Cheese style pizza pan theater that had singing and dancing animatronic cartoon animals lead by Willy Wombat! Later in the episode, the Turtles were on the hunt for some bank robbers, which lead to one of the funniest moments in the original cartoon where Donatello was expecting to face down a group of rough and tough muscle-bound crooks, only to get a rather unexpected surprise; it was Willy Wombat and the other happy faced robot characters, being controlled by the restaurant's sleazy owner, and the phantom was his former partner who he kicked out. Despite it's ridiculousness, the plot somehow works as it showcases how a small business could easily be corrupted by greed.  Technology plays a big part in any interpretation of the TMNT, and sometimes it's hard to wrap one's head around stuff like dimensional portals, enormous golf ball shaped fortresses that roll around on tank treads, or how a simple chemical can make four ordinary turtles gain human like traits and cause them to grow to the size of teenage boys. Some also find it hard to understand the logic behind a person being mutated into whatever animal they last touched, though I often like to argue that it'd make more sense to have them absorb the essence of the next creature they touch. In the case of Bebop and Rocksteady, that's basically what happened to them as the two punks fused with the animals Shredder had brought in. For that matter, where exactly does the mutagen come from? In the original cartoon it's a combination of made up chemicals, while in the 4Kids cartoon it's a byproduct of the Utroms' trans-mat device. I won't even get into what the 2012 series had mutagen originate from. Rise came up with an interesting back-story in which it was given to Baron Draxum by Krang (or at least some odd version of him).  Just as science plays a major role in the Turtles' lives, so does the supernatural. As brought up in TOPIC #12, Splinter and other ninjas possess psychic powers, but that's only scratching the surface. In the early days of the original black and white comics the TMNT befriended a young blonde haired woman named Renet who comes from another dimension and wields a powerful magic scepter that can transport them anywhere in time and space! In the current ongoing IDW comics, the Turtles themselves are the resurrected spirits of Hamato Yoshi and Teng Shen's four sons who were all murdered by the Foot Clan in ancient Japan!  People like to joke about how conspicuous the Turtle Van and Turtle Blimp were in the original cartoon, having their logo plastered in big letters for everyone to see. Despite that, you can't argue how badass those rides were. Both the van and blimp had onboard laser guns, tracking equipment and all sorts of gadgets Donatello used in their many different adventures! In later seasons the van would be seen converting into a boat and even a submarine. In later interpretations we've seen Donatello concoct all sorts of wild modes of transportation. The 2012 series had some of the best designs with the Shellraiser and the Turtle Sub!  In more recent versions of TMNT the Turtles tend to only go out at night and rarely ever attempt to go topside in the daylight so as not to be discovered, as they were meant to keep their existence a secret from the outside world. However in the original cartoon the Turtles found themselves venturing to the surface on several occasions at all hours of the day disguised in trench-coats and hats, making them look something like Humphrey Bogart. Over the course of the series they started adopting a variety of different disguises and they would even occasionally use rubber human masks in attempt to blend in better. Looking back many like to joke that it was painfully obvious that unless they had those rubber masks on, you could easily tell them from their green faces, hands and feet!  Sometimes a writer finds himself with no alternative but to give his characters an easy fix. In the original cartoon this happened quite often in the form of Splinter and/or April showing up unexpectedly, or Donatello having the blimp conveniently stashed on a rooftop. Breaking into the Technodrome was always a piece of cake. They either had the tools to blast a hole into it, or there was a doorway marked "entrance". The 4Kids cartoon sometimes did this sort of stuff as well, especially during the end of season 3 when the Turtles and Splinter thought for sure they were going to die in space after sabotaging Shredder's rocket ship, only to be saved at the last minute by the Utroms.  There are times when a story can go full blown weird and have the most insane explanation. Case in point, this scene in "Michelangelo's Birthday" where Shredder sprays Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael with a retro-mutagen that inflates them like Thanksgiving balloons, when it was supposed to turn them back into ordinary turtles. Even stranger is how Splinter is able to cure them with tiny mysterious orbs that he claims are mere mothballs. A similarly confusing situation was in the episode "The Gang's All Here" where Mikey ate cookies laced with an anti-mutagen that transformed him into a human. He was smart enough to put on human clothes before doing this so he wouldn't be walking around bare naked, though strangely his bandana and the rest of his ninja gear vanished when he became human, but somehow reappeared when he changed back into a mutant turtle. Later in the episode there were a couple of times where his human clothes vanished when he'd change back into a mutant turtle. Perhaps the animators didn't think or care that us kids would notice these small hiccups.  Once in a while the TMNT will pop up in other peoples' stories, if only for a brief moment, especially whenever somebody has to go into the sewers for some reason. It happens more often in comic books than it does on screen, due to copyright issues and whatnot. At the very least somebody may bring up the Ninja Turtles. On the flip side the Turtles will occasionally make humorous references or the TV shows and movies will incorporate famous actors to provide voice over. Let us not forget the stellar appearance Jay and Silent Bob creator Kevin Smith made as the diner cook Raphael saved in the 2007 CGI movie!  Remember that cornball anti-drug special where several of our favorite cartoon characters came together to teach us about the dangers of wacky tobaccy? Michaelangelo was the only Ninja Turtle who got to be in it, and he never really got to interact with any of the other characters, with the exception of that one musical number they all did together. Opportunities to bring various properties together for a unified cause is great, but that particular special could've been done so much better, and maybe they could've touched on other worldly issues, like pollution. It's not every day you get to see the TMNT join forces with Alf, the Muppets, Garfield and Donald Duck's three rambunctious nephews! If the stars ever align like that again, I really hope they find a better script writer.  On occasion we see what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would look like if they were a different species, though in many cases the acronym as we know it would be completely different. For instance in the cartoon Tiny Toons, we see Plucky Duck is a huge fan of the Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs, which would make them the IRSS, and clearly that doesn't roll off the tongue like TMNT.  When The Next Mutation came out in 1997, I thought the redesign of the Turtles' belts and masks were pretty cool, and I dug the addition of the arm and leg bandages. But the one thing I did not care fore was the washboard plastron stomachs. I prefer the simple 6-plated look as we've always known it. Several years later, Michael Bay's film reboot took it to the next level of insanity, giving the Turtles not only those lame washboard plastron stomachs, but human lips and noses that just made them really unsettling to look at. To make matters worse, they were made six feet tall, which didn't sit right with those of us born shorter than average.  Often times the better versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are where the origin story doesn't deviate too much from what we're used to. Some prefer Splinter to start off life as a normal looking rat, while others like him starting out as Hamato Yoshi, but the one thing that always remains constant is the Turtles starting out as ordinary turtles. Take that away and all hell breaks lose within the fan base!  You know it really grinds me gears when people say they want to see the next Ninja Turtle movie be a live action R-rated reboot that copies exactly what Eastman and Laird wrote for their comic book back in 1984! I understand why people want that, as it is considered the source material, and honestly I'm all for it if it ever were to happen, but at the same time I prefer to see the Ninja Turtles enjoying life, not in constant fear of their enemies trying to kill them! The Archie comics and the classic New Line movies had the right idea utilizing the fun elements of the original cartoon with just a tiny sprinkling of the Mirage comics' darker tone.  Each of the Turtles possesses a distinct personality trait, but far too often they get turned into caricatures of those personalities! In both the 2003 and 2012 show Leonardo became an over-bearing bossy leader, barking orders at his brothers and then throwing a fit when they don't obey; Donatello was like an awkward nerd who uses big words that his brothers couldn't possibly understand; Raphael would always lose his temper over the most insignificant problems or whenever Michelangelo was being an obnoxious jackass who never knew when to shut up! I wish more writers would learn to avoid this type of flanderization!  An old friend from the early days of the fan base used to joke that having the Fugitoid in the 4Kids cartoon would cause the series to slow down since in the Mirage comics the character would notoriously go into full detail about his origin story every time he made an appearance. It's never easy to come up with new stories to tell, but there are ways to retell an old story and frame it differently. In season 2 of Rise there was a humorous episode where Huginn and Muninn fondly reminisced over their time working for Baron Draxum. During the flashback we finally got to see the events that lead up to Hamato Yoshi and the Turtles being mutated. Normally we don't get to see such a well drawn out montage. It's always just Splinter telling the story from his point of view. Allowing other characters to share stories from their perspective is a great way to give a tired old plotline a fresh restart! Some of the best moments in the original cartoon are when Shredder and Krang are shown talking about their scheme, so then the audience already knows what the Turtles will be up against before they find out for themselves.  Back when Peter Laird was making Volume 4 of the Mirage comics, the storyline he came out with left many fans puzzled and confused. It seemed like the magic that had come before just wasn't the same. Was it because we had grown up and were looking back on the property with fond nostalgic memories of our childhood, or were Laird's ideas just too out there? Things really took a turn for the weird when the issue came out where it was revealed that April was not an ordinary human, but rather the product of a magic crystal from an old Donatello special that had the power of bringing drawings to life. Looking back, I must say it was no wonder Mr. Laird was ready to sell the TMNT to a company like Nickelodeon, as his imagination just wasn't working the way it did back when he was partners with Kevin Eastman.  Remember back in 2007 when we got to see the Ninja Turtles in computer animated form for the first time? It was pretty wild! Granted the plot of that movie didn't go over too well, but the 3D style animation blew us all away, just as the costumes made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop did 17 years prior! There are still a couple of other formats we haven't seen the TMNT in. I'd love to see them done as clay puppets or some form of stop-motion!  Back when the USA network was airing reruns of the original cartoon there was a commercial saying that the Turtles were busy helping Santa Clause get ready for Christmas. At first I thought they were hinting at there being a Christmas special in the works, but much to my dismay it was just the network's amusing way of telling little kids that the show was just on a brief hiatus during the holiday season. I can't help but wonder if any other fans saw that commercial and jumped to a similar conclusion. The funny thing is we've seen the 1987 Turtles celebrating other holidays like Easter and Halloween, so why not Christmas? Up until now the only animated iteration of TMNT that had a Christmas episode was the 2003 series, and that one was based on the Michaelangelo micro-series by Eastman and Laird. I guess for whatever reason the only place to see the TMNT celebrating Christmas is in the comics and other reading material.  Pizza Hut loves doing business with TMNT, though originally Dominos was supposed to get that extreme pleasure, hence their pizza being shown in that first movie. It's not just pizzarias that get in on the TMNT craze. Burger King and even the big guy McDonald's has sold Ninja Turtle merchandise over the years! Frankly I'm a little surprised Dunkin' Donuts wasn't used during that one scene in Secret of the Ooze.  I always get a kick out of seeing the Turtles travel to far off worlds and alternate realities! Of course my favorite stories are when we get to see them cross paths with themselves from different iterations. While Turtles Forever kind of poked fun at the original cartoon for being silly, I loved seeing the 2003 TMNT interact with their 1987 counterparts (or at least a facsimile of them). Even more recently was when the 2012 TMNT got to meet their more accurate 1987 counterparts. I was really hoping we'd get to see it happen again in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, especially when taking into account how that version of Leonardo had a knack for opening portals.  Once in a while the original cartoon would hint that the Turtles have been on adventures that happened between episodes, having already met certain guest characters off-screen. A younger child may find it confusing, wondering if perhaps they might have missed an episode or two, but as we get older we learn that much like our real life friendships and relationships, everyone has their own life to live outside of their interactions with us. Not only that but the whole point of the show has always been to sell the toys, and with the toys we get to make up our own adventures to put these characters in, which in a funny way is how fan fiction started! |