Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to kids in the late 80s-early 90s were among the most popular toy lines available, as well as one of the most popular cartoons both on syndication and CBS Saturday Morning. They were talking turtles with a rat leader, living in the sewers, using matrial arts to fight bad guys in New York City, eating pizza, cracking jokes, and hanging out with hottie April O'Neil. I mean, as kids, we loved it! Now revisiting this series, the cartoon that started in 1987 and wrapped up in 1996, I can see some significant flaws and how the show went from an action/comedy classic to over the top cheesy to more serious.
The show began in 1987 as a mini-series that played on syndication (mainly new FOX stations). The turtles before this were a little known cult comic book series that was VERY different from what ended up in the cartoon. In the comic, they were violent, wise cracking turtles who cussed, smoked, drank and weren't afraid to cut off heads or other body parts. It was a dark strip, similar to Batman pre and post campy era and Sin City. To make the cartoon more in line with the new toy line and appealing to children, many things were changed and liberties taken. The turtles were given colored masks to tell them apart (in the comic book they all wore red masks). Also, while still wise cracking, their personalities were toned down significantly, in particular Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael was still "rude" but in a much nicer way and Michelangelo started talking in surfer lingo, popularized by many films in the mid 80s like Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Also, the turtles weren't nearly as violent, rarely using their weapons and instead of fighting humans like the comics, they fought robot foot soldiers and mutants from Dimension X. Pizza, Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and the Technodrome were all additions to the cartoon series.
The cartoon did a wonderful job appealing to children and changing the attitude from the comic strip. It was funny and fun and kept viewers interested. The first season in particular did a wonderful job of keeping the action and comedy at a great balance. The turtles fought with their weapons, the animation was high quality, and the entire five episode series had an edge to it. That completely changed in the second season were the series started going downhill fast. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the creators of the series, were disappointed in this change. They wanted to keep the dark, edgy elements. Instead, the jokes got corny, the fighting scenes silly, the animation poor and the writing atrocious. This continued until the last two seasons, were the show tried going back in a dark direction, but it was too late by that point, as most of the fans had grown up and moved past this series.
Overall, as a kid I couldn't get enough of this show, but as an adult now I see how bad some of the episodes were and how far it strayed from its source of material. If you haven't read the highly underrated comic book series, I recommend it. It's like night and day to what they became by the early 90s. I'd honestly love an adult swim series that goes off the comic book that appeals to young adults and more mature audiences. While the new cartoon is doing great on Nick, us adults who grew up on these guys would more than welcome them back as a show that has more adult themes.
The show began in 1987 as a mini-series that played on syndication (mainly new FOX stations). The turtles before this were a little known cult comic book series that was VERY different from what ended up in the cartoon. In the comic, they were violent, wise cracking turtles who cussed, smoked, drank and weren't afraid to cut off heads or other body parts. It was a dark strip, similar to Batman pre and post campy era and Sin City. To make the cartoon more in line with the new toy line and appealing to children, many things were changed and liberties taken. The turtles were given colored masks to tell them apart (in the comic book they all wore red masks). Also, while still wise cracking, their personalities were toned down significantly, in particular Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael was still "rude" but in a much nicer way and Michelangelo started talking in surfer lingo, popularized by many films in the mid 80s like Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Also, the turtles weren't nearly as violent, rarely using their weapons and instead of fighting humans like the comics, they fought robot foot soldiers and mutants from Dimension X. Pizza, Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and the Technodrome were all additions to the cartoon series.
The cartoon did a wonderful job appealing to children and changing the attitude from the comic strip. It was funny and fun and kept viewers interested. The first season in particular did a wonderful job of keeping the action and comedy at a great balance. The turtles fought with their weapons, the animation was high quality, and the entire five episode series had an edge to it. That completely changed in the second season were the series started going downhill fast. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the creators of the series, were disappointed in this change. They wanted to keep the dark, edgy elements. Instead, the jokes got corny, the fighting scenes silly, the animation poor and the writing atrocious. This continued until the last two seasons, were the show tried going back in a dark direction, but it was too late by that point, as most of the fans had grown up and moved past this series.
Overall, as a kid I couldn't get enough of this show, but as an adult now I see how bad some of the episodes were and how far it strayed from its source of material. If you haven't read the highly underrated comic book series, I recommend it. It's like night and day to what they became by the early 90s. I'd honestly love an adult swim series that goes off the comic book that appeals to young adults and more mature audiences. While the new cartoon is doing great on Nick, us adults who grew up on these guys would more than welcome them back as a show that has more adult themes.