Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Totally Explained

Everything about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles totally explained

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or simply Ninja Turtles, and previously known in the United Kingdom as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles) are a fictional team of four turtle mutants, who are trained by their sensei, Master Splinter, to become skilled Ninja warriors. From their home in the sewers of Manhattan, they battle petty criminals, evil megalomaniacs, and alien invaders, all while remaining isolated from society at large. The characters also initially appeared in comic books before being licensed for toys, cartoons and film adaptations.

Origins

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles originated in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984. The concept arose from a humorous drawing sketched out by Kevin Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming with his friend Peter Laird. Using money from a tax refund together with a loan from Eastman's uncle, the young artists self-published a single issue comic intended to parody four of the most popular comics of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics' Daredevil and New Mutants, Dave Sim's Cerebus and Frank Miller's Ronin.
Much of the Turtles' mainstream success is owed to a licensing agent, Mark Freedman, who sought out Eastman and Laird to propose wider merchandising opportunities for the offbeat property. In 1986, Dark Horse Miniatures produced a set of 15 mm lead figurines. In January 1988, they visited the offices of Playmates Toys Inc, a small California toy company who wished to expand into the action figure market. Accompanied by the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, the TMNT were soon catapulted into pop culture history. At the height of the frenzy, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Turtles' likenesses could be found on a wide range of children's merchandise, from PEZ dispensers to skateboards, breakfast cereal, toothpaste, school supplies and cameras. The original cartoon series was featured on VH1's I Love The 80's and the toys based upon the show were ranked 33 in I Love Toys.
In the 2000s there's a resurgence in the Turtles' popularity with the success of the recent animated series, a new line of Playmates action figures, Konami and Ubisoft's video games, and a computer-animated feature film.

Main characters

ť :For supporting characters see List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters

Leonardo (Blue) — Leonardo is known as the leader of the group. He is courageous, decisive, deadly, and a devoted student of martial arts. As a strict adherent to Bushido, he's a very strong sense of honor and justice. He wears a blue mask and wields a pair of katana. He is named after Leonardo Da Vinci.

Raphael (Red) — The team's anti-social bad boy, Raphael has an aggressive nature and seldom hesitates to throw the first punch. He is an intense fighter. His personality can be alternately fierce and sarcastic. He is intensely loyal to his brothers and sensei. He is good friends with Casey Jones, after having met him one night on patrol and challenging him to a fight. The two have since frequently patrolled together. Raphael wears a red mask and wields a pair of sai. He is named after Raphael Santi.
However, The Next Mutation never caught on with fans, and it was canceled after one season of twenty-six episodes. Since its cancellation, the program has been considered apocryphal by most of the TMNT fanbase, and Peter Laird has disavowed all knowledge of the character Venus de Milo, while Kevin Eastman is more open to talk about her.
On February 8, 2003, the Fox Network revived the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise with the help of 4Kids Entertainment as a Saturday morning cartoon in the "FoxBox" programming block, which has since been renamed "4Kids TV". The 2003 TMNT cartoon series is produced by Mirage Studios (External Link

), and Mirage owns one-third of the rights to the series. Mirage's significant stake in creative control results in a cartoon that hews more closely to the original comics, creating a darker and edgier feel than the 1987 cartoon, but still remaining lighthearted enough to be considered appropriate for children.

Anime

In addition to the American series, a Japanese exclusive two-episode anime OVA series was made in 1996, titled . The OVA was similar in tone to the humorous 1987 cartoon and uses the same voices from the Japanese dub of the 1987 cartoon.
The first episode was made to advertise the TMNT Supermutants toys. It featured the Turtles as superheroes, who gained costumes and super powers with the use of Mutastones, while Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady gained super-villain powers with the use of a Dark Mutastone. As with the Super Sentai franchise, the four Turtles can combine to form the giant Turtle Saint.
The second episode was created to advertise the Metal Mutants toys in which the characters gain Saint Seiya-esque mystical metal armor that can transform into beasts. The seven Japanese Mutanite stones encased in a magic mirror that control the Metal Beasts are based on the sun, moon, and the Five Elements In 1994, two live action, direct-to-video releases were released. Both were twenty-five minute videos. They were called "We Wish You a Turtle Christmas" and "Turtle Tunes". They were both very popular.

Mutanimals The Animated Series

Back in 1992 the Mutanimals were being shopped around by Mirage as a spin-off of the turtles. Ruby-Spears showed some interest, so an animation bible was produced along with a style guide of all the characters, environs and vehicles. Plot synopses for the first season were completed, with the 13 episodes centered around the Mutanimals' efforts to combat an invasion by Maligna.
All the regular cast of the Mutanimals make the transition, although they were redesigned, streamlined you might say, to accommodate budgetary restrictions in the animation process.
Krang makes the jump from the TMNT universe to become the main villain and friend of Maligna. A host of villains both new and old are on board to help keep the Mutanimals on their toes. Of note:

The Mutanimals get a new member, Ninjara.

The Turtles guest star in the first 4 episodes.

In Episode 9 the Mutanimals go to Dimension X to meet Cudley the Cowlick.

Playmates was to produce a wide line of figures, vehicles, and accessories based on the animation bible.

Feature films

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The first film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, closely follows the storyline from the Mirage comic books, in addition to some of the more lighthearted elements of the cartoons. This movie presents the origin story of Splinter and the Turtles, their initial encounters with April (Judith Hoag) and Casey (Elias Koteas), and their first confrontation with Shredder and his Foot Clan. Directed by Steve Barron and released by New Line Cinema, the film showcases the innovative puppetry techniques of Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

The sequel, titled, expands on the Turtles' origin story while claiming the distinction as Vanilla Ice's film debut. It is dedicated in memory of puppeteer Jim Henson. It also introduced the Turtles' human friend Keno (Ernie Reyes, Jr.) and Shredder's mutant henchmen Tokka and Rahzar. The original story was to include Bebop and Rocksteady at the insistence of the studio, but Laird and Eastman fought tooth and nail to prevent their inclusion, settling on Tokka and Rahzar as a compromise. The original ending to Ooze would also reveal the benevolent TGRI scientist, Jordon Perry (David Warner), to have been an Utrom. But due to budget constraints, plus the fear he may be mistaken for the character Krang, the plot twist was abandoned.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

The third film in the series is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, which features Elias Koteas reprising his role as the character Casey Jones. The plot revolves around the "Sacred Sands of Time", a mystical scepter which transports the Turtles back in time to feudal Japan, where they become embroiled in a conflict between the Daimyo, aided by a British gunrunner and a group of rebellious villagers. This was the least successful film in the series and was panned by critics.

TMNT

The Turtles' fourth feature film, titled simply TMNT, was released March 23, 2007. Unlike the previous films, it utilized 100% computer-generated imagery, produced by Imagi Animation Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Weinstein Company. Chronologically, this movie takes place after the third movie. According to a press release, "the PG-rated movie will derive its tone from the original comic-book series and will be slightly grittier than the previous live-action pictures. The animation was created in Imagi's state-of-the-art facility in Hong Kong." The teaser trailer was released July 20, 2006. A second trailer was released January 17, 2007. The storyline focuses on an ancient legend of five siblings and thirteen monsters, taking a giant leap from any preceding turtle movies yet gave small evidence to the fact that the 3 movies had preceded this one (including showing the magic staff from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, the canister the 'ooze' came from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II near the ending, and Shredder's helmet from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film).
The movie takes place after Shredder's defeat, with the team essentially broken as Leonardo is training in Central America, Donatello and Michaelangelo have jobs, and Raphael spends his time as the vigilante crimefighter 'Nightwatcher'. Leonardo returns when Max Winters, an immortal warrior who tried to take over the world 3,000 years ago, begins hunting for alien beasts and stone statues of his former Generals. However, tensions begin to rise between Raphael and Leonardo over the leadership of the team. The Foot Clan also make an appearance, with Karai leading them. It is hinted towards the end of the film by a comment by Karai that either the Shredder isn't dead, there's a new incarnation of the Shredder in the Foot Clan, or that he'll be resurrected.

Toys and merchandise

Among the first licensed products to feature the Ninja Turtles was a pen and paper RPG titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, published by Palladium Books in 1985 and featuring original comics and illustrations by Eastman and Laird themselves. The game features a large list of animals, including pandas and sparrows, that are available as mutant player characters. There were several more titles in this genre, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, Truckin' Turtles, Turtles Go Hollywood, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Guide to the Universe and Transdimensional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 1986, Dark Horse Miniatures in Boise, Idaho produced an attendant set of lead figurines, unlike later incarnations the bandannas on the store's display set were painted all red before the multicolored versions were released to help younger readers distinguish between the four characters other than their weaponry. Palladium allowed the license to lapse in 2000, in part due to declining sales stemming from the kiddification of the animated and live-action incarnations to that point. However, Palladium's publisher, Kevin Siembieda, has indicated a potential willingness to revisit the license given the franchise's recent moves closer to its roots. During the run of the 1987 cartoon, Playmates Toys produced hundreds of TMNT action figures, along with vehicles, play sets, and accessories, becoming one of the top collectibles for children. Staff artists at Northampton, Massachusetts-based Mirage Studios provided conceptual designs for many of the figures, vehicles and playsets and creator credit can be found in the legal text printed on the back of the toy packaging. The line featured many different variants of the TMNT, such as "Farmer Mike" and "Classic Rocker Leo." In addition, Playmates produced a series of TMNT/Star Trek crossover figures, due to Playmates holding the Star Trek action figure license at the time.
   The series was highly popular in the UK where, in the run-up to Christmas, the Army & Navy Store in London's Lewisham devoted its entire basement to everything Turtle, including games, videos, costumes etc.
   Playmates continues to produce TMNT action figures based on the 2003 animated series. The 2007 film TMNT also gave Playmates a new source to make figures. And in September of 2007 NECA announced that they'd produce figures based on character designs from the original Mirage comics. As of April 2008 there have been toys released of the 4 turtles with their weapons, a piece of an interhooking platform, a can of ooze, an unmutated turtle toy, and two alternate hands. It features a detailed color/design job as well as 20 points of articulation. The first Famicom/NES TMNT game was the single-player Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, released by Konami/Ultra in 1989. It was unique in that at any point, the player could switch from one turtle to the next to take advantage of each Turtle's strengths. In addition, the player starts off in a strategic map where the player may explore sewer holes as well as engage patrolling enemy foot soldiers before entering any in-game portals. The game was also released on the many home computers, but these conversions were hastily made and got negative reviews. Years later the game was released for the Wii on the Virtual Console.
   Also released by Konami in 1989 was the first TMNT arcade game, also titled simply Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This side-scrolling "beat-em-up" was ported to the NES as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game and in March of 2007 to the Xbox 360 as TMNT 1989 Arcade game though Xbox Live Arcade by Ubisoft. This led to an NES-only sequel, entitled, which used the look of the arcade game, as opposed the first NES game. The next Turtles game,, was released in 1991 as an arcade game, and was later ported to the Super Nintendo as in 1992. was also created for the Sega Genesis in the same year, and used many of the art assets from TMNT IV.
   As the video game series progressed, programmers began to incorporate unique signature moves for each Turtle, as well as game features such as "Versus mode" and "Time Attack mode." When the Ninja Turtles' popularity began to decline in the mid-nineties, the video games changed direction. was released as a one-on-one fighting game similar to the Street Fighter series. It is of note that, whilst this game would see release on both the Megadrive/Genesis and Super Nintendo consoles, though using similar art assets, the games are essentially different (a common occurrence for 16-bit licensed titles of the era, such as Disney's Aladdin).
   Konami also acquired the license to adapt the 2003 animated series into a video game franchise, resulting in a new series of games with the same button mashing gameplay as the old TMNT "beat 'em ups." (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 video game), , and .) In 2006, Ubisoft acquired the rights of TMNT games, beginning with a game based on the 2007 animated feature film.

Food tie-ins

During the height of their popularity ('88-'93) the Turtles had a number of food tie-ins. Among the most notable of these products was Ninja Turtles Cereal, produced by Ralston-Purina as a kind of "Chex with TMNT-themed marshmallows" which also came with a small pouch of; Pizza Crunchabungas, pizza flavored corn snacks in the shape of pizzas (the commercial starred the Ninja Turtles as Will Vinton-created claymations); Hostess Ninja Turtles Pudding Pies, featuring a green sugar crust and vanilla pudding inside; and Royal OOZE Gelatin Desserts, distributed by Nabisco under "Royal Gelatin" in three different flavors: orange, strawberry, and lime. Shreddies used to give out TMNT toys in their boxes when the cereal advertising was still geared toward children. One example of a TMNT prize was rings featuring a character on the cartoon (1992). There was also green Ninja Turtle ice cream with different toppings according to which turtle flavour you ordered. Franco-American also released a spaghetti-O type canned pasta with the pasta in the shapes of the four turtles themselves.

Concert tour

To further add to the Turtles' popularity, a concert tour was held in 1990, premiering at Radio City Music Hall. The "Coming Out of Their Shells" tour featured live-action turtles (in costumes similar to the films) playing music as a band (Donatello; keyboards, Leonardo; bass guitar, Raphael; drums & sax, Michelangelo; guitar) on stage around a familiar plotline: April O'Neil is kidnapped by the Shredder, the turtle guys have to rescue her. The story had a very Bill-n'-Ted-esque feel, with its theme of the power of rock n' roll literally defeating the enemy, in the form of the Shredder (who only rapped, about how he hates music) trying to eliminate all music (interestingly, the first two films featured rap in their soundtracks). A pay-per-view special highlighting the concert was shown, and a studio album was also released. The track listing is as follows:

Coming Out of Our Shells!

Sing About It

Tubin'

Skipping Stones

Pizza Power

Walk Straight

No Treaties

Cowabunga

April Ballad

Count on Us

Since the tour was sponsored by Pizza Hut in real life, there are many references to their pizza. Empty Pizza Hut boxes are seen onscreen during the "Behind The Shells" VHS. As part of a cross-marketing strategy, Pizza Hut restaurants gave away posters, audio cassettes of "Coming Out of Their Shells," and "Official Tour Guides" as premiums.
The original show of the tour was released on video with a making of video also released. The song "Pizza Power" was later used by Konami for the second arcade game .

MGM Studios

On June 30, 1990 the TMNT arrived in the "New York Street" section of Disney-MGM Studios theme park in Orlando. Emerging from their Turtle Party Wagon, they'd "ninja dance" across the stage while April performed the theme song to the show. After the main show was done they'd pose for pictures and sign autographs.
The Turtles made appearances in Walt Disney's "Very Merry Christmas Parade" to sing their own rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". They also appeared during the Easter parade dancing to their single "Pizza Power!" The Turtles' live shows and appearances ceased production in 1996.

Parodies/References

Although the TMNT had originated as a parody, the comic's explosive success led to a wave of small-press, black & white comic parodies of TMNT itself, including Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos, Cold-Blooded Chameleon Commandos, and a host of others. Dark Horse Comics' Boris the Bear was launched in response to these TMNT clones; its first issue was titled "Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters." Once the Turtles broke into the mainstream, parodies also proliferated in other media, such as in satire magazines Cracked and MAD Magazine.

Controversy

Grim 'n Gritty comics

In keeping with their parody of "grim 'n gritty" comics of the early 1980s, the Turtles engaged in a greater amount of overt violence in the pages of the early Mirage comic book series. As the TMNT were introduced into the mainstream, they were radically redesigned for a younger audience. This evolution incensed a core group of fans who had faithfully collected the independently-published comic series from its inception. They accused Eastman and Laird of selling out their indie roots in favor of corporate greed. In issue #19 of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the creators published an editorial addressing these concerns. It stated, in part: "We've allowed the wacky side to happen, and enjoy it very much. All the while, though, we've kept the originals very much ours – forty pages of what we enjoy and want to see in our books, whether it comes from our own hands or from those of the talented people we work with."

Children and consumerism

For many parents in the late 1980s, the Ninja Turtles phenomenon represented the latest in a series of shrewd cartoon-toy marketing strategies, a trend that had proven very profitable with Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and a host of other "good vs. evil" action-adventure franchises. Parents often found themselves at odds with children who demanded scads of toys and accessories after being subjected to so-called "30 minute commercials" delivered via after-school television.

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

Upon TMNT's first arrival in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, Austria and Germany, the name was changed to "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" (or TMHT, for short), since local censorship policies deemed the word ninja to have excessively violent connotations for a children's program. Consequently, everything related to the Turtles had to be renamed before being released in these nations. The lyrics were also changed, such as changing "Splinter taught them to be ninja teens" to the "Splinter taught them to be fighting teens."
   The policies also had other effects, such as removing use of Michaelangelo's nunchaku (which were at the time banned from appearing in even 18-rated movies) and generally toning down the usage of all the turtles' weapons. After many seasons of never using his nunchaku, they eventually disappeared entirely, replaced by a turtle shell shaped grappling hook called the "Turtle Line".
   However, when the live-action movie came out in 1990, the "Ninja" of the title was kept even in the UK. In time, nunchaku scenes were retained in previously-censored movies such as those of Bruce Lee.
   By the time of the 2003 TV series, these censorship policies had been abolished, and no changes have occurred in the content of the show. The name "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" remained unchanged for the 2003 show. As a result, in the UK, the 1987 program is still called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and the 2003 program is called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, hence a disambiguation between the two TV series.

Red-eared Terrapin

The stories contain enough evidence to identify the four Turtles as specimens of the Red-eared Terrapin or Trachemys scripta elegans. That encouraged a big craze for keeping them as pets.
After the craze passed, it was speculated that people often disposed of unwanted turtles by releasing them into the wild, including in areas where they don't occur naturally, risking upsetting the ecology of that area.

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