Now, while many believe it to be where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles begun, it was itself actually based on a comic, written by Eastman and Laird, from a few years earlier. The comic was actually far darker, more serious, and violent than the cartoon, which was initially just supposed to be one big advertisement for the toyline. There were also many iterations that followed the series, such as a series of movies, a 2nd cartoon in 2003, a 3rd, ongoing cartoon in 2012, and an ongoing IDW comic series. Despite all this, we are here to speak on the original cartoon which is also the most popular version of the franchise (even getting it's own "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures" comic series that I won't be getting into). Despite this show being considered a pivotal part of 90s popular culture, its first few seasons aired in the 80s, and the lower animation quality (compared to other cartoons that are considered part of the 90s) shows that. However, I'm not going to be too hard on the animation, it's passable. Before I get any further into this, I must confess, I actually prefer the 2000s version of the show to this version, and it will most likely show in the review; However, this version is more iconic and even putting that aside, it's pretty kickass. Now, let's get into the actual show with the first thing you see of it, the opening theme song.
The opening is catchy as all hell and it does something I think isn't done enough nowadays in opening themes; it describes the premise of the series, introducing us to each character. Leonardo is the leader in the blue bandana, Donatello is the tech-genius in purple, Michaelangelo is the party guy in orange, and Raphael is the sarcastic dry humour one in red. *Fun fact, in the original comics, they all wore red bandannas but to distinguish them better for the kids they gave them each colours and a belt with their intials. Though the belts didn't last after this series, the colours are a staple of the franchise now*. Besides just our titular heroes we also meet their supporting cast: April O'Neil, Irma, and Splinter.
April and Irma are best friends and the only people who know where the Turtles live (at first, later a kid named Zach is introduced but he doesn't appear too much, or at all after this show). April is the reporter that every 11 year old boy had a crush on, and Irma is her nerdy, desperate-for-a-man, cameragirl/sidekick who in this version has far more of a personality than her. April usually isn't much more than a damsel-in-distress here, unlike her later versions who are far more independant and feisty. Splinter is a sage old wiseman (wiserat?) who, you guessed it, is a rat. As the opening theme shows, he once was a man but was actually turned into a rat by the same mutagen that made the Turtles kinda humanish, which is a cool way to connect them, Splinter is a father figure to the TMNT and also the one who taught them how to ninja. He's a cool guy to watch on screen.
The main villain is the Shredder, a ninja master who leads the Foot Clan, who in this version and this version only, are robots. They're robots so that the Turtles can beat them up without any parents complaining. That is why they are robots. They are also useless. So are Krang's mutant henchmen, Bebop and Rocksteady. HOWEVER BEBOP AND ROCKSTEADY ARE HILARIOUS SO IT'S COOL. Who is Krang you ask? The Shredder's partner in crime, an alien from Dimension X who desires to conquer Earth. These four work so well off eachother that they're one of the funniest parts of the show. A+
However they inevitably are replaced by *sigh* Lord Dregg. This show suffered from severe seasonal rot, it lasted 10 seasons (including the 1st, which was all one 5 part episode) but the last 3 got a new opening theme and villain that screamed "Hey look at us, we are trying way too hard to remain relevant past our time by becoming edgy, also we're going to ripoff our own movies now*. Dregg is a much eviler villain than Shredder or Krang, but his design is ridiculous and he's not funny. I'm kinda even more disappointed by the "Red Sky" seasons as the last season before them, Season 7, was my favourite. See, the Turtles live in New York and almost never leave the city, however they spent half of Season 7 vacationing in Europe, reacting to new environments.
Now, don't let my criticism send the wrong message, I really love this series for its fun, kid-friendly, energy; not even the Red Sky seasons could change that. Rating: 88, this one is really a treat that you should definitely checkout if you're a fan of the franchise who's never seen it, or someone who liked this as a kid who hasn't seen it in a while. Thanks for your time, I hoped you liked the review and please comment!
