Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Thread

[Drtooth]

Major update

It looks like the DVD plans are tentative, but they won't be released as a boxed set, unlike previously reported.

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=100058 for more details!

 

[Kamit]

*takes deep breath* Beware - this is gonna be a long one

First off I want to say that I love the new show to pieces. I loved the old show in it's day but I have to say I like the new one better. They are treating it much more intelligently this time around (better plot, better characterization, better bad guys etc). Usually I say that the 80's version appeals to the fan I was when I was a kid and that TMNT 2K3 is best for the fan I am now.

I like the new character designs. Initially they reminded me of the old first-run action figures (you know, before "Sewer surfing Michealangelo" and so forth). If you look really closely each Turtle is actually a different shade of green. I like how they give it that individual touch (unlike the old show where the only difference was the bandana colour and the letter on their belt buckle).

I like how Splinter has a bit of attitude! You can tell where the guys get some of their bantering ways from now. And Shredder is actually evil, Evil.

And I'm probably happiest of all as a Leo fan-girl. He has always been my favorite but in the old series he often came in last place as far as time-in-the-Turtle-spotlight. He's more than making up for it now! Leo is THE Turtle!

I also love how the new show fits in little "in-jokes" and pop culture references. There is the aforementioned "A very wise frog once said....." quote and then there is the following scene. It comes from part three of the Secret Origins storyline.
April and Casey are in the BattleShell wondering what the heck is going on inside the TCRI building. They know the Turtles are inside but the problem is the army has surronded the building.
April decides "well, they [the army] won't talk to us but they might talk to a TV news reporter." And she comes out of the back of the van wearing this yellowjumpsuit which, as Casey put it, "Looks great! If you're supposed to be handling toxic waste that is."
At the end of the ep, once they are again reunite with the Turtles, Leo teases her, asking if she's now a TV reporter. She scoffs and goes "Yeah right. Maybe in a previous life."
Plus, there is a reference to Krang a little earlier in the ep as well.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

How cool Palisades Muppet series may be, still my favourite toy ever is my Triceraton action figure

This is one of my favourite action figures of all time. I often keep it on my desk.

 

[Fozzie]

This is one of my favourite action figures of all time. .

I agree.

 

[Drtooth]

This is one of my favourite action figures of all time. I often keep it on my desk.

Just wait! A triceriton General and Warrior are planned in the series, coming out later this year..., and unlike the old show, kids actually know what a triceriton is!

 

[Fragglemuppet]

Sorry to bump this ancient thread, but remember when that used to be a favorite pasttime?


Anyway, I know there were probably newer threads that touched on the topic, but I wanted to find a thread that was just based on the TMNT, for myself and others to talk about the fandom and such. The thing that makes this kinda special for me is that I'm fairly new. When I was a kid it was my cousin who was all about the TMNT. The show was always on it seemed, he had all the toys, Etc. I was just a tiny bit curious as I got older, but it was his thing and I was a little girl, and so I wasn't really that interested. Long story short, last summer or so a bunch of different factors converged to turn me into a fan, and now I love them! I love both versions, for like someone said here earlier, there's almost no comparing them. Yes, I know the old series had problems, but I tend to give it more credit than most people do. Sure, it was a bit silly at times, but I felt it also had a few deeper, slightly more serious moments. I do have a soft spot for the old Shredder, (I actually prefer him to the 2003 one), Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady.
I'm sure I'll have much more to add later. First I just wanted to get this discussion going again.

 

[Drtooth]

I hate that the 2k3 series got treated by anyone over the age of 10. It was a really great series that could stand on its own and doesn't need to be compared to the old one because they're completely different shows. Sure, When Playmates screwed around with the show to sell toys and we got the lame Fast Forward and the even lamer transition series, Back to the Sewers (which wasn't even all that bad, considering how batcrap insane some of the show concepts they had were)... but after the show ended and everyone liked it while it was on the air, everyone then turned on it, treating it even worse than those Frog Awful concert videos.

That said, the best concepts in the series were adding Casey Jones to the cast permanently (I hate how he's only in 3 episodes of the old series), April being able to fend for herself and being a scientific genius (the 80's show used her as a damsel in distress way too many times), and my personal favorite, egotistical Baxter Stockman that kept getting beaten up so badly by Shredder's goons he became a borderline suicidal robot. I mean, the episode "Insane in the Membrane" is just the most intense thing I've seen on American kid's programming, even though I had to buy a DVD to see it.

Sure, I still like the old series... but I didn't want to see a copy of it. It had a nice long run, and I would like something new. After all, that's how Batman keeps staying relevant. They change the tone of the show and character to find younger audiences. The older audiences have their favorite version, the younger ones find a new version... that's how Super Hero/comic book based cartoons and movies work.

 

[Fragglemuppet]

Hmmm, with April, I think each version annoys me for different reasons. Now let me start by saying that April is my favorite character. I love all characters who fill her role in shows, the outside friend, as I call it. The classic one was maybe less irritating than the 03 one. The 03 one was more realistic, to be sure, and I liked that, but she maybe wasn't used quite enough, and she seemed a bit flat and unemotional at times.
As for Backster, I actually prefered the older one. Sure, he was more cartoony, but it was easier to feel sorry for him, the way he was just this innocent guy, though with a bit of an attitude, who was roped in by Shredder. Maybe it's the woman in me, but I've always loved those characters who I could feel for and care about and all that jazz. Sure, when Shredder started tormenting him how could you help but feel for him? But you gotta admit the 03 Stockman made himself rather unlikeable from the start by trying to kill April.

Oh, and I do love Casey! He reminds me a bit of my uncle. They both have that blue collar, tough guy yet somewhat socially awkward and blockheaded thing going on.

I never saw the classic version of him. Actually I've probably seen less than half of the classic series at this point, while seeing most of the 03 series, stopping a few episodes into fast forward.

Anyway, I've gotta be honest. Part of my reason for bumping this thread, besides genuinly trying to bring fans together on MC, was to do a bit of plugging. A friend of mine has started a facebook group, where anyone who wants to talk about any version of the turtles, or any aspect of turtle fandom is welcome.
http://m.facebook.com/groups/308301995899981?refid=27

 

[Drtooth]

As for Backster, I actually prefered the older one. Sure, he was more cartoony, but it was easier to feel sorry for him, the way he was just this innocent guy, though with a bit of an attitude, who was roped in by Shredder. Maybe it's the woman in me, but I've always loved those characters who I could feel for and care about and all that jazz. Sure, when Shredder started tormenting him how could you help but feel for him? But you gotta admit the 03 Stockman made himself rather unlikeable from the start by trying to kill April.

I kinda liked Fly Baxter, but nervous white guy Baxter annoyed the heck out of me. Quite the opposite, I liked how Shredder was able to abuse him in a way that he could never do to Bebop and Rocksteady. Shredder's abuse under Krang getting transferred to someone else. That's funny stuff. But when he turned Fly and wanted revenge, that was when the character got interesting.

Still, anytime Baxter showed up in the 2k3 series, it was a party. Even with Fast Forward. Too bad they never actually finished Fast Forward... I wanted to see the damage Baxter could have done as head of the Department of Agriculture.

Of course, the one thing I really hated about the original series were when the writers got overworked and crapped out lame stories about goofy cartoony aliens having some weird alien technology that Shredder and Krang had to steal. Mainly because they did that multiple times in a season to the point where one of the cartoony aliens came back with his even more annoying family. The Polariszoids appeared twice in a season or 2 season period... The Triceritons only appeared in season 6 as a subplot. And those WERE from the original comics. And don't get me started on Mr. Ogg. Did they really need to ripoff Mr. Mxyzotlk and make him sound like Pee Wee Herman and not actually do anything interesting, other than turning buildings to ice cream?

 

[minor muppetz]

I find it interesting that although almost every character from the original series got to be made as an action figure (and they also made action figures of characrters not in the series), they never released a human Baxter Stockman figure, and only released two of the four frogs (for a long time I thought Gengis was the only one made as a toy). They should have at least included Baxter in the Mutations line of figures, since his human form was a regular character, whereas the human forms of Splinter, Bebop, and Rocksteady were limited to the first episodes and one episode later (while a clip of Splinter's human form was in the opening).

I wonder if they ever considered having the animated series voice actors do the voices in the live-action movies.