Peter Renaday (born June 9, 1935 as Pierre L. Renoudet) is an American voice actor and the regular voice actor for Splinter in the 1987 animated series.
| Hamato Yoshi | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Home | Japan, Earth, NYC |
| Ethnicity | Japanese |
| Aliases | Yoshihama Takeshi (TV Tokyo dub) |
| Nickname(s) | Splinter |
| Weapon(s) of choice | Sword |
| Occupation | Foot Clan member, Ninja, Utrom Guardian (2003 Series) |
| Affiliation | Foot Clan, Utrom Guardians |
| Physical description | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | ? |
| Weight | ? |
| Hair color | Black/White |
| Eye color | Brown, Black, Grey, Blue |
| Out of universe information | |
| Era(s) | Mirage, 1987 series, First movie,Archie, 2003 series, , Video games |
| Publisher | Mirage Studios, Archie Comics,Konami |
| First appearance | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 1 (Mirage) |
| Created by | Kevin Eastman Peter Laird |
| Voiced by | Peter Renaday (1987 series) Eric Stuart (2003 series) |
Hamato Yoshi in all continuities, was once a great and honourableninja whose story is always closely intertwined with that of Splinter. He is almost always dead when the story starts.
In most versions he was the owner of a pet rat who became Splinter; this includes the original comics and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 cartoon series. The earlier 1987 cartoon series (along with theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics) provided a twist in that Hamato Yoshi was Splinter, having been turned into a giant rat. This revelation is to also be set in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series)).
Eastman and Laird’s TMNT
In the comics, Hamato Yoshi is a highly-ranked member of the Foot Clan in Japan. Splinter is his pet, who copies him as he practicesNinjutsu. When he got romantically involved with Tang Shen, he invoked the jealousy ofOroku Nagi, who also loved Shen. When Nagi got enraged with jealousy, Yoshi was forced to kill him to protect Shen. Dishonored for having killed another member of the clan, Yoshi was forced to choose between exile and death. He choose exile and moved to New York City with Shen. Years later, Oroku Nagi’s brother, Oroku Sakikilled them both to avenge Nagi. Splinter escaped to the sewers, where he and the Turtles were mutated. He taught them Ninjutsu in order to avenge the death of Hamato Yoshi.
In Tales of TMNT #22, the Turtles encounter a female ninja with a Shredder gauntlet. She vows to kill the Turtles for crimes Hamato Yoshi committed against her family.
Like in the earlier comics, Hamato Yoshi was a member of the Foot Clan. However, Oroku Saki frames Hamato Yoshi for plotting to kill of one of the Foot’s Clan leaders. Yoshi is exiled to New York City, where he is forced to live in the sewers and befriend the rats. Years later, when Saki moved to New York himself, he dumps the mutagen into the sewers to kill Yoshi. However, the mutagen mutates Yoshi and his four pet turtles. Yoshi turns into a giant rat, the last animal he was in contact with, and takes on the name Splinter, a nickname the Turtles gave him.
The Archie comics gave more backstory to Hamato Yoshi when he, the Turtles and April visited Japan. He recounted his youth training under his Uncle Giyogi near the outskirts of Hiroshima, and personally saw the devastation of the city after the atomic bomb was deployed.
Yoshi’s story, explained in the first movie mirrors the story of the original comic books, except Oroku Nagi is removed from the story and the conflict is with Oroku Saki himself rather than Oroku Nagi. Instead of fleeing the clan because of a murder of a clan member, Tang Shen persuades Yoshi to flee to America in order to avoid dueling Saki, (presumably to the death) for her hand in marriage. Saki vows vengeance and spent years searching for them. Saki eventually finds and kills both Yoshi and Shen in their New York apartment, leaving Yoshi’s pet rat Splinter homeless. The actor who portrayed him was uncredited.
In the third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, the turtles save a child named Yoshi from a burning building in 17th century Japan, Michaelangelo getting him out of the building and Leonardo subsequently performing CPR. This Yoshi’s relationship with Hamato Yoshi is never fully explained, but based on the number of past incarnations of other characters that the turtles meet on this adventure (such as a British ancestor of Casey Jones, Whit) a direct relationship between this boy and Hamato Yoshi seems implied. If this is indeed the case, then when the turtles save the boy’s life, they are also saving their own future, as their origin is inexorably tied to the fate of Hamato Yoshi.
Hamato Yoshi’s story has been fully revised in this version. The story is revealed in A Tale of Master Yoshi.
Hamato Yoshi was an orphan, living in the streets of Japan with his best friend, Yukio Mashimi, in the 1960s. When Yoshi returned a 5-yen coin dropped by the Ancient One, he took them in for their honesty, raised them as his sons, and taught them Ninjutsu. They both fell in love with Tang Shen, another orphan taken in by the Ancient One. Shen loved Yoshi more. During this time, Shen found a rat in the house and kept him as a pet.
One night, Yoshi, Shen, and Mashimi saw a lone man being attacked by four ninjas. Yoshi and Mashimi decided to help the man and fought off the ninjas. The man was actually the Utrom Mortu and the ninjas were members of the Foot Clan. Impressed by their skill and already having his secret revealed due to battle damage, Martu offered to make the two Guardians. They accepted, despite their master’s objections.
As a Guardian, Yoshi seemed to advance continually, while Mashimi never seemed to get anywhere. In anger, he murdered Tang Shen and betrayed the Utroms to The Shredder. Yoshi and the Utroms managed to escape with their lives. When Yoshi returned to the Ancient One, he found his master cradling Tang Shen’s body. In anger, despite counsel from his master, Yoshi stormed the Foot’s citadel and killed Mashimi in single combat.
With their Tokyo base discovered, the Utrom set up a new base in New York under the name T.C.R.I.. Yoshi went with them, taking Shen’s rat with him. He named the rat Splinter to remind him of the splinters of anger and hate that drove him to kill Mashimi.
However, the Shredder followed Yoshi and tried to force him to reveal the location of the Utroms. Yoshi resisted and was killed. Splinter escaped to the sewers, where he mutated along with the Turtles. He proceed to teach them Ninjutsu, just as he had learned from Yoshi.
Yoshi was also a champion of the Battle Nexus.
It’s revealed in The Lost Episodes that Yoshi and the Utrom tried to get the Ninja Tribunal’s help in the fight against the Utrom Shredder, warning them that the alien may challenge the evil one. Due to their refusal to help, Splinter partially blames them for Yoshi’s death.
When the Tengu Shredder goes to attack Splinter, Hamato Yoshi manifested from the Turtles’ medallions. He snatches the Shredder’s trident and then slashes him with it, causing precious energy to leak from his armor. When the Tengu Shredder was on the verge of defeat, Yoshi manifests himself through the Turtles’ medallions again, which shatters them and then he slayed the demon by slicing him in half.
When you beat the very first video game Splinter turns back into Yoshi. Yoshi is an unlockable playable character in the 2003 video game. In the TMNT GBA game you get a Hamato Yoshi Statue Trophy, for finishing all acts and obtaining a total high score.
Hamato Yoshi is a member of the Foot Clan in feudal Japan. When fellow clansman Oroku Saki advocated the murder of innocents, Yoshi left the clan. In retribution, Saki had his wife, Tang Shen, murdered. With her dying breaths, Shen told Yoshi flee with their four sons. Years later, Saki and his ninja caught up to Yoshi and his sons, killing all of them. Before he was slain, he prayed to Buddha and all other powers of the universe that he and his sons would be able to come back for revenge on Saki. In 2011, they were reincarnated as Splinter and the four Turtles.
| Vernon Fenwick | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Home | Earth, New York City |
| Nickname(s) | Vern Burke, Vernon Brindle |
| Occupation | Channel 6 Cameraman |
| Affiliation | Channel 6 |
| Physical description | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 5’9″ |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Black |
| Out of universe information | |
| Era(s) | 1987 series, Archie |
| Voiced by | Peter Renaday Pat Fraley (earlier) |
Vernon Fenwick was a cameraman at Channel 6 in the 1987 TV series and Archie Comics. Vernon Fenwick and Burne Thompsonoften blamed the Turtles for crimes. Sometimes Vernon Fenwick tried to take April’s place as a news reporter, but his cowardice in the face of almost everything was his undoing. Interestingly, in the pilot episode, Vernon stood up for April after she had gone missing. Vernon often sped away from the first sign of trouble, often leaving behind April. He was once abducted by the Turtles and blindfolded in order to operate sound equipment that neither April nor the Turtles knew how to use. His blindfolding was presumably not to reveal the Turtles or their hideout. Although April was annoyed by Vernon for the most part, in The Mutagen Monster she recruits the Turtles to rescue Vernon from danger after learning a crash of two chemical trains has made mutagen, resulting in two bulls transforming into a monster. Vernon did have more courage when trapped in a tough situation. In Leatherhead Meets the Rat King, April, Irma and Vernon are trapped in the sewers by Leatherhead and the Rat King. The two villains become angrier with each other and resort to fighting rather than kidnapping, and Vernon stands his ground and uses the video camera to record the fight. April thanks Vernon for getting great footage and believes it will be a great story. However, his pride proves his undoing, as he attempts to say the story was his idea, until Donatello says he failed to pay attention to detail by not removing the cap from the camera lens. When Vernon and April were kidnapped by Don Turtelli, he uses his infamous “tickle torture” on Vernon, who refuses to reveal secrets, actually earning praise from April for not cracking under pressure. In the first season he is called “Vern Burke”, and in at least one comic he was called “Vernon Brindle”.
Chrome Dome
Home - Technodrome, Shredder’s Metal Shop
Weapon(s) of choice - Thunder Gauntlets, Laser Gun, blasters, cannons, missiles, Silicon Sai, Neutron Ninja Swords, Gigobyte Goupillon, Shogun Sash
Affiliation - Foot Clan, Shredder Elite
Species - Robot
Height - 5′ 10″
Weight - 200 lbs 600 programmed lbs
Hair color - None
Eye color - Red
Era(s) - 1987 series, Archie, Video games
Created by - Michael Dooney
Voiced by - Peter Renaday
Chrome Dome is a huge robot built by the Shredder to supervise the Foot Soldiers in the construction of theTechnodrome Mark II. He has many built-in weapons such as blasters, cannons, missiles, etc. He was destroyed by the Turtles by disabling a main chip on his back. He returned in another episode “Night of the Rogues” with several other villains as one of Shredder’s Rogues. He was defeated when Casey Jones crushed him in a hydraulic press.
Chrome Dome also appears as a playable character in the SNES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters. He was much smaller in the game and colored differently.
