When little known Playmates Toys Inc. was approached about producing a TMNT action figure line, they were cautious of the risk and requested that a television deal be acquired first.\u00a0On December 28, 1987, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\u2019 first cartoon series began, starting as a 5-part miniseries and becoming a regular Saturday morning syndicated series on October 1, 1988 with 13 more episodes. The series was produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Film Productions Inc. Mirage Studios does not own the rights to this cartoon series. The show places a much stronger emphasis on humor than the comics do. Here, the Ninja Turtles are portrayed as four wise-cracking, pizza-obsessed superheroes who fight the forces of evil from their sewer hideout, and make their first appearance in masks color-coded to each turtle, where previously they had all worn red.\u00a0\u00a0The cast included new and different characters like\u00a0Bebop and Rocksteady\u00a0and the Neutrinos. Original characters like\u00a0Splinter,Shredder, and the\u00a0Foot Soldiers\u00a0stayed true to the comics in appearance and alignment only. Instead of being Hamato Yoshi\u2019s mutated pet rat,\u00a0Splinter\u00a0was a mutated Hamato himself. The Foot Soldiers changed from human ninja to an endless supply of robotic grunts, allowing large numbers of them to be destroyed without anyone dying (this was a very important decision in terms of the show\u2019s child audience; excessive violence would have alienated parents of children, the show\u2019s target demographic).\u00a0Krang, one of the series\u2019 most memorable villains, was inspired by the design of the Utrom, a benign alien race from the Mirage comics. The animated Krang, however, was instead an evil warlord from\u00a0Dimension X.\u00a0Baxter Stockman, whose race was changed from\u00a0black\u00a0to\u00a0white\u00a0either due to apprehension toward depicting a villanous\u00a0African American\u00a0character in a children\u2019s cartoon or that for Shredder to boss around a black Stockman would be perceived as racist. Either way, Stockman was rewritten as a shy and meek lackey to Shredder, later mutating into an anthropomorphic\u00a0housefly.<\/p>\n
Starting on September 25, 1989, the series was expanded to weekdays and had 47 more episodes for the new Season. There were 28 new syndicated episodes for Season 4 and only 13 of those episodes aired in 1990. The \u201cEuropean Vacation\u201d episodes were not seen in the United States until\u00a0USA Network\u00a0started showing reruns in late 1993 and the \u201cAwesome Easter\u201d episodes were not seen until 1991. These episodes were delayed because of animation or schedule problems.<\/p>\n
On April 21, 1990 a drug prevention television special was broadcast on\u00a0ABC,\u00a0NBC, and\u00a0CBS\u00a0named\u00a0Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue<\/em>\u00a0that featured some of the most popular cartoons at the time; representing TMNT was Michelangelo, voiced by Townsend Coleman.<\/p>\n The turtles are also well known for their use of idiomatic expressions characteristic of the surfer lingo of the time, especially by Michelangelo. Words and phrases, such as \u201cbummer,\u201d \u201cdude,\u201d \u201cbogus,\u201d \u201cradical,\u201d \u201cfar-out,\u201d \u201ctubuloso,\u201d \u201cbodacious,\u201d and possibly the most recognized, \u201ccowabunga.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting on September 8, 1990 (with a different opening sequence), the show began its run on CBS. The CBS weekend edition ran for a full hour, initially airing a couple of Saturday exclusive episodes back to back. There would also be a brief \u201cTurtle Tips\u201d segment in between the two episodes which served as PSA about the environment or other issues.<\/p>\n The series ran until November 2, 1996 when it aired its final episode. Its enormous popularity gave rise to its numerous imitators, including the\u00a0Battletoads<\/em>,\u00a0Cheetahmen<\/em>,\u00a0Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa<\/em>,Stone Protectors<\/em>,\u00a0Street Sharks<\/em>,\u00a0Extreme Dinosaurs<\/em>, and\u00a0Biker Mice from Mars<\/em>.<\/p>\n Currently, 178 episodes are available on\u00a0DVD.<\/p>\n In 1997\u20131998, the Turtles starred in a live-action television series called\u00a0Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation<\/em>\u00a0that follows the events of the movies. A fifth turtle was introduced, a female named \u201cVenus de Milo\u201d who was skilled in the mystical arts of the\u00a0shinobi.\u00a0The series seemed to be a loose continuation of the movie franchise, as Shredder had been defeated and the Ninja Turtles encountered new villains. Other connections to the feature films include the fact that Splinter\u2019s ear was cut, the Foot Soldiers were humans, and the Turtles lived in the abandoned subway station seen in the second and third movies.\u00a0The Next Mutation<\/em>\u00a0Turtles made a guest appearance on\u00a0Power Rangers in Space<\/em>.<\/p>\n It was canceled after one season of twenty-six episodes. Since its cancellation, Peter Laird has disavowed the character Venus de Milo, while Kevin Eastman is more open to talk about her.<\/p>\n In 2003, a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series produced by\u00a04Kids Entertainment\u00a0began airing on the \u201cFoxBox\u201d programming block. It later moved to \u201cThe CW4Kids\u201d block. The series was co-produced by\u00a0Mirage Studios,\u00a0and Mirage owned one-third of the rights to the series. Mirage\u2019s significant stake in creative control resulted 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. This series lasted until 2009, ending with a feature-length television movie titled\u00a0Turtles Forever<\/em>, which was produced in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the TMNT franchise and featured the Turtles of the 2003 series teaming up with their counterparts from the 1987 series.<\/p>\n 4Kidstv.com\u00a0featured all the episodes of the series, up until September 2010. As of that date, 4Kids no longer owns the license to the show, meaning that it can no longer be viewed at 4Kidstv.com.\u00a0Nickelodeon\u00a0now retains all rights to the 4Kids series.<\/p>\n Nickelodeon\u00a0has acquired the global rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. and have announced that they are moving forward on development on a new CGI-animated TMNT television series consisting of at least 26 half-hour episodes, and which will premiere the fourth quarter (or summer) 2012.<\/p>\n A teaser for the upcoming 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series is available.\u00a0\u00a0The video hints at some changes, namely the two Turtles who traditionally carry blunt weapons have had their weapons changed to similar bladed versions. Donatello uses a\u00a0naginata\u00a0instead of a bo, and Michelangelo uses a\u00a0kusarigama\u00a0instead of nunchaku.<\/p>\n At the Nickelodeon Upfront Conference, it was announced that actor\u00a0Jason Biggs\u00a0will voice Leonardo and\u00a0Rob Paulsen, who voiced Raphael in the 1987 series, will now voice Donatello in the upcoming series.\u00a0\u00a0In June 2011, it was confirmed that\u00a0Sean Astin\u00a0would voice Raphael and\u00a0Greg Cipes\u00a0would voice Michelangelo.\u00a0\u00a0On August 8, 2011, it was revealed that\u00a0Mae Whitman\u00a0will be the voice for April O\u2019Neil. In July 2011, it was revealed that Hoon Lee will be the voice of Master Splinter.<\/p>\n In addition to the American series, a\u00a0Japanese\u00a0exclusive two-episode\u00a0anime\u00a0OVA\u00a0series was made in 1996, titled\u00a0Mutant Turtles: Choujin Densetsu-hen<\/em>. The OVA was similar in tone to the 1987 TV series and uses the same voices from the Japanese dub of the 1987 TV series.<\/p>\n The first episode was made to advertise the\u00a0TMNT Supermutants<\/em>\u00a0toys. It featured the Turtles as\u00a0superheroes, who gained costumes and superpowers with the use of Mutastones, while\u00a0Shredder\u00a0and\u00a0Bebop and Rocksteady\u00a0gained supervillain powers with the use of a Dark Mutastone. As with the\u00a0Super Sentai<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Power Rangers<\/em>franchises, the four Turtles could combine to form the giant\u00a0Turtle Saint<\/em>.<\/p>\n The second episode was created to advertise the\u00a0Metal Mutants<\/em>\u00a0toys in which the characters gain\u00a0Saint Seiya<\/em>-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\u00a0Five Elements.<\/p>\n The Turtles have featured in four feature films. The first three, produced in the early 90s and released by\u00a0New Line Cinema, feature live-action, with the Turtles played by various actors in costumes featuringanimatronic\u00a0heads. The\u00a0first live-action film\u00a0was distributed by\u00a0Golden Harvest\u00a0overseas, whereas the\u00a0second\u00a0and\u00a0third\u00a0films were distributed by\u00a020th Century Fox\u00a0outside of\u00a0North America. The\u00a0fourth, released in 2007 by\u00a0Warner Bros., was an all-CGI animated film.<\/p>\n A new feature film has been released in 2014\u00a0as part of the acquisition of the franchise by Viacom. It was announced on May 27, 2010 that\u00a0Michael Bay\u2019s\u00a0Platinum Dunes\u00a0production company had landed the rights to the new film. It is expected that Bay,\u00a0Bradley Fuller\u00a0and Andrew Form will serve as executive producers. TMNT will be a co-production between Paramount and Nickelodeon.\u00a0However, it will be a\u00a0reboot\u00a0film as opposed to another sequel.<\/p>\n TV and Film Episode Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Television series First animated series (1987\u20131996) – also known as OT or Fred Wolf Series When little known Playmates Toys Inc. was approached about producing a TMNT action figure line, they were cautious of the risk and requested that a… Continue Reading Live-action series (1997\u20131998) – also known as Saban’s Next Mutation<\/h3>\n
Second animated series (2003\u20132009) – also known as 2k3 Series or 4Kids Series<\/h3>\n
Third animated series (2012)<\/h3>\n
Anime<\/h2>\n
Feature films<\/h2>\n