If I’m going to be writing a blog about TMNT, the obvious
place to start would be at the beginning of the Mirage series, but I’ll get to
that later. I’d rather start with where TMNT was introduced to me and to most
other people. The 1987 Fred Wolf cartoon.
A quick background on the series: The basic jist is Playmates
was only interested in creating a line of Turtles toys if there was a
television series to go along with it. The Mirage series was fairly small and
unknown at the time, so why bother? This led into us getting essentially a ten
year toy commercial. A damn effective ten year toy commercial that rocketed
Ninja Turtles into pop culture and ruled my childhood.
The series was produced by Fred Wolf and adapted by David
Wise. These two recycled more stories and pumped out more toy-centric episodes featuring the monster of the week than practically anyone else in
history. And given that 80s and 90s cartoon were little more than a means to pump out toys, that’s saying a lot.
To be fair, they had to be doing something right, because I
fucking loved this series. I loved the characters, the show, the toys, and that
annoyingly catchy theme song. Watching this series as an adult can be painful.
The majority of the show is bloated and shitty, mostly due to being pumped out
for the sake of syndication. However, I can’t watch it and not feel much
else besides nostalgia. For as bland and predictable every aspect of the show
became, I still love it.
The high point of the show was the first season. At the
time, it wasn’t really a season, but a miniseries to test the waters to see if
Playmates could sell toys. Turns out they could. The first season has
everything the later seasons don't. It has a concise narrative, has fewer useless characters, has threatening villains, and oh yeah,
violence. Actual cartoon violence where the used their weapons instead of
trashcans.
One of the fun facts that I think most people are aware of,
is the title in Europe. Due to the extreme, deadly, violent, and graphic nature of the word “Ninja”,
the series was called Teenage Mutant Hero
Turtles. There were also censorship problems in the use of nunchucks. The word
ninja, I can at least understand. It’s stupid, but I at least get the reasoning. Censoring nunchucks is something I don’t get. Stabbing robots,
plants, mutants, and whatever else with a sword was fine, but better not give
the kids ideas about using a tool to thresh rice to hit things! This is still a
censorship issue today. Go watch the 2007 TMNT again and watch how Michelangelo
uses his weapons, he uses them but he never actually uses
them.
The first season starts out with “Turtle Tracks”. This might
be my favorite episode of the series. With the exception of Krang (who would be
introduced in the next episode), this episode brought in everything that would
become part of the Turtles mythos. At the time, the Mirage comics were being
put out at a snails place since it was a small independent company. By 1987,
the Turtles were still really lacking in the personality department. They
kicked ass, but they didn’t have individualized traits at the time. The 1987
series solidified who the Turtles would become in every
incarnation.
More than just personalities, this season did a lot of
things that became essential for the Turtles universe. Shredder is a
prime example. Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman were determined to not have villains
come back from the dead or be long running threats. The original Shredder was
killed in the first issue of the comics, supposedly to never be seen again.
Fail. The Fred Wolf series kept bringing him back, episode after episode. This made Shredder the main antagonist. This forced Eastman and
Laird to bring him back into the continuity of the Mirage series, and that was
for the best. In my opinion, Leonardo #1, issue #10, and the Return to New York
arc are the highlights of any Turtles storytelling. Thanks David Wise, for
being such an uncreative hack!
The Turtles also got their distinct bandannas Some Mirage
purists hate this, but I think it’s essential. Unless the Turtles had their
weapons, especially in the early personality free stories, I had no idea who
was who in the Mirage series. It’s almost like playing a guessing game trying
to figure out who the hell was talking. Don’t get me wrong, my favorite art
style for the Turtles was the black and white Turtles, especially when Eastman
and Laird were working together, but in any other medium, color bandannas are needed.
The animated in the first season is also the best. Some like
the animation in the “Red Sky” seasons better, but to me the early character
designs are classic. Since this season was only five episodes, instead of a
ridiculous forty-seven, the animators were not as rushed and it shows. Yeah,
there are still little flubs here and there, mostly in the chameleon bandannas
but oh well. The animation simply flows better. The animation in the middle
years of the show was so rushed everything just feels flat and lifeless. Too
bad quality over quantity is not the way of syndicated television. For the most
part anyway. Good work Next Generation.
Some of the characters are unbearably annoying. Mostly I’m
thinking of the suddenly white Baxter Stockman and the Neutrinos. Speaking of
Stockman, why the hell does the mouser story keep getting retold? The Fred Wolf
series, 4Kids, Nickelodeon, practically all the Konami games, and the IDW
series? The mousers showed up in one issue! And not even that great of an issue
compared to a lot of other classic Mirage stories. I don’t get it. The Neutrinos
are considered useless characters to the majority of fans. I probably would
have liked the Krang War arc more in IDW if they had used something other than
Neutrinos as the race Krang was at war with. And making Honeycutt a Neutrino
does not sit well with me. I’m getting off track. But I guess that’s part
of why I love this first season. You can’t talk about it without connecting it
to so many other parts of the TMNT franchise.
The season ends with an epic battle in the Techndrome.
Pretty much, the Death Star on wheels. The influence of Star Wars isn’t remotely
hidden. We’re bashed over the head with it, and for the next few season finales
too. I do really like a lot of the pop culture references in the 1987 show. The
scene where Krang gets his new body is lifted straight out of the 1931
Frankenstein film, and it’s just awesome. This scene helps build up the
anticipation to the final epic battle, and it all comes together nicely.
I make no secret about Vol 1. of the Mirage comics to be my
favorite part of Turtles history, so what about the changes? I get that it’s a kid’s
show, and I’m fine with a lot of it. Changing the history of Splinter from being
just a rat, to a guy that turns into a rat is understandable. Yoshi’s back
story was so dark and violent, it would be hard to properly adapt to a series
that came out in the late 80s. As an adult, the change that I find the most annoying
and distracting is Donatello. He’s nothing but a convenient device used to wrap up a ton of plot points. Anything science
or technology related he can fix, destroy, or create. Donatello doesn’t do machines,
Donatello creates new toy lines and makes conclusions simpler for lazy writers. Other parts of the show are overused to the point of making the viewer cringe. Too many lame pizza jokes and a vomit inducing number of times Michelangelo spouts "Cowabunga".
Something that I find funny about this show in relation to the comics, is that the majority of Mirage writers are fairly oblivious to the show. I was at a panel once where fans were asking questions, and when asked about the Fred Wold series, most of them didn't know what people were talking about. They had seen the first season, and some other episodes, but it was weird listening to fans explain what "Red Sky" meant.
The season isn’t perfect, but it’s what made Ninja Turtles what
it is today. This season is well worth watching and picking up for the $5 it sells
for. Feel free to stop watching the show after this season.
4/5 (Through nostalgic lenses)
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Leo then becomes possessive of a wasps egg they find and takes it back to the lair. He guards over it, refusing to let his brothers come near it. The other Turtles trying to get him away from the egg are both the highlight and low point of the show. Every time "Space-Heroes" comes on, I think it's hysterical. I love having the show poke fun of Star Trek, specifically the ridiculous characters and story lines seen in the animated series, and this episode has one of the better jokes so far. This gag is followed up by Mikey trying to distract Leo by wiping his ass with a coming book. It's just so stupid. It's not funny and it's dumb moments like this that take away from the overall decent quality of the show..png)
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