Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Green toxic Ooze

The Origin of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Much ado over the recent brouhaha about Michael Bay's comments about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as aliens from outer space for the incoming live action TMNT movie, I've decided to look back at my TMNT collection featuring various incarnations of the TMNT franchise through the years. But first, let us all be clear about their origins. The four Turtles along with a Rat were mutated when a green toxic canister fell inside a New York sewer and bathed these 5 animals. This is the holy grail of the TMNT story in the same breath as Superman coming from a dying planet Krypton, Spiderman being bitten by a radioactive spider, and other superhero origins by classic pop culture Superhero icons. Michael Bay should not change that. Sure, he can expand the origins of that green ooze, but the circumstance of how the turtles became who they are should not be changed. They became mutants because they were MUTATED by the green ooze.

Starting them young, the Toddler Turtles

When the turtles and the rat called Splinter grew to human size proportions, Splinter decided to name the four Turtles after his favorite Renaissance artists Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello. Splinter, who hailed from Japan before making his way to New York City then decided to teach the four Turtles the art of Ninjutsu and trained them to became NINJAS, thus the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES was born. Leonardo was trained to become the Katana Blades wielding turtle donning a Blue Mask. And being the oldest and the most highly skilled among the group, he was named the Leader of the group. Raphael was trained to become the Sais wielding turtle donning a Red Mask. He's the most aggressive among the group and an intense fighter. Michelangelo was trained to become the nunchakus wielding turtle donning an Orange Mask. He's the most free spirited and easy going among the group. Donatello became the Bo Staff wielding turtle donning a Purple Mask. He is the most highly intellectual among the group and has special interest in science and inventions. The four of them battle an assortment of crimes in New York City hiding beneath the shadows to conceal their identity. Chief among those criminal elements was the evil Foot Clan which is headed by Oroku Saki (The Shredder), the man responsible for the death of Hamato Yoshi, Splinter's master. 

The TMNT comic book that started it all

TMNT originally debuted as an independent comics written and drawn by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird under their own company called Mirage Studios. The comic book was simply printed in black and white. The book was originally violent and edgy. The creators drew inspiration from Frank Miller's Ronin, and combines elements from various comics such as Daredevil, Cerebus, and New Mutants. It became a surprise hit among independent comic book fans, and what was originally a one shot comics, became a comic book anthology. The Turtles in the comic books wore a similarly red colored masks, and fights the foot clan headed by Shredder and his army of ninja Foot Soldiers. The book ended by having Shredder fall off from the rooftop, which suppose to signify his death and the end of the book before it's popularity changed it's course and more books would be released. The growing popularity of the books would led Mark Freedman, a licensing agent, to seek out Eastman and Laird and propose wider merchandising opportunities for the Turtles.  The original collectible incarnation for the TMNT were in 15mm lead figurines produced by Dark Horse Miniatures.  This became the start of the TMNT's mainstream success.

The Original TMNT action figures based on the 1987 show

The three of them visited Playmates, a toy company who was on the look out to produce action figures, and discussed about the viability of producing action figures based on the concepts of TMNT. But because of the original comic's violent nature, Playmates demanded that they make a complete make over of the concept to make them more mainstream friendly. In 1987, A more kid friendly cartoon show was also jump started to serve as support for the upcoming toy line. Changes were made in the cartoon show as the four Turtles were made to wear different colored masks to make them more easily identifiable. Splinter also became Hamato Yoshi who was mutated and turned into a Rat. Shredder and the Foot Clan was retained but instead of Human Ninja Foot Soldiers, they were changed to become an endless supply of robots to avoid the show featuring humans dying. April also became a News Reporter instead of Baxter Stockman's lab assistant. Stockman also became white instead of being an African American. He would later on mutate into a human fly. The show featured more kid friendly themes and lots of humor. This caught on with their intended audience and a an action figure toy line and merchandising juggernaut was born. The cartoon series would last 9 years. 

TMNT Live Action Movie Trilogy

In the early 90's, due to the popularity of the cartoon series, a live action TMNT movie trilogy was also released (along with action figures based on the trilogy). The first movie was loosely based on the original comic book and also featured some lighthearted elements from the cartoon series. The second movie expanded the origins of the TMNT and served as a direct sequel to the first movie. The second movie also guest starred seminal 90's rapper Vanilla Ice. The last movie on the other hand was not positively received. This marked the demise of the live action TMNT movie franchise. The original cartoon series also saw it's end sometime in 1997. The TMNT would return in live action form through a TV Series called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. The live action TV series debuted a fifth turtle, a female turtle named Venus de Milo. The TV series served as a continuation of the live action movie trilogy as it retained story elements that were featured in the film trilogy.

TMNT 2003 Edition

The TMNT would return in animated form sometime in the early 2000's. This time, Mirage Studios served as co-producer. They held significant rights to the animated series and would used this to influence the story direction of the series. The cartoon series drew closely to the original comic book series in terms of story concepts, giving it a darker and edgier feel (as opposed to the original cartoon series) but lighthearted enough to be considered as appropriate for children. As usual, the TMNT faced the Foot Clan led by Shredder and other new enemies that were created by TMNT co founder Peter Laird. Playmates would also release an action figure toy line based on this animated series. The animated series would last for six years.

TMNT Fast Forward (Custom Repaint I made)

During the sixth season of that show, the producers decided to bring the TMNT 100 years in the future. Here they befriend Cody Jones, a descendant of April and Casey. The show is also lighter in tone when compared compared to the previous season. The TMNT also faced new villains in this show. This incarnation lasted for one season and on the following season, the TMNT would return to the present day and resume their adventures there. That would eventually be the last season and the last TMNT animated series before Nickelodeon would buy the TMNT property from Mirage Studios. Nick toons is set to debut a new animated series sometime this year. 

TMNT CGI Movie

In 2007, Imagi Animation Studios would release a new TMNT film for the big screen. Loosely created as a semi sequel from the TMNT Live action movie trilogy, the TMNT retained all of their personalities from the trilogy. This movie utilizes Computer Generated Images in contrast to the past movies as CGI technology has become more advanced by this time. The movie also used certain characters from the 2003 TMNT animated series. Establishing Karai, Shredder's daughter as the new leader of the Foot Clan. Though the movie enjoyed moderate success, this did not necessarily resuscitate the TMNT franchise as the 2003 animated series at this time was drawing to it's end.

NECA's TMNT

Turtles Forever!

The 2003 TMNT animated series would be given a proper send off in the form of the ambitious made for TV animated movie called Turtles Forever. In this movie, the 2003 TMNT is forced to team up with their goofier counterparts from the 1987 TMNT animated series in battling the 2003 version of the Shredder. The main villains of the 1987 series, namely Shredder, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady also joins the TMNT in this movie as they were brought to the 2003 TMNT Universe along with the TMNT of their time. The 2003 Shredder plans to destroy all of the alternate TMNT versions from different universes. It is up to the 1987 and 2003 TMNT to thwart this Shredder's plan. The 2003 Shredder in the end went to the original source of the TMNT, the Original comic book version created by Eastman and Laird. Thinking that if he destroys the source, all of the succeeding TMNT would cease to exist. The three groups of TMNT would join forces to stop the 2003 Shredder's plan. But humorously, it was Bebop and Rocksteady who would pull the plug of the 2003 Shredder's final assault. This Movie formally ended the Mirage Studios, 1987, and 2003 versions. A new movie is currently in development and talks are in that the TMNT would be Aliens. This has caused outrage to fans and I'm not quite sure if the upcoming animated series would feature the same origins for our beloved turtles. Mirage Studios has already sold the TMNT to Nickelodeon. And as far as I know, Nick now has the rights to TMNT and could do anything they want to with the property.

I'm ending this blog entry with a few more photos of the Mirage Studios, 1987, and 2003 versions.

TMNT Mirage Studios (Original Version)

TMNT 1987 Version

TMNT 2003 Version

Leonardo

Raphael

Donatello

Michelangelo

And a sneak peak of the upcoming Nick Jr. TMNT Toys (which is not yet released)

Well I don't know about the Cartoons but the Action Figure looks awesome though... (And check that Show Accurate TMNT Action Figure. Surely a Must Have for TMNT Fans)

TMNT Movie UPDATE: Michael Bay's Alien Turtles Movie has just been frozen and will be released in another date. No sign yet if there would be a rewrite of the story and not make these Turtles Alien. A Victory for us TMNT fans?