Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles is something I will never forget because it touched me in a way no other series did when I was a kid. The Ninja Turtles were fun loving, pizza eating and ninja fighters. And they taught kids lessons along the way. What more can you ask for. Oh yeah, the next best thing.

This was probably the cartoon that saved the animation of the 90s from being really awful. The last of the great, great 80s cartoons.

Great writing, great characters, voice talent, stories, humour. This is only reiterated by its long running air time in syndication, and its slot on CBS Saturday morning.

I remember the syndicated episodes and the CBS episodes being slightly different.

Now for my real beef: Don't be fooled by the remakes and redoings, live-action, animated or otherwise of TMNT that you see now a days. They're all INFERIOR products compared to the original 80s cartoon. If you want to see the quality that was TMNT...you must see the 1987 syndicated and CBS series.

I loved this show when I was a child! I was such a fan of it back then that I wouldn't miss one episode of it. Plus, I collected stuff from it. For example, as a kid I once bought a mug with the famous hero turtles. And there was one year when I disguised myself as one of the turtles in Carnival. Not to mention that not only I watched this in my house, but also in the house of a neighbor and friend of mine at the time.

This animated TV show brings me very good memories from childhood. Ah, the good old days...

The opening song is spectacular, absolutely unforgettable - as well as its instrumental version which plays during the final credits of each episode.

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' had most ingredients necessary to capture the attention of most kids of my generation, for it was thrilling, entertaining, packed with action, adventure, darkness, classic humor and... pizza! The turtles are the heroes, they are the ones with the power to save the world from the evil Shredder's schemes and the bizarre Krang. Shredder has two helpers, Bebop and Rocksteady (hilarious names!). But they aren't really evil. They're more stupid and incompetent than evil, so they aren't a major threat for the turtles and the world.

A curious thing is that Shredder has always half of his face covered with an iron mask. I only saw him once without it and my opinion was that he was very Japanese-looking.

Although the turtles (Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo) are very efficient and intelligent, sometimes they see themselves in sticky situations with the villain Shredder. But they always can count with the help of Master Splinter and reporter April O'Neil.

Cowabunga!

April O Neil was my first crush when I was a little boy. I was born in 1983 and this was formative, don't judge. The rest of the show was also fine.

I remember watching this as often as I could when I was younger. When I was 11-12 years old I would get up early enough in the morning to watch it before I left for school... but I was interested in the show from as far back as I can remember. I collected the action figures(not dolls, no; boys play with action figures... girls play with dolls) from a young age, as well as comics, and I even own two VHS tapes with two episodes each(unfortunately, these were dubbed, as most filmed entertainment geared towards kids are, in Denmark). I write this review right after having watched all four episodes in immediate succession for the first time in more years than I can say for sure. Possibly as much as a full decade. All the fun of them came right back to me even as I thought of them. Sure, the show had its flaws... there are glaring continuity errors aplenty, the dialog(packed with more or less lucky one-liners) and plot lines are often somewhat daft... but when you look at the plus side(as well as keep in mind that this is still a children's show), it's just no contest. The pacing is excellent. Having just watched an hour and a half of it, straight, I can say that I wasn't bored at all, in spite of remembering most of what would happen. The action is exciting, intense and downright cool. And the theme music(which I found myself humming in anticipation before the tape was in the VCR)... I doubt there is or will be anyone, whether kid or adult(who is at least a little in touch with their inner child), especially male, who don't like it. The plots are often simplistic, but as far as I remember, never (too) obvious and usually entertaining as well as gripping. It mostly manages to dodge the Batman-esquire/James Bond-ian cliché of having Donatello produce some gadget from his belt to solve their problems. The humor is silly and somewhat childish, but it fits its audience quite well(and I can't claim that I didn't laugh several times throughout watching the four episodes). The whole level of writing basically does, really. The fights are well-choreographed and fairly frequent. All in all, a pretty solid show, that provides many hours of check-your-brains-at-the-door entertainment. I recommend it to any fan of the four green humanoid heroes, and anyone aspiring to become such a fan. Turtle Power! 8/10