Tartarughe Ninja

The new TMNT is closer to the comics, but still complete with irrevent humor and fun. The series creators have definately made the series not only an ode to the comic book source, but seem to have made many other references to the comic books that doubtlessly influences Laird and Eastman.

The animation style is somewhere between Men in Black and Batman: The Animated Series, and while not as stylized as either of the two, is functional and adaquate. The action sequences are the main draw, when they are allowed to really gain momentum.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this story, and it should appeal to fans of both the comic and 80's cartoon. The only problem I have with the series is when the cartoon takes a detour spanning 6+ episodes in the middle of a crucial storyline. Take my word for it: beware when the Turtles go into space. While chuck full of one or two Star Wars references, its frustrating to consider the forces at work for the rest of the storyline, on Earth, stopping while the Turtles are off fight outer-space triceratops.

Overall, a good show, and the current highlight of my Saturday mornings. ***1/2

The 2003 series is an above-average revamp of the Ninja Turtles concept. Many story lines are adapted directly from the original comics now, and the overall tone is much darker and grittier than the classic 80s series (though its still light-hearted enough to qualify as Saturday morning fare). The series also has lots of continuity and plot development for fans to chew on, so you won't be getting Shredder hatching the same tired scheme every episode.

It's not a perfect series, mainly because 4Kids is the financial backer. The show gets away with quite a bit more than you'd expect from seeing 4Kids' other productions, but every so often an episode suffers as censorship kicks in and chafes a potentially stronger story. Like other 4Kids shows the voice talent is drawn from an extremely small pool, so acting ranges from pretty good (the main cast) to downright poor (walk-on characters). And on the creative end, the scripts and dialogue feel like they could use another pass in the writers room to get rid of the clichés and add more depth.

TMNT 2003 is pretty much "Justice League" if the classic 80s series is Superfriends, only it's not quite as sophisticated. But that's okay, the Turtles were always different from other superheroes. Some fans will infinitely prefer the classic series as its the one they grew up with, but for anyone interested in seeing how Turtle power has translated to a new generation of fans, this show is worth checking out.

I will have to say that while I love the OS, this new one is far superior. The best part of the show is the story lines. By being closer to the original comic book, you can expect to see great episodes packed with the kind of action the OS never delivered. You can also expect to see episodes based on ones for the old comics.

The characters are also better represented. Not only are they off that whole pizza obsession thing, but they're also very hardcore(while still being humorous). Leo is still the dedicated leader, Don is still the brains, Mikey is still the lovable goof, and now, Raph is the hot-headed angry turtles that he was in the comics. But not just the turtles, April, Splinter, Casey, Leatherhead, Baxter Stockman, and of course The Shredder have also been improved and made closer to they're comics selves. And creating great new characters like Traximus, Ultimate Ninja, Draco, and Agent Bishop just adds to the greatness. Plus, we get to see characters from the old comic be introduced for the first time like Renet and Karai.

The animation has greatly improved, adding a dark tone to the series, and the music really fits the tone. And even the voice acting has improved. The only thing wrong with the series is the theme song, but that's a minor detail.

With co-creator Peter Laird working closely with the show, it has gone far beyond all the other TMNT shows and has now become the best cartoon intended for kids on t.v. today. I give the series an 11 out of 10, it's that good.

After being disappointed with the outdated and overrated 80's version, this was a breath of fresh air. The turtles are way more interesting here as we see their own psychology grow and learn some valuable lessons. The tone is exactly as it should be a balance of light and darkness, though there are some disturbing moments (such as when Leonardo decapitates Shredder and Splinter's story of origin), but thankfully it's more mature. Leonardo and Michaelangelo are my favorites as they are the serious swordsman leader and comic relief respectively. What's better is that there is now a genuine plot for a big picture as the turtles have to try and do more than just thwart evil. No more silly nonsense like the 80's version had.

I'm so happy to see these cartoons again and as anime, when I was 5 years old I used to watch it every morning before school. I loved those cartoons, I even had many toys of them and my cousin had those toys too, I never forget the classic.

Leonardo: This is my favorite turtle because he's the leader and he fights with swords, and in the episode where he is attacked by Shredder during a training, it's very similar like in the first movie

Raphael: He always has a high temper and he is easily angered sometimes by Leo because of giving too much orders

Michaelangelo: He's the funniest of the team and he lives and loves to party, specially when it comes to eating too much pizza.

Donatello: The genius of the team, he makes me laugh a lot when his experiments and other inventions blow up when they fail.

Shredder (a.k.a Orouku Saki): The worst enemy of the turtles and Splinter, it is known that he killed Splinter's master Yoshi many years ago when they lived in Japan.

This show makes the classic live forever in the minds of Die-Hard fans like me, I will always like this true classic.