Just asking because I've always wanted to watch the show, but outside of the pilot (which I liked) I've never gotten around to it.
So, for anyone who's watched this show in the past 3-4 years, has this show held up or is it a product of the 80s that would feel a little too campy watching it in your early 20s?
The series is VERY campy when watched today. It's like comparing the 1960's Batman series with Batman: The Animated Series. The 80's cartoon is very silly and goofy compared to the 2003/2012 shows. But that doesn't mean it's not fun to watch. The show breaks the fourth wall constantly, and is very tongue in cheek.
"Without management, there is only chaos."
"Can we try the chaos thing?"
never caught the show while it aired, checked it out on DVD years later, without any nostalgia going into it, and I loved it. If you don't mind campy and cheesy entertainment you may like it. You've got an alien warlord convict and his two hench mutants teaming up with a skilled ninja master as they battle against 4 ninja-trained turtles, what's not to love?
shareHolds up well, although I'm going through season 4 now & I must say seasons 1-3 were better
shareIt depends on who was in charger and who writing the episode at the time. But lets not forget that at one point there were parent groups complaining about violence in films and TV shows which lead to Michelangelo getting rid of his Nunchakus and the 2nd film being less dark.
shareThe first season is one of the best cartoon series ever. Phenomenally animated/voice acted for a children's cartoon show. There's a dozen cartoons I used to love as a kid and can barely stomach to watch now, but the first season of TMNT is still highly enjoyable. This is the show's peak. The first season is GOAT.
The second season isn't quite as good, but still enjoyable. Season 3 is incredibly uneven, but decent. After that, regarding seasons 4 to 10, consult some sort of fan favorites guide online because the rest of show is strictly for the kids. I loved this series growing up, loving all the new characters that were invented strictly to make my mom buy me more action figures, but the episodes themselves are a chore to sit through as an adult.
The first season has aged well. Seasons 2 and 3 are good for a mindless evening of nostalgia. The rest is tough. Batman: TAS is timeless. TMNT... generally not so much.
"He makes me laugh, he'a always humping and pointing at Reese Witherspoon." - rebschucks
I still enjoy the humor. The dialogue between the turtles and Shredder and Krang and Rocksteady and Bebop. Funny one liners and such. But, the animation is weird sometimes where it'd be like Michelangelo talking, but you'd see Raphael's colors, or ones voice on another turtle or some something like that. It's corny how no matter how impossible the situation they are in is, the most improbable thing always happens, and they always squirm there way out of it. I'd like to see the bad guys get the better from time to tme. Even Tom bear Jerry every once ib a while. But, overall, I enjoy it, mostly for nostalgia reasons.
RIP Ultimate Warrior. You will be missed.
I personally LOVE the old show more than the new one.
I love the cheesiness. I Love the silly humor and their "radical" personalities.
I love the simplicity of it. I Love that Shredder is a buffoon, I love Bebop and Rocksteady. I love the animation style.
the new cartoon doesn't do it for me, this show might not be cool for the new kids or might be stupid but for me it is perfect.
Action wise: No. For fun: This show hits the spot.
old blog: http://wiileecoolstuff.blogspot.com
New blog: http://retroandmodernstuff.blogspot.com
Action wise: No. For fun: This show hits the spot.
The first season is a little cringe worthy in certain spots but still holds up in terms of animation, action, and plot. The Red Sky episodes are awesome, they're what the '87 series should've been from the start.
Seasons 2-7? Good *beep* god NO! It's a slap to the faces of Eastman and Laird. There only a few gems to be found in this mountain of sh**, and even the few good episodes are usually plagued with shoestring budget animation (e.g. The Big... Trilogy). To point out all the flaws would require mountainous walls of text, so instead I'll list the biggest offenses of this series.
*The animation 75% of the time is atrocious, but what can you expect when they're cranking out around 50 episodes per season?
*The plots where recycled over and over again. How many times did Shredder and co. look for new power supply for the technodrome only to fail 95% of time.? How many times did Baxter the whitewashed Fly break out of his dimensional nexus only to end up back at the same place at the end of every episode he was in? How many new Doomsday Weapon/Mutants of the week were there for the sole purpose of advertising for Playmate toys.
*The turtles were obnoxious in this series. I don't know why Fred Wolf fanboys gripe and moan at their depiction in Turtles Forever, that's exactly how they acted in the show sans the Red Sky episodes. It was always Pizza-this and Pizza-that, they always acted like a bunch of spastic, comedic goofballs that can’t take anything seriously for more than five seconds, and their personalities boiled down to Leader-Michelangelo, Snarky-Michelangelo, Nerd-Michelangelo and Michelangelo-Michelangelo.
*The villains just suck. Shredder, oh my god, what did they do to you!? He is as incompetent, if not more so, than Bebop and Rocksteady. He whined like a child when things didn't go his way, never did anything right, and couldn't even shred his way through PIZZA DOUGH! His plans to conquer Earth include a love potion, a mutated delivery boy, and a magnet that attracts antiques.
Bebop and Rocksteady were cool in Seasons 1 and 8-10, anything besides that they're annoying self-defeating mongoloids who hand the turtles victory on a silver platter EVERY SINGLE TIME! And what purpose did Krang ever serve? Dude does nothing but invent stuff for Shredder and co. to *beep* up, a role that could've easily been given to White Baxter. Don't even get me started on what a pathetic waste the Foot Soldier and Rock Soldiers were. To anyone who wonders what Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady would be like with competent writers, I recommend checking out the IDW comics. One of the writers is Kevin Eastman himself!
*The technodrome is constantly built it up, but does nothing break down every single time that get it to move. The only time it ever did anything was in the Big trilogy.
Everything else is bad as well. Turning April from a scientist/attic dealer to a big-breasted, empty-headed bimbo so she could play the sexist, outdated role of damsel in distress for 7 straight seasons. Making the turtles pizza-eating, surfer/stoner fratboys who spout cringe-worthy lingo (can we PLEASE remove Cowabunga from the TMNT lexicon!?). And twisting and perverting a well-written dark and gritty comic book into this badly-written, horribly-animated thirty minute toy-commercial.
This series is to the TMNT franchise what the Adam-West series and Batman and Robin are to the Batman franchise, what Disney's version of Jungle Book is to Rudyard Kipling's masterpiece, what M Night Shaymalan's Last Airbender is to Avatar the Last Airbender. It's in-name-only schlock that needs to be forgotten and discarded so the TMNT franchise can move on already! And to the all the Fred Wolf fanboys out there, stop demanding that every new TMNT adaptation that comes along be a spiritual successor to this trash. The Mirage Comics are the origin of the franchise not this. Each new TMNT incarnation need only to pay respect to them and own this cartoon absolutely nothing!
Great review! You should post a proper review of this show on imdb if you haven't already.
All good things must come to an end - Chaucer
I watched this a lot as a kid until it was axed in Australia in 1992. But after viewing the complete series on DVD and catching up on what I missed, I think this show has aged incredibly well. However I haven't watched any kids' shows post-2000, so I don't know what today's standards are.
One significant characteristic of this series that stuck out to me as an adult was the satire that went over my head as a kid. One episode that comes to mind this moment is the one that parodies the Morton Downey Jr show that aired at the time.