All posts relating to the ever-present Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property and all incarnations of that franchise.
So they aired a quick promo for the upcoming TMNT CGI series that’s supposed to be out this year.
Doesn’t show much, but what it does show says quite a bit about a couple changes that have been made to the Turtles’ arsenal. Honestly, not sure what to think of this yet… but I’m sure I’ll have something in mind when more information leaks out. In the meantime, I’m gonna go back to the old movie trilogy and track down some Next Mutation…
BOOOOOOOOO-URNS.
While I was in the john one day, I was rumaging through the magazine basket and pulled out an old copy of the collected Mighty Mutanimals miniseries published by Archie Comics. For those who have no clue what I’m talking about…
Once upon a time, Archie Comics used to publish Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, a comic series loosely based on the original animated series. Starting off as loose adaptations of early episodes, the series would then segway into outlandish adventures that included man ray fillets, intergalactic wrestling matches, mutant jaguars named Jagwar (conceived in a union between a wildwoman and a jaguar spirit… don’t ask), and a flying cow’s head. Those were good days. In any case, Archie decided to compile some of these non-TMNT anthrophomorphic animals and turn them into a team. Or something like that.
So yeah, I was reading this and thought… “Hey, this could make a great review.” Maybe… we’ll see.
First, I gotta get all this MMPR stuff out first.
So in 2009, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary and as such, the event was celebrated not only with a change in ownership from Mirage Studios to Viacom, but also resulted in Turtles Forever, a film that serves as a crossover between the 2003 cartoon Turtles and the much beloved cartoon Turtles from the classic 1987 cartoon. And then it was released onto DVD. Unfortunately, the DVD release is a very barebones release that only includes the film and not much else in terms of features.
The Good: The only good that could be said about the DVD is that the film itself is top-notch fanservice and a satisfying conclusion to not only the 2003 incarnation of TMNT, but in a way, also closes out an era of Turtle-dom that dates back to its origins in 1984. The 87 Turtles aren’t voiced by the original actors, but they sound close enough if not a bit too goofy. Still, it’s a fun little movie that is a celebration of what’s come before as much as it is an ending.
The Bad: The DVD itself is slim pickings; only packing the film and chapter selection. Not even captions or alternate languages. Also the film is the edited version and not the uncut version that is supposed to feature eight minutes of additional material. It’s not a bad film and without having seen the longer version, I don’t know how much I’m actually missing here… but man, what a missed opportunity to include a more complete version, even if the extra stuff might seem a bit extraneous.
Overall: Turtles Forever got a cheap-o DVD release and given what it represents, I do wish more was done to give this a better treatment. Even a trailer or two would’ve been nice. Still, having some form of Turtles Forever in a consumable format is nice to have and the DVD is pretty cheap, so if you haven’t seen this one and find the disc laying around somewhere, why not give it a shot?
Ninjaturtles.com has yet to be updated… they’re still advertising something Turtle-related to be coming in 2011 from Nickelodeon. Someone should let the guys at Nick know that…
So I’ve been recently playing catch-up with IDW’s new TMNT comic book and came across the newest issue, which features its own take on the classic TMNT origin story… kind of an interesting angle to say the least. The idea that the Turtles and Splinter are basically re-incarnations of Hamato Yoshi and his children in a past life is certainly something out of left field and credit where it’s due; it’s a rather unique way of framing things. I’m not sure if I can completely buy into it, but maybe as the series progresses down the line, this will be explored further down the road.
Perhaps the biggest change to come out of this – and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything here since there are already cover previews of future issues that give this away – is that three of the Turtles trade in their original red bandannas for the colored ones that have been prominent in all the various television, movies, and other media that isn’t the original Mirage comic books. I figured this was going to happen sooner or later, so this wasn’t much of a surprise. I do feel some people are going to be a bit miffed that they’re ditching the red masks for the colored one, but at the end of the day, this isn’t the old Mirage universe. It’s a reimagined one with fewer shell puns… fucking Dirk.
I kinda like how they’re taking various elements from the various mediums (one of the micro-series books apparently feature human Bebop and Rocksteady) and merging them into a new narrative storyline. It’s a different take on the Turtles and whether it ends up being worth a damn or not, at least you can’t say that it’s going to be predictable. As long as they maintain the style and substance that made the original TMNT such a joy to read and such, then it’s damn well going to be a fun ride.
If nothing else, it’ll give me some fodder for more Turtle talk around here.
So I was able to get my hands on the first three issues of IDW’s current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic and so far, I thought it was an enjoyable series. Essentially serving as a reboot of the franchise (forgoing any of the prior comics), the series reintroduces us to the TMNT and tweeks the origin story a bit, with the turtles no longer being pet turtles, but rather test subjects.
It’s an interesting twist on the origin story and it (among other things that I honestly don’t want to dwell on here… not yet) results in the dynamics of the family being somewhat different from what came before. I’ll probably hold off with a full overview until this current arc ends, but like I said, I’ve been enjoying this run so far and it’s been pretty fun to read a new TMNT book.
Me like this.
That’s funny…
Don’t remember or know where this originally came from. Found it on a Google Search somehow and found multiple copies, so I can’t give proper credit without knowing the original origin. Sorry.
Interesting if this actually does happen in the Turtles Forever movie, which is supposed to feature the 2003 cartoon TMNT, 1987 cartoon TMNT, and original TMNT depicted in the old Mirage comic books. Movie’s due out on DVD at the end of the month.
You ever had one of those times where you notice one thing almost looks like another?
Case in point; Shellshock, the Traffic Light Turtle from a first season episode of Power Rangers. First time I saw him, he instantly reminded me of Tokka, the mutant snapping turtle who first appeared in the second Ninja Turtles movie.
It makes you wonder… and sad that both have lived short lives.
Tokka eventually de-mutated back to its old, lovable snappy self while Shellshock ate Power Sword.
I just ended an hour of TMNT on the NES, somehow managing to beat the game without dying despite the fact that I haven’t played the game in years… and I mean, really play the game, not just “play for a few minutes, relish in the old memories, and then off to the shelf you go.” This was a good ol’ romp through childhood lane.
Some minor thoughts while playing through this game:
– AVGN complained about the pizza in the building (in Area 01) and how it takes much effort to get there. The solution is pretty simple: you see the fucking pizza on the first screen… THE FIRST FUCKING SCREEN. If you actually believe fighting your way through enemies for a pizza is worth, go right ahead and get it, but don’t bitch to me when you do get it and leave the building with one red block left in your life meter.
– The “infamous” underwater level… I actually managed to make it through the whole level without switching turtles. Mind you, ol’ Raph nearly bit the bullet, but I found the level to be actually easier than I thought.
– Splinter tells you to get to the blimp so you can chase the helicopter, but I always wondered how they would find the helicopter after having gone through several extraniously difficult passages. More to the point, I’d like to know exactly how the Turtles uncovered the secret Foot camp (the fifth area).
– Somehow, I managed to find the Technodrome on the first shot. I guess I jumped the gun a bit, so allow me to explain. In the fifth are, you have to search three underground caverns for the Technodrome. Only one path leads you to the monstrous tank, while the other two paths are dead ends. Back in the day, the Technodrome would be found in the hardest of these paths, but today I just took the easiest path and boom – there it was… completely by accident.
– The final area… somehow I survived this area despite being ill-prepared for this. Actually, the flying white dudes didn’t seem as frustrating now as they did back in the day. Either I’m getting better or they’re getting sloppy… probably the latter.
– Scrolls are your friend. Embrace them and DON’T LOSE THEM!
All in all, an enjoyable experience nonetheless and a difficult game conquered. Overall, I still say that this is a good game, regardless of what the almighty NERD says…
Now TMNT2: The Arcade Game? That’s a Cowa-Fucking-Piece-Of-Dog-Shit. I’ll stick with the original arcade version on MAME or on the TMNT2: Battle Nexus game.
Thank you for reading. Good night.
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The ending rocks too.
dtm666 