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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT or Ninja Turtles) are a fictional team of four anthropomorphic turtles who were trained by their sensei, Master Splinter, to become skilled ninja warriors. From their home in the sewers of Manhattan, they battle petty criminals, evil megalomaniacs, and alien invaders, all while remaining isolated from society at large.

The TMNT originated in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984. The concept was borne from a comical drawing by Kevin Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming with his friend Peter Laird. Using money from a tax refund together with a loan from Eastman's uncle, the young artists self-published a single-issue comic intended to parody two of the most popular comics of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics' New Mutants, which featured teenage mutants, and Daredevil, which featured ninja clans dueling for control of the New York City underworld.

Much of the Turtles' mainstream success is owed to Mark Freedman, a licensing agent who sought out Eastman and Laird to propose wider merchandising opportunities for the offbeat property. In January 1987, they visited the offices of Playmates Toys, a small California toy company who wished to expand into the action figure market. Accompanied by the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, the TMNT were soon catapulted into pop culture history. At the height of the frenzy, the Turtles' likenesses could be found on a wide range of children's merchandise, from PEZ dispensers to skateboards, breakfast cereal, and school supplies.

Today, there is a resurgence in the Turtles' popularity with the success of the recent animated series, a new line of Playmates action figures, Konami video games, and a new computer-animated feature film in production for a 2007 release.

Main characters

  • Leonardo - The de facto leader of the Turtles, Leonardo is courageous, decisive, and a disciplined student of martial arts. As a strict adherent to Bushido, he has a very strong sense of honor and justice. He wears a blue mask and wields a pair of katana. He is named after Leonardo da Vinci.
  • Raphael - The team "anti-hero", Raphael has an aggressive nature and seldom hesitates to throw the first punch. His personality can be alternately fierce, sarcastic, and full of angst. He wears a red mask and wields a pair of sai. He is named after Raphael Sanzio.
  • Michelangelo - The easy-going and free-spirited Michelangelo provides much of the comic relief. While he loves to read comics and eat pizza, this Turtle also has an adventurous side. He wears an orange mask and wields the nunchaku. He is named after Michelangelo Buonarroti.
  • Donatello - The brilliant scientist, inventor, and technology geek, Donatello has a reputation as something of a wiseacre. He is perhaps the most non-violent Turtle, preferring to use his intellect to solve conflicts. He wears a purple mask and wields the bo. He is named after Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi.
  • Splinter - The Turtles' sensei and adoptive father, Splinter was a nunjitsu master named Hamato Yoshi, who got contaminated by the same mutagen that transformed the turtles, mutating him into a human-sized rat.
  • April O'Neil - Originally a lab assistant to Baxter Stockman, April is the plucky human companion of the Turtles. She embarks on many of the Turtles' adventures and aids them by doing the work that the Turtles cannot do in public.
  • Shredder - A villainous ninja master named Oroku Saki who, along with his evil Foot Clan, is the arch-enemy of Splinter and the Turtles. Shredder wears a suit of armor covered with sharp blades.

Comic books

Mirage Studios

The first issue of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered in May, 1984, at a comic book convention held at a local Sheraton Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was published by Mirage Studios in an oversized magazine-style format using black & white artwork on cheap newsprint, limited to a print run of only 3,000 copies. The small print runs made these early comics instant collector items, and within months they were trading for over fifty times their cover price. The name "Mirage Studios" was chosen because of Eastman and Laird's lack of a professional art studio at the start of their career, before their invention made them both multi-millionaires.

As the TMNT phenomenon proliferated to other media, Eastman and Laird would find themselves administrating an international merchandising juggernaut. Unfortunately, this prevented the two creators from participating in the day-to-day work of writing and illustrating a monthly comic book. For this reason, many guest artists were invited to showcase their unique talents in the TMNT universe. The breadth of diversity found in the various short stories gave the series a disjointed, anthology-like feel. Fans stuck with the series, and what was originally intended as a one-shot parody became a continuing series that lasted for 76 issues spanning two separate volumes.

In June, 1996, Image Comics revived the title as a more action-oriented TMNT series. Although notable for inflicting major physical changes on the main characters, the events of Volume 3 have been dropped from continuity. Mirage Studios resumed publication of a fourth volume in December, 2001, under the simple title TMNT. It continues to be published on a bi-monthly basis to this day.

Archie Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures was a comic book series published from August 1988 to October 1995 by Archie Comics. The initial storylines were close adaptations of the 1987 animated series. Eventually, the comic diverged from the cartoon series to develop many original story arcs, often incorporating social, environmentalist, and animal rights themes.

Dreamwave Productions

A monthly comic inspired by the 2003 animated series was published by Dreamwave Productions from June to December 2003. It was written by Peter David and illustrated by LeSean Thomas. In the first four issues, which were the only ones directly adapted from the TV series, the story was told from the perspectives of April, Baxter, Casey, and a pair of NYC cops, instead of the Turtles.

Manga

The Turtles have appeared in many manga series: Myutanto Tatorusu (Mutant Turtles) was a 15-issue series adapting episodes of the original American animated series. Supa Tatorusu (Super Turtles) was a 3-issue mini-series that adapted Japan's cartoon mini-series. Also of note was Myutanto Tatorusu III, an adaptation of the third feature film.

Daily comic strip

A daily comic strip written and illustrated by Dan Berger, was published in syndication until its cancellation in December, 1996. At its highest point in popularity, it was published in over 250 newspapers.

Television series

1987 animated series

On December 10, 1987, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' first cartoon series began, starting as a 5-part miniseries and became a regular Thursday morning syndicated series on September 8, 1988 with 13 more episodes. Starting on September 4, 1989, the series was expanded to weekdays and had 65 more episodes for the new season. On September 10, 1990, the series (with different opening sequence and end credits) began its run on CBS. The weekend edition presented a full hour of Turtle Power, initially airing a couple of (then) Saturday exclusive episodes back to back. The series ran until November 2, 1996. The popularity of the series gave rise to numerous imitators, including the Battletoads, Mummies Alive!, Cheetahmen, Stone Protectors, Street Sharks, and Biker Mice from Mars.

In animation, the Ninja Turtles are four wise-cracking, pizza-obsessed superheroes who fight the forces of evil from their sewer hideout. The series was produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Film Productions Inc. Mirage Studios does not own the rights to the old 1987 TMNT cartoon series, so changes made in this version of the TMNT have not translated to other versions. However, several allusions to the old cartoons have been incorporated into the 2003 animated series.

The cast included new and different characters like Bebop and Rocksteady and the Neutrinos. Original characters like Shredder and the Foot Soldiers stayed true to the comics in appearance and alignment only. Krang, one of the series' most memorable villains, was inspired by the design of the Utrom, a benevolent alien race from the Mirage comics. The animated Krang, however, was instead an evil warlord from Dimension X. The ethnicity of Baxter Stockman was changed from the comic book from African-American to Caucasian.

The 1987 animated series is available on its out of print VHS tapes. Currently, only the first forty-two episodes are available on DVD.

Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation

In 1997-1998, the Turtles starred in a live-action television series called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. A fifth turtle was introduced, a female named "Venus de Milo" who was skilled in the mystical arts of the shinobi. The series seemed to be a loose continuation of the movie franchise, as Shredder had been defeated and the Ninja Turtles encountered new villains. Other connections to the feature films include the fact that Splinter's ear was cut, the Foot Soldiers were humans, and the Turtles lived in the abandoned subway station seen in the second and third movies. The Next Mutation Turtles even made a guest appearance on In Space, a live-action sentai show that was similar and popular at the time *.

However, The Next Mutation never caught on with fans, and it was canceled after one season of twenty-six episodes. Since its cancellation, the program has been considered apocryphal by the TMNT fanbase, and Laird and Eastman have disavowed all knowledge of the character Venus de Milo.

2003 animated series

On February 8, 2003, the Fox Network revived the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise with the help of 4Kids Entertainment as a Saturday morning cartoon in the "FoxBox" programming block, which has since been renamed "4Kids TV". The 2003 TMNT cartoon series is produced by Mirage Studios*, and Mirage owns one-third of the rights to the series. Mirage's significant stake in creative control results in a cartoon that hews more closely to the original comics, creating a darker and edgier feel than the 1987 cartoon, but still remaining lighthearted enough to be considered appropriate for children. The new series is notable for its complex long-term plotlines, character development, mature themes, moral up-keeping, and well-crafted animation.

In the upcoming fifth season of the series, the storyline will leap 99 years into the future under the subtitle Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward. According to a Playmates Toys press release: "Brought to the future by Cody Jones, the grandson of Casey Jones (TMNT) and April O’Neil, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael are forced to adapt to a whole new world – without their home, junk food or Shredder... The lighter and funnier-than-ever series... is set to bow 26 stand alone episodes in September 2006 on 4KidsTV."*. As a result, the alternative fifth season, which resolves the cliffhanger of the season four finale, will not air on TV and will be DVD only.

Anime

In addition to the American series, a Japanese exclusive two-episode anime OAV series was made in 1996, titled Mutant Turtles: Choujin Densetsu-hen. It featured the turtles as superheroes, who gained costumes and super powers with the use of "Muta-Stones," while Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady gained super-villain powers with the use of a "Dark Muta-Stone." The show's characters resembled those in the original American animated series, but with very different personalities. The cartoon was aimed at a much younger audience, incorporating many elements of sentai and superhero comics. The "saint" transformations in the first OAV episode are based on classic sentai themes, while the "metal" transformations in the second episode are derived from the Ssŭ Ling.

Feature films

TMNT: The Movie

The first film, simply titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, closely follows the storyline from the Mirage comic books, in addition to some of the more lighthearted elements of the cartoons. This movie presents the origin story of Splinter and the Turtles, their initial encounters with April and Casey, and their first confrontation with Shredder and his Foot Clan. Directed by Steve Barron and released by New Line Cinema, showcased the innovative puppetry techniques of Jim Henson's Creature Shop. It remains one of the highest grossing independent films of all time. *

TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze

The second film, entitled The Secret of the Ooze, expands on the Turtles' origin story while claiming the dubious distinction of featuring Vanilla Ice's film debut. It also featured new characters: Shredder's mutants Tokka and Rahzar, and a mutated Super-Shredder. The original story was to include Rocksteady and Bebop at the insistence of the studio, but Laird and Eastman fought tooth and nail to prevent their inclusion, and created Tokka and Rahzar as a way of compromising. The original ending to "Ooze" would also reveal the benevolent TGRI scientist, Jordon Perry, to have been an Utrom. But due to budget constraints, plus the fear he may be mistaken for the character Krang, the plot twist was abandoned.

TMNT III

The third film in the series was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, which featured the return of Elias Koteas reprising his role as the character Casey Jones (TMNT). The plot revolves around the "Sacred Sands of Time," a mystical scepter which transports the Turtles back in time to feudal Japan, where they become embroiled in a conflict between the daimyo and British traders.

Animated feature

The Turtles' fourth feature film, entitled simply TMNT, is currently in pre-production, with a theatrical release date scheduled for March 30, 2007. Unlike the previous films, it will be using 100% computer-generated imagery, produced by Imagi Animation Studios and distributed by The Weinstein Company and Warner Bros. Pictures. According to a press release, "the PG-rated movie will derive its tone from the original comic-book series and will be slightly grittier than the previous live-action pictures. The animation will be created in Imagi’s state-of-the-art facility in Hong Kong." *

Toys and merchandise

Among the first licensed products to feature the Ninja Turtles was a pen and paper RPG entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, published by Palladium Books in 1985. The game features a large list of animals, including pandas and sparrows, that are available as mutant player characters. Dark Horse Miniatures produced an attendant set of lead figurines.

During the run of the 1987 cartoon, Playmates Toys produced hundreds of TMNT action figures, along with vehicles, play sets, and accessories, becoming one of the top collectibles for children. Artists at Mirage Studios provided conceptual designs for many of the figures and vehicles. The line featured many different variants of the TMNT, such as "Farmer Mike" and "Classic Rocker Leo." In addition, Playmates produced a series of TMNT/Star Trek crossover figures, due to Playmates holding the Star Trek action figure license at the time. Playmates continues to produce TMNT action figures based on the 2003 animated series. In addition, the Turtles are currently licensed to Upper Deck Entertainment, Mega Blocks, and Hanes, among other companies.

Video games

The first Famicom/NES TMNT game was the single-player Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, released by Konami/Ultra in 1989. It was unique in that at any point, the player could switch from one turtle to the next to take advantage of each Turtle's strengths. In addition, the player starts off in a strategic map where the player may explore sewer holes as well as engage patrolling enemy foot soldiers before entering any in-game portals.

Also released by Konami in 1989 was the first TMNT arcade game, also titled simply Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This side-scrolling "beat-em-up" was ported to the NES as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game. This lead to an NES-only sequel, entitled " The Manhattan Project", which used the look of the arcade game, as opposed the first NES game. The next Turtles game, Turtles in Time, was released in 1991 as an arcade game, and was later ported to the Super Nintendo as in 1992. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist was also created for the Sega Genesis in the same year, and used many of the art assets from Turtles in Time.

As the video game series progressed, programmers began to incorporate unique signature moves for each Turtle, as well as game features such as "Versus mode" and "Time Attack mode." When the Ninja Turtles' popularity began to decline in the mid-nineties, the video games changed direction. Tournament Fighters was released as a one-on-one fighting game similar to the Street Fighter series.

Konami also acquired the license to adapt the 2003 animated series into a video game franchise, resulting in a new series of games with the same button mashing gameplay as the old TMNT "beat 'em ups." Ubisoft has recently announced they will create games based on the upcoming 2007 animated feature film *.

Food tie-ins

During the height of their popularity ('88-'91) the Turtles had a number of food tie-ins. Among the most notable of these products was Ninja Turtles Cereal, produced by Ralston-Purina as a kind of "Chex with TMNT-themed marshmallows" which also came with a small pouch of "green ooze" syrup; Pizza Crunchabungas, pizza flavored corn snacks in the shape of pizzas (the commercial starred the Ninja Turtles as Will Vinton-created claymations); Hostess Ninja Turtles Pudding Pies, featuring a green sugar crust and vanilla pudding inside; and Royal OOZE Gelatin Desserts, distributed by Nabisco under "Royal Gelatin" in three different flavors: orange, strawberry, and lime.

Live appearances

Concert tour

To further add to the Turtles' popularity, a concert tour was held in 1990, premiering at Radio City Music Hall. The 'Comin' Out of Their Shells Tour' featured live-action turtles (in costumes similar to the films) playing music on stage around a familiar plotline: April O'Neil is kidnapped by the Shredder, the turtle guys have to rescue her. A pay-per-view special highlighting the concert was shown, and an album featuring the songs was released. The track listing is as follows:
  • Coming Out of Our Shells!
  • Sing About It
  • Tubin'
  • Skipping Stones
  • Pizza Power
  • Walk Straight
  • No Treaties
  • Cowabunga
  • April Ballad
  • Count on Us

Since the tour was sponsored by Pizza Hut in real life, there are many references to their pizza. Empty Pizza Hut boxes are seen onscreen during the "Behind The Shells" VHS. As part of a cross-marketing strategy, Pizza Hut restaurants gave away posters, cassette tapes, and "Official Tour Guides" as premiums.

The original show of the tour was released on video with a making of video also released. In 1994 two more twenty-five minute videos were released featuring some of the same songs plus some others. They were called "We Wish You a Turtle Christmas", and "Turtle Tunes."

Disney-MGM Studios

On July 1, 1990 the TMNT arrived in the "New York Street" section of the park. They would arrive in their Turtle Party Wagon, on stage they would dance/show off "ninja moves" while April performed the theme song to the show. After the main show was done they would pose for pictures and sign autographs.

The Turtles made appearances in Walt Disney's "Very Merry Christmas Parade" to sing their own rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". They also appeared during the Easter parade dancing to their hit tour single "Pizza Power"! The Turtles show and appearances were dropped in 1996.

Influence

As the self-published creation of two amateurs, the wildly lucrative TMNT inspired thousands of fans to self-publish their own comics, usually in black and white, The growth of independent comics, already underway when TMNT was launched, suddenly exploded, fueled by creators hoping to achieve the success of Eastman & Laird and speculators hoping to profit from the exploitation of supply and demand. Several new publishers such as Eclipse, First, Comico, and Dark Horse Comics,grew to prominence during the so-called 80s independent boom. The economic effects were felt even across the Atlantic in the UK comics scene, As Eddie Campbell would later write, "suddenly, because of the Turtles, the game was open to everybody." *

References in popular culture

  • In the 1991 novel Berts bravader of the Bert-diaries, the main character Bert Ljung meet his classmate Emilia at a department store. When Emilia asks Bert if he can find some briefs with rabbits on. Bert Ljung answers that he can't, and instead he proposes briefs with "mutated turtle heroes". Sometimes the TMNT were called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe.
  • The Swedish hip hop group "Pandang" competed in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2006 with the song "Kuddkrig", which's lyrics mention's "Turtles-gubbar". "Turtles" was an earlier Swedish common term for the TMNT. "Gubbar" means "men", but is here supposed to mean "action figures".
  • Professional wrestler Chris Champion took on the persona of a Ninja Turtle in an attempt to further his career. While wrestling for USWA, a league based mostly in the south, Champion wore a costume similar to that of the TMNT characters and called himself Cowabunga.

Satire

  • Once the TV show broke the Turtles into the mainstream, parodies proliferated. Cracked took charge, putting the TMNT in almost every issue in '90 and '91. They spoofed the three feature films and the Turtles merchandising craze, but never went after the cartoon.

  • MAD Magazine didn't feature the TMNT as prominently as Cracked; they parodied the first and second films, along with a few minor occurrences scattered throughout issues in the early 1990's.

  • The Wacky Packages 1991 Series card #36 was called "Old-age Mutant Nasty Turkeys", and featured a spoof drawing of the TMNT toy packaging.

  • Several episodes of the 1990s sitcom Dinosaurs feature a poster of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Cavemen," cavemen with brightly colored masks, in Robbie Sinclair's room. In another episode, Earl attempts to give Baby a Ninja Cavemen action figure, calling it "one of those mutant ninja caveman ninja teenage thingies."

  • The film National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 featured the main character, Jack Colt, going down a manhole and walking in front of the screen of the first TMNT movie (when they were playing Trivial Pursuit).

  • Judge Dredd faced off against the "Eldster Ninja Mud-Wrestling Vigilantes" in Prog 601 of 2000 AD (11/19/88).

Controversy

Mainstreaming an underground sensation

Given the content of the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, it seemed unlikely that they would hit it big. In keeping with their parody of "grim 'n gritty" comics of the early 1980's, the Turtles engaged in a greater amount of overt violence in the pages of the Mirage comic book series. As the TMNT were introduced into the mainstream, they were radically redesigned for a younger audience. This evolution incensed a core group of fans who had faithfully collected the independently-published comic series from its inception. They accused Eastman and Laird of "selling-out" their indie roots in favor of corporate greed. In issue #19 of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the creators published an editorial addressing these concerns. It stated, in part: "We've allowed the wacky side to happen, and enjoy it very much. All the while, though, we've kept the originals very much ours--forty pages of what we enjoy and want to see in our books, whether it comes from our own hands or from those of the talented people we work with."

Children and consumerism

For many parents in the late 1980's, the Ninja Turtles phenomenon represented the latest in a series of shrewd cartoon-toy marketing strategies, a trend that had proven very profitable with Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and a host of other "good vs. evil" action-adventure franchises. Parents often found themselves at odds with children who demanded scads of toys and accessories after being subjected to so-called "30 minute commercials" delivered via after-school television.

Censorship and Hero Turtles

Upon TMNT's first arrival in the United Kingdom, the name was changed to "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" (or TMHT, for short), since local censorship policies deemed the word ninja to have excessively violent connotations for a children's program. Consequently, everything related to the Turtles had to be renamed before being released in the UK. The lyrics were also changed, such as changing "Splinter taught them to be ninja teens" to "Splinter taught them to be fighting teens."

The policies also had other effects, such as removing Michelangelo's nunchaku (which were at the time banned from appearing in even 18-rated movies) and generally toning down the usage of all the turtles' weapons. After many seasons of never using his nunchaku, they eventually disappeared entirely, replaced by a turtle shell shaped grappling hook called the "Turtle Line".

By the time of the 2003 TV series, these censorship policies had been abolished, and no changes have occurred in the content of the show. The name "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" remained unchanged for the 2003 show. As a result, in the UK, the 1987 show is still called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and the 2003 show is called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

See also

References

  • Cohen, Susan (1991, April 7). Teenage Mutant Ninja Television: Who's winning the battle over kids' TV? Washington Post Magazine.
  • Eastman, Kevin (2002). Kevin Eastman's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Artobiography. Los Angeles: Heavy Metal. ISBN 1882931858.
  • Seiter, Ellen (1993). Sold Separately: Parents and Children in Consumer Culture. New Brunsick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 081352198X.
  • Wiater, Stanley (1991). The Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Treasury. New York: Villard. ISBN 0679734848.

External links

Comic books

1987 TV series

2003 TV series

Movies

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Fictional turtles

Action figures | Fictional ninja | spin-offs

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Ninja Turtles | Tortugas Ninja Adolescentes Mutantes | Tortues ninja | Tartarughe Ninja | צבי הנינג'ה | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | ティーンエイジ・ミュータント・ニンジャ・タートルズ | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Tartarugas Ninja | Нинџа корњаче | Teini-ikäiset mutanttininjakilpikonnat | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 忍者龜

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

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