The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Group Watch Thread

[Octopus Prime]

Hi! I’m Octo!

Remember a couple of years ago when we collectively watched through all of The Slayers, and it was really fun?

Let’s do that again, but with a different, formative animated series. This one starring Turtles, who you might recognize as being party dudes, who can do machines or lead. Some of them are rude, but all of them are cool.

Of course I speak of… Them Toitles.

And since I’m just like that I couldn’t decide if that meant I should watch the 2003 series which I hold near and dear to my heart or the 2012 series which I’m told should be near and dear to my heart, and both are *roughly* as long as the whole of Slayers, so I don’t know if “Both?” Is viable, so I figured I’d pose the question here and let democracy decide.

YOU TELL ME WHAT WERE WATCHING, YOUSE!!

All of them are about equally easy to track down and watch

 

[Egarwaen]

Of the two I think the 2012 series is more interesting!

 

[Torzelbaum]

The 1987 series.

...

Oh. That isn't an option.

 

[jpfriction]

I’m more likely to follow along and have something to say about the 03 series as I’ve been meandering my way through that one. But, let’s be honest here, I’m barely going to say anything either way.

 

[Octopus Prime]

The 1987 series.

...

Oh. That isn't an option.

Don’t know if Next Mutation is as easily available but I could be convinced

 

[Dracula]

I'm gonna throw in for the 2012 series because my religion requires me to recommend it at every possible juncture.

I just finished the final episode of season 4 which concludes the series' overall story arc (but there is one more season of what seem to be fun standalone tales) and I am willing to say it's one of the best cartoons of its genre not just accounting for TMNT but action cartoons in general.

Do you need me to sell it more than this? I will do it. I ain't scared

 

[Octopus Prime]

Give me… five more reasons

 

[JBear]

1. Rob Paulsen
2. Phil LaMarr
3. David Tennant
4. Mae Whitman (...her?)
5. Lewis Black (...playing a mutant spider that literally spews caustic bile)

 

[Octopus Prime]

Samurai Jack himself?!?

 

[Dracula]

Give me… five more reasons

Jbear's were really good but I'll throw some in too:

1. Andrea Romano (the voice director for BTAS, Superman TAS, Justice League, etc.)
2. Each season has a different cartoon TV show that the turtles are all watching which tends to mirror the overall story arc and is very funny and has its own unique art style
3. A new iteration of the Mighty Mutaminals from the Archie Comics
4. Punk Frog Napoleon Dynamite (this may hit different depending on how the reference feels...so if it's bad I'll spin that it's only 1 episode)
5. A tasteful amount of multiverse shenanigans

 

[Octopus Prime]

These are all very good reasons but I also really want to watch the 2K3 one again…

Maybe alternating week by week is the way to go?

 

[jpfriction]

I’ve already voted for the 03 series but I do have to note how tickled I was when they got rid of their perfectly serviceable fake Jason Biggs interim Leonardo voice actor in the 2012 series in favor of Seth Green and blamed the voice change on shredder.

 

[Dracula]

These are all very good reasons but I also really want to watch the 2K3 one again…

Maybe alternating week by week is the way to go?

Follow your bliss! I'm currently watching three TMNT cartoons at more or less the same time including both of these ones. '12 cartoon during lunch break, '87 cartoon when I'm working on kits, '03 cartoon at random times (once I'm done with either of the latter two I'll focus on the '03 one)

 

[FelixSH]

I have never watched the 03 one, so that would be a good excuse to finally do so. I watched the 12 one up to...some place...in any case, would like to rewatch that. My memory tells me that it was super good.

So both, first the 03, then the 12 one, because I like to do things in chronological order. I imagine the 12 one has references to the other two, maybe?

 

[jpfriction]

I haven’t seen all of it but I think 03 is its own weird thing. I’ve watched several episodes and I don’t think any of the bad guys are even mutants? Lots of techy body horror instead.

Baxter isn’t even a fly!

 

[Dracula]

I haven’t seen all of it but I think 03 is its own weird thing. I’ve watched several episodes and I don’t think any of the bad guys are even mutants? Lots of techy body horror instead.

Baxter isn’t even a fly!

It is heavily based on the original Mirage comics, where Baxter wasn't a fly, there weren't really mutants, and there was lots of techy body horror instead. But it also takes those rough-around-the-edges stories and fleshes them out, like for example making Shredder into a real villain instead of a one-off baddie who dies in the first issue and isn't a real presence in the comic again until much later.

I think it eventually spins into its own thing as it proceeds, but I have not gotten far enough into the show or the Mirage comics to say.

And yeah, the '12 one does make references to the '03 one, as it tends to reference every version of TMNT at once.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Doing some quick math;

For the The 2K3 series there’s four 26 episode seasons, a movie, and then things get… weirder (I’m very down for one of those Weird seasons, mind), which puts us at 121 counting Turtles Forever and the Lost Season and skip the future season and Back to the Sewers

The 2012 series has 124 episodes.

So if we do two episodes of each a week, we’ll finish both around the same time in a little over a year.

So let’s try that! That way It’s totally viable to follow one series instead of the other if that’s your preference, and four 20 minute cartoons a week isn’t implausible!

So, by Next Friday, that means we’d have;
2K3;
Things Change
A Better Mousetrap

And/or

Rise of the Turtles
Rise of the Turtles: Part 2

Im excited to see which I like more!

 

[FelixSH]

Is Turtles Forever that weird crossover movie between the '03 and the '87 series? That's the only thing of '03 I did watch, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Is Turtles Forever that weird crossover movie between the '03 and the '87 series? That's the only thing of '03 I did watch, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

It's good but it's also a good reminder the reason the original voices didn't come back was the original voices were union and 4Kids wasn't going to pay for that.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Okay, so I have finally watched the first episode of the 2013 series; Rise of the Ninja Turtles Part 1

As an intro; good! It opens with the turtles all sparring and you immediately get a sense for their personalities (even if you haven’t been humming the theme-song every waking moment since age 4); Leo is focused and tactical, Raph is impulsive and angry, Donny is analytical and indecisive and Mikey is a Party Dude. Splinter comes across as more of an overprotective dad than a stern teacher. They’re also apparently going back to the “Guy who turned into a rat” origin instead of a Rat Who Is Good at Ninjitsu.

When you see him in a flashback, he also looks a lot like Anton Shugar, really didn’t expect that.

We also got Utroms right out of the gate; didn’t expect that Either.

Backgrounds look great, and the character models work well for the Turtles and Splinter, and the Utroms since they’re supposed to be robots in disguise so them looking off fits perfectly there. April, however, is supposed to look like A Normal Teenager and correspondingly looks weird and creepy in this art style.

Loved the appearance of a show that is barely legally distinct from Star Trek TAS That Leo is obsessed with.

A lot of the jokes landed, too.

A Strong First Showing

 

[Dracula]

Yup the weakest link in the Nick show is the way the human models tend to look. The good news is, almost every main character that is a normal human will eventually become a gross mutant. But even for the ones that don't, I tend to find it pretty easy to look past the flaws for either the voice acting or the action direction.

One of my favorite things about this series is the voice acting, so Octo if you don't think I'm stepping on your toes I'll say a little something about the cast as we go?

On the main crew:

Jason Biggs is Leo. Of the four turts this actor is the one I'm least familiar with but he seems to be known mainly for the various American Pie movies and spinoffs. (Spoilers for later seasons):
Since Leo's voice actor changes after season 2, Biggs' performance isn't fresh in my mind. I remember liking his work a lot, though.

Rob Paulson is Don. Paulson has been in damn near everything. It speaks to Paulson's strength as a VA that he's voiced two of the four turtles and brought something unique to each. Nick Don is manic and obsessive and so much of that comes through Paulson's performance.

Greg Cipes is Mike. Besides this role he's best known as the voice of Beast Boy in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!. Cipes downplays the Malibu surfer dude stereotype that had been present in most versions of Mike up to this point, opting for more of a hyperactive teenager flavor.

Sean Astin is Raph. Of course we know Sean most from his role in Encino Man. I often think of Raph as having a husky New York accent thanks to Josh Pais' performance in the 1990 movie and Greg Abbey's in the 2003 show, but Astin opts for something more nuanced - Astin is capable of delivering the Super Angry Raph we all know as well as this version's more gentle side.

Hoon Lee is Splinter. Lee is a longtime TV and stage actor. TMNT is one of his primary credits. Splinter tends to have a stereotypical "white guy does wise Asian master" type of voice so in this show it's nice that he is voiced by an Asian doing a more naturalistic performance. Lee helps Splinter feel far more like a real character than most versions of him I've seen.

Mae Whitman is April O'Neil. She's done tons of work but I know her mainly from Arrested Development and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. April has a lot to do in this show and all I can say is Whitman is hella up to the task.

I'll stop at that for the moment and get into villain VAs as we encounter them - glad you're watching this show Octo!

 

[JBear]

Mae Whitman is April O'Neil. She's done tons of work but I know her mainly from Arrested Development and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. April has a lot to do in this show and all I can say is Whitman is hella up to the task.

Notably, she also played Katara in The Last Airbender, so she has a history doing good VO.

 

[FelixSH]

Rewatched the '12 episodes. My memory is right, this is a super-fun show, from the start. Everyone has distinct personalities, the banter, and dialogue in general, is fun, the action is fast and enjoyable and this interpretation of Splinter is hard to top, or me. Love how he looks (I love how everyone looks, especially Mikey and Donny are adorable), but also the way he interacts with the turtles, and also has a good sense of humor.

A++ opening, I expect to love the show as much as I did the first time.

BTW, what about spoilers? Are we just talking about everything? Just up to the episodes that we are watching each week, and everything beyond should be behind a spoiler?

 

[Torzelbaum]

Mae Whitman is April O'Neil.

April Mae ... June?

 

[Octopus Prime]

BTW, what about spoilers? Are we just talking about everything? Just up to the episodes that we are watching each week, and everything beyond should be behind a spoiler?

Yeah, as much as possible; I haven’t seen ‘12 before and ‘03 is old enough that forgetting large swathes is pretty likely

 

[jpfriction]

I forgot how hard that 2012 intro goes.

 

[lincolnic]

Where's the 2012 show available to stream? This thread has sold me and I'd like to join in.

 

[Octopus Prime]

In Canada, Paramount Plus, but the whole series DVD set is pretty inexpensive

 

[lincolnic]

I think it's on Paramount+ in the US too, which I do have. I'll have to take a look after work today.

 

[Dracula]

The first two seasons are currently on US Netflix as well