I believe around mid-2003, I first discovered the 1987 series on a foreign satellite T.V. channel and I watched it obsessively. Later in the summer, I saw the 2003 action figures on display at Target, which led to my discovery of that show, and the FoxBox website (which I adored). At the time, there was a preview online for "Notes from the Underground Part 3" which got me pumped! I mean, it was so cool hearing the Turtles voices for the first time! Eventually in August, I caught reruns of "The Shredder Strikes" two-parter, personally a fitting introduction to the series. I definitely loved it more than the 1987 one due to being more action packed and serious, but I still liked the 1987 series for what it was, and I still watched it when it was on that satellite channel. The funny thing was that I thought Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang would be in the 2003 show before I saw it, but I soon realized that this was something completely new and different.
Soon, I had the figures for the Turtles, Splinter, Shredder, April, Casey, Hun, a Foot Soldier, Toddler Turtles, Feudal Shredder, the Fast Forward Turtles, Fast Forward Splinter, Sh'Okanabo, the Battle Shell, posters, school folders, Valentine's Day cards, Mighty Beanz, the 1990 movie on DVD, the 1987 Season 1 DVD, the 2003 video game on PC, etc. I believe I remember seeing a Giant Raphael on either the front or back cover of the 2003 Target holiday toy catalog, as well as a page showcasing the figures and lair, so at least the show was somewhat popular. Ninjaturtles.com was my number one website to go to, along with other fansites (The Technodrome, Mikey's TMNT, etc.), and I genuinely felt like a TMNT expert LOL.
I even emailed "Donatello" when Fast Forward was on, and emailed Dan Berger a bunch of questions on Leo's scar, a Season 4 video game, the Lost Season, cancellation of the series, and Season 7. Here is one email that I now find amusing because I was just a kid at the time.
Spoiler:
9/25/06
> I was wondering if the show will get cancelled because Fast Forward.
The show would already have been canceled had we not changed its
direction. The ratings and merchandise sales were flat, so to keep
all of partners on board, we had to change the direction of the show.
Thanks for writing!
Cheers!
Dan Berger
Mirage Studios' Official Web Dude
http://www.ninjaturtles.com
However, my peers were into the more popular franchises at the time, like Justice League, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Jackie Chan Adventures, so aside from my brother, I had very few people around me to share my TMNT passion with. I was embarrassed about talking about TMNT because it was seen as a joke to some people. Maybe they were somehow aware of its 80s past and the stigma remained? However, in the 4th grade at recess, I noticed one of my friends had an Usagi Yojimbo comic, and it made me immediately strike up a conversation with him about TMNT, and I was really happy.
Later on, I noticed more appreciation for the 1987 series once YouTube gained popularity in 2006 from personalities like the Angry Video Game Nerd and Smosh (the first YouTube video I saw was a 2003 TMNT AMV for Linkin Park's "Numb" LOL).
I watched new episodes pretty much every Saturday morning, until late 2006 when I somewhat lost interest due to the direction the series was going in with the monsters and whatnot. It was around this time that I really got into Star Wars, Batman, Spider-Man, and Bionicle, and I missed out on the 2007 movie when it first came out, as well as the second half of Fast Forward. However, when Back to the Sewer started in 2008, along with the 25th anniversary hype, I slowly got right back in. I also noticed more 1987 TMNT merchandise began to pop up, which made me feel a little weird since all of a sudden people started caring about TMNT again. I was a little suspicious of some of my peers in high school wearing retro TMNT shirts, since I wasn't sure if they were legit fans.
Even though my T.V. reception was bad, I still got to watch the Turtles Forever premiere. I got a Back to the Sewer remote controlled ATV with Leo, more of the movies on DVD, a 2012 Raphael figure when they first started showing up, finally got the Battle Nexus and Mutant Nightmare video games, and I even ordered an autographed Fugitoid from Peter Laird!
Even though I am not really a big fan of the 2012 series, I have seen every episode, even if it takes me months to catch up on it, and it seems to have improved a lot with Seasons 4 and 5. I am definitely getting that Usagi figure when it comes out! I sometimes have difficulty forgiving myself for missing out on all the DVDs, some of the figures of the secondary characters and variants, and other merchandise of the 2003 series, but maybe someday the franchise will fall into the hands of people at Nickelodeon who are just as passionate about the series as we are, and they will release that stuff for us. I could use a 2003 TMNT t-shirt.
