In some ways it's very under-appreciated by being so overlooked in the public consciousness but I do think it's the most influential version yet.
While the Nickelodeon series markets itself as embracing the old toon characters and concepts I've long felt that it had more in common with the 2k3 show down to some very specific similarities. Even the movie (for it's many faults) seemed to be visually draw a lot from show such as the turtles being bigger and Shredder's armor was clearly inspired by Ch'rell's sadly they put those designs through a Bay-filter but it's there. Even the truck in upcoming sequel has elements of the second Battle Shell and the Hauler from Back to the Sewers.
I was quite happy that when Nickelodeon re-aired the show in marathons the response I saw online from younger fans of the current series was favorable. Of course I don't expect Nickelodeon to do much with the series while they have their own on air.
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Originally Posted by Turo602
Just because it had an amazing run doesn't mean it can't be overlooked. It still didn't have as big of an impact as the 87 series or even the current 2012 series. You can't honestly argue that TMNT in 2003 was as big or bigger than it was in the 80s, 90s, and even now. More people know who Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady are and what the Technodrome is than they do Hun or Bishop regardless if they ended up in the comics. It may have done well enough to get by for seven seasons but it was never this huge hit of a cartoon series. The show was even going down in ratings during season 4 which is why they skipped season 5 and went straight into Fast Forward. By then, they were just trying to salvage the series. Even when the show was still on air and new merchandising was announced, it was covered in OT Turtles.
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I feel compelled to point the ratings for the current show aren't exactly huge either although I'd put that more on it's very weird schedule last season more than a genuine lack of interest.
In terms of it being more known the Nick series has come at a time were not only fans who grew up with the '87 series have kids of their own or just simply old enough to feel nostalgic. It's also come at a time that there's so many different heavily trafficked media sites that cover shows like this. I mean IGN reviews every episode.
There are people that probably more knowledgeable of this than me and can correct me if I'm remembering incorrectly but the main reason for skipping Season 5 and attempting to re-brand the show was due to toy sales.
In this case toys associated with the '03 series sold very well for two years, much better than Playmates had anticipated which caused them to get stars in their eyes and think turtlemania was coming again. the result was they more than doubled their output but the extra stock wasn't moving and after a while retailers grew incredibly angry at unsold TMNT stuff clogging their shelves thus causing everyone involved to try and 'fix' TMNT by doing things like Fast Forward.