Why no Northampton, Massachusetts farmhouse in the Fred Wolf series?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Does anyone have an idea why the Fred Wolf series never had a storyarc with the farmhouse in Northampton, Massachusetts? It's one of the most iconic TMNT environments.

What do you think such a storyarc could include? And at what point of the series would it be set? I would personally enjoy some New England autumn scenes.

I know Casey Jones wasn't in many episodes, but he was in some. But how about passed away relatives of April O'Neil or Irma.

[CyberCubed]

Probably saw no need for it. No different then the Triceratons not showing up till the tail-end of the show or the Shredder clones never being used.

[oldmanwinters]

The Fred Wolf turtles never experienced any kind of major defeat and exile that prolonged over the course of multiple episodes. I'll confess, I idea certainly would have been interesting to explore in the old show, which was more sci-fi, mad science styled than the ninja, gang war style that is always a part of the North Hampton retreat plotline. The Turtles seemed to recreate perfectly well in their sewer lair and it's secret location was never ultimately compromised to the point it was no longer safe for them to live there.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Shredder clones never being used.

But Fred Wolf Shredder was kept alive throughout the series.

Maybe the Ninja Turtles should retreat to the Northampton, Massachusetts farmhouse when Burne Thompson blamed them for destroying Channel 6, or when Dregg tried to trick Humankind against them?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

The Fred Wolf turtles never experienced any kind of major defeat and exile that prolonged over the course of multiple episodes. I'll confess, I idea certainly would have been interesting to explore in the old show, which was more sci-fi, mad science styled than the ninja, gang war style that is always a part of the North Hampton retreat plotline. The Turtles seemed to recreate perfectly well in their sewer lair and it's secret location was never ultimately compromised to the point it was no longer safe for them to live there.

Also, Casey Jones was hardly ever humanised in the FW series. He was mostly a joke character and a whacko. Not someone I could imagine sticking around long enough with the Turtles. Could you imagine the Turtles and April spending a few days at home with FW Casey? They'd need therapy afterwards. And speaking of April, she and Casey never hook up in the FW series nor do they ever come close to it, so her spending time at his place also would have been unrealistic.

Casey Jones simply wasn't that important of a charter in the FW series.

[Dejablue]

They would have to totally change the reason/context for why they'd go to the farmhouse. Instead of it being a hiding place, it would probably be a place to be investigated.

[neatoman]

The short answer is that Fred Wolf didn't care about the comics (or hiring a story editor). If they couldn't bother getting Baxter's Skin tone right, what makes you they would care about anything else? What little The Fred Wolf cartoon has in common with Mirage is pretty much just there to market the toys. Anything that didn't directly tie into selling toys or cutting corners wasn't seen as important. It's a lot easier to just have random adventures, either in the main setting or easily explained away as trip. Changing the setting long term would require them to have an actual plan.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by neatoman

The short answer is that Fred Wolf didn't care about the comics (or hiring a story editor), anything that didn't directly tie into selling toys or cutting corners wasn't seen as important. It's a lot easier to just have random adventures, either in the main setting or easily explained away as trip. Changing the setting long term would require them to have an actual plan.

Yeah, that's pretty much the answer to every question of "why wasn't it more like the comics?"

[Dejablue]

But could we try to imagine what a 87 Northampton "arc" might look like? It'd probably be some two parter thing where they have to find a UFO that crash landed in the country side. And then some child friendly version of "The Thing" takes place. But nobody dies, they just get tossed into a closet until the last man standing frees them.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Dejablue

But could we try to imagine what a 87 Northampton "arc" might look like? It'd probably be some two parter thing where they have to find a UFO that crash landed in the country side. And then some child friendly version of "The Thing" takes place. But nobody dies, they just get tossed into a closet until the last man standing frees them.

Well, assuming the general rule of "Comics only matter if there's a toy based on them", it would have to be if a toy based on an NH story character was made. This leaves us with Jhanna, Moriah and her monsters, Complete Carnage, Radical, CRAP, Fish People, The Justice Force and Doctor Dome.

The easiest ones to adapt are probably the Doctor Dome and Jhanna, because they're the closest ones to Fred Wolf nonsense, so let's combine them.

April thinks she has a scoop out in the middle of Northampton, because aliens have been seen nearby. She goes there, turns out Doctor Dome has been contacting aliens and he kidnaps her. His goal is no longer to avenge his baby mama but rather to contact aliens in hopes of conquering the world, because a villain has to be as shallow as possible and death can't be mentioned. He successfully contacts Moriah, the alien seen by the locals. Jhanna shows up when the Turtles try to rescue April, and Moriah tells Dome she'll help him conquer earth if he helps her defeat Jhanna. A battle with the alien monsters and Dome starts and is over fairly quickly. Jhanna becomes the ruler in Moriah's place. Both Moriah and Dome flee, vowing to return (which they never do).

That's about as Fred Wolfy I can make the Northampton arc seem. To be honest, your idea is more accurate to what the Fred Wolf cartoon was like, what I came up with probably took way too much from the original stories.

[Dejablue]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Well, assuming the general rule of "Comics only matter if there's a toy based on them", it would have to be if a toy based on an NH story character was made. This leaves us with Jhanna, Moriah and her monsters, Complete Carnage, Radical, CRAP, Fish People, The Justice Force and Doctor Dome.

The easiest ones to adapt are probably the Doctor Dome and Jhanna, because they're the closest ones to Fred Wolf nonsense, so let's combine them.

April thinks she has a scoop out in the middle of Northampton, because aliens have been seen nearby. She goes there, turns out Doctor Dome has been contacting aliens and he kidnaps her. His goal is no longer to avenge his baby mama but rather to contact aliens in hopes of conquering the world, because a villain has to be as shallow as possible and death can't be mentioned. He successfully contacts Moriah, the alien seen by the locals. Jhanna shows up when the Turtles try to rescue April, and Moriah tells Dome she'll help him conquer earth if he helps her defeat Jhanna. A battle with the alien monsters and Dome starts and is over fairly quickly. Jhanna becomes the ruler in Moriah's place. Both Moriah and Dome flee, vowing to return (which they never do).

That's about as Fred Wolfy I can make the Northampton arc seem. To be honest, your idea is more accurate to what the Fred Wolf cartoon was like, what I came up with probably took way too much from the original stories.

How about that story where the leech sucked out Raphael's mutagen? I bet that could be a cool story even in the 87 series. It would be probably on the spooky halloween-ish side.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Dejablue

How about that story where the leech sucked out Raphael's mutagen? I bet that could be a cool story even in the 87 series. It would be probably on the spooky halloween-ish side.

Copyright issues.

[Dejablue]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Copyright issues.

What issues are those? Honestly dont know.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Dejablue

What issues are those? Honestly dont know.

Rick Veitch made that story, he owned the rights to it and it's original characters. In fact, he still does, that's why IDW hasn't printed it. If they wanted to adapt it, they would have had to double license.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Why not let Burne Thompson start another anti-turtle campaign, and the TMNT have to escape.

[ProphetofGanja]

Of all the things the Fed Wolf show did, this is what you question?

[ABrown]

Originally Posted by Prowler

And speaking of April, she and Casey never hook up in the FW series nor do they ever come close to it

No, but I've always felt that their interaction, and the way that April kept getting frustrated with Casey, in Cyber Turtles was meant to be reminiscent of April and Casey in the 1990 movie.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ABrown

No, but I've always felt that their interaction, and the way that April kept getting frustrated with Casey, in Cyber Turtles was meant to be reminiscent of April and Casey in the 1990 movie.

Probably, but it was a subtle homage, so to speak. I definitely didn't see any atrraciton among them. Although in Night of the Rogues, when Splinter asked April if she could contact Casey Jones she said something like "Well I have his phone number, but...". That one was rather surprising. Casey had never interacted with April on screen at least before that episode. He had only interacted with the Turtles, so how did she have his phone number and Casey didn't get a Turtle com from the Turtles?

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Probably, but it was a subtle homage, so to speak. I definitely didn't see any atrraciton among them. Although in Night of the Rogues, when Splinter asked April if she could contact Casey Jones she said something like "Well I have his phone number, but...". That one was rather surprising. Casey had never interacted with April on screen at least before that episode. He had only interacted with the Turtles, so how did she have his phone number and Casey didn't get a Turtle com from the Turtles?

Lame plot convenience.

It would be impossible for this to work in this show. They would have to cram some sort of defeat, exile to Northampton and comeback all in one episode. Casey sure as hell wouldn't be in it. April seems like a New York girl through and through that never lived or spent her childhood anywhere else, in fact nothing of her life other than the present day news reporter self has ever been mentioned in the series.


Only way this would have worked is if some magic item somehow ended up in a random farmhouse in Northampton with the power to fuel the Technodrome, and the Turtles have to go there before Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady could get it.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Lame plot convenience.

It would be impossible for this to work in this show. They would have to cram some sort of defeat, exile to Northampton and comeback all in one episode. Casey sure as hell wouldn't be in it. April seems like a New York girl through and through that never lived or spent her childhood anywhere else, in fact nothing of her life other than the present day news reporter self has ever been mentioned in the series.


Only way this would have worked is if some magic item somehow ended up in a random farmhouse in Northampton with the power to fuel the Technodrome, and the Turtles have to go there before Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady could get it.

Ofc it was most likely lame plot convenience but I was hoping someone would play along. Damn you!

And yes, I agree with what you said. All we know about April's personal lfie in the FW series is that her aunt is an Agatha Christie Miss Marple style detective and that she(April, not her aunt) had an ex-bf that was mentioned in one of the Red Sky episodes... which I assume was also a lame plot convenience as well.

Oh and she and Irma were friends and apparently neighbours at some point? Or it sure seemed so in season 2.