Your unpopular TMNT opinions

[D-ray]

Tmnt 2 Battle Nexus is a masterpiece.
Change my mind.

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by D-ray

Tmnt 2 Battle Nexus is a masterpiece.
Change my mind.

I didn’t care much for the gameplay tbh, but to be fair, I’m not a beat-em-up fan anyway. Original character Slashurr was awesome and the anime-seque cutscenes were well done, though.

[D-ray]

Originally Posted by Wesley

I didn’t care much for the gameplay tbh, but to be fair, I’m not a beat-em-up fan anyway. Original character Slashurr was awesome and the anime-seque cutscenes were well done, though.

"BEHOLD MY POWER!"

He could have been a nice character. Even tho he had a weird context in the games.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by FifthTurtles81

2k3 has it's moments, but is largely boring, has terrible voice acting, has the least interesting versions of Splinter and April, of all the animated shows, and every single thing they do with Shredder makes him less interesting and a total joke.

The overly grim self serious tone doesn't work, for the most part, because the voice acting is so OTT, the dialogue is usually bad and every attempt at a joke falls flat, like it was written by someone who has never heard a joke or wit before.

If I have to use this thread to be critical of the 2003 series it's that it tried so hard to be gritty and dark the humorous or comedic moments came across forced. It fell into the trap most contemporary TV has in having a tone and characters taking extreme sides rather than having a balance like the 80's cartoon did. With the 80's cartoon you never get the impression they're trying too hard to make the show funny or serious.

Originally Posted by D-ray

Tmnt 2 Battle Nexus is a masterpiece.
Change my mind.

Yeah sure, controls and jumping.

[mikey0]

The first basic assortment figures from the original Playmates TMNT toy line was all that needed to be made.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by pferreira

With the 80's cartoon you never get the impression they're trying too hard to make the show funny or serious.

Red Sky.....?

[Leo656]

I don't think Red Sky "tried too hard" to be serious, but rather, it was trying to evolve into something more typical of what early-90s action cartoons had become by that point, and that simply wasn't compatible with the first seven or whatever seasons of the show as it had existed. The disconnect was rather jarring; It's like there was a hard reboot over the summer break between seasons or something, that's why it felt so ill-fitting. But if they show had been like that from the very beginning, nobody would accuse it of being overly serious or trying too hard. It's fairly middle of the road as far as action cartoons go. It just doesn't mesh with the early seasons well and feels like almost a different show at times, especially since they sh*tcanned the entire supporting cast and started over with new villains.

It's like if Batman Forever and Batman & Robin had come out first, and THEN Burton's two Batman movies happened afterwards. That's how the TMNT series played out during the late seasons' transition.

Originally Posted by mikey0

The first basic assortment figures from the original Playmates TMNT toy line was all that needed to be made.

I'm sorry, this is "Unpopular Opinions", not "Opinions that anyone can see are clearly wrong."

Kidding, kinda. I don't really have as much love for that line as most people here do, as I barely collected it, and avoided most of it like the plague because I hated most of the silly variants. I will say, though, they needed to hang on long enough to give us a better Shredder than that awful first one, which they did, eventually. So I can forgive SOME of the line's transgressions later on.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I thought season 7 was a decent segway into the Red Sky seasons.

While the show's violence slowly started to creep back in somewhere around season 5 after having been heavily censored, it was season 7 which was really standout for being quite a bit more serious than what came before it.

Even the final episode of the "Blue Sky" era, has villains being much meaner, and the ending frame is of a sunset as Splinter warns the turtles that the villains are still out there, and a threat despite no longer having the technodrome.

Quite fitting in my opinion.

[Leo656]

To be honest it's been a while so I'll take your word for it.

There's stuff about the FW show I like a lot - primarily the earliest stuff and some of the stuff near the end - but every time I try to do a marathon or whatever I hit a brick wall. Last time I tried, those European Vacation episodes had me ready to quit on the whole series forever. Didn't make it past them and haven't really tried since.

I do remember being totally "WTF?" when I turned the show on one day as a kid and it was suddenly the Red Sky stuff. Took a minute to get used to it, but I actually liked it for what it was. I'd watched the FW show religiously every single day up until like 1991 but after that I only checked in once in a while because I was kinda over it. The Red Sky seasons at least seemed like it wasn't the same old thing for the millionth time, which is what made me lose interest along the way around the midpoint of the series.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Leo656

To be honest it's been a while so I'll take your word for it.

There's stuff about the FW show I like a lot - primarily the earliest stuff and some of the stuff near the end - but every time I try to do a marathon or whatever I hit a brick wall. Last time I tried, those European Vacation episodes had me ready to quit on the whole series forever. Didn't make it past them and haven't really tried since.

I do remember being totally "WTF?" when I turned the show on one day as a kid and it was suddenly the Red Sky stuff. Took a minute to get used to it, but I actually liked it for what it was. I'd watched the FW show religiously every single day up until like 1991 but after that I only checked in once in a while because I was kinda over it. The Red Sky seasons at least seemed like it wasn't the same old thing for the millionth time, which is what made me lose interest along the way around the midpoint of the series.

You actually made all the way to European vacation? Assuming the "traditional" viewing order of episodes which puts European vacation right before season 7, you sat through a truck load of episodes on a rewatch which I'm surprised you did considering your opinion on the show

And you were only a little away from the good part of season 7 which trust me, is a hundred times better than European Vacation (weird how European vacation is considered to be season 7 despite clearly taking place in season 4).

Next time you think of rewatching the show, I would suggest that just watching season 7 alone might not be a bad idea (it's only 14 episodes long, and one of the best seasons in terms of animation, action and side characters like the Rat King, Baxter, Triceratons, Neutrinos etc.)

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I don't think Red Sky "tried too hard" to be serious, but rather, it was trying to evolve into something more typical of what early-90s action cartoons had become by that point, and that simply wasn't compatible with the first seven or whatever seasons of the show as it had existed. The disconnect was rather jarring; It's like there was a hard reboot over the summer break between seasons or something, that's why it felt so ill-fitting. But if they show had been like that from the very beginning, nobody would accuse it of being overly serious or trying too hard. It's fairly middle of the road as far as action cartoons go. It just doesn't mesh with the early seasons well and feels like almost a different show at times, especially since they sh*tcanned the entire supporting cast and started over with new villains.

It's like if Batman Forever and Batman & Robin had come out first, and THEN Burton's two Batman movies happened afterwards. That's how the TMNT series played out during the late seasons' transition.



I'm sorry, this is "Unpopular Opinions", not "Opinions that anyone can see are clearly wrong."

Kidding, kinda. I don't really have as much love for that line as most people here do, as I barely collected it, and avoided most of it like the plague because I hated most of the silly variants. I will say, though, they needed to hang on long enough to give us a better Shredder than that awful first one, which they did, eventually. So I can forgive SOME of the line's transgressions later on.

I think Playmates was having a difficult time going between Shredder from the comic book and Fred Wolf Shredder, so they gave him the Skeletor treatment, but with a cape and belt.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

You actually made all the way to European vacation? Assuming the "traditional" viewing order of episodes which puts European vacation right before season 7, you sat through a truck load of episodes on a rewatch which I'm surprised you did considering your opinion on the show

And you were only a little away from the good part of season 7 which trust me, is a hundred times better than European Vacation (weird how European vacation is considered to be season 7 despite clearly taking place in season 4).

Next time you think of rewatching the show, I would suggest that just watching season 7 alone might not be a bad idea (it's only 14 episodes long, and one of the best seasons in terms of animation, action and side characters like the Rat King, Baxter, Triceratons, Neutrinos etc.)

I'm more complicated than my posts would necessarily indicate. Sometimes I can handle certain things better if I'm in a certain mood. Huge chunks of the FW cartoon are like that. There's not a ton about it I outright "hate" even though I've been accused of bashing it many times, although there are definitely a few I strongly, STRONGLY dislike. Some of them I liked more as a kid and can handle better now for nostalgia sake, despite them objectively being rather poor, for example... I'unno, lots of variables.

I'd honestly say that the scale is tipped far heavier towards the "Like" than "Dislike" on the whole, even if it doesn't come off that way sometimes. But some of the stuff is undeniably pretty bad and I don't much believe in sacred cows. Those European episodes, for example, were just plain poorly made and I would hope that the creators felt at least a little bit of shame. As you've pointed out, there were lots of much better episodes within fairly close proximity to those.

This cartoon definitely needed some Lithium.

...Because it was Bipolar. Ba-dum-tsh!

...That's a little joke for those of us who've been "treated and released". Others may not get it.

Originally Posted by mikey0

I think Playmates was having a difficult time going between Shredder from the comic book and Fred Wolf Shredder, so they have him the Skeletor treatment, but with a cape and belt.

Interesting point! Still a pretty junky figure all things considered. Once I acquired a Super-Shredder he became my permanent Playmates display Shredder.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

Red Sky.....?

Tonally it's true they did try to make it more serious with the Red Sky era (and failed because it was jarring) but for most of the run it was consistent.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Tonally it's true they did try to make it more serious with the Red Sky era (and failed because it was jarring) but for most of the run it was consistent.

The Red Sky seasons "failed' because the show was in its eight year and most kids had outgrown it.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Galactus

The Red Sky seasons "failed' because the show was in its eight year and most kids had outgrown it.

And as evidenced by the short episode count of those seasons, I'd say the show had probably lost it's popularity before they began airing. Nobody makes cartoon seasons shorter than 13 episodes under normal circumstances.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

It was probably somewhere around late season 4/early season 5 that the show's mass popularity began to fade.

It's a miracle that we got those last few closure-providing episodes at all, since Ninja turtles had become so obscure by 1996 that most people didn't even know that the show was still going.

[Andrew NDB]

I admit, the last time I popped in a DVD with FW episodes on it (and boy, that was some time ago), when that theme kicked in on the first episode I felt a positive rush of warm nostalgia wash over me. I felt giddy. It continued into... maybe the next 6 or 7 episodes. Then I totally lost interest. I'd had my "fix."

A lot like when I popped in DS9 and VOY and watched the opening credits sequences. Awesome, it took me back. The difference with these being that I actually keep on watching because they're good shows.

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Interesting point! Still a pretty junky figure all things considered. Once I acquired a Super-Shredder he became my permanent Playmates display Shredder.

The ‘88 Shredder did not look too out of place with the other figures. The turtles did not wear double belt straps in the cartoon either. Neither did Raph have Sai carriers on his belt. The way I see it, the original Playmates toy line is another adaption of the TMNT. It was different from the comic book, Fred Wolf TV show, and movie universes.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I admit, the last time I popped in a DVD with FW episodes on it (and boy, that was some time ago), when that theme kicked in on the first episode I felt a positive rush of warm nostalgia wash over me. I felt giddy. It continued into... maybe the next 6 or 7 episodes. Then I totally lost interest. I'd had my "fix."

A lot like when I popped in DS9 and VOY and watched the opening credits sequences. Awesome, it took me back. The difference with these being that I actually keep on watching because they're good shows.

I'm actually pleasently surprised you made it that far, considering that the first 5 episodes of the show are basically like a movie that you can enjoy on its own due to being so tight-knit and self-contained.

Curious if you don't mind me asking, when was it you last watched those first few FW episodes?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Curious if you don't mind me asking, when was it you last watched those first few FW episodes?

Somewhere around 2012, when I was showing my daughter cartoons.