How long was the in-universe span of the show?

[sdp]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

There's some snow episodes, but I'm pretty sure none of them actually take place in the winter. Thinking about it makes me mad all over again about them not making a Christmas episode...

I'm not normally a fan of Christmas episodes, especially on series that are more serious since it seems out of place not to mention its weird seeing a Christmas episode if its June when you're watching it. But for a show like TMNT it would have worked fine, it is kinda sad we didn't get one. At least we got We Wish You A Turtle Christmas, hey I just watched it for the first time this past holidays and I found it charming. Haters gonna hate.

[Sage Ninja]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Oh yeah, and I remember Raph stating that it's "the middle of July" in Take Me To Your Leader.

And Super Irma from season 6 takes place on Halloween.

nice observations ToTheNines! Now I'm gonna have to figure out where exactly timeline wise these took place. Did Take Me to Your Leader come before or after Michelangelo's Birthday?

Also was it ever revealed in dialogue when exactly Raphael, April, and Irma's birthdays are? I think Mike and Raph are the only ones that get birthday episodes.

[gobo]

Originally Posted by Sage Ninja

I think Mike and Raph are the only ones that get birthday episodes.

Correctamundo!

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

The season 5 episode "Once Upon a Time Machine" actually establishes the year as 1991 with two explicit references, one on Krang's computer as he explains time travel and the other when Leonardo says that it took them "45 Years" to learn their lesson. Since the turtles had an adventure in the year 2036, the 45 years reference puts the episode's date in 1991.

Also, in the Season 3 (I think episode) "Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers," April celebrates her 1-year anniversary working for Channel 6 News, suggesting that not much time had passed between the first 3 seasons.

But... it is a cartoon. So... who know how many days were in a year in the Fred Wolf universe anyway?

Even "Elementary, My Dear Turtle" telsl they travelled backwards in time from 1990 to 1890.

[gobo]

Originally Posted by J 1982

Even "Elementary, My Dear Turtle" telsl they travelled backwards in time from 1990 to 1890.

Get your facts straight.

[plasticturtle]

I wish you hadn't brought attention to the fact there wasn't an OT Christmas show. I never thought about it before. Now the fact that there wasn't was brought to my attention I'm really sad there wasn't one. I love Christmas episodes!

[themaxonline]

I always imagined that a lot of time passed between seasons or even episodes. Once they defeat Shredder and Krang, it takes a long time for them to come back. Although between 3 and 4 not as much time passed as you'd think considering the damage to the Technodrome but Bebop and Rocksteady were able to come back during the Plan 6 episode which starts with the turtles assessing the crater left by the Technodrome.

It's all based on assumptions, I guess.

[gobo]

Originally Posted by themaxonline

Plan 6 episode which starts with the turtles assessing the crater left by the Technodrome.

No, it doesn't. It begins with The Turtles, April and Irma (the last of whom wasn't even in Blowout at all) standing over a crater next to Channel 6. The Technodrome was launched through the portal to Dimension X over by Mt. Rushmore.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by gobo

The Technodrome was launched through the portal to Dimension X over by Mt. Rushmore.

Um... It's was most definitely in the city.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by robodog

I wish you hadn't brought attention to the fact there wasn't an OT Christmas show. I never thought about it before. Now the fact that there wasn't was brought to my attention I'm really sad there wasn't one. I love Christmas episodes!

The old He-Man cartoon had one.

[themaxonline]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Um... It's was most definitely in the city.

That and I always assumed it was just one of the many plot holes that otherwise didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The hole in the ground wasn't even that large.

Either way, my point was that they weren't in Dimension X on the asteroid for very long before they were able to start finding ways to visit Earth.

[gobo]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Um... It's was most definitely in the city.

Oh yeah. I just checked. It was headed towards the World Trade Building. In Plan Six, the Turtles are standing around a crater to the side of Channel Six. I guess if there's something that shows Channel Six is near the Twin Towers, that fits. But, what still doesn't fit is that the Technodrome crashed upside-down into Cybertron Jr at the end of Blow Out, and appears upright on the tropical island asteroid in Plan Six. So, I'm still convinced that there were eps to explain away these continuity errors that apparently never got made for some reason.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Sage Ninja

nice observations ToTheNines! Now I'm gonna have to figure out where exactly timeline wise these took place. Did Take Me to Your Leader come before or after Michelangelo's Birthday?

Also was it ever revealed in dialogue when exactly Raphael, April, and Irma's birthdays are? I think Mike and Raph are the only ones that get birthday episodes.

Originally Posted by gobo

Correctamundo!

Actually, April had a birthday in "Shreeka's Revenge".

[CyberCubed]

I'm sure Shredder/Krang's schemes didn't happen daily. Hell maybe their plans to take over the Earth only happened once every two weeks. :p

[Leo656]

While allowing for the fact that the Turtles perpetually stay teenagers, as well as the fact comics and cartoons enjoy a very loose flow of time and events, I more or less always assumed about 5 or 6 years may have passed between the beginning and end of the series, leaning towards at least 4, maybe 5, and not more than 6.

Some stories took only a day or two but several episodes take longer. If you keep a loose continuity, there are several eps which could have taken place on subsequent days, others where it makes more sense for time to have passed in between eps. The Turtles seem a bit older than 13 at the start, but who knows? I'd say 14 going on 15 is more accurate, no older if 4 or 5 years passed between the first and last episodes, as I think the Turtles would be about 18 or 19 at most by the end. They didn't drop the "Teenage" part from the title, so my theory is they were still teenagers. In one episode, April gives us reason to believe she either is 28 or soon will be. Not much time could have passed since then, because April in Season 10 does not look at all like a woman pushing 40, even if the animators were very generous. I would say she couldn't be older than 32 by the end, at the oldest.

So again, it's all conjecture and no solid facts, but I think there is evidence that if any time passed at all, it was no more than 4-5 years. If I had to narrow it down, I'd say 4 to keep it simple. Most of what happened could have happened between 1988 and 1992. That's how I looked at it then and now, anyway.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Leo656

While allowing for the fact that the Turtles perpetually stay teenagers, as well as the fact comics and cartoons enjoy a very loose flow of time and events, I more or less always assumed about 5 or 6 years may have passed between the beginning and end of the series, leaning towards at least 4, maybe 5, and not more than 6.

Some stories took only a day or two but several episodes. If you keep a loose continuity, there are several eps which could have taken place on subsequent days, others where it makes more sense for time to have passed in between eps. The Turtles seem a bit older than 13 at the start, but who knows? I'd say 14 going on 15 is more accurate, no older if 4 or 5 years passed between the first and last episodes, as I think the Turtles would be about 18 or 19 at most by the end. They didn't drop the "Teenage" part from the title, so my theory is they were still teenagers. In one episode, April gives us reason to believe she either is 28 or soon will be. Not much time could have passed since then, because April in Season 10 does not look at all like a woman pushing 40, even if the animators were very generous. I would say she couldn't be older than 32 by the end, at the oldest.

So again, it's all conjecture and no solid facts, but I think there is evidence that if any time passed at all, it was no more than 4-5 years. If I had to narrow it down, I'd say 4 to keep it simple. Most of what happened could have happened between 1988 and 1992. That's how I looked at it then and now, anyway.

Season 1 seems to take place during one week (Monday-Friday) with each day as a an episode.

[pannoni1]

Considering the in-universe span of the Simpsons seems to have Springfield get sucked into a de-ages each summer causing everyone to move back a year in development, despite the technology of the world improving. That said, in the final season, Leonardo could have been 20 while the others 19 making the majority still teenage turtles, while they all start out at 15. I'd say the in-universe span of the show was about 5 years. The first year happened perhaps all within the first three seasons, since the arcade game shows April as being 27, and she is only 28 by then. The series began in the middle of June as indicated by April in the episode "Hot Rodding Teenagers", and in the episode where the energy drains the sun in Season 3, it is the middle of July, and considering that is only about 30 episodes into the series, the first 30 episodes could have very well taken place over the course of a daily adventure in 1989 as opposed to 1987, since it is clearly the mid-90s when the series ends with April's computer having Internet. The computer that April used in the episode "A Thing About Rats" was quite sophisticated at the time, and 80's lingo was still cool in 1989 as long as it wasn't "gag me with a spoon". April could have been a reporter for Channel 6 for around 11 months in the first episode. Season 3 could have ended sometime around late August of 1989 since the leaves are still green in the "Big" trilogy, and it was approximately the actual Earth time when the episodes were being produced. With 65 episodes to that point and a new adventure seemingly daily, it can work out, given that the transition from Season 1 to 2 was rapid with Krang quickly using the portal to send Shredder back to Earth, and using the transport modules to head to earth on the first Season 3 episode seemed like a pretty quick idea that Krang thought out as the Technodrome was sinking (probably only to the upper mantle rather than the Earth's core near the base of an ancient volcano somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, since magma forms down at that level). Plus, there are no mentions that it is 1987 or 1988 (though a kid says "kids of the '80s in the episode "It Came From Beneath The Sewers", so it can be 1989 at the latest, and still apply. So in a nutshell the first three seasons basically last just a summer!

Season 4's "universe" probably began in the spring or summer of 1990, given that it took awhile for Shredder and Krang do get the Technodrome fixed in Dimension X, plus there were no winter episodes in Season 4. Shredder didn't appear in every episode, and obviously at the Season 4/5 cusp with the Hokum hare episode we are at Easter of 1991. The Season 4 adventures might have happened only once a week since the Technodrome didn't seem as effective that Season and the villains probably wanted to be more patient in hopes of coming up with a better idea. Season 5 is similar to 4 in that the 20 episodes might have been weekly covering the spring and summer of 1991 following the Hokum Hare arc. At this point, the in-universe span is just 2 years. I'd say Seasons 6 and 7 took place over a year given the similar Technodrome location, and weekly covering late spring to early fall with about 30 episodes total, with some of the non-Shredder episodes occurring in the middle of a week. Since the show was starting to get a little behind the times in Season 7 compared to shows like X-Men and B:TAS, it could have been reasonable to have just been late summer/early fall 1992 at the end of Season 7.

Red Sky had short seasons, but April mentioned "Internet" in Season 10, and I'd place the final Season sometime during 1994 since Season 8 April still had hair that seemed behind the times, making that season taking place in 1993. Shredder and Krang likely become more desparate than ever, so despite taking a long time to come up with a plan, the wise move to wait and destroy Channel 6 successfully was Shredder's finest accomplishment in the series. '80s lingo was pretty much dead by 1993 even, so the vibe works out fine with the "90s style". Season 9 was probably also 1994 like Season 10, since April changed her hair towards the mid-decade "bowl cut" style and the Turtles had to travel back in time presumably at least a year to get the old turtles back in that three-parter. But it seems like the gap between Seasons 9 and 10 was short since Dregg likely came up with a quick plan to change his Dragon from Hi-Tech to Mung. The Internet was also just starting to take off around then (even Townsend Coleman himself was using the Internet on a BBS board in 1993 on an interview).

In summary, this brings out the in-universe duration of the entire series to approximately five years between mid-June 1989 to sometime in the spring of 1994, since we can still have three of the Turtles 19 (almost 20) if they were 15-year olds (except for Leonardo) at the start. It also condenses the rapid storyline/action of the first three seasons, followed by the more laid-back action of the middle seasons, followed by the final uptick in action during Red Sky.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I'm happy TMNT didn't air as long as Simpsons, it would cause the same problem (unless they age).

[Leo656]

Eh, it's a cartoon, wouldn't have ruined anything for me. I admit it is very fun to over-analyze parts of it like we're doing here from time to time, but I've never cared too much about how time passes in comics and cartoons. Main reason being that once you start worrying about stuff like how much time has passed, the only possible outcome is a retcon/restart, which are pretty much never necessary and do more harm than good.

I love to nitpick and argue over stuff like this, but just for fun. The fact that Bart Simpson is still is 4th Grade after 20 years and several of Batman's Robins are fully grown while he stays constantly 30 has never bothered me at all.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

In Elementary, My Dear Turtle, they say "same 1991"? Mistake. They at least say 1890.