If Power Rangers never came to the U.S., would TMNT have lasted longer?

[Foot Soldier Clang]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

We all know the real reason the TMNT cartoon lost its popularity was simply due to the huge explosion in Power Rangers popularity back in 1992. Power Rangers took (stole?) a chunk of the TMNT fanbase as well as younger kids who would have gotten into TMNT had Power Rangers not existed.

If Power Rangers never came to the U.S., would the original cartoon have lasted a bit longer? Remember TMNT was also competing against Batman: TAS, as well as the Spiderman and X-men cartoons at the time as well.

Man that was a great time for cartoons on television

I think TMNT was running on fumes by the time PR hit the scene. I still enjoyed TMNT, but even I started focusing more on PR when it first premiered. If anything I think Power Rangers, X-Men, Batman, Exo Squad and the rest helped TMNT to a certain degree because it gave us the Red Sky seasons (which I really enjoyed). I guess if it wasn't PR it would have been something else. Maybe if Pokemon, Digimon and the rest of that monster-fighting-craze had premiered in the US first instead of PR we would have had a very different catalyst for the last few seasons of the series.

[Prowler]

If it hadn't been the Power Rangers, it would have been something else. Nothing lasts forever, and when the audience starts losing interest in a show they'll switch to another, since there are plenty of alternatives.

Plus, TMNT ended in 1996. That's 4 years after the Power Rangers became popular, so it's not really fair to say that they there the main reason that the Turtles lost popularity and that show eventually got cancelled.

[Shred87]

I think that cartoon had just run its course.... Lets face it the ot is what most fans first contact with the turtles is. As these fans grew older you look to more mature more series brands.

Combine this fact with the third movie flopping; it set the franchise back in a similar way the Batman & Robin movie sunk the Batman franchise. And lets be honest the ot's influence on the 2nd and third movie in terms of tone caused those movies to fall short. The material simply didnt keep up with its aging fanbase.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Plus, TMNT ended in 1996. That's 4 years after the Power Rangers became popular, so it's not really fair to say that they there the main reason that the Turtles lost popularity and that show eventually got cancelled.

Yep, PR itself was dropping in the ratings by 1996, plus it's MMPR days were long behind it and it had become Power Rangers Zeo, which, while servicable and a popular season with fans, wasnt a steller hit with a more vital fresh audience. PR's ratings wouldnt stabalise until the second half of Power Rangers Turbo and finally regain peak levels with 1998's Power Rangers In Space

Originally Posted by JYX

Sadly I felt, the OT never had a proper ending. I heard rumors though that there were plot ideas for an 11th season to make it a series finale season (any of you know about that?), but of course that was extinguished with the strict enforcement of Children's Television Act and low ratings. Or that there was a planned OT finale animated movie for 1997, but that was scrapped. (Anybody know of that either? )

Where'd you hear this? First time I've heard this rumor come about.

[Shred87]

^^^^^ yes please give more informatiom

[CyberCubed]

Pretty sure they knew Season 10 would be the last season. There were never any plans for anything after.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Where'd you hear this? First time I've heard this rumor come about.

Originally Posted by Shred87

^^^^^ yes please give more informatiom

Well, take these with a grain of salt, but there have been a few hints of this over the internet as I searched around:

1) I was going through YouTube and came across a conversation for the episode "Divide and Conquer" Part 3 and some user named "NukeMASTAR" said:
"The makers maybe didnt know this would be the overall last episode, i heard a rumor that there was supposed to be a season 11 with krang and shredder returning as more serious villains to end the show with everybody it started with"

Another person asks where he/she found this information, and then NukeMastar said:
"Someone on the Technodrome forum mentioned it to me."

Take that for what it's worth on a YouTube person's word.
Obviously, I don't want to put up the YouTube link to prevent these forums from getting in trouble, but if you search hard enough, you'll find it.

EDIT (7/5/2013): Okay, so I found the thread and post for this Technodrome user that stated this: http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sho...4&postcount=49
It's too bad this user isn't active, then we could have tried to find where he/she found this information for validation.

2) Interestingly out of all people , Andrew NDB's website, mentions that an animated 1997 movie was considered if you look at under "Future of the Cartoon" :

"Though the cartoon ended in 1995, a theatrical TMNT animated film was scheduled to be released in December of 1997 (right alongside the premiere of Ninja Turtles IV, which had been scheduled for release "Christmas 1997" at that point). When nothing came of that, I queried Molly Bode of Mirage Studios, and she replied: "We were hoping to come out with an animated holiday special but plans have been scraped.""

http://www.thegreenlanterncorps.com/...toon.html#1987


3) In a Renae Jacobs interview on YouTube, she says that specials, or an animated movie after the end of the series was considered:

Listen at 11:20-12:28, especially pay attention to 12:16.


"I'm not sure if Jeffery Scott knew that it was going to be the last episode, we never had a chance to meet him, and so, we all hoped, we all talked about specials, animated movies. There were other things that were talked about, but unfortunately, they never materialized." - Renae Jacobs in the YouTube clip at 12:16

4) In Michele Ivey's interview with Bill Wolf, she asks if he would have liked anything come out of the cartoon that the staff wasn't able to do:

Listen at 19:51:


"...not really, maybe a feature... I wonder if we could have made an animated feature." - Bill Wolf
He then says he spoke with a post-production manager and joked about making a Bebop and Rocksteady spinoff comedy show of sorts, but of course they wouldn't know how it would last for several episodes.

...So it seems there could have been a few pre-production ideas of an animated special, or an animated movie, and that the staff wasn't completely done with the OT at 1996's series finale; as for an 11th season... that's a bigger stretch though, but of course none of these things happened. Though it would be nice to see how the staff wanted to properly end the series from a story writing perspective.

[ZariusTwo]

That's interesting, so we were close to a Christmas special of some kind before the axe fell huh? Shame, it's the one thing TMNT always lacked.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

That's interesting, so we were close to a Christmas special of some kind before the axe fell huh? Shame, it's the one thing TMNT always lacked.

But.....

[InsaneZane]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

That's interesting, so we were close to a Christmas special of some kind before the axe fell huh? Shame, it's the one thing TMNT always lacked.

What about "The Christmas Aliens"? I watch it every year now

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

That's interesting, so we were close to a Christmas special of some kind before the axe fell huh? Shame, it's the one thing TMNT always lacked.

From the way I'm processing it, combining Andrew's NDB info and Renae Jacob's interview, I think it was probably planned to be a "finale" animated movie for the OT (with the series already being cancelled) rather than a "Christmas special" of sorts. (Otherwise if it was just a "Christmas special", I figured it would have been more profitable to have already milked that during the height of TurtleMania.) Where the finale movie was to be released during Christmas (similar to how the 1st season, and previous season finales were shown near Christmastime when kids were out of school), to have good ticket sales and coordinate in reviving the dismal, whatever was left, TMNT merchandise sales.

...But that's just me. ...Or maybe it's wishful thinking.

It seemed from Renae Jacob's interview that there was more than one project considered, with the use of plural words. So there could have been a Christmas special and a finale...possibly...? Who knows...

[pannoni1]

I was aware of TMNT's decline (Movie III) before I was aware of MMPR's rise. The momentum was fading and the vibe felt darker than just a couple years prior (this was in 1993). The knockoffs (Biker Mice, Samurai, Battletoads) helped to water down the concept, plus some poor marketing/releases by Playmates thanks to too many bad Turtle variations, a lack of new playsets/vehicles, and other factors such as the poor Getting Down in Your Town tour were many that lead to its decline, along with kids' desires that they want to explore more of the world. Unlike adults who tend to be more loyal to series, kids/teens have a fickle mind and like to mingle with other brands; hence this is why many cartoons don't have long runs compared to primetime and daytime TV.

Actually, if Power Rangers never came to the U.S., TMNT would have lasted shorter: No Next Mutation/crossover! It thankfully shortened the gap to 5 years instead of seven (or for me, nine since I was unaware of the final two seasons). Sure, that series had flaws, but it did keep audiences that the Turtles were trying to keep their brand alive, especially to follow up on the movies.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Jester

But.....

One I blocked from all conscious thought (that) and another I forgot existed (4kids). Gah.

I should have said "something FW always lacked"

[gobo]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

If Power Rangers never came to the U.S., would TMNT have lasted longer?

Nope. FWF just wasn't that competent.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Maybe a year or two, but of course, something other would still come after that...

[mikey0]

If MMPR never came to the US, then the popularity of Batman TAS, X-Men, Samurai Warriors, or Biker Mice From Mars would have taken away from TMNT. Some (if not most) children of the 80s (like my cousin) were done with the FW cartoon TMNT in late 1990 or 1991, whereas children of the 90s (Millennials) grew tired of the FW cartoon version of TMNT in 1992 or 1993. The diehard TMNT fans kept the series afloat from 1992 to 1996 or 1997 (for fans who watched repeats of the final season episodes).