The 11 minute format

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Do any of you feel that the 11 minute format works for this series? Does it lessen it's viewership by releasing one 11 minute episode once a week?

For me personally, it's not what I prefer for a TMNT cartoon but since the series is a parody-like, wacky comedy, I guess it works. On the plus side, if there's an episode you're not enjoying, you don't have to suffer another 11-16 minutes of it, lol.

For the second question, in comparison to a 22-26 minute episode series, I always imagined that even if viewers missed the first few or even half of the episode, that it still counts. But if you missed the full 11 minutes for a show like this, that's it. Have they shot themselves in the foot for doing this?

[frank_one]

It's the perfect format for very young kids who typically have a very short attention span.

[neatoman]

Since this show has the 11 minute format and was given a second season before premiereing, that means Nick greenlit 104 episodes out of the gate. That just feels bizarre to me, I know technically it's still just 52 episodes chopped up in halves but still.

Anyway, I get the feeling Nick is trying to avoid the problem of constantly going on hiatus like the last show did. Which does seem to be working for now at least. Doesn't really matter in terms of structure, it just means half runtime in exchange for twice the stories. Cartoons have literally done this for decades, airing the A and B as independant episodes might be a relatively new phenomenon but let's not act like this is entirely new.

[Krutch]

The format of the medium is rarely, if ever, an inherent problem with the ability to have strong storytelling.

For what this show is, sure, it works fine. Hard to say subjectively since I'm not the demo, but from what I've seen it works well enough.

[oldmanwinters]

I think this show is far better served by the 11-minute format than the traditional half-hour slot.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Cartoons have literally done this for decades, airing the A and B as independant episodes might be a relatively new phenomenon but let's not act like this is entirely new.

Of course, I meant if you think it works for this series in particular.

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I think this show is far better served by the 11-minute format than the traditional half-hour slot.

How so in your opinion?

[oldmanwinters]

Most of the plots would not warrant a longer run-time. The animation is very action/motion heavy, and the shorter the episode, the more over-the-top they can go with that.

[TurtleWA]

When watching something I enjoy 3 hours passes like 1. Hearing/reading only six words could produce tears or laughter. Kids are the same as adults in those aspects in my opinion. Short attention spans for things that don’t capture our attention/imaginations. And captivating story telling can make time stand still. I think sometimes people underestimate kids. Very young kids can spend a lot of time watching tablets and playing video games. They put time in when it’s worth it to them.

[IndigoErth]

Not big on the 11 min format... Too often it feels too crammed together and rushed.

I don't really understand how the Sponge can use the same format and yet often feel like it is able to tell a complete story, yet TMNT often feels so rushed and stunted with less of a story and yet somehow feels like less time to tell it in...

And not fond of a new ep once a week consisting of only 11 minutes. And too often ending feeling like there wasn't much point in it.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

Of course, I meant if you think it works for this series in particular.

For this show it works fine. The plots aren't typically complex enough to justify longer episodes. Tell me, would you really have wanted them to spend a full 20 minutes on the mascot episode?

[TigerClaw]

I bet its shorter when you take commercials into account.

Half hour Cartoons weren't really a full half hour. at most they were like 22 minutes. They just feel like a half hour because of the commercial breaks in between.

Being just 11 minutes would only allow for 1 commercial break in between

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by neatoman

For this show it works fine. The plots aren't typically complex enough to justify longer episodes. Tell me, would you really have wanted them to spend a full 20 minutes on the mascot episode?

Lol no! Hence why I said "if there's an episode you're not enjoying, you don't have to suffer another 11-16 minutes of it."

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by TurtleWA

When watching something I enjoy 3 hours passes like 1. Hearing/reading only six words could produce tears or laughter. Kids are the same as adults in those aspects in my opinion. Short attention spans for things that don’t capture our attention/imaginations. And captivating story telling can make time stand still. I think sometimes people underestimate kids. Very young kids can spend a lot of time watching tablets and playing video games. They put time in when it’s worth it to them.

Also if you watch cartoons for one or two hours, there are some breaks between episodes, and maybe also commercials. Unlike films.

[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Also if you watch cartoons for one or two hours, there are some breaks between episodes, and maybe also commercials. Unlike films.

Yeah commercials interrupt the momentum. One of the reasons I cut the cable. That and also money saving. And being able to view what I want when I want saves my eyes from unnecessary screen time.

[Powder]

For this style of show, it's ideal. There's an accessibility to short format series' that I appreciate, be it to the benefit of a limited attention span or schedule, both of which I have my share of encounters with. The overall tone/direction lends itself well to 10 minute segments, allowing for slice of life tales to run a perfect & full course without becoming stale. Dunno how if it all it affects fight scenes but the budget is properly utilized to accentuate action & flow, & I love that. I'm all for it. Plus, we get more stories this way.

[victory_angel]

The 11-minute run time in some ways hurts the story and in some ways helps the story. For example, there are a number of stories are able to be contained in the 11-minute storyline because all they are is random silliness between the brothers. In other works "Something happens, high jinks ensue."

This same issue occurred with the 2012 series as well, they had a number of episodes that fit the 22-minute timeline. And then there were some episodes that had a plot that felt like they could have been two maybe three episodes all crammed into a 22-minute time frame, which made the episode and it's resolution come across as rushed.

But there are other episodes where there could have been some serious development or situations if it could have been longer then the 11-minute storyline.

Take the "Purple Jacket" episode for example. In the episode, we have Donnie show up at April's school crowing about being around in an educational setting. Then he notices the Purple Dragon's, he expresses interest in knowing them and impresses them with his tech bo to impress them. They automatically welcome him in into the group and give him one of their letterman's jackets. Then later that night, Donnie falls asleep and the jacket somehow enables the Purple dragons to hack into Donnie's battle shells and use them to help them steal things. April calls his Shellphone and tells him what's going on, Donnie recognizes his battle shells and realizes he has been betrayed. He and April then go out and stop them and Donnie reluctantly has to destroy his beloved purple jacket to get back his battle shells returned to him.

If this plot had been 22-minutes long, this is how the episode could have gone.

Start out in the lair. Donnie is in his lab grumbling about how his brothers don't recognize or appreciate true genius. He then gets a call from April asking him if he could do her a favor and look over a computer project she was doing. She wanted to make sure she had the coding right. Donnie willingly agrees to help. April offers to Email him a copy, but he tells her he could drop by her school. April tries to convince him not to but realizes he's already on his way. He arrives and looks over April's coding, he is impressed but tweaks several of the codes to make the web project April is doing to have even more pizzaz. This catches the attention of Kendra, she is impressed and asks Donnie what other skills he can do. Donnie all too eager to flaunt his gifts tells he has hundreds of computer skills a has a number of technological inventions and shows some of what his Tech-bo is capable of. Kendra calls over her two friends and asks how good he was in cracking computer codes. Donnie answers he's able to break into any known computer. Kendra then introduces herself and her two buddies Jase and Jeramy hen says they could use someone like him in her group. April interrupts and says Donnie was just visiting and now he's leaving before dragging him away. Kendra smirks to her two friends and says they should prepare a special jacket because she has a feeling Donnie would be in touch soon enough.

Once they are out of earshot, April tells Donnie Kendra and her crew aren't good people to know. Donnie, however, feels they are people who understand and respect who he is as well as his gifts. April again insists that the Purple Dragon's are tech-wizards, but they are cocky and use their skills for evil. It's better that he just forget about them.

Donnie finds the Purple Dragon's website and gets into a chat with Kendra. During the chat, Kendra comments she can't believe that he's friends with a wannabe loser like April O'Neil. Donnie starts to defend April as his friend, but Kendra just tells him people like April hold him back. It's time he needed to pick who his real friends are and take his place among the real winners. She then says that she was impressed by his techno staff and both she and her buddies wanted Donnie to join their group. Donnie is at first hesitant but agrees to join. He meets with them and is given a purple dragon jacket which he happily flaunts around the lair. April sees it and is both shocked and disappointed. When Donnie asks if she was jealous, April says "No...I just thought you were a better person than the Purple Dragons." Donnie defensively states that the Purple Dragons are people who like and respect him for his for his tech skills, for the first time he is with people who he can relate to. April points out that Kendra only likes and respects herself and is using him for her own gain. Donnie then shoots back it's time he took his place among the real winners for once, instead of letting himself be held back by wannabe losers. Donnie's brothers are taken aback by this, while April calmly just says that it seems he's made his choice, and when he's ready to grow up she'll be hanging with the "Wannabe Losers". When the turtles head off to bed, Donnie takes off his Purple Dragons jacket. He looks at it a moment as though wondering if joining the Purple Dragons was worth losing April. Hanging up the jacket he goes to bed for the night. A transmitter controlled by Jeramy activates while a camera controlled by Jase looks about Donnie's lab, Kendra likes what she sees and now thanks to Donatello, they would have everything they ever wanted, money, electronics, the country, they would call the shots and no one would be able to stand in their way. Using the transmitter they hack into Donnie's battleshells causing them to leave their docking stations and the lair. One of them taking Donnie's Tech bo along with it.

Donnie awakens to a call from April telling him to check out the news, which has reports of three bandits breaking into electronics stores. Donnie recognizes to be his battleshells, rushing to his lab he finds all his battleshells and his tech bo are missing. He first uses the computer on his wrist to summon them back but finds himself locked out. His brothers hear the commotion and then needle him by asking how it feels to be one of the "Wannabe Losers" now. Donnie wonders how the purple dragons hacked into his equipment. Leo notices the eyes of the embroidered dragon on the jacket are glowing, so he picks it up and rips out a patch allowing the small camera and transmitter to fall out, he then surmises that was how they did it. Donnie gets back on the phone with April and says he needs her help. Raph tells Donnie that they're with him on this, Donnie, however, declines saying this is his mess, he needs to get his stuff back on his own.

April and Donnie travel through the city with Donnie giving them directions. April asks if he's using the "Find my shell" app on his wrist computer, but he says no...he knows where they were going to strike next. He remembered April had said the Purple Dragons were cocky. Nakamura was the biggest supplier of computer chips, there was hardly a computer or device on earth that didn't have one. Breaking in would be too much of a temptation since hacking into their mainframe meant having access to every computer on the globe. They arrive too late to stop the Purple Dragons from hacking into the Nakamura mainframe, Jase and Jeremy are quickly taken out and their equipment is seized. Kendra abandons her companions and escapes, she proves challenging. Donnie takes off the purple dragons jacket he had been given, again he looks at it a moment before telling Kendra she can have her stupid jacket back. Tossing it, it gets caught in the roders of his quadcopter shell causing it to malfunction. April smashes Kendra's tablet to keep her from using her hack into the Nakamura mainframe to her advantage.

Gathering his battleshells (or what's left of them) Donnie and April head off to return to the lair. Donnie apologizes to April about not listening to her about the Purple Dragons, he wanted to believe he had found people who were like him, people who could appreciate him as a fellow intellectual. April tells him he may find people like that one day, and even if he doesn't his brothers appreciate him in their own goofy way, and she appreciates him too.

[Powder]

I love when people write fan-fics to justify their dislike of things.

I say sarcastically.

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by victory_angel

The 11-minute run time in some ways hurts the story and in some ways helps the story. For example, there are a number of stories are able to be contained in the 11-minute storyline because all they are is random silliness between the brothers. In other works "Something happens, high jinks ensue."

This same issue occurred with the 2012 series as well, they had a number of episodes that fit the 22-minute timeline. And then there were some episodes that had a plot that felt like they could have been two maybe three episodes all crammed into a 22-minute time frame, which made the episode and it's resolution come across as rushed.

But there are other episodes where there could have been some serious development or situations if it could have been longer then the 11-minute storyline.

Take the "Purple Jacket" episode for example. In the episode, we have Donnie show up at April's school crowing about being around in an educational setting. Then he notices the Purple Dragon's, he expresses interest in knowing them and impresses them with his tech bo to impress them. They automatically welcome him in into the group and give him one of their letterman's jackets. Then later that night, Donnie falls asleep and the jacket somehow enables the Purple dragons to hack into Donnie's battle shells and use them to help them steal things. April calls his Shellphone and tells him what's going on, Donnie recognizes his battle shells and realizes he has been betrayed. He and April then go out and stop them and Donnie reluctantly has to destroy his beloved purple jacket to get back his battle shells returned to him.

If this plot had been 22-minutes long, start out in the lair. Donnie is in his lab grumbling about how his brothers don't recognize or appreciate true genius. He then gets a call from April asking him if he could do her a favor and look over a computer project she was doing. She wanted to make sure she had the coding right. Donnie willingly agrees to help. April offers to Email him a copy, but he tells her he could drop by her school. April tries to convince him not to but realizes he's already on his way. He arrives and looks over April's coding, he is impressed but tweaks several of the codes to make the web project April is doing to have even more pizzaz. This catches the attention of Kendra, she is impressed and asks Donnie what other skills he can do. Donnie all too eager to flaunt his gifts tells he has hundreds of computer skills a has a number of technological inventions and shows some of what his Tech-bo is capable of. Kendra calls over her two friends and asks how good he was in cracking computer codes. Donnie answers he's able to break into any known computer. Kendra then introduces herself and her two buddies Jase and Jeramy hen says they could use someone like him in her group.
April interrupts and says Donnie was just visiting and now he's leaving before dragging him away. Kendra smirks to her two friends and says they should prepare a special jacket because she has a feeling Donnie would be in touch soon enough.
Once they are out of earshot, April tells Donnie Kendra and her crew aren't good people to know. Donnie, however, feels they are people who understand and respect who he is as well as his gifts. April again insists that the Purple Dragon's are tech-wizards, but they are cocky and use their skills for evil. It's better that he just forget about them.
Donnie finds the Purple Dragon's website and gets into a chat with Kendra. During the chat, Kendra comments she can't believe that he's friends with a wannabe loser like April O'Neil. Donnie starts to defend April as his friend, but Kendra just tells him people like April hold him back. It's time he needed to pick who his real friends are and take his place among the real winners. She then says that she was impressed by his techno staff and both she and her buddies wanted Donnie to join their group. Donnie is at first hesitant but agrees to join. He meets with them and is given a purple dragon jacket which he happily flaunts around the lair. April sees it and is both shocked and disappointed. When Donnie asks if she was jealous, April says "No...I just thought you were a better person than the Purple Dragons." Donnie defensively states that the Purple Dragons are people who like and respect him for his for his tech skills, for the first time he is with people who he can relate to. April points out that Kendra only likes and respects herself and is using him for her own gain. Donnie then shoots back it's time he took his place among the real winners for once, instead of letting himself be held back by wannabe losers. Donnie's brothers are taken aback by this, while April calmly just says that it seems he's made his choice, and when he's ready to grow up she'll be hanging with the "Wannabe Losers". When the turtles head off to bed, Donnie takes off his Purple Dragons jacket. He looks at it a moment as though wondering if joining the Purple Dragons was worth losing April. Hanging up the jacket he goes to bed for the night. A transmitter controlled by Jeramy activates while a camera controlled by Jase looks about Donnie's lab, Kendra likes what she sees and now thanks to Donatello, they would have everything they ever wanted, money, electronics, the country, they would call the shots and no one would be able to stand in their way. Using the transmitter they hack into Donnie's battleshells causing them to leave their docking stations and the lair. One of them taking Donnie's Tech bo along with it.
Donnie awakens to a call from April telling him to check out the news, which has reports of three bandits breaking into electronics stores. Donnie recognizes to be his battleshells, rushing to his lab he finds all his battleshells and his tech bo are missing. He first uses the computer on his wrist to summon them back but finds himself locked out. His brothers hear the commotion and then needle him by asking how it feels to be one of the "Wannabe Losers" now. Donnie wonders how the purple dragons hacked into his equipment. Leo notices the eyes of the embroidered dragon on the jacket are glowing, so he picks it up and rips out a patch allowing the small camera and transmitter to fall out, he then surmises that was how they did it. Donnie gets back on the phone with April and says he needs her help. Raph tells Donnie that they're with him on this, Donnie, however, declines saying this is his mess, he needs to get his stuff back on his own.
April and Donnie travel through the city with Donnie giving them directions. April asks if he's using the "Find my shell" app on his wrist computer, but he says no...he knows where they were going to strike next. He remembered April had said the Purple Dragons were cocky. Nakamura was the biggest supplier of computer chips, there was hardly a computer or device on earth that didn't have one. Breaking in would be too much of a temptation since hacking into their mainframe meant having access to every computer on the globe. They arrive too late to stop the Purple Dragons from hacking into the Nakamura mainframe, Jase and Jeremy are quickly taken out and their equipment is seized. Kendra abandons her companions and escapes, she proves challenging. Donnie takes off the purple dragons jacket he had been given, again he looks at it a moment before telling Kendra she can have her stupid jacket back. Tossing it, it gets caught in the roders of his quadcopter shell causing it to malfunction. April smashes Kendra's tablet to keep her from using her hack into the Nakamura mainframe to her advantage.
Gathering his battleshells (or what's left of them) Donnie and April head off to return to the lair. Donnie apologizes to April about not listening to her about the Purple Dragons, he wanted to believe he had found people who were like him, people who could appreciate him as a fellow intellectual. April tells him he may find people like that one day, and even if he doesn't his brothers appreciate him in their own goofy way, and she appreciates him too.

Christ holy wall of text batman

[Leo656]

New paragraphs must always be double-spaced. Sometimes there should be a "-------------" break if there's a complete shift in between the topic of one paragraph and the next.

As the inventor of the "Holy sh*t, I ain't readin' that" format of posting, I encourage everyone to adhere to these guidelines going forward.