Time in TMNT

[Coola Yagami]

So how much has passed in each tmnt series? I assume Rise was too short for even a year to have passed.

Offhand due to how long the OT has lasted there was a line in a later season where Shredder is like 'i'll teach you to mess with me" to which Raph says "no need to, we've been messing with you for years!" And it's safe to say at least SOME years have past between season 1 and Red Sky.

I know years must have passed during the 2K3 and 2012 but I'm not sure of the timeline.

[CyberCubed]

Real dates were used in the original cartoon, the ep with Irma posing as Donna Tello in the Sopho university had "Year of 1992" or something on the banners if I remember right. Then in Once upon a Time machine, Michaelangelo said how he couldn't wait to get back to "good old 1991."

Then in Seasons 8-10 April is using the internet which became mainstream around 1995-1996 when they aired.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Real dates were used in the original cartoon, the ep with Irma posing as Donna Tello in the Sopho university had "Year of 1992" or something on the banners if I remember right. Then in Once upon a Time machine, Michaelangelo said how he couldn't wait to get back to "good old 1991."

Then in Seasons 8-10 April is using the internet which became mainstream around 1995-1996 when they aired.

Then by that logic nine years pass in the show, which seems a bit off.

In general we can assume a semi-floating timeline for TMNT, that is to say that time passes and it's always set in the year it's published but for the characters it's still slower, see also Marvel, DC and most other long running comics.

The best way to determine this is if there is an explicit mention of how much time has passed, this gives us a springboard.

In IDW, Destroy Everything is stated to take place in 2016 and the Turtles were shown to still be lab animals in 2012. This means about four years had passed from the start of the series up to that point. So we can probably assume about six to eight years has passed in the IDW continuity by now, which would actually put it fairly close to real time, only one to three years off. But I suspect that if we get another nine years of real life publication, it'll probably slip more.

In Nick it's mentioned that the season 2 finale takes place the year after the season 1 finale, I don't think it's clear how much time passes in the first half of season 3 but we can infer that the second half takes six months due to the Fugitoid thing and the second half of season 4 picks up where season 3 ended. So at least two and a half years, maybe about three, is how much time passes ingoring the Mad Max crap.

[newfan]

This came before with the Nick show and the character age. Time passing was mentioned a few times, April finished her Kunoichi training and there was mention of Karai being 'grown up now' in relation to going her own way. On the other hand the turtles remained 15 so so I guess the others were still 16. Apocalypse was different as mentioned up already.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by newfan

This came before with the Nick show and the character age. Time passing was mentioned a few times, April finished her Kunoichi training and there was mention of Karai being 'grown up now' in relation to going her own way. On the other hand the turtles remained 15 so so I guess the others were still 16. Apocalypse was different as mentioned up already.

Yes but they have something a little more concrete than an unspecified amount of days or weeks?

When Casey mentions the season 1 finale happened "last year", that's a bit more concrete. As is the explicit mention that the turtles travelled back six months to save earth.

[newfan]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Yes but they have something a little more concrete than an unspecified amount of days or weeks?

When Casey mentions the season 1 finale happened "last year", that's a bit more concrete. As is the explicit mention that the turtles travelled back six months to save earth.

I didn't word my last post very well, when I said time passing was mentioned a few times I meant stuff like this and then meant to add what followed as an 'also', reading back I can see it looks like those are my only examples. Anyway, agreed, also Timothy referring to when he had seen them previosuly (I think there was a flashback to a previous ep) and said it was months ago.

[Icebot]

Here are some more clues for the '87 cartoon, in It Came From Beneath The Sewers, the kids that had the fragment said they're children of the 80's, so that episode and all the ones before it take place in the 80's. The turtles go to Europe in 1991, as that's mentioned in Elementary My Dear Turtle and Once Upon A Time Machine takes place just after Easter (The Turtles and the Hare) in 1991, assuming the Europe episodes happen immediately after Plan 6 From Outer Space, most if not all of season 4 / beginning of season 5 takes place in early 1991. Super Irma takes place on halloween, most likely in 1991 or 1992. In A Turtle In Time, Landor and Merrick tell the turtles they will know Carter in exactly 2 years and 15 days so that might be how much time has passed between Turtle Trek and The Unknown Ninja.

In the 2003 cartoon, Fast Forward happens for a year since it's a year later they return to their normal time. I think in Space Invaders, the turtles said it's been month since they saw the Fugitoid. Season 3 to the middle of season 4 happens in less than a year as it's Christmas in season 3 and Halloween the middle of season 4.

[ABrown]

As I said in the other thread:

Originally Posted by ABrown

I'm in the group that says significant time does not pass in cartoons, unless specifically stated. Bart Simpsons is still 10 years old. So as far as I'm concerned, the turtles are always 15. They're only older in cases like the 4Kids episode Same as it Never Was, where 30 years had passed.

[oldmanwinters]

Yeah, this happened:

Donatello's Degree (Season 4)
Original airdate, September 8... 1990!

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Icebot

Here are some more clues for the '87 cartoon, in It Came From Beneath The Sewers, the kids that had the fragment said they're children of the 80's, so that episode and all the ones before it take place in the 80's. The turtles go to Europe in 1991, as that's mentioned in Elementary My Dear Turtle and Once Upon A Time Machine takes place just after Easter (The Turtles and the Hare) in 1991, assuming the Europe episodes happen immediately after Plan 6 From Outer Space, most if not all of season 4 / beginning of season 5 takes place in early 1991. Super Irma takes place on halloween, most likely in 1991 or 1992. In A Turtle In Time, Landor and Merrick tell the turtles they will know Carter in exactly 2 years and 15 days so that might be how much time has passed between Turtle Trek and The Unknown Ninja.

In the 2003 cartoon, Fast Forward happens for a year since it's a year later they return to their normal time. I think in Space Invaders, the turtles said it's been month since they saw the Fugitoid. Season 3 to the middle of season 4 happens in less than a year as it's Christmas in season 3 and Halloween the middle of season 4.

I think the Turtles arrive to Paris on 14 July 1990 (Bastille Day), and spend the late summer, autumn, winter (A Real Snow Job) in Europe and very early spring ("Elementary, My Dear Turtle") in Europe. They then return to New York City in time for Easter 1991 (Easter Sunday was 31 March that year).

[D-ray]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

So how much has passed in each tmnt series? I assume Rise was too short for even a year to have passed.

Offhand due to how long the OT has lasted there was a line in a later season where Shredder is like 'i'll teach you to mess with me" to which Raph says "no need to, we've been messing with you for years!" And it's safe to say at least SOME years have past between season 1 and Red Sky.

I know years must have passed during the 2K3 and 2012 but I'm not sure of the timeline.

In the 4kids adaptation they pass both Halloween and Christmas not chronologically in order (Christmas episode comes first than the Halloween one), so that means that more than 2 years passed.
So roughly the timeline should be around 3/4 years there, including the 5th, 6th and 7th season.

[ABrown]

The Simpsons have celebrated Christmas probably a dozen times, yet they're no older now than they were 30 years ago.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by ABrown

The Simpsons have celebrated Christmas probably a dozen times, yet they're no older now than they were 30 years ago.

Yeah but that's the Simpsons. 30 seasons later and Bart is still a ten year old in 4th grade.

[ABrown]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Yeah but that's the Simpsons. 30 seasons later and Bart is still a ten year old in 4th grade.

Exactly. And in the Nick cartoon, April is still the same teenager in season 5 that she was in season 1. In the final season, she's not a 21 year old out drinking at bars.