When we were younger, Movie 1 was our first taste of the Mirage universe

[CyberCubed]

Like a lot of people, when I got into TMNT when I was...4 years old or so, all I knew about it was the cartoon. I was way too young to be aware of the comics.

When I saw the first movie when I was 5 or 6, I wondered the following:

1. Why were the Foot Soldiers humans instead of robots?

2. Why was Splinter a pet rat instead of Hamato Yoshi?

3. Why is Raph's personality much angrier?

And of course I also noticed the lack of Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, the Technodrome, etc.


You know what the best thing about Movie 1 was? It gave us (those who were little kids at the time), the first, "taste" of what the Mirage universe was like, and for the first time let us knew there was a different version of the Turtles out there.

Later when I got into the Mirage comics for the first time, I noticed all the similarities to the first movie.

Anyone else have a similar story to this? Only knew about the cartoon, saw how Movie 1 was so different than the cartoon, and then discovered there were other versions of TMNT out there, particularly the comics?

[Venom]

I want to comment further on this later, but in short - yes, my story is almost exactly like yours except I knew they began as comics because my brother, who collected comics heavily then, told me about it and how he wished he had picked up #1 rather than passing it up thinking it would be too goofy.

[Andrew NDB]

The first movie was an excellent gateway drug to the Mirage Comics but it's hardly synonymous with them.

But yeah, it was cool as a kid to then read the comics and go -- in a few places -- "Heyyy, this kinda is like that one part in the movie, sorta."

[CyberCubed]

But yeah, it was cool as a kid to then read the comics and go -- in a few places -- "Heyyy, this kinda is like that one part in the movie, sorta."

When I was younger I also thought Tatsu was in the comics. LOL.

[Venom]

Tatsu should have been and Elite Guard. :tgrin:

[Walkabout]

I went and saw the movie when I was in third grade, and I had absolutely no knowledge of the Mirage universe before or for years after that.

The lack of Krang etc didnt bother me-I just thought it was awesome and really sort of believable.

[Fugitoid Jones]

Yes, I had a similar experience. That's why I love the first movie so much, it's such a great blend of the cartoon and the first 12 issues of the comics.

[Ninja Tiptup]

Actually when I was a kid and I first saw the Ninja Turtles movie I didn't ask any of those questions. I don't think I even cared about the differences. I just loved the movie and differences from the cartoons didn't bother me at all.

I mean I was in kindergarden at the time. Maybe I would have if I was a little older the first time I saw the original movie. I think I was a bit put off by not having Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang in TMNT II but I was also assuming they'd just show up in a future movie or something but they never did.

But I did see the connection to the Mirage comics eventually and liked that and still do. That more than assures me I would have enjoyed TMNT being more inline with it's comic routes for the cartoon when I was a kid. But as an adult I understand why they had to censor it from the comic routes though a few other changes were more or less for the heck of it and those I still have some qualms with but not enough for me not to enjoy the cartoon as it was.

[MrPliggins]

The first movie came out when I was 12, and I had already read the First graphic novels (over and over). I thought it was cool that they based it off of those. I remember my friends at school were all asking these questions though. Especially the Splinter question.

[sdp]

I would say my first taste would have actually been posters and promo images that used the covers of Mirage comics. I never understood why they all had red bandannas, I think my logic was that since it was so dark you could only see reddish colors :lol: As for the movie I kinda viewed it like the live action movies of Batman, you know it being more "realistic" than the actual show.

[Prowler]

Ah, I remember it so well, watching the 1st movie and wondering why the Foot were human and why Splinter has always been a pet rat.

Wasn't really bothered by the lack of Krang and The Technodrome though.

Also, I wondered why the 2nd movie didn't have Bebop and Rocksteady but Tokka and Rahzar instead.

[MrPliggins]

I would say my first taste would have actually been posters and promo images that used the covers of Mirage comics. I never understood why they all had red bandannas, I think my logic was that since it was so dark you could only see reddish colors :lol: As for the movie I kinda viewed it like the live action movies of Batman, you know it being more "realistic" than the actual show.

Ha, that was my first exposure..the Dooney poster which was actually the cover of Mirage #4, second printing. I couldn't figure out why all the masks were red and why they had no eyeballs. So I drew in the eyeballs. Funny, I still have that poster, though it's terribly beat up.

[Kendamu]

Back when I saw the first movie, I thought that it was a much cooler universe than the cartoon, but I still really liked the cartoon. I never wondered why things were different, though. Coming off of Batman and Ghostbusters II a year before and the original Ghostbusters before that, by the time I was 5 or 6 I had already come to understand that comics, TV shows, and movies of the same property are different. So the Turtles movie being different than the show was no problem for me. It was just a fact of life.

Years later I came across the "First" graphic novels for TMNT and I did notice a lot of the similarities (and differences). It was really cool because it was around the time the OT ended that I found the comics. It was like experiencing TMNT all over again.

Of course, nowadays I'd like to see something that's more of a mix between the greatest stuff between both universes. I'd be perfectly fine with just new Mirage comics, but that doesn't seem likely.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

When I was younger I also thought Tatsu was in the comics. LOL.

Tatsu is also in the 1992 TMNT video game "Hyperstone Heist".

After watching the 1987 TMNT cartoon and the movies and reading Archie, I quickly learnt that TMNT begun as a comic book in the USA back in 1984. It wasn't until late 2003-early 2004 when I learnt from the Internet how it actually was.

[Coola Yagami]

Never really bothered me. I just figured the budget wasn't big enough for exploding robot Foot Soldiers and a huge-ass Technodrome. My childhoof friend back in the day and I also discussed that it woulda been difficult to have Krang without having him look stupid and fake. I was just completely taken in by the fact that the Turtles were 'real' and kickin ass and takin names. Though I was also surprised/diappointed their voices weren't the same as from the show, and that Raph was so angry and saying 'DAMN!' all the time.

I remember being surprised that a 'guest star' like Casey Jones was in the movie. I thought he was just an extra toy supporting character and was surprised he was in the movie cause I'd figured characters like him and the Rat King and Slash and what-have-you would have been featured in the sequels, not the first movie. Wasn't til years later that I found out that Casey had a much larger role in the TMNT comics.

[Berserker]

As a kid, I was caught up in the movie as I was watching it, and just didn't think to make comparisons to the cartoon. It was ninja turtles, it was on the screen, and it was awesome to me; that's all I needed to know.
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[Shred Head]

I never really had those thoughts since my first introduction to Mirage wasn't even the movie anyway. In a way it was thanks to the movie. I remember my local book store was trying to cash in on the movie and and the Turtle craze going on at the time the store was having a big promotion with Turtles merch. On a stand they had all four TMNT First Publishing color trades and thats how I found out about the comic.

Also before that I got a calender with the Mirage Turtle art. It had alot of art from the covers like the Tales covers and it was years before I knew who Nobody was at first I thought he was a foot ninja wearing a cape. Damn I wished that calender didn't get torn up.

[triplexxx]

I think the only thing I asked when I first caught glimpse of this was why the turtles only met Shredder for one time before he "dies" at the end; that is the way it went in Mirage, Shredder gone after one visit, well two visits, like he showed up in the sequel.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The Swedish TMNT comic book (using Archie and UK Hero Turtles comics) had some page where readers could send letters (hey, this was long before the modern Internet), and some asked questions like this, where you could learn.

[Candy Kappa]

with no mirage turtles and very little of archie comics where I live, the toon went only on pay TV which we never had and I only got to see a few episodes through rental which back then hugely disappointed me.

It's thanks to the first movie the turtles was more then just awesome toys

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

with no mirage turtles and very little of archie comics where I live, the toon went only on pay TV which we never had and I only got to see a few episodes through rental which back then hugely disappointed me.

It's thanks to the first movie the turtles was more then just awesome toys

It was the same in Sweden. We didn't have much Mirage.

[BlueLightning]

I think this was my very first exposition to the Ninja Turtles. When I watched the cartoon, all the questions Cybercubed had for the movie were the same, but backwards for the cartoon. I found it very entertaining but kind of silly. I thought the movie was more "logical" to me. So I fell in love with the concept. I guess that kind of defined my tastes for realism.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Never really bothered me. I just figured the budget wasn't big enough for exploding robot Foot Soldiers and a huge-ass Technodrome. My childhoof friend back in the day and I also discussed that it woulda been difficult to have Krang without having him look stupid and fake.



That was my thoughts too.

[cartoonistaaron]

You guys are making me feel old. I was 11 or 12 when the first movie came out and was well-versed in the Mirage comics. My dad had a friend who was an avid collector of the comics and turned him onto them. We spent many weekends in comic book shops looking for back issues. I remember paying TWELVE BUCKS for number 10 right around the time the movie came out. My dad and I talked about how they switched Leo getting his butt kicked by the Foot in the comics for Raphael in the movie. We thought the movie probably did a better job of it, story-wise.

Anybody else whose parents were into this stuff? I'm lucky to have a pretty cool dad.

Reading those comics gives me such an incredible sense of nostalgia. I've brought myself to the brink of putting them on eBay over the years but can never make the jump.

[Walkabout]

Before the movie came out here in Australia, I got the novel-which had "lean mean and on the screen" on the cover which I never understood why my mum laughed at so much...
Anyway I love :tgrin:TMNT

[ooglafina]

Anybody else whose parents were into this stuff? I'm lucky to have a pretty cool dad.

You do have a cool dad. I know I've watched movie 1 with my mother and she enjoyed it. But she isn't an especial fan. She's more open minded when she watches stuff with just me and my sister and without our other relatives.

Movie 1 really was my first exposure to the Mirage universe. I was in Kindergarten when it came out or maybe younger and I only knew the cartoon and I wasn't really into it. I watched a few episodes, but mostly I knew it from the other boys in my class drawing them obsessively. And then when I was a preteen I watched all the movies and realized what wonderful characters they are. So I was a late comer.

[shuriken]

I thought that the movie's were a lot cooler and more "realistic" than the cartoon. At one point I totally shunned the OT and just awknowledged the Movie Universe, but that didn't really last. Eventually I discovered the mirage comics and found many similarities with the movies. By discovering the original comics I had a newfound appreciation for both the OT and the Movies.

[Scandia]

I remember reading about this in the newspaper before actually watching the movie. The biggest shock for me was Splinter's origin.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I remember reading about this in the newspaper before actually watching the movie. The biggest shock for me was Splinter's origin.

I believe Splinter's origin created a lot of confusion among children all around the world.