Why wasn't Krang an utrom?

[Matches Malone]

With some of the recent comparisons between Krang an Ch'rell, it got me wondering: "why wasn't Krang originally conceived as an Utrom for the Fred Wolf cartoon?" Most of the time the answers for how the comic was adapted for the cartoon tend reason along the lines of "it was more kid-friendly" but in this case, it doesn't make sense. Krang was hardly less grotesque in appearance, and some might argue he was more so. And I can't imagine a disembodied brain being more suitable or even easier to understand than simply making him an alien. Sure utroms tended to be peaceful as opposed to Krang but it's not like they weren't already changing a bunch of the elements from the comic. Anyone have any ideas or insight to this?

[Powder]

Uniqueness. Krang being a brain removed from a body & given life = an isolated incident. A race of aliens makes him one of thousands.

[CyberCubed]

Krang also has much longer tentacles than the Utroms do. Compare them and you'll see how much longer Krang's "arms" are.

Likewise that's just the thing, he was a banished warlord who lost his body after being exiled from Dimension x. Utroms don't have bodies.

[Galactus]

From what I've read Peter Laird at the time didn't like the idea of the Utroms being evil which the cartoon was going to make them be and so came up with a single villain which was like an Utrom but not one.

I'm sure someone can correct me if I got that wrong.

[gobo]

Dunno where you read that, but it sounds reasonable.

[sdp]

I think he is confusing the comment from why he didn't allow Utroms in the second movie, he didn't want kids to think it was Krang and that the scientist was evil.

But yes I've been asking myself the same question while re-watching the series, I mean why not just a vanished warlord from Dimension X and that's it? The whole body thing made no sense, he spends all of S1 asking for his body back and all he gets is a robot he controls, so his body for all purposes was the robot so he could've easily been an Utrom. This is later shown in a flashback that there are other "krangs" it wasn't until Krangezoids that it was retconned of Krang having an actual body.

[stormbringer]

Creative license is the only thing I can think of.

[Plasticplayhouse]

From what I've read Peter Laird at the time didn't like the idea of the Utroms being evil which the cartoon was going to make them be and so came up with a single villain which was like an Utrom but not one.

I'm sure someone can correct me if I got that wrong.

Makes sense

[CyberCubed]

I don't see why PL's objection to there being evil Utroms mattered when the show changed virtually everything else from the comics at the time:

- Splinter being Hamato Yoshi
- Colored bandanas
- April being a reporter
- Foot Soldiers are robots
- Shredder working with Krang
- Krang in general
- Shredder having mutant henchmen
- Baxter being white instead of black


Virtually everything else about the original cartoon was completely different from the Mirage comics...so why would it matter?

[Redeemer]

- Baxter being white instead of black

I love how u bring up Baxter's race and not that fact he was turned into a fly :lol:

[CyberCubed]

I love how u bring up Baxter's race and not that fact he was turned into a fly :lol:

Back in 1988 when Baxter became a fly, he only had one appearance in the comics. He wouldn't appear again till Volume 2 which was in 1992 I believe.

You have to remember that back when the original cartoon aired, the Mirage comics were still in their infancy. All the big storylines were just starting.

[Andrew NDB]

Because they didn't care about the source material.

[Jester]

Heck...were the Utroms that developed when the Fred Wolf series was started...

OK...so the series was 12 issues in at the time and the Utroms were in what...2?

[Nintendophile]

Heck...were the Utroms that developed when the Fred Wolf series was started...

OK...so the series was 12 issues in at the time and the Utroms were in what...2?

We first see the Utroms in the last panel of issue #3, first printing March 1985. The cartoon began airing in December 1987. I know cartoons take a long time to animate, but I'm pretty sure the Utrom story arch was finished (or at least written) before they even began production on the cartoon.

[Jester]

We first see the Utroms in the last panel of issue #3, first printing March 1985. The cartoon began airing in December 1987. I know cartoons take a long time to animate, but I'm pretty sure the Utrom story arch was finished (or at least written) before they even began production on the cartoon.
True...and the idea of the Utrom predates that. Did they predate the Turtles...anyone?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

We first see the Utroms in the last panel of issue #3, first printing March 1985. The cartoon began airing in December 1987. I know cartoons take a long time to animate, but I'm pretty sure the Utrom story arch was finished (or at least written) before they even began production on the cartoon.

Wasn't it in 1986 it was decided to create a TMNT cartoon?

[Hermano Dyvas]

From what I've read Peter Laird at the time didn't like the idea of the Utroms being evil which the cartoon was going to make them be and so came up with a single villain which was like an Utrom but not one.

I'm sure someone can correct me if I got that wrong.

It's ironic evil utroms eventually showed up in mirage.

My guess is the writers found an alien brain easier to explain to kids.

I refuse to see Ch'rell and Krang as the same character though. Granted they're both pink slugs (easter egg alert), but their characters are pretty damn different. Krang has a sarcastic wit, Ch'rell completely lacks that.

[stormbringer]

It's ironic evil utroms eventually showed up in mirage.

My guess is the writers found an alien brain easier to explain to kids.

I refuse to see Ch'rell and Krang as the same character though. Granted they're both pink slugs (easter egg alert), but their characters are pretty damn different. Krang has a sarcastic wit, Ch'rell completely lacks that.

Not to mention that Ch'rell is far more convincing as an evil tyrant. Kraang like most of the OT characters,was more of a comical character.

[Stingray69]

When I was little I always thought of krang as a alien. And when he said they took my body I just thought he meant robot body and that's why shedder built him a new one. But then you got that whole clone episode where the krang clones grow body's and are some kind of lizard dinosaur mix.

[Leo656]

For simplicity's sake, they probably should have just said he was a rogue Utrom. Would have made for some good storylines too; with all the silly, one-shot "alien" episodes the show had, having a few episodes based around the Utroms, showing how Krang was the only evil one, etc., would have added some nice depth to the character and been a nice bone to throw to the Mirage fans. They probably wouldn't use the other Utroms very often, so I'm not sure it would make Krang any less "unique" since he'd be the only one ever shown.

Realistically speaking though, I don't think anyone working on the show ever thought people would be asking about it 25+ years later. Not saying we're bad for it, I just think it's funny that the fans of any given property almost always put way more caring and thought into things than the actual creators did. Makes me wonder why more fans don't grow up to take the reigns of the things they loved as kids, but I guess life's funny like that.

[Jester]

According to the daily strips, Krang WAS a rogue Utrom.

[Leo656]

And I bet it made perfect sense, too. People over-think things sometimes, and I think the writers of the OT were guily of that in Krang's case.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

When I was little I always thought of krang as a alien. And when he said they took my body I just thought he meant robot body and that's why shedder built him a new one. But then you got that whole clone episode where the krang clones grow body's and are some kind of lizard dinosaur mix.

Of course he's an extraterrestrial. And remember that the clones develop independent of Krang.

[CyberCubed]

According to the daily strips, Krang WAS a rogue Utrom.

That's just Dan Berger's comedic daily strips though, I wouldn't consider them canon.

The IDW comics could very well say Krang is an Utrom, but until they do, I'll think of him the way I do Fred Wolf/Archie Krang.

[Xav]

I refuse to see Ch'rell and Krang as the same character though. Granted they're both pink slugs (easter egg alert), but their characters are pretty damn different. Krang has a sarcastic wit, Ch'rell completely lacks that. Ch'rell wasn't actually pink he was red.

[Jester]

And I bet it made perfect sense, too. People over-think things sometimes, and I think the writers of the OT were guily of that in Krang's case.
It was awesome.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

That's just Dan Berger's comedic daily strips though, I wouldn't consider them canon.

The IDW comics could very well say Krang is an Utrom, but until they do, I'll think of him the way I do Fred Wolf/Archie Krang.

Yeah, it's like the Bebop and Rocksteady gang could be refered to as Purple Dragons.

[Hermano Dyvas]

Ch'rell wasn't actually pink he was red.

True but OT Shredder still called him a pink slug in turtles forever :P

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Not to mention that Ch'rell is far more convincing as an evil tyrant. Kraang like most of the OT characters,was more of a comical character.

Archie Krang is more brutal. He kills off everybody on entire planets in Dimension X.

[neatoman]

Sorry for the necroposting but I think it's better than just making a new thread on this subject.

Anyway, uh, yeah. I Don't see the point of making Krang the disembodied head of a lizard monster in the first place when the Utroms were right there. Given that just about every version of Krang is either an Utrom from the start or has been retconned into being an Utrom, Krang's original origin story is probably the most ignored aspect of this character. Even the the depictions of him in the 2012 show and SMA, which are meant to be FW Krang or at least ones closely based on him, just ignore it in favor of simply making him an Utrom.

Now... If we could only let the the ideas of Splinter being Hamato Yoshi, April as a news reporter and Baxter Stockman turning into a fly monster all get tossed into the latrine as well...

[CyberCubed]

My guess is Krang was indeed a Utrom, but used mutagen to mutate himself a body that you see in Season 7's ep, "Invasion of the Krangezoids," which somehow gets destroyed when he gets banished from Dimension X. You can say Krang growing a body was a result of him using mutagen on himself.

[ToTheNines]

That makes sense. Kraang Prime also mutated himself and that’s why he looked different from all the other Kraangs/Utroms.

[Boco]

He's an Utrom in Saturday Morning Adventures. Good luck figuring THAT out.

[Heyowakka]

My headcanon is that Krang never had an actual body. We see in a flashback, when he’s among his own kind, they’re all Utrom-esque beings in bubble walkers too.
There’s also the fact that Traag immediately recognized Krang in Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X.
This works best if Krang isn’t a brain ripped out of an organic body, but rather when Krang says he lost his body, he’s being literal. The robot body he used to possess was lost when he was banished from Dimension X.
Krang also had blueprints for a new body handy, as if it wasn’t the first time.
This just leaves the Krangizoids, which, since cloning was involved isn’t too far-fetched. The simplest explanation is always the easiest one. The clones simply mutated (or perhaps evolved backwards) into a more bestial form. They don’t necessarily have to be what Krang used to look like, but perhaps it’s a form his species evolved from? Or just a crazy genetic mutation.

He's an Utrom in Saturday Morning Adventures. Good luck figuring THAT out.

Saturday Morning Adventures refers to Krang as an Utrom because it considers the 2012 crossover canonical in the comic’s future.