Best first episode of a TMNT cartoon?

[CyberCubed]

This is actually really hard for me, because the first episode of the original cartoon was an absolute classic, but the first episode of the 4kids cartoon was also very good. Also the Nick show had a really strong and funny opener.

What did you like most?

[TurtleTitan97]

Hmm, I guess I'd go with "Rise of the Turtles".

[pannoni1]

Things Change is the weakest out of the bunch, as all it involves is fighting some Purple Dragons and Foot Soldiers with a retreat from their original lair, even though the Eastman & Laird cameo is present. That series isn't really established until you reach The Shredder Strikes nearly half a season in. April also doesn't appear until the second episode.

Since this only involves one episode and not two, Rise of the Turtles, Part 1 is next. The Turtles' origin story is presented, we get a few glimpses of April, a Kraang alien, a good introduction by Splinter, and most importantly, has the Turtles actually acting like Teenagers and giving you the feeling that this is their first time going topside. It also brings the earliest appearance of Kraang/Krang/Utroms.

Of course, Turtle Tracks will be hard to top. Good animation for its time despite some technical mistakes can't defer squeezing in the Turtles/Splinter origin stories, rescuing April, as well as fighting the Foot for the first (and best) time. April does a good job about the dangers of being topside, and the Turtles' disguise outfits were a cool feature. It's also the funniest of the three and has the best background music. And it is the only one that includes Shredder on the first episode.

[oldmanwinters]

As much as I liked the "Rise of the Turtles" part 1 and the 1st season of the 4Kids show, "Turtle Tracks" was a classic and it probably what most people remember when thinking about the TMNT. I can't say either "Things Change" or "Rise of the Turtles" part 1 qualify for "classic" status.

[Chris]

Not voting yet as I've not seen Rise of the Turtles (never thought I'd ever say this but Monday can't come soon enough!!). But out of Turtle Tracks and Things Change I'd have to go with Things Change.

Turtle Tracks is a classic, but the opening of Things Change, straight from Vol. 1 #1 is just perfect. It might not have covered as much ground as Turtle Tracks, but it did a great job of setting the tone for the series that followed. I liked that 2K3 didn't feel the need to rush and introduce everyone in the first few episodes. The way they built to Shredder and only used him a few times in that first season really added to his threat. If they beat him every week from the first show he wouldn't have been anywhere near as impressive as a villain.

[Lance_Steele]

I personally liked turtle tracks the most for the same reasons as above. I also thought it was cool showing Shredder's face near the end when he realized who the turtles were.

Today's episode was cool with nice homages towards all of the series. The pizza incident, the origin stories(that was us!), and even having a newer version of channel 6. But I still like the OTs first episode the most. I can't wait to see more of this new series.

[Scud]

I would have to agree with most. Rise of the Turtles was a really good episode. but it's hard to top the classic of Turtle Tracks.

[Zachatello00]

I'm sorry but I think you're all forgetting something: EAST MEETS WEST!
</sarcasm>

[Loudo]

And it is the only one that includes Shredder on the first episode.
Technically, the Shredder does appear in Things Change. He doesn't interact with the Turtles, but he's there.

I haven't watched Rise of the Turtles, so I'm not voting yet.

I liked both Turtle Tracks and Things Change, but my vote would be for the latter. Mainly because I didn't like the origin story and the end of Turtle Tracks.

[Lance_Steele]

Oh well... I guess the bananas and sausage pizza gag wasn't enough... :trazz:

[cartoonistaaron]

Turtle Tracks.

Those early OT TMNT episodes were so, so awesome. I mean the Nickelodeon first episode was pretty good, too - I never liked the 4Kids one, I thought it was kinda boring - but nothing will top Turtle Tracks. SO much craziness - the Shredder? Robots? April? That whole mini-series was nuts!

[Jester]

Not sure....I've only seen part 1 of Rise of the Turtles, Things Change did just that and I'm probably blinded by nostalgia with Turtle tracks. Can I say they were all pretty great for their own reasons? Tracks introduced the cast, and gave us our first tastes of the humor the FW series would be known for. Things Change showed us that the 4Kids series would be a more straight adaptation of the Mirage source material, with more action and more subdued humor. And lastly Rise tries to meld the two, giving us solid action but also some laugh out loud humor. I guess if I had to choose, taking the blinders of nostalgia off, I'd say Rise, if only because it's the "best of both worlds."

[CyberCubed]

Things Change was great. I remember back in 2003 being absolutely blown away by what appeared to be a darker TMNT cartoon along the lines of Batman: TAS and Gargoyles.

[Slade]

Counting part 1 and 2 as a whole, so I'm picking Rise of the Turtles. Things Change was great, and even though I tend to like dark more than comedy, I actually laughed out loud at Rise of the Turtles.

[Zulithe]

Rise of the Turtles Pt 1 & 2 by far the best. We get to learn so much about the turtles as individuals, with some of the best battle sequences ever to appear on a TMNT show.

[Jephael]

All I can say is classic toon FTW!!!

[Cipher]

Just finished watching "Rise of the Turtles." It's great.

However, "Turtle Tracks" remains the best 20-minute introduction to a Turtles universe to date. Hilarious, establishes all the characters, gives you great action and animation, etc. "Rise of the Turtles" does that too, but it's less succinct.

[Zany Orange Dude]

Gosh this is hard, it's a tie between Turtle Tracks and Rise of the Turtles for me.:tconfuse:

[MikeandRaph87]

To be fair the poll should be a year away. We JUST saw Rise of The Turtles adn have that inital pleasure or disgust from opinions that form immedaitely. After enough time passes after Rise of The Turtles and see how it sets up everything and only then can we properly measrue it against Turtle Tracks and Things Change. At this point I like the first episodes in chrological order,but who is to say a year from now after watching Rise of The Turtles three times or so and see how the first season did as a whole it could be between Turtle Tracks and Thing Change. Its just to early to properly judge Rise of The Turtles and compare.

[Oculus Orbus]

I'm unable to decide on that. Turtle Tracks will always be somehow special for me, as it brings me so many memories. I'm not too fond on the OT nowadays, but still I don't feel like I can judge it properly.

I loved Things Change very much the first time I watched it, and I still do. It was really nice how they tried to give it a "Mirage feeling", although I didn't quite work that way.

And Rise of the Turtles was great, better that I expected, but maybe it's too soon for me to compare it to the other two, wich I've watched so many times through the years.

[Donatello19]

Everyone is just saying turtle tracks for nostalgia, in my opinion, rise of the turtles is the best

[MikeandRaph87]

Everyone is just saying turtle tracks for nostalgia, in my opinion, rise of the turtles is the best

Actually I thought Rise of The Turtles votes might be driven by immediate "wow" that might not hold up. Things Change might have nostalgia for some as well if it gets votes. I voted Turtle Tracks with no nostalgia just that I am simply pleased how it set things up. Each of the three have their merits. The best part of Things Change was the turtles fighting a gang, foot soldiers, and mousers in the same episode giving a sample of threats to come. Rise of The Turtles does that in a similar yet less effective manner though as I said that could change as time goes on.

[Donatello19]

Turtle Tracks was really great for it's time, and is still pretty good even today, but I think rise of the turtles introduces the characters better, but rise of the turtles WAS an hour long, so, idk. Both are great, the only one i didn't like was things change.

[CyberCubed]

Rise of the Turtles was very funny and entertaining, but it has very stiff competition.

Both Turtle Tracks and Things Changed worked wonderfully for introducing both the show and the Turtles to the audience. If anything you can say all the first episodes of all 3 series have been equally great.

[Candy Kappa]

Rise of the Turtles, a solid second would be Turtle Tracks

[Darth Knuckles]

I'd have to go with "Turtle Tracks". I was happily impressed with the new show though. I loved all of the hints of the other series as already mentioned. "That was us", (seemingly) where the mutagen's from, calling it mutagen, the turtles' origin, Splinter being a human, the pizza, the Kraang, Channel 6 News....oh yeah....and Rob Paulsen! I still have trouble though remembering that his voice is now Donnie's! When they're all talking and the camera isn't on one of them I still have to remind myself of that. :tgrin: I'm really excited to see what the show continues to do in the future!

[Icegaze]

1. Rise of the Turtles
2. Things Change


3. Turtle Tracks

In that order.

[SwordofTengu]

Turtle Tracks may be goofy, but in under half an hour it gives the backstory, introduces April, Shredder, etc, and has an awesome fight scene.

[Leo656]

That's pretty much how I feel, a lot of the OT hasn't aged well but I still feel Turtle Tracks did the best job in explaining exactly who all these characters were, what their motivation was, and set up future stories while still being self-contained. It told a lot more story in a lot less time than the other two, which is difficult. At the end of Things Change and Rise of the Turtles, you still have questions (or at least a few that you might not know the answers to if, say, you had *never* seen any incarnation of TMNT before). By the end of Turtle Tracks you pretty much know everything you need to know.

The other two were able to explore some different tones and character moments, to great benefit, but neither feels as "Iconic" to me as the original. I don't think it would be too out of line to say the OT peaked with its very first episode.

[DF619]

Rise of the Turtles is the best one with Turtle Tracks being a clear second. I just thought the first episode of the Nickelodeon show really did a lot in regards to introductions of the characters and setting up the rest of the season by showing things like Don's crush on April, the Kraang & mutagen/ooze, and the Shredder.

Turtle Tracks will always hold a place in my TMNT fan heart, but Rise of the Turtles really blew me away.

[Fugitoid Jones]

This was a really tough decision for me, but I went with Turtle Tracks. I really feel that the initial Turtle Mania wouldn't have been as big as it was if the cartoon wasn't such a strong hit, and I've gotta figure that the show wouldn't have been as big as it was had it not had a terrific first episode.

All three episodes I thought were outstanding, however. I still really enjoy Things Change, and Rise made me fall in love with this new version of the TMNT.

[mikey22]

it has to be turtle tracks


the wise crackin jokes the great fight w/ foot soldiers all the funny moments

even my gramma lauged at the old lady monstersss ahhhhhh back off or your history scum!

[mikey22]

question here is

the full hour of rise of the turles?? if the full hour gets credit then i would take it slighlty since its longer time

[Ninja Tiptup]

In retrospect, Things Change was a comparatively weak episode for TMNT 2003. The VAs were just starting to get their roles down so the acting wasn't particularly strong and compared to everything that happens in Turtle Tracks and Rise of the Turtles it had a lot less story to tell. It didn't have bad pacing and it could be argued trying to cram in more would have hurt the pacing but it's just not as thrilling as Turtle Tracks or Rise of the Turtles.

If you want to rate Rise of the Turtles on just the first half hour it's already more entertaining than Things Change but falls below Turtle Tracks. If you give Rise of the Turtles the full hour (well 45 minutes or something) then Rise of the Turtles quite possibly beats out even Turtle Tracks for a better story, nothing that dates it horribly and more fleshed out characterization of each turtle. As far as an 80s cartoon goes Turtle Tracks is very entertaining and has pretty good writing for a pre-Batman: TAS era action cartoon and as far as I'm concerned it's always going to be great but I'm going to have to give the nod to Rise of the Turtles.

[Avatar Yuffie]

Ugh. I can't choose. D: