Did anyone like The Next Mutation?

[aliena]

When TNM came out I had no idea about it until my TMNT friend on the net told me I needed to watch it because there was a girl turtle. I got into the show around the third episode. I knew immediately this was not based too much on the OT background, but I was quickly hooked and looked forward to watching each episode. Please don't stone me, but there were a lot of good things for me...

It was the first time I actually liked Donnie. I felt he was an actual member of the team and not just there in the background. That was a turning point for me with Donnie. He is actually my second favorite Donnie, only to the 2014 Donnie.

I loved all the voices this time. I actually loved all the turtles equally in the show. Leo was still serious, but also more fun in some scenes. I still love his relationship with Raph.

I liked that Mikey was shown to actually cook meals. He even did his pirate radio, which was mature for him.

I liked the idea of a female turtle, I just didn't like Venus. I hated that she wasn't more like them and that she did all that magic stuff. She acted like she was better than they were. You can't tell me that she wasn't just as excited to learn that there were four male mutated turtles for her to hook up with. Instead she acted like they annoyed her.

I loved Raphael and his bike. He needs that bike back in the Nick show.

I really liked the "sexual tension". At first I thought there would be romance with Venus and Leo and that fizzled pretty much and then it was flaming hot with Raph(for a kids show).

He even painted a picture of the two of them on his bike together. They sparred together and played together a lot of the time. And there was the whole jealousy episode. Splinter even almost said out loud that Raph was distracted by her in a romantic way.

She even had a few moments with Donnie in that regard. Some like to joke that he was the only one to feel her up in one episode. Although it was just an accident with the actor, Venus does look down and see him doing it, which makes it really funny.

Donnie and Leo hitting on the lamb and the gazelle. That was adorable.

Even though they were played as goofy more than serious, I liked Dragonlord, I loved Wick and I even liked Bonesteel.

I loved that the turtles are almost 18. They seemed to be in control more than Splinter was. Splinter is aged a lot more in this one.

There were a lot of things that I liked, but the major things I didn't like were...

Shredder, how they dealt with him and that actor, god that actor was horrible.

That vampire woman with those kids, oh man, they were terrible.

The overall goofiness of the show. If only it was made more serious it might have had some potential.

And taking MIkey's chucks away! So stupid!

The overused intro as they rode off to the scene of the crime even when it was in the sewer.

I'm sure there is more, but I haven't seen the episodes in a while. I may have to use the Nick hiatus to check it out again. I just get a general feeling that many fans hated this show, so I thought I'd see if there were any fans.

[John Pannozzi]

I enjoyed it for what it was as a kid...but I can't really stand much of it as an adult (still would buys DVDs if they weren't the shorter cuts).

[Powder]

Yes, & I still love it.

[sdp]

This topic again? Yes I like it.

[pennydreadful]

I love it. It's in the "so bad it's good" category. :tgrin:

[Autbot_Benz]

Next Mutation is so bad it makes Turtles 3 and the 2014 movie look like Citizen Kane.

The Acting is horrendous and the voices are terrible. I tried watching one episode and I barley got through that.

[IndigoErth]

Only caught it on demand last year, never saw it when it was new. Not sure I would have liked it back then, but seeing it now... hilariously terrible.

The general vibe and hokeyness was obvious enough that even as someone who was never a viewer of Power Rangers it was still glaringly obvious it had to be produced by the same people. Maybe it works for Power Rangers, but the Turtles... ehhh...

Think I've caught it all by now though I still need to look up the cross over episode and at least check out the TMNT portions.

[turtlefanforever]

You are not alone. It gets a lot of underserved hate. I still enjoy it very much and wish there was more. Or at least a good concluding episode. I understand the purpose of the clip show and it was a good end in its own right but it'd like to wrap up all ties in a long episode or a movie. it's basically a live action cartoon but it's not like there wasn't any serious moments. There was a lot actually. I really like when leo started studying all those hunting/trapping techniques to pair with his Ninjitsu. Unchain my heart still one of the best story arcs in the franchise. The villains were really good concepts, and original. SO much good in this show. I feel like a lot of these people hate on it just to fit in.

[B-Man]

I like it. It's a reeeally obnoxious show but I enjoy it for nostalgic reasons. A live-action Turtles show back in the day was amazing by default. But seriously, anyone who champions it but somehow hates the new movie makes zero sense to me.

[Autbot_Benz]

anyone who champions it but somehow hates the new movie makes zero sense to me.

This times 10000 B-Man I can never understand this.

[snake]

I like it. It's goofy and fun, while having a consistant tone.

[Nameless]

yes i like it... great to be put on as background noise. only things i truly dislike is the treatment of shredder and the fact that in such a short season they have 2 episodes dedicated to flashbacks of old episodes.

[Leo656]

Every DVD copy of this show should come with its own bong.

[Autbot_Benz]

Next Mutation Shredder made James Avery Shredder look like a competent Super Villan.

[Powder]

I like it. It's a reeeally obnoxious show but I enjoy it for nostalgic reasons. A live-action Turtles show back in the day was amazing by default. But seriously, anyone who champions it but somehow hates the new movie makes zero sense to me.

What Next Mutation has that PDTMNT doesn't:

-Practical effects & costumes
-Solid character design that while new & revamped is still iconic in appearance
-Apparel & masks that make each visually unique without painting them in cliches
-A Master Splinter who's not a violent jerk
-An Asian Shredder
-Foot Soldiers that look like ninjas & use hand-to-hand combat
-A strong brotherly dynamic among the turtles despite their supposed lack of blood ties
-All of the turtles have versatile personalities that are inspired by the OT but aren't stuck on one-note
-There's humor rooted in cleverness & slapstick rather than farts & sexual harassment
-The turtles use martial arts & have realistic strength/abilities
-A lack of plotholes & contradiction
-100% focus on the TMNT rather than humans
-Dope hip-hop soundtrack (it's a plus, for me :trazz:)

I could go on, if need be. Say what you want about the wacky sound effects, some of the poorer writing, voices not always syncing up perfectly, goofy fights, etc, but it cannot be denied that the characters were true to their roots, the settings were dope, & it had a ton of great concepts (albeit poorly executed at times). It felt & looked like the turtles, period.

[pennydreadful]

I like it. It's a reeeally obnoxious show but I enjoy it for nostalgic reasons. A live-action Turtles show back in the day was amazing by default. But seriously, anyone who champions it but somehow hates the new movie makes zero sense to me.

Oh yeah???

https://38.media.tumblr.com/945c3627c6a0ddb846cdf04a692ebfcd/tumblr_mmzeq6CZWY1qley05o1_500.gif

j/k :P

[B-Man]

Powder I knew you were gonna jump on that :lol: I mean you can list all your reasons/opinions you want, it just looks like bias. Almost everything about Next Mutation is horrendous. If the exact same show had Michael Bay's name on it as producer, it wouldn't be getting any passes.

[Powder]

Well I'm ever so glad I explained myself now! :trolleye: & I'm the biased one...

[Leo656]

I'm actually with Powder. TNM used to be my least favorite thing about the franchise, but watching it again recently, yeah, it's a lot more tolerable than the new movie. It's like TMNT's version of Adam West Batman, but that's fine. It's rough, it's corny, it's everything people say it is. But at least it just is what it is and it wasn't even trying to be "good". The movie is just obnoxious in its fake "bad-assery". It's a casserole of nonsense that tries desperately to sell itself as actually being "good" and having depth. TNM is just unrepentant foolishness. I can at least respect that.

[ryukenden]

I would have tolerated TNM if Saban combined their own creations with that of what Mirage established. Venus could have worked and may have been more acceptable had the writers hadn't made her into a Mary Sue and making the established Turtles look ineffective by comparison.

[Creativemind]

I absolutely hated this show. People say the 2014 movie was bad but I say this show was a thousand times worse.

[Jester]

I like it. It's a reeeally obnoxious show but I enjoy it for nostalgic reasons. A live-action Turtles show back in the day was amazing by default. But seriously, anyone who champions it but somehow hates the new movie makes zero sense to me.

This times 10000 B-Man I can never understand this.

I absolutely hated this show. People say the 2014 movie was bad but I say this show was a thousand times worse.

I wonder how many of THESE we're gonna get?

You're not a true Turtle fan if you don't like Next Mutation...
[/sarcasm]

[IndigoErth]

I'll go out on a limb and say both are potentially able to have some measure of their own... rather unique... charm. In some kind of way.
Even if it takes a heavily distorted fun house mirror to find it. :trazz::tlol:

[Jester]

I'll say this...I keep from buying Next Mutation on DVD because they edited it, putting in a different theme song and removing one of my favorite jokes...

With the PD flick I just can't my wife refuses to let me waste my money on it. :P

[Mew]

I love Next Mutation!
I admit I love it.
I marathon it on Netflix.

[Icebot]

I've only seen a couple episodes and I enjoyed them a little. I plan to watch the whole series some day.

[Wesley]

I liked it when I was 12. It seemed more serious back then. I only saw bits of it, though. I liked that it was live-action and loosely based on the films. The last episode I saw as a child was the final episode, which appeared to be good at the time. I watched a few episodes a year ago and thought it was awful (it wasn't as good as I remembered it).

[aliena]

I'll say this...I keep from buying Next Mutation on DVD because they edited it, putting in a different theme song and removing one of my favorite jokes...

With the PD flick I just can't my wife refuses to let me waste my money on it. :P

I'll bite Jester, what was your favorite joke? I didn't know they edited them. I only saw them once on tv when they first aired and I missed the first three, but anything else significant that was cut?

[ABrown]

Sorry Next Mutation, but I've never been a fan.

[Nameless]

love discussions where one side can lists of reasons and examples and the other side just goes your wrong/your stupid, drops mike, walks away...:lol:

but seriously neither the movie or TNM shows deserve high praise for being high quality works. i enjoy both, but enjoy them more when i have them on as back ground noise. neither deserve/require my 100% focus and it is when your 100% focused that all the bad crap is really noticeable...

[Blossombrooks]

I've just started re watching this on Amazon, I've not watched it since it first aired. So far it's as I remembered, I like it but it's not my favourite incarnation. The thing I do love about it (randomly) is the re-use of the lair set from the movies, I've always liked that set and it was pretty cool to see that continued. Venus, eh, I can take or leave her, she's too much of a gimmick for me to really get on board with. Not that I don't think she couldn't be re-introduced in the future, I'd love to see IDW's take...

[TheCanadiandrome]

watched it all on Netflix, and i liked it. i want to get it on dvd

[B-Man]

love discussions where one side can lists of reasons and examples and the other side just goes your wrong/your stupid, drops mike, walks away...:lol:

I'm just saying, when you're watching one goofy thing get scorned ad nauseam, and then the ultimate goofy thing get praised, you gotta call bullsh*t. I like Next Mutation, but if it's A-OK to praise it and forgive it's endless list of problems, I don't wanna get sh*t for praising 2014 ever again :lol:

[Nameless]

I'm just saying, when you're watching one goofy thing get scorned ad nauseam, and then the ultimate goofy thing get praised, you gotta call bullsh*t. I like Next Mutation, but if it's A-OK to praise it and forgive it's endless list of problems, I don't wanna get sh*t for praising 2014 ever again :lol:

haha in truth its almost like kids at school picking on the new kid...kid gets picked on until a newer kid comes around... before the movie, next mutation was getting soooooo much scorn it was crazy... now that the movie is released they have a new "kid" as it were to pick apart... as i stated before though they both aren't great and have good things and bad things about them its really up to the person watching to take what enjoyment they can out of them and ignore the bad bits... either that or hate them with every part of your being ;)...

ps for the record turtle christmas is the ultimate in goofy things lol... also does very well in the terrifying category as well in my opinion...

[pennydreadful]

BayTurtles is the fandom's punishment from the nerd gods for bitching about NM all these years. "You think NM is bad? Well get a load of this!" :tlol:

Seriously though - I still draw a line between NM and Bayturtles. One is goofy 90's corn on a small budget (which has good ideas, if not good execution). The other's an expensive homage to mediocrity with no good ideas, let alone good execution.

[IndigoErth]

Yeah... given how sequels tend to decline further into the terrible abyss sooner or later given enough of them, chances are 2014 may one day look a bit better in comparison to what's coming after it. :P Sad to think that's probably true.


And that Christmas what ever it was. o.O Finally checked that out this past December. I will never be the same.

[B-Man]

haha in truth its almost like kids at school picking on the new kid...kid gets picked on until a newer kid comes around... before the movie, next mutation was getting soooooo much scorn it was crazy... now that the movie is released they have a new "kid" as it were to pick apart... as i stated before though they both aren't great and have good things and bad things about them its really up to the person watching to take what enjoyment they can out of them and ignore the bad bits... either that or hate them with every part of your being ;)...

ps for the record turtle christmas is the ultimate in goofy things lol... also does very well in the terrifying category as well in my opinion...

Agreed compleeetely, dude. Felt good reading that. btw I tried watching Turtle Christmas just last Christmas (had never seen it before) and had to turn it off lol Next Mutation is abysmal but I still consider it a legit part of TMNT history. Turtle Christmas just felt like something made by a mall. Like, literally employees of a mall got together, put on costumes and video'd it to be sold in malls.
But anyways :lol: anyone have any fave Next Mutation episodes?

[turtlefanforever]

anyone have any fave Next Mutation episodes?

Not sure why it is in italics but yes. Like I've said multiple times unchain my heart is one of the best story arcs in the franchise so all those episodes are good. I believe the first one is the one where leo is sick on Bonesteels hunting/tracking and studys up on some techniques himself to even the odds. I thought that was really cool.

The good dragon is a good episode. nice story behind it. There were mainly good dragons until Dragon lord corrupted them.

Pretty much any episode with Silver will be good. He's a very good villain.

Also I really like the one where mikey has his talk show and he throws the party to raise money for animals. It's just a fun episode with a good message.

[Nameless]

Agreed compleeetely, dude. Felt good reading that. btw I tried watching Turtle Christmas just last Christmas (had never seen it before) and had to turn it off lol Next Mutation is abysmal but I still consider it a legit part of TMNT history. Turtle Christmas just felt like something made by a mall. Like, literally employees of a mall got together, put on costumes and video'd it to be sold in malls.

i got through the entire turtles xmas show... now i can't sleep turtles will eat me... seriously though i watched it hoping beyond hope for something redeeming... it didn't happen... agree with the mall comment though


BayTurtles is the fandom's punishment from the nerd gods for bitching about NM all these years. "You think NM is bad? Well get a load of this!" :tlol:

literally LOL when i read that...

[Jester]

I'll bite Jester, what was your favorite joke? I didn't know they edited them. I only saw them once on tv when they first aired and I missed the first three, but anything else significant that was cut?

I don't know what else was cut, but the joke that was was from the first episode. After the Foots first defeat the Shredder calls them out for being beaten by a single turtle and an arthritic rat. One Foot pipes up that the rat had a stick, and Shredder replies, "And what did the turtle have a pink flower?" Other lnes are cut from the same scene...including Shredder mimicking the excuse..."But the rat had a stick..."

I'll admit it ain't Shakespeare, but it's so dumb it always makes me chuckle.

[aliena]

I don't know what else was cut, but the joke that was was from the first episode. After the Foots first defeat the Shredder calls them out for being beaten by a single turtle and an arthritic rat. One Foot pipes up that the rat had a stick, and Shredder replies, "And what did the turtle have a pink flower?" Other lnes are cut from the same scene...including Shredder mimicking the excuse..."But the rat had a stick..."

I'll admit it ain't Shakespeare, but it's so dumb it always makes me chuckle.

I don't recall that joke, but I missed the first episodes and have only seen the DVD version, which is cut. That would be funny to hear. Too bad they edited the dvds.

[pennydreadful]

I don't know what else was cut, but the joke that was was from the first episode. After the Foots first defeat the Shredder calls them out for being beaten by a single turtle and an arthritic rat. One Foot pipes up that the rat had a stick, and Shredder replies, "And what did the turtle have a pink flower?" Other lnes are cut from the same scene...including Shredder mimicking the excuse..."But the rat had a stick..."

I'll admit it ain't Shakespeare, but it's so dumb it always makes me chuckle.

That's a shame... I'd never seen the show until it was released on dvd, so would've liked to have seen the unedited versions. I wonder why they made the cuts to it? Seems kind of odd. :tconfuse:

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Ha, I only saw that joke because I watched it on the you-tube video. It was pretty funny, sort of like seeing movie Shredder trying to do OT Shredder's humor. Like a lot of things in the show, it was- weird.

[ObiWanFan4life]

I view Ninja Turtles : The Next Mutation like I view Batman and Robin. Because even though it's cheesy and stupid, it's hilarious. If for nothing else, you have to admire Saban for going all out with the silly tone. Plus, even if you completely dislike it, it gives you appreciation for the other, better incarnations of TMNT. :D

[CowabungaMikey]

I'm a big fan of The Next Mutation. It's a good show.

[PurpleMusic]

I liked the episode where Mike had a pirate radio station, and threw a rave. It's more-or-less a pretty good stab at showing what he'd actually probably have been doing in the late '90s...

[aliena]

Agreed compleeetely, dude. Felt good reading that. btw I tried watching Turtle Christmas just last Christmas (had never seen it before) and had to turn it off lol Next Mutation is abysmal but I still consider it a legit part of TMNT history. Turtle Christmas just felt like something made by a mall. Like, literally employees of a mall got together, put on costumes and video'd it to be sold in malls.
But anyways :lol: anyone have any fave Next Mutation episodes?

Anything with Silver in it, "could that hurt any more"
King Wick
Turtles night out
The Good Dragon
The clip episode where Raph and Leo fight