How would kids today feel about the 1987 cartoon?

[TurtleFan2012]

If they were to air the 1987 cartoon on Nickelodeon today (or the future), how would most kids today feel about it? How would your kids react to it? It is a great show, but I'm curious as to how the jokes and gags would hold up today.

I can see some kids asking this question...
Kid: Huh? Why does this Raphael sound like the new Donatello? :o

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

If they were to air the 1987 cartoon on Nickelodeon today (or the future), how would most kids today feel about it? How would your kids react to it? It is a great show, but I'm curious as to how the jokes and gags would hold up today.

I can see some kids asking this question...
Kid: Huh? Why does this Raphael sound like the new Donatello? :o

I think they'd roll their eyes and say "Whatever." It does not hold up well.

[plastroncafe]

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Seemed appropriate.

[neatoman]

I'm not sure.

Cartoons are certainly much better these days, back then it was near damn universal for cartoons to have choppy animation full of errors and writing so formulaic and nonsensical anyone older than ten would find it unbearable. Not to mention the fact that two (much less awkward) TMNT cartoons came in the past decade, there isn't much reason for little kids to watch some old low budget show.

On the other hand, I have heard of people who are showing it to their kids who had a positive response to it (admittedly, that's anecdotal). And while little kids do in fact have shows like Steven Universe, this has not stopped rather terrible shows like Ultimate Spider-Man to get somewhat successful. While it's not as common as it was back then, lazy and rushed shows are still being made and can still stick around for more than a single season.

So there's no telling what the consensus would be. I don't think they would hate it or anything, but I think it wouldn't be as big of a success. If it was made today and was basically the same show but with less animation errors, it would probably not get more than three seasons. It would probably get to episode 52, worst case scenario it would get to episode 13, best case 78, but certainly not the 194 episodes it ended up getting back then.

[CyberCubed]

If you're talking about kids growing up with the Nick show, they'll certainly be surprised how different everything is. They'll wonder why April is an adult instead of a kid, why there is only "one" Krang instead of a bunch of them, why Bebop/Rocksteady are stupid, why Shredder is more comedic and silly, etc.

It would be like how those of us who grew up with the original cartoon in the 80's were surprised by how different the comics were, or the 4kids series, when we got older and started discovering the other series

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

It would be like how those of us who grew up with the original cartoon in the 80's were surprised by how different the comics were, or the 4kids series, when we got older and started discovering the other series

Good point, well said.

[Duke Nukem]

Some of the jokes would definitely be dated, others would be considered way over the line today (of course, a lot of the jokes today would never be allowed in a kids' show back then either). For example, I remember at the end of one episode (if anyone know which one this is, then remind me), where Shredder and Krang's plan to enslave everyone inevitably failed, and Bebop and Rocksteady said something like "At least we don't gotta be slaves anymore!", to which Krang responded "Really? Think again!". Rocksteady looked at the camera and said "Aww...where's that Abe Lincoln guy when you need him?". Something like that would never fly today.

Also, the video that plastroncafe posted is scripted, in case anyone never heard of that series before. I don't think too many actual kids today would like it much at all unless they're already TMNT fans, and even a lot of them probably wouldn't.

[Jester]

Trey seems to like the Nick series better, but he recognizes the 90's guys.

[TurtleTitan97]

Probably wouldn't like it as much compared to 2k3/2k12.

[CyberCubed]

I also wonder if they'll notice the lack of action or fight scenes. The 2k3 and Nick series have real fight scenes that get really brutal at times, the original cartoon has nothing like that. Fights tended to be brief and over with in less than a minute.

[Leo656]

My niece was an odd case. She stumbled into the 2K3 series all on her own about halfway through it, then went to YouTube and started watching all the 80s episodes. She appreciated both and was old enough to "get" why they were different, but she seemed to think the 80s show was a little "corny". I thought it was neat that she went out on her own, did the research, and looked up a show that existed back before I was even her age. Pretty good show of initiative for a, 11-year-old.

That happens more than people think, by the way. It's easy to forget, kids aren't totally oblivious to things that came before, they don't exist in a bubble, especially now with the internet it's easier than ever to get into older stuff in pop culture. Some kids legit don't give a sh*t, and they only like "the new hotness", but a really good number of kids will like a thing and go backwards from there to earlier stuff. You can't force 'em to like stuff, they get into it when they're ready if they care enough. I remember back in 1990, me and a bunch of my friends saw the Dick Tracy movie, loved it, and all of a sudden a bunch of 8-year-olds were going to bookstores buying TPBs of black & white comic strips from the 1930s. That's an extreme case, but it happens. If kids really like something, they're more than capable of going back and "discovering" earlier versions of it, and genuinely enjoying it, and they'll even do the work themselves. Not all of 'em, but enough. And they can usually grasp why things are "different".

It's like going from Super-Friends to Batman: TAS. Literally only about 4 years apart, same generation mostly, but about as different as you can get and still be covering the same subject matter. Kids at the time just took it as evolution and enjoyed both for what they were; we didn't need it explained to us why one show was drawn differently or had more fight scenes. We just "got it".

[Wildcat]

Based on being used to the Nick show and maybe 2k3 they might think it's not serious enough but would probably still enjoy it for the fun of it.

Having it be the first version they watch they'd probably still enjoy it. The OT is not as ridiculous and mindless as a lot of people here make out to be. Certainly not compared to some of today's cartoons.

The OT was/is a solid action cartoon. I'd compare it more to Ben 10 Omniverse. Not grim or dark but serious enough with plenty of characters and action scenes. So unfair the OT is labeled as cheesy nonsense.

[Shark_Blade]

I'll be honest many would say it looks terrible and can't imagine why anyone would watch it.

Because they have quality animation now like Gravity Falls, superior in terms of color, graphic, sound, story telling and is current with the time.

A certain few will definitely appreciate old toons though.

[Jester]

For example, I remember at the end of one episode (if anyone know which one this is, then remind me), where Shredder and Krang's plan to enslave everyone inevitably failed, and Bebop and Rocksteady said something like "At least we don't gotta be slaves anymore!", to which Krang responded "Really? Think again!". Rocksteady looked at the camera and said "Aww...where's that Abe Lincoln guy when you need him?". Something like that would never fly today.
That I kinda remember, but I also remember in The Curse of the Evil Eye, Leonardo, chops a the glue holding Mikey to a wall and say, "Don't worry Michelangelo, I'll set you free!" to which Raphael replies, "Wow, you're a regular Abe Lincoln!"

[Prowler]

If many kids born in the 80s and the 90s liked watching Wacky Races, Tom & Jerry, etc. on TV; why wouldn't some enjoy the FW toon?

That I kinda remember, but I also remember in The Curse of the Evil Eye, Leonardo, chops a the glue holding Mikey to a wall and say, "Don't worry Michelangelo, I'll set you free!" to which Raphael replies, "Wow, you're a regular Abe Lincoln!"

But that reference wouldn't fly over their head, considering Abe Lincoln is a big name in American history.

[Walkabout]

My niece is 6 and she loves the Fred Wolf show.

I only have the one DVD with the five original episodes (and 4 with Lord Dregg) but she watches it over and over.
I've got the first two live action films and the Nick series one but when I give her a choice of which one she wants to watch she always goes for the 80's toon...kinda surprised me to be honest, mainly because she's already seen the episodes heaps of times before.

[Roitorb]

My 3 year old loves the OT turtles. He also loves the spotty turtles (90's movie) as he calls them.

[Huzzah]

My 5 year old brother likes the old cartoon more than the new.

[Wolfie65]

I think Leo656 (and his niece) are right on it.
I'm not a kid, and I do prefer the 80's hand drawn artwork - the current CGI turtles look oddly 'furry' and blocky - but in terms of storylines, plots, characterizations, dialog (the 'acting', if you will), ideas, originality, etc. etc. etc., the new series is, imho, far superior to the 80's/90's one, which was basically just Shredder comes up with a crazy plan which the turtles defeat quite easily, Krang whines in the background, rinse, repeat. And most of the jokes might have been funny to the troops Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante were entertaining in the Pacific in 1944, but should have been sent to a rest home after that.

[Jephael]

My nephew's a real chip off the old block. He enjoys anything TMNT. Doesn't matter which incarnation it is, he'll love the hell out of it!!!

[pferreira]

I don't think kids would like the show as they've been brought up on hyperactive boring anime! :lol:

[Powder]

I don't think kids would like the show as they've been brought up on hyperactive boring anime! :lol:

Do you have kids? 'Cause this sounds like something someone who has no idea what kids are into would say. :trazz:

[Lisardo]

It's not exactly the OT (tho the same time frame), but I showed my boyfriend's niece (who was 10 at the time) the TMNT Xmas Special. I got it as an Xmas gift like 2 years ago. Anyway, his niece thought it was pretty funny, and seemed to like it. She may enjoy the OT if I ever showed it to her.

[Duke Nukem]

If many kids born in the 80s and the 90s liked watching Wacky Races, Tom & Jerry, etc. on TV; why wouldn't some enjoy the FW toon?



But that reference wouldn't fly over their head, considering Abe Lincoln is a big name in American history.

I'm sure most kids would get the Abe Lincoln jokes, but in today's frenzied PC climate, it would be considered too racist to be allowed in a kids' show. I enjoyed the old 60's Looney Tunes cartoons as a kid in the 80's, which is another thing that wouldn't fly today for kids, with the amount of gun violence and bomb making. Kids' shows today do contain a lot of sexual innuendo that wouldn't have been allowed in the 80s, and blasphemous speech that would have been extremely controversial a few decades ago (remember a lot of the letters that got published in TMNTA in the 90s?), and downright criminal before that. You can look back further than that at the Hayes code as well. Decades from now, I'm sure it will be something else entirely that's considered detrimental, that kids will be in "need" of fanatics to protect them from that.

[Jester]

We had some guys come in and replace the kitchen and bathroom ceramic tile floors with premium vinyl tile, and as a result I had to keep Trey occupied in my "man cave" while they were working. He requested the FW TMNT to watch so I popped in the Season 1 DVD. He made it through about 2 episodes before he got super antsy, but he's 2 almost 3, so I can't really blame him.

[pferreira]

Do you have kids? 'Cause this sounds like something someone who has no idea what kids are into would say. :trazz:No I don't have kids but I have to say I'm glad I was born in the 80s judging by the stuff that's on today for them. ;)

[Wolfie65]

Anime makes me feel sorry for Japanese teens.

[senpai]

Why do you say that? Anime is very common for all ages in Japan. A Japanese teen might not understand what you mean either.

[Leo656]

He's probably jumping straight to the "all anime is porn" conclusion a lot of folks try to do. At least I assume.

[Powder]

Anime makes me feel sorry for Japanese teens.

Anime > 75% of modern western animation.

We have bronies, yet they're who you're pitying?

[Leo656]

C'mon, that's a good show too.

I can't speak for its fans; I've honestly never met anyone in real life who admitted watching it. :lol: I like it, though, it's funny.

[Luckyday]

Anime > 75% of modern western animation.

We have bronies, yet they're who you're pitying?

Alright let me to get on my soapbox for a minute.

Most bronies are just guys who are into cartoons, like girls that are into TMNT, and enjoy it because it was a Lauren Faust's creation or to precise a complete reimagining and have create a lot of cool stuff in celebration of their fandom like flash video games, song ballads and even animated shorts.

Both current properties are popular because of quality or it has something more to offer other then being just another generic cartoon gear towards kids so that they can shut up for 20 minutes.

Kind of makes me a little jealous sometimes in wanting to see that level of fun with TMNT. Where's my Dr. Wolf? :cry:

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[Wolfie65]

The Anime I've seen (Naruto, Pokémon, Girl who leapt through space, Chevalier d'Eon, Peach Girl, Tokyo Tribes, etc.) shows me a culture that is even shallower and more sickly weird than ours. And to all the people complaining about how we show our kids role models they could never possibly hope to emulate, that's nothing compared to what the Japanese do. For starters, hardly anyone in Japanese anime even looks Japanese - with the notable exception of cranky old guys.......
Pardon me, I'm off to get my hair pinked and my eyes enlarged so that they resemble saucers. Then, I'll become a Ninja by screaming at everyone and slurping my noodles faster.

[nylemon]

Some of the jokes would definitely be dated, others would be considered way over the line today (of course, a lot of the jokes today would never be allowed in a kids' show back then either). For example, I remember at the end of one episode (if anyone know which one this is, then remind me), where Shredder and Krang's plan to enslave everyone inevitably failed, and Bebop and Rocksteady said something like "At least we don't gotta be slaves anymore!", to which Krang responded "Really? Think again!". Rocksteady looked at the camera and said "Aww...where's that Abe Lincoln guy when you need him?". Something like that would never fly today.

Also, the video that plastroncafe posted is scripted, in case anyone never heard of that series before. I don't think too many actual kids today would like it much at all unless they're already TMNT fans, and even a lot of them probably wouldn't.

yeah,the 87 series looks childish but there are a lot of "mature" or "not very obviously to notice" jokes

[nylemon]

I am from a "shanghai"ed(a word from 2k3) place, as a asian I have to say Japanese animes are not weird at all and they are great especially these in 80s,90s.There are still a bunch of great works.It's just more and more "sexy" animes come up but good things still there

[Powder]

The Anime I've seen (Naruto, Pokémon, Girl who leapt through space, Chevalier d'Eon, Peach Girl, Tokyo Tribes, etc.) shows me a culture that is even shallower and more sickly weird than ours. And to all the people complaining about how we show our kids role models they could never possibly hope to emulate, that's nothing compared to what the Japanese do. For starters, hardly anyone in Japanese anime even looks Japanese - with the notable exception of cranky old guys.......
Pardon me, I'm off to get my hair pinked and my eyes enlarged so that they resemble saucers. Then, I'll become a Ninja by screaming at everyone and slurping my noodles faster.

This is a grossly offensive stereotype of Japan.

[CyberCubed]

Anime nowadays is pretty bad though, the best anime days were in the 80's and 90's, as well as a bit in the early 2000's.

Nowadays it is mostly harem moe fanservice crap. Every show is about 5 girls feeling each other up or doing cute things. It seems like every anime now has to have at least one scene of a girl groping each others boobs.

[Leo656]

I'm not seeing the "problem"...

[pennydreadful]

The Anime I've seen (Naruto, Pokémon, Girl who leapt through space, Chevalier d'Eon, Peach Girl, Tokyo Tribes, etc.) shows me a culture that is even shallower and more sickly weird than ours. And to all the people complaining about how we show our kids role models they could never possibly hope to emulate, that's nothing compared to what the Japanese do. For starters, hardly anyone in Japanese anime even looks Japanese - with the notable exception of cranky old guys.......
Pardon me, I'm off to get my hair pinked and my eyes enlarged so that they resemble saucers. Then, I'll become a Ninja by screaming at everyone and slurping my noodles faster.

What exactly is your argument here? Western animation has plenty of shallow, goofy things - just look at Spongebob. You may as well watch an Adam Sandler movie and collectively declare that cinema as a whole is absurd. Anime is an art form with many different sub-genres. Some are silly, some are serious, some are horror, some are sci fi - you're making broad generalizations based on something you know nothing about.

As far as saying that anime characters don't look Japanese - you've just displayed a base level of ignorance of Japanese culture. Japanese people see anime characters as being Japanese - they don't mark their characters as "Other" by including slanted eyes or whatever it is you think an Asian character should be drawn like, because to them, a character being of Japanese race is the norm. White people interpret all anime or cartoon characters as being white, because that's their default standard for "human being" unless specifically indicated otherwise. The Simpsons are drawn as yellow people with improbable hair but ask anyone on the street and they'll say that they consider them to be white characters. People in anime don't look specifically caucasian, for that matter - people aren't born with giant eyes and pink hair. The art style isn't about being true to life - not to mention the fact that there are many different art styles within anime anyway.

At best, you come off as painfully uneducated; at worst, you come off as racist. Geeze Louise, it's too early in the morning for my frontal lobe to be blown like this - I'm going to be picking gray matter off the ceiling for hours. :roll:

[Leo656]

Almost 8pm over here. So, you could use the "I'm at the end of a long day and I'm just too tired" argument if you wanted. :tgrin:

[pennydreadful]

LOL it's not even 10am over here yet. Gotta love these timezone differences. :lol:

[DarkFell]

A few years back, I wasn't really into either anime or manga. Back then the illustrations were a put off IMO. The only reasons I got into liking anime was 1.) through high school friends, and 2.) giving it a chance. I got into reading manga a few years later.

There are a few genres that I will avoid because they do not grab my interest and there is nothing right or wrong about that. There are MANY different genres of anime and manga out in the world and I tend to stick with the ones that I like.

[senpai]

The Anime I've seen (Naruto, Pokémon, Girl who leapt through space, Chevalier d'Eon, Peach Girl, Tokyo Tribes, etc.) shows me a culture that is even shallower and more sickly weird than ours. And to all the people complaining about how we show our kids role models they could never possibly hope to emulate, that's nothing compared to what the Japanese do. For starters, hardly anyone in Japanese anime even looks Japanese - with the notable exception of cranky old guys.......
Pardon me, I'm off to get my hair pinked and my eyes enlarged so that they resemble saucers. Then, I'll become a Ninja by screaming at everyone and slurping my noodles faster.

Actually, anime was inspired by Disney. If you look at earlier anime movies and shows you'll see that there is a resemblance in the old black and white animated shorts. After that Japan branched out and made their own style. I wouldn't go as far to say as Japan is shallow. They live in a culture that live by a set of ethics and manners just like any other country. Just because you've seen a handful of anime doesn't mean at all that it is representing Japan as a whole. Pokemon and Naruto's in a make-believe setting, I think that D'eon one was in France or England, and I haven't seen the others so...can't speak for them.