Which Season is the Best?

[Foombamaroom]

Which season of TMNT 2012 is the best? For me, I'd say that Season 2 was easily the best, 3 is the second best, while the 1st season is the weakest compared to the others.

[Ninturtle]

Season 1 is the best because it's the best written and has the best jokes.

[CyberCubed]

They're all about the same to be honest. Season 1 only stands out a bit more because it was the first time we were introduced to this incarnation of the characters.

[Warhorse]

Probably season 2 is the best, at least first half is. Then season 1. Season 3 however, just awful. Like Platinum Dunes TMNT movie awful.

[Ninturtle]

Probably season 2 is the best, at least first half is. Then season 1. Season 3 however, just awful. Like Platinum Dunes TMNT movie awful.

That movie is nothing compared to Season 3 . The turtles are the main characters in season 3 and since we got back to New York City the plot has been good.

[ToTheNines]

Season one by far.

Losing Sternin and Ventimiglia was definitely detrimental to the writing.

[JTH]

Season 1 & 2 almost feel about the same.

The big difference to me is the Season 1 finale falls flat while the Season 2 finale is the best episode of the series. So with that, I'd say Season 2.

[Jephael]

For most shows, season 4 tends to be when the series really starts to kick up steam. Though since we're still in the final quarter of season 3, we've yet to see how it'll go.

[Warhorse]

That movie is nothing compared to Season 3 . The turtles are the main characters in season 3 and since we got back to New York City the plot has been good.

Instead of complaining about my opinion, just accept it, and put your own effing opinion in on what you think is the best to worst. I hate season 3 as much as platinum dunes movie, and you are just going to have to deal with it! Some of us aren't little yes men lap dogs to everything TMNT, alright!

[NinjaPug]

Season one by far.

Losing Sternin and Ventimiglia was definitely detrimental to the writing.

Agree with this. Changing story editors and staff writers after S1 has hurt the show.

[Groverman62]

Season 2 was the most fun and re watchable of the seasons

[CyberCubed]

What great story did Season 1 have that people are referring to? Aside from being introduced to all the characters for the first time, it followed the same Shredder/Karai and Kraang story all the others do. Except it was the first time.

Season 1 had the same mutant of the week episodes and Kraang episodes people love complaining about.

[Ninturtle]

Instead of complaining about my opinion, just accept it, and put your own effing opinion in on what you think is the best to worst. I hate season 3 as much as platinum dunes movie, and you are just going to have to deal with it! Some of us aren't little yes men lap dogs to everything TMNT, alright!

I'm aloud to say why I greatly disagree with your opinion. Since when was is wrong to say why I think you're wrong. And how does me liking season 3 make me a lap dog to everything TMNT? Just because I like something you don't doesn't mean I like every thing TMNT. I dislike alot of versions of TMNT like most do and I like season 3 because I think the quality is good not because it's TMNT.

[JTH]

If I had to do a Top 10 Episode list right now, it would be this:

1 - The Invasion (2)
2 - The Gauntlet (1)
3 - Target: April O'Neil (2)
4 - The Manhattan Project (2)
5 - Return to New York (3)
6 - Enemy of my Enemy (1)
7 - Vision Quest (3)
8 - The Alien Agenda (1)
9 - Into Dimension X! (2)
10 - It Came From the Depths (1)

3 of my Top 4 episodes are Season 2 episodes even though I have 4 episodes from both Season 1 & 2. So by that, 2 is ahead of 1

[Powder]

Instead of complaining about my opinion, just accept it, and put your own effing opinion in on what you think is the best to worst. I hate season 3 as much as platinum dunes movie, and you are just going to have to deal with it! Some of us aren't little yes men lap dogs to everything TMNT, alright!

You really need to adjust your attitude.

[Papenbrook]

Season one was the best season for me.

[Allio]

can't decide between season 1 and 2....but season 3 is the weakest

[pennydreadful]

I think I'm gonna place my vote with Season 1, personally. Just IMO. *shrugs*

[Sabacooza]

Season 1 for me. That's when we had good writers and the show was balanced.

[Donatello19]

I personally enjoyed the first season the most, but the second was pretty great as well. I didn't really like the third season all that much at first, but it's starting to get a lot better in my opinion.

[Luckyday]

It's hard to compare season 1 to the to the others seasons since the show had a change in writers.

Season 1 was the honey moon phrase. Many of us were guarded and worry on whatever this show would be any good but once we saw how they got the core characters right, we were unanimously in love with the show but if there was any criticism to be had when looking back, I would say that most of episodes were basic in comparison to the current ones.

Season 2 has some good stand episodes but as far I remember there wasn't much a long narrative or direction in story arc. The find all mutagen canister plot line was forgotten after a certain point and even few of other lesser episodes were basic mutant of week. Even The season finale itself felt like a repeat of season 1 finale.

The beginning of Season 3...The less said the better. The worse decision they ever made was not making North Hamptom a place of dealing with the aftermath and build up for the next arc. I could try to understand that they wanted and maybe even thought that the season 2 finale had zero un finish business in New York but it's never over when heroes lost . I think had I not seen the season 2 finale and "In the woods" episode, a huge part of me would have enjoy these episodes in the spirit of Halloween but because these episodes were prefer over doing much need character development, it just left a bad taste in my mouth and told me what kind people were really in charge of TMNT.

Anyhow, I think the show has gotten better and maybe even better then season 1. It's like season 1 was the cute kid phase and 2 was the beginning of its awkward puberty at where it wasn't sure who it was or unsure of what it wanted to be and the beginning of season 3 was the worst of it with zits, bodily functions going haywire, and those goddamn mood swings. Like it was in the midst of its rebellious phase in the most obnoxious way it could possibly be; however, when it got that out of its system, it started to mature a little bit. It still goof off every now and again like a little kid but it had started taking it duties (story continuity) seriously. I am looking forward seeing it grow now but I really hope that the midlife crisis in the future will last only three episodes.

[CyberCubed]

Season 1 had several mutant of the week episodes, Spiderbitez, Cockroack Terminator, the Wasps, Snakeweed...we also had to sit through that first dire Pulverizer episode. *shudders*

Season 1 only seems better because we were introduced to the characters for the first time and the "first meetings" were done between heroes and villains. Watching it now that we know everything that's going to happen, its exactly the same as following seasons.

[Groverman62]

Cybercubed we get it. You dont understand the hype for season 1. You dont have to get angry at people for liking things better

[GoldMutant]

Instead of complaining about my opinion, just accept it, and put your own effing opinion in on what you think is the best to worst. I hate season 3 as much as platinum dunes movie, and you are just going to have to deal with it! Some of us aren't little yes men lap dogs to everything TMNT, alright!

He already did place his opinion.

I've got nothing against you Warhorse, but you enforcing your opinion on everyone and bashing those is extremely disrespectful. Treating your opinion as fact and bashing others will not get people to listen to you, rather it's going to just anger them and start arguments. That type of attitude is going to get you called out for as you want to provoke people.

[Shark_Blade]

I can't choose!

Fine, Season 3 then. I love the horror episodes!

Season 2 Invasion of Squirrelanoids is top on my list too! So Season 2 comes second. Though being last, First Season still has its charm though. :tlove:

[MrTMNT2012]

If I had to rate each Season as whole, this would be it:

Season 1 - (8.5/10)
Weak characterisation but amazing character interactions/dynamics, clever sense of humour, intricate writing, perfect pacing, good world-building and good animation.

Season 2 - (6.5/10)
Decent characterisation but weak writing, few stand-out episodes and one AMAZING finale.

Season 3 - (5/10)
Boring. Character regression and mediocre writing but hey, at least the animation improved...

[yellowmario27]

If you asked me this question for any of the other shows I watch, I could easily tell you which season was the best

but for this show i have no idea, i enjoyed every season so far. Each season has it's good and bad episodes

I guess plot wise I like season 1 the best

[neatoman]

I'm not sure there's necessarily a "best" season. But the more you watch the show, the more you'll realise how needlessly slow the story is and the more tiresome the monster of the week episodes become.

But if I had to rank them, I'd say Season 1 would be the best one the problems had not yet piled up. There are still some problems, like how the villains don't really do much until the end and how some things just seem to pop up out of nowhere, like how the Technodrome is literally first mentioned in the same episode it's introduced in. But it's fairly self contained and has enough character development and story to make it feel satisfying overall, if there no more seasons after it I would have been fine with that.

Season 3 has not finished yet but it is my second favourite so far, though that could easily change. Why is it my second favourite? The Kraang are finally defeated and more focus is thus given to the Foot Clan who have basically done very little up until that point. And for more biased reasons, I just like seeing the farmhouse and Hun back in a cartoon, I will agree they probably spent too much time on the farm but it still felt nice to see it again. I don't really care that Hun looks more like Bruce Lee than the old Hun, he still felt correctly written.
But I must clarify, season 3 does still have real problems like everyone is saying.

Season 2 is my least favourite. There's too much focus on the Kraang and filler episodes, virtually nothing important happens until episode 22 and by then the season is almost over. It was also in that season the Foot Ninja were replaced by robots, and I really don't like the idea of the Foot Clan just being a bunch of robots. I don't really like that the new major villain of the season, Tiger Claw, is just Ciro Nieli's Mary Sue. It's also the season when Donnie's crush on April became really annoying. I like that Casey was introduced but he doesn't really turn into a main charcter the finale, until then he's just sort of an ally. The season generally feels like filler between seasons 1 and 2, that's just not right...

[Bauer536]

I usually don't like to judge what the best season is, but from the shows I watched from 24, to The Big Bang Theory, season 2 is usually the best.

I loved season 2 a lot. Aside from the mutant of the week concepts, it was strong. The characters grew, the fights got intense, the animation improved, and the whole Karai/Miwa story became a lot more compelling. Sure we had Don having a crush on April still, but it wasn't as bad as it was in the beginning of Season 3. Tiger Claw is a better mutant character than Fishface. I rated a lot of the episodes 5 stars, such as "Follow the Leader," "Fungus Humongous," "Mazes and Mutants," and "The Invasion." These were really good episodes. Honestly, I re-watched all the episodes, and each of them brought a level of fun that Age of Ultron gave me, but better.:tgrin:

I did love Season 1, but I'll be honest. Here's why I think Season 2 worked: Mikey proves that he's not as dumb as we thought, I don't hate Karai now after she found her true nature, Casey Jones is now part of the cast, Leo doesn't say lame catchphrases anymore, Baxter doesn't feel as bumbling as he was before, Tiger Claw is awesome, and of course, let's not forget the tribute that was Leonardo #1 in "The Invasion." I did like Season 1, but that was only the beginning. Season 2 was a fantastic year for TMNT. :tcool:

[Luckyday]

Season 2 is my least favourite. There's too much focus on the Kraang and filler episodes, virtually nothing important happens until episode 22 and by then the season is almost over. It was also in that season the Foot Ninja were replaced by robots, and I really don't like the idea of the Foot Clan just being a bunch of robots. I don't really like that the new major villain of the season, Tiger Claw, is just Ciro Nieli's Mary Sue. It's also the season when Donnie's crush on April became really annoying. I like that Casey was introduced but he doesn't really turn into a main charcter the finale, until then he's just sort of an ally. The season generally feels like filler between seasons 1 and 2, that's just not right...

Ahh so I'm not the only one annoyed with the generic character with shiny blinkers who adds nothing to the show.

[neatoman]

Ahh so I'm not the only one who annoyed with the bland generic character with shiny blinkers who adds nothing to the show.

I'm sure they had the best intentions when creating Tiger Claw... But yeah, he's pretty pointless and I doubt he'll be used in future TMNT projects.

[CyberCubed]

Tiger Claw was supposed to have a back story (and how he got mutated the first time), but they haven't shown it yet. Tiger Claw looks and sounds cool though.

[Ninturtle]

Tiger Claw was supposed to have a back story (and how he got mutated the first time), but they haven't shown it yet. Tiger Claw looks and sounds cool though.

I love the fights Tiger Claw is in ,his voice ,his design, and his fighting style he's just so fun to watch

[Aaronardo]

I'd say it's too early in the game to judge Season 3 (even though we're late in the season).
I'd say Season 2 surpasses Season 1, though Season 1 does have some more witty writing than 2 in many places. Though, the episodes that stood out in Season 2 were more in quantity and definitely stood out more than the ones in Season 1.
I'd say that at the moment, Season 3 is in the middle of 2 and 1, but who knows, they might do something super lame that'll cause me to hate the season. Who knows.

[Refractive Reflections]

The first season was the best of the series (at least from what I tried to continue in watching), particularly the first two-thirds of the first season.

One of the biggest reasons was that we saw the Turtles engage and relate to the characters, especially the villains, in a deeper way (Bradford with Mikey, Fishface with Raph, and Leo with Karai and Fong, Donnie with Timothy); by doing so, it revealed the different facets of the Turtles, and as the series continued, appeared to be a progressive path of character development for the Turtles. Yet as it neared closer to the end of season 1... somehow that all fell apart:

1) The increasing caricature or one-dimensional depiction of the main characters. Mikey's increasing idiocy, the hyperfocus on making Raph a one-dimensional character with anger problems, Donnie's growing stalker like behavior around April, April becoming more like a Mary Sue, the ongoing overemphasis of the Donnie-April-Casey love triangle, etc.

2) The transition of making the villains as interesting characters with a backstory (i.e. Bradford, Fishface), to becoming "mutant villains of the week" (Season 2 and afterward).

3) And the most grating: The plot amnesia with the show, which undermines whatever lessons learned or whatever little growth there was for the characters (i.e. through the characters relating to each other as explained earlier), and now traded for more cliche school morale messages (i.e. "I can do anything if I believe in myself and my training!")


I don't know if it was the pressure from Nick or the production crew to change the format of a serial show to a more procedural-leaning one (with the show's plot amnesia), or to focus on the action figure merchandise (aka "mutant of the week") from Nick, or the departure of Sternin & Ventimilia, is the cause for the very disappointing tone and execution shift, but somewhere near the end Season 1 there's a gradual change in the show's direction.

It wasn't my favorite TMNT series from the start, but at least with the first season there was a lot of potential from what I saw and I was genuinely interested to see where it would go, but it never seemed to want to explore that potential in the show's narrative or maybe it was just oblivious to what good potential it had. By the time I saw the Season 2 finale, all of that potential I once saw, now all seems wasted and a distant memory.

What makes it worse is how this show was seemingly meant to encapsulate the "best" of the TMNT legacy, but it doesn't seem to quite do that. It doesn't have the solid, serial-formatted storywriting that 4Kids has, neither does it have the witty humor of the OT but rather has low-brow immature humor (i.e. Mikey being painfully dumb, farts, belching, the ongoing love triangle). It has quickly forgotten villains and developments (i.e. the Technodrome, the Foot Clan becoming nearly invincible robots, TigerClaw's ruthlessness), which the show hypes beyond the actual magnitude of their impact. Strangely enough, the show seems to be on its own non-distinct (by using numerous other TMNT elements and horror movies) and fairly unimpressive path within the TMNT franchise.

[Metalwolf]

A round of applause for you RR! :nod:

Pretty much what you'd said sums up quite a lot of what I've been feeling. I think to add my own bits, for me the downhill transition started at Manhattan Project, since there was a lot in the two-parter that seemed unnaturally goofy and cartoonish. Xever giving Tigerclaw a glass of milk (cartoonish idea of cats liking milk) the cheese phone (rats liking cheese) and Bradford losing easily despite his superior second form didn't seem all that 'cute.'

I really think losing those two writers kind of killed things, since they seemed to know how to balance a lot of the show's elements, and once they left the show either hewed too much towards goofy at times or left a lot of the characters (especially the villains) underdeveloped and weak. I wish they could come back, the show could use their talents again.

[Refractive Reflections]

A round of applause for you RR! :nod:

Pretty much what you'd said sums up quite a lot of what I've been feeling. I think to add my own bits, for me the downhill transition started at Manhattan Project, since there was a lot in the two-parter that seemed unnaturally goofy and cartoonish. Xever giving Tigerclaw a glass of milk (cartoonish idea of cats liking milk) the cheese phone (rats liking cheese) and Bradford losing easily despite his superior second form didn't seem all that 'cute.'

I really think losing those two writers kind of killed things, since they seemed to know how to balance a lot of the show's elements, and once they left the show either hewed too much towards goofy at times or left a lot of the characters (especially the villains) underdeveloped and weak. I wish they could come back, the show could use their talents again.

Thanks MetalWolf. :P

For me, near the end of the 1st season the signs that made things go downhill for me was the gradual emergence of Mikey's stupidity (the beginning of one dimensional character depictions), introducing the Technodrome so soon within the series when it was so iconic of the OT rather than focusing on its own iconic imagery (the beginning overuse of OT elements), and then by the season 2 premiere with the first sign of plot amnesia (April storming away from the Turtles and leaving them, despite the constant Kraang threat when just back at the ending of "Karai's Vendetta", there was an intense emotional scene on how she would have to live in the lair for a long period of time because of the Kraang threat) and "mutant of the week" plots (with the mutagen canisters falling everywhere, which was a bit too obvious of a plot device though for creating any bizarre random mutant).

These signs became more prevalent as the second season progressed until it dawned on me that these "random" occurrences were changing the tone of the show in becoming the norm, and by the season 2 finale, I lost my patience with it and stopped watching.

[Luckyday]

^
I don't have anything to contribute but I just wanted to say yours was a excellent critical review of season 1.

I couldn't put my finger on what it was missing until you mention all those small human moments that show who the characters are.

I also miss who Bradford and Xever were like before they became generic henchmen. I guess it was one of the reasons what I like about the "Enter Mondo Gecko" episode. It reminded me that "Oh that's right! I forgot that Xever had a personality before he became Fishface."

I guess what possible excuse they have in not having those season 1's moments was that it was just meant to establish the characters and not really to set any character arcs.

[lindz247]

Everyone's rooting for season 1. and I agree! :D life was a better place then

[BabyTurtles]

Season 1 by far.

first part of season 2 was cool too.

[Metalwolf]

Now that you mention it RR, I think you're right. And I agree with what Luckday says too, a lot of the human moments fell away along with whatever made the henchmen feel like people rather then just some generic mutant goons.

I don't know. I think it's the way the mutant villains are acting a lot nowadays that kind of kills it for me, in the past they railed against and refused to consider their conditions as good, striving to hold on to their humanity the same way that Splinter sort of still does. They stopped being people once they are so jolly about their condition (which is why I didn't like Bradford referring to himself as 'dog' that time when he was trying to buddy up with Tigerclaw) and became mutants. It's hard for me to describe, but I think it's like what you see in some good werewolf movies: The person struggling against their condition feels human, while the one happily ripping out people's throats and running around on all fours every full moon rarely ever does.

[Shark_Blade]

Season 1 by far.

first part of season 2 was cool too.

But.............. didn't Season 2 started off with April shouting at the turtles and stormed off leaving them behind, never speaking to them ever again? D:

[CyberCubed]

I don't know. I think it's the way the mutant villains are acting a lot nowadays that kind of kills it for me, in the past they railed against and refused to consider their conditions as good, striving to hold on to their humanity the same way that Splinter sort of still does. They stopped being people once they are so jolly about their condition (which is why I didn't like Bradford referring to himself as 'dog' that time when he was trying to buddy up with Tigerclaw) and became mutants. It's hard for me to describe, but I think it's like what you see in some good werewolf movies: The person struggling against their condition feels human, while the one happily ripping out people's throats and running around on all fours every full moon rarely ever does.

Most of the mutants don't like being mutants, where are you getting this from? We've constantly seen Fishface long to be human again. Baxter tried to work on a cure for himself. Bebop didn't like being a mutant either. Neither did Snakeweed, Spiderbitez, etc.

[Shark_Blade]

Funny enough in IDW and OT, Bebop & Rocksteady LOVE being a mutant.

[Metalwolf]

Most of the mutants don't like being mutants, where are you getting this from? We've constantly seen Fishface long to be human again. Baxter tried to work on a cure for himself. Bebop didn't like being a mutant either. Neither did Snakeweed, Spiderbitez, etc.Remember Fishface's line about wanting a companion "Part woman, part tuna, all lover." Or that Rahzar would call himself 'freak' while Baxter called himself Baxterfly (Lonely Mutation) and then in another episode Rahzar called himself 'dog' (Manhattan Project.) Sometimes it looks like they don't like their mutations, and then in the next they contradict themselves, even willingly acting like the animal they resemble (Rahzar howling and Splinter running around like a rat and stereotypically liking cheese.) Spiderbytes also refers to himself as 'spider' (that episode where he and a bunch of other mutants were captured and held by the Kraang.)

[Papenbrook]

Remember Fishface's line about wanting a companion "Part woman, part tuna, all lover." Or that Rahzar would call himself 'freak' while Baxter called himself Baxterfly (Lonely Mutation) and then in another episode Rahzar called himself 'dog' (Manhattan Project.) Sometimes it looks like they don't like their mutations, and then in the next they contradict themselves, even willingly acting like the animal they resemble (Rahzar howling and Splinter running around like a rat and stereotypically liking cheese.) Spiderbytes also refers to himself as 'spider' (that episode where he and a bunch of other mutants were captured and held by the Kraang.)


This is further proof that the series has plot amnesia.

[Shark_Blade]

Remember Fishface's line about wanting a companion "Part woman, part tuna, all lover." Or that Rahzar would call himself 'freak' while Baxter called himself Baxterfly (Lonely Mutation) and then in another episode Rahzar called himself 'dog' (Manhattan Project.) Sometimes it looks like they don't like their mutations, and then in the next they contradict themselves, even willingly acting like the animal they resemble (Rahzar howling and Splinter running around like a rat and stereotypically liking cheese.) Spiderbytes also refers to himself as 'spider' (that episode where he and a bunch of other mutants were captured and held by the Kraang.)

Maybe they gradually starting to accept their mutation form? Character development!

[Metalwolf]

I had quoteed those out of order. One episode they look like they are accepting their mutations,and then another later one showing they hate them. Maybe the hatred is the 'actual' canon feeling? Most of Shredder's goons still seem to drop whatever they're doing to try and grab that oft elusive retromutagen whenever it shows up, so I don't think they 'accept' their mutations rather then the writers not being in total sync with each other. It's like some of the writers try to go their own way making them look like they luurrve their mutations, which feels unnatural when most of the time the goons are often bitching about them.

[CyberCubed]

They don't like their mutations though, and they constantly talk about being cured. They're obviously not going to bring it up in every episode because that would be repetitive.

I don't know why you're trying to make a plot hole out of something that isn't.

[Garfield]

There hasn't been a noticeable decline or elevation in quality from the start of the show until the current episode to me. So I can't say that there is a best season. Sure there are more characters and more of a plot, but The things that I think are done poorly and the things that I've done well are still the same all around.

[Refractive Reflections]

Now that you mention it RR, I think you're right. And I agree with what Luckday says too, a lot of the human moments fell away along with whatever made the henchmen feel like people rather then just some generic mutant goons.

I don't know. I think it's the way the mutant villains are acting a lot nowadays that kind of kills it for me, in the past they railed against and refused to consider their conditions as good, striving to hold on to their humanity the same way that Splinter sort of still does. They stopped being people once they are so jolly about their condition (which is why I didn't like Bradford referring to himself as 'dog' that time when he was trying to buddy up with Tigerclaw) and became mutants. It's hard for me to describe, but I think it's like what you see in some good werewolf movies: The person struggling against their condition feels human, while the one happily ripping out people's throats and running around on all fours every full moon rarely ever does.

Besides these human moments, what I also enjoyed were the relationship dynamics formed from these human moments that were much more prominent in the first season. One notable example was Leo's crush on Karai, and how the show revealed different layers of how he related to others in discussing Karai: Leo discussing his crush to April, Leo dealing with Raph's antagonism when Raph finds out about Karai, how Leo and Raph conceal Leo's crush about Karai toward Splinter for sometime, Splinter discovering and teaching Leo about the dangers of falling for Karai. Throughout a small set of episodes, we see this happening. This type of dynamic engagement was what made the show initially standout for me, and how these dynamics were changing with the growing Kraang threat, leading to the alliance and betrayal with the Leo-Karai relationship, and the consequences to the rest of the characters (i.e. Leo warning Karai to only attack him and not his brothers, Karai attacking/threatening April, and contributing toward Karai having a greater indirect resentment toward Splinter), which gave me the impression of a more serial-formatted show in the beginning.

But by the second season (with the reasons I pointed out earlier), it isn't there anymore (except with a very rare exception in "Slash and Destroy") where we could see how different characters relate to each other in this type of complexity and evolve; therefore giving characters multiple layers of depth that the audience can appreciate. Now it seems, or at least when I last saw the show, a lot of the show's focus has tremendously reduced that where we don't see that interaction between the four Turtles that highlights their individuality in such an engaging and layered way, since the characters have become more one-dimensional, and even far worse, suffer plot amnesia.

...That's why I mentioned in my first post:

It wasn't my favorite TMNT series from the start, but at least with the first season there was a lot of potential from what I saw and I was genuinely interested to see where it would go, but it never seemed to want to explore that potential in the show's narrative or maybe it was just oblivious to what good potential it had. By the time I saw the Season 2 finale, all of that potential I once saw, now all seems wasted and a distant memory.
:ohwell:

[ssjup81]

You know, it's kind of difficult to choose when the current season isn't even over yet. To be fair seems we should wait. As of right now, I can only judge seasons 1 and 2 because they're actually finished.

[HeroTurtlesFan]

I think season 1 was the best, then season 2 and then the disappointing season 3 (note, here in the UK, we're a few episodes behind so perhaps season 3 will have a strong upswing. But I thought the first seven or eight episodes were generally pretty poor).

[Luckyday]

Besides these human moments, what I also enjoyed were the relationship dynamics formed from these human moments that were much more prominent in the first season. One notable example was Leo's crush on Karai, and how the show revealed different layers of how he related to others in discussing Karai: Leo discussing his crush to April, Leo dealing with Raph's antagonism when Raph finds out about Karai, how Leo and Raph conceal Leo's crush about Karai toward Splinter for sometime, Splinter discovering and teaching Leo about the dangers of falling for Karai. Throughout a small set of episodes, we see this happening. This type of dynamic engagement was what made the show initially standout for me, and how these dynamics were changing with the growing Kraang threat, leading to the alliance and betrayal with the Leo-Karai relationship, and the consequences to the rest of the characters (i.e. Leo warning Karai to only attack him and not his brothers, Karai attacking/threatening April, and contributing toward Karai having a greater indirect resentment toward Splinter), which gave me the impression of a more serial-formatted show in the beginning.

But by the second season (with the reasons I pointed out earlier), it isn't there anymore (except with a very rare exception in "Slash and Destroy") where we could see how different characters relate to each other in this type of complexity and evolve; therefore giving characters multiple layers of depth that the audience can appreciate. Now it seems, or at least when I last saw the show, a lot of the show's focus has tremendously reduced that where we don't see that interaction between the four Turtles that highlights their individuality in such an engaging and layered way, since the characters have become more one-dimensional, and even far worse, suffer plot amnesia.

...That's why I mentioned in my first post:
:ohwell:

All this show needs is to bring back the character dynamic and some focus on growing and changing those dynamics. In order to do that the people who are control of the show need to get rid this notion, "We want people to able to jump at any episode within the season" because it hurts continuity of the show and create plot amnesia.

To be fair this season has turn around in handling a story arc while having the flexibility in creating stand alone episodes. I would hope that this means that the character interactions and development will return, Although the direction that they have taken with Karai has me worried in thinking that they would rather keep things from progressing, and even worse when rendering well written characters into flat static caricatures.

What made Karai/Miwa story arc so great in the beginning was that Karai, unlike April, had actual opinions and a point of view of the situation. The other thing was the potential of a inner character struggle of trying to adjust her new life and trying desperately to get in touch with her estrange biological father despite having a complete different view point from what she was drill into from infancy.

And what could help this to make even more interesting was her being a mutant and not just any mutant, a mutant snake! This could help as a metaphor of being a danger to ones you want to get close to but nope instead it's

"Give me back my ba- I mean my daughter"
"NO, she's mine"
"We have to go save her, guys."
"I am evil femme fatale now and I no longer have any sort of autonomy on what I say or do. Everything I do is ****ing POINTLESS!"
"We have to go save her, guys."

Seriously goddamn it.

[pennydreadful]

^^^ This post wins all of the gold stars. :D

[GoldMutant]

Well, I finally have come to terms for the three seasons and since the third season ended, why not talk about it?

With season 1, it was a great introduction and had tons of great promise. I really liked these new interpretations, though the designs take some time to get used to like everything else. It seems to be the best when it comes to storytelling, offering great hints at Xever and Bradford's origins. The filler was also pretty good as well, with references to the Terminator, a little horror, and others, though not entirely homages to everything of a genre like the other seasons. Though it lacks the darker telling of some episodes in 2 and 3, it does have it's share of excellent stories with emotion or drama instead, such as the Pulverizer Returns and even the Gauntlet.

If I had to pick apart flaws, I guess it's some things get revealed a little too early if you pay attention to the clues, the Karai relationship is one if you pay attention before the season 1 finale. In addition, some events like the Technodrome could have benefited from better build up and some characters could have been experimented more, like the Purple Dragons and even Leatherhead. It was the first season, so I can't complain too much, but it established it's identity and had great promise for upcoming seasons.

Then we get to the second season, with mutations galore with brand new characters such as Tiger Claw, as well as new versions of Chromedome, Slash, the Stockman-Fly, and finally releasing Mutagen Man. I strangely liked season 2 more, might because I liked a lot of the episodes from that season.

Though, I must admit it isn't perfect. For one, it's lack of potential of some things failing to go anywhere. The most prominent to me was Mutagen Man, who claimed to have a big role in this season, though Roger Craig Smith is a busy man. In addition, issues such as Slash vs Raph, the loose mutants, the disappearance of Newtrailzer and others were kinda bummers. Nothing I can really deem too negative other than some of the feuds like Slash with Raph and even Stockman mutated. If the mutations were toned down a little and deliver more good material, I could see it being a favorite.

Now, season 3....

Honestly, I disliked the season, but I once saw potential but I got very angry over some developments failed. It really picked up after Deadly Venom and it did have an excellent finale. Despite having some good episodes, it does suffer from failed opportunities the most of the seasons. It can be Northampton, it could be certain episodes, and even some of the characters. Speaking of new characters who aren't just homages to classic horror creatures...

The introductions of Hun and Bishop were really mixed, but I grew to like nearly all these new versions introduced, but the new Bishop and Punk Frogs I'm mixed on until we proceed further on. Barring the new versions, the major flaw is downplaying both Mikey and Raph, with both having two of my most hated episodes of the series, the Croaking and Clash of the Mutanimals. Though you can claim this season is heavily Leo centered due to his recovery and growing tremendously, the shaft these two had was jarring, though Mikey did make a comeback late in the season.

There was some great ideas on paper, such as mind control, some of the monsters at Northampton like the beavers and even the Mutanimals origin, but they never get addressed or done with much. Some plots also feel like a cop out, such as the healing hands technique as one prominent area. In addition, the lack of character building for April, Mikey, and especially Raph were disappointing personally as little was done. There was tons of great potential this season with the characters, ultimately wasted away sadly.

Though I can never forgive season 3 and I can't sit through most of it, I will admit there were good episodes, but to me not as common in the previous seasons. Both the midseason finale and the finale were incredible the first time watching, even some moments of episodes stood out with the mutations of Bebop and Rocksteady being tragic for one thing. The animation was also incredible and also took advantage of the environment the most (Statue of Liberty about time! Bring on the Empire State Building! :lol:) Nonetheless, the wasted potential and lack of proper story boggle this season to being the weakest of the entire show, but it's entirely subjective of who will like it.

Overall, if you like a particular season over the other, there's more power to you easily, everyone has a different taste. We're all turtle fans on here, we like what we want, it keeps the franchise going for years to come when Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman retire. What you like can be disliked by others and so on and so forth, it makes us all human. I can recommend if you want something in particular, go with the following:

Story: Season 1
Emotion: Season 2 (debatable though depending on person)
Homages: Season 3
Characters: Entirely your judgement

It might not have something for everyone as much anymore, but we should enjoy what we please.

[MrTMNT2012]

Season one by far.

Losing Sternin and Ventimiglia was definitely detrimental to the writing.

This. SOOOO much this.

[Groverman62]

Why did they leave?