Nickelodeon's TMNT Series Is The Franchise's Version of "The Batman"

[ABrown]

Ever since Nickelodeon's TMNT series started, I've felt like the show is the TMNT franchise's version of "The Batman" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Batman_(TV_series) . Batman had, what most of its fans consider, its best animated series from 1992-1999 with Batman: The Animated Series(BTAS)/The New Batman Adventures(TNBA) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Animated_Series / (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Batman_Adventures). I watched a little bit of "The Batman". However, I gave up on the show pretty early since I didn't really feel a need for the show, given how recently the previous Batman animated series had come to an end. TMNT had, what I consider, its best animated series in the 4Kids series from 2003-2009. Like with BTAS/TNBA, the 4Kids TMNT series was followed just a few years later with another animated series (the Nick series). Though for whatever reason, I've stuck with Nickelodeon's TMNT series, and didn't give up on it the way I did The Batman. However, I still have the same feelings about the two animated series(es). Anyone else feel like Nickelodeon's TMNT series is the franchise's version of "The Batman"?

EDIT: While I am not necessarily the biggest fan of Nickelodeon's TMNT cartoon, this discussion is meant to be more about the series coming too soon after its predecessor. This is not meant to be be a "I hate the Nickelodeon series" thread, it's supposed to be about how both series(es) shouldn't have been made so quickly after the previous series ended.

[Powder]

Thinly veiled "4kids is better than Nick" thread. Go away.

[Candy Kappa]

The Batman was fun, Nick TMNT is fun. But they ain't very similar, you're drawing a very weird parallel.

[CyberCubed]

This thread also needs to be locked.

[snake]

This thread also needs to be locked.

There it is

[Aaronardo]

Oooh. I have been just itching for someone to talk about The Batman recently. (Mostly because of my blog post which I'm about to link). I'm telling you, that series is WAY underrated and partly due to people who did what you did, giving up on the show early on. Did the show suck to begin with? Yes. Do most shows pretty much have a lower-quality first season compared to later seasons (The Simpsons, Avatar, Batman: The Animated Series)? Yes. Now, I marathoned the show (yes, The Batman of all shows), and this is what I came up with. (http://aaronanimationreviews.blogspot.com/2015/09/top-10-batman-episodes.html)

I do hope you take some time to read that as I think it's a more accurate representation of the show than many people on the internet make it out to be.

Now as for the comparison to the TMNT franchise, if you want to sit here and tell me that an underrated series such as The Batman is comparable in any sort to a series with probably the biggest established fanbase out of any show on Nickelodeon right now (SpongeBob obviously excluded), then you are gravely mistaken.

(Oh, and you'll hear me praise The Batman a LOT in that post, but it is, by no means, better than Nick's TMNT).

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Meh, maybe Brave and the Bold except nowhere near as wacky.

[sdp]

I don't see the parallel at all.

Thinly veiled "4kids is better than Nick" thread. Go away.

Why is this thread not allowed here but these are all the threads that are allowed to pop up in the PD forum?

[Aaronardo]

Why is this thread not allowed here but these are all the threads that are allowed to pop up in the PD forum?

Because those threads at least have opinions with legs to stand on. Nowhere in the OP is it stated why he doesn't like the Nickelodeon show.

[oldmanwinters]

Visually speaking, I thought 4Kids TMNT and The Batman were very similar from a visual standpoint. As for The Bats, I thought the 2nd season was much better than the first, and I really liked the 4th season when they redesigned his chin. The direct-to-video vs. Dracula was surprisingly good.

[ABrown]

The Batman was fun, Nick TMNT is fun. But they ain't very similar, you're drawing a very weird parallel.

I don't see the parallel at all.

Well I'm not saying that The Batman and Nickelodeon's TMNT series are necessarily the same in tone/style. What I'm saying is that the shows came a little too soon after their predecessor. With them being as similar to the animated series that came before each of them, I think that they each should've waited maybe another five years or so before telling a lot of the same stories again.

Meh, maybe Brave and the Bold except nowhere near as wacky.

Actually, I would've preferred that Nick's TMNT had been more like Batman: The Brave & The Bold. That would've been different enough from the 4Kids series that it wouldn't have mattered that it had only been a few years since the previous series ended.

[Aaronardo]

I think that they each should've waited maybe another five years or so before telling a lot of the same stories again.

I'm sorry, what? You clearly don't know the first thing about The Batman, yet you're attempting a critical analysis of it. The entire point of The Batman was to tell different stories than what The Animated Series told (hence why some people dislike the series). Yes, we have a more shallow Mr. Freeze story, where Victor Fries was a common criminal rather than a scientist trying to save his wife, but we also got The Riddler, where Edward Nigma had a tearjerkingly tragic past rather than having a past that is completely shrouded in mystery.

The Batman did everything in its power to tell different stories than The Animated Series, or really anything that preceded it in Batman lore, and, in my opinion, it succeeded, whether those stories were done well or not.

However, I will join with you saying that it, along with the Nickelodeon show, did come a bit to soon after their predecessors. (A 4 year gap between TMNT series, seriously?) And lastly, if you want a Brave and the Bold-style TMNT series, just watch Half-Shelled Heroes.

[CyberCubed]

However, I will join with you saying that it, along with the Nickelodeon show, did come a bit to soon after their predecessors. (A 4 year gap between TMNT series, seriously?) And lastly, if you want a Brave and the Bold-style TMNT series, just watch Half-Shelled Heroes.

The gap between the OT ending in 1996 and the 2k3 series starting in February 2003 was only 6 years.

Its only 5 years if you count the Next Mutation series which aired from 1997-1998.

[Aaronardo]

The gap between the OT ending in 1996 and the 2k3 series starting in February 2003 was only 6 years.

Its only 5 years if you count the Next Mutation series which aired from 1997-1998.

Yeah, good point. I guess TV execs see TMNT as too valuable of a property to keep it off for long.

[BabyTurtles]

I actually really like The Batman~

Nick TMNT is the show I can't finish.

[terrorblade]

Oooh. I have been just itching for someone to talk about The Batman recently. (Mostly because of my blog post which I'm about to link). I'm telling you, that series is WAY underrated and partly due to people who did what you did, giving up on the show early on. Did the show suck to begin with? Yes. Do most shows pretty much have a lower-quality first season compared to later seasons (The Simpsons, Avatar, Batman: The Animated Series)? Yes. Now, I marathoned the show (yes, The Batman of all shows), and this is what I came up with. (http://aaronanimationreviews.blogspot.com/2015/09/top-10-batman-episodes.html)


Seconds is the best episode of any Batman show ever.

[BYWInsaniac]

I do hope you take some time to read that as I think it's a more accurate representation of the show than many people on the internet make it out to be.

I read your list. It got me excited to watch The Batman! I bought all the DVDs while I worked at WB cause they were half off!

But as for the main discussion:

I fell off of 2k3 during the first season (went on hiatus, I never noticed it had come back), so it definitely didn't feel like it had been too soon. It was actually refreshing when I started watching 2012 because it felt like I was watching what I REMEMBERED the 80's show being.

But truthfully, since ABrown was clear this isn't a "which is better" conversation, I think the more appropriate comparison is that TMNT 2k3 was like The Batman. Most importantly both were early 2000s reboots of extremely successful series from the 90s. Further, both were followed up with CGI shows, although Batman did have Brave and the Bold between TB and Beware the Batman.

More subjectively, I think 2k3 and TB both feel extremely early-mid 2000s. Yes, the designs ARE different, but they still feel of the time. I also think the music and use of color are REALLY similar. Certainly more similar than say TB and 2012.

So I think it's weird to compare 2012 to The Batman, especially since I see a lot more similarities between 2k3 and TB. But that's coming from a guy who watched the originals relentlessly, then fell off during the first season of the 2000s shows.

[ABrown]

But truthfully, since ABrown was clear this isn't a "which is better" conversation, I think the more appropriate comparison is that TMNT 2k3 was like The Batman. Most importantly both were early 2000s reboots of extremely successful series from the 90s. Further, both were followed up with CGI shows, although Batman did have Brave and the Bold between TB and Beware the Batman.

More subjectively, I think 2k3 and TB both feel extremely early-mid 2000s. Yes, the designs ARE different, but they still feel of the time. I also think the music and use of color are REALLY similar. Certainly more similar than say TB and 2012.

So I think it's weird to compare 2012 to The Batman, especially since I see a lot more similarities between 2k3 and TB. But that's coming from a guy who watched the originals relentlessly, then fell off during the first season of the 2000s shows.

You know. You're not wrong. To society as a whole, the 4Kids series really is the one that'll more likely go down in history as the one that's equivalent to "The Batman". Though I'll probably always personally view the Nick series as the one that's more its equivalent to me.

[turtlefanforever]

This is a horrid show which panders to the lowest common denominator.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Why is this even a thing?

[Aaronardo]

This is a horrid show which panders to the lowest common denominator.

You've been on here for a good two years or so, and I remember reading your very first post here, "Is there a way to get the Nick series cancelled?" never in that thread did you give any points as to why you have the opinion you did/have. You haven't since and you've turned so many threads into pure cancer. But, fine, let's just say for the sake of this post that your opinion is critical rather than just random hate.

"Lowest common denominator"? Are you serious? Emojis pander to the lowest common denominator. Newer episodes of Family Guy pander to the lowest common denominator. Minions pander to the lowest common denominator. I want you to try your damnedest to find ANY similarities between the Nickelodeon TMNT series and any of the above I just mentioned. I mean, I'm not trying to defend the series as one of the greatest of all time, but it's FAR above "lowest common denominator."

(Oh, and now that I gave you a good feeding, I hope you remember that numerous counts of trolling are, indeed, against the rules here at The 'Drome. But you probably figured that).

[thundermaster612]

I have a feeling this guy just likes bashing the 2k12 turtles because Nick owns them..
I can understand why but the series is still good.

[Shark_Blade]

This doesn't even make any sense. :-?