Favourite Tmnt version?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

What are your favourite versions of Turtles everyone?

For me, its a tie in between the 80s cartoon and the current Nickelodeon series.

[Candy Kappa]

Mirage, then Nick.

[Utrommaniac]

IDW is my favorite for sure. It doesn't take its seriousness to Edgelord proportions and does a better job of keeping its villains off the mustache-twirling schemer wagon. Even Stockman, the driest cut among them, still feels a lot more humanized than other versions. As far as I'm aware of his backstory, he has greed for greed's sake, but it is done amazingly well for that kind of villain type. Humor is modestly sprinkled in, and is usually pretty light when it does come up. Most of all, I can believe the Turtles are teenagers, both in form and behavior.

There's an "I like it well enough" group going in order of "Nick, FW, 2003, Mirage" which should probably be going as "Mirage, 2003, Nick, FW", but that's just not the way it turned out for me. They are best enjoyed a little bit at a time for me. I certainly can't binge read/watch any of them like I can binge read IDW.

I would put Archie close to the bottom, if only because I haven't really read a lot of it, and what I have read, doesn't quite work for me (I have read that one story of Rocksteady and Bebop completely nude in the grocery store, and the utter discomfort of the turtles in that situation is just gold).

I'm not even sure if I want to see the live action films or series, even for the great puppetry in the first one, and I have seen enough complaints about Venus de Milo to keep far, far away. There's the campiness of the FW series, and then there's trying too hard to match it. So it's not an "unfavorite", just not one that I care much about seeing.

[CyberCubed]

I'm not even sure if I want to see the live action films or series, even for the great puppetry in the first one, and I have seen enough complaints about Venus de Milo to keep far, far away. There's the campiness of the FW series, and then there's trying too hard to match it. So it's not an "unfavorite", just not one that I care much about seeing.

The first TMNT movie from 1990 is a must watch. TMNT II and III are also guilty pleasures.

[MikeandRaph87]

This topic never gets old.

1.1987 cartoon. I grew up with it and loved it from the age of two to this very day. It defines the franchise.

2. Movies 1 and 2. A solid mix of Mirage and 1987 cartoon. Shredder and evil mutants as well.

3. IDW. A mix of all that was great before it with its own twist. It should be getting more attention than the Nicktoon its so awesome.

Heck, if its not NM or Image it has some greatness to it.

[ABrown]

Definitely the 4Kids series. Not only is it my favorite version of the TMNT, but it might just be my favorite action cartoon ever created.

[sdp]

I'm not even sure if I want to see the live action films or series, even for the great puppetry in the first one, and I have seen enough complaints about Venus de Milo to keep far, far away. There's the campiness of the FW series, and then there's trying too hard to match it. So it's not an "unfavorite", just not one that I care much about seeing.

The original movie is amazing, the only thing I'd change nowadays is the final fight with the Shredder since its a little lacking. The second movie is lighter in tone instead of the darker one the original had but if you enjoy the Nick show then you can enjoy this movie, I love it. The third movie is only redeemed by having the best fight scenes in the trilogy since the suits were more flexible. A problem with the old movies is all of the turtles pretty much have a similar personality and can't really tell them apart like in other incarnations. That's something the 2014 movie got right, all the turtles personalities are fun and recognizable. As far as The Next Mutation it really isn't that bad and has good villains but do you like Power Rangers? If the answer is no then you probably should skip it since the show has a lot of tropes that Power Rangers has which is why its mostly hated, Venus is by far the least offender of the show, she's usually well written and isn't the focus of the show outside the pilot.

[ToTheNines]

Mirage. Don't see that ever changing.

[MrPliggins]

2k3 cartoon and the original in-canon Mirage comics.

[Powder]

Mirage/Image > Live Action Movies > Nick > Super Turtles > FW > Next Mutation > 4kids > Archie > IDW > Home video features (COOTS, We Wish You A Turtles Christmas, etc.) > TMNT (2007) > Literally everything else but > Platinum Dunes

[CyberCubed]

Next mutation over 4kids, Archie, and IDW? Really?

[Powder]

Chalk that one up to nostalgia, but yeah. I revisit it a lot, have fond memories of it, & really like a lot of the concepts (their execution is another thing, though...). I realize it's not objectively better by any means, but I've always genuinely enjoyed it. :trazz:

[Gunstar_Red]

When it comes to nostalgia, Mirage is my favorite. Specifically the 'Tales Of' and 'TMNT' era.

Without nostalgia, my favorite version is always going to be a tie between the 2k3 cartoon and the IDW comic.

When it comes to movies, my favorite is the first movie. A close second is TMNT.

When talking to non or armchair fans, my go-to answer is the 80s OT or 2k3. They are easier to explain than comic story arcs! :P

But as the indiscriminate TMNT fan as I am, I really don't have a least liked or hated version. All versions have their faults and positives. My "least liked" might have cringeworthy acting, but fun stories. My favorite might have the best animation, but then think a voice actor doesn't fit a certain character at all in my opinion. Etc, etc, etc. I seriously think all versions are my favorites in some way or another.

[darkknightdonatello]

i have to say my favourite tmnt is the 80s cartoon and the nicktoons one

[Utrommaniac]

I just realized why IDW is my favorite. It shares a lot in common in terms of tone and infrastructure to Disney's Gargoyles, which is my personal nostalgic show even though I didn't watch it until the early 2000's. And it all started with realizing that IDW Baxter Stockman has a lot more in common with David Xanatos than any other version of him.

Now, it could be argued that most versions of TMNT could be similar to it, but I personally have just realized that IDW would come closest. I tried to figure out if Mirage or 2003 would also make a fit, but it ended up not working.

The similarities boil right down to "absurdly rich guy with a massive company, high tech robots, and amazing facial hair has an uneasy partnership with an ancient creature who has been compared to a demon by humans at some point or another that is one of the last of its kind and is really really vengefully angry about that, and he's perfectly willing to stab them in the back-and has". There are characters of stories legend that are actually real (Kitsune & The Rat King/Pied Piper; Macbeth and all the fairies of A Midsummer Night's Dream(?!) and so, so many others, such as Aboriginal and Egyptian deities, and a few figures from Native American legend)
It even has a magic fox lady! (Okay, so Gargoyles' fox lady couldn't use her magic because she never learned to do so...but she had magic in her blood).

But most of all, the tone is similar. It has a fair level of darkness that isn't overbearing, but it still hits hard when it does. It gets a fair enough level of dimension into all of its characters, and can plant some empathy into most of their villains, even when their actions are completely and utterly wrong on moral and logical standards.

I keep realizing more and more, and I just need to organize it all. And this just blew open a huge revelation on how I enjoy things. I'm not sure where I'd put it. And it would take a while to put it all together. Some of it might even be grasping at straws. But boy, it might explain so much about the way I enjoy things.

[Chabrendeki]

My favourite version is definitely Mirage.

And if for a ranking:
2. Nick
3. Archie
4. IDW
5. 4Kids
6. 90s movies
7. Fred Wolf
8. 2007 movie

The PD movies are not on the list, because I don't like them at all.
Next Mutation isn't there either, just becaue I don't know it yet, but I'm unsure I want to (I've seen some Power Ranger episodes back then in the 90s, and I didn't like them).

[TurtleTitan97]

1990 film, 2k3, 2k12, Mirage, and IDW

[neatoman]

I say IDW because it's the only one I don't have major problems with and I really like the story and how it presents the characters, the only negative things I can say about it is that I don't like some of the artists, I don't like one particular mini and one certain writer should stay far away from actually writing scripts.

In terms of comics, Mirage above Archie. I like Mirage's TMNT comics but the narrative is all over the place, they tend to be a bit too depressing and sometimes you can really tell the people behind them weren't all that professional. Archie's TMNT comics... Are not very good to be honest, I guess they have more value as entertainment than the cartoon they're a tie-in to but they're still not very good.

For all of the TV shows I see them as all having very similar major flaws.
Out of the three I think the 4Kids show is the best one but I still see things wrong with it. I watch the Nickelodeon cartoon but I lost any real interest in it midway through season 2. Contrary to what some may believe, I don't "hate" the Fred Wolf cartoon, but it is a really boring and poorly made show. I have only watched one episode of Next Mutation so I can't judge it, didn't like what I saw though.

None of the movies are actually good, but if had to decide I'd say the first one.

[CyberCubed]

So neatoman what exactly made you get into the TMNT franchise if you have problems or don't care for almost all the different series? Going by your age you seem to have been too young to have been around for the original 80's fad so what made you get into TMNT?

[neatoman]

So neatoman what exactly made you get into the TMNT franchise if you have problems or don't care for almost all the different series? Going by your age you seem to have been too young to have been around for the original 80's fad so what made you get into TMNT?

I think I saw the movies on TV when I was a little kid and years later (I think I was 14) when I found a bunch of episodes of the Fred Wolf cartoon and the 4Kids cartoon on Youtube, I watched both and got tired one rather quickly and stuck with the other because it was more fascinating. A few years later I started to read what IDW was putting out and watch the Nickelodeon cartoon around the same time.

Anyway, in case you're curious, I'm just the kind of person who sees problems in nearly everything. If anything the flaws in the stuff I like is more clear to me than things I don't like, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I think I saw the movies on TV when I was a little kid and years later (I think I was 14) when I found a bunch of episodes of the Fred Wolf cartoon and the 4Kids cartoon on Youtube, I watched both and got tired one rather quickly and stuck with the other because it was more fascinating. A few years later I started to read what IDW was putting out and watch the Nickelodeon cartoon around the same time.

Anyway, in case you're curious, I'm just the kind of person who sees problems in nearly everything. If anything the flaws in the stuff I like is more clear to me than things I don't like, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them.

Did you read any Archie? Most TMNT fans seem to like them.

[Prowler]

I don't even know at this point any more.

[neatoman]

Did you read any Archie? Most TMNT fans seem to like them.

I am reading through Archie's TMNT comics, I'm not very impressed with it to be honest.

[thundermaster612]

There are a lot of turtle versions I like but I have to go with Nick

[cookie jar]

Definitely IDW. Then 4kids cartoon.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I am reading through Archie's TMNT comics, I'm not very impressed with it to be honest.

Where are you right now? It's not the 1987 cartoon adaptions or the first storylines following them who are the most popular.

[neatoman]

Where are you right now? It's not the 1987 cartoon adaptions or the first storylines following them who are the most popular.

Past issue 50, the problems I have with are that it feels kinda like TMNT the Captain Planet edition and that it's generally all over the place in terms of pacing and structure.

[ssjup81]

Hm, I'd have to say the Archie series. Sucks that it didn't get a proper ending.

[Masterpiece]

My favorite TMNT version is the Original Movie from 1990.

Always has been. Always will be.

[TMNTInsighter]

Tie between 4Kids (leaning that way more) and the Nickelodeon version.

[ABrown]

My favorite TMNT version is the Original Movie from 1990.

Always has been. Always will be.

As with the 1989 Batman movie, it's what made me a fan and will always have a special place in my heart.

[oldmanwinters]

My favorite version of TMNT would be to imagine a universe built around the look and logic of the original action figure line. Very hypothetical and open-ended!

[plastroncafe]

Mirage
First movie
Archie/Dreamweave
First season Nicktoon/2k3
IMAGI/Turtles Forever

[ShelleyQuick]

2k12, I love other versions, but, 2k12 is my favorite.

[Wesley]

My favourites are the 2003 Turtles followed by the 1987 ones.

I haven't read the comics aside from a few issues of Archie and the uk Tmnt comic and never watched the first film. I watched the second and third films when I was a kid but don't remember much about them. I watched the fourth film a few years ago and thought it was great. Never saw the the most recent one and have no interest in watching it.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

The 2003 show is my favorite version overall. Probably the one version I prefer over Mirage. It's hard for me to say which versions I prefer over the others but in terms of TV, I'll go with the 2003>2012>1987>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Next Mutation.

[DarkLightDragon]

2k3, then IDW, followed up with Movie 1/2007.

[Jephael]

It's kinda hard to pick a favorite interpretation, though I've always been very partial to the Archie comics.

[pferreira]

My favourite version of TMNT is the Fred Wolf cartoon just because I was so impressed with it's combination of sci-fi and action comedy. The best version of TMNT is of course the Mirage Volume 1 comic along with the first movie released in 1990.

[SKX31]

Only spent major time with the TV series, so I'm going into some (heh) detail with them:

1. 2K3:

Well, I did not grow up with the show at all (chalk that up to not watching cartoons at the time - it premiered when I was 12) so the nostalgia glasses doesn't exactly apply. Also, I should note: I don't believe that the very tight Mirage connection 2K3 has hurt (or helped) it for the most part. Many cartoons with tight connections to its source material has succeeded and failed for various reasons, so being "true to the source" isn't always a defined factor.

What makes it stand out in my mind is that 2K3 doesn't have that many holes in it until the later seasons, and even the later seasons have some positives about them. I'm defining holes here as overall arcs and details that don't mesh well into the whole, with the triumphant example of this being Don's mutation in Season 4. The storytelling is the most consistent out of the three; for the first four seasons, at least. Time will tell if Nick tops 2K3 in the long run. I'm a fan of most of the characters it introduced - not only Hun and Bishop, but also a couple one-shots like "Not-Cthulthu" and Volpehart.

And even as it wasn't the best in terms of humor, it made up for it by being able to include other elements without forcing it; I may not like 2K3 Casey that much, but 2K3 Capril is the best cartoon TMNT romance - partly due to how it was paced, and partly due to how it was handled. No question in my very biased mind.

Of course, it had a couple of bad episodes - the nuke power plant one is tarnished by its weird Aesop, for example. Some characters don't hold up. I'm looking at you, The Garbage "Wanna-be Eggman" Man. And the mood shifts could be quite jarring (not just how later seasons handled it, earlier seasons had that problem too at times).

But in the end? It's the cartoon I personally adore the most. Does it mean I hate the other two? Hell no.

2. Nick: For a series that takes elements from both previous shows (although it only openly acknowledges FW's influence) there's a lot of expectations to be met here. From both sides, but for different reasons. Has it succeeded? Of course, we can't just say everything yet, however:

On one hand, it helps keep TMNT's experimental spirit alive and even thriving. Loads of pretty unique (okay, a couple not so unique, but still) changes to established characters like IC Kitty and Bishop (who I'm pretty convinced is Mortu, but we'll see on that), some interesting concepts and executions to said concepts (we know that the Earth's probably going to be repaired, but we gotta give Annihilation Earth credit still for pushing a couple limits. Not all of them, but it's a good step.) and also a good balance between serious and lighthearted moments.

On the other, Nick's also been very wonky so far on the details. I agree that the romances have not been handled well, several characters and plot lines (not only Karai, but a lot of Shredder's other henchmen too) have been pushed back too much, and sometimes continuity snarls can make it all a major hassle to figure out.

It's of course harder to compare a still in progress cartoon to two completed (since long ago, 2009's TF - which was 2K3's Grand Finale - was seven years ago soonish). But I'm including it here because a substantial amount has already aired and Nick has progressed from the first episode a lot - three and soon a half season's worth of development. Yes, we still have the Earth-based episodes of Season 4 and the whole Season 5 still in the future (with no confirmed end in sight), but we can look back on what we already have really.

In the end, Nick's not perfect, but I think it's a worthy torch bearer to both FW's and 2K3's respective legacies as cartoons. And an overall solid cartoon on its own. Honestly, it speaks to the strength of the TMNT brand - I can't really think of any other franchise that has had its first three cartoon shows last five seasons or more. Finally I hope that the future holds more great moments for the Nick Turtles and Splinter.

3. FW: Okay, comparing FW to 2K3 and Nick is pretty much impossible. FW started at a time when contained episodes with no real continuity still dominated cartoons (and it had since the 60s. It's worth noting that low budget animation was an important factor from that period because of economic constraints), and when the standard was Transformers, GI Joe etc (even cartoons that hold up better today, such as the Gummi Bears, weren't immune to the industry's pressure at the time). A far cry from the structure and influences that its successors had / have.

Does it mean FW was bad? I don't think so, no. At its best (aka. when the staff cared about an episode and tried) it could build a decent or even good / great narrative and story (Season 1 and 2 as well as Red Sky prove that) and the stand alone episodes of Season 3 and 4 could be laugh riots (I love Cowabunga Shredhead and Casey's first two episodes in particular. Screw that, lets say 87 Casey is best Casey. He's gonna clean up the city.). Not to mention, it had a pretty varied rouges' gallery that was both human and mutant.

My problems with FW start with at its worst, when they obviously phoned in episodes. Season 3 and 4 being humongous compared to Season 1 and 2 would probably be factors here, for example (Transformers G1 had a very similar problem, which resulted in rip off episodes, etc.), but my bigger issue lies with wasted potential (as with 80s animation in general). FW had an iconic voice cast, some decent scripters and a lot of momentum going for itM; so I'm pretty dissapointed in retrospect when there's another episode where Shredder had another "Evil stereotypical cartoon plot / Evil monster of the week" (or worse, kidnaps April. Again.). Yes, it was normal at the time - but in hindsight it does cast a major blot on its overall legacy as an cartoon when, again, FW produced great episodes when they cared. That also pushed characters like Leatherhead and Rat King to the sidelines more that they should - to a worse extent that Nick does. At least Xever gets to do something, even if it's minor. Also, the characters who missed, really really missed. No one wants to remember Agatha Marbles, for example. No one.

Overall though, I fully agree with Matt Pellegrini. You can't have FW's best without its worst, and vice versa. It's a confusing mess of episodes, but that's part of its charm really. And that's probably why I'm fascinated with 80s cartoons. On one hand, they did have a huge pop culture impact and they had a lot going for them. On the other, some episodes were obviously phoned in and they didn't end up breaking that much new ground compared to the impactful cartoons from the 90s and decades since (of course, there's been a lot of crap at all points in cartoon history and now, but still).


I'm ignoring the toy angles, the voice casts etc. because all three cartoons had them really. None would've survived and prospered without toys, and I think all three cartoons had in general great voice acting (Is it bad that my mind shifts between three different voices for each turtle? And Splinter / Shredder?).

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

The 2k3/4kids/2003 Turtles (What ever you want to call it)

[Shark_Blade]

1. IDW
2. Nick
3. OT (Only Season 1)
4. Movie TMNT 1
5. Movie TMNT 2014
6. 2k3
7. Movie TMNT 3
8. Movie TMNT 2007
9. Movie TMNT 2

[pferreira]

Only spent major time with the TV series, so I'm going into some (heh) detail with them:

1. 2K3:



Overall though, I fully agree with Matt Pellegrini. You can't have FW's best without its worst, and vice versa. It's a confusing mess of episodes, but that's part of its charm really. And that's probably why I'm fascinated with 80s cartoons. On one hand, they did have a huge pop culture impact and they had a lot going for them. On the other, some episodes were obviously phoned in and they didn't end up breaking that much new ground compared to the impactful cartoons from the 90s and decades since (of course, there's been a lot of crap at all points in cartoon history and now, but still).


I have to agree with you here. Sounds about right.