Being a TMNT fan in 1998-2002.

[Prowler]

What was it like being a TMNT fan after the FW series ended and before the 2k3 series came along? TNM came after the end of the FW series but that flopped and most people didn't like. Also I'm sure many didn't even watch it at the time. I had not heard of TNM until 2005 or so. I know there's also the Image series in the mid-late 2000s but even less people knew of that.

Personally, I got into the Turtles around the time the FW series had already been over. So I was a big fan of the cartoon in the late 90s and especially in the early 2000s. I'd watch and record the reruns religiously.

It was a bit lonely being a TMNT fan at this time because the fad was pretty much dead. So if you were a young kid getting into the FW series at this time... there were no comics or action figures for sale on toy shops for you to buy and play with. I had to wait until the 2k3 series came along for me to get my first Turtle action figures... and good lord what a glorious day that was. :lol:

I had never expected for the TMNT to ever get a new cartoon. And I also feared the franchise would die for good once the 2k3 series was over.

What about the older users in here? For those of you born in the early 80s who were watching the FW series back when it aired, how did it feel being a TMNT fan after the fad was over and before the 2k3 cartoon began?

[neatoman]

Weren't there a bunch of comics in that gap?

[Prowler]

Weren't there a bunch of comics in that gap?
Yes, the Image series I believe? But again, Most TMNT fans weren't aware of that. I bet lot of people in here only discovered the comics after the 2k3 series came out. Or they knew about them for a while but only managed to truly get into them in the past 10 years or so since internet shopping and such made it a lot easier.

So yeah, not many TMNT fans were reading the comics coming out in 1998-2002, I bet.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

TMNT was just a childhood memory for me at the time. Videotapes, comics and some action figures.

[Wesley]

I never really thought about what it was like to be a tmnt fan back then, tbh. I kinda moved on to other fads such as Pokemon and Yugioh. I still watched reruns of the Fred Wolf toon every now and then on rte two, though I never thought there would be another tmnt cartoon either. Became interested in the franchise in 2002 when I started visiting this forum. It was a great surprise to find out that there was going to be a new cartoon starting in early 2003.

[CyberCubed]

At that time most fans were either re-discovering the series through VHS tapes (remember DVDs didn't exist at the time for the original cartoon :lol: ) and there were all those old fansites and webrings like geocities sites beginning the earliest online TMNT fandom.

Overall you have to remember the age range of most fans back then was very young, mostly ranging in the 12-14 or so age. Most of us were barely entering our teens back then, besides some of the older fans.

[biganimefan]

I was born early '84 and got into TMNT during '89. So...yeah I definitely grew up with this franchise. I remained as invested in it as I could throughout the 90's. Enjoyed all 3 movies, owned a couple dozen Archie TMNT comics and even got a Mirage trade. I knew about Image in the late 90's, but only ever found issues 2-4. Comics were never my thing, so I probably could have found more, but i've never frequented any comic stores. I really loved the "Red Sky" seasons back in the day. Turtlemania never exactly died for me, especially throughout the 90s. I was hugely upset during the '95-'96 TMNT seasons where an episode was supposedly going to be shown but something else aired instead. Usually golf or something. I still was able to tape the entirety of season 9 and more than half of 10(including the entire 3 part story). I loved Next Mutation as it aired. It's ok now...what I've seen of it, just kinda bland.

During 2001- early 2003 I ended up starting to search the internet and used stores very often in the search for more TMNT VHS tapes(that I did not own). Even at this point I owned about 1/4 of the series and buying more of the tapes brought that up to maybe 1/3. I saw the premier of the 2K3 series and loved it. But mostly starting late in 2002 till sometime in '06, Anime largely became my main "franchise" of interest. In 2006 I got back into Turtles more, and haven't really stopped since. TMNT is hardly my only or even main "franchise of interest" but it is the oldest one for me and it meant a lot to me as a quiet, depressed, shy kid with very few friends.

[Powder]

My TMNT obsession never waned, so I didn't quite realize the "dead" period. I was still watching tapes, finding toys in Kay-Bee & other stores, eating pizza, playing with games/toys/prop weapons among friends, finding comics/books, etc.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I recall missing TMNT so much during those years.

[CyberCubed]

As a kid time moved slower. Funnily enough TMNT was only "dead" for about 5 years, even less if you count Next Mutation.

But as a kid 5 years feels like an eternity. That's why when the 2k3 series started it felt like TMNT had been gone for so long...but it really wasn't.

[ABrown]

1998-2002? I was in my late teens to early 20's. I just didn't spend a whole lot of time during those years focused on TMNT. My passion for action cartoons/figures during those years were filled with Beast Wars/Machines Transformers. Also during those years I transitioned from the Beverly Hills, 90210/Melrose Place era to Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Angel.

[Prowler]

TMNT was just a childhood memory for me at the time. Videotapes, comics and some action figures.

I should clarify that, while I did first get into the FW series around 1996-1998 or so(cant' recall), I then suddenly stopped watching it one day until I did it again around 2002-2003 when I found reruns on TV again here. So now that I think about it... the TMNT "dead period" also coincided with the time TMNT wasn't really that much on my mind.

As a kid time moved slower. Funnily enough TMNT was only "dead" for about 5 years, even less if you count Next Mutation.

But as a kid 5 years feels like an eternity. That's why when the 2k3 series started it felt like TMNT had been gone for so long...but it really wasn't.
Actually... it might as well have been gone for about 8-9 years, since Turtlemania was already on a fast decline around 1993. Many people didn't even know of Red Sky until many years later and TNM was the final nail on the coffin for TNMT. The 3rd live action movie from 1993 also most likely contributed to the popularity waning since it was clearly inferior to the first two movies.

So basically, even if the Turtles had only not been on TV for about 5 years, it makes sense their absence felt way longer than that since the last big screen appearance had been in 1993 and their tv and pop culture relevance died around that time as well.

FWIW my brother is from the generation that grew up with the FW series. He told me that the Turtles were HUGE in 1990-1991(the cartoon debuted here in 1990 after the movie only) and by the time 1992-1993 rolled in pretty much nobody cared about them anymore.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Did seasons 8-10 even air in Portugal?

[Prowler]

Did seasons 8-10 even air in Portugal?

Yes. The FW series rerunning here often in the late 90s and early/mid 2000s on a cable channel. Some years ago that channel was rerunning the 2k3 series. I hope they changed its name tho since the 2k3 series here was called "Novas Tartarugas Ninja" meaning.... the new ninja turtles :lol:

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

"Novas Tartarugas Ninja" in Portugal

"Tartarugas Mutantes Ninja" in Brazil

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(desenho_de_2003))

[Casey]

I was a little too old to enjoy TNM, but I still watched it and it was sort of a guilty pleasure. I had kind of shunned the Red Sky seasons of the OT, so it had been a while since I'd had new material to watch. I really spent a few years reminiscing and wanting more. I only had a bootleg of the third film, so I was still watching it a few times a year, but honestly, that was it other than a few VHS's I had.

[pferreira]

What about the older users in here? For those of you born in the early 80s who were watching the FW series back when it aired, how did it feel being a TMNT fan after the fad was over and before the 2k3 cartoon began?Well the original series had run it's course and I had stopped watching it. There was other stuff to see and do. I do remember rolling my eyes at The Next Mutation for how childish it was. I think liking retro cartoons or video games in the early 2000s made you look a bit of an outcast. It wasn't until the mid-2000s that it became trendy again to like that stuff.

"Novas Tartarugas Ninja" in Portugal

"Tartarugas Mutantes Ninja" in Brazil

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(desenho_de_2003)I remember seeing Season 7 episodes dubbed and wished they were in English. :cry:

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Well the original series had run it's course and I had stopped watching it. There was other stuff to see and do. I do remember rolling my eyes at The Next Mutation for how childish it was. I think liking retro cartoons or video games in the early 2000s made you look a bit of an outcast. It wasn't until the mid-2000s that it became trendy again to like that stuff.

I remember seeing Season 7 episodes dubbed and wished they were in English. :cry:

Why the heck is it dubbed for different versions of Portuguese? If a series is dubbed into English, it's not one different for each English-speaking country.

[Prowler]

Why the heck is it dubbed for different versions of Portuguese? If a series is dubbed into English, it's not one different for each English-speaking country.
The FW series was never dubbed into European Portuguese. it aired here in English with subtitles. Dubbing cartoons was not the norm in Portugal until the mid-late 90s when DBZ and Pokemon got dubbed.

Well, why would the English and the Aussies dub American cartoons? In Portugal we don't dub a movie if it's from Brazil either... although we did watch Cidade Deus(City of God) in HS... with the subtitles on, because it's hard to understand the uneducated slang and expressions many characters in that movie used. If you dropped an American in rural Scotland he'd struggle too.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The FW series was never dubbed into European Portuguese. it aired here in English with subtitles

Not even during the reruns you caught by the late-1990's and early-2000's?

[Spike Spiegel]

Was this period all that different from, say, 2009-2012?

Plus, I think Next Mutation was running from '98-'99 or so. I remember the VHS tape of the first set of episodes was a popular thing to check out at my library.

If that proposed series for the WB (http://turtlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(2001_TV_series_pitch )) happened, the hiatus would have been even shorter.

Re89WZhbGSA

[Powder]

Yes, because there was no internet, thus no insight as to what was coming or happening behind the scenes. During the period you mention, we still had comics, lots of new merch, events, speculation, updates, etc.

[CyberCubed]

TMNT was considered a dead franchise since the mid-90's, most people didn't even know comics were going on. Then by the late 90's the huge anime craze like Pokemon and Dragonball Z started so that buried TMNT even more.

It's kind of the same reason the 2k3 series didn't make as big an impact as it should of, because it came out during the early 2000's when the anime craze was huge in the U.S.

[Prowler]

Not even during the reruns you caught by the late-1990's and early-2000's?

No. The show had already been fully subbed, so why bother dubbing it years later considering the show was over by then and the Turtlemania craze of the late 80s/early 90s was dead?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Plus, I think Next Mutation was running from '98-'99 or so.

It ran from September 1997 to March 1998

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Turtles:_The_Next_Mutation

[Spike Spiegel]

It ran from September 1997 to March 1998

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Turtles:_The_Next_Mutation

My mistake. Sometimes it all blurs together in my mind...

[d_osborn]

98-02 was a glorious time to be a fan. Early days of eBay, TMNT stuff was selling for a pittance. People were excited to be finding other fans online, there was a TON of stuff to still learn about TMNT history

Then again, I'm the type of fan that doesn't really give much of a hoot about having new stuff to consume.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

And the earliest posts in this forum still visible are from July 2001.

[Andrew NDB]

That was the best time for me, personally. It was right around 1996 that I sat down and ordered every Mirage thing, ever, and got up to speed. 1998-2002? Image TMNT was running from '96 - '99. Vol. 4 started in 2002. Fandom and the fan community was flourishing on websites, bunch of different forums, mailing lists, TMNT fanfiction and TMNT fanfiction communities all over the place. Even www.ninjaturtles.com was a constantly updated hive of activity. Who cares about NT:TNM?

1998-2002 was great. I'd take that era over everything since 2009 without any hesitation whatsoever. In a heartbeat.

What about the older users in here? For those of you born in the early 80s who were watching the FW series back when it aired, how did it feel being a TMNT fan after the fad was over and before the 2k3 cartoon began?

I guess mostly just really happy for Peter that he was able to make it happen, and solo at that. That must have been no small feat, and from all his blogs it looks like he had a blast working on it. From the snippets I'd initially watched of it here and there I deduced, however, the show wasn't for me and when I watched a slew of them... boy was I right. I can certainly appreciate Peter's attempted course correction in the mass media from what it had been previously, though.

Yes, because there was no internet, thus no insight as to what was coming or happening behind the scenes. During the period you mention, we still had comics, lots of new merch, events, speculation, updates, etc.

Nonsense, of course there was internet from 1996-2002. 1996 was when Image Vol. 3 came out and I implicitly remember Dan Berger posting updates on www.ninjaturtles.com about when Vol. 2 ended and when Image was coming out. Pretty sure I launched my first website in '96 and I know the "Ring of Green" was already around.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

At least, you had to be happy for what we had.

[Powder]

Nonsense, of course there was internet from 1996-2002.

I am in awe that I wrote that, & I wish I could blame it on being high or something, but I can't. I mean, dude, I was using the internet then my damn self... :tlol: Wow, alright, time to retire.

Definitely a different online climate, though. Not nearly as much info or as many resources, etc.

[Prowler]

98-02 was a glorious time to be a fan. Early days of eBay, TMNT stuff was selling for a pittance. People were excited to be finding other fans online, there was a TON of stuff to still learn about TMNT history

Then again, I'm the type of fan that doesn't really give much of a hoot about having new stuff to consume.
Well I'll give you that. I first read Mirage on the old ninjaturtles website. I found out about it around 2002-2003 or so, I think. I had watched the movies before, and had always found it odd how the origins of the Turtles, Shredder and Splinter were different in the movie. I was really SHOCKED when I found out that April was originally a lab assistant in the comics, and that being a reporter was a FW thing.


I am in awe that I wrote that, & I wish I could blame it on being high or something, but I can't. I mean, dude, I was using the internet then my damn self... :tlol: Wow, alright, time to retire.

Definitely a different online climate, though. Not nearly as much info or as many resources, etc.
I didn't correct you because I figured that was what you meant. Also, I personally didn't start using the internet until around September 2000 or so.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Just because there was the Internet doesn't mean we used it so much, and there were less websites. Also, less people had broadband.

[sdp]

I never stopped liking TMNT, it's just that TMNT stopped putting out stuff so I kind of forgot about TMNT and moved on to Star Wars, Dragon Ball Z, The Simpsons, N64 and Pokemon which were the big franchises to me back then after TMNT.

I remember thinking the The Next Mutation toys and show looked freaking fantastic, I just didn't get to watch the show as a kid much. When there was nothing available I liked TMNT but like I said I just preferred to play with Dragon Ball/Star Wars toys or play Nintendo 64 and the turtles didn't cross my mind until 2k3 video games and screen shots started coming out which rekindled my nostalgia for this franchise I once loved.


So yeah, being a fan was ok since I had plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied and not jaded about it, also those being the final years of my childhood and beginning my teenage years likely helped me not caring about TMNT since it was that odd transition phase where you are "too old" for cartoons but not old enough to "not give a sh-t" what people think. It wasn't until I was 16 that I realized I still liked cartoons and that no one cared if I liked them or not, my social circles were all pretty open to "like whatever the hell you want to like", as long as you weren't anti-social about it, no one cares.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I never stopped liking TMNT, it's just that TMNT stopped putting out stuff so I kind of forgot about TMNT and moved on to Star Wars, Dragon Ball Z, The Simpsons, N64 and Pokemon which were the big franchises to me back then after TMNT.

I remember thinking the The Next Mutation toys and show looked freaking fantastic, I just didn't get to watch the show as a kid much. When there was nothing available I liked TMNT but like I said I just preferred to play with Dragon Ball/Star Wars toys or play Nintendo 64 and the turtles didn't cross my mind until 2k3 video games and screen shots started coming out which rekindled my nostalgia for this franchise I once loved.


So yeah, being a fan was ok since I had plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied and not jaded about it, also those being the final years of my childhood and beginning my teenage years likely helped me not caring about TMNT since it was that odd transition phase where you are "too old" for cartoons but not old enough to "not give a sh-t" what people think. It wasn't until I was 16 that I realized I still liked cartoons and that no one cared if I liked them or not, my social circles were all pretty open to "like whatever the hell you want to like", as long as you weren't anti-social about it, no one cares.

Why did you feel ashame for liking TMNT, but not Star Wars action figures?

[sdp]

I never wrote I was ashamed of TMNT and not Star Wars.

But yeah during those early teen years 12/13/14 you're in that spot where you "can't" like kiddy stuff. Some franchises like TMNT and Power Rangers just weren't in my radar so it didn't matter, it was franchises that were popular at the time that I liked but were for kids that I was ashamed of like Pokemon, YuGiOh and what not.

And yes certain things were cool even if they were technically for kids, Star Wars and video games were those things you could easily talk about in 7th or 8th grade without feeling like too much of a dork.

By the time I was in 10th grade I didn't care what others thought and others didn't really care, in fact found it cool that I was so open to liking Pokemon, I mean this was in the early/mid 00's, liking Pokemon was not mainstream, the fad had just died and it was just seen as a kids franchise, only kids and the most hardcore fans of Pokemon were around back then.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I never wrote I was ashamed of TMNT and not Star Wars.

But yeah during those early teen years 12/13/14 you're in that spot where you "can't" like kiddy stuff. Some franchises like TMNT and Power Rangers just weren't in my radar so it didn't matter, it was franchises that were popular at the time that I liked but were for kids that I was ashamed of like Pokemon, YuGiOh and what not.

And yes certain things were cool even if they were technically for kids, Star Wars and video games were those things you could easily talk about in 7th or 8th grade without feeling like too much of a dork.

By the time I was in 10th grade I didn't care what others thought and others didn't really care, in fact found it cool that I was so open to liking Pokemon, I mean this was in the early/mid 00's, liking Pokemon was not mainstream, the fad had just died and it was just seen as a kids franchise, only kids and the most hardcore fans of Pokemon were around back then.

I wasn't so ashamed for friends. For them, I could just hide it. I was ashamed in front of my parents. I know they wouldn't care but still, I was.

[DarkFell]

I watched the OT up to the eighth season, then I lost interest in seeing the rest (maybe the majority of it was because I went through a stretch without a working television within my grand-parents house, to which I would spend a majority of my summers' at.. hmm.)

I somehow missed The Next Mutation despite it being aired on a local station.

I do remember being half-way disenchanted with a majority of the cartoons / shows that were running on-air within the 1998 -2000 time-frame, although there were a few of them that kept me happy. Satellite television would eventually become our main service, but no TMNT series of any kind was running on any of the channels.

But, my tastes in cartoons loosened up some as I got older: I came back to the OT and started to like TMNT 2K12.

[Slap-Happy]

I became a fan during this period. I was able to get a ton of tapes and toys for cheap at swap meets and thrift stores, so it was a pretty good time for me. Mirage comics were plentiful and cheap too.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Some of the fansites during these years were fantastic, continuing during the early years of the 2003-2009 series.

[pferreira]

Why the heck is it dubbed for different versions of Portuguese? If a series is dubbed into English, it's not one different for each English-speaking country.

The FW series was never dubbed into European Portuguese. it aired here in English with subtitles.Really? I remember seeing dubbed Season 7 episodes which put me right off watching it. This would have been in the mid-90s. Maybe my mind is faulty but I do remember switching on and seeing Portuguese dubbed episodes of Atlantis Awakes and Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter on SIC. Maybe I'm wrong? I definitely remember Power Rangers was dubbed.

[Prowler]

Really? I remember seeing dubbed Season 7 episodes which put me right off watching it. This would have been in the mid-90s. Maybe my mind is faulty but I do remember switching on and seeing Portuguese dubbed episodes of Atlantis Awakes and Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter on SIC. Maybe I'm wrong? I definitely remember Power Rangers was dubbed.

I didn't watch the show until ti began getting reran often on Canal Panda from 1997 or so onward... and it was entirely in English. My brother also told me he only recalls seeing it in English when he was younger. I never came across FW episodes in European Portuguese on YT. In Brazilian Portuguese, yes, but not in European Portuguese. First time I hear this tbh.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Just read the earliest discussions here, under "General TMNT Discussion". The Internet was mainstream, but the newsflow was extremely slow.

[RaphaelinSTL]

Around 1998 to 2002 I was only 12 to 15 years old and you're right ... news was slow. I was checking the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles website a lot back then and reading a bit of the Mirage Volume 4 comics ... but it was mostly just hoping that something bigger movie and TV show wise was on it's way soon.

I do remember when more stuff about the new TMNT show was coming out, Toys R Us had carried a promotional item of material of all the new stuff on the FOX BOX." In it was a CD of various intro songs for new shows coming out ... and one included a previous version of a 2003 intro ... a version I prefer honestly to the one they ended up using.

7o0x84ZC7Ds

Another thing I did was always get anticipated that some cool new teaser trailer I was watching before a movie was hopefully a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film I completely didn't know was in production.

[sdp]

I forgot about that theme, it's so generic and 90s and reminds me a bit of the Fast Forward theme. It's not a good theme but maybe it would've been better.

The 2k3 theme grew on me a lot, I forced myself into liking it and now I kinda do like it but I still don't like it if that makes any sense :lol:

[RaphaelinSTL]

I forgot about that theme, it's so generic and 90s and reminds me a bit of the Fast Forward theme. It's not a good theme but maybe it would've been better.

The 2k3 theme grew on me a lot, I forced myself into liking it and now I kinda do like it but I still don't like it if that makes any sense :lol: I

Oh I totally get that! I think with me I was watching so much of the 2K3 show that the song was engraved into that series that I grew to like it as well. I do remember when I watched the first episode when it premiered, I couldn’t stand the new theme and it took me out of it for a bit.

But oh god ... the Fast Forward theme is the worst.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I hate "never fight unless, someone else starts" in the 4 Kids series. Sure the turtles don't go to beat up people for no reason, but the lines are so silly.

Same with "the "good guys win and bad guys lose" in the Nickelodeon series (even if it's always what happens at the end).

[Candy Kappa]

7o0x84ZC7Ds

Sounds like a anime intro translated to English :lol: I kinda like it.

[CyberCubed]

But oh god ... the Fast Forward theme is the worst.

Fast Forward theme is quite catchy, I like it a lot.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I don't think there's been a bad theme song in the history of Ninja Turtles.

Even the Next Mutation theme is pretty catchy.

I wonder how the Rise theme song will turn out to be. I'm betting it might be a new cover of the classic 80s theme.

[RaphaelinSTL]

I hate "never fight unless, someone else starts" in the 4 Kids series. Sure the turtles don't go to beat up people for no reason, but the lines are so silly.

Same with "the "good guys win and bad guys lose" in the Nickelodeon series (even if it's always what happens at the end).

Fast Forward theme is quite catchy, I like it a lot.

I think my biggest issue with the Fast Forward theme is the little sound bites that the Turtles throw in and that it sounds like really generic pop punk from the early 2000's. Plus the "STILL KICKIN' BUTT AND PLAYING VIDEO GAMES!" line makes me cringe ... haha.

Original TMNT Cartoon Fan is right though, there are some goofy lines in the 2K3 series theme they used too ... and FredWolf is right too in terms of the Next Mutation theme being pretty great. Well ... the original one that is.

G4F-nlT8IwI

... I guess they lost the rights to this one above and by the time the series came to Netflix ... they replaced it with this hilarious stinker.

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[dragonside]

it was quite a lonely time.

this is actually a great thread. I am so glad there are quite a few people responding to it.


I remember that I was mainly watching the FW toon via VHS found in the used video flea market. Playing TMNT Tournament Fighters on the SNES. And I had one friend who really liked the 1990s movie on VHS. I happened to watch the other two movies on TV.

When the Next Mutation came, I was so stoked. Because I enjoyed the live action more than the toon when I was a kid. I was even more stoked when it crossed over with Power Rangers in Space


Being totally unaware of the comics, I later found out about the TMNT Archie comics (along with Sonic) when 2003 was nearing the end.

Good ol' nostalgia. Wish there were more people into it. But then Pokemon exploded. Digimon. Yu-gi-oh. So my attention shifted there.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I never knew about Next Mutation when it aired.

[Wesley]

I watched Next Mutation as well in 1998/1999 and also thought it was cool seeing the Turtles team up with the Power Rangers around that time.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I wasn't able to catch antything beyond season 5 and the Vacation in Europe as a child.

[CyberCubed]

It's kind of ironic the kid fads in the 80's/90/early 2000's when the same for a lot of people:

80's and early 90's = TMNT

early/mid 90's = Power Rangers

Late 90's and early 2000's = Pokemon, Dragonball Z, the anime craze in general

Early mid 2000's = Harry Potter was huge at this time


And since then...I have no idea. It seems aside from franchises that were around forever like DC and Marvel superheroes and Star Wars, there are no huge childhood fads anymore.

[Andrew NDB]

For my now-10 year old daughter, I can attest to "Monster High" and "Littlest Pet Shop" being huge for her and all of her friends.

[Prowler]

It's kind of ironic the kid fads in the 80's/90/early 2000's when the same for a lot of people:

80's and early 90's = TMNT

early/mid 90's = Power Rangers

Late 90's and early 2000's = Pokemon, Dragonball Z, the anime craze in general

Early mid 2000's = Harry Potter was huge at this time


And since then...I have no idea. It seems aside from franchises that were around forever like DC and Marvel superheroes and Star Wars, there are no huge childhood fads anymore.
Ironic? What is ironic about it? Am I missing something here?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Ironic? What is ironic about it? Am I missing something here?

CyberCubed doesn't know what irony means.

[CyberCubed]

CyberCubed doesn't know what irony means.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/3f/d3/973fd31be1a3afc6901613252b1aed9f.jpg

[sdp]

I like the Fast Forward theme, and in some ways I prefer it over the main 2k3 theme.

But thinking back yeah being a fan in 98-2002 must've been tough, for me I just moved on to other franchises and just moved on from the turtles. I was also used to at the time that when things died they didn't come back, or at least I wasn't aware of it so it was sad but I had to move on and video games had all my attention.


... I guess they lost the rights to this one above and by the time the series came to Netflix ... they replaced it with this hilarious stinker.


Saban sold its music library, we don't know the details of the sale but Power Rangers and other shows like VR Troopers kept their original music but TNM didn't.

So the Netflix and DVD releases have an entirely different soundtrack, I've yet to hear the soundtrack of the actual episodes so I don't know if it's better or worse, can't say the background music was something I remember much from TNM so I guess it should be fine though it still bothers me.

As far as the theme songs I like both the old and the new one that TNM got.


And since then...I have no idea..
Yeah, it's kind of sad but after starting with the late 00's I just lost track of what is popular with kids.

I think it's a mix of me being older so I can't pay attention to those things and also that things are more segmented now, in the past we all watched Cartoon Network or Nick , etc. Now kids watch stuff online and on demand so it's not as easy, it's also not like I walk past the toy aisle too often.

I think popular shows that will be remembered fondly like our "rugrats" and shows like that will be Regular Show, Adventure time and all these shows I never got into, big fads like Pokemon just don't seem to exist anymore.

Biggest fad in recent years was the fidget spinners, remember when those were a thing? :lol: That lasted only like 3 months.

Even the toys of the year seem to have less impact than the ones in the 90s, I don't think people will remember hatchnimals and those finger monkeys the same way people remembered Furby's and Tamagotchi's.

It's also weird when I ask kids what they want for christmas and they say "itunes/google play gift cards".

[oldmanwinters]

I was watching a lot of old TMNT episodes on VHS during those years. Youtube wasn't yet around but I enjoyed looking at episode synopsis of ones I'd never seen via the old NinjaTurtles.com

[sdp]

Ah yes, remember the internet before youtube and before broadband was common?

You could barely find good articles about any obscure thing, let alone video, at most you could hope for was a bad screencap from the VHS.

In some ways it was cool since it made us feel like those things were much cooler than they were. The Red Sky season looked awesome based on the few screenshots and synposis I could find, same with other shows when they would have "oh they made a short lived sequel that tells the story of......." and my imagination filled the gaps of all the things that could've happened, once it was easy to get a hold of those we realized they weren't that good :lol:

[Wesley]

Ah yes, remember the internet before youtube and before broadband was common?

You could barely find good articles about any obscure thing, let alone video, at most you could hope for was a bad screencap from the VHS.

In some ways it was cool since it made us feel like those things were much cooler than they were. The Red Sky season looked awesome based on the few screenshots and synposis I could find, same with other shows when they would have "oh they made a short lived sequel that tells the story of......." and my imagination filled the gaps of all the things that could've happened, once it was easy to get a hold of those we realized they weren't that good :lol:

I felt the same about shows I hadn’t seen in years and didn’t have easy access to at the time such as Sonic SatAM.

[Prowler]

Yeah, it's kind of sad but after starting with the late 00's I just lost track of what is popular with kids.

I think it's a mix of me being older so I can't pay attention to those things and also that things are more segmented now, in the past we all watched Cartoon Network or Nick , etc. Now kids watch stuff online and on demand so it's not as easy, it's also not like I walk past the toy aisle too often.

I think popular shows that will be remembered fondly like our "rugrats" and shows like that will be Regular Show, Adventure time and all these shows I never got into, big fads like Pokemon just don't seem to exist anymore.

Biggest fad in recent years was the fidget spinners, remember when those were a thing? :lol: That lasted only like 3 months.

Even the toys of the year seem to have less impact than the ones in the 90s, I don't think people will remember hatchnimals and those finger monkeys the same way people remembered Furby's and Tamagotchi's.

It's also weird when I ask kids what they want for christmas and they say "itunes/google play gift cards".

Depends what you mean by "kids". Are you including people aged 15-17?

I was born in 1990. I watched the rise of Cartoon Network and the debuts of shows like Johnny Bravo, Dexter's lab, Ed Edd n Eddy, 2 Stupid Dogs, Cow & Chicken, 2k3 TMNT, Samurai Jack, etc. If you ask me what the cartoons of my generation are I'd say those. Plus also the bigger animes of the time such as Pokémon, DBZ, Yu-gi-oh, Beyblade, Cardcaptor Sakura, etc.... One Piece anime could technically qualify since it's been going since like 1999, but I had not heard of it until about 2006-2007 or so and had not watched it until this decade.

By the time 2006 or so rolled in, I wasn't really paying attention to kids cartoons anymore(except for 2k3 TMNT that is) and began watching more anime and even got into Family Guy for a while. And also tried some live action tv shows. Not that I've ever felt I was too old for Cartoon Network cartoons and such, but I just got into anime more and felt anime in general was more mature and more aimed at teens than American cartoons were.

I was watching a lot of old TMNT episodes on VHS during those years. Youtube wasn't yet around but I enjoyed looking at episode synopsis of ones I'd never seen via the old NinjaTurtles.comNinjaTurtles.com

I have the entire FW series recorded in about 25 VHS tapes. Both my VCRs broke around 2009, so they're now useless. But if I feel like watching any FW episode I just hop on youtube. Seen each episode about 10-15 times already anyway :lol:

Yeah I also loved to read the synopsis of those episodes. I used ot browse the old Ninja Turtle website daily. I also remember fondly the daily comic strips, etc.

Ah yes, remember the internet before youtube and before broadband was common?

You could barely find good articles about any obscure thing, let alone video, at most you could hope for was a bad screencap from the VHS.

In some ways it was cool since it made us feel like those things were much cooler than they were. The Red Sky season looked awesome based on the few screenshots and synposis I could find, same with other shows when they would have "oh they made a short lived sequel that tells the story of......." and my imagination filled the gaps of all the things that could've happened, once it was easy to get a hold of those we realized they weren't that good :lol:

Yeah, unless some dedicated fan made a geocities page about it or something, it was hard to find something related to more "obscure" cartoons and tv shows.

[CyberCubed]

It is kinda funny that nowadays you can literally watch any old TV show online...somewhere. It's like all those old obscure shows or cartoons you watched as a kid that you thought you would never be able to watch again...now you can. youtube is also a godsend for some of this stuff, otherwise you can find it on those obscure cartoon upload websites.

Kids these days, they have it easy. Why back in my day, if you didn't catch a show on TV or you missed it you were out of luck until reruns. And then after a show got canceled or the reruns stopped, there was no way to ever rewatch it again unless you were smart enough to record it off TV with VHS tapes.

Back then I would go years to decades without rewatching my favorite old shows because there was no way to rewatch it. Then DVDs came out and old stuff was released, then online streaming and youtube became a thing, and now it's easy to watch everything.

Oh these young kids of today, with their online streaming and their fancy gizmos and do-dads. They'll never know what it was like to grow up watching shows with the fear of never seeing it again, they don't know what "appointment television" means. What a time to be alive.

[Prowler]

It is kinda funny that nowadays you can literally watch any old TV show online...somewhere. It's like all those old obscure shows or cartoons you watched as a kid that you thought you would never be able to watch again...now you can. youtube is also a godsend for some of this stuff, otherwise you can find it on those obscure cartoon upload websites.

Kids these days, they have it easy. Why back in my day, if you didn't catch a show on TV or you missed it you were out of luck until reruns. And then after a show got canceled or the reruns stopped, there was no way to ever rewatch it again unless you were smart enough to record it off TV with VHS tapes.

Back then I would go years to decades without rewatching my favorite old shows because there was no way to rewatch it. Then DVDs came out and old stuff was released, then online streaming and youtube became a thing, and now it's easy to watch everything.

Oh these young kids of today, with their online streaming and their fancy gizmos and do-dads. They'll never know what it was like to grow up watching shows with the fear of never seeing it again, they don't know what "appointment television" means. What a time to be alive.
Yeah. We have it easier nowadays in that respect. Although it felt more special to watch tv back then since you had to actually tape shows or turn on the TV at a certain time to watch it. Also, no one used the "binge-watching" term. Only way to do that was if you had recorded or owned most episodes on VHS. I do remember, however, a local tv channel once a year or so airing marathons of certain TV shows. I remember one day there being a 24 hour marathon of Alf and the next one there was a 24 hour marathon of Love Boat. I wonder how many people were able to sit through those entire marathons :lol:

Btw, the TMNT fad totally missed the Saturn/PS1/N64 generation plus the height of DBZ's, Yu-gi-oh's and Pokemon's popularity. And also during this time period American pro wrestling was at its most successful phase in history with WCW and WWF fighting head-to-head in the Monday Night Wars. In fact, the MNW started in mid 1996... by the time the FW series was ending. And they ended in early 2001. Then in 2002 WWF changes their name to WWE and the ratings start dropping as Austin and Rock leave and then the new 2k3 cartoon comes in around 2002-2003. Interesting...

[sdp]

Not true, I lived the TMNT fad and also the Pokemon fad as a kid, those of us born in the late 80s still got the TMNT fad and didn't become teenagers until the early 00's.

[Prowler]

Not true, I lived the TMNT fad and also the Pokemon fad as a kid, those of us born in the late 80s still got the TMNT fad and didn't become teenagers until the early 00's.

Yeah that is true. Someone born in, let's say, 1985-1986 could perfectly well have still been young enough to get into the first pokémon generation and the whole pokémon fad itself back then.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

It's kind of ironic the kid fads in the 80's/90/early 2000's when the same for a lot of people:

80's and early 90's = TMNT



Mostly late-1980's. When the decade was young, Hanna Barbera still dominated until around 1983–1984. Then we had Masters of the Universe, Transformers, GI Joe and some other action-cartoons.

[CyberCubed]

I was 13 by the time pokemon came out, which means even as an early teen I was already a bit old for the franchise even though I still got into it. Usually most of the original pokemon fans were becoming teens around the time Hoenn and Gen III came out.

[Prowler]

I was 13 by the time pokemon came out, which means even as an early teen I was already a bit old for the franchise even though I still got into it. Usually most of the original pokemon fans were becoming teens around the time Hoenn and Gen III came out.

My brother bought Pokémon Red back in 1999 or so. He was about 16 years old at the time already. He bought it because Pokémon was this game that had been a HUGE hit in Japan and was being critically acclaimed worldwide as well, so he felt the need to try it. He never became a "pokémon fan", though. But he did like the game back then. He hasn't cared for Pokémon since then. And I doubt many 16-17 year olds in 1998-1999 were getting into Pokémon either, but who knows.

[CyberCubed]

Nowadays all the original pokemon fans are around our age, 25-30 year old adults. And now there's a whole new younger generation of fans who weren't even born when the series first started who get into it during any of the later generations.

As said TMNT and Pokemon were similar franchises where their first incarnations were so hugely popular due to the fad that it sort of dwarfs everything that comes after, even if the later stuff is good or even better than the originals. It's just that it was a huge childhood fad, and older fans grow up and leave the franchise because they get full-time jobs, etc...and younger kids don't get into it as much because there's no huge fad compelling them to stick with it.

[Prowler]

Nowadays all the original pokemon fans are around our age, 25-30 year old adults. And now there's a whole new younger generation of fans who weren't even born when the series first started who get into it during any of the later generations.

As said TMNT and Pokemon were similar franchises where their first incarnations were so hugely popular due to the fad that it sort of dwarfs everything that comes after, even if the later stuff is good or even better than the originals. It's just that it was a huge childhood fad, and older fans grow up and leave the franchise because they get full-time jobs, etc...and younger kids don't get into it as much because there's no huge fad compelling them to stick with it.
People of my generation(around 1989-1992) usually only care for the first two pokémon generations. By the time the 3rd came out they had already outgrown pokémon for the most part. hat or they played RSE and didn't find it as good as the first two gens and spread the word "it's not that good this time".

Tbh I have only grown up with Pokémon Red. Didn't play Crystal and Yellow until 2012, Omega Ruby until 2016 and Silver until this year.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Gen 3 is the time when many old fans outgrew Pokemon, hence the term hoenn babies for those who started with Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald.

[CyberCubed]

Gen 3 is the time when many old fans outgrew Pokemon, hence the term hoenn babies for those who started with Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald.

More accurate to say most of those people were edgy teens at the time. Gen III came out in 2002, how old do you think most people were in 2002? I was already 16, but I know most fans were younger than me around 11-14 or so. A bunch of young teenagers didn't really "outgrow" the franchise, they just thought they couldn't like it anymore.

When you're in middle school or an edgy teen, you don't want to be known for liking "kids stuff" so they all thought they outgrew the series only to come back to it later on anyway once they got into High School or College.

Either way it didn't really matter, Ruby/Sapphire were among the highest selling GBA games either way. Millions of people never left the franchise back then either.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Yeah, gen 3 is the time when you were most likely gonna be made fun of in school for liking "something for babies", but it didn't stop Pokemon from being hugely popular.

I remember pretending to think that Pokemon was a kiddy thing which I didn't really like infront of my classmates but when I went home, I used to play my copy of Ruby all the time and watch the Advanced Generation series on tv religiously.

[CyberCubed]

It's kind of funny, nowadays you see fully grown adults 25-30 still saying they like Pokemon and nobody cares. It's like Pokemon has established itself as a permanent franchise similar to Star Wars, superheroes, Star Trek, etc...that it's just not viewed as a "kids thing" anymore.

It's weird how this happens. I remember Harry Potter went through a similar phase like this with their fans too.

[sdp]

The Pokemon fad died after Gen II came out, that's why almost no one saw the third pokemon movie. Even when Gen II started the fad had already seen the peak awhile go.

I had become a teenager when Gen II came out so I was at that stage when I was ashamed to like Pokemon but I still loved it but shortly after I grew out of it, I still liked it but I also started preferring other stuff like music. By the time Gen III came out I still picked it up but it wasn't until later a few months after the remakes of Gen I came out that I got back into Pokemon 100%, I was an older teenager and didn't care what people thought so I got back into Pokemon.

But yeah, lucky to have been able to live the TMNT fad, the Power Rangers fad, the Dragon Ball Z fad and Pokemon fad, all of those were huge fads, I'd also add Saint Seiya but that one wasn't didn't exist in the US, also I don't think the Dragon Ball Z fad was as big in the US as in other countries, I actually got to live the DBZ fad in two different countries since the US didn't have a DBZ fad until like 1999 when other places had already aired the entire series.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

It's weird how this happens. I remember Harry Potter went through a similar phase like this with their fans too.

Damn, now that you mention Harry Potter, I remember just how painful it was not being a hardcore fan of it when i was in school lol.

Now I was very loosely fascinated by it, but Everyone in my school knew it inside out hardcore till the point where discussing Harry Potter with them left me nothing but confused. It was seen as the "cool" thing too, so not liking Harry Potter was not an option if you didn't wanna be made fun of.

Our class even once had an assignment where we talked about the Harry Potter movies in-depth. I definetly failed at that :lol:

[CyberCubed]

It's also kind of funny how childhood fad franchises never end.

TMNT is about to have its 4th cartoon and has had an almost continuous run in comics and cartoons.

Power Rangers still airs to this day. Pokemon still airs to this day. Dragonball was revived with a new series Super. Star Wars got new movies after everyone thought it was done forever. There's some rumors of Harry Potter getting a revival, and DC and Marvel superheroes never die.

It's kind of funny when I stopped to realize every single franchise I liked as a kid or teen still exists today in some form. :lol: It's like all our childhood franchises never end...at least not the big ones.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Star Wars isn't a childrens' franchise.

[CyberCubed]

George Lucas said the original movies were aimed at kids/teens, which they were. There were no adult fans in the 70's, it was all the kids at the time who became adult fans in the 80's and 90's as they aged.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

George Lucas said the original movies were aimed at kids/teens, which they were. There were no adult fans in the 70's, it was all the kids at the time who became adult fans in the 80's and 90's as they aged.

That sounds great. Star Wars getting out of the "children only" label is something TMNT could learn from.

[dragonside]

the franchises that didn't last when I was a kid:


Street Sharks (burger eating, metal eating shark teens like come on).

I am glad TMNT has lasted so long, hopefully it becomes and evergreen franchise and not go the way of woody wood pecker.


https://www.thestreet.com/story/13162897/1/15-collectibles-that-are-completely-worthless.html

[sdp]

TMNT is already an evergreen property, that's the reason Viacom bought it, street sharks? Not so much.

Woody Woodpecker would also be considered an evergreen property. That means you can sell licensing of it and the product has been around for a while. You don't need to have the latest cartoon to be an evergreen property but you can find Woody Woodpecker in Universal Studios for that very reason.

[CyberCubed]

TMNT almost didn't become an evergreen property. If Laird had no intention of reviving the comics and looking to get a new cartoon on the air in the early 2000's, I wonder if Viacom would have ever been interested in buying it a decade later.

People easily forget the only reason Mirage Volume 4 came out in 2001, and then the 2k3 series in 2003, is because PL was actually interested in reviving the franchise. If he was as disinterested back then as he is now apparently, it wouldn't have happened.

And because of that, Mirage also wouldn't have decided to sell the IP to Viacom or whoever else a decade after.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

TMNT almost didn't become an evergreen property. If Laird had no intention of reviving the comics and looking to get a new cartoon on the air in the early 2000's, I wonder if Viacom would have ever been interested in buying it a decade later.

People easily forget the only reason Mirage Volume 4 came out in 2001, and then the 2k3 series in 2003, is because PL was actually interested in reviving the franchise. If he was as disinterested back then as he is now apparently, it wouldn't have happened.

And because of that, Mirage also wouldn't have decided to sell the IP to Viacom or whoever else a decade after.

And Peter Laird also wanted the 2003–2009 series to be more Mirage-based. It was a perfect time for that, with the Internet having gone mainstream allowing people to easier discover the background of TMNT.

[pferreira]

I didn't watch the show until ti began getting reran often on Canal Panda from 1997 or so onward... and it was entirely in English. My brother also told me he only recalls seeing it in English when he was younger. I never came across FW episodes in European Portuguese on YT. In Brazilian Portuguese, yes, but not in European Portuguese. First time I hear this tbh.Well it was definitely shown in the mid-90s on SIC on weekends in Portugal. Not sure it was dubbed but I believe I would have sat down to watch it if it wasn't.

For my now-10 year old daughter, I can attest to "Monster High" and "Littlest Pet Shop" being huge for her and all of her friends.So they made a remake of Littlest Pet Shop? Was the original series that well remembered? :lol:

George Lucas said the original movies were aimed at kids/teens, which they were. There were no adult fans in the 70's, it was all the kids at the time who became adult fans in the 80's and 90's as they aged.You got it. :)

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

the franchises that didn't last when I was a kid:


Street Sharks (burger eating, metal eating shark teens like come on).

And Extreme Dinosaurs.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

It would be funny if Nick accquired the rights to all the tmnt knock offs (Biker Mice, StreetSharks, Battletoads etc.) and then integrated them into the tmnt lore.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

It would be funny if Nick accquired the rights to all the tmnt knock offs (Biker Mice, StreetSharks, Battletoads etc.) and then integrated them into the tmnt lore.

Or Extreme Dinosars (thinking of all times the turtles have interacted with dinosaurs and dinosauroids).

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Or Extreme Dinosars (thinking of all times the turtles have interacted with dinosaurs and dinosauroids).

I've never heard of Extreme Dinosaurs so I googled it and found it was made 1 year after the Original Cartoon ended.

I find that a bit strange, since you would expect knock offs to be more prominent during TurtleMania but Extreme Dinosaurs could work in the lore of tmnt, especially considering that the turtles have met anthropomorphic dinosaurs many times before as you said. I like it better than all the other crossover ideas barring BattleToads.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I've never heard of Extreme Dinosaurs so I googled it and found it was made 1 year after the Original Cartoon ended.

I find that a bit strange, since you would expect knock offs to be more prominent during TurtleMania but Extreme Dinosaurs could work in the lore of tmnt, especially considering that the turtles have met anthropomorphic dinosaurs many times before as you said. I like it better than all the other crossover ideas barring BattleToads.

Or "Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars"? Not sure if it was a knockoff (comic started in May 1984, just like TMNT).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucky_O%27Hare

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Or "Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars"? Not sure if it was a knockoff (comic started in May 1984, just like TMNT).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucky_O%27Hare

I'd say it wasn't a knock-off, but I've always seen people compare Bucky Hare to Star Fox rather than tmnt.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I'd say it wasn't a knock-off, but I've always seen people compare Bucky Hare to Star Fox rather than tmnt.

Bucky O'Hare came first.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Fox_(video_game)

[sdp]

It would be funny if Nick accquired the rights to all the tmnt knock offs (Biker Mice, StreetSharks, Battletoads etc.) and then integrated them into the tmnt lore.


I don't know how I would feel about it but I guess Bike Mice and Street Sharks would work just fine, same with Extreme Dinosaurs but that was a spin-off of Street Sharks so it's kind of included already.

Battletoads and Bucky O'Hare wouldn't work though, their continuities are a bit too different and would require more retcons than I would like to fit them.

Basically any anthropomorphic animal show even if it didn't follow the formula exactly was funded thanks to TMNT.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The turtles musn't crossover with just anthropomorphic animals. They seem to do well with Batman, and I can see the similairites (both prefering operating in the dark shadows of night).

During their adventures, the turtles have encountered so many characters that a lot of different things work, as long as the stories and characters are well-written.

[MrPliggins]

In those years, I went to away to college. Outside of occasionally buying figures, Comics, and OA on eBay and at cons, I didn’t really focus much on tmnt. I was more into college-type stuff. Friends, girls, homework...etc

[neatoman]

Comparing Bucky O'Hare to TMNT? Yeah because TMNT totally started that kind of thing...

Seriously though, Howard the Duck pre-date both by 11 years and I could probably dig up even earlier "Sci-Fi Anthropomorphic Animal" comics. Not that anything here actually qualifies as "rip-off" in the first place, about the only similarity TMNT and Bucky have is the anthropomorphic animal angle with a sci-fi bend, that's it.

[sdp]

TMNT weren't the first anthropomorphic characters but it still created a demand for those type of shows/figures which other companies started to make their own or find properties that fit the TMNT mold.

No TMNT fad, little to no companies would take risks on similar properties or ideas.

[CyberCubed]

Most animal shows were comedy based though, like Hanna Barbera shows, or Tom and Jerry, or stuff like that.

I think TMNT was one of the first franchises to use animals as an action franchise.

[pferreira]

It would be funny if Nick accquired the rights to all the tmnt knock offs (Biker Mice, StreetSharks, Battletoads etc.) and then integrated them into the tmnt lore.With Biker Mice it would work if Nick were presenting a Red Sky TMNT since both worlds are pretty much the same.

I'd say it wasn't a knock-off, but I've always seen people compare Bucky Hare to Star Fox rather than tmnt.The cartoon was made to cash in on the popularity of TMNT but the Bucky O'Hare comic does predate TMNT a little.

[Chabrendeki]

I was a little too old to enjoy TNM, but I still watched it and it was sort of a guilty pleasure.

The same by me. After all it was presented as a sequel to the movies I liked.

[Prowler]

Most animal shows were comedy based though, like Hanna Barbera shows, or Tom and Jerry, or stuff like that.

I think TMNT was one of the first franchises to use animals as an action franchise.

And it must have been the first major American or Western franchise to use martial arts, ninjas, Japanese mythology, etc. as a part of it. And this was back in the 80s, way before anime became as big worldwide as it is these days. Before TMNT there were Bruce Lee martial art films basically.

[pferreira]

And it must have been the first major American or Western franchise to use martial arts, ninjas, Japanese mythology, etc. as a part of it. And this was back in the 80s, way before anime became as big worldwide as it is these days. Before TMNT there were Bruce Lee martial art films basically.Really? What about this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_Kommandos

But yeah TMNT was major when it came out compared to Chuck Norris' cartoon series.

[Prowler]

Really? What about this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_Kommandos

But yeah TMNT was major when it came out compared to Chuck Norris' cartoon series.

Only 5 episodes long? Must not have been that successful/big. Also, TMNT had anthropomorphic animals, while that cartoon you listed had human beings. So the Turtles were definitely something new for their time.

[pferreira]

Only 5 episodes long? Must not have been that successful/big. Also, TMNT had anthropomorphic animals, while that cartoon you listed had human beings. So the Turtles were definitely something new for their time.Yeah I agree totally.