Characterizations in each series

[Zelda]

The basic characters are the same whichever way we go, but there are some subtleties that I think are really interesting. Haven't read the comics, for all I know the new series characters are exactly like those... whoever HAS read them though please compare/contrast!
(...thogh that's going to make me want the comics even more I'm sure >_> I don't know how I survived this long without them)



I LOVE Splinter in the new series, he's everything they SAID he was in the old series/movies but never lived up to. The old series wasn't too bad, but the movies had him as this frail old rat that I swear I thought was giong to fall apart to dust at any moment. Though he does shoot that arrow in TMNT2 and a bow requires a LOT of arm strength.

The new series has the guys still kind of cutely protective of him but yuo know what it comes down to it, he doesn't really need it. And even if he doesn't have the strength at times (like to jsut beat down on Shredder), he has the intelligence to win anyway (getting S. to knock down the water tower on himself...reminded me of the end of TMNT2 ;) ).

Plus he's got the whole beleagered parent thing going on that crackes me up ;) And the calmness... it was fantastic, just the *pose* he stood in as the water tower was falling. Completely serene and not just 'I'm going to put on a bandana and meditate' like in the old series.



April...I like her better in the old show and movies. In the movies she was just generally down to earth and cool with the guys. She wasn't exactly playing football in the yard with them, but she was cool. In the old series she was a LITTLE obsessed with "getting a story" or trying to avoid the messes the turtles were getting into, but she had a lot of spark and heart to go out and GET STUFF DONE.

The new (I mean that as new series, know very little about the comic) April (and I haven't seen all the new episodes yet) seems more girly-girl, even though the old series April had some of those 'lets put the girl who likes being clean and dolled up in a situation with guys who live in a sewer' jokes she seemed tougher. Though the new April definitely shows her intelligence with working for Baxter and all.

She also seems younger, almost a teen herself--is she out of college? Was se interning for him or actually working for him? And she does some things...like she went to work with Casey on the mechanics, but it doesn't seem as natural for her...maybe it's jsut the whole pretty-hair, pale-skin, skinnyness, high voice (ach, AMELIA haha) and tummy showing that makes me think of her as a wimpy girlygirl XD; She does still have the spats with Casey, but I like the ones in the movie better.

I also like Casey better in the movies, I honestly (;___;) can't REMEMBER what he was like in the old show. He seems more of a bumbling goon in the new series while in the movies...yeah he gets confused about how much "justice" people deserve ;) but he's not "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave."

He was a little rough around the edges, but not as annoying as in the new series. But I like the Angel thing, that was cool. He gets all flustered with April which is funny sometimes, but I like how in the movies you could TELL he liked her but he wasn't so obvious about it.




Baxter...he's not an annoying whiney fly! He still has the ego problem hahaa. I almost feel bad for him in the new series, talking up to Shredder how great he is and how he wouldn't mess up and it's everyone else's fault but you know Shredder doesn't care and will most likely punish him for it....and Baxter never seems to LEARN... :P In the old series though I wanted him to just get turned back into a human eventually ;_; then I REALLY felt bad for him, poor guy ;_;

Shredder-Utrom thing horrified me for like..two minutes, I mean...I grew up with this guy being human but yaknow, he's been human the REST of the time it's time to change it up and man that was a cool twist and adds the potential for a LOT of backstory awesome plot and developments as well as makes it hard to kill him in a sensible way ;)

It's also great how he ahs a very similar poise and calm to Splinter...his whole...pagoda on top a skyscraper ;) and TEA, wonderful. And the Shredder 'suit' is generally cooler....mmmm SPIKES....



The guys!




I LOVE how they call each other by nickname... from the old series dvd they always seem to use the ENTIRE name. They do have awesome names, but it makes them seem closer to each other and more real to have those nicknames, especially Mikey becauase it's the only one with a 'y' and makes him seem like the beloved (if sometimes irritating ;p ) little brother ;)


They're also each more individual, not just "Mikey likes to party and Raph is sarcastic" Raph had the movies with more development but it gives them more specific points of their interest, seems to develop it more. I don't know how to explain it,... guess, Splinter said that Raph was unique among his brothers because he chooses to fight alone. But they're ALL unique, they ALL face things in their own matter. Mikey with his games, Donny with his work, Leo with being Splinter Jr. ;)


I miss the cammaraderie between Mikey and Don that was in the movies..they were kind of a pair like Leo and Raph. The new series evens them out some so they're four instead of pairs (but there's still a bit of eo-Raph going on). There's still a little of it between Mike and Donny (a fight between Leo and Raph? Oh I never saw that one coming) but not as much as it seemed like in the movies. And in the old series Donny almost seemed seperate from the rest of them to me.


Mikey XD still a skater, but I like the whole...wanting to do good (I thought that would've come from Leo) and having a REASON he reads comics and stuff instead of just 'he's the slacker.' And more development on the imitations ;) did he do any in the old series? I don't remember, just the first movie...

He has more serious moments, yeah they revolve around stuff like comics but that doesn't make it any less important. And he doesn't completely blow the other guys off when they're trying to be serious like he did to Donny in TMNT1 (pizza dude scene ;) what was Mike chewing on anyway??? popsicle stick? turtles each popsicles???).

He also seems to try and impress the other guys a lot and gets shy about them not understanding him (aka hiding his Turtle Titan drawings ;) but I think it was sweet of him to put them ALL in costume and not just designing himself, he knows they're a team even if he gets distracted sometimes).

He seems like the more innocent one... the one who'd be most likely to wear his heart on his sleeve (like Raph except Raph mostly just has the rage-half of his heart allowed on any sleeve ;) ). Like he tried to go after Raph even after Raph was about to beat his head in >_> I think it's those little gestures, not even words, that help make the guys so much more vivid and alive).


Donny now seems both more and less seperate from the rest of the guys. He makes stuff....they use it. He does still seem connected to Mikey because M'll bug him to make cool stuff like the Battle Shell ;) But he still gets frustrated and likes being left alone rather than surrounded by chatter ;p

He seems more serious than in the movies--he jokes with the guys sometimes but mostly it seems like he'd rather be off with his machines whereas in the movies he seemed like Mikey with machine-know-how and a bit more curious.

But he doesn't bond nearly as much with Casey. The whole alphabet-insult game from TMNT1 got switched from between him and Casey to Raph and Casey which is sad because it seems like Donny doesn't have anyone to bond with. All the guys'll watch a movie with Mike, train with Leo, get mad at some of the things Raph does, but Donny has his machines and it's usually "don't tell us HOW it works, just MAKE it work" when Donny wants to explain and share what he knows.
But it doesn't seem to bother him all that much--in fact, I'd say he's the most mature of the turtles.



Leo....is Leo... just moreso ;) They're doing great in this one at showing him as the leader trying to leader his peers and kinda failing ^_^; (great scene where they all decide to go aboveground and he's trailing behind like 'wait...but...guys...but....we shouldn't...argg..wait for me!!'). I liked the 'spirit of splinter' thing that he was leading in the first movie though and I wish there was a little more of that, as amusing as it is to see him trailing after the guys trying to lead them ;)

Also the new series develops more the why of him and Raph's spats, though the movies did a good job the series...as a series...is able to make it more consistent and have little ones that lead to big ones.

Raph has even more of a temper problem but also is always covering his brothers' backs awesomely. It's been great at showing how much her cares about them even though he can be a jerk.

And for him to actually come back and apologize... and in Baxter's lab, 'even you Mikey' and getting all upset when mikey was faking him out about about dying when it was just his ankle ;p He seems a lot closer to them instead of The Odd One Out....they ALL have their Thing, not just him and they all get in some teasing on each other about it ;)

This post reeks of english major vibes.... -_-; bwahhaa...I should write on TMNT for my thesis <3 I could enjoy THAT kind of research.

[Bry]

Great post. I can see this inspiring some great discussion. :)


It's also great how he ahs a very similar poise and calm to Splinter...his whole...pagoda on top a skyscraper ;) and TEA, wonderful. And the Shredder 'suit' is generally cooler....mmmm SPIKES....
I don't mind the Utrom thing. A part of me really digs it, in fact. I like how it adds another link to the origins of both the Turtles and Oroku Saki.

And in the end, the Shredder is dangerous for a change. Not the bumbling whiner from the old show, nor the ineffective villain from the movies (moreseo in the second than the first, though). This Shredder truly inspires fear in all those around him. He doesn't think twice about, oh, having a body part of two lopped off of someone who fails him - and that's if he doesn't simply decide to kill them. It seems that the old Shredders would simply tie up their foes (or trap them in a cage of sorts) before putting them into some sort of elaborate deathtrap while he kept his hands clean and watched. The new Shredder? He pretty much just wants to kill his foes, and when he does, it's with his own hands (and blades ;)). That, to me, makes him infinitely more dangerous than any of his past 'versions'.


He seems like the more innocent one... the one who'd be most likely to wear his heart on his sleeve (like Raph except Raph mostly just has the rage-half of his heart allowed on any sleeve ;) ). Like he tried to go after Raph even after Raph was about to beat his head in >_> I think it's those little gestures, not even words, that help make the guys so much more vivid and alive).
The Turtles themselves seem more in line with their original Mirage selves in the new show. The old cartoon (and movies, to an extent) painted them with a much broader brush. In the cartoon especially, they were really one-note caricatures instead of actual characters with actual personalities.

Mikey's considerably more annoying than his Mirage counterpart, but he's got the same heart and happiness deep-down that makes him such a refreshing character. Like you said, he's the 'little brother'. He's more naive, more vulnerable in some ways, but he's got the biggest heart and wants more than anyone to make people smile and be appreciated and loved.


But he doesn't bond nearly as much with Casey. The whole alphabet-insult game from TMNT1 got switched from between him and Casey to Raph and Casey which is sad because it seems like Donny doesn't have anyone to bond with. All the guys'll watch a movie with Mike, train with Leo, get mad at some of the things Raph does, but Donny has his machines and it's usually "don't tell us HOW it works, just MAKE it work" when Donny wants to explain and share what he knows.
The "alphabet-insult" thing actually occured between Raph and Casey in the comics, too, if I'm not mistaken... Donny was hidden away in the attic, working on some writing of sorts, not sharing his frustration with anyone.

The movie Don was altered to make him more Mikey-like, probably for the sake of the kids. The fun-loving, goofy geek of the bunch. In the original series, he had a real sullen streak, and to this day can be rather moody and secretive.


Anyway, that's all the observation I have time for at the moment. ;)

[Zelda]

Definitely...Shredder was more serious in the movies, but now he's actually a formidable foe.

It makes more sense for Donny to be secretive and sullen..he always seemed to have a hint of it...

That's something I liked about the movies better--Mikey had fun, but he wasn't ANNOYING..it seems kind of a contradiction in the new series that he thinks of others....eexxxcept when it interferes with his fun :P 'mikey bored or mikey happy' makes him out to be more of an annoyance in their way :/

Thanks ;) I thought of posting when watching the old series dvd and realising that in *that* incarnation, Raph still is my favorite... he's sarcastic in the amusing way...not annoying way... and he's not an ass <3

Though in the episode I was watching, interestingly, the mousers eat the house and a piece falls on Mikey so only his foot is sticking out....new series episode I'd just watched is when Mikey gets his ankle hurt... both times Raph gets freaked out thinking M is dead and M turns out to be fine and joking at him ;)
Sorry, I'm terrible at remembering titles ^^;

[raphael_is_cool]

I'm sure heretic will come in here and tell you the new toon turtles are more like old toon than mirage with the exception of Raph.

I'm not sure I agree, the lighter mood is understandable but Mikey is very much more old toon like

[[email protected]]

Here is my belifes of bothj.

Shredder is a real threat, he gives severe punishments for failure like killing anyone who fails him or has them beaten up or body parts taken off, a killer and an unbeatable enemy in the new series. In the movies he is more serious and a good fighter. in the old toon he is a ninny, a bumbling idoit and gets beaten by the turtles more easily.


The pizza obsession is gone though in earlier eps there are a few pizza refernces. but in the old toon the pizza stuff is overblown, like having cerial on pizza.

Splinter is more strict in the new series and even slapped them in the face

RAph is sarcastic and sassy in the old toon. in the movie and new toon Raph is a rebel and has a hot temper.

CAsey is rarley shown in the old toon. in the movie and new toon casey is a key character and gets closer to april.

in movie and old toon a reporter. movie a lab assisant to baxter.

The old toon is just too cartoonish compared to the new one and baxter in the old one is a whinny woss and in the new one is an egotystical genius, though he boasts too much about his genius. All the bad guys in the old toon are wooses and bumbling idiots and in the new toon the bad guys are more diabolical and deadlier and more competant. HUn is far far far far far more competant than Bebop and Rocksteady. Hun is a tatsu bad guy in the turtles universe, but Hun has huge muscles and is almost as dangerous as the shredder.

Don is an inventer in the old and new toon. Don was just a goof in the movie and made me laugh, like the alphabetic insults(like gagface and hosebrain) and the its a kodak moment. In the movie and new toon mikey and don are closer to each other.

[Coola Yagami]

yeah, in the old show all the TMNT ever ate was pizza. In a rare occasion they'd eat candy or a cookie, but it's mostly pizza. Anything else like ice cream, fruit and even cereal was eaten... but on a pizza. Even an ep had Mike reffer to going back to a garbage dump cause he found stuff that would make a nice topping....

[heretic888]

Haven't read the comics, for all I know the new series characters are exactly like those... whoever HAS read them though please compare/contrast!

Compared to the characters in the comics, the new toon incarnations are one-dimensional caricatures. Which isn't surprising, considering the target audience.

Oh, and contrary to what someone mentioned, the Shredder used to be dangerous. As in past tense. Once the TMNT found out he was an Utrom, there has always been the lingering sense that they could take this guy now.

Before that revelation, the TMNT almost never stood a chance against him (Leo's victory was supposed to have been a surprise). Now, its pretty much foregone that the four of them (maybe even less) could hand him his postererior on a silver platter.