Why did they make Bebop and Rocksteady so dumb?
 

I know they were never rocket scientists even in the first five episodes, but they were at least competent I knew what they had to to.

Rocksteady in an episode from season 2 even explained to Shredder how to use one of Krang's devices so that proves he wasn't too stupid.

But it seems that when Bebop and Rocksteady were sent back to earth in Enter: The Fly they were really dumbed down.

Why do you think the writers decided to make them so dumb?

they probably wanted to create an extreme opposite to Baxter Stockman, him being the brains and them being the brawn.

so that someone could mess up the shredders plans

Baxter, a scientest, would have eventually nailed the Turtles sooner or later, he was able to snare Splinter with absolute ease, and even came close to taking control of the city with the eye of Zarnoth.

Despite being white, and a nervous suck-up, Baxter possesed qualities the original MIRAGE comic character had...he was actually FORMIDABLE, so the decision oviously was made to replace him with clutzes who could be easily dealt with.

Actually, I don't think Baxter to be as compitent as you all put him to be. Yeah, he had makings for being a formidable foe... but in the first episodes when we see him at first, he's generally a cowardice type character.

The newer shows and the earlier comics put him off as a evil genius... which the white version never actually picked up on until he was turned into that bastard fly!

To add comedy to the show. If you didn't notice, there was a lot of changes from Season 1 to 2. The show became a lot less serious and not a whole lot of ninjitsu was involved. As the show continued, (up until season 7) it went further into comedy and they needed some sort of comedy relief in the villians. There was Shredder and Krang insulting each other but they needed intellectual inferiors to add to the insults. Ah the memories... I love the old show. Also, stupid henchman was kind of common back in those days for cartoon series.

Yeah, back then incompetent henchmen were the thing. Plus, yeah it was funny seeing Shredder go 'you idiots!!!' and 'you mutant morons!!'

As for Baxter, he had a twisted fate in the old show. He was naive scientist trying to make money with his Mousers. Shredder took him in and the dumbass never thought anything about Shredder wanting so many Mousers. Shredder then sent to have him killed, the TMNT left him tied to a lamppost, stole his van, and he ended up locked away in the looney bin where apparently he did get a lil looney. Then Shredder took him in again, got him pissed to the point where HE wanted to be the villian in charge for a change, (Eye of Sarnath) and then was sent to be killed AGAIN, but got turned into a fly again.

Now even more insane and nutty he wants revenge on both the TMNT and Shredder, but Shredder always convinces him that they'll turn him back to normal if he works for him. Baxter is stuck in weird dimensions time and time again and in his final episodes it really seems his fly brain is making him more of an idiot.

If they were smart, as well as strong, then they probably woulda kicked the Turtles asses pretty quicksmart :)

I'd always hoped Baxter would actually turn back into a human. Instead he got stuck in a limbo dimension forever with his computer chip. Oh well...

so, so disterbingly true. also, they would've kicked Shredder and Krang out, and then they would use the machines left behind to take over the world and cable TV :)

Damn straight Ra (spots Eye of Ra in avatar.... I'm Egyptian :) )

I want Bebop and Rocksteady to be in the new series... I don't know what it is about them, but they kinda made the perfect pair of Anti-heros... even if they had nothing to do with the Foot... it would be so cool to see them as new characters and toys.

I always get Nostalgic when playing the TMNT arcade game... "Shut your mouth Slimeball"... ahhhhhhh.

Exactly...I wish it would have kept the same tone from the first 5 eps. But oh well.

Anyhow, Bebop and Rocksteady's stupidness does get rather lame as the
eps progress however they are good for amusement. I always did like them though...even though they were dumb as bricks. You could argue some of the episode plots got stupider as they went along too...

As for Stockman in the old toon, he's brilliant yet he lacks any smarts when it comes to fighting. Admittedly he did some useful stuff with the help of his inventions or the Eye of Sarnath (however you spell it :P ). But without his inventions he's kinda weak...not to mention his clumsiness. No wonder Shredder decided to get rid of him. The only advantage he got becoming a fly was...he had the abilities of a fly...didn't seem to me he got much better just angrier.

Rocksteady & Bebop are the 2 best characters from TMNT.

They are dumb because its all about muscle and fire power.. simple as.

I thought Bebop and Rocksteady's idiotic antics made the show more funny and interesting.

I thought their tough-guy persona's were great in the beginning but they became more endearing and funny as they became more idiotic ;)

Comedy relief, and what Ra said.

Bebop and Rocksteady are my two second-favourite characters (Tied for that position just behind Leatherhead), and I'm kinda glad they were dumb, because since that show seemed to value comedy relief more than most sitcoms, it guaranteed their repeated appearance. Most of my favourite characters from other shows like Pokemon are very rare to come by.

I loved the original incarnation of Rocksteady and Bebop too. They were getting a little to stupid for my tastes later on.

The bad thing is, later on they weren't even a threat anymore. They became simple obstacles for the TMNT to just knock away and proceed with stopping whatever Shredder was up to. The series went on for so long and they got so dumb, it seemed Shredder was a glutton for punishment for not firing them and replacing them with better help.

All the villains were dumb, really. Even Krang and Shredder to a point, Baxter too. Most 80s villains were pretty lame and were more funny than they were dangerous.

I like Rocksteady and BeBop's dumbness, it suits them and I appreciate the humour it gave to the show. Yeah they went a bit far with the stupidness in the latter seasons but the whole show was starting to stink by then, not just Rocksteady and Bebop.

Megatron was far from stupid, Doc Terror was from stupid

I love how you can catergorise villains from that decade without specific reasons.

If Shredder and Krang were as "dumb" as you claim, they would'nt have blown up Channel Six in "Get Shredder", OR enable The Technodrome to return several times, OR manuipluaed an insane Baxter Fly into attacking the Turtles and not those who were actually responsible for his transformation.

You can attack them for gradually becoming a joke, but they were'nt ALWAYS a joke.

Um, I wasn't attacking them at all. I love the old toon, and all it's villains, but just happen to think they all had their moments of dumbness (if that's a word!). Just my opinion, is all. :)

i actually really liked the tough way Rocksteady and Beboped acted in the first season. I wish they had kept them that way, because as much as I adore the classic toon the could have standed to leave some aspects alone instead of mking them silly. As it is the Rat King was the only real serious and dark villan in the old series. He turned Splinter against his sons and kicked their butts. I wonder why they hadn't done more with that...

But any way Rocksteady and Bebop where loveable idiotes, you just couldn't hate them. I wish the series had let us know what jappened to them :cry:

i always loved bepop and rocksteady the were the kramers from seindfeld on the old teenage mutant ninja turtles show.
the funny guys.