Does anyone see any 4Kids influence at all in this show?
 

I'm just curious, because I don't really see any.

The fact that it can be dark at times.

Also, karai is shredder's (adoptive) daughter.

The fact that Leo sees good in karai, and tried to persuade her to leave the shredder.

Karai being a daughter figure to SHredder and being loyal to him. That was a concept that originated in the 4 Kids toon.

The fact that the turtles travel the surface at night, Raph slapping Mikey, Leo trusting in Karai while Raph hates her, Shredder being a mysterious dark figure with a dojo, Leatherhead being an alley, Mikey befriending Leatherhead, April learning martial arts, Raph and Mikey making fun of each other, the foot wearing the same outfits (of which both shows got from the movies), Chris Bradford/Dog Pound is a lot like Hun, so many more.

I think this show is more like the 2k3 show than in is the OT. What is there really from the old toon besides the turtles' love for pizza, the original theme song, Metalhead, Krang, General Tragg, Dimension X, the Technodrome, and Baxter being mutated into a fly?

Yes, although mainly to a fault. I don't have the 4Kids episode fresh in my head, but from what I remember, the new show's introduction of Leatherhead is so similar it was actually kind of boring. Also, the 4Kids take on Karai has obviously become the take; this one isn't identical to it, but certainly closer than to the Mirage version. I really hate how she's become the Talia of the series.

How so, if you mind me asking?

I feel like all of the things you mention are either coincidental or stemming from a light, general Mirage influence. With the possible exception of Karai as a daughter figure to Shredder from 4Kids finding its way here, I really don't see anything else as coming exclusively from 4Kids.

Aside from those things? That right there is already a lot, but let's see... yeah, the way the mutagen functions, Mutagen Man, general tone of the show, the outlandish vehicles, and anyone who can sit here and honestly think that Bebop and Rocksteady won't be showing up at some point is out of their mind.

Nothing overt outside of recycling the name Spider Bytez from an unused Back to the Sewer action figure.

*Baxter's human design. However, this will be forgotten after his mutation.
*April, while showing some OT influences (shirt color, a damsel in distress in the finale), shows 4kids-like skills plus doesn't appear in nearly every episode. The arrival of Casey Jones as perhaps a serious love interest is possible.
*26-episode seasons.

That said, I find approximately equal OT and 4kids influence (with Mirage influences such as Leatherhead, Baxter), and some Movie influences (The Foot).

I think overall that the Nick show has a similar "feel" to the 2003 series, much more so than the Fred Wolf show. Nickelodeon simply has more confidence in the brand created by Fred Wolf than to dismiss it, unlike Peter Laird, who was more concerned with making a cartoon that HE'D watch than he was with making money. People seem to be a lot more turtle crazy since the advent of the Nick show than they did during the years 2003 through 2006.

Nope.

There's lots of OT influence though which is all good to me. :tcool:

Mind if I ask where? Not stirring sh*t, just honestly wondering. I mean I know for a fact it's fairly popular, but among peers my own age (in real life I mean, not on this forum) all of my friends/co-workers have the same level of indifference that they had in 2003, and while some of their kids are marginally interested I'm not quite seeing anything close to "Turtle-Crazy". I'd say the only significant difference between now and 10 years ago, is that literally every kid in America watches Nick, while not every kid was able to see the 2K3 show, so awareness might be a little higher. But just like 2003, I'm not seeing lots of kids running around with their TMNT shirts on or begging their parents to buy them the toys. Some, but nothing close to being a "phenomenon".

I'd say the level of enthusiasm for this show and the 2K3 show when it was new are about even, but Nick having a wider advertising net makes it seem like it's a bigger deal than it is.

I thought it was obvious Karai being Shredder's adopted daughter was taken directly from the 4kids series.

I'm surprised noone mentioned the Purple Dragons being a recurring gang in the show, as well as them being part of the Foot. In Mirage they were just some random street gang the Turtles fought in the first pages of Mirage, and nothing more.

The Dragons wearing a Purple tattoo is something the 4kids introduced than later in Mirage around Vol 4. Also the parallel between Leo and Donnie with who they like. So yeah Donnie liking April was subtly introduced in 2k3, while it was obvious Leo like Karai or at least believe she was good.

Mikey being into video games came from 2k3 Mikey, but 2k12 doesn't seem to share the same extreme enthusiasm.

I think he means how the show's structure is played out. I have only seen a couple episodes of the 80's show and looking up stuff about it. To me it just felt like all of the episodes are filler episodes with not much of the overarching plot design as the 4kids show.

It's an aged cartoon. It's really hard to sit down and watch an episode of the 80s cartoon, these days. Mind you, I still love it but the other 2 are better.

There is no "better." Just "different."

Some of the minor physical differences between the turtles in FF and BTTS seem to have infiltrated into the new show.

*Karai being Shredder's daughter.
*The dark, moody visual approach
*50% or so of mutants are horrific mindless beasts, and even some of the sapient ones are not exactly pleasing to the eye.
*The turtles going pupil-less on occasion.
*A number of Mirage elements used on 4Kids are again used here.

Was the 4kids show really so dark and moody? I've watched it on a few occasions and it felt more like a mainstream comic book series for kids and adults (with all the superhero stuff in it and bright colors). Did I just miss all the darker episodes?

Did you get to 'Same as it never was'?

I don't believe I did. I wasn't really into the 4kids series so I didn't watch it very often. I saw some of the first and second season, a few episodes when they were in the future, and the finale. The darkest aspect of the show I can remember is Baxter's brain being in a jar by the near end of the series.

I would give 'Same as it Never was' a go. It's one of the best, yet one of the darkest, most depressing episodes in TMNT history.

Well lets see...

- Leo was really serious and obsessed with training and pro leader in the 4kids series. Now he's got flaws, bit more comical and is a leader in training.

- I'm not sure how popular the Donnie x April pairing was in the 4Kids version, they added in this series for some reason :-? I know Karai x Leo was dang popular in the 4Kids, I assume they didn't want a repeat of that :lol:

- Casey / April, was damsel in distress April more popular than 4Kids version?

Am I misunderstanding this question? xD

Karai being the Shredder daughter.

Hamato Yoshi and Tang Shen

Leatherhead being an ally, not a villain

Donnie's crush over April :D

Leo believing that Karai has something good on her

Raph's hothead temper and sibling rivalry with Leo

Mikey loves of video games

The Purple Dragons

April training with Master Splinter

All of this were elements from the 2k3 show brought into the 2k12 current show

I think the only similarities between the 2k3 series and the Nick series are basically the ones people are pointing out - a few of the Mirage source references the 2k3 series was attempting to adapt, ie Baxter's look, the mousers, the fact that they're active at night, the eyes, Karai, etc.

If anything, I feel like the 2k3 series, while closer to the comic, was inferior to this. There's something about this show that is genuinely fun and has that sort of oddball and lighthearted spirit of the OT both in tone and humor (I actually laughed at bits in the Nick series whereas the 2k3 series was cringe inducingly bad) while still managing to capture the weird sci-fi stuff and darker imagery/themes present in the comics AND retaining a lot of the action the 2k3 series brought to the forefront in comparison to the OT series.

All and all, it's damn near perfect, which is saying a lot for me since I was skeptical and avoided the series all together for a while.

....or from the fact that they share source material perhaps?

The love of video games is a bit of a stretch. Videogames are way more popular now than they are now, it's not so much of a 'only lifeless losers and kids play videogames' as it was back then, so it's more natural that Mikey (and the other three Turtles) love videogames too. ALL four of them love videogames in this version, not just Mikey.

Baxter in 2012 looks almost exactly the way he does in the comics compared to the 2K3 one. The 2K3 one was black... and that was pretty much it. The 2012 Baxter (minus his overly cliche comicbook villain personality) looks like he stepped out of the comic.