Why do people obsess over "Same As It Never Was"?!
 

I swear I've seen this story used time in time again in fan comics, artwork and videos! Sometimes people will take it in a more creative direction, like imagining what an older version of Donatello might look like in that scenario or something, but most of the time it's just a blatant rehashing of the scene where Mikey, Leo and Raph all get killed.

Probably because people have a liking for more dark and gritty storytelling, as well as time travel or alternate dystopian futures. A large part might be how the latter factor is similar in theme to the Days of Future Past comics, which are very popular.

Personally I really enjoyed SAINW. I thought it was a fantastic episode and my only gripe is that it wasn't a double or triple parter. I liked the time travel episodes in FW as well.

Because it was a great episode? Its pretty obvious the most talked about episodes of ANY series tend to be the best written ones.

It was awesome, thats why.

Because it's one of the best 2k3 episodes, and one of the best episodes in TMNT Episode history IMO

For me it's mostly due to the emotional aspects of the episode.

Like most have said already, it was a dark and emotional episode as well as demonstrating how 2k3 could really push boundaries of what is deemed acceptable in a "kid's show." It's not common practice to have all or most of your protagonists get killed off for good, regardless of it being 'just a possible future' or not.

Plus, it was only place that wasn't in another dimension that the other Turtles went to.

Mikey- Super Turtles
Raph- Planet Racers
Leo- Usagi's world
Don- A potential future where Shredder rules a dictatorial regime.

*One of these things was not like the others*
*One of these things just takes you off guard*

I think people love it because the older Turtles were so badass boss awesome, and because it was dark. Its script is pretty cheesy and unoriginal though.

It was a dark and well written episode.

As most have said, it's one of the most prominent dark episodes where in this alternate reality there IS no happy ending. It's a bleak, pessimistic future, especially at the end of the episode with Mikey, Raph, and Leo dying. It of course has deeper themes of tragedy and despondency, which is not expected for most "kids" cartoons or with TMNT cartoons in general.

As for why it's used in so many fan works, I think it's used as a starting point for gloomy TMNT fanworks and used as a cathartic, creative outlet of sorts.

I love seeing the gloomy future and the turtles getting killed. I'm sure many others share my dark fascination as well.

This is no different than the stories of where Superman got killed, Robin's death, Batman's murder, etc. We like to see closure of our favorite fictional characters.

I think their design looks awful and they kinda look fat, but it's a terrible future so I just take as it is. Still a treat to see them die.

I'd actually like to see a similar episode in the Nick series where the turtles, Casey and Splinter die.

It's an interesting episode to be sure, it gives us a look into how the world would be if the Shredder really took over the world. I know the FW cartoon did an episode like that but it was played for laughs, this is sort of the "real" Shredder controls the world episode, his government is opressive, he has enslaved two planets, he will go on to conquer the universe, Splinter and Casey are dead, the turtles have changed for the worse and there's a lot of sacrifice. Yes technically none of it happened in the real timeline but the story is still good, and gives us some insight on what a threat the Shredder really is.

As for the fan fiction? I avoid fanfics since I've never seen a fanfic that's better than mediocre, but I do see traces of this episode in TiT #4.
Still, TiT #4 is very different:

Only Donnie is left of the turtles (the opposite of this episode)
The world is split between Shredder, Krang and maybe Stockman
North America is full of mutants who seem to live in relative peace

Because it's the best episode.

I don't think so. I think Tales of Leo is the best. When something happens to actually make Raph cry, speechless. That whole scene of him going to the window and just looking out, one of the best scenes ever for TMNT. I could actually feel his pain at worrying what is going to happen to his brother.

Nah. It's the best episode.

^^ Best? Probably Return to New York part 3. SAINW was just a solid episode. I wouldn't say people obsess over it but would be fantastic to see and explore how the turtles got to the point where they don't communicate or interact with each other, and how far-gone things have become with Shredder ruling the world.

Nah. SAINW was the best episode.

There's actually a lot of people who would like to have seen either more SAINW episodes, or even a spinoff arc which showed a bit more of that world.

Myself, I agree that SAINW is a really tight, well-written, dark episode - I rarely watch it or even look at fanart from it because it's too dark for me to handle most of the time; I just get way too mopey afterwards. Yeah, I get emotional over cartoon characters I love being hurt and killed - sue me. :tlol:

I was never a big fan of the 4kids show, but I went back and watched it after it was hyped as being the best episode ever ever ever and it fell short for me. I mean, its dark and its interesting to see what happens in that potential future of that universe, but I guess I need to be more invested in the 4kids version for it to be truly impact-ful.

I feel like if there were more episodes or if it was a mini series in its own right that explained and fleshed out everything that was happening, I might have been more into it.

Good point; I guess it would've probably been harder to be as invested if you're not as hugely into 2k3. I think that a miniseries, either animated or in comic form, would've been really well-received by the fans.

Yeah, that episode isn't going to hold as much meaning to someone that doesn't care about 2k3 or hasn't watched a lot of it. Whenever I show the series to my friends, I tell them not to watch that episode out of context. Wait for it.

Or don't watch it at all, unless you want to end up sobbing in the foetal position. :P

Seriously man, I know this gets said all the time, but I'm getting so jack of waiting for this show to be released on dvd. Literally, what do I have to do? I'M DESPERATE. I WILL SELL MY BONE MARROW.

Same, basically. Time to hit up the black market guys.

Don't you mean re-released...? Pretty sure it was released back in the day.

Not it's not, that's just your opinion. Shredder Strikes Back parts 1 and 2, Tales of Leo and Exodus 1 and 2 are better.

True dat - ok, I'll reword: re-released and all seasons actually available. :) Preferably a nice big box set of all seasons, with lots of special features and commentary.

That would be worth a lot of bone marrow.

No they're not, that's just your opinion.

See how that works? This is a forum, & most of you are actually sharing opinions, in fact. It's hypocritical for you to say he's wrong & then tell him why as if it's not purely subjective.

Adding "in my opinion" to any opinion is redundant. Sorry some people don't get that memo.

We all know the best episode are the ones with Turtle Titan anyway.
[/sarcasm]

Actually, even the [/sarcasm] tag isn't necessary in your post. People get it.

Oh wait, not all people :tlol:

I really loved SAINW, but I also loved The Monster Hunter, Turtle Titan, and Good Genes. Sons of the Silent Age was another great one, as was The People's Choice. It just depends on your personal taste. In any case, I do think it was one of the best-written episodes, a la 1984, Animal Farm, and other classic dystopian fiction. I think it shows a much more realistic view of what the OT Shredderville TRIED to be. While that one was done mostly for laughs, this one hit home just how big a threat he was.

SotSA and TPC were fantastic eps. I really loved those early season 4 episodes based on Northampton. They were Mirage adaptations and Leo's struggles just gave them an extra dimension too. I, Monster and Cousin Sid are also both brilliant.

Don't get me wrong. I love the 1st Turtle Titan episode...because it wraps up that bit of Mikey at the end. Then they decided to bring Titan back a few to many times. The >> and Back to the Sewer episodes being the worse offenders.

Yeah, I think the Season 5 Turtle Titan episode was the best one after the first. Mainly because it also wraps up Nano's storyline too.

I suppose it's the emotion, but personally I wasn't all that impressed. Though I will admit that I was strongly considering skipping it when I finally watched the series over the summer. Was glad each segment was at least fairly short. Not much of a fan of storylines that suggest the end to them... would much rather that was forever left open ended and unknown.

Only end I could probably accept would be if they ended the entire franchise and killed them off with it. But that would be heartbreaking in that case.

I'll admit, I really liked Membership Drive.

Same here. I don't get why so many dislike Nano. I thought he was a cute, sweet, and kind of sad character. I was glad when he finally got his "happy ending" with the Justice Force. I liked the episodes with them, anyway, and having him join them was just great.

I loved Nano. The ending of that first episode was just heart-wrenching.

I wonder why Future Ch'rell looks completely different in that episode? You think they would have checked Ch'rell's design before drawing him.