Does anyone else still feel like Season 1 is the best?
 

While I still enjoy the Nick TMNT show, I feel like the show has become hit and miss. The first season in my opinion wasn't perfect, but had the best writing, the most focused storyline, and the most consistent quality. Am I alone on this?

It's a cold hard fact. The loss of Sternin and Ventimilia really hurt the show.

I didn't even know they left. And what about Nieli?

You're not alone. S1 had better writers and story editors.

You're not alone. I think the same.

Like I said, I still enjoy the show and I'm excited for Season 5.

No I feel Season 2 is the best.

I liked Season 2, but what about it do you like more than Season 1?

I didn't watch season 1 until a few weeks before season 2 started but before that I looked at the episode spoilers so I knew what happened before I watched each episode. Season 2 felt more darker than Season 1 and also there were a lot of episodes in Season 2 I loved more than Season 1.

The Invasion
Into Dimension X
The Wrath of Tiger Claw
The Manhattan Project
Vengeance is Mine
Of Rats and Men
Metalhead Rewired
Slash and Destroy
Target April O' Neil
Invasion of the Squirrelnoids
Fungus Humungous

No. I think season one was the best too.

Season four sucks. :(

Season two was tons of fun too, but the humor started slipping and The Kraang started to get REALLY old.

Season 1 was the most solid.
There's good stuff in all of them, but overall Season 1 is the most consistent.

I think that's the best way to describe it. We're not even halfway through with Season 4, and I already want Season 5 if only for Mark Hamill.

I'd probably wager season 2 as well for being the best. Yeah, it had some crappy episodes like Plan 10, and massive filler but it had more moments that stood out in my mind more. Karai's mutation, the debut of Slash, Mutagen Man's struggle and more.

However, season 1 though it doesn't stand out in my mind as much is the most consistent of the show. Everything was tightly connected, a balance of actually good humor and action, and the characters didn't overstay their welcomes. Only problem is like I said the lack of iconic moments (also, Don's crush really pushed itself); I, Monster The Gauntlet and Leatherhead's debut were spectacular. The show dipped in quality for sure though after season 1; though season 2 has episodes I prefer more, season 1 is without a doubt the best of all worlds.

Season 1 only feels the best because everything was "new." It was the first time seeing the Nick personalities of the Turtles and their dynamic, the first time seeing how the show works, the new Splinter, Shredder, etc.

Season 1 had its lackluster episodes. Spiderbitez ep was a bore, and so was the Cockroach Terminator episode. Timmy's first ep before he became Mutagen Man was also dull. Also the one with the go-karts and the water balloons against Dogpound?

Its a good season, sure, but you guys only think its much better because everything was new and fresh.

Oh, is that why some of us like S1 more? Thanks for letting us know why we like the things we do. Must be pretty cool to know exactly why people have their opinions.

Its just fairly obvious. When you're introduced to a show and its characters for the first time, of course everything is going to feel new and fresh. A lot of the Season 1 episodes were typical mutant of the week or Kraang episodes that if they came in any later season people would have just saw them as run of the mill episodes. But since they came first it was a bigger deal.

You really think Spiderbitez, Cockroach, Timmy, Parasitic Wasps, etc. weren't all typical character of the week episodes like they had in Seasons 2-3?

This is why people need to read arguments and reasons instead of generalizing.

Incorrect, the reason people look back at this season is because of consistency. Besides the fillers and the Pulverizer episodes, the majority of the season was primarily good to excellent. Like I said earlier, balance of interactions, comedy and action between characters we don't see often. Even if something doesn't stand out, it's writing was superior overall, though seasons 2 and 3 had some shining examples. Overall though, the quality was better in season 1; it wasn't because of freshness, it's because the writers told a strong narrative which disintegrated later on.

Look through the list again Cube, that's false.

• Rise of the Turtles- Kraang and Snake
• Turtle Temper- minor on Kraang, primarily Spider Bytez
• New Friend Old Enemy- Bradford
• I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman- (obvious on who)
• Metalhead- Kraang
• Monkey Brains- Rockwell (misinformed) and Falco (prior to his change)
• Never Say Xever- (obvious once more)
• The Gauntlet- a little bit of everything: Kraang, the henchmen, and Shredder
• Panic in the Sewers- Bradford/Dogpound
• Mousers Attack!- The Purple Dragons, Baxter, and Dogpound
• It Came From the Depths- Leatherhead (originally misinformed) and Kraang
• I, Monster- Falco/Rat King
• New Girl in Town- Karai's debut and Snakeweed
• The Alien Agenda- a mixture of Kraang and Foot
• The Pulverizer- more focused on Tim, some on Kraang for plot and Foot
• TCRI- Kraang
• Cockroach Terminator- The filler mutant itself, Kraang as a cameo
• Baxter's Gambit- Baxter once more
• Enemy of My Enemy- Kraang and Shredder
• Karai's Vendetta- On April's side, Karai; Turtles' perspective- Kraang though Karai dominated the episode
• The Pulverizer Returns!- The Foot
• Parasitica- The wasps
• Operation: Break Out- Newtrailizer and Kraang
• Showdown- Everything once again

There was more variety in the episodes between the major villains and mutants. After Turtle Temper there was no new mutants not withstanding Rockwell in Monkey Brains until we reached The Gauntlet where Bradford and Xever finally mutated into Dogpound and Fishface respectively. Then, more established veterans in TMNT enter after Mousers Attack1 with Leatherhead, Rat King as Falco, and Karai in that order of release. There were no new mutants after that until Cockroach Terminator and the final three episodes between Enemy of My Enemy and Showdown, though Newtrailizer is an alien so he doesn't count.

There was more variety; sure, the Kraang and Foot Clan dominated but they also took time to sprinkle in the mutants and not shoehorn as many as possible. It's a problem that happened in Northampton during season 3, forcing in way too much to sell action figures instead of giving them a plot. With the exception of the wasps and roach, every mutant had some sort of meaning or relevance.

Ironically, the ones you mentioned outside Tim prior to his change are the mutants of the week you mentioned. That's three of the 26 episodes outside of establishing the series' identity. Tim is the only one who was an actual character as was Rockwell later on and Falco as the Rat King.

I do not get what you're trying to achieve Cubed.

I'll weigh up the best season whenever the show sadly finishes up.

I will say that Season 1 as it stands for me right now has a lot of rewatch value.

I agree, it's the only season with really good jokes that are consistent.

In my opinion, season 2 was the best. Better action, fight scenes etc.
But season 4 got its stand out episodes too like revenge of the triceratons, the arena of carnage, and it's not even over. I've seen some people on here who are really enjoying season 4. Not everyone is the same, some like something better than others do.

This is what I hate about reviewing a series or season while it's ongoing. You don't know how it plays out so all you can play with up until the next episode is just speculation. When it's all over and you've had time to analyze and discover what you've missed, not to mention how everything came together, that's when judgement becomes possible.

Season 2 had a lot of mutant of the week episodes, some I really liked (the Fungus Humoungous episode), and others that were meh like Pizzaface, Sir Malachi, and so forth. There was also as said way too many Kraang episodes in Season 2, that's when I remember people saying they were getting more screentime than Shredder.

Season 3 had a slow start, and I did like some of the Northampton eps but after they got back to NYC I think most of the eps were quite good.

Season 4 is great. I love the space arc, even the weaker episodes aren't too bad. At least it has VARIETY.

I tend to put Season 1 and 2 on a more or less equal footing

Without question. I easily liked the first season the most. I'd say that I've liked each season less and less as the show has gone on.

YES!

Here's how I rank them

1
POWER GAP



























-
3=4
2

Difficult to say for me personally. Despite some filler and a focus on Kraang season 2 had some of my favorite episodes of the entire series (Follow the Leader, Mutagen Man Unleashed, Target April O'Neill, Slash and Destroy, The Good, the Bad and Casey Jones, Manhattan Project, Newtralized, Legend of Kuro Kabuto, Wrath of Tiger Claw, Vengeance is Mine, Chinatown Ghost Story and I even liked that Malachi filler episode)

Season 1 however felt more balanced in general and had gems like Never say Xever, Gauntlet, I, Monster, New Girl in Town, Alien Agenda, Enemy of my Enemy, Karai's Vendetta. It had relatively few episodes I really disliked.

Season 3 was pretty bad but still had gems like Race with the Demon, Eyes of the Chimera, Vision Quest, Return to New York, Serpent Hunt, The Pig and the Rhino, Noxious Avenger and Annihilation: Earth. This season had a lot of episodes I disliked unfortunately.


But overall season 2 was for me the best. Season 1 comes second and season 3 last. Especially because the second half of that season had too many underwhelming episodes.

Aside from some of the Northampton eps, what's the problem with Season 3 now?

I didn't say I have a problem with season 3, I said that there were relatively more episodes I didn't like as much in comparison with season 1 and 2.

I don't have to like each season the same.

In all honesty, I never felt that season 1 was best. I honestly don't have one. I like things about all the seasons so far and seems each season has at least one ep that would make it into a top 10 if I ever made one.

I guess for me, I won't be able to rank the seasons until the series as a whole is done.

I'm with Vicky, I much prefer season 2. Season 1's villain-of-the-week formula got a little tiresome.

Wasn't that the season with about 8 Halloween-themed episodes in a row? :lol:

Too me season 1 is the weakest one so far.

I rank them as:
1. Season 1
2. Season 3
3. Season 2

Season 1 had great humour and I loved the moments with the family interacting with each other.

Season 2 had way too many mutant of the week and really bad filler episodes. It had some really good episodes but as an overall season I didn't really enjoy it and it was starting to turn me off the series. I think that the only filler episodes I liked were Fungus Humungous and Mazes and Mutants. I don't mind filler if it's good but Pizza Face?

I actually really liked season 3. Northampton, for the most part, was a lot of fun and I loved pretty much all of the episodes that came after Northampton. For me, it's not far behind season 1.

I'll have to see the rest of season 4 before I judge it but at the moment I'm really enjoying it and I love the Fugitoid. I haven't disliked any of the episodes so far.

Not season 4?

Nah, Season 3 is the best. I love the creepy episodes they got going on.

Season 2's "Invasion of the Squirrelanoids" was absolutely amazing as well. More horror please. :tlove:

That might be true. While I did like season 1 but a lot of it was meant to be look as set up and establishment of the characters.

However later part of season 3 feels like season 1 in terms of keeping up with a storyline but having the flexibility making episodes that are different and can stand out in memory. Season 3 had the best of both worlds in beginning by being experimental and focus on concepts and later part of having some conclusion with the mind serum arc at the near end.

I haven't really watch all episodes of season 4 but I had mostly watched ones that sounded really interesting to me and that might be the best way to watch this show for the most part.

This...pretty much for me too.

Get.


Out.


Now.

I'll admit the season 1 is the most coherent of the shows seasons. None of the characters felt overused or underused and some like Fishface had hints of something more to them. It did have a few characterization problems, like Raph was too much of an asshole at the beginning but they subsided over time

I like season 2 more because almost all episodes stood out to me. Every one kept me entertained and interested and I end up re watching them the most, whereas season 1 had some tedious eps like Pulverizer Baxter Stockman's debut and Parasitica. It did have some problems, like the April and mutagen plots just stopping after a while and Fishface's derailment, but in the end I could forgive it.

I still rewatch S1 from time to time.