Thoughts on the Channel Six Crew?
 

I was recently going through my marathon of the OT and just finished season 1. I noticed that the channel six crew didn't feel the same here as they did in later seasons. Burne wasn't initially as angry/comical as he was in the later seasons with the exception of a few moments in 'Shredder and Splintered', Vernon felt completely different and Irma was missing altogether.

Looking back, as much I think the first season was well done, the absence of the Channel Six dynamic felt very odd.

Alot of people here seem to prefer the first season of the FW cartoon over the rest and I have a feeling most despise the channel six crew dynamic that was almost completely missing from the first season.

Personally, I found the Channel Six crew very fun to watch and found them charming from season 2 of the OT onwards until the end of season 7, believing that their presence contributing to the more comedic elements present in seasons 2-7 which I believe held their own advantages against seasons 1, 8, 9 and 10.

So, What are your thoughts on the Channel Six crew from the OT? Do you prefer them having that sitcom dynamic of seasons 2-7 or do you think that they should've stayed minor like the first and eighth season?

Irma
 

Irma probably didn't start working there until early season 2. Not such a big deal.

I preferred the Channel Six crew dynamic from season 2 onwards to season 7, but I liked the way they were protrayed in seasons one and eight as well. I thought they were all fun to watch, though Burne and Vernon were mostly one-dimensional. I would have liked if Vernon had kept some of his season 1 characterisation.

Newsvan
 

And the newsvans switched colour between seasons 1-2. (also no big deal but it's as from season 2 most of us remember them)

Needs a third option for relative indifference. I don't love them or hate them, really. They're fine/amusing in their own universe (if a bit unnecessary, in terms of how often they're focused on), but I don't want to ever see them appear again. The fact we have Will Arnett as Vern in a leading role is such malarky (nothing against the actor though).

Never cared for them.

In the OT universe they all had their funny moments and it was nice to see April play off of other characters and banter with them. I don't think they belong in any other TMNT universe though and I don't see the need for them to be used again.

But Irma/Vernon/Burne did have some funny/amusing scenes in various episodes and some ep plots were based around them.

Liked them. They made show more fun and alive.
Was disappointed, when they were removed from the series.

Now with Casey Jones in the second film, Vernon feels even more out of place.

Burne and Vernon belong best to versions where April is a reporter.

They don't really make sense otherwise.

Maybe there would be some ways for them in other versions. Like if April is a schoolgirl, Vernon is schoolteacher and Burne headmaster. :)

He means in the OT universe their characters make sense because April works in a newsroom, but they don't fit in any other universe.

I loved them. Wish I knew what they were doing in seasons 9 and 10 though.

I also like that the Channel 6 News building has characteristic background music (that even made it to the Turtles in time videogame).

I find them more and more entertaining the older I get. The Channel Six "B plot" really makes the old show feel like a traditional sitcom.

Technodrome
 

Even the Technodrome setting is unique on its own with Krang and Shredder arguing.

Probably drinking away the sorrows of unemployment until they succumbed to alcohol poisoning.

Irma's boyfriend
 

And Irma probably out running after a new boyfriend.

Even after all these years I can't figure out if Vernon was supposed to be gay or just a man with some feminine traits. I'm trying to remember if there are any scenes where Vernon shows interest in any female in the show, but I can't remember any.

I can't remember any either, but I haven't watched most of the series in years. There was a scene in Donatello's Degree, though, where Vernon tells April that he might need some mouth-to-mouth First Aid or something like that. It's implied that he actually does like the opposite sex.

I can't figure out if Vernon was supposed to be gay or not either. I think the writers wanted it to be left ambigious. I thought he was straight in season one, though.

Well most of the OT aired in the 80's and early 90's. Having a blatant gay character in a children's cartoon just wasn't done back then. They likely left it ambiguous on purpose.

Unlike Irma who spent most of her run trying to find a guy to date, we know she was straight.

Gadgetman
 

I liked the idea of Burne Thompson having Gadgetman as childhood hero.

I guess you could say the OT was ahead of its time? Then again vernon's character is comic-relief. He's a wimpy arrogant and chauvinistic man.

I didn't see Vern as gay, not everyone who has feminine traits is gay, he was just meant to be unlikeable. I think there are episodes where he oogles women like Thompsons' girls. I'm surprised some of you wouldn't want to see these characters in other incarnations, I think they're great and Vern in the movie was awesome IMO. I mean I wouldn't want any of them have as much screentime as they did in the OT but would want to see them from time to time.

Vern being a jerk is always funny and Irma being so into boys always got me to laugh. Thompson is the only character that I have mixed feelings about since sometimes he is just a JJ Jameson rip-off and others he does feel like his own character even if he hates the turtles.

Well also the whole point was to show that April was braver and more headstrong than him, or Irma for that matter. April never quaked in fear even when she was kidnapped.

I saw him as gay when I was 7-8 years old or so. Because he seemed like a walking gay stereotype to me. But I don't consider him gay nowadays. Just narcissistic and chauvinistic. As you've said, he has subtly shown interest in a few women throughout the show.

Funnily enough, Vernon was kinda tolerable in the first season. He also had a manlier sounding voice.

Yeah, April was a pretty strong independent woman. She never gets a bf or a husband in the show either. Naturally she got saved by the Turtles often because they're the heroes of the show and she doesn't know martial arts like them or Shredder did. Still, April has saved the Turtles a few times and has been a HUGE help to them throughout the show.

I guess the FW series was some years ahead when it came to having a strong female character? :P

April and Irma against Burne and Vernon also reflected people's opinions about the turtles-mutants in general.

It might be a gay stereotype, but I'm getting the "cowardly non-helper guy" out of him more. You know the type - selfish, doesn't want to risk his position but wants fame and money at the same time. The gay stereotype thing might come from that, but unless we can interview whoever came up with Vernon we'll never know for sure.

Besides the usual "how do you define a strong independent woman?" I should note it's really hard to divorce FW from the cartoon climate at the time. Yea, I am a broken record here, but "kidnapping the girl" was one of those stock episode plots everyone used. And oh boy did FW love to use that. Can't really blame April on that in some episodes. Those episodes you can blame her for is when she does something that a journalist should know is stupid or even retarded and sets off the plot that way.

That said, boy cartoons at the time often had a token girl in the main cast (some, like the Gummi Bears, had two or more) He-Man's She-Ra and Bucky o'Hare's Jenny are just two examples. Hell, even the Ewoks cartoon (yea, remember that? no?) had a girl character as a mainstay! And this was, remember, before the darker trend began.

So while April's not really unique in that sense - and we could spend ages discussing how April's different from others, I think I'm gonna keep my opinion on this short and to the point. My guess is that She-Ra and April as characters were part of a trend where cartoon producers in the short term wanted to broaden their audience without too much effort. Eventually, though, the darker trend began to take hold - and you can see that the trend + inspiration from characters like She-Ra and April resulted in Gargoyles' Elisa and Angela as well as Biker Mice from Mars' Charlie (of course, as BMfM was a Turtles clone Charlie's their April essentially) up to Legend of Korra and Steven Universe's characters recently / today.

Again, only a guess, but that's something you kinda notice.

EDIT: Oh, and as for the Channel 6 crew? Meh. It's probably because they were more of an afterthought most episodes, and probably because I've seen their character types elsewhere. Of course, it could have been better if they had a bit more screen time, but this is a cartoon that ended production 20 years ago. What's done is done.

The funny thing is there were other Channel 6 members too. Like the older guy with blonde hair and a blonde mustache who used to talk with a funny news accent on TV. Then there was the cameraman who appeared in a few episodes and Blodget.

I really enjoyed the Channel 6 news team. It was great to have a bunch of recurring characters for April to play against. Considering how much Vernon was supposed to hate April there were a couple of episodes where you got the sense he actually cared about her like in The Big Rip-Off. As to whether Vernon was gay, I think he was more camp than gay saying stuff like 'oh icky poo' when a lobster bit his finger. He was written to be effeminate to make April stronger.

Maybe in the next season 5 crossover of the Nick show, we can get a brief cameo of the channel six members? Renae Jacobs has been a guest star on the Nick show before and I'm sure Pat Fraley will still nail his voice as Burne. I know the main focus is supposed to be on the two turtle teams and the two shredders but I think that a small cameo from the Channel Six crew or even good old Casey Jones would be nice, seeing how the current show acknowledged them in Wormquake.

I did appreciate that the show at least showed the Channel Six building in both of the OT crossover episodes. But it is kind of a tease to see more!

I don't think Irma and Vernon will appear next time. But I'm confident that April will make an appearance. Maybe even Burne in a cameo since Pat Fraley will be appearing again.

Even episodes like "The Turtles and the Hare" showed other employes, and several other episodes with other reporters (especially during season 2). There seemed to have been hundreds of people working inside that building and that's how it shall be.