CBR's "Top Ten Cartoons That Aged Terribly/Or Are Timeless"
 

https://www.cbr.com/terrible-and-timeless-cartoons/

...The same article lists Transformers G1 as "timeless", but cite the same reasons they deride the first TMNT show for (simplistic stories, made to sell toys, but it's FUN)

What. I don't how the Turtles can be considered annoying.

I thought the article was heretical enough to criticize the Original Tmnt Cartoon.

Then, I saw Superman the Animated Series on there and knew I had enough :lol:

And this is true, so what's the problem?

I think because its missing the point. The original TMNT cartoon was never trying to be a serious cartoon. It was a parody/satire of action cartoons from the start. The show made fun of itself all the time, we're not supposed to wonder why the villains are incompetent.

The problem is you've grown up

bbbuttttt iiiittttss aaallllll pppoiiintlesssss!

I don't think being an adult is a barrier to enjoying the Original Cartoon.

But if he thought it was annoying and immature, does the intention really matter?

It mostly is. I guess alcohol, marijuana, sleep deprivation and nostalgia might break it down a bit. I doubt most adults with little to no experience with it would like it while sober.

There can be ways to enjoy it as an adult, either if you have kids yourselves and want to give them a starter before moving up to the edgier material, or, like me, watching classic episodes and "rewriting them" as fanfic adaptations.

I never watched the Original Cartoon as a kid and got into it later on and still loved it.

Even the worst episodes have something I enjoy, whether it be the performances of the voice actors, the soundtrack, the self aware humour or just a sense of charm/heart in general.

G1 Transformers is timeless? Oh okay :lol:

Very, very easily. Extremely annoying.

In any case, this and everything else like it is always a matter of opinion, never fact.

They have stupid opinion though. Like the people who claim AIDS is harmless.

I love that you're comparing people's poor opinion of a made-for-toys cartoon to people negating the impact of a horrific disease.

Stay classy, Shark Blade.

Never found the Turtles annoying, 2k3 Mike had some really annoying moments though as the series progressed. None of the OT Turtles had moments like that.

I strongly disagree.

As an adult I see the humor is nearly perfect for my sense of humor. I love puns and sarcasm and that is the basis of the humor in the the 1987 cartoon. I believe my taste in humor was formed thanks to this cartoon peppered with Full House. The 2012 cartoon had darker moments (like Splinter's murder and death of three villains) yet its goofy humor was not my thing. Butt canons on Kraang robots among other things? Its gross humor or stupid funny. Neither humor amuses me as it does not follow the humor type that the 1987 cartoon had and shaped my preferences.

Michelangelo is annoying outside of the 1987 cartoon on the small screen.

The turtles have always been a lot of parody on older hero or superhero comics.

The villains were not allowed to be fully competent. How else could a series go on for so long if that was not the case? Excuses for the Technodrome to be inoperable or stuck were in common need even after Shredder Triumphant. If not tweaked in effectiveness it would have taken a finality within a few episodes instead of an exile where they likely could return. Especially with Shredder, the Foot Soldiers, a horde of mutants beyond just Bebop and Rocksteady and combined with Krang and the rock soldiers, the Technodrome and the vast array of weaponry. Earth would be conquered in a quicker time than any other TMNT incarnation.

I wonder what people behind this "thinkpiece" would have thought of Mike from 2k12?

Never ever Turtles from 87 felt as annoying to me. Guess, I have better tolerance for silly humor, than some of local jaded veterans.

Also, the fact that those people consider Transformers G1 timeless, when it's guilty of the same stuff as Turtles, is hilarious. I was trying to watch G1 decade ago and was able to slog only through the first few episodes.

Or just appreciating silly cartoon for what it is.
But since you are all grown up and serious this is absolutely forbidden!! :lol:

Harmless comparison has triggered you? :lol:

My ninja! ;)

It's just a random guy's crappy opinion on a big website but it doesn't validate it and the only reason he has that job you can see by looking at all the other articles he's written, it's all clickbait. The list is rather safe with a few of his personal favorites tainting the whole list's credibility.


I found transformers awful, what makes TMNT more re-watchable than G1 is that it never took itself too seriously and was always self-aware while G1 has the same faults but tried to play it straight.

I also find the humor of the OT fare superior to the other TMNT shows including TNM/2k3/Nick. The OT humor is either self-aware, straight up bizarre and the dumb jokes are so dumb they're just funny even if not the way they're supposed to. While the other shows go for either gross out humor or "i'm acting silly so it's funny", so yeah usually Mikey acting sillier than any of the OT turtles ever did in any one episode.

Thank you! I totally agree with you on that one! Sure TMNT'87 is cheesy at times, but in my opinion it's not as cheesy as the original '80s Transformers or He-Man! The dialog in TMNT'87 was bit goofy at times, but like the 'Adam West' Batman, it's more of a joke or parody. In other words, it's not to be taken too seriously. I guess it really boils down to, "to each their own" kinda thing, because to be perfectly honest, I can EASILY get thru multiple episodes of TMNT'87; not so much for the '80s TF's or He-Man!

He's right though, compared to the 2k3 or 2k12 series the show has very little action or continuity, and most episodes after the first season aren't very good.

Serious
 

Even if I like such lists, and most people would agree with animated Batman, don't take the lists too serious. At the end, it's the writer's taste.

I think the big problem is that its compared not to other TMNT series, but to other cartoons of the 80-s, which were made in the same mold as TMNT.

Are there any such Internet lists, where various TMNT series are compared to each other?

I found one with TMNT videogames here:

https://www.cbr.com/15-tmnt-video-ga...worst-to-best/

That's not exactly what I've meant. :o

Even if the action scenes aren't the best, TMNT has the best humour-dynamic with characters interacting (Manhattan sewers, Channel 6 and Technodrome).

Agreed. Some of the episodes are actually more fun for me to watch as an adult, as a lot of humour such as Raphael’s sarcastic remarks and the banter between Shredder and Krang went over my head as a kid. Parts of the cartoon haven’t aged well, but it still holds up better than most 80s/90s kids shows, imo.

I always liked Krang and Shredder arguing as a child, even if I didn't know it was based on an old married couple.

The only thing that bothers me is the cot out climaxes from 3 different season 3 episodes. There was the antique collector alien ship coming out of nowhere to solve the plot and not making much sense in Ninja Sword to Nowhere. Then there was the Cur-Lee Maneuver which was a three stooge prank that stuns an opponent not a move exclusive to a clan leader in Blast From The Past. Finally, there was the magical moth balls from Michelangelo's Birthday. All three let me down with cop out climaxes.

Aside from that the plot of Raphael Knocks 'Em Dead was out there though I appreciate the red headed twin of Baxter, Barney Stockman! Funny, Funny, They Shrunk Michelangelo and Donatello's Badd Time are just bad episodes.

It was not meant to be and even though I thought it odd I did not see the creepy factor, but as an adult Don Turteli's tickling bare feet for information with a feather gimmick is foot fetish really creepy.

Aside from Dregg, Carter, and Zack's presences that sums up my discontent with the series. Even the best of TMNT has its clunkers or things that a fan can object to no matter how much they love it or how good the product truly is.

Funnily enough, those are some of my favourite climaxes in the whole series. Felt very self aware as if the characters were winking to the audience.

...the f**k?

I tried watching a few episodes a few years ago and just couldn't do it. The voice acting is poor (Cullen actually improved with age/time/experience, for one), the animation is well... standard for the 80s, and all else I have to say is CARBOMBYA.

Actually I think the TMNT is the only 80s cartoon I can still stomach and that may be partially due to bias. 80s cartoons did not age well at all.

I personally enjoy Jem as a over the top and chessy cartoon.

Well I can't speak for that. I don't think I've seen a full episode.

You should watch one episode, its full of over the top 80s cheese where a rival band instead of talking crap to Jem's band or at worst sabotage their equipment outright tries to kill them.

I've watched some GI Joe later (never as a child), and like it. Cobra are so badass for a terrorist group, brainwashing their enemies, forcing them to fight Roman gladiator-styled games, and torturing them!

The science fiction elements in GI Joe make the Baader-Meinhof Group and Islamic State appear like infants in a sandbox.

http://i.imgur.com/lieZMd2.gif

Thank you. Just because it was targeting a young audience at the time doesn't mean it still isn't a good cartoon series today.

I give them credit for putting RGB as timeless but almost everything in that list is total nonsense. Transformers was a worse offender than TMNT of trying to sell toys. Hasbro literally gave the writers notes as to which Transformers to include in each episode which made the episodes not only formulaic (energon cubes again?) but totally cynical. Sure Transformers may be one of the most famous cartoons of the 80s but in terms of actual quality it's one of the worst. For all those people like neatoman that complain the FW series was a toy commercial it was nowhere near as bad as Transformers. The FW series at least had variety in it's plots and while it had a toyline you could make the same argument for pretty much 90% of every cartoon series made in the last four decades. At the very least the 80s cartoon was B tier in terms of quality.