Splinter's origin story.
 

While I'm only familiar with the 2003 series, I have read a bit about the old show. It seems that both series contradic each other when it comes to Splinter. In the old series, Splinter started off as Hamato Yoshi, a Foot Clan member who was forced to live in the New York sewers where his only friends were the rats. But one day he found the broken TCRI canister and the four turtles. When he retrieved them it started a mutation, because Yoshi had been exposed to all the sewer rats, the ooze caused him to mutate into a giant rat. And as the turtles had been handled by Yoshi the ooze caused them to grow to human size.

Whereas in the new series, Splinter was just Hamato Yoshi's pet. He learned the ways of the ninja by copying his master. But when The Shredder came alone a murdered Yoshi, Splinter ran away. Eventually he found the turtles and the canister and retrieved them, but the ooze caused them all to grow, to mutate.


Hmmm, which origin story do you prefere?

Definately the old TMNT show. The fact that he was once human helps explain why he knows Shredder and why he knows ninjitsu. I like how Shredder was his student who resented his master.

i voted for splinter as a pet cuz i tought you were asking if that was the original, then i read your post and realized you were asking which one was my favorite :roll: , i preffer splinter as hamato yoshi cuz it makes more sense

In the context of the old cartoon, the mutated a lot of people into whatever animal was closest to them at the time. Bebop and Rocksteady were a mutant warthog and rhino respectively because that is what Shredder got to mutate them with. Baxter was mutated with a fly because that was what was in the chamber with him. April was mutated into a number of things (like a cat) because that's what was nearby. I always thought that was kind of cool to be mutated with whatever animal you had come in contact with at the time of the mutation. Of course, I never understood how all these people were mutated into animals because they were in contact with those animals, but the Turtles were never human. They were always Turtles that just became larger and smarter when mutated. It's like they had two forms of mutation in that show that just didn't seem to fit well together.

After reading the comics since the old show and watching the new toon, I think I like the comic/new show version of mutation better. It just makes more sense. Both Splinter and the Turtles underwent the same form of mutation meaning they went from an animal to a bigger, more intelligent animal, so that meshes a lot better. Also, you've not got mutants coming out of the woodwork in every single episode. In the old cartoon, there was always somebody accidentally getting mutated or Shredder experimenting on. It made the whole mutation thing a little silly. I like the way the comic and new cartoon handle mutation a lot more.

We've got mutants in the new show, Stonebiter, Riserfist and Quarry. I've also heard Leatherhead is returning in season 2.

Of course the original story is better. The only reason It was changed for the old cartoon, is the fact they couldn't show death in kiddies cartoon back then.

Yes, there are a couple cases of mutants in the new series. But they are few and far between. And I prefer the original mirage/movies/2003 toon origins for Splinter. The only reason the original toon went the way of having it be Hamato Yoshi, was because they couldn't have Yoshi being murdered by Shredder in the original toon. :)

:nod:

Heh, is there a echo here?

To be fair, I was typing at the same time you were posting. :P

holy $*it Jarrah this is like the 7th topic you made O.o

Yeah, new people tend to bring back these VS threads...

As a pet, since it's the original story, and screwing with origins is a no-no in my book.

I've liked both, but my art of Splinter makes him more humanish...

As a pet. Don't really know why.

The old cartoon origin I've always thought made more sense. This is yet another topic that has been brought up before. I say that rats may be smart but just because Splinter mimiced Yoshi in his cage undergoing a mutation of some sort wouldn't teach him how to use it or remember all of it.

thats just how i feel

Except that Splinter wasn't an ordinary rat to begin with. Besides the fact he was intelligent, he lived for over 15 years before he got mutated.

splinter's origin
 

I liked the story of Hamato Yoshi turning into the rat...I kinda liked it that Splinter was an actual human instead of just an intelligent rat. The fact that he was actually Shredder's old sensei I thought was cooler than just a rat that attacked him from a cage. The other story wasn't bad, it was cool too, I just prefer the cartoon one more.

The only thing that still kinda gets me is that the mutation makes you turn into the animal you were nearest to at the time of exposure right? (Thus, baxter, bebop, etc). So why didn't he turtles mutate in a hybrid with Splinter (a rat) and Splinter, in turn, mutate into a mix with the turtles. They themselves were the last animals they were in contact with after the exposure...in fact splinter had been livin under the sewers for some time prior to the ooze fallin into the drain...he should be even less likely to turn humanish than the turtles...(this of course goes for the pet rat story)

I liked the "human-into-a-rat" version because it was just easier to believe in a way and seemed a little less ridiculous. I remember when I was 8 and saw the first movie in theatres with my older sister and my cousin; none of us had any idea about the Mirage comics, only the old cartoon, so we had no idea about Splinter's origin as a rat. We must not have been the only ones; when they showed Splinter as a rat doing kicks and stuff in his cage, almost the entire theatre erupted with laughter and a few "oh come ON"s as if it were the most ridiculous thing ever, and my cousin gave me a look like she wanted to kill me for dragging her to this movie. So I admit I never liked that version of the origin from the start.

I never heard anything about Splinter not being a normal rat until like today or when someone mentioned it like two days ago in another thread; where'd you hear that? Was it ever actually explained that he was already undergoing some sort of mutation, or is it just assumed?

I'unno, as I've said before, I know the entire thing about the TMNT is really farfetched in general, but for some reason I can buy everything EXCEPT a pet rat doing martial arts moves in its cage. :lol: So I like the other origin better.

agreed.. :D

Well I think it's far more ridiculous that some substance turns life forms what they had last touched. Especially since it happens instantly. With OOze it makes sense that it alters the DNA, and they actually grow to be diffrent.

And then, Hamato Yoshi touched the turtles, so why didn't he become a turtle? How can animals mutated to humanoids talk instantly? Well it's children's show, and they needed to find a non violent way to tell the origin. Logic or no, it did work for the old cartoon.

no seriously, is not worse than a rat that mimics the master's moves

That has already been explained. He was never a ordinary rat. Neither of theories are realistic, but for me the original one makes much more sense.

none of the theories are realistic, thats true but this one is the least realistic one, way waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy less realistic, no matter how smart a rat is it wont be that smart

Where was it explained though?

I guess I should say that I prefer the *concept* of the idea behind the "human-into-a-rat" mutation, not the execution. It definitely shouldn't have been an instantaneous transformation, it should have taken place slowly. But I guess they felt it needed to be condensed for time purposes in the old show so they could get to some toy commercials or something.

They said it a few times on the letters page. One other thing that bothers me is that the relationshop between Splinter and Oroku Saki isn't as personal. The again, they newer tried to avenge anything in the old cartoon, just stop Shredder's new plot.

This is why I love the Archies. They made the fights with Splinter and Shredder Very personal. The archies are what the cartoon Should've become...

Ah mkay I must have missed it. I stopped reading most of the letters because I got sick of the way Laird would reply to people that said something he didn't like. Rather than get all worked up about it I just stopped reading 'em unless someone I know wrote in.

And yeah while I prefer the cartoon version of Splinter's origin (with slight differences) the cartoon's story as a whole really dropped the ball with the handling of the whole Splinter/Shredder relationship. It still could have been done well without killing Yoshi, it'd just take some more creativity on the part of the writer's, but telling a story took a backseat to selling toys in the old cartoon.

Laird has said it numerous times, that he was always a mutant. That's why he had such a long lifespan, and could learn to do his masters moves from his cage, and retain all this knowledge. It was also detailed more in the TMNT RPG book that Eastman and Laird collaberated on. :)

So true. And have to agree with Machi, Archie was like well written version of the cartoon. And the later books even got pretty mature feel in them.

so splinter was always a mutant?, how? this could make me change my mind :s

Wonder how it happened then. I'm not debating the fact, just saying this is the first I've heard of it. But again, as I've said few places around here carried the Mirage comic and just forget about the RPG and other stuff. I didn't even know what the difference was except for Mirage being black and white until I finally found an issue in 1999.

I think neither Eastman or Laird knows the answer for that.

theyre startingto list the archies on the official site. And I myself love the Blindsight three parter. Incredibly mature for its time. I cried when I saw Mike being tortured on the US Gov't Boat... :cry:

I've been thinking I should buy the later issues. I have most of them in Finnish, but they are in terrible condition.

when was mike tortured?

Ah one'a them "made it up as they went along" deals. I getcha.

Which is understandable, it's just another thing people do in comics that I don't like is all. I never liked Wolverine for the fact he was created without an origin and that everything we know about him was made up as the writers went along. Just always seems like lazy writing to me. Like "eh, we'll explain it when we get around to it." But what can ya do, right?

I will say that unexplained or no, if Splinter was always a mutant of some kind it makes more sense than it would if he were a normal rat. Me? I'm gonna say residual nuclear fallout from World War II because that's more of an explanation than what we already have. :lol:

I don't know about the made it up as they go on. Since they've been pretty much saying that since the beginning, it was always implied there was something special about him. So the fact that he was born a mutant, makes sense. They're doens't need to be ooze for there to be a genetic mutation take place in cells. :)