In retrospect it's interesting how Nick's first series was "safe" compared to later
 

After getting Rise of the TMNT and Mutant Mayhem, in retrospect it's interesting how the 2012 series "played it safe" for the most part as it seems like TMNT is getting further and further away from its roots or what's it's known for.

The Nick 2012 made some obvious changes (April being a teenager for the first time was a big one, but I feel that worked really well with this version of the Turtles), but everything about TMNT history and lore was kept pretty close or with fun adaptions that fit this universe.

They kept Hamato Yoshi and Saki's rivalry over Tang Shen, how the Turtles lived for 15 years underground. The Foot Clan was written as both humans and robots, and then humans again. Most of the mutants besides a few were kept somewhat close to their original origins and some updates (which is understandable, characters do not have to be 1:1 and that's fine). The whole Kraang/Utrom stuff actually worked really well too, with the Kraang being an off-shoot branch of the Utroms that got brainwashed by Kraang Prime.

Also the Nick show had a lot of loose adaptions of major events in TMNT history from Mirage, the original cartoon, etc. that you knew what they were doing. That's not to say everything was done perfectly, some characters were in name-only (Hun being the biggest offender), but for the most part compared to Rise and Mutant Mayhem, it's interesting we got one show that "played it safe" for the most part. I feel if they went with wacky incarnations right off the bat back in 2012, it would have been far harder to swallow.

Well I think it only seems that way now. Back when 2012 TMNT was coming out, it had embraced it's own CGi style animation which doesn't always go well. It made April a young school girl and it was one of the first to take most of the mutants and make them "monsters" instead of "people animals".

You have to remember that ten years ago a lot of people were on the fence as to a lot of that, but the humor and unabashed darker "ninja stuff" kept people roped in.

I really liked the 2012 series from start to finish, I feel like the changes from past versions were more reasonable and easier for past fans to accept than what we saw in Rise and even MM. I also really appreciate some of the unique things it did like all of the horror and super sentai references. I wish it had lasted for another season or two.

It was still considered safe back then. By March 2012, six month prior to the first episode aired, Michael Bay had announced the plans for the upcoming movies.

:lol: Oh well sure by that comparison.... :lol:

Not sure what you mean by 'safe', but I personally like it when a movie or TV show sticks close to the original source material, be it a book, comic boook or something else.
What I like best about the 2012 version is that it is the only incarnation of the Turtles that emphasizes the facts that they are [U]teenagers[U] and [U]ninjas[U], something which doesn't really come through in any other version.
Also, I am not usually a big fan of CGI, but it worked really well for this series.

I want all TMNT cartoons to be animated in different styles. Different animation makes each cartoon more unique.

In the context that we are discussing it here, I would say that "safe" basically means without dramatic deviation from the source material or in the case of TMNT, the most popular iteration.

I mean, it was Nick's first foray into the Ninja Turtles, so "safe" is the best route they could have taken. That's not to say there weren't some risks though. For example, this was the first time that they killed off Splinter, which is naturally going to make some fans unhappy.

Safe or not, this is much better show than Rise of the TMNT, IMO.

Onscreen, Yes. Fred Wolf had him gone already in Once Upon a Time Machine from 1991.

I don't agree with it playing safe: they made Turtles more teenagers, rather than young adults (its how they were portrayed in the previous incarnations in my opinion), which radically impacted the tone of the series, alongside the fact that other characters received an age lift. On its own its pretty different. Than there is whole stuff about Karai, Utroms, mutants being more monstrous than usual deal.

Personally I disliked a lot of its decisions, like Turtles being teenagers is not bad on its own, but usually in such TV series, they are written by adults, who portray teens as incredibly annoying and cringy. I didn't like making Mikey a brain damaged idiot either, though it was "natural" evolution of his character after 2k3. April, Casey and Karai being teens was...meh...for me as well.

Mutants being more grotesque and not just furry-bait was...eh....it might have lend itself for interesting stories, but you can go just so far with another inhuman brainless monstrosity. It doesn't help that early in its life series relied on "monster of the week" formula, so it was just boring.

As I said before, I've never watched it to the end, so I can't have a full fleshed opinion on it, but I felt in itself series was a rather big departure from past incarnations and not for the better, in my opinion.

That's like one episode in a series, which barely anyone remembers.

Oddly enough, I enjoyed Season 5 the most, especially the episodes involving Renet starting in Season 3 and Usagi. Those are worth watching. Other than that, I never was a big fan of the overall direction and characters of the show. The pacing could be confusing at times as well. The style of the 1990 movie and the 2003 series is more of what I look for in TMNT.

I enjoy the horror theme Season 3 the most. Oh and he Usagi Yojimbo episodes too.

Still weird how they changed Han from a bulky huge man to a slim, a petite Bruce Lee. Just create a new character.

What I also find weird is that how little Hun was actually used. He appeared in only like four episodes. He was nowhere to be seen during the City at War arc, despite being one of Shredder's henchmen.

Yeah such wasted potential.

I don't they played it safe at all. At the time a lot of people hated the designs and a lot of other choices the show took.

Like making Irma into a Kraang. Especially since the reveal came out of left-field. This one still sours me to this day. Irma and Kraang Sub-Prime should have existed as separate characters.

Those first... 2.5 seasons will always be special to me. Definitely an interesting bonding point between my then 3 year old daughter and myself. Then it was all Monster High or whatever and the episodes that followed didn't engage as much. And maybe the material started getting a little too silly.

I don't necessarily think the show had declining quality across seasons around season 3, but I had declining interest across seasons after around season 3.....

They just started doing more and more stuff that I wasn't into. Yet I still look back fondly on the show in general.

Like previous TMNT TV series.

Hm. Yeah I guess on a technicality that might be true.

I stopped watching Fred Wolf shortly around the time it went to Saturday mornings, but that was more of a function of generally being out or active than, as opposed to getting home after school on a weekday on unwinding with TMNT.

TMNT 2003 still looks interesting to this day, but I've only watched it sparingly. Again, when it was on I was 25 or so and just had other things going on.

So really, TMNT 2012 is the only show where I authentically grew more disinterested solely on the merits of the show itself rather than how I was spending my time at that particular moment.

for me, season 1 was tops.

season 2 was WAY overboard with mutants, and it felt like alot of storypoints went missing, or forgotten.

Season 3, one or two farm house eps where ok, the rest where just outright weird or gross and not needed.

4 was the next best one from 1, and 5 second.

Season 2 is my favorite, then Season 1. I like the later seasons too, but the first two seasons are the ones I gravitate towards the most. If we count half-seasons, I would probably put Season 3B after Season 1. It was great to see Bebop and Rocksteady again, and Season 3's finale was my favorite out of them all.