Splinter's use of "My Sons" in the original toon
 

So I've been rewatching Seasons 1-6 on DVD lately so I can go through the series again before Season 7 comes out, and I do notice that in some eps they treat them as a family.

Splinter has called them, "My sons" in a number of eps, rather than "My Turtles" or "My wards," but they're select eps here and there.

And while the Turtles call each other "friends" in a lot of episodes, there are also other eps we're they're referred to as brothers. In the ep when the Turtles turn back into kids, they call Michaelangelo "Our big brother," and so forth.

Likewise although I can't remember which ep it is, Splinter tells Michaelangelo that, "You must be as strong as your brother Turtles," when he was doubting himself.

My question is why did this change from ep to ep? It seems like some writers treated them as brothers and in other eps they did not.

On another note, Mike still using his nunchucks in select Season 4 eps but only his Grappling hook in others. Heh, by Season 5 the chucks are gone, but in Season 4 he alternated between the two.

Maybe because they're not a family by blood? They don't need to refer to themselves as "brothers" and "father" every five minutes like the do in the 2003 cartoon. I don't know why everyone gets their feathers ruffled by this. Even as a little kid watching the old cartoon, I always knew they were a makeshift family.

Family
 

They live like a family. Probably that.

While it's pretty obvious that there's no way that Splinter can be their father by blood, what makes you so sure that the Turtles aren't genetic brothers? As far as I can remember, the ONLY time they've ever specified that they weren't blood related was in Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. But, on the other hand... it was Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. I wouldn't be surprised if that was something that Saban came up with on a whim simply so that it wouldn't seem like incest when they were all attracted to Venus. But... they still referred to her as a "sister", if I recall correctly, so... ya. Having an adopted sister myself, I can tell you right now that even if Venus wasn't blood related, that doesn't make it seem any less wrong to me. :ohwell:

But, now I'm getting off-topic...

I'm not sure how turtle breeding/selling works, but it seems unlikely to me that four random pet shop turtles would be blood relatives. Not that it matters as part of the story. They still consider themselves a family.

It's possible that the turtles are genetically related. The pet shop could have been supplied by a breeder.
I personally like when the turtles call him Splinter when talking on a personal/informal level, and I always like it when Splinter calls the turtles his sons.

Well I meant as kids, didn't we all see the old toon Turtles as a family?

Even as a kid I knew they were all brothers somehow, even if they didn't say it in each episode.

Yeah, part of me wonders if the movie ingrained the "family" dynamic into me more than the show. I'm sure in figure play and even TMNT role playing as a kid, I never called my friends Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo, and they never called me Raphael. We always used the more familiar shortened names, which were never used in the original series either.

I think its official that the turtles are not blood related, its been stated other places than next mutation, its in their bio on the old 88 figures

TMNT version
 

I don't say you're wrong, but it may differ between different TMNT versions. What's "true" in one is not "true" in another TMNT version.

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. It was the movie that really defined them as a family for me, because the movie showed them with intense emotions for one another whereas the OT didn't really get into that. Undestandably so, considering it was a kids' toon!

I've wondered if maybe not all of the turtles are genetically related, but, say Raph and Mikey are actually biological brothers, but Don and Leo aren't related to them or each other?

I think that's one of those things I'd rather have left undefined. It doesn't matter who's actually related to who as long as they consider themselves brothers.

Exactly. Blood doesn't necessarily a family make, it's a group of people who love each other and support eachother.

I just watched "Donatello's Badd Time," that ep from Season 5 where those hillbillies steal the Turtle Van, and Splinter calls Don, "My son" in that episode.

Everytime Splinter talks to the Turtles I pay attention now to see how many times he calls them "My Sons" as opposed to "My Turtles" or "My students."

Well I noticed that whenever any of the characters are changed into little kids all of the sudden everybody is their aunt or uncle. "Unca Splinter!" "Auntie April" "Unca Krang!" ect....Not Daddy but Uncle.... That has always confused me.

The other Turtles become big brothers though. That may have to do with cartoons. Not many have kids, just nephews, like Donald Duck.

Well said, Cipher. Very well said.

Blood ties doesn't always make a family.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...r_brothers.jpg

that movie is awesome.