Do you think the villains were as important to the original cartoons success?
 

While the original series was a success because people fell in love with the Turtles, do you think it would have been as popular if it weren't for the villains?

Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady essentially made the show as much as the Turtles themselves. They had a family dynamic of their own, David Wise said they treated Shredder and Krang as a married couple and Bebop/Rocksteady as their children. The humor of the villains playing off one another helped carry the show as much as the Turtles banter with each other was. They all had memorable distinct personalities and balanced each other out well.

There's a reason that to this day, Krang is the second most recognizable TMNT villain after Shredder. Rocksteady and Bebop have also never really declined in popularity either, despite not being in the cartoons/comics for decades.

What do you think?

Dude u pretty much said what I wanted to say

I choosed : Yes, the popularity of the villains certainly helped...

Of course, nice and fun enemies helped our OT TMNT .... :tgrin:

A hero is only as good as his/her villain. And the Turtles had a couple of great villains.

Watching it nowadays, I think the villains are just straight up better and more entertaining characters than the turtles nearly all of the time.

Qft buddy! :tcool:

"Qft"? "Queens For Tuesday"?

Really when you look back, the villains are the primary plot-driving devices; they make their plans to attack the heroes using specific items/supporting villains, kidnapp/destroy things in a particular way, and get destroyed/flee from various acts that the Turtles/Splinter do to them (or in some cases, Rocksteady & Bebop screwing up, which gives bonus points toward the importance of villiams). While there are litearly 10+ variants of the Turtles, Splinter, and April released as action figures, except for Shredder and perhaps Krang, there are many more numerous villians to be found. Then there are some episodes where multiple villains are used to build up the tension. This is why all episodes with Shredder/Krang are the best, with some of those CBS episodes without them a bit lame, focusing more on the heroes (though there were some good ones). The villians also are driving forces to defeat in video games, too.

Well I am happy they didn't put Shredder/Krang in every single episode. It would have gotten much more tiring if they didn't give us a break from them from time to time.

"Quoted for truth" thilly gooth!

I voted yes...Shredder was hilarious.

It's a no-brainer, of course they were vital to the show's success. Didn't all successful action toons have at least one great and memorable villain? Megatron, Cobra Commander, Skeletor etc...

Wow, all the votes so far say yes. I am curious if anyone will vote otherwise.

Absolutely...

Sure.

Shredder, krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady had a certain charm to them in the OT that made them instantly likeable and I agree that their popularity certainly played a factor in TMNT being so popular with kids during that generation. I distinctly remember characters like the Rat King, Baxter Stockman, and Leatherhead being favorites as well.

A pretty good and entertaining rogues gallery for sure.

I don't see how anyone could claim that the show would have been as good or as memorable without the cast of villains. To this day, whenever a new version of TMNT comes out, a comic, a movie, whatever, one of the very first things people want to know is if Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady are in it. Identifiable villains with memorable personalities are one of many reasons the old show will always be remembered far more fondly than any other TMNT medium.

every show needs a good rogues gallery.

I couldn't have said that better myself! Shredder is part of what makes the show for me:shredder:

Cybercubed, you're absolutely on target.

Look at it this way.

When it comes to even the most casual of TMNT fans, they all remember the original 4, Splinter, April..... and it kinda trails from there.

But the same can be said on the otherside of the coin.

They all remember Shredder, Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady and Baxter. But while most "out of the sewer" TMNT heroes were more left to the toys and the one shot episode apperance (with the exception of Usagi), people really seem to remember the likes of Slash, Rat King, Leatherhead, General Traag even the Foot Soldiers themselves