Why is there more fighting in some eps than others?
 

Is it just me, or did the fighting in the OT vary from episode to episode? Some episodes would have these huge fight scenes, (for original cartoon standards), with tons of contact, yet others would either have no fighting at all, or slapstick fighting like the turtles throwing watermelons at Bebop/Rocksteady or things along those lines.

Its funny, I watch one episode where the fighting is either non-existent or consists of slapstick, and then another episode has tons of fighting in it.

Actually, there are some trends to this. During the initial syndicated run, the standards weren't as strict, so many of these episodes have some good fighting in them, and is part of the reason why I like the first 65 episodes so much. But when the show moved to CBS, the network required a certain amount of violence to correspond to their standards at the time. Sure, some episodes during the middle seasons had some decent fighting at times, but they wanted to avoid criticism by adults and strictly viewed it as a "kids show". Then of course it starts to pick up by Season 7 as the producers felt that the show needed to get more action to counter falling raitings, and this trend continued through the end. However, this can sometime equate to a good chemistry of story, action, and comedy when done correctly. Then again fighting scenes are more difficult to animate with the rapid movement.

Yea that and did you ever notice that in some episode shredder, bebop and rocksteady are strog enough to pick up and throw cars and other things that weigh over A ton. Then in other episodes they can't seem to pick up the lightest of objectS.

Popularity. Once the show became a hit it also became a target for parents groups and idiots who write stupid books about how even the freakin' Care Bears want to destroy you're children's moral fiber. Thus the fighting became more slap stick than actual violence. Just look at the drastic difference appease parents who thought TMNT:TM was to violent.

But was the action ever truly toned down for a whole season?

Season 4 still has a number of fight scenes, as does most of Season 6.

I honestly think Season 5 had the least amount of fighting of them all.

Some eps just can't get along with themselves.

Teenage mutant menstrual cycles.

There's your answer!

I kinda bugged me how in the Mona Lisa episode, Raph and Lisa spent most of the time running from the monsters rather than actually fighting them... It's like Raph forgot he was a fighter. I also hated how when Shredder had a ka-zillion Foot Soldiers lined up to them, the turtles were already admitting defeat before even raising a fist... and then Buffy Shellhammer did whatever to shut all of them down... it would have been nice to see the turtles mid-battle saying they were facing impossible odds rather than basically surrendering without starting a fight.

Different writers.

Way too boring & obvious to be the real reason... It has to be something ridiculouser.

i watch the 2003 more than the classic series because the fighting and the action i watch the classic episodes because of the quotes and comedy the cbs start buying them that was an awful move 1. remove of michaelangelo nunchucks to the gay grappling hook 2. the ratings 3. remove of shredder,krang,bebop and rocksteady

Any decent show changes up the pace of things, and it's usually when things change from the usual that great stuff happens.

Two of the best episodes of Doctor Who from the last six years only barely feature the Doctor, the title character.

Never knew the grappling hook was happy:P

Lol, nice. :)

One thing I love about some eps is how sometimes Krang fights or gets attacked.

In, "Leonardo is missing" from Season 6, Donatello uses his bo to lift himself off the ground and kicks Krang right in the chest of his android body and knocks him down.

Season 6 is definitely where the action returned to the series after being toned down for a chunk of Seasons 4 and 5.