Original Costumes
 

Okay guys quick question. i know the suits were made by Jim Hensen but how exactly did they work? Remote control? And could the actors see out of the heads?

Thanks guys.

You can see the eye holes in the heads, and the face expressions was remote controlled. You can easily google behind-the-scenes videos

One thing that astonished me is that it would take around 90 minutes just for an actor/puppeteer/stuntman to get into a constume! It really was quite a daunting task to build those animatronic heads. Some other things I've heard are that each costume weighs about 70 lbs and additional 12lbs for the raincoats. There was also a tiny microphone inside each mask.

Now, the electronic masks were activated by radio control and computer technology by the puppeteers to move the masks, and the puppetters used joysticks. There were 30 motorized cables in each Turtle's mask, corresponding to 17 separate movements between the eyebrows and the jaw. Finally, a tiny light was made to be reflected in their eyes to make them look alive.

Wow! Awesome details. Thank you very much.