Ain't it strange that there are three TV shows called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
 

So something I noticed, all three TMNT cartoons are simply titled "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Well OK the last two seasons of the 2003 show had subtitles and the Nickelodeon one might get subtitles later on, but niether one got a different title just to differentiate it from the others right away. Only one TMNT show has an altered title Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation but nobody wants to admit it exists...

It's never been a TMNT cartoon that started out with a title like, for example, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Halfshell", or "The NEW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", or "Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shellshock", or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Plastron Café". It's always just been "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Usually that's the case when there are more than one show in a franchise...

It is a bit unusual. But I like it that way. The franchise title is catchy enough regardless of how often it gets rehashed.

Well, in the UK and Ireland, the OT was called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles most of the time (the cartoon was referred to as Ninja Turtles in Ireland for season one and the first two episodes of two). Otherwise, each new show has the same name. I think it can be confusing at times, since there isn't an easy way to differentiate the shows, except with fanmade terms like 1987 and 2003.

haven't really thought too much about it. But, yes. It is a bit odd, although the title is very unique and already quite the mouthful. SO adding more to the show's title might be a bit excessive.

Would be cool if a future show was named "Tales of the TMNT"

Well isn't the full name of the Nick series "Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"?.?.?

This 1000 times. Right on.

Yeah, it's too long already. You could shorten it to "TMNT" and add a subtitle but that's kind of ambiguous. The basic name says it all, you don't need anything else.

Absolutely not these days given there are multiple Hawaii Five-O's, Mickey Mouse Clubs, He-Man, GI Joes, Doctor Whos, Law & Orders, certain incarnations of game shows, and soon another Odd Couple. It's just the TV version of the movie remake. Yes, some shows have different subtitles, but others don't. That said, we did have The Next Mutation which was something news (even without the Teenage and Mutant in the title).

He's right, every time there's a new Batman cartoon its named something new:

- Batman: TAS
- Batman Beyond
- The Batman
- Brave and the Bold
- Beware the Batman

X-men as well:

- X-men (90's)
- X-men Evolution
- Wolverine and the X-men

Spiderman: TAS
Spiderman Unlimited
Spectacular Spiderman
Ultimate Spiderman


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles keeps the same name.

I'm wondering when it became popular to tack something on to the title. I was never a viewer, but I feel like Power Rangers started it with all their many versions. Maybe I'm wrong.

I dunno, I don't really find it odd that the Turtles might always have the same title, though I guess it may be confusing to fans that missed the first series or two and aren't familiar yet with how far back it goes.

I really don't care for subtitles.

But it doesn't say TAS in the cartoon. Instead it's just Spider-Man in the 60s, Spider-Man in the 80s, Spider-Man in the 90s and even in early 20XX it still was just Spider-Man (the MTV one).

So three TMNT cartoons all with same name aren't that unique in that regard.

I don't find that so strange. its just what the source material is called so they went back with that. But don't forget about Ninja turtles: THe Next Mutation, though that wasn't a cartoon.

I think you could just shorten it to "Ninja Turtles" that's way less winded than "TMNT" and its simple and explains enough of what it is, also you don't have to keep them just as teenagers if they ever want to do an interpretation that goes away from that.

I doubt any "mainstream" version ever will, though. Every time they get too far past adapting the origin, the "Big" Shredder confrontation, and the Baxter/Mousers stuff, they run out of ideas and just start throwing stuff at the wall to pad out the rest of the run.

Maybe the comics could someday advance past them being teenagers, but I doubt any of the cartoons will ever allow them to really "grow up". They're always going to mostly work off of those few basic plots with some filler thrown in between.

Most TMNT cartoons tend to end or "wane" right around the point the Turtles defeat Shredder for good. They also exhaust the supply of villains since aside from creating random new mutants there really aren't many "big" recurring TMNT villains to begin with.

The problem with TV, specifically cartoons, is that there even needs to be "villains" and physical conflict in every single episode in order to keep people interested. I'm personally just as interested in the Turtles' emotional conflicts, personality conflicts, trying to find their place in the world, etc. But that doesn't make for very interesting viewing for kids. Always has to be someone to punch.

I mean, I get it, it's just the limitations of the medium. There's very little room to do "smaller" or more intimate stories because every half-hour needs to be "action-packed" to both keep the kids entertained and sell more toys.

That's why comics are honestly a better storytelling medium for a concept like TMNT. You can do a LOT more than just "Good Guy vs. Bad Guy" stories.

Don't the Mirage comics show the turtles as adults in later volumes?

Yeah, Mirage Vol. 4 but I try and forget about that series because it was basically Ambien in print form.

One other thing that is somewhat unique to the TMNT is the fact that every show theme song tries explicitly to work the Tee-nage-Mu-tant-Nin-ja-Tur-tles syllables into the actual musical beats. In some sense, that's a feature the franchise shares with Superman themes. The name of the title characters is referenced in the beats of the actual music.

I mostly agree, but on the other hand, I've grown a little tired of the ponderous emotional lives of 'superheros' on TV. I feel like there should be a balance between excitement and drama, otherwise you end up with the same mundane exploration of life as every other show. I don't want to tune in to see Superman worry about his mortgage.

I feel like this happens on TV a lot, probably because drama is cheaper than action.