In-Lore explanation for the Red Sky changes
 

We all know that the Red Sky seasons, from a business point of view, were made as different as they were compared to earlier seasons in order to appeal to kids who were increasingly becoming attached to shows like Batman TAS, Sonic SatAm etc.

However, within the lore of the Original Cartoon itself, what do you think happened that caused the universe to take a darker tone and make all the changes (more bloodthirsty villains, a more cold and harsh world) as we know happen?

In my fan-fiction continuation I wrote it in as gasses from the black hole in Dimension X which was caused by the Technodrome being thrown through the portal into the black hole. It took Dark Water and the other parts of the U.S. government months to completely evaporate it. The red tint slowly expanded over the state of New York before it was solved by Donatello who fixed the problem he created by creating a dissolvant with dimension x chemicals. Then the sky resumes as it once was. It gives character to Donatello, established a more serious tone even if Dimension X science is applied while maintaining the old skyline.

I just took it that the Turtles were then just always active in late twilight, with the red being the remaining touches of light.

In that case I guess the explanation is needed for why they stopped going out in daylight.




Then again, maybe like PD they weirdly have a mountain just outside of the city, but it's a volcano that in their world is has woken up, lending a red hue to the air, but is never addressed... lol

This is thinking way too hard about things that are just animation changes.

In the big city, sometimes it just never seems truly dark. In seasons 2-7, sometimes those busy Manhattan streets just looked deserted. So maybe the mayor lifted the city's curfew and prohibition against vehicles driving around the Time Square? :tcool:

It wasn't just an animation change, the tone and style was drastically altered unlike say, the animation between seasons 1 and 2.

Besides, isn't thinking hard something you would expect in a forum full of hardcore tmnt fans? :lol:

The changes aren't that big, the show doesn't feel radically different from S1, it's just a bit more serious which is fine, the stakes got bigger.

I guess in universe interacting with the 2k3 turtles made them realize they needed to be less goofy.

Assuming Turtles Forever and the Nick crossovers took place during Seasons 3 and 4, this led the original Turtles to realize they had to be tougher and better fighters.

Which is pretty much why the show starts getting geared more toward action from Season 6 onward and the Turtles have more traditional fight scenes again than the slapstick fights from Season 4.

Honestly, I wonder more about April's sudden change in eye color from dark pupils to light blue during the Red Sky era.

My theory for the changes seen in the Red Sky Seasons are a little bit complicated as they involve the Nick crossovers, but here goes:

1. The episode, Trans-Dimensional Turtles takes place after the season 7 finale of the Original Cartoon, "Shredder Triumphant". Krang has just lost access to the technodrome, which is stuck in Dimension X so he contacts his old acquaintances in the Kraang in help getting the technodrome back. He even hopes he can impress Krang Subprime by destroying the turtles and make up for his past mistakes which led to him being banished into 2D Earth. He is unsuccessful however, and is banished again as both sets of turtles manage to defeat him and Subprime, once again seperating him from the technodrome.

2. Krang tries to retrieve the technodrome again, this time with the assistance of Shredder, and is successful as they both manage to transport it to the bottom of the Earth's core before the events of the second crossover begin. They then try to conquer the 2k12 Universe again, almost succeeding but ultimately failing as Nick Bebop and Rocksteady betray them. The 80s turtles take Shredder and Krang back to their dimension and send them to jail, while the Nick turtles send the technodrome back into Dimension X, this time in the middle of a black hole in order to ensure that Krang cannot regain access to it. 80s Bebop and Rocksteady also renounce their villainy, and it looks like everything has come to a perfect closure in the world of the 80s turtles, or has it?

3. The 80s turtles are living their life as usual, before noticing that strange alterations in their universe are occuring due to their meetings with the Nick turtles. The sky takes on a permanent red hue and the 80s turtles decide its best not to meet their counterparts again, in order to avoid further Dimensional Disturbances from occuring. Meanwhile, Shredder and Krang spend the next few years in jail, and they slowly grow more hateful and bloodthirsty for all the times that the turtles defeated them as they have time to ponder in jail. They also grow much closer to each other, not bickering much anymore. Even Bebop and Rocksteady, who have grown bored of being good guys and missing their old bosses, decide to finally free Shredder and Krang and return to their old routine.

4. The events of the Red Sky seasons are finally set in mention, as the 80s turtles have grown older and more serious as well as learned to fight using their weapons directly from their Nick counterparts. They hear the news of Shredder and Krang having escaped from jail with the help of Bebop and Rocksteady, who now take refuge in the Hall of Science Building with plans to bring the technodrome out of the black hole in Dimension X. They dread the possibility of one of their schemes causing even more Dimensional Disturbances within their world and start relentlessly pursuing the villanous duo in order to finally put an end to their insanity.

At this point people might as well write an entire fanfiction based on this idea. I'm sure there have been already.

Yeah, I was thinking of writing fanfiction based off my theory :)

I think I've said this before, it's mostly aestethic changes and toned down humor, it's not as jarring as people pretend it is. Most of the "more bloodthirsty" villains are new, they're not in contradiction to any previous presentation.

But if you want to pretend the changes are more drastic than they really are, let's just say the 1987 cartoon ended in 1993 and this is a silent reboot.

It's just a style change, I don't think we'd need a explanation on why we can see the Turtles skin between the edges of the bandana and their eyes or why the sky is red.

Krang in jail doesn't work.

Yeah, this is one of those things that's best just to not think about. It's kind of like in the late 90's when Batman: The Animated Series became The New Batman Adventures. There's no in universe explanation for all of the females on the planet becoming less sexy.

Why not? Is it because hes an alien?

No one needs to explain anything about a cartoon, but its all good fun.

Yes. Earthly laws are for humans. (can stand Bebop and Rocksteady, as they started as humans)

See my above post.

Your theory was pretty interesting. Glad to see I'm not the only one who loves speculating about this stuff :)

I bet that if humans did capture an alien in real life responsible for crimes in the human world such as genocide, destruction of public property, he would be tried as long as he has the ability to reason like people (which Krang does).