What did you think the FW's series finale was going to be like?
 

Back when you were watching the FW series for the first time, how did you imagine it was gonna end?

I always assumed the Turtles would eventually defeat Shredder in the final episode. Perhaps even kill him... yes, I was naïve. Even after Divide and Conquer I thought "Ok, now Shredder comes back for a final episode or two and that's it".

Needless to say, if you had told me in the middle of season 3 that Shredder and Krang would eventually be replaced by a new main villain named Dregg I'd not have believed you at all lol

Btw, I have a feeling most of the original fans of this series never got to know how it ended. plenty to this day never even got to see the Red Sky episodes. By the time season 6 or 7 rolled in, the popularity of the show was falling fast, wasn't it? I'm also not so sure if the red sky seasons aired in many countries outside of USA. As we know by now, most people's memories of the FW series are from the first 3 seasons. The peak of TMNT's popularity was around the time the first movie and the first Arcade and NES games came out. So basically 1989-1990.

When I first watched the series, I thought it was gonna end on a random episode like most cartoons did back in the day, and wasn't bothered by the idea since it was the norm everywhere.

Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady would continue to look for power for the technodrome for all eternity and the turtles would always be there to stop them. I was pleasently surprised when I found out that the show ended on a very conclusive note, and I think its the best ending that any tmnt incarnation has to date.

Tbh I don't recall ever thinking it'd end on a random episode one day. But I remember how the show seemed to go on forever, and when I finished Divide and Conquer and next day found out it was the very final episode of the series I was actually surprise. The show was super long. 194 episodes is a lot for a cartoon series like this.

TMNT was probably the only cartoon series that gave me that sense of comfort of not being afraid it was suddenly gonna be the last episode one day. The only time I "feared" it was gonna end was season 2's finale with the Drome sinking into the lava. That episode had a very final episode feel to it, with even the Splinter and Shredder showdown reminding me of Star Wars. But that episode was rather early in the series, considering the first 2 seasons have like 18-20 episodes combined only and the series in total has 194.

Same here.
Most cartoons I have watched just ended on random story. I didn't expected TMNT to be an exception.

Most of the season finales that the OT had work really well as series finales. S1,2,3,8,9,10 all work and it's mainly 4,5,6 that didn't really have season finales.

Since I was watching regularly at the time I already knew about Dregg, etc.

I imagine those who stopped watching before the last few seasons would be confused.

Season 9? Dregg is exposed and leaves Earth but it sure doesn't feel like a proper finale. I thought that Dregg had been wrapped and that after that episode that we'd get Shredder and Krang back, though.

Season 2 finale idd has a very final episode feeling to it, as I've said.

What about season 7's Shredder Triumphant? What did you think of that one?

Krang and Shredder trying to drain a power station in Japan, and repower the Technodrome. The turtles and Splinter would come to Japan and stop them. At the end, the turtles would succeed. In the final battle, Splinter would kick Shredder through a portal to Dimension X, just in time before it closes.

Why Japan of all places? Did you think Splinter would gain back control of the Foot Clan or something?

Because we never had an episode with almost the entire main story set in modern Japan. But since it all began there, why not end it there?

When I first watched the Fred Wolf series, I never actually thought how the cartoon could’ve ended. I assumed it ended with the season 8 episode “Enter: Krakus” in May 1995, as RTÉ Two started to rerun the entire series from the beginning in the summer of that year. It was a surprise to see seasons 9 and 10 along with “Turtle Trek” on tv a few years later in 1998. Like Prowler, I still thought there was going to be another season.

I've expected something like that to occur in the series. Not in the final episode, but in general.
Quite sad, that the whole Foot Clan thing was never properly resolved.

Tbh what was even the Foot Clan at that point anymore? Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady and some robotic Foot Soldiers? What ever happened to Oroku Saki's "empire of crime" when he left Japan to follow Yoshi in USA and try to kill him?

I remember the main goal of the Turtles at first was turning Splinter human again. They succeeded momentarily in the episode Splinter No More, but then he turned back into a rat again and he decided he preferred to live as one, so they never cared about turning him into a human anymore.

Writers had forgotten about it I guess, which is a pity.

Even though I stopped watching when Red Sky rolled around. I was hoping for one last confrontation with Shredder and the Technodrome finally destroyed similar to the end of the first Arcade game. I was hoping for Karai to appear and running the Foot in Japan. When Dregg replaced Shredder and Krang, I lost complete interest.

I expected a big battle. When we got that at the end of Season 3 I was honestly stumped as to what could happen next.

Planet of the Turtleoids was a season finale and was a damn good one. 6 I have no idea but 4 I guess if you watch Splinter Vanishes as the last episode of that season.

Every season had a proper finale but a few:

Season 1 has a finale

Season 2 has a major finale

Season 3 has a major finale

Season 4 literally ends on a mad scientist filler episode (lol)

Season 5 ends with Planet of the Turtleoids, a pretty big ep

Season 6 ends with a random episode

Season 7 ends with a big finale, the Technodrome lost in Dimension X while Shredder/Krang are on Earth

Season 8 ends with a finale

Season 9 doesn't end of a finale, but it clearly sets up Season 10

Season 10 ends with a decent finale.



It was really only Season 4 and Season 6 that didn't end on a big episode. It seemed every other season the writers considered that possibly being the shows last season (in case the show was canceled), so they gave it a good proper ending for that point.

Easter
 

Season 4 ends with the two Easter episodes.

You could also just combine season 6 and 7 into one season since season 6 lacks a finale, season 7 lacks a premiere and both seasons have the technodrome at the bottom of the ocean.

Also, "Leonardo is Missing" is set before "Rock Around the Block".