Carter? Dregg? What is this crap?

cartoonistaaron · 02-04-2011, 11:03 AM

So I was making dinner for me and my wife the other night and popped in the Season 1 DVD of the original 'toon. I decided I'd force myself to watch the 4 "Never Before Seen" episodes.

What the hell? Carter? Dregg? That scientist who looks just like the Mirage comic book Baxter Stockman?

What happened with these episodes? Where did the cartoon take such a weird left turn? Raph's replacement voice wasn't too bad but everything else stunk, on ice. Dregg and Mung had terrible designs, even if the guy doing Dregg's voice (Tony Jay?) was fantastic.

It felt like such an obvious "ratings are falling, shoehorn in everything you can think of" scenario. I never saw the last couple seasons of the show and didn't realize how far it had fallen. What an ignominious end to a once-great cartoon. Thank God for Turtles Forever.

Any other thoughts on the last couple seasons of the original cartoon? Am I alone in my distaste?

~~AquaParade~~ · 02-04-2011, 11:07 AM

That's pretty much how I felt about everything after season 1

Still, that must have been a shocker, to someone who had never seen the "Red Sky" season, as I usually hear it called. All things considered, I wouldn't actually say it was the worst era of the old toon.

*oldmanwinters* · 02-04-2011, 11:11 AM

At least the theme song & opening were pretty cool, even though the clips from the first live-action movie seemed ancient by the mid-90s. I recommend you watch Season 8, it had the improved art style and dramatic tension of the later seasons without the bizzare plot twists (second mutations) and lame new characters like Carter and Dregg.

*DrSpengler* · 02-04-2011, 02:19 PM

I didn't mind them in the slightest, personally.

8 seasons of same ole-same ole was getting very, very montonous. I love the Fred Wolf series, I really do, but it was about as repetitive as 80s animation can get.

In Carter, it was nice for the Turtles to have a human ally that wasn't April and was used on a frequent basis. yeah, they had Zack and Casey, but we saw relatively little of them. The Turtles before the "Red Sky" episodes didn't have much in the way of a recurring supporting cast, which was a factor in the show getting stale quick.

And I enjoyed the change of pace that Lord Dregg brought as a villain. 8 seasons of Shredder and Krang had grown weary and season 8 gave them a fair enough sendoff as primary threats. Perhaps I enjoyed Dregg more thanks to Tony Jaye's voice over, but I was just happy to see a regular new villain enter the picture.

A lot of folks hates the last two seasons because of how different they are, but that's the reason I enjoy them.

*sdp* · 02-04-2011, 02:30 PM

Funny my opinion is the exact opposite, now the only carter/dregg episodes I've seen are the ones from the S1 DVD and I thought they were great, yeah they are totally different but its a nice change to see the turtles being a bit more serious and a villain that posed a bigger threat, I thought the second mutation angle was kinda cool too, I look forward to seeing those seasons when I watch through the entire series in a few months, I'm done waiting for Lionsgate.

*DrSpengler* · 02-04-2011, 02:35 PM

The econd mutations didn't bug me, either. It was nice to see episode-to-episode continuity and season-long story arcs return to the series, consistently, for the first time since season 2.

And the second mutations which a lot of people hated really didn't last as long as they'd have you think. Three or four episodes, was it?

Personally, I'm surprised it took until season 9 for the changes to the show to be implemeted. TMNT was long overdue for them, if you ask me.

Mona_Lisa · 02-15-2011, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

At least the theme song & opening were pretty cool, even though the clips from the first live-action movie seemed ancient by the mid-90s.

I remember as a kid that I was really excited when the red sky seasons started even though I really disliked the new theme song and intro.

“the clips from the first live-action movie seemed ancient by the mid-90s”.

I liked that the battles got harder…. The turtles could get hurt. I loved Raph's bike…. But I hated Carter….. And I hated the turtles new mutations. I never finished the red sky episodes. But maybe someday I will…….

Sword Slicin' Leo · 02-15-2011, 11:41 AM

It was stupid

~~Ninja Turtles 25 Years~~ · 02-16-2011, 08:49 PM

This could be my imagination, but Dregg reminds me of Jafar from Aladdin.

02-04-2011, 11:03 AM	#1
cartoonistaaron Stone Warrior Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 737	Carter? Dregg? What is this crap? So I was making dinner for me and my wife the other night and popped in the Season 1 DVD of the original 'toon. I decided I'd force myself to watch the 4 "Never Before Seen" episodes. What the hell? Carter? Dregg? That scientist who looks just like the Mirage comic book Baxter Stockman? What happened with these episodes? Where did the cartoon take such a weird left turn? Raph's replacement voice wasn't too bad but everything else stunk, on ice. Dregg and Mung had terrible designs, even if the guy doing Dregg's voice (Tony Jay?) was fantastic. It felt like such an obvious "ratings are falling, shoehorn in everything you can think of" scenario. I never saw the last couple seasons of the show and didn't realize how far it had fallen. What an ignominious end to a once-great cartoon. Thank God for Turtles Forever. Any other thoughts on the last couple seasons of the original cartoon? Am I alone in my distaste?

02-04-2011, 11:11 AM	#3
oldmanwinters Overlord Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Between yesterday and tomorrow! Posts: 15,497	At least the theme song & opening were pretty cool, even though the clips from the first live-action movie seemed ancient by the mid-90s. I recommend you watch Season 8, it had the improved art style and dramatic tension of the later seasons without the bizzare plot twists (second mutations) and lame new characters like Carter and Dregg. __________________ Experience the TMNT Fan Commentaries! Check out my TMNT fan comic, "Nothing to Fear"! View my sketch work! I'm selling some of my hard-to-find TMNT items!

02-04-2011, 02:30 PM	#5
sdp Detoxed Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Tokio, Italy Posts: 11,216	Funny my opinion is the exact opposite, now the only carter/dregg episodes I've seen are the ones from the S1 DVD and I thought they were great, yeah they are totally different but its a nice change to see the turtles being a bit more serious and a villain that posed a bigger threat, I thought the second mutation angle was kinda cool too, I look forward to seeing those seasons when I watch through the entire series in a few months, I'm done waiting for Lionsgate. __________________ *Trapt* *urself Page MiscRave!!!* Click to join The Drome Discord server

02-15-2011, 11:41 AM	#8
Sword Slicin' Leo Stone Warrior Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: 11th & Bleeker Posts: 763	It was stupid __________________ https://www.facebook.com/NinjaTurtle...rs?ref=tn_tnmn

02-04-2011, 11:07 AM	#2
~~AquaParade~~ Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 8,450	That's pretty much how I felt about everything after season 1 Still, that must have been a shocker, to someone who had never seen the "Red Sky" season, as I usually hear it called. All things considered, I wouldn't actually say it was the worst era of the old toon.

02-04-2011, 02:19 PM	#4
DrSpengler Foot Elite Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 4,842	I didn't mind them in the slightest, personally. 8 seasons of same ole-same ole was getting very, very montonous. I love the Fred Wolf series, I really do, but it was about as repetitive as 80s animation can get. In Carter, it was nice for the Turtles to have a human ally that wasn't April and was used on a frequent basis. yeah, they had Zack and Casey, but we saw relatively little of them. The Turtles before the "Red Sky" episodes didn't have much in the way of a recurring supporting cast, which was a factor in the show getting stale quick. And I enjoyed the change of pace that Lord Dregg brought as a villain. 8 seasons of Shredder and Krang had grown weary and season 8 gave them a fair enough sendoff as primary threats. Perhaps I enjoyed Dregg more thanks to Tony Jaye's voice over, but I was just happy to see a regular new villain enter the picture. A lot of folks hates the last two seasons because of how different they are, but that's the reason I enjoy them.

02-04-2011, 02:35 PM	#6
DrSpengler Foot Elite Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 4,842	The econd mutations didn't bug me, either. It was nice to see episode-to-episode continuity and season-long story arcs return to the series, consistently, for the first time since season 2. And the second mutations which a lot of people hated really didn't last as long as they'd have you think. Three or four episodes, was it? Personally, I'm surprised it took until season 9 for the changes to the show to be implemeted. TMNT was long overdue for them, if you ask me.

02-16-2011, 08:49 PM	#9
~~Ninja Turtles 25 Years~~ Temp Banned Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Illinois Posts: 225	This could be my imagination, but Dregg reminds me of Jafar from Aladdin.