Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987–1996: 25th Anniversary of Season 10

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Leo656

If they'd kept FW the same as it had been up through Season 7 for Season 8, there's probably no Season 9.

Considering that RSS feels like a different series, anyway, I'd be OK with that.

Originally Posted by Leo656

What they did - keep the show like 70-75% the same but tack a shiny new coat of paint on it - was the easiest and least-disruptive thing for everyone. They squeezed three more Seasons out of a dying franchise and kept the toys on shelves a little bit longer too. There was really no other logical option; there was no "second wind" for the brand at that time, there was no big comeback in the works where they'd compete with MMPR, the entire point was just to try and keep it going a little longer before the wheels inevitably fell off. And they did that.

I disagree - they pretty much got rid of everything that made FW show memorable and itself. Yes, its time has gone by the beginning of the 90s, like time of all others cartoons from the 80s, but butchering into something darker and even less coherent than most of the early episodes didn't help anyone.

I don't think a lot of people liked whatever seasons 9-10 did and its characters. And I doubt they've helped to sell a lot of toys.
Yes, show was around for three more years, but was it? It was unrecognizable, with only 8 episodes per season, no memorable characters or stories, arcs that were constantly introduced and aborted for no reason and rather boring new artstyle.

It was more of a life support than full-fleshed existence at this point an d it was fairly pointless, considering that majority of the people barely acknowledge RSS.

[AquaParade]

I was the perfect age for the red sky season when I first saw it. I didn’t even know what the hell I was looking at, but was utterly captivated. All I knew what that it was a darker version of the cartoon I was used to. It just popped up on tv one Thanksgiving at my grandparents.

This was before I had internet, so the elusiveness of that episode haunted me for a long time. You know how it was back in the day when you had no resources to track these things down. It was everything I wanted out of TMNT, at that young age. I had some Mirage comics and the movie, so I knew tmnt could be a little darker than the cartoon, but nonetheless.

By the time I discovered what it was, my tastes had developed, and it didn’t attract me anymore.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

It just popped up on tv one Thanksgiving at my grandparents.

It must have been reruns, since all Red Sky seasons ended in early November.

[ZariusTwo]

First viewed the red sky era in 1999 on a random rerun on the BRAVO channel. I was confused, yet interested, since the channel was so used to repeating the stuff from seasons 2-3.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

It must have been reruns, since all Red Sky seasons ended in early November.

Must have been. It was the Cyber-Turtles episode.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I wasn't aware of these episodes and seasons until I re-discovered the TMNT with the Internet, starting some weeks before Christmas, in mid-December 2003 I think. But it took a couple of years until I was able to watch them.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Considering that RSS feels like a different series, anyway, I'd be OK with that.


I disagree - they pretty much got rid of everything that made FW show memorable and itself. Yes, its time has gone by the beginning of the 90s, like time of all others cartoons from the 80s, but butchering into something darker and even less coherent than most of the early episodes didn't help anyone.

I don't think a lot of people liked whatever seasons 9-10 did and its characters. And I doubt they've helped to sell a lot of toys.
Yes, show was around for three more years, but was it? It was unrecognizable, with only 8 episodes per season, no memorable characters or stories, arcs that were constantly introduced and aborted for no reason and rather boring new artstyle.

It was more of a life support than full-fleshed existence at this point an d it was fairly pointless, considering that majority of the people barely acknowledge RSS.

What's the alternative? Cancel everything outright?

Again, we're not talking "creative" decisions, we're talking "How do you try to sustain a billion-dollar franchise for just a little longer" decisions. You never leave money on the table, you squeeze the tit until it's bleeding.

I don't have the toy sales numbers in front of me, but at that point, if they sold any significant numbers at all, I'm sure they were more than happy to take it. Even one dollar coming in from a franchise that by rights should've been dead by 1993 was a victory. And I'm sure it was more than that, while still far from what they made in 1990. But again, I don't think anyone at all was expecting 1990 levels of "success" in 1993.

The attempt to retrofit FW into a Batman: TAS or X-Men: TAS clone was haphazard but it was a success by the standards of which they were going for. That being, "Let's just try and keep it going a little longer since it's been such a huge money-maker for us." It worked, by any objective measure.

It "helped" plenty of people. Such as, the fans who were still just happy the toys and show still existed at all, and most importantly, the people making money off the brand, who got to keep making money for an extra two-plus years.

It's like, I hate the "Back to the Sewers" seasons of the 4Kids show a whole bunch. They "ruined" the show for me the way Red Sky "ruined" FW for a lot of people. BUT, they succeeded at what they attempted to do - keep the show on the air a little longer and keep selling more toys, long after the show had run out of steam creatively. Same exact thing, same exact results. Right down to a lot of existing fans not liking it. Definitely wasn't what I wanted to see, but it worked for what 4Kids and Playmates wanted it to do.

"Red Sky", same thing.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I don't think anyone at all was expecting 1990 levels of "success" in 1993.

I think they felt embarassed by something domating the international market by 1990–1991, suddenly being almost gone just a few years later. So they attempted to keep it alive a few years.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Leo656

What's the alternative? Cancel everything outright?

Again, we're not talking "creative" decisions, we're talking "How do you try to sustain a billion-dollar franchise for just a little longer" decisions. You never leave money on the table, you squeeze the tit until it's bleeding. [/QUOTE]
But I don't think it was popular enough to squeeze anything out of it. And retooling killed the last shards of what made it popular.

Originally Posted by Leo656

The attempt to retrofit FW into a Batman: TAS or X-Men: TAS clone was haphazard but it was a success by the standards of which they were going for. That being, "Let's just try and keep it going a little longer since it's been such a huge money-maker for us." It worked, by any objective measure.

It "helped" plenty of people. Such as, the fans who were still just happy the toys and show still existed at all, and most importantly, the people making money off the brand, who got to keep making money for an extra two-plus years.

I wouldn't call 8 episodes per season "a success" by any measure.
And, even though, I wasn't around, when season 8-10 premiered, I won't be happy with such radical shift in, well, everything about the show I liked.

Maybe I would have been even more pissed off, since when I was a kid Shredder and Krang were my favorite characters in the show and Seasons 8-10 mostly replaced them with some generic and boring no-names.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Sumac

And, even though, I wasn't around, when season 8-10 premiered.

I don't know how many episodes you caught when they first aired in Russia, but here are the Russian airdates.

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1...B7%D1%8F%C2%BB

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

I don't know how many episodes you caught when they first aired in Russia, but here are the Russian airdates.

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1...B7%D1%8F%C2%BB

I watched them for the first time in 2000. And only seasons 8-9, since season 10 was not dubbed or translated for Russian TV at all. At least back than.

Also, I don't see where it lists first broadcast in Russia. It lists only first broadcasts in US.

Original Russian broadcast has started in 1993 with an "Epic Begins". Then they've broadcasted seasons 4-7 up until 1995.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Sumac

I watched them for the first time in 2000. And only seasons 8-9, since season 10 was not dubbed or translated for Russian TV at all. At least back than.

Also, I don't see where it lists first broadcast in Russia. It lists only first broadcasts in US.

Original Russian broadcast has started in 1993 with an "Epic Begins". Then they've broadcasted seasons 4-7 up until 1995.

The article claims season 10 aired in Russia between 22–31 March 2000.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

The article claims season 10 aired in Russia between 22–31 March 2000.

I am not sure where did you get this information.

Russian page says Season 10 was not broadcasted in Russia up until 2013. I can personally assure you that it was not broadcasted in 2000 and 2001-2003, as I watched TMNT almost every day and I would've remembered completely new episodes being broadcasted.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Sumac

I am not sure where did you get this information.

Russian page says Season 10 was not broadcasted in Russia up until 2013. I can personally assure you that it was not broadcasted in 2000 and 2001-2003, as I watched TMNT almost every day and I would've remembered completely new episodes being broadcasted.

You are talking about the Wikipedia article, I am talking about the Wikipedia episode list.

[the_minimizer]

I never saw all of the red sky episodes. But I did think it was stupid to make Dimension-X space look like everywhere else.

I say release Revenge of the Shredder on a new Season 10 disc for the 35th anniversary of the 1987 series.

Now it appears that searching for that unaired episode brings up the video game instead.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by the_minimizer

I say release Revenge of the Shredder on a new Season 10 disc for the 35th anniversary of the 1987 series.

You mean Shredder's in Love?

[the_minimizer]

I thought there was an unaired episode called Revenge of the Shredder. I think it was Cybercubed that mentioned it looking for a character called Wyrm. That was years ago so maybe there isn't such an unaired episode. Maybe I just remember wrong.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

You are talking about the Wikipedia article, I am talking about the Wikipedia episode list.

Huh? Its weird if they have conflicted information, but I go with 2013 date, since I can personally confirm that Season 10 was not aired in 2000-2003.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by the_minimizer

I thought there was an unaired episode called Revenge of the Shredder. I think it was Cybercubed that mentioned it looking for a character called Wyrm. That was years ago so maybe there isn't such an unaired episode. Maybe I just remember wrong.

It was a 1991 toy commercial.