Turtles Forever - Talkback Discussion Thread

Mutagen · 05-25-2010, 01:39 AM

Hello everyone.

Well, Im a little late to the party but it was just yesterday that I finally saw Turtles Forever. Why so late?

In short: Like most of you guys, I grew up with TMNT. The first 3 seasons were fantastic. Imaginative, adventurous, filled with fleshed out characters and terrific villains. One thing for sure about the 80s - it was the most imaginative and over the top (in a good way) decade for the pop culture in general.
We know how the series degenerated later on so no need to mention that

When Ive heard about the new 4kids TMNT coming up I thought its gonna be an updated version of the classic but as we know it really wasnt. It was very, very different. Fine, lets give it a chance. Not to offend anyone, sicnce theres plenty of fans of the 03 TMNT, but IMO this is god awful. It doesnt stick out at all from all the other countless modern cartoons that all look and feel alike. Stock characters, stock villains (replace Shredder with any other modern cartoon villains and you get the same peronality), horrible design, no originality, no "flash" and the terrible, anime-like squar-ish, blocky animation. Im sorry but thats just how I felt about it. I thought the new Shredder and the characters were completely uninteresting althought Ill give them a praise for trying something completely different. After seeing that I just lost interest in the franchise because I knew the new generation will think of that cartoon when theyll think of TMNT and I didnt want anyone to think Im a fan of THIS series. Never liked the modern cartoons and their blocky animation and TMNT is this yet another by-the-book series. Darker? Sure, but darker doesnt mean better by any stretch. Light or Dark is just types of the story. Its a preference. None of them means better or worse. And more in touch with the roots? I strongly disagree. Besides, being more reverential to the origins has absolutely nothing to do with quality.

So I stayed away from all the current whereabout of the franchise after it took that road (and again, I dont mind anyone liking 03 version at all, and I can even see how it may interest some. Im just saying its not my cup of tea), and by accident I just heard about the Turtles Forever cartoon yesterday. My first thought was "if its written by the same people doing that new cartoon and - even worse - if its animated by the same people then I feel sorry for the old characters to be portrayed in that way". But then Ive heard something wonderful - all the reviews were phenomenal and mentioned the original styled animation of the OT characters. Its funny because virtually every review was the same - it praised the movie but had one major complaint - an overly comical portrayal of the OT characters

So heres my review:

I have to split it in two because half a movie will get one opinion and the second half will get a different one

1. From the start to rebuilding Technodrome

All I can say is wow. IMO the quality of the cartoons degenerated to a disastrous level for the past decade with very few exceptions, so for me to say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. It was so great to see the old characters again and extremely fun to see them in this modern, more realistic environment and interact with their newer versions. Sure, the portrayal is way too comical but Im sure its not done with disrespect. They just needed a bigger contrast than they would get with the real OT Turtles and had to downplay OT Shredder's abilities a little for the same purpose. Again, the animation was spot on. I have a problem with Shredder jumping on Krang since its not how their relationship was, but thats ok, I can look past that

2. From New Technodrome emerging to the end

Meh. New technodrome design is just terrible and from then on the story shifts and morphs into a regular 03 TMNT episode. Didnt reallycare for the Mirage TMNT sicne I never liked that incarnation of TMNT to begin with. It just didnt do it for me in its second half. The old villains' role was heavily reduced and the story basically became like this: 03 Turtles fighting 03 Shredder, with OT turtles tagging along and occasional cameos by OT villains.

Overall tho, its certainly the best cartoon since the pilot episode of the new 02 He-Man. It was a great concept with a very good execution and terrific retro animation

05-25-2010, 01:39 AM	#11
Mutagen Random Punk Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 32	Hello everyone. Well, Im a little late to the party but it was just yesterday that I finally saw Turtles Forever. Why so late? In short: Like most of you guys, I grew up with TMNT. The first 3 seasons were fantastic. Imaginative, adventurous, filled with fleshed out characters and terrific villains. One thing for sure about the 80s - it was the most imaginative and over the top (in a good way) decade for the pop culture in general. We know how the series degenerated later on so no need to mention that When Ive heard about the new 4kids TMNT coming up I thought its gonna be an updated version of the classic but as we know it really wasnt. It was very, very different. Fine, lets give it a chance. Not to offend anyone, sicnce theres plenty of fans of the 03 TMNT, but IMO this is god awful. It doesnt stick out at all from all the other countless modern cartoons that all look and feel alike. Stock characters, stock villains (replace Shredder with any other modern cartoon villains and you get the same peronality), horrible design, no originality, no "flash" and the terrible, anime-like squar-ish, blocky animation. Im sorry but thats just how I felt about it. I thought the new Shredder and the characters were completely uninteresting althought Ill give them a praise for trying something completely different. After seeing that I just lost interest in the franchise because I knew the new generation will think of that cartoon when theyll think of TMNT and I didnt want anyone to think Im a fan of THIS series. Never liked the modern cartoons and their blocky animation and TMNT is this yet another by-the-book series. Darker? Sure, but darker doesnt mean better by any stretch. Light or Dark is just types of the story. Its a preference. None of them means better or worse. And more in touch with the roots? I strongly disagree. Besides, being more reverential to the origins has absolutely nothing to do with quality. So I stayed away from all the current whereabout of the franchise after it took that road (and again, I dont mind anyone liking 03 version at all, and I can even see how it may interest some. Im just saying its not my cup of tea), and by accident I just heard about the Turtles Forever cartoon yesterday. My first thought was "if its written by the same people doing that new cartoon and - even worse - if its animated by the same people then I feel sorry for the old characters to be portrayed in that way". But then Ive heard something wonderful - all the reviews were phenomenal and mentioned the original styled animation of the OT characters. Its funny because virtually every review was the same - it praised the movie but had one major complaint - an overly comical portrayal of the OT characters So heres my review: I have to split it in two because half a movie will get one opinion and the second half will get a different one 1. From the start to rebuilding Technodrome All I can say is wow. IMO the quality of the cartoons degenerated to a disastrous level for the past decade with very few exceptions, so for me to say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. It was so great to see the old characters again and extremely fun to see them in this modern, more realistic environment and interact with their newer versions. Sure, the portrayal is way too comical but Im sure its not done with disrespect. They just needed a bigger contrast than they would get with the real OT Turtles and had to downplay OT Shredder's abilities a little for the same purpose. Again, the animation was spot on. I have a problem with Shredder jumping on Krang since its not how their relationship was, but thats ok, I can look past that 2. From New Technodrome emerging to the end Meh. New technodrome design is just terrible and from then on the story shifts and morphs into a regular 03 TMNT episode. Didnt reallycare for the Mirage TMNT sicne I never liked that incarnation of TMNT to begin with. It just didnt do it for me in its second half. The old villains' role was heavily reduced and the story basically became like this: 03 Turtles fighting 03 Shredder, with OT turtles tagging along and occasional cameos by OT villains. Overall tho, its certainly the best cartoon since the pilot episode of the new 02 He-Man. It was a great concept with a very good execution and terrific retro animation Last edited by Mutagen; 05-25-2010 at 01:44 AM.