The Donatello Thread

[Donnie]

So here we have it! The Donatello Thread, now open as an outlet for fans to discuss the brains of the TMNT in all of his glorious incarnations. Donnie is without a doubt my favorite Turtle - the Turtle that would rather mix words before shelling out a more "holistic" (to quote Tom Waltz) approach.

Donnie has not undergone monumental changes (personality wise) in any TMNT universe (unlike Raphael, whose different mediums are sometimes contrasting.) He is always the tech genius/the wiz kid, providing the Turtles with ground breaking (and in the case of the OT, limitless) technology that increases their victory ratio. He uses his intellect in the clutch, and without Donnie the Turtles would have been severly handicapped in a lot of scenarios. He provides scientific data on a daily basis (in all realms of the study including earth, biology, physics) to help the Turtles understand and successfully emerge from their current situation/environment. Plus, he quotes Darwin on a regular basis in "Tales". What's not to like here? He's a handy Turtle, being the creator of all their forms of transportation, which are anything but legal in most scenarios. From these creative endeavors alone we know that Donnie is a natural mechanic to the highest degree.

Concerning his fighting skills, I may venture to say that Donatello is the least involved with his martial arts training. Donnie would rather be in the lab or reading a book. His head is in the clouds involved in his own world a lot of the time. He prefers the aforementioned to fighting, and in most incarnations Donnie only uses violence as a last resort. As has been discussed before here on the 'drome, out of the four, Don is the most pacifist-friendly. Nonetheless he is a very capable fighter, weilding the most resourceful weapon. Donnie is the one who gives the final blow to Shredder in volume 1 #1.

A big part of Donatello's character that I think few notice is his spiritual side. He is far from religious in the traditional sense, yet there are plenty of instances in various TMNT universes in which showcase Donnie having some sort of spiritual dilemma (Secret of the Ooze, for example.) He's always thinking about the purpose of the Turtles and why they were alive to begin with - if they were special, or just some random scientific mishap. My favorite portrayals of Donnie usually always focus on this side of Donatello - the sensitive, somewhat spiritual side.

Alright, alright. So which incarnation of Donnie do I like the best? I would have to say Mirage, although each medium comes close to rivaling it except for Image. Sometimes I think that movie 1's Donatello is my favorite adaption, for reasons I'll explain later. We see all of the facets of Don's personality that I mentioned above in the original Mirage books. Yet, the other incarnations do great justice to him as well: the second live-action film is very much Donatello centered, focusing on his sensitivity and his inability to accept that he and his brothers were just a mistake and not something "special". The OT shows Donnie perhaps at his most brainiest, as mentioned inventing limitless gadgets and methods of scientific inquiry. The OT was what made Donnie my favorite from the start. Next Mutation Don was fine by me.

In newer mediums I think Donatello was done much justice. The 2k3 is also one of my favorite adaptions of Donnie, capturing his tech-savvy side with his sensitive side in an awesome mold of...well, Donnie. I love the 2007 TMNT film's portrayal, too. I think it's an extremely notable adaption concerning Donatello - he is committed, mature, and has the technological world at his finger tips. In this movie Donatello also struggles internally as he is seen as the de-facto leader of the group in Leonardo's absence. I love the argument we see between him and Raphael in the beginning, and Donnie's relationship with Mikey is admirable as well (that goes for the first movie, too.)

What's somewhat odd is the first film's lack of ultra tech-savvy Don. He's seen tinkering with a gadget in the sewers, and he helps Casey fix April's beat up truck - these instances are shout outs to his ability in my opinion rather than displays of his actual skill. The first film still does a very good job portraying Donatello's personality sans the tech-wiz bit. Honestly, I like how he's not portrayed as the "know-it-all" tech guy. By not pegging him with the constant "Mr. Fix-it" stereotype, we were able to see another side of Donatello's character.

I know it's wildly popular here but concerning Donnie, the Image series is to me like a suppressed bad memory. Sure, let's celebrate the brains of the TMNT by having him get blown away on page 1 of issue 1. Cool. Some like the idea of a Cyborg Donatello (and I wouldn't have minded it as much as I do if not for that terrible bulky design they gave him) but Image's Don did not sit well with me. I don't think they wrote him that well, either. He seemed a bit rash and out of his usual element in Image. I really would have liked to see what Image had in store for Donatello's "spiritual crisis" that they teased about in the last few issues. Maybe that arc would have changed my mind about Image's story.

IDW's Donatello is, thus far, an interesting take on the character and one that deviates slightly from the typical Donnie ilk in the fact that he has so far been advocating a more aggressive approach towards group decisions. He was largely against what seemed to him a needless search for Raphael, he wanted to kill Old Hob, and he also has argued with Leonardo on almost any occasion he could. He has proven thus far to almost abnormally smart as in the OT, and his passion for machines has not been explained outside of his Micro issue, which did a decent job at showing the light-hearted side of Donatello. I loved how Donnie acted in the first 3-4 issues, yet I became a little disillusioned with IDW as Donnie became more aggressive towards Leo with every issue. It just seemed unnecessary. I will say, however, that exploring this more aggressive Donatello's character is most definitely very interesting and opens the door for a lot of good character development, and maybe even a bond with Raphael that was missing in past incarnations.

As for Nick's 2012 Donatello...we will see! By looks alone, Donatello is excellently portrayed. While I don't see the need in making him taller than the rest, I like the gap in the tooth and I also like how Donnie has the belt over his shoulder, like in movie 1. I also like how he has brown eyes, as opposed to the others, who have green eyes and blue eyes.

Discuss your favorite adaptions concerning the brainiest of the bunch!