Official episode discussion: Rise of the Turtles, Part 1 and 2

[Jester]

I can kinda understand the "Oh, that's _____." thing when hearing Donnie or Leo, but for the most part, if you just try to leave the "Donnie used to be Raph in a former life, and Leo had carnal relations with a fruit pastry." stuff at the door, you might enjoy the acting a bit more. I dunna...it may be harder than I think. I've never really watched the American Pie flicks, and I practically worship at the shrine of Rob Paulsen....so I'm a little biased.

[Vegeta]

Well Nick thanks for proving me wrong. I still am not in love with the cg nor the empty streets of ny (that was odd to me as well) but what a fun show! It was funny, the voice acting was suitable and less over the top like 2k3 and the music within the show wasn't overbearing and repetitive (also like 2k3). Don's rescue was a blast to watch. Raph will always be my favorite turtle but it was nice to see all of the others shine. Leo so far is my favorite on this show. I will be watching every week. With these great opening episodes and idw's last amazing few issues; it is a good time to be a turtle fan. Also Jester, that is a cool avatar of donny.

[Vivi]

My quick rundown:
The good- the turtles and Splinter, their VA's, design & animation, humor and interaction with each other. I love them, my hearts aflutter to see them back.

The bad- human design & animation (except for Snake in human form), April's design (love her V.A. though), and non-sequiturs such as having a TV, speaking with American accents and not knowing what pizza is (couldn't they have used some of their skills to 'borrow' food from the city residents instead of eat algae and worms - is this a first movie reference?). Also, some parts of the story were a little quick, as in, suddenly they're in the fortress running around the hallways.

The ugly - those Agent Smith things are really damn ugly, they make the Kraang look pretty (and I was reminded of Arnold's weird cousin Arnold from Hey Arnold for some obscure reason).

This hasn't to do with the episode per say but I find it a little depressing that they had never been to the surface before. I like to think that they had never been without Splinter before.

In essence: Brilliant, hopefully some of the story telling will tighten up over time.

[FlawedCoil82]

Well, I just finished watching both episodes on Nick.com. Honestly, I was rather impressed with it. While I don't think it will surpass the 2003 4Kids cartoon, I was pretty happy that the fight scenes were actually fight scenes with their weapons being used. The voices didn't bother me at all....I felt they all matched fairly well. I even found myself cracking a smile at a few scenes (like the turtles' shock after Raphael ripped off the robot's arm). Mikey was a doofus, but still had his moments where he was amusing. Really, the only thing I am not a fan of are the hints at anime. When Donny first sees April, that absurd facial expression with the beating heart made me cringe. There were a couple other parts like that also (the big watery eyes and such) that annoyed me. Overall though, I think I already like it better than the 80's toon, just because they still do some entertaining fighting (which was a critical element I loved about the 2003 toon). I still will need to see many more episodes before I can determine for certain where it stands and how much of the anime stuff I can handle, but so far it is off to a pretty decent start. It caught my interest.

[Vegeta]

Suprised at how much hate the anime style is getting. Is it that you don't like anime much in general or just not its usage within the turtles universe? So much of tmnt is based around Japan....I don't think nods to Japanese animation is a negative thing.

[Zulithe]

yeah by far one of the biggest improvements in the Nick series is the weapons get USED, and quite a lot. And their use looks authentic. The way the turtles fight is a lot of fun to witness.

[Volvagia]

I enjoyed the hell out of the first two episodes, laughed my way through the whole thing. Can't wait for more episodes

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Yep It's A Trap

The early Eastman & Laird comics are still the best comics and the first live action flick is still the best of the movies. I know there are a lot that disagree. That's fine. You're not all supposed to agree. I just think that there's so much good source material out there that they could have made a great show while utilizing some of the great foundation and history of the last almost 30 years.

You had that with the 4Kids series. Time to move on. TMNT always works better as a reimagining., as evident by how much the FW 'toon eclipses the comics and comic-influenced adaptations in terms of relevancy.

I'm not jumping down your throat for not being 100% satisfied with the new Nick show, but to basicly say "My expectations are low because I'm 30 now" is a tad ridiculous. I'm 29 and I love this show, it's matched my own expectations, and there usually pretty lofty all things considered.

[TurtleMaster4]

Originally Posted by Zulithe

yeah by far one of the biggest improvements in the Nick series is the weapons get USED, and quite a lot. And their use looks authentic. The way the turtles fight is a lot of fun to witness.

I totally agree! And was that blood or mutagen that was spraying out of snakeweed when they chopped his limbs off?

[Filespit]

Okay, so I just saw the double episode and I absolutely loved it! The take on the turtles and the story is interesting. They're sticking to the original story but altering it slightly, which is fine with me. I love the animation, it's well done and I enjoy how they mix in some goofy facial expressions here and there, it adds to the comedy.

The comedy in itself is great as well, much thanks to Michelangelo. He's always been my least favorite turtle but he's quickly becoming my favorite in this show. How he comes up with "Snakeweed" is not out of order but both logical and hilarious at the same time. The jokes are well placed and I found myself smiling through the episode.

I liked the music as well, it's well composed and it fits the show very well. There was some kind of bass-driven track that I liked.

Also, the episode(s) does well in portraying the turtles as individuals. We get to see Leo as he's striving to become a great leader, Raph is the hothead who's always looking for a fight, Don is the genious with a crush on April and Mikey is the goofball that's always in the center of something. And I also like how they actually use their weapons for once, that is a big plus!

All in all I am very satisfied with what we got here. The show is not too kiddish and just enough violent. This is a solid pilot and I'm sure this show will turn out to be great. Can't wait for the next episode!

My rating: 9/10

[Ravenxl7]

The premiere was great. I don't think I could be happier with the show. Mikey was hilarious, but didn't dominate like I've heard some worry he would. I look forward to seeing what they have planned for the future of the show. I'm especially looking forward to the other henchmutants, and seeing Splinter and Shredhead face off.

While it was a really small piece to the premiere, the Space Heroes bit was great. I didn't expect it to look so much like Star Trek TAS, but I love that they did. Should be interesting to see future snippets of that show within this one, lol...It'll never happen, but it would be hilarious to see it made into a cartoon of it's own (including action figure line, of course). Though I'd settle for figures of the Turtles done-up as characters from this show. Much like the old Turtle figures meant to be them dressed as Star Trek characters.

[TMNachoT]

I liked the show, can´t wait to watch it in spanish language! Hope it becomes really popular in latin america.

[HerpDerp]

I think I mentioned this before when we saw some of the original clips, but I love the glowing neon effect they used for the laser guns, the Kraang robots, the goop from Snakeweed and the mutagen. The mutagen in particular was mesmerising. It really pops against the dark colour palette.

[The Big Bad]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

What did you expect them to do with April?

Treat her like a person instead of a prop would have been nice, for a start.

Her first appearance is the same as all the others, she gets in trouble and needs to be rescued by the Turtles. Happened in the OT, 4kids, Mirage, etc.

Yes, and all of those stories actually took the trouble of making her the hero of her own story and letting us get to know her before she met the turtles. Here, her importance is defined by how hot Don finds her. Way to waste her only chance to make a first impression, creators.

And April came up with a plan to escape captivity, even if it didn't work.

Hooray, she got do one thing! How nice of the writers!

[Jester]

I think I liked the 1st part better than the 2nd. Man, was Snake's mutation gruesome. Especially the fact you can see the bones in his "legs" when he splits his stem to take his first steps.

I think the funniest character so far is....Splinter, oddly enough.

[Lampy]

Originally Posted by Jester

I think I liked the 1st part better than the 2nd. Man, was Snake's mutation gruesome. Especially the fact you can see the bones in his "legs" when he splits his stem to take his first steps.

yea... i found that a bit dark for a kid's show. i actually enjoyed the most of this premier and i'm liking the animation. did anyone ever "hear" OT shredder's voice when the kraang aliens spoke?i did! it was a pretty good start to the series. and yes to everyone who pointed out the weapons use. it's great to see slices and raph go crazy with the stabbing.

[Donatello19]

Originally Posted by Jester

I think I liked the 1st part better than the 2nd. Man, was Snake's mutation gruesome. Especially the fact you can see the bones in his "legs" when he splits his stem to take his first steps.

I think the funniest character so far is....Splinter, oddly enough.

I think Splinter is the funniest character so far too.

[Icegaze]

Excellent debut was excellent. You know you enjoyed a tv show when you watch it 3 times in a row (plus several reviewing of some scenes).
I'm truly impressed with Nickelodeon. My only gripe in that I feel they made Mikey too dumb. Not that it is annoying but it is often emphasized and makes it his primary character trait (instead of being the funny/wild one).

My favourite scenes are as follow:

1. "It's go time!" - all 4 turtles showcase their weapons with a black background and what I consider to be my favourite soundtrack so far;

2. April O'neil's plan - she tries to subdue a Kraang human exosuit although ultimately inconsequencial but what made the scene hilariously awesome was the Kraang's unphased and unchanged facial expression;

3. "There are four of us and one of you, *giggles* what are you gonna do?" Big LOL;

4. Donatello's shuriken kick move;

5. Raphael's (failed) twin sai grapple/throw - the slowmo sequence was golden;

6. Splinter's "(lol) Nooo, that would have been wrong" (talking about Mikey being leader). :lmao

[Drose18]

I turned 13 last week and just realized 2k3 ended 3 years ago and started 9 years ago!!!

[BubblyShell22]

The fight scenes were awesome, and I loved Raph's sai grapple. You know, I'm already getting plot bunnies for fan fics based on this show, especially how Raph feels jealous of Leo as the leader. I can't wait to start writing.