Teenage mutant hero turtles?

[snake]

Yes, I know about the uk call them "hero turtles", but I always wondered, why?
So why did they call them hero turtles?
If you can't make any sense of what I'm saying, see for yourself
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9p...s#.URkf5Wt5mK0
It's hilarious how much trouble they went through to edit out Mikey's nunchaku and the word "ninja" it's funny.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The UK tryed to tone down the violence a little bit. Nunchucks were used in gangs, so they tried to tone it down. The video game "Shadow of the Ninja" became "Blue Shadow" (which also affected other places in the PAL Region).

[Discogod]

Basically, for about 25 years Ninjas and anything to do with them were pretty much banned from British media - that included weapons like nunchaku and shuriken - no matter what, whether it was an "18" rated movie or cartoon like TMNT (although things like comics & video games were exempt). This was pretty much because the guy who was in charge of ratings board hated all that kind of stuff and would refuse a rating to anything Ninja-related (effectively banning it from legal distribution). Once he popped his clogs, the "ban" was lifted.

This resulted in the TMNT cartoon being absolutely butchered and rendered it virtually unwatchable.

[snake]

Originally Posted by Discogod

Basically, for about 25 years Ninjas and anything to do with them were pretty much banned from British media - that included weapons like nunchaku and shuriken - no matter what, whether it was an "18" rated movie or cartoon like TMNT (although things like comics & video games were exempt). This was pretty much because the guy who was in charge of ratings board hated all that kind of stuff and would refuse a rating to anything Ninja-related (effectively banning it from legal distribution). Once he popped his clogs, the "ban" was lifted.

This resulted in the TMNT cartoon being absolutely butchered and rendered it virtually unwatchable.

Oh, I could just imagine the episode titles

"hero sword of nowhere"

[Zulithe]

The UK fanbase has my sympathy To think you still remained fans all through that BS is really cool. Respect! Glad those days are behind all of us.

[ZariusTwo]

I could never forget lines like "We were the TEENAGE MUTANT....TURTLES"

[Ryanator008]

Can I get a clip of this?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by snakeweed101

Oh, I could just imagine the episode titles

"hero sword of nowhere"

It's just "Sword of Nowhere". I don't know "The Unknown Ninja".

Those were the only episode titles with "Ninja", see

http://www.thetechnodrome.com/eplist.shtml

[snake]

Originally Posted by Ryanator008

Can I get a clip of this?

Yeah, there's one in the first post.

[Ryanator008]

Originally Posted by snakeweed101

Yeah, there's one in the first post.

I meant in the actual show. Not just the theme song.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by Discogod

Basically, for about 25 years Ninjas and anything to do with them were pretty much banned from British media - that included weapons like nunchaku and shuriken - no matter what, whether it was an "18" rated movie or cartoon like TMNT (although things like comics & video games were exempt). This was pretty much because the guy who was in charge of ratings board hated all that kind of stuff and would refuse a rating to anything Ninja-related (effectively banning it from legal distribution). Once he popped his clogs, the "ban" was lifted.

I think that's over egging it a bit. The movie and the merchendise like the tie comic, novelisations, magazine etc were done with the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles name. When The Epic Begins was shown on Sky Movies it was also with the original name. (Using Nunchuks was still a no, no though)

It wasn't exactly uncommon to see the odd bit of generic turtle merchendise with the original name either.

This resulted in the TMNT cartoon being absolutely butchered and rendered it virtually unwatchable.

I wouldn't say unwatchable. There's a few things here and there that stand out that even as a kid you know missed something usualy down to music skipping or as Zarius pointed out the clunky way people called them "Teenage Mutant...Turtles" but for the most part nothing major that you wouldn't know unless you watched the original episode.

Bizarrely Bravo during the 2000s when it was airing TMHT randomy showed an episode of one the Red Sky seasons with Ninja intact. It even keeps the "enter the action zone" intro.

[CyberCubed]

I wish it didn't cause them to get rid of Mikey's nunchuckes from Seasons 5 and up.

Damn UK.

[Ryanator008]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I wish it didn't cause them to get rid of Mikey's nunchuckes from Seasons 5 and up.

Damn UK.

Now that I agree with.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I wish it didn't cause them to get rid of Mikey's nunchuckes from Seasons 5 and up.

Damn UK.

Pretty sure that was CBS that made that call. I doubt they made any cosideration for UK or European audiences in that regard.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Pretty sure that was CBS that made that call. I doubt they made any cosideration for UK or European audiences in that regard.

You really think only Mike's weapons would be targeted if it weren't for the UK?

[Triceraton Jones]

Honestly I'm glad it was changed to hero. I dread to think how my life would of turned out if I had to see and hear such a violent word as ninja everyday.
On a separate note us people from the U.K are known for our sarcasm

[Blossombrooks]

Originally Posted by Triceraton Jones

Honestly I'm glad it was changed to hero. I dread to think how my life would of turned out if I had to see and hear such a violent word as ninja everyday.
On a separate note us people from the U.K are known for our sarcasm

amen.

[Coola Yagami]

I hate how they did that cause of the UK. It's like, it's an American cartoon for US. If you can't take it, make your own UK action show and leave out show alone It would be like skipping out the shower scenes out of anime shows shown in Japan because American audiences can't take it.

[pannoni1]

It still irks me that Germany forced SoTO to a 12-an-up only rating upon its initial release, which cost up to half of its potential audience. But if the show was really called TMHT had I seen it for the first time, I would think that there was no Asian element. Also notice that a scene from the intro consists of the Technodrome in Season 2, as the show didn't begin in the UK for over a year after it first aired, which meant that the UK censors studied the original and simply edited it out. The original voice actors never recorded any alternate dialogue, so any replacement had to be dubbed in the UK if it wasn't edited out. But when you see the upcoming TV schedule and see that the Turtles are only on for 20 minutes, you know something's missing. At least you didn't have to sit through any commercials in the UK, and it did come on at a good timeslot in the late afternoon.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by Zulithe

The UK fanbase has my sympathy To think you still remained fans all through that BS is really cool. Respect! Glad those days are behind all of us.

Didn't just affect the UK, Norway got most that Hero crap as well.

But most people said Ninja then Hero thanks to the Live Action movie still had Ninja in its title, unsure bout the video games, I can't remember that. But the toys, Archie comics and Fred Wolf series had Hero in it.

but Norway is also the same country where the Christian People Party tried to ban American Superhero comics because Superman did not teach good Christian Family values, no joke.

The first TMNT movie had a age 15 rating