Carter, the forgotten sidekick

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

I disagree. He did have a reason for being there- seeking Splinter's teaching and finding a cure for his mutation. He may be forgettable to some, but I found his very "average" personality a refreshing change to some of the more over-the-top characters. And he was basically the replacement for some of the other characters who had already fallen by the wayside, like Irma. With April off trying to get away from the turtles and all the chaos, they needed someone to keep the group grounded and connected to the world- Carter was that link. And he worked well in that role. I've been watching those very episodes over the past few days (one of the posters mentioned having inspiration for a story from a bit of Dregg's dialog in Beginning of the End) and the more I see of the last dozen episodes or so, the more I like Carter. He could have been a much more memorable character if he'd been introduced sooner. That he wasn't is kind of a loss. Other than Dregg himself, he's my favorite "new" character from those seasons.

Well Carter came in by the time the show got more "serious" and less campy, so it made sense for the writers to give him that kind of personality.

It was interesting to see April trying to break away from the Turtles, from a professional POV, at least. I mean, April's top stories for most of her career usually involved the Turtles, but maybe she just wanted to try covering something different for once?

As for the cure to his mutation, he only became a mutant after joining the Turtles. The reason he joined them was to learn martial arts from Splinter. This raises another question: Why did Splinter and the Turtles warm up to the idea of a "stalker" joining them so fast? I know there was a 2 year time-skip since they beat Shredder and Krang, but the Turtles kept on fighting criminals and such, so they must have made some new enemies since then. Letting a stranger join them was quite risky.

[BubblyShell22]

I remember Carter, and I really didn't mind him that much, though I hated his mutation. Then again, I hated how the Turtles mutated in this particular season, too. But other than that, I thought Carter was okay. I guess I just didn't really think about him that much.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by BubblyShell22

I remember Carter, and I really didn't mind him that much, though I hated his mutation. Then again, I hated how the Turtles mutated in this particular season, too. But other than that, I thought Carter was okay. I guess I just didn't really think about him that much.

I meant "forgotten" in the sense that the general audience does not remember him. Naturally, big TMNT fans such as users from this forum remember him.

The mutations didn't make any sense and were pretty pointless, yeah. They only made the turtles bigger, more violent, uglier and dumber. They really annoyed me in the Doomquest episode and i really hated those 2 epsiodes focused on Leonardo. Their mutations did save them against Chronos, but that's the only time I remember them being useful.

Carter's mutation, however, was not as bad. It was actually useful and proved to be beneficial to the turtles several times.

[miru]

Oh yeah, I remember him.

[CyberCubed]

I still could never figure out if Carter was meant to be black or hispanic.

[gobo]

I remember him just fine. Caring about him is another story.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I still could never figure out if Carter was meant to be black or hispanic.

He was undoubtedly black. How could you not tell?

Also, why does that even matter?

[gobo]

He looked like grownup Static Shock. Static Shock was obviously black.

[Vi11AiN6]

I like Carter but it was too little too late, the show was on it's last legs and it was time to wrap it up...

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Not entirely sure, but I think he might have been a mix (black/Latino). I thought he already had the mutation when they met him? I'll have to go back and re-watch his intro. I think maybe they let him join them so easily because most of their main enemies had been defeated, and they were just bored. That, and possibly lonely, what with most of their friends gone. And Splinter seemed to be a pretty good judge of character through most of the series- he DID let Zach stick around, after all....

I always thought of the secondary mutations as being some sort of end-stage to their original mutation. Like the son of Jeff Goldblume's character from "The Fly" in the sequel. His transformation didn't kick in until he hit full physical maturity. Maybe theirs was similar? Which is actually a pretty scary thought. Imagine how they would have felt knowing that that could be their ultimate fate? Yikes!

[gobo]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

I thought he already had the mutation when they met him?

Nope. He was vigilante-style helping the vigilante-Turtles, followed them to their lair, got invited by Splinter to stay, then got splashed with a tiny bit of the unstable mutagen in Donatello's lab while on his way out.

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Like the son of Jeff Goldblume's character from "The Fly" in the sequel. His transformation didn't kick in until he hit full physical maturity. Maybe theirs was similar?

That's a good explanation for why Splinteer was unaffected.

[Irishmile]

I honestly had not seen the last few seasons of the TMNT until I was an adult because at the time I was about 16 when they aired and I had stopped caring about the turtles as much as when I was a kid... I still liked them just not enough to tune in.

I completely missed the 4Kids series save for bits while flipping through channels.

The Nicktoons series has rekindled my interest and only because I have a 10 year old son who loves the series and got me hooked as well... otherwise I probably wouldn't have taken notice.

As for Carter.... I may be a little jaded because my introduction to him came while I was already an adult.. but I am doing my best to forget him as a sidekick

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Not entirely sure, but I think he might have been a mix (black/Latino). I thought he already had the mutation when they met him? I'll have to go back and re-watch his intro. I think maybe they let him join them so easily because most of their main enemies had been defeated, and they were just bored. That, and possibly lonely, what with most of their friends gone. And Splinter seemed to be a pretty good judge of character through most of the series- he DID let Zach stick around, after all....

I always thought of the secondary mutations as being some sort of end-stage to their original mutation. Like the son of Jeff Goldblume's character from "The Fly" in the sequel. His transformation didn't kick in until he hit full physical maturity. Maybe theirs was similar? Which is actually a pretty scary thought. Imagine how they would have felt knowing that that could be their ultimate fate? Yikes!

Zach was just a kid, so it's not like he was much of a threat to them. But he never trained Zach at all.

Technically, Carter was not even the first human student Splinter took in. Wasn't the one from Black Belt, White Heart his student at some point too? And that was already after Splinter had mutated, I mean, he did recognize Splinter after all. Strangely enough, he didn't know the turtles.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Technically, Carter was not even the first human student Splinter took in. Wasn't the one from Black Belt, White Heart his student at some point too? And that was already after Splinter had mutated, I mean, he did recognize Splinter after all. Strangely enough, he didn't know the turtles.

I believe from that episode, Splinter said he came to America with Yoku, the grandchild of Master Mogo-San (Splinter's sensei), and that after the grandson's studies (college I assume), he mysteriously vanished. I'm guessing that whole incident was before Splinter was penniless, forced to move into the sewers, and mutated into a rat. Thus, I don't think that "student" was the first human Splinter took in... at least not when he was a humanoid rat.

[Pterobat]

Even if Splinter had trained other human students before, Carter felt like...I know he wasn't *really*, but with his "cool" bike and X-Men style mutation and showing up out of the blue to ask Splinter for training and getting it, he read like a fanfic self-insert character. That was an unshakeable impression when I rewatched the series as an adult. As a kid, I can't even remember Carter, so, uh, so there.

Yes, if you introduced Carter from the start, and wrote him differently, he could work, but the Carter we got isn't someone I'm interested in seeing again.

[Coola Yagami]

Yeah. how the hell would Carter know who Hamato Yoshi is anyways, and that now lives in the sewers of New York... and that he had some connection to the Turtles??? Especially that late in the series.

And then that one episode where some student Splinter trained came back for revenge... and we never seen him before... and yet the Turtles act as if he trained with them and ... since when did Splinter start taking new pupils???

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Zach was just a kid, so it's not like he was much of a threat to them. But he never trained Zach at all.

Technically, Carter was not even the first human student Splinter took in. Wasn't the one from Black Belt, White Heart his student at some point too? And that was already after Splinter had mutated, I mean, he did recognize Splinter after all. Strangely enough, he didn't know the turtles.

Then again, Zach never asked, and none of them ever offered to. Different situation.


Gobo- was that an attempt at sarcasm, or were you serious about that comment about Splinter being unaffected? I can't tell. If it's serious- it would have made sense that he wasn't because he was a human first, and was basically de-evolved into a rat(lower life-form). With the turtles being animals first(going the opposite direction), it was a more haphazard situation to begin with, mixing reptile and mammal genes. That seems like a recipe for a much more unstable mutation.

[DonatelloNinja82]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Then again, Zach never asked, and none of them ever offered to. Different situation.


Gobo- was that an attempt at sarcasm, or were you serious about that comment about Splinter being unaffected? I can't tell. If it's serious- it would have made sense that he wasn't because he was a human first, and was basically de-evolved into a rat(lower life-form). With the turtles being animals first(going the opposite direction), it was a more haphazard situation to begin with, mixing reptile and mammal genes. That seems like a recipe for a much more unstable mutation.

I agree...I think that's why it never happened to Bebop or Rocksteady, either. (Well, that we know of, since we didnt see them in the last seasons, lol).

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Yeah. how the hell would Carter know who Hamato Yoshi is anyways, and that now lives in the sewers of New York... and that he had some connection to the Turtles??? Especially that late in the series.

And then that one episode where some student Splinter trained came back for revenge... and we never seen him before... and yet the Turtles act as if he trained with them and ... since when did Splinter start taking new pupils???

Yet, he didn't know he had mutated into a rat more or less at the same time as the turtles had mutated.

Another incoherence in FW's cartoon.

[cammy85]

I chalk Yoku's appearance to happening between seasons 6 and 7 (or maybe before?) and who knows if he got is government agent license before and trained with Splinter after? If Master Mogu-san still communicated with Splinter after the alleged murder attempt I'm sure that's how Yoku and Carter knew where to find them. That, or he thought like Lotus or Zach.

Carter wasn't a bad character even though he did have a rough start with his lack of teamwork and uncontrollable mutant form at first. It was weird having a secondary character stick around for more than two episodes like Usagi or the HAVOC mutants for example. But once he grew as a character all was well.