OT watchers, how shocked were you at how different Raph was in the movie?

[Garfield]

It didn't bother me. As a kid I think I was far more excepting to changes. I think a lot of kids aren't bothered by this, it isn't until we grow up that we develop all of these standards.

[FlogginMcMurryZombiePizza]

I cant remember my response to the difference in the character portrayal of Raph.
But I can't remember disliking it. It might have felt overall "grown up" or something... but it was the Turtles. That was reason enough to like it.
I mean, Mikey was hardly the surfer guy he was in the cartoon. And, really, he didn't have THAT many lines in the movie compared to the others.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by FlogginMcMurryZombiePizza

I cant remember my response to the difference in the character portrayal of Raph.
But I can't remember disliking it. It might have felt overall "grown up" or something... but it was the Turtles. That was reason enough to like it.
I mean, Mikey was hardly the surfer guy he was in the cartoon. And, really, he didn't have THAT many lines in the movie compared to the others.

This. To expand upon it, Donnie wasn't exactly the science guy either. It's implied he worked on the truck, I guess, but we only see Casey under the hood...

[Welmanshire]

Originally Posted by Powder

This. To expand upon it, Donnie wasn't exactly the science guy either. It's implied he worked on the truck, I guess, but we only see Casey under the hood...

So true. The only other time I remember seeing him being anywhere near "science guy" was in that scene where Danny tells him and Mikey that he had some leftover pizza, Donnie is tinkering with something and drops is the second he hears the word pizza.
It wasn't until SOTO that they really started to embody their Fred Wolf characteristics.

[Toby Barrett]

I loved Donnie as more of a grease monkey kinda guy, instead of the one who created portals to other dimensions and the like.

[Tora]

I didn't notice the first time viewing it because my jaw was on the floor for most of the movie.

Years later I kinda wondered why he had such an edge but I liked that they changed it and it feels more natural to have a teen with an attitude problem among his other brothers. Makes for good sibling rivalry.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Since I STARTED with the movie before I ever saw(read- knew about) the Ot series, I didn't notice any difference until I actually discovered the toon later. Then I thought Raph was pretty cool in the cartoons, but I honestly liked him both ways. And he DID have some of the same snarky sarcasm in the movie, like when he is arguing with Leo over what to do about finding Splinter, or when he is in the park with Casey near the beginning. So there was a bit of the OT Raph in the movie, too. I actually like a blend of the two best, though. Sarcastic wise-guy with anger-management issues...... (Heh, he's like the Hulk, only he's ALWAYS green!!!)

[voltron80]

I was probably more shocked the turtles didn't have their matching color elbow and knee pads, their initials wasn't on their belts and that the foot soldiers were humans. Plus the origin. Only thing that shocked me about Raph he said damn twice.

[Protoman]

Honestly, as a kid, I never picked a favourite Turtle from day 1 of Turtle Tracks, always had a balanced set of Turtles (mind you Don did get the shaft a bit...) but when the first movie hit theatres and I was introduced to THAT Raph........ I started to lean for the first time. I liked the change and that lean showed through in using him for the arcade game, later Turtles in Time for the SNES, Tournament Fighters and beyond (aka merch and toys)

[Davetello]

I was very shocked by the way Raphael was portrayed, as circa 1990 I had no idea of the comics' existence. The Raph I knew (from OT) was sarcastic and didn't seem to let anything get to him; he broke the fourth wall often and seemed to play off the emotions of the others (particularly Leonardo). When I saw the movie, however, Raph was suddenly depicted as angry and tormented. It was a culture shock for sure . However, with the benefit of hindsight and now knowing most of the turtles' history, I appreciate the movie version of Raphael. He's pretty faithful to the comics' incarnation (although toned down somewhat, obviously) and the movie wouldn't have been half as good had his anger issues not been deeply explored.

As Powder implies too, the treatment of Donatello in the first film didn't do him justice. He is shown to have an interest in electronics and to be smart (he knows what a claustrophobic is for example, despite living his entire life in a sewer) but he isn't fully shown to be the technical turtle until SotO. It always annoyed me that he was Mikey's sidekick in the first film, rather than being properly developed. However, it saw a short film and it dealt mostly with Raph so I can't hold it against the movie. Donnie and Mikey generally seem to be the 'secondary turtles' unfortunately, despite the former being Laird's favourite.

[Master of the Foot Clan]

Originally Posted by DarkLightDragon

Can't really be 'new' when it's been his personality in the original comics.

Thank you. Everytime I mention this people always say "but in the original cartoon..." Doesn't matter the comic was first and that's how we were introduced to Raph. I like that Raph. Rob Paulsen is a great voice actor but he's a better Donnie than Raph which is one of the many reasons I find the NickTurtles series well done. That's why I liked Josh Pais' verson in the original TMNT movie. Classic Raph

[Rooish]

Originally Posted by Master of the Foot Clan

Thank you. Everytime I mention this people always say "but in the original cartoon..." Doesn't matter the comic was first and that's how we were introduced to Raph. I like that Raph. Rob Paulsen is a great voice actor but he's a better Donnie than Raph which is one of the many reasons I find the NickTurtles series well done. That's why I liked Josh Pais' verson in the original TMNT movie. Classic Raph

Yeah but obviously many people were first introduced by the OT, let's not shame them.

I do recall as a 4-year-old being shocked and moved by the dark tone, can't remember specifically about Raph.

[BigMike322]

I loved it. At the time Ralph was probably my least favorite but then I loved the movie version. He's easy to relate to.

[Powder]

Who's Ralph?

[slingtheory]

i remember thinking that it was weird to see him cursing and so angry compared to the happy go lucky sarcastic rapheal I was used to. I think at the time I thought it was just because he lost his sai. rewatching it later in life I noticed that he does have his sarcastic moments though (a Jose Conseco bat? tell me you didn't pay money for this. ) like others have already said Donnie is who I was most surprised by because he just seemed off.no where in the movie is he made to seem like a technical genius and skateboarding seems like it should of been more mikey's thing. being voiced by Corey Feldman didn't help much either. he sounded more like a party boy then a genius. I had thought that he was going to turn aprils van into the turtle van and I was kind of disappointed it never happened. really I guess the whole movie was a shock with the human foot soldiers no bebop and rocksteady or krang but before I knew about the comics I just thought the studio made the decisions to make it that way. I thought it was dark because they wanted more than just kids to want to see the movie and that they cut out so many characters because it would've been too expensive or they couldn't do the special effects

[The Boston Ninja Turtle]

Originally Posted by Ravenxl7

My childhood is a bit of a blur, but I don't remember ever really noticing the differences between the OT and the movies. I either didn't actually notice, or I enjoyed both enough to not care. More than likely a mixture of both, though I also enjoyed different takes on Batman back int he day, so who knows.

Originally Posted by pingclang

All I noticed as a kid was real Ninja Turtles. Walking, talking Ninja Turtles in a movie.

for me it was thse 2, i was 5/6 when the movie came out so i really cant remember anything...i have picutres of my at the theater but nothing solid memory wise to say

plus real walking talking turtles, i didnt even realize Jim Henson who is my hero was attached till i was older

[BigMike322]

Originally Posted by slingtheory

i remember thinking that it was weird to see him cursing and so angry compared to the happy go lucky sarcastic rapheal I was used to. I think at the time I thought it was just because he lost his sai. rewatching it later in life I noticed that he does have his sarcastic moments though (a Jose Conseco bat? tell me you didn't pay money for this. ) like others have already said Donnie is who I was most surprised by because he just seemed off.no where in the movie is he made to seem like a technical genius and skateboarding seems like it should of been more mikey's thing. being voiced by Corey Feldman didn't help much either. he sounded more like a party boy then a genius. I had thought that he was going to turn aprils van into the turtle van and I was kind of disappointed it never happened. really I guess the whole movie was a shock with the human foot soldiers no bebop and rocksteady or krang but before I knew about the comics I just thought the studio made the decisions to make it that way. I thought it was dark because they wanted more than just kids to want to see the movie and that they cut out so many characters because it would've been too expensive or they couldn't do the special effects

I agree 100% about Donnie.

[Candy Kappa]

As a kid, I cared very little for the Fred Wolf series, so how things was portrayed there was very irrelevant

[Shark_Blade]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

As a kid, I cared very little for the Fred Wolf series, so how things was portrayed there was very irrelevant

D: So when did you first found love for the franchise? The comics?

[Tuxedo Moroboshi]

Originally Posted by Powder

Who's Ralph?

I think they meant Raph, but I'll post this pic up for future reference, since I see people make this mistake all the time.