why couldn't they have kept the original animation

[mikey22]

i finished the entire tmnt book

they even mention how great hot rodding teenagers was, with special effects and animation. especially with aprils slick driving and bombs going off.

do you guys think if that original animation stayed throughout every season it would have made that much better of a show. the fight scenes were way more entertaining, the older the seasons got it turned into just people throwing each other around.... i really wish the anime couldve been a part of when splinter trains the ninja turtles.. they could have had a lot slicker graphics.

its a shame mike couldn't use his chucks anymore after season two,

what do you guys think of know about the original animation company..

[CyberCubed]

Because animated a 193 episode series with one animation team is too much? You do realize episodes are animated at the same time as others to get them out on time right?

[ssjup81]

They were doing too many episodes at a time. I'm sure that they change up on animators so that they don't burn themselves out. Now they use computers and even that aside, most shows now are generally shorter per season. I think it was season 3 or 4 where the amount of eps per season was ridiculous.

[Brianardo]

Orig > Red Sky

[Bry]

I get the feeling the animation style used for the majority of the run was cheaper to produce.

The S2+ animation seemed a lot more... consistent, I guess? I recall the S1 animation had quite a number of errors and continuity problems. I'm sure the rest of the run did as well, but it seemed more noticeable. But the original '87 miniseries' animation was much more dynamic, detailed, stylish and exciting, and left a strong impression. The first season always felt like it held up a lot better than the rest of the run, and it would've been nice to see more of the show in that style.

[ABrown]

Originally Posted by Brianardo

Orig > Red Sky

I wish the whole series would've been in the "Red Sky" style. It was what I wanted in a TMNT cartoon when I was 9, 10 years old in the early 90's. I was very excited when, at the age of 15, I turned on TMNT on a Saturday morning and saw what the cartoon had become.

[Refractive Reflections]

I think ssjup81 said it best, you have to remember that the OT was the #1 cartoon back then, creating a ravenous demand for it; so they had to chuck out an enormous amount of episodes within a short time. It also explains why seasons 3, 4, and 5 have the most animation errors.

The reason the first season was so impressive was because it had to be impressive since this was the first time TMNT was being presented to the mainstream, and it would determine the fate of not only the merchandise, but the franchise as well. If it wasn't for those superb 5 episodes, what would have happened to the franchise if they weren't received well? We probably wouldn't be here talking about it now.

Naturally it would have been awesome to have had that kind of detail throughout the series, but realistically we have to give the animation team some room to have some flaws because of so many episodes that were expected from them. In fact, when one thinks of it, the episodes could have been FAR worse (the animation and storywriting) considering they had to create 40+ episodes/year for the 1989 and 1990 seasons, but yet it didn't since the ratings were still high and still stayed at #1.

It's a testament to the talent and skill of the OT production team actually, that the quality didn't slip as badly as it could have, with the amount of pressure to complete so many episodes (by hand no less for an audience of mere kids) within a short amount of time.