In-universe explanations for season 8-10

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I saw all 3 seasons when they aired, they all aired on CBS. It was the same channel that aired TMNT regularly since Season 5.

You were lucky. In my area, I want to say it stopped airing on CBS by at least season 7, most the programming being preempted for Martha Stewart and news.

I only saw one episode of the Red Sky arc during its original run. I visited my aunt in Norfolk, Virginia and CBS there still showed Saturday morn toons. It was either '95 or '96. I'd had no idea that the show had changed and was wondering why the sky was red, who the new guy was, and why April wasn't at Channel 6.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by neatoman

I've heard another theory, that it takes place in an alternate universe. This would also explain how the Technodrome got upgraded in Turtles Forever despite the fact that we never saw the upgraded version in the show, we never did because the Red Sky seasons took place in a seperate universe.

Yeah I know I'm basically inviting pissing and moaning to this thread by mentioning Turtles Forever, but considering that the movie shows the OVA to be seperate from the FW cartoon, the 2007 movie from the 90's movies and Image from Mirage, it's a pretty decent theory.

If, does Turtles Forever take place in the Red Sky Universe and the Technodrome got upgraded after "Divide & Conquer"?

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I was more a comic book fan as a kid, and according to DC lore, specifically "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and related stories, the skies turning red was a sign of impending Multiversal collapse, or at the least, a sign that a universe within the Multiverse was about to be destroyed.

The Red Sky seasons were the last ones before the show was cancelled and that specific TMNT universe "died". Also explains the "darker" tone, as Crisis tie-in stories always were darker and more "serious" than normal stories.

So it all made perfect sense to me as a kid and even more now.

Hmm... interesting. I never thought about the possibility of a multi-verse crisis reference being intentional during the Red Sky years.

But Red Sky episodes made a big hullabaloo of apocalyptic future scenarios with Krakus, Landor, and Merrick...

And the last season of the show did try to bring in duplicates of the Turtles from the past in order to save the turtles of the future...

And the very theme song was clearly trying to get kids thinking about the movie turtles and the toon turtles at the same time...

And then might consider the references to the old show appearing in Turtles Forever and Nick's Manhattan Project episode to be a retro-active confirmation of multiverse tamperings...

Interesting.

[Leo656]

Characters showing up in inappropriate timelines, or displaced from their own time into the past or future, or even into alternate *possible* pasts or futures, is also a sign that the walls between realities are breaking down as a universe "dies". It happens in every single Crisis event; time displacement, in particular, was rampant during the "Zero Hour" event.

So it's really quite simple, and the last three seasons actually took place during a Crisis-level event. ALSO coincidentally, but still supporting the theory, is that the Fred Wolf TMNT universe was "wiped out" and never referenced again, UNTIL after DC's "Infinite Crisis" event and the fall-out established that there was once again a "Multiverse", and that all the universes that had once been "wiped out" still existed after all. Shortly thereafter, the FW TMNT appeared for the first time in ages in "Turtles Forever", in which the entire plot was dependent on Multiversal theory.

It's all connected, maaaaaaan.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Characters showing up in inappropriate timelines, or displaced from their own time into the past or future, or even into alternate *possible* pasts or futures, is also a sign that the walls between realities are breaking down as a universe "dies". It happens in every single Crisis event; time displacement, in particular, was rampant during the "Zero Hour" event.

So it's really quite simple, and the last three seasons actually took place during a Crisis-level event. ALSO coincidentally, but still supporting the theory, is that the Fred Wolf TMNT universe was "wiped out" and never referenced again, UNTIL after DC's "Infinite Crisis" event and the fall-out established that there was once again a "Multiverse", and that all the universes that had once been "wiped out" still existed after all. Shortly thereafter, the FW TMNT appeared for the first time in ages in "Turtles Forever", in which the entire plot was dependent on Multiversal theory.

It's all connected, maaaaaaan.

And while we're at it, did the same thing happen when Batman: The Animated Series got rebooted as The New Batman Adventures TV show? Little continuity elements like characters' physical likenesses (Penguin, Croc, Joker) and backstories (Zatanna) changed overnight without explanation. And the Green Lantern crossover episode of Superman: The Animated Series was surely retconned to prepare the way for John Stewart GL in Justice League...

I read Zero Hour for the first time a couple of years ago. By itself, it didn't quite live up to my expectations, but the ZH tie-in issues that appeared in the individual title monthlies were pretty cool. I especially liked some of the craziness seen in the Batman and Superman comics.

[Leo656]

Indeed. Indeed. Although I actually love Zero Hour. But then I was immersed in it as it was happening, so it was a little more "special" and had a little more urgency.

But yeah, all the ZH tie-ins were great but the Superman and Batman ones were among the very best. Back when DC put all its talent on the "big" characters' books, instead of using those talents to try and "elevate" obscure/lesser characters and letting any hack take a swing at Superman or Batman because "they're easy".

[Danetello]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

But Red Sky episodes made a big hullabaloo of apocalyptic future scenarios with Krakus, Landor, and Merrick...

Slightly off topic, I know, but I do wonder how Landor and Merrick were supposed to know who the TMNT were since their version of the future was corrected by the actions of the turtles earlier in the series. Even if they knew who they were, their reappearance seemed to imply that they recalled their previous encounter with the turtles, which wouldn't have been possible had their future been altered, like was implied.

[Jephael]

Originally Posted by Danetello

I wonder how Landor and Merrick were supposed to know who the TMNT were since their version of the future was corrected by the actions of the turtles earlier in the series. Even if they knew who they were, their reappearance seemed to imply that they recalled their previous encounter with the turtles, which wouldn't have been possible had their future been altered, like was implied.

I'm guessing since the TMNT of present day have seen them as kids, they befriend them down the road. I can imagine Donatello being the one who invents the time travel orb.