Thoughts on the Channel Six Crew?

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Even after all these years I can't figure out if Vernon was supposed to be gay or just a man with some feminine traits. I'm trying to remember if there are any scenes where Vernon shows interest in any female in the show, but I can't remember any.

I can't remember any either, but I haven't watched most of the series in years. There was a scene in Donatello's Degree, though, where Vernon tells April that he might need some mouth-to-mouth First Aid or something like that. It's implied that he actually does like the opposite sex.

I can't figure out if Vernon was supposed to be gay or not either. I think the writers wanted it to be left ambigious. I thought he was straight in season one, though.

[CyberCubed]

Well most of the OT aired in the 80's and early 90's. Having a blatant gay character in a children's cartoon just wasn't done back then. They likely left it ambiguous on purpose.

Unlike Irma who spent most of her run trying to find a guy to date, we know she was straight.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I liked the idea of Burne Thompson having Gadgetman as childhood hero.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Well most of the OT aired in the 80's and early 90's. Having a blatant gay character in a children's cartoon just wasn't done back then. They likely left it ambiguous on purpose.

Unlike Irma who spent most of her run trying to find a guy to date, we know she was straight.

I guess you could say the OT was ahead of its time? Then again vernon's character is comic-relief. He's a wimpy arrogant and chauvinistic man.

[sdp]

I didn't see Vern as gay, not everyone who has feminine traits is gay, he was just meant to be unlikeable. I think there are episodes where he oogles women like Thompsons' girls. I'm surprised some of you wouldn't want to see these characters in other incarnations, I think they're great and Vern in the movie was awesome IMO. I mean I wouldn't want any of them have as much screentime as they did in the OT but would want to see them from time to time.

Vern being a jerk is always funny and Irma being so into boys always got me to laugh. Thompson is the only character that I have mixed feelings about since sometimes he is just a JJ Jameson rip-off and others he does feel like his own character even if he hates the turtles.

[CyberCubed]

Well also the whole point was to show that April was braver and more headstrong than him, or Irma for that matter. April never quaked in fear even when she was kidnapped.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by sdp

I didn't see Vern as gay, not everyone who has feminine traits is gay, he was just meant to be unlikeable. I think there are episodes where he oogles women like Thompsons' girls. I'm surprised some of you wouldn't want to see these characters in other incarnations, I think they're great and Vern in the movie was awesome IMO. I mean I wouldn't want any of them have as much screentime as they did in the OT but would want to see them from time to time.

Vern being a jerk is always funny and Irma being so into boys always got me to laugh. Thompson is the only character that I have mixed feelings about since sometimes he is just a JJ Jameson rip-off and others he does feel like his own character even if he hates the turtles.

I saw him as gay when I was 7-8 years old or so. Because he seemed like a walking gay stereotype to me. But I don't consider him gay nowadays. Just narcissistic and chauvinistic. As you've said, he has subtly shown interest in a few women throughout the show.

Funnily enough, Vernon was kinda tolerable in the first season. He also had a manlier sounding voice.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Well also the whole point was to show that April was braver and more headstrong than him, or Irma for that matter. April never quaked in fear even when she was kidnapped.

Yeah, April was a pretty strong independent woman. She never gets a bf or a husband in the show either. Naturally she got saved by the Turtles often because they're the heroes of the show and she doesn't know martial arts like them or Shredder did. Still, April has saved the Turtles a few times and has been a HUGE help to them throughout the show.

I guess the FW series was some years ahead when it came to having a strong female character?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

April and Irma against Burne and Vernon also reflected people's opinions about the turtles-mutants in general.

[SKX31]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I saw him as gay when I was 7-8 years old or so. Because he seemed like a walking gay stereotype to me. But I don't consider him gay nowadays. Just narcissistic and chauvinistic. As you've said, he has subtly shown interest in a few women throughout the show.

Funnily enough, Vernon was kinda tolerable in the first season. He also had a manlier sounding voice.

It might be a gay stereotype, but I'm getting the "cowardly non-helper guy" out of him more. You know the type - selfish, doesn't want to risk his position but wants fame and money at the same time. The gay stereotype thing might come from that, but unless we can interview whoever came up with Vernon we'll never know for sure.

Yeah, April was a pretty strong independent woman. She never gets a bf or a husband in the show either. Naturally she got saved by the Turtles often because they're the heroes of the show and she doesn't know martial arts like them or Shredder did. Still, April has saved the Turtles a few times and has been a HUGE help to them throughout the show.

I guess the FW series was some years ahead when it came to having a strong female character?

Besides the usual "how do you define a strong independent woman?" I should note it's really hard to divorce FW from the cartoon climate at the time. Yea, I am a broken record here, but "kidnapping the girl" was one of those stock episode plots everyone used. And oh boy did FW love to use that. Can't really blame April on that in some episodes. Those episodes you can blame her for is when she does something that a journalist should know is stupid or even retarded and sets off the plot that way.

That said, boy cartoons at the time often had a token girl in the main cast (some, like the Gummi Bears, had two or more) He-Man's She-Ra and Bucky o'Hare's Jenny are just two examples. Hell, even the Ewoks cartoon (yea, remember that? no?) had a girl character as a mainstay! And this was, remember, before the darker trend began.

So while April's not really unique in that sense - and we could spend ages discussing how April's different from others, I think I'm gonna keep my opinion on this short and to the point. My guess is that She-Ra and April as characters were part of a trend where cartoon producers in the short term wanted to broaden their audience without too much effort. Eventually, though, the darker trend began to take hold - and you can see that the trend + inspiration from characters like She-Ra and April resulted in Gargoyles' Elisa and Angela as well as Biker Mice from Mars' Charlie (of course, as BMfM was a Turtles clone Charlie's their April essentially) up to Legend of Korra and Steven Universe's characters recently / today.

Again, only a guess, but that's something you kinda notice.

EDIT: Oh, and as for the Channel 6 crew? Meh. It's probably because they were more of an afterthought most episodes, and probably because I've seen their character types elsewhere. Of course, it could have been better if they had a bit more screen time, but this is a cartoon that ended production 20 years ago. What's done is done.

[CyberCubed]

The funny thing is there were other Channel 6 members too. Like the older guy with blonde hair and a blonde mustache who used to talk with a funny news accent on TV. Then there was the cameraman who appeared in a few episodes and Blodget.

[pferreira]

I really enjoyed the Channel 6 news team. It was great to have a bunch of recurring characters for April to play against. Considering how much Vernon was supposed to hate April there were a couple of episodes where you got the sense he actually cared about her like in The Big Rip-Off. As to whether Vernon was gay, I think he was more camp than gay saying stuff like 'oh icky poo' when a lobster bit his finger. He was written to be effeminate to make April stronger.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Maybe in the next season 5 crossover of the Nick show, we can get a brief cameo of the channel six members? Renae Jacobs has been a guest star on the Nick show before and I'm sure Pat Fraley will still nail his voice as Burne. I know the main focus is supposed to be on the two turtle teams and the two shredders but I think that a small cameo from the Channel Six crew or even good old Casey Jones would be nice, seeing how the current show acknowledged them in Wormquake.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Maybe in the next season 5 crossover of the Nick show, we can get a brief cameo of the channel six members? Renae Jacobs has been a guest star on the Nick show before and I'm sure Pat Fraley will still nail his voice as Burne. I know the main focus is supposed to be on the two turtle teams and the two shredders but I think that a small cameo from the Channel Six crew or even good old Casey Jones would be nice, seeing how the current show acknowledged them in Wormquake.

I did appreciate that the show at least showed the Channel Six building in both of the OT crossover episodes. But it is kind of a tease to see more!

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I did appreciate that the show at least showed the Channel Six building in both of the OT crossover episodes. But it is kind of a tease to see more!

I don't think Irma and Vernon will appear next time. But I'm confident that April will make an appearance. Maybe even Burne in a cameo since Pat Fraley will be appearing again.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The funny thing is there were other Channel 6 members too. Like the older guy with blonde hair and a blonde mustache who used to talk with a funny news accent on TV. Then there was the cameraman who appeared in a few episodes and Blodget.

Even episodes like "The Turtles and the Hare" showed other employes, and several other episodes with other reporters (especially during season 2). There seemed to have been hundreds of people working inside that building and that's how it shall be.