TMNT Fred Wolf Series is 29 Years Old

[DestronMirage22]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

I remember seeing that when they announced the first PD movie.

Reminds me a lot about Null.

[Wesley]

Didn't realise it was the 29th anniversary Anyway, the Fred Wolf cartoon isn't as good as I remembered it as a kid, but I think it's still a good enough cartoon. It's alright in small doses. I think half of the episodes are still fun to watch. I'm actually surprised that it still holds up better than other 80s/90s kids shows to me and parts of it are more enjoyable as an adult, as a lot of the humour went over my head as a kid.

[Lisardo]

Oh yeah it did premiere in Dec. 1987 didn't it! I was a mere 7 years old back then. I don't think I first saw it till 1988 or 1989, but I forget.

[ABrown]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

What, are you sh*tting me?

Nope. I was just watching the Phineas and Ferb "Mission Marvel" episode today. And I was thinking to myself: THIS is what Nick's TMNT should be. Nickelodeon does fun a lot better than it does serious. They should stick to their strengths.

[Jephael]

As much as I love the original cartoon, there were a lot of problems with it; Continuity blunders, animation errors up the rear end and don't even get me started on the replacement voice acting in the later years. Still, it had potential. David Wise did some of the best episodes, especially in season 7. I wish he had continued to do the show in season 9 instead of handing it over to whoever the hell thought Dregg and Carter were good ideas.

[Vegita-San]

as i recall..

the animation switch over was to compete with batman.

and dregg and carter where ideas of some cbs executive. my guess is they whre trying to drive away viewers, and it almost worked in my case. bad animation, annoying new hero who was useless.....power rangerl ike villain..

tmnt was cbs's only animated show at that point. but even that couldn't kill it.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by Jephael

As much as I love the original cartoon, there were a lot of problems with it; Continuity blunders, animation errors up the rear end and don't even get me started on the replacement voice acting in the later years. Still, it had potential. David Wise did some of the best episodes, especially in season 7. I wish he had continued to do the show in season 9 instead of handing it over to whoever the hell thought Dregg and Carter were good ideas.

Or the time they retcon the Turtles origin with Mondo Gecko.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Mondo wasn't a retcon though. He was an ADDITION to the origin, one that could easily have been there all along, but was simply not known until Michelangelo's dream. Mondo was taken before Splinter found the turtles in the mutagen. The only real question was why they were not taken as well.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Vegita-San

as i recall..

the animation switch over was to compete with batman.

and dregg and carter where ideas of some cbs executive. my guess is they whre trying to drive away viewers, and it almost worked in my case. bad animation, annoying new hero who was useless.....power rangerl ike villain..

tmnt was cbs's only animated show at that point. but even that couldn't kill it.

The changes began during season 8. Dregg and Carter appear during seasons 9-10.

[Andrew NDB]

I have a theory. Pretty much everyone outgrew or simply tired of FW TMNT, ratings dropped and toy sales were down, so they panicked, uprooted a lot of the old guard (David Wise, etc.) and tried to do... something new. Largely inspired by the other things out there that were working for kids (Power Rangers and so on).

I'm not sure why that's so hard to fathom.

[CyberCubed]

The original cartoon aired over the course of 10 years. Of course the earliest kids would have already been teenagers by the time it was halfway through. And being in the 90's most teens at the time didn't watch cartoons, people were told to outgrow cartoons and videogames back then.

Its a lot different than today, where many adults do still watch cartoons and play videogames. Its so weird to see how different things are from the 90's, where back then people were told to leave comics, cartoons and videogames behind....and now all the current 20-30 year adults still love this stuff and never dropped it.

I guess society has changed. Now we can embrace being manchildren.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The original cartoon aired over the course of 10 years. Of course the earliest kids would have already been teenagers by the time it was halfway through. And being in the 90's most teens at the time didn't watch cartoons, people were told to outgrow cartoons and videogames back then.

Its a lot different than today, where many adults do still watch cartoons and play videogames. Its so weird to see how different things are from the 90's, where back then people were told to leave comics, cartoons and videogames behind....and now all the current 20-30 year adults still love this stuff and never dropped it.

I guess society has changed. Now we can embrace being manchildren.

That change is great. Because if you're told to outgrow, what comes instead once you become a teenager? Maybe gangs and vandalism walking through the streets of town breaking streetlights and smashing cars instead of going to the lessons at school? Maybe tobacco? Maybe alcohol? Maybe drugs?

[TheCanadiandrome]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Today marks the 29th anniversary of the Fred Wolf series, It premiered on December 14, 1987.

damn i feel old

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I have a theory. Pretty much everyone outgrew or simply tired of FW TMNT, ratings dropped and toy sales were down, so they panicked, uprooted a lot of the old guard (David Wise, etc.) and tried to do... something new. Largely inspired by the other things out there that were working for kids (Power Rangers and so on).

I'm not sure why that's so hard to fathom.

Pretty much a no brainer.

But I wonder when the ratings dropped? Any ideas of when that happened? Was it during season 7 or had the ratings already been dropping for a while by that point? Considering how they produced 3 (albeit short) seasons after season 7, I'm willing to bet the ratings dropped before season 7.

[cammy85]

IMO (and I'm sure here were reasons for this), it had to do with the fact that Season 4 was a full 13 week/26 episode season but Seasons 5-7 were shorter and used older episodes to run out the time. That got old quick.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

It would be pretty awesome if they released a blu-ray for the original cartoon. I wonder how many it would take to fit the entire show.

I'm sure it could be done.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

4Kids is just as wacky and campy as FW in many ways.

I have never heard anyone refer to the 4Kids series as 'wacky and campy'. The 4Kids series from what I've seen is all about the seriousness. Please explain, I'm curious.

Originally Posted by Jephael

I wish he had continued to do the show in season 9 instead of handing it over to whoever the hell thought Dregg and Carter were good ideas.

As mentioned before CBS executives felt they knew better and got rid of Wise after Season 9. Realising their mistake when writer Jeffrey Scott ran into trouble with the scripts CBS brought Wise back to rewrite one or two of Scott's scripts for Season 10.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I have a theory. Pretty much everyone outgrew or simply tired of FW TMNT, ratings dropped and toy sales were down, so they panicked, uprooted a lot of the old guard (David Wise, etc.) and tried to do... something new.

As mentioned above they kept Wise for a couple of seasons and then got rid of him.

Originally Posted by neatoman

But I wonder when the ratings dropped? Any ideas of when that happened? Was it during season 7 or had the ratings already been dropping for a while by that point? Considering how they produced 3 (albeit short) seasons after season 7, I'm willing to bet the ratings dropped before season 7.

I would say around Season 6 the ratings started to drop. Season 7 was a huge continuity season in 1993 to try and bring in the fans but that didn't work while the third Turtles movie failed to do big business at the Box Office.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by pferreira

I have never heard anyone refer to the 4Kids series as 'wacky and campy'. The 4Kids series from what I've seen is all about the seriousness. Please explain, I'm curious.

I guess those saying that only know the 1987–1996 animated TV-series and the 1988–1996 Archie TMNT Adventures comics, juding everything after that.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by pferreira

I have never heard anyone refer to the 4Kids series as 'wacky and campy'. The 4Kids series from what I've seen is all about the seriousness. Please explain, I'm curious.

Because every moment that could be remotely construed as "serious" is counterbalanced by tons of camp characters and/or vehicles and slapstick and inherent goofiness.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

At least, 30 this year and in 2018, the Archie TMNT Adventures will celebrate 30 too!

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Because every moment that could be remotely construed as "serious" is counterbalanced by tons of camp characters and/or vehicles and slapstick and inherent goofiness.

The one thing that always puts me off slightly about the 2003 series is whenever we get a battle sequence the show has to go into widescreen. It's totally unnecessary and I find it cheesy.