Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987–1996: 25th Anniversary of Season 10

~~Leo656~~ · 09-14-2021, 04:15 AM

I don't think it would've made a difference, the fandom would've still moved on. They were already moving on, thus the need to revamp in the first place.

Canceling one show and starting over from scratch would've been a lot more work and money than was necessary, just to squeeze two more years (at best) out of the show. MMPR still would've killed the brand off anyway, and if they didn't kill it and TMNT somehow lasted until 1998 or so, then Pokemon would've killed them for good. I don't see any way TMNT stays popular and has a cartoon on the air past 1996, no matter WHAT they did. It was over, there was no rescuing it.

If they'd kept FW the same as it had been up through Season 7 for Season 8, there's probably no Season 9.

If they cancelled FW after Season 7 to start over completely, they'd need at least a year and probably more to develop a whole new show, which means that any new cartoon wouldn't have been on the air any sooner than 1996... right when Saturday morning cartoons were coming to an end and CBS was getting rid of them entirely. Which means any prospective new cartoon probably never even makes it to the air, at least not in the lucrative Saturday Morning slot TMNT had always had. And I bet anything that it wouldn't have lasted beyond one Season, anyways, because kids didn't like TMNT anymore and the show had no audience to support it.

What they did - keep the show like 70-75% the same but tack a shiny new coat of paint on it - was the easiest and least-disruptive thing for everyone. They squeezed three more Seasons out of a dying franchise and kept the toys on shelves a little bit longer too. There was really no other logical option; there was no "second wind" for the brand at that time, there was no big comeback in the works where they'd compete with MMPR, the entire point was just to try and keep it going a little longer before the wheels inevitably fell off. And they did that.

I'll always agree that the writing of the show itself for those last three Seasons wasn't the best or most satisfying content the show ever put out, but that's kind of irrelevant. They managed to keep the show on the air three years past its "Sell-By" date and retain at least some of the audience, sell a few more action figures. They avoided cancellation for a while at a time the show logically should've been cancelled. So, they succeeded in doing what they set out to do, bottom line.

Frankly, I've never had a huge issue with Red Sky being "meh" because that show had no purity to lose by then, anyway. I like it more than a lot of people here do, despite how often I rag on it. But collectively, half of that entire series is great fun and half is sh*t from a sick dog's ass, even before you factor Red Sky in. I don't think those Seasons did much to hurt anything, honestly.

09-14-2021, 04:15 AM	#12
~~Leo656~~ Banned Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: nWo Country Posts: 27,703	I don't think it would've made a difference, the fandom would've still moved on. They were already moving on, thus the need to revamp in the first place. Canceling one show and starting over from scratch would've been a lot more work and money than was necessary, just to squeeze two more years (at best) out of the show. MMPR still would've killed the brand off anyway, and if they didn't kill it and TMNT somehow lasted until 1998 or so, then Pokemon would've killed them for good. I don't see any way TMNT stays popular and has a cartoon on the air past 1996, no matter WHAT they did. It was over, there was no rescuing it. If they'd kept FW the same as it had been up through Season 7 for Season 8, there's probably no Season 9. If they cancelled FW after Season 7 to start over completely, they'd need at least a year and probably more to develop a whole new show, which means that any new cartoon wouldn't have been on the air any sooner than 1996... right when Saturday morning cartoons were coming to an end and CBS was getting rid of them entirely. Which means any prospective new cartoon probably never even makes it to the air, at least not in the lucrative Saturday Morning slot TMNT had always had. And I bet anything that it wouldn't have lasted beyond one Season, anyways, because kids didn't like TMNT anymore and the show had no audience to support it. What they did - keep the show like 70-75% the same but tack a shiny new coat of paint on it - was the easiest and least-disruptive thing for everyone. They squeezed three more Seasons out of a dying franchise and kept the toys on shelves a little bit longer too. There was really no other logical option; there was no "second wind" for the brand at that time, there was no big comeback in the works where they'd compete with MMPR, the entire point was just to try and keep it going a little longer before the wheels inevitably fell off. And they did that. I'll always agree that the writing of the show itself for those last three Seasons wasn't the best or most satisfying content the show ever put out, but that's kind of irrelevant. They managed to keep the show on the air three years past its "Sell-By" date and retain at least some of the audience, sell a few more action figures. They avoided cancellation for a while at a time the show logically should've been cancelled. So, they succeeded in doing what they set out to do, bottom line. Frankly, I've never had a huge issue with Red Sky being "meh" because that show had no purity to lose by then, anyway. I like it more than a lot of people here do, despite how often I rag on it. But collectively, half of that entire series is great fun and half is sh*t from a sick dog's ass, even before you factor Red Sky in. I don't think those Seasons did much to hurt anything, honestly.