How well/poorly has The Next Mutation aged?

[ToTheNines]

Putting it here since it’s a sequel to the trilogy. Discuss!

[sdp]

I rewatched it before they took it down from Netflix after hasbro bought it. TMNT The Next Mutation is still an underrated classic, it's an ameritoku for the TMNT. I love all the original characters. It has a decent enough ending (Dragon lord is defeated, Shredder regains his memory) and the final episode is a clip show for Venus, titled "Who needs her", which actually works as a tribute to the character that we've never seen again.

The fight scenes are handled well, the original characters are all great and have potential even if they suffered from one too many "giggle rays". I liked the turtles being older and having secondary weapons, Venus is handled well when she's in the show which ironically she doesn't even appear all that often at least not as a main focus. It has a better Splinter than Movie 3.

Saban shows got better in their second season, imagine how awesomeo it could've been. I'm not even trolling I unironically love this show. I remember as a kid how excited I was about TNM and though I never got to watch it until youtube came along I did love my 4 pack playmates figures that I played with which had Venus, Dragonlord, Leo and a foot mystic.

[ToTheNines]

Yeah I was in 1st grade when TNM dropped, me and all my friends thought it was cool as hell. It didn’t get aired a lot, so the buzz didn’t last long but it was fun. Then of course I thought it was lame in my teen years, but now I certainly enjoy it in a B-movie kind of way.

Andrew incorporating Venus into Odyssey was really fun and a nice sendoff for the character.

Oh, and is there any way to watch the original cuts of these episodes? It seems like the real versions are lost media and the only thing you can find is the slightly trimmed down versions with FAKE music.

[neatoman]

Next Mutation is easily one of the most wretched "major" things in the TMNT franchise, I hate OotS way more but Next Mutation is really awful. The whole thing is a mess of weird sound effects, confusing plots the stalest jokes I have ever seen. I never watched the show as a kid and I thought the negative reputation was probably exaggerated by people who did and were disappointed at the time. I did expect to find it was bad watching it as an adult but not that bad... But it's really bad, it was so bad that I can't even be bothered to rewatch it just to re-evaluate.

[Prowler]

...am I to blame for this thread getting made for every single piece of TMNT media that's aired on TV?

Anyway, The Next Mutation in 2025 is not anyway different than it was in 1997. It was sh*t back then and it's still sh*t nowadays.

So, ironically, it probably is the TMNT series that has been affected the least by aging.

Saying it aged well sounds kinda wrong, though lmao

[The-Shredder]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Oh, and is there any way to watch the original cuts of these episodes? It seems like the real versions are lost media and the only thing you can find is the slightly trimmed down versions with FAKE music.

These appear to be the original cuts on YouTube. They're spread across three channels for some reason, and the person who uploaded them got them from a former forum member. They're VHS quality, but they're still watchable. The Hero Turtles versions might be the next best thing. I believe in some European countries there are also DVD releases of the originals, but I'm not sure if they have an English language option.

https://www.youtube.com/@DragonLordKomodo/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@Bonesteal/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@VamMisHeart/videos

According to some people at Mirage, part of the reason it was cancelled was that Saban wanted to cut costs due to licensing and production expenses. There was a petition to continue the show, but the decision was final.

[ToTheNines]

Great, thanks dog!