Watching through the OT completely for the first time

[MikeandRaph87]

Why didn't David Wise have Burne Thompson stay on as the human leading Dregg's campaign against the turtles in return for a new Channel Six building? April could be working against her boss which would also make her feel at odds with Irma who was still there. Then after Dregg was exposed it would have been a good human moment for Burne when he realized he had been handing the city over to an alien conquerer the whole time.

[Foot Soldier Clang]

Originally Posted by mikeandraph87

Why didn't David Wise have Burne Thompson stay on as the human leading Dregg's campaign against the turtles in return for a new Channel Six building? April could be working against her boss which would also make her feel at odds with Irma who was still there. Then after Dregg was exposed it would have been a good human moment for Burne when he realized he had been handing the city over to an alien conquerer the whole time.

And that would've been great, but nearly the entire Channel 6 cast is wiped out by the end of the first of the Red Sky seasons, then after that it's just April and she's a freelancer. I would have loved that sort of development for Burne. Irma would have sided with April and the turtles, no question. But none of that really matters since the Channel 6 crew is all gone for the rest of the series. Really sad though, because Irma was so fantastic a character.


However, I'm glad Vernon was nowhere to be seen.

[Agent 86]

I'm still making my way through season 3, but I'm really loving how often the characters, particularly Raphael break the "fourth wall" (i.e. talk directly to the audience) and also how many "internal" jokes there are.

In one of the recent episodes I watched, the turtles are commenting on the interior of the Technodrome and Raphael (?) says something along the lines of it being a "cartoonist's nightmare" (presumably referring to all the background gadgets, gizmos and other intricate details that needed to be drawn).

There have been similar comments referencing past episodes (i.e. actually having one of the turtles say: "I wish we had the anti-gravity boots from episode 6") and the "demands" of episodic television (i.e. having one of the turtles state that they need to follow an escaped dinosaur in order to have a worthwhile episode and for Krang to comment that of course he keeps an infinte number of gadgets around the technodrome that just so happen to be perfect to use in extremely unusual individual circumstances because it keeps the plot moving).

It's helping me realise why I like TV shows and movies which have a certain "tongue in cheek" sensibility about them and don't always take themselves too seriously.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Foot Soldier Clang

And that would've been great, but nearly the entire Channel 6 cast is wiped out by the end of the first of the Red Sky seasons, then after that it's just April and she's a freelancer. I would have loved that sort of development for Burne. Irma would have sided with April and the turtles, no question. But none of that really matters since the Channel 6 crew is all gone for the rest of the series. Really sad though, because Irma was so fantastic a character.


However, I'm glad Vernon was nowhere to be seen.

I guess that is what fan-fiction is for. It was definitely a missed opportunity! I like to think it would have taken Burne beyond being a static character that at times was Jameson-lite.I thought April as a freelancer was the best direction to go after season 8 yet still have my idea in play.

Can't say that I am Team Irma but I have always appreciated her. Never cared for Vernon either way, but yes he was annoying.

I wonder if it was CBS's decision to remove Chanel Six's characters from the show or if it was David Wise. It was CBS's forced idea to add in Dregg and Carter and remove Shredder so it would fit the pattern.

[CyberCubed]

The Channel 6 characters didn't work with the serious tone of the last 3 seasons.

We saw Burne a lot in Season 8, but he wasn't funny anymore. He just hated the Turtles and that's it.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The Channel 6 characters didn't work with the serious tone of the last 3 seasons.

We saw Burne a lot in Season 8, but he wasn't funny anymore. He just hated the Turtles and that's it.

That is my point! He is static and instead of throwing away a character who only has so many traits and there is a plot that would work well with him its a chance to develop the character. The campaign by Dregg was the perfect opportunity to flesh Burne out and add to him.

[Killer Moth]

Originally Posted by Foot Soldier Clang

You're right, Megavolts full power form does resemble a Solurite! He also resembled Zorak from Space Ghost to some degree as well.

Nice to know it isn't just me pointing that out, as, until MST3K came along, Phantom Planet was the king of sci-fi obscurity. And, yes, I did think of Zorak, as well. The latter makes more sense, as Coast-to-Coast launched in the same year. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if the animators just knew of him, anyway.

Speaking of Megavolt, anyone noticed his saying, "deviants"? Undoubtedly, it was unintentional, but it's pretty funny in hindsight for many reasons, as you-know-who who loves that term shows up in the next season with the same voice actor.

Burne's overall role in Season 8 works just fine, as he fully embraced his J. Jonah Jameson characterization. Given the damage constantly done to his studio throughout the season, it's hard to blame him. With the coming of Dregg and his eventual anti-Turtle campaign, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for Burne and the others. Oh, well.

I've been going back and forth about Vernon, and I don't dislike him as much as I used to. Having him as April's rival makes perfect sense from a storytelling perspective. And yet, it is jarring to see his Season 1 character, who was a semi-cowardly, decent man to the cowardly jerkass we'd see for the rest of the series. Quite the revision. Conversely, other than his temper and bluster, Burne's character has been more or less the same since the beginning. (Of course, for those who have the Season 3-6 DVDs can feel free to correct me on that.)

[Foot Soldier Clang]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The Channel 6 characters didn't work with the serious tone of the last 3 seasons.

We saw Burne a lot in Season 8, but he wasn't funny anymore. He just hated the Turtles and that's it.

I don't think the Channel 6 Crew would be too out of place in the Red Sky series. Although I don't dislike Carter, I would have preferred other humans/non-mutates to be a part of the cast.

I loved "J.J"-Burne. It added a bit of drama to the Red Sky seasons, which isn't as serious and it thought it was. It was no more ridiculous or outrageous as the rest of the series, it was just less jokey and had less breaking-the-fourth-wall jokes (although there were still plenty of those).

[sdp]

Well i finally finished watching S4, took a while, since I couldn't watch episodes every day and sometimes I could only watch 1, not to mention I was tired and would fall asleep halfway through an episode and have to re-watch it it only slowing my down further. Anyways these season is so far easily the worst one and very little that redeems it. The beginning is full of worthless episodes, in fact I can't believe that people say the European Episodes are worse, they are far superior and more interesting than half of S4. S4 does pick up a little towards the second half and there are a few good episodes but very few outstanding episodes. Episodes like Michelangelo Toys around just make me wish I knew what they were thinking when they made it. Terrible joined by the fact that there is no season finale, counting how big S3 and S4 were they could've easily cancelled the show after this and ended the show on such a low note, not to mention without conclusion, glad that wasn't the case.

I remember the first time I saw S4 back in 2007 I enjoyed it but still felt something was lacking, but didn't think it was that bad counting most people consider it the worst of the series. But re-watching it it's easily the worst of the series so far and only a true turtle fan could love these episodes for what they are since they lack most elements to make them stand out.

Now onto Season 5, I thought things got better after S4 but apparently S4 still reeks a little bit of S4? oh well I guess I'll find out at least it won't be 39 episodes. it's S6 that gets better right and I know S7 is a fan favorite with the red-sky seasons being their own thing. Hope to finish by April.

[CyberCubed]

Season 4 is only a mixed bag because its 40 episodes.

There are still some really good episodes in there as well as some "fairly good" eps in there.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Season 4 is only a mixed bag because its 40 episodes.

There are still some really good episodes in there as well as some "fairly good" eps in there.

The best with season 4-5 is actually that it gives us more adventutres without Shredder. I guess kids didn't like it, so it was cancelled.

[ZariusTwo]

Stop pretending the show's cancelation had something to do with the lack of Shredder. It's getting annoying.

[CyberCubed]

Agreed. The show was going to end eventually anyway. By 1996 the TMNT fad was long dead (it ended by 1993), and the show had a healthy 10 season run.

If it had continued then Pokemon would have eventually utterly destroyed it by 1998 anyway.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Stop pretending the show's cancelation had something to do with the lack of Shredder. It's getting annoying.

I don't talk of the show, but the season 4-5 solo adventures.

[Killer Moth]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Agreed. The show was going to end eventually anyway. By 1996 the TMNT fad was long dead (it ended by 1993), and the show had a healthy 10 season run.

If it had continued then Pokemon would have eventually utterly destroyed it by 1998 anyway.

Indeed. Which is terribly ironic, as I am still into the Pokemon craze. Heh. That, and the local networks dumping the cartoons for news programs. Where I live, NBC did it first, then ABC, though, not CBS or not completely. Network Saturday Cartoon blocs still exist (I'm not counting CW; I'm only counting the Big Three), but at a far reduced capacity.

Popularity issue aside, the Turtles would have lost to that, anyway. Between cable, ratings and other choices, times change.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Killer Moth

Indeed. Which is terribly ironic, as I am still into the Pokemon craze. Heh. That, and the local networks dumping the cartoons for news programs. Where I live, NBC did it first, then ABC, though, not CBS or not completely. Network Saturday Cartoon blocs still exist (I'm not counting CW; I'm only counting the Big Three), but at a far reduced capacity.

Popularity issue aside, the Turtles would have lost to that, anyway. Between cable, ratings and other choices, times change.

I would say 1989-1994 being the ultimate TMNT hysteria years. By 1994, the decline begun, and the Power Rangers became more popular.

[Killer Moth]

Originally Posted by Swedenfan 1982

I would say 1989-1994 being the ultimate TMNT hysteria years. By 1994, the decline begun, and the Power Rangers became more popular.

Right, right. Impressive run, as most fads don't last nearly that long.

An observation I had when recently viewing Baxter's first and last episodes as a fly was the voice acting. Baxter immediately after his mutation or transformation had a very unique voice or pitch, almost alien-like. It's hard to describe, frankly. And then, by "Revenge of the Fly," he definitely sounded very high-pitched. (Understandable, as he is in full-fledged fly mode by then.) I haven't re-viewed the episodes in between, so if anyone else wants to comment on the vocal evolution, please do. It's a shame Pat Fraley or someone behind-the-scens didn't want to maintain the vocal standard set by "Enter: The Fly."

Speaking of Fraley's voice acting, TV Tropes.org has quite the interesting observation in its TMNT 87 page under the "Talking to Himself" headline:

"One example that stands out is Pat Fraley who did the voices of Krang and Baxter Stockman, and has one scene where the human Baxter is sent to the Technodrome's disentigrator, and begs Krang to spare his life only to have Krang refuse him. That means that Pat Fraley was begging himself to spare his life, and he refused his own request for mercy. This scene is also played very convincingly due to Pat Fraley's enormous voice acting talent, and to think he also did several other major characters on the show is nothing less than amazing."

I don't disagree. I'll certainly comment about the series' voice acting in future posts, but the Baxter-Fly voice acting earns my mentioning it, sooner.

(Oh, and here's to my 100th post. Yay.)

[CyberCubed]

As much as I loved the OT, you really can't help but notice all the missed opportunities.

We never really saw much of the Rock Soldier war against the Neutrinos, Baxter and Leatherhead should have appeared a bit more, and I would have liked to see Shredder re-connect with the human Japanese Foot Clan.

Plus the other secondary mutants like Rahzar/Tokka, Slash, etc. could have been used more too.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

As much as I loved the OT, you really can't help but notice all the missed opportunities.

We never really saw much of the Rock Soldier war against the Neutrinos, Baxter and Leatherhead should have appeared a bit more, and I would have liked to see Shredder re-connect with the human Japanese Foot Clan.

Plus the other secondary mutants like Rahzar/Tokka, Slash, etc. could have been used more too.

Yeah, we saw the human Japanese Foot Clan in the "Turtle Tracks" flashback where they rob people and shout "-Hands up".

[Killer Moth]

Originally Posted by Swedenfan 1982

Yeah, we saw the human Japanese Foot Clan in the "Turtle Tracks" flashback where they rob people and shout "-Hands up".

Season 9 would have been the ideal time to show Karai and finally explore all that. Plus, she had been around for a few years in real time, so if the writers did their homework, etc. Plus, like the recent posts, I've often wondered what the human Foot Clan thought of with Saki rolling around in the Technodrome, trying to conquer Earth with Krang. Or for that matter, his replacing the human Foot Soldiers with robots.

Maybe yell at him, "Stop being such a highly visible ninja! You're really making us look bad."