Does anyone think we should see the main cast age with each passing season?

[TonySiegel]

It'll be a change from the "usual" cartoons that keep their characters "ageless". I would personally love to see the characters grow old.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by TonySiegel

It'll be a change from the "usual" cartoons that keep their characters "ageless". I would personally love to see the characters grow old.

There have been a few high-profile cartoons in recent years that haven't been afraid to age (in a noticeable manner) their characters a little:
Justice League/Unlimited
Young Justice
Ben 10 franchise
Legion of Super Heroes
Avatar/Legend of Korra

I'm sure there are a few more, but I can't think of any at the present moment.

[Zulithe]

Maybe if the show goes on for many, many seasons.

In comics we see it all the time. Spider-Man started as 15yo back in the 60s, today he's much older. But this creates its own problems: like, maybe 15yo spider-man is simply more interesting than adult spider-man! And then we see marvel create things like Ultimate Spider-Man to alleviate that issue.

So it is a double-edged sword. Usually cartoons do not last for 50+ years so I think aging them is okay if they don't get it out of hand. I would only support it if it had a real purpose though. Do not age them simply for the sake of making them older, it has to serve a story purpose. As people get older, things change.

[miru]

I think they should age slightly. They did in the original comic.

[Jester]

I'd like to point this discussion to M*A*S*H for a moment if I may. One of the reasons that that show was canceled was that it ran longer than the conflict it was based upon, the Korean War, by 7 years. In a live action show, that can be telling as the actors do age that time. An animated show could, technically run for several seasons and only be about a year. I mean, we see the Turtles for 26 23 minute chunks a season. That comes to only about 10 hours. That's less than a day. Now, I'm not saying that a 23 minute episode is equal to only 23 minutes of "real time" in the series, but conceivably several seasons worth of adventures could happen in "one year" in the series. That's not to say I think the characters should remain the same one note characters for those seasons, but a lot can happen over several seasons of 26 23 minute episodes.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

I'd like to see them take the route Spectacular Spider-Man did - the first episode of that series took place on the first day of school, the beginning of September. I think the series finale took place around April the next year.

So what I'm saying is that it'd be nice for them to allude to time passing, with episodes taking place on holidays and such.

In a perfect world, I'd like to see as part of the title cards the exact date the episode takes place on (the route Young Justice takes) but seeing as this wasn't done in Rise of the Turtles, I assume this won't ever be the case.

[MST3KFan]

Originally Posted by Chris

Well OT didn't age but 2K3 did (though not in real time) so there's president for both. I hope they do age them over time, it allows for some interesting story progression rather than just maintaining the status quo.

It could also be interesting if, after a few seasons, they did a time jump like Young Justice did.

A kind of awkward time jump though if I recall correctly...

[Cure]

Originally Posted by MST3KFan

A kind of awkward time jump though if I recall correctly...

How was it awkward?

[BubblyShell22]

I could go either way with this, but I think it would be cool if they did age eventually. I'm not saying they should age every season, but maybe a few seasons down the line, you could age them up a bit. That would be kind of cool.

[TMNT is cooler than MOTU]

Maybe not necessarily 1 year per season, but it would be nice to watch the characters evolve over time.

[cACHI]

ya i would like to see them age

[Vegeta]

That would be pretty cool, kind of like a naruto type thing.

[Ninjawolf]

Yay for necroing threads! I think they should age... TMNT has an ongoing plot shows like Spongebob are episodic in nature and no ongoing plots (which is why I kinda hate episodic shows...) so logically time will pass as the plot goes on... I like the each Season=6 months... that'd be 10 seasons covering 5 years... and I do kinda want to see April and the others grow up...

[RiseAbove873]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I was wondering if the show will be running in real-time. For example Season 1 has the Turtles at 15 and April at 16.

Then when Season 2 begins the Turtles can be 16 and April will be 17.

That means over the course of the show we'd see the Turtles maturing, and even stuff like April becoming a woman and going off to College. Anyone think this is a possibility?

I wouldn't mind if they aged in this series. Let's say the show runs for five years, they'd all still be relatively young, yet more mature. The characters in the previous shows always felt older anyway.

[chrisdude]

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

I'd like to see them take the route Spectacular Spider-Man did - the first episode of that series took place on the first day of school, the beginning of September. I think the series finale took place around April the next year.

So what I'm saying is that it'd be nice for them to allude to time passing, with episodes taking place on holidays and such.

This. And April going to school would be interesting. Are we under the assumption that it's summer, now?

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Originally Posted by chrisdude

This. And April going to school would be interesting. Are we under the assumption that it's summer, now?

Or she just plays hooky. And with her dad gone, who can stop her?

[Gyt Kaliba]

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

Or she just plays hooky. And with her dad gone, who can stop her?

You'd think that aunt she's supposedly staying with would have a problem with it...but who knows. She hasn't been mentioned since anyway.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by chrisdude

This. And April going to school would be interesting. Are we under the assumption that it's summer, now?

It is. The Bradford billboard in New Friend, Old Enemy said so. Should be Fall soon though.

[zodiac brave]

i think a mutation day episode here and there throughout the seasons would be fair enough to denote that, yes, time is passing. other than that, the sort of standard cartoon formula of "suspended aging" is cool with me!

[Coola Yagami]

I kinda doubt they would. And if they did, they wouldn't change visually. The 2K3 Turtles have been through alot, and you can say they're older in season 5 than they were in season 1... but they look exactly the same. The only difference they have were the art shifts in Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers.

I'm not completely sure, but isn't Ash from Pokemon supposed to be older within the show, even though he still looks the same as he does in the first season minus the new clothes?