What was the point of the vacation episodes?

[turtlefanforever]

Originally Posted by blindturtle02

I loved these when I was a kid. Wanna say they aired on USA network for the first time in the Fall of 93? So I always wanted these on a series of 5 to 6 VHS tapes like the sewer hero series etc. Now when I rewatch them, the episodes without Shredder and co are a little difficult to sit through. They're not terrible, but I like the Saturday morning CBS run where you had random mad scientists or mobsters better than the villains in the vacation arc. The comedy there felt like it came easier with those writers. The random villains here were a bit odd, I guess. The snooty art loving aliens weren't all that interesting.

Glad to have them all on DVD now. I need to look back at this other thread on these forums where a member tried to organize them by way of travel. If you watch them in the way they were aired, they're sort of going all over the place episode by episode. At least that's the way I remember it. The last time I watched this arc was back in May of 2013. I'm actually stalled in season 6. Just got to doing other things and really need to get back to the OT so I can finish up eventually.

As for the point, that's hard to say. I wonder why they didn't do this arc sooner. I mean, we got informed in the s4 premier that they won the trip but next episode they're fighting a gigantic monkey in New York. At least I think Turtles of The Jungle comes next after Plan 6 From Outer Space. Always wondered if some kid or group of kids wrote a letter to the writers asking to follow through with the idea of a vacation miniseries or something. Does anyone know the story behind the reason why we had to wait so long for this particular batch of episodes back in the 90's?

This season takes place between the first two episodes of season 4

[blindturtle02]

Yeah, that's where I've watched it. Good to know that I've been doing it right. I love Kummings' work too. So what did you think of Dorian Harewood's Shredder? You can hear it in Bye Bye Fly, Shredderville, and I wanna say The Making of Metalhead. Kummings' Shredder is a little different to me but not too bad.

[sdp]

It's just odd that they wrote and set up very carefully the European Vacation in such a way and then they threw it all out the window continuity wise. I think in my review of all seasons thread I explain it a little bit better but basically in each episode they have this convoluted explanation of why they're there that contradicts the already perfect explanation given at first and all it does is confuse the audience even if they watch it as a stand alone episode, a simple "we're in our European vacation" explanation line would have sufficed but instead we get a convoluted one that confuses kids and contradicts established canon.

I think I tried to find some logical explanation for the continuity goofs during this season, but does anyone in this thread want to give it a shot and explain all inconsistencies?

Edit: Here was my opinion of the season when I watched it for the first time from my Review of all seasons thread:

Quote:
Finished with the European vacation episodes and apparently the worst the series has to offer, but I really don't think it's that bad. Sure a lot of episodes are lackluster but the whole fact that they weren't in NY made the episodes much more special. Continuity is a bit weird, the first episode starts by re-telling the events from the previous episode but with some retcons like the prize including 5 tickets instead of 4, some other continuity problems are Shredder isn't shocked to see the turtles in the first episode in France but is in the second. I guess the episodes could've happened concurrently? And maybe they realized they had one more ticket a few seconds later?

I wish they had put more effort in explaining why Shredder/Krang/April kept being at the same place as the turtles, instead of explaining every episode as pure coincidence something much simpler could've been mentioned in the beginning like April is going on tour and the turtles want to follow her or she's part of the tour or something, and have Shredder/Krang want something the turtles have or some reason to have them follow them. Some sort of story arc could've easily been sneaked into the episodes to make them flow better, especially since this was a "sideseason" why couldn't they add some continuity...A finale for the season would've also been greatly appreciated.

I'm really curious as to why this sideseason was made, it seems pretty clear there was some sort of reason. It almost borderlines as Edutainment, trying to teach you about European culture, though not really enough for me to think it's the reason they made it. It just seems random, not to mention it would also explain why Shredder/Krang were in so many of them, the ones who wanted this season to be produced wanted the main villains in most episodes. Odd in the age of the internet we don't really know why this was made. I actually really enjoyed some episodes quite a bit, I loved the whole fact that this was in Europe and made this feel more epic than it should be. I really enjoyed artless, the atlantis episode, the thor episode and the first two Paris episodes.

[Refractive Reflections]

I think CyberCubed and sdp hit the important parts.

The most noticeable off-beat aspect of the European Vacation sideseason is Rob Paulsen's alternate voice. It contrast too much after we've been so accustomed to Paulsen's iconic voice with OT Raphael, especially with the alternate's voice being more nasal. It made Raphael's humor fall flat because of the lack of vocal fluctuations in sarcasm, imitations, and comedic timing, unlike with Paulsen who was able to pull them off exceptionally well.

Then as sdp said above, the continuity made the sideseason very "choppy" by bouncing all over the place. For example, it was suddenly winter in the Alps and then the next episodes take place during substantially warmer times of the year. The ideas of integrating the Turtles' adventures into European history were good, but there needed to be something to tie it all up as to why Shredder and Krang wanted to pursue their crimes at Europe (i.e. steal European treasures to threaten NATO. Something like that I guess... )

Nevertheless though I enjoy them, but its the most difficult to marathon through though.

[CyberCubed]

Yeah, I just see it as, "Well at least we got 13 more episodes of the OT universe" and so forth.

I mean its still more episodes of the show.

[Luke795]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

I dunno- some of them weren't too bad. I kind of liked the Arthurian episode, and the Sherlock Holmes one. The rest were sort of silly, but I think the one in Ireland was probably the worst. Giant angry mutant bunnies??! It looked like something out of a REALLY bad Monty Python film.... My biggest beef was with the alternate voices being used so freely. Then again, "Turtle Terminator" from season three had both an alternate Don and Raph- and IT was very jarring, too.

The Arthurian episode is that the one with King Arthur?

Originally Posted by blindturtle02

Yeah, that's where I've watched it. Good to know that I've been doing it right. I love Kummings' work too. So what did you think of Dorian Harewood's Shredder? You can hear it in Bye Bye Fly, Shredderville, and I wanna say The Making of Metalhead. Kummings' Shredder is a little different to me but not too bad.

Dorian Harewood also voiced Shredder in Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp.

Originally Posted by Jester

But the European Vacation is the very definition of horid TMNT:
* Tons of replacement voice actors. Rob Paulsen is AWOL from the whole thing and James Avery and Barry Gordon drop in and out at times. I wanna say there's at least 1 episode where you have all 3 gone. Joy.
* The plot takes the Turtles and the Channel 6 Crew ALL OVER Europe with little rhyme or reason. in some episodes April is already in Europe and the Turtles meet up with her, other times she's sent there, still others have Irma or Vernon, or both sent off to April from New York when they were just there an episode ago. A mess.
*The stories are some of the weakest in the series. A rust gun...the heck?
Now, how about reasons you don't like the "horrid" Nick Turtles?

Barry Gordon only missed one episode Ring Of Fire.

[RaphAndDonnie]

Originally Posted by Refractive Reflections

The most noticeable off-beat aspect of the European Vacation sideseason is Rob Paulsen's alternate voice. It contrast too much after we've been so accustomed to Paulsen's iconic voice with OT Raphael, especially with the alternate's voice being more nasal. It made Raphael's humor fall flat because of the lack of vocal fluctuations in sarcasm, imitations, and comedic timing, unlike with Paulsen who was able to pull them off exceptionally well.

Agreed, so much with this. Paulsen's voice work is one of the reasons I love Raph's humor. It's like icing on the cake and when you take that away...well... But other then the replacement voice actors I don't mind the European Vacation episodes.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

I never actually watched the Europe vacation episodes, are they actually that bad?

[Leo656]

One of the lesser points of the show as a whole, but hey, don't let that stop you from checking 'em out for yourself. Mileage can and will vary with these eps, for sure.

[turtlefanforever]

Originally Posted by whatswiththeheadbands?

I never actually watched the Europe vacation episodes, are they actually that bad?

People way over exaggerate about OT

[TurtleFan2012]

Originally Posted by sdp

It's just odd that they wrote and set up very carefully the European Vacation in such a way and then they threw it all out the window continuity wise. I think in my review of all seasons thread I explain it a little bit better but basically in each episode they have this convoluted explanation of why they're there that contradicts the already perfect explanation given at first and all it does is confuse the audience even if they watch it as a stand alone episode, a simple "we're in our European vacation" explanation line would have sufficed but instead we get a convoluted one that confuses kids and contradicts established canon.

I think I tried to find some logical explanation for the continuity goofs during this season, but does anyone in this thread want to give it a shot and explain all inconsistencies?

Edit: Here was my opinion of the season when I watched it for the first time from my Review of all seasons thread:

Quote:
Finished with the European vacation episodes and apparently the worst the series has to offer, but I really don't think it's that bad. Sure a lot of episodes are lackluster but the whole fact that they weren't in NY made the episodes much more special. Continuity is a bit weird, the first episode starts by re-telling the events from the previous episode but with some retcons like the prize including 5 tickets instead of 4, some other continuity problems are Shredder isn't shocked to see the turtles in the first episode in France but is in the second. I guess the episodes could've happened concurrently? And maybe they realized they had one more ticket a few seconds later?

I wish they had put more effort in explaining why Shredder/Krang/April kept being at the same place as the turtles, instead of explaining every episode as pure coincidence something much simpler could've been mentioned in the beginning like April is going on tour and the turtles want to follow her or she's part of the tour or something, and have Shredder/Krang want something the turtles have or some reason to have them follow them. Some sort of story arc could've easily been sneaked into the episodes to make them flow better, especially since this was a "sideseason" why couldn't they add some continuity...A finale for the season would've also been greatly appreciated.

I'm really curious as to why this sideseason was made, it seems pretty clear there was some sort of reason. It almost borderlines as Edutainment, trying to teach you about European culture, though not really enough for me to think it's the reason they made it. It just seems random, not to mention it would also explain why Shredder/Krang were in so many of them, the ones who wanted this season to be produced wanted the main villains in most episodes. Odd in the age of the internet we don't really know why this was made. I actually really enjoyed some episodes quite a bit, I loved the whole fact that this was in Europe and made this feel more epic than it should be. I really enjoyed artless, the atlantis episode, the thor episode and the first two Paris episodes.

I agree. At least in Gargoyles, it was a magic spell that was sending Goliath and Eliza to certain places around the world because his foes were causing trouble in those spots. In TMNT, it's all weird coincidences like you said.

Originally Posted by blindturtle02

Yeah, that's where I've watched it. Good to know that I've been doing it right. I love Kummings' work too. So what did you think of Dorian Harewood's Shredder? You can hear it in Bye Bye Fly, Shredderville, and I wanna say The Making of Metalhead. Kummings' Shredder is a little different to me but not too bad.

Dorian is a good voice actor, his shredder was decent. The only 2 people who came close to sounding like Avery were Coleman and William E. Martin.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by Luke795

The Arthurian episode is that the one with King Arthur?

Yup. That's the one. When they found Excalibur and Shredder was trying to steal it. As if he could ever wield it..... That's a Paladin's LG Defender +5 sword, in D&D- in other words, an "evil" person would get seriously burned just TOUCHING that thing, LOL!!! (I'm both a player and a DM, have been for years. If the sword in the cartoon was anything like most other fantasy versions, Shredder would never be able to use it- he's "not worthy".....)

[blindturtle02]

Neat bit of trivia there, ducky. Very interesting info.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by turtlefanforever

People way over exaggerate about OT

The OT has plenty of flaws. Just because you refuse to take off your nostalgia goggles doesn't make them less valid points.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Just seemed like filler, to me. Last time we did a marathon run of the OT, that was by far the hardest stretch to sit through. It was like everything people make fun of about the OT crammed into one straight shot of suck.

I'd put off watching them for the longest time, having gotten this impression about them. I finally watched them when I got the Turtle Van set, as they were one of the few runs of episodes I either hadn't seen or hadn't seen in years.

I ended up pleasantly surprised, actually. I wasn't looking forward to yet another string of no-name villain and/or Shredder and Krang episodes, but I thought the variety and light overarching plot helped quite a lot.

[turtlefanforever]

Originally Posted by Powder

The OT has plenty of flaws. Just because you refuse to take off your nostalgia goggles doesn't make them less valid points.

You can't logically compare it to anything now. It's way less flawed than the nick series.

[NinjaPug]

Originally Posted by turtlefanforever

You can't logically compare it to anything now. It's way less flawed than the nick series.

Still don't know the difference between opinions and facts.

People don't like what you do? THEY'RE WRONG.

People like what you don't? THEY'RE WRONG.

[turtlefanforever]

Originally Posted by NinjaPug

Still don't know the difference between opinions and facts.

People don't like what you do? THEY'RE WRONG.

People like what you don't? THEY'RE WRONG.

Anger and intolerance are the enimies of proper understanding. You're looking through biased because I don't get a hard on for your nick series.

[Powder]

I'm convinced you're so stupid that you don't even realize how stupid you are.

[turtlefanforever]

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
I'll be winning shortly