Next Mutation: was it really all bad?

[Bowser_Koopa]

si it me or did shredder's helmet look really cool in nm?

http://www.mikeystmnt.com/images/scr.../shredder1.JPG

http://www.mikeystmnt.com/images/scr.../shredder2.JPG

Next Mutation, was it really all bad?

apparently not

[Jarrah White]

Yeah the helmet's cool, shame about the fighting.

[Drtooth]

>>HE DID?!!

Gadget was never ruined<<

That's what a lot of people whine about! I love Capeman. I wish he had his own Spin-off.

Power Rangers was gaining even more ratings with "In Space" (which is one of the greatest Power Rangers seasons ever) so Saban would'nt have wanted it's audience to leave that behind

My politics against Power Rangers aside (it's a long story), TMNT was shortly fading out of kid's minds, so this was the attempt to have it both ways (hense why they met each other).

[Newton Gimmick]

First off, let me just say I really wanted to chime in on this, because I was SO excited when the Next Mutation debuted, I went out and bought all the figures. Well, all the original figures.

Anyway, I liked some of the show. Everyone bitches about the costumes, but I expected them to be low-budget, and for their low budgets the Turtles looked great. Their mouth movements and dubbing was a bit off, but I doubt anyone could do SO MUCH with so little. SO I give it 9/10 for costumes, cause I can appreciate low budget stuff.

The show could have had the greatest format ever, the old Power Rangers format. Only Shredder would be the main villan, and the foot soldiers could have been like the Putties in Power Rangers. The Turtles could have fought tons of foot, then each episode Shredder could have made some sort of mutant or somecrap and the turtles would defeat him. It would have really worked like that.

As far as what they DID though...they immediately pulled Shredder from the show, as well as the foot and added a new badguy. Blah to that. Sure, I could have used a swap up of villans from time to time, but not to change the entire focus of the show to Dragon dude.

So for overall story it gets a 5/10.

As far as the bandanna's and rags all over the Turtles, I liked that. It gave them a more grown up, sewer dwelling rebel look.

The problem comes in Venus. Not so much her appearance persay, but that for the majority of the show, the TMNT 4 are made to look like losers, but Venus always comes out smelling like a rose.

They tried SO hard in the first few eps to make Venua appealing, that they buried the other turtles appeal. It totally turned me off on the show, not so much that they added this 5th girl turtle, but that, SHE was the focal point of the show. Plus she was a magic ninja? WTF? There are a million reasons to hate Venus, but I cut her character some slack, but they way she was portrayed to be entirely too much of the show, destroys her rating.

Venus gets a 3/10.

As far as the Power Rangers cross over. Well it was hokey, but pretty cool in the fact that cross overs are RARE and fun things that have to be taken for what they are. I'll give it a 7/10.

Then we have the fighting. Well its a kids show, so the weapons are not gonna be used much. Its also guys fighting in bulky suits on low budgets. The hokey sound effects hurt the rating some, but I could stomatch 60's Batman's "POW" "ZAMMO" so I'll accept that. It was weak, but managable. So I'll say, 7/10 again.

Then we get to overall show plot, and this is what hurts. I mean, they had some decent ideas, Vampires, Gorilla's in trench coats, Mutants, Bounty Hunters and Dragons......but for every good idea they had, it was implimented bad. And where is Casey or April? How hard was it to hire a dude in a Hockey Mask or a red headed girl? Then add in all the Venus oriented plots and hokey magic. Give em a few points for sticking to the show as a follow up from the movie, using movie stock footage and using the old set. Then take away a few points for really kidding u the characters worse then TMNT 2, and I'll give the overall plot of the show a 5/10.

Low Budget Costumes: 9/10
Story Value: 5/10
Venus: 3/10
Power Rangers Corssover: 7/10
Fighting: 7/10
Overall Plots: 5/10

Final score: 6/10

Final Thoughts: Everyone can pretty much agree this show was wasted POTENTIAL. If you liked the show, you obviously liked only parts of it or the concept. If you hated the show you likely never gave it a chance because of the low budget or kiddy stuff, or just couldn't handle the weak plots. I gave it a real thumbs in the middle, because I tried to like it, wanted to like it, and even tried to force myself to watch it, but eventually was bored and uniterested in it and ended up missing most of the original run. Everyone though, would likely watch it now, if it was on again, just to see what it was all about. It was once again, POTENTIAL, that was severly untapped. I remember when the show came out, several friends being excited about it, and they after a few episodes asking me, "Hey is the cartoon still on? I like the turtles, but this show just isn't up to snuff." Perhaps in a more tolerant time, TNM would have been better, but in the annals of time it'll be chalked up as wasted potential.

P.S.: In the latter days of Nitro it was reveal Bischoff was the Hummer driver.

[Drtooth]

I feel that 90% of cross overs are hokey... and in my own fans works, all I ever do is crossovers

But I mean, if Shredder was still in it, and they had Costumed versions of Bebop, Rocksteady (or whent the movie route, and did those two guys...I haven't seen Secret of the Ooze in years) it could have had potential. But when Splinter was stuck in either another dimention or a spirit realm, I knew it was over.

But back to Venus... because she is the PC court ordered character of the bunch they could NOT possibly make her interresting, because any charactr flaw would make her a stereotype. and character flaws make characters memorable. Think about it. Raph is a hot head (or sarcastic depending on if you follow the old comics or the G1 cartoons), Mikey is the jokester or wanna be surfer dude, Donny is the tech nerd, and Leo is pretty much the leader, and there isn't any real flaw with him, but he made it work. not just with the Turtles, but Daffy's flaws are wacjkiness and jealousy, Fozzie Bear's a bad comedian and he tries to be a good one, and the cast of Seinfeld is NOTHING but character flaws.

Lets say they made Venus vain... off the bat someone would complain that not all women are vain and egotistical. Let's say they made her very angry, and mess up their goals. Again, we'd have complaints. So they made here with no disinguishable personality. no one complained... they just gave up with the show.

It reminds me of a Mad Magazine article from the 1960's (in the Mad About the 60's book... if you want to read it in a book store) where this fictional show (about a ventrilloquist and a dummy)had numerous complaints about the jokes. The next week they didn't say anything, and recieved only one letter... a letter toi say they were cancelled!

[Kali]

Originally Posted by Newton Gimmick

Final Thoughts: Everyone can pretty much agree this show was wasted POTENTIAL.

Definitely!

And as for the show's portrayal of Venus, I agree. Seems way PC and forced. I always liked the way she was in the TMNT Letters, very cheery while remaining calm and centered (most of the time,) and very curious. A good addition to the team while not stealing spotlight (excluding when she first arrived.) That's how I see her.

*still working on that rewrite thing...*

[Newton Gimmick]

That was my point. She got pushed so hard, and was so *perfect* all the time, that I just couldn't like her.

And yes, some traditional badguys using the Power Rangers formula would have worked, cause even if Laird, Eastman or ANYONE likes it or not, People REALLY wanna see Rocksteady & Bebop again, and everyone wanted to see a Live-Action version of them, either in the movies or the show, but as with a bunch of stuff on the TNM they missed the boat, and wasted time making other badguys. TNM coulda had some great plots and baddies, but wasted most of their potential probably due to a bunch of crap we don't know about like Saban/Fox/PC Councils, but my point was, the show wasn't the most terrible thing ever but it was so hackneyed it was hard to enjoy any of the good parts.

If it'd lasted a few more seasons perhaps fan apathy would have caused some cool changes, like Rocksteady, Bebop, Krang, Shredder returning, etc...but we'll never know, cause it got canned.

Chicks loved the show and Venus though, which I suppose was her point.

[PizzaPower]

I like the NM!! But they could have done better for it.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Newton Gimmick

If it'd lasted a few more seasons perhaps fan apathy would have caused some cool changes, like Rocksteady, Bebop, Krang, Shredder returning, etc..

Oh for the love of God, that was'nt going to happen, not once, not ever.

"The Next Mutation", for all it's flaws, was a retarded attempt at creating a new show which was loosely based within the Eastman/Laird style universe, a place Krang, Rokcsteady, and Bepop had NO PLACE IN

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Yeah, I honestly think Eastman tried to create an awesome Mirage-esque show, but Saban ruined it beyond recognition (which is why I don't think it fair to blame him for that show).

I think if Fox and Saban just let the man create, Next Mutation would have ROCKED!

[Jarrah White]

I've been hearing that the turtles once teamed up with the Power Rangers in NM. I shudder at the thought, The Power Rangers made me want to run into the woods screaming.

[ZariusTwo]

It is sad Jarrah, but yes it's the truth, the Next Mutation did indeed team up with the Power Rangers in the Power Rangers In Space episode "Shell Shocked"

Power Rangers is a GODLY show, but it did'nt deserve THAT abysmal team-up, ughhh

[PizzaPower]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Oh for the love of God, that was'nt going to happen, not once, not ever.

"The Next Mutation", for all it's flaws, was a retarded attempt at creating a new show which was loosely based within the Eastman/Laird style universe, a place Krang, Rokcsteady, and Bepop had NO PLACE IN

Thats right, and even if it was a hit it would have never had the charcter that we love and know.

[Bowser_Koopa]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Oh for the love of God, that was'nt going to happen, not once, not ever.

"The Next Mutation", for all it's flaws, was a retarded attempt at creating a new show which was loosely based within the Eastman/Laird style universe, a place Krang, Rokcsteady, and Bepop had NO PLACE IN

i can't imagine the bad costumes, have you seen some of the pr mosters? oh my god!, what about the gigant frog like thing in time force, he is like the sidekick of the main villian, he looks ..........stupid

the one that looked right was shredder, he even looks strong, unlike in the movies where you don't know if he is strong or not, all you know is that he is a ninja master

[Ninjatron]

The Power Rangers cross over was in a Power Ranger episode, just to clarify, not a Next Mutation episode. None of cast or crew of the Next Mutation were involved, including voice actors. In fact, I doubt that Mirage knew much about it at all.

I thought it was stupid. The turtles were bumbling around like idiots, constantly bumping into eachother and so on. One would almost go as far as to think that the Power Rangers people were going out of their way to make fools out of the turtles if that idea were not so silly.

To make it worse, that episode aired right before a chapter of the Unchain My Heart ark of Next Mutation, which was one of the better episodes.

Sayonara.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Ninjatron

To make it worse, that episode aired right before a chapter of the Unchain My Heart ark of Next Mutation, which was one of the better episodes.

Sayonara.

The worst part abvout the In Space/Next Mutation crossover was the ending..Turtles breathing in space=WTF?

Then again, P.R has never been known for accuracy in that deparment, heck in "Forever Red", the Machine Genrals rode horses on the moon.

HORSES ON THE MOON

[Jarrah White]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

The worst part abvout the In Space/Next Mutation crossover was the ending..Turtles breathing in space=WTF?

Then again, P.R has never been known for accuracy in that deparment, heck in "Forever Red", the Machine Genrals rode horses on the moon.

HORSES ON THE MOON

Don't get me started on my moon conspiracy theory...

Back to the topic at hand, who ever got the idea of using TMNT characters in a Power Rangers episode, I'd like to rip off his head and jam it up his ass, the Turtles deserve better than that! What did they ever do to deserve to end up appearing on a live action super hero show that is best suited for the toliet?

[ZariusTwo]

Other way around, Jarrah, "Next Mutation" deserves to be in the toilet, Power Rangers is a great show.

IT'S MORPHIN' TIME

I hated the idea of a cross-over in Power Rangers, because Next Mutation itself, sucked.

Hmm...maybye if it were the MOVIE Turtles, I would'nt have had a problem with it, they could have turned Venus into a monster, and gave her a MEAGZORD DEATH

[Ninjatron]

Any similarities between the Next Mutation and the Turtles who appeared on Power Rangers in Space are completely coincidental. The costumes may have been the same design, but they people wearing them were different, the voices were different, and they were written totally out of character.

I say that the crossover didn't suck because it was Next Mutation. It sucked because it sucked.

That all said, I remember that the Turtles did pull off some decent martial arts moves in that episode.

Sayonara.

[Bowser_Koopa]

Originally Posted by Ninjatron

Any similarities between the Next Mutation and the Turtles who appeared on Power Rangers in Space are completely coincidental. The costumes may have been the same design, but they people wearing them were different, the voices were different, and they were written totally out of character.

they are the same voices in spanish, and some of the voices of the cartoon are the same too (i think mikey and don, or mikey and raph)