Why didn't Mirage ever try Direct-to-DVD movies?

[IMJ]

The Archie stuff is begging for a D2V animation. Hell, even a "TMNT Meets Archie" based on the one-shot comic would be awesome. And imagine if it was animated in the style of the 80's "Lil Archies" show...... awesome.

[NinjaPug]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

They almost did a straight up animated adaptation of TMNT Vol. 1, #1. Gary Richardson talked Laird into doing "Turtles Forever" instead.

Well dang. I’m fine with Turtles Forever but wish we could’ve gotten both.

Still don’t understand why Viacom can’t cater to both demographics like WB does with DC properties.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

That's a good point. And you're right, "Turtles Forever" seems like something most people just plain don't know about. If you just explain the basic concept of it to people, it sounds like the kind of thing that should've been a huge, "Spider-Verse" type of thing that got a lot of attention and did huge business. But you still get a ton of, "Where was I when they made that? I never heard about it."

It definitely should've been a much bigger deal than it is/was. Instead, it's like "Remember when they did a cartoon movie where the cartoon TMNT that everyone remembers teamed up with the cartoon TMNT that nobody remembers? And then when they put it on DVD they cut 10 minutes off it and then never re-released it properly? Awesome." If someone announced a project like that Now you'd expect it to be this huge, heavily-marketed thing. It's crazy that it's such a footnote and that most people who would self-identify as TMNT Fans don't know about it.

Granted, Nick/Viacom could theoretically do more to make people aware of it. BUT, they didn't make it, therefore it's not worth anyone seeing and therefore they're not inclined to make more noise about it. Just like the 4Kids show in general.

Funny story. One time me and my friends were hanging out and it was kinda late. Somehow the topic of Ninja Turtles came up and I asked them if they ever saw the one where 'the classic Ninja Turtles met the modern day (at the time) ones?' They thought I was joking and were like 'nuh uh'. So despite it being 1 in the morning or whatever, I pulled out the disc and we watched the movie.

The point though was, this was merely a 1-2 years after it was released on DVD. This wasn't like 10-20 years ago where you'd go 'heeeeeeey, wasn't there a TMNT crossover thing back then?' This was still kinda/sorta 'recent' and I believe at the time season 1 of 2012 TMNT was still 'new', as in every episode was during its first run. And already it was this weird obscure thing to the general public at large. Sure, a big deal for Ninja Turtles fans, but a weird obscure thing for everyone else.

[CyberCubed]

A lot of revisionist history is being posted in this thread. Turtles Forever was definitely treated like a huge event in 2009. It had a screening before it aired which Roseangelo and Andrew attended and then aired on TV on Saturday morning after Season 7 concluded and was treated like a huge series finale. And was then repeated a bunch of times up through at least 2010 before TMNT left the block. The DVD featured a released that was cut was because FUNimation/4kids were idiots, but the UK release feature the full version with the extra 10 minutes, and besides that it's easy to watch online.

There was also a relaunch of the classic toyline to support the movie in 2009, which is why Playmates re-released all the classic 1988 figures for the first time since the early 2000's when the movie came out. In toy stores in 2009-2010 you saw all the classic '88 figures of the Turtles, Shredder, Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, the Foot, etc.

Everyone knows about it too. The young zoomers on reddit and twitter are aware of the movie even from people who didn't follow the 2k3 series when it was airing. That's why when the Nick 2012 series did their crossovers with the 80's Turtles everyone knew this was the "second time" they were doing this and not the first time since Turtles Forever aired.

So I find it odd there's some revisionist history being posted here, since I know everyone posting in this thread right now was around when this was happening.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

A lot of revisionist history is being posted in this thread. Turtles Forever was definitely treated like a huge event in 2009. It had a screening before it aired which Roseangelo and Andrew attended and then aired on TV on Saturday morning after Season 7 concluded and was treated like a huge series finale. And was then repeated a bunch of times up through at least 2010 before TMNT left the block. The DVD featured a released that was cut was because FUNimation/4kids were idiots, but the UK release feature the full version with the extra 10 minutes, and besides that it's easy to watch online.

There was also a relaunch of the classic toyline to support the movie in 2009, which is why Playmates re-released all the classic 1988 figures for the first time since the early 2000's when the movie came out. In toy stores in 2009-2010 you saw all the classic '88 figures of the Turtles, Shredder, Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, the Foot, etc.

Everyone knows about it too. The young zoomers on reddit and twitter are aware of the movie even from people who didn't follow the 2k3 series when it was airing. That's why when the Nick 2012 series did their crossovers with the 80's Turtles everyone knew this was the "second time" they were doing this and not the first time since Turtles Forever aired.

So I find it odd there's some revisionist history being posted here, since I know everyone posting in this thread right now was around when this was happening.

Yeah, it was a huge event. For Ninja Turtles fans. Not so much for everybody else. Of my friend group I was the only big Ninja Turtles fan, everyone else was more into anime or wrestling. They were more of the 'oh yeah, I remember them back in the day' and 'would buy a Hot Topic shirt of them' types, but they weren't watching Back to the Sewers every week or whatever. FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood and whatever else was going back then were a bigger deal to them.

Remember this is a Ninja Turtles forum, named after the villainous lair from the 80's cartoon no less. Naturally if you only base yourself on how people would react on this forum the return of the 80's Turtles would appear like the second coming. Not so much anywhere else though.

[Jephael]

Originally Posted by NinjaPug

Still don’t understand why Viacom can’t cater to both demographics like WB does with DC properties.

I've been thinking the same thing, though I know certain people have this "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!" mentality when it comes to multiple iterations of their favorite characters. What cracks me up is Disney has been watering down 100+ year old fairy tales for decades and hardly anybody bats an eye, yet when a comic book property geared towards grown ups gets the "child friendly" treatment, die-hard fans go freaking bonkers!!!

In the end, no single person has the right to say what can and can't be done with any fictional piece of work, because they're just that... fiction!!!

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

A lot of revisionist history is being posted in this thread. Turtles Forever was definitely treated like a huge event in 2009. It had a screening before it aired which Roseangelo and Andrew attended

Which was an AWESOME event... but we're talking about a theater with like 50 people in it. And I almost didn't even get in... I didn't play the "go around the convention and gather up bandannas (or something) from people" fetch quest you had to do to get a ticket, but I waited in line anyway and GreenWillow like pled with the security guy to let me in. Very nice of her.

[IMJ]

I didn't know that it had any kind of theatrical presentation, but I remember it seemed like a big deal for the Cartoon Network at the time.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I didn't know that it had any kind of theatrical presentation, but I remember it seemed like a big deal for the Cartoon Network at the time.

It did at a New York Comic Con and to this day it is still the only time it was played in its entirety.

I still think it was the stupidest thing ever to release the TV version on DVD. Like wtf. Imagine buying Ghostbusters or Batman 89 and it's the TV version. What the **** was that?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

It did at a New York Comic Con and to this day it is still the only time it was played in its entirety.

Not including the version we saw at the San Diego premiere with everybody, that is. Though it's out there. I think Plastroncafe sent me a digital version of it uncut eons ago in like 360p quality.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Not including the version we saw at the San Diego premiere with everybody, that is. Though it's out there. I think Plastroncafe sent me a digital version of it uncut eons ago in like 360p quality.

Oh that one then. For some reason I assume it was New York cause hey, Ninja Turtles. But no, it musta been at the one you were at cause I believe it was a ONE TIME thing only.

[frank_one]

I really appreciated it.
Unfortunately Turtles Forever didn't received any foreign dub and so I don't think it was ever aired outside any english-speaking country. Only fans know it even exists.

[sdp]

I remember someone from the drome illegally recorded the and would get pissed if people shared it since they felt they owned the content for illegally recording it.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Which was an AWESOME event... but we're talking about a theater with like 50 people in it. And I almost didn't even get in... I didn't play the "go around the convention and gather up bandannas (or something) from people" fetch quest you had to do to get a ticket, but I waited in line anyway and GreenWillow like pled with the security guy to let me in. Very nice of her.

That was definitely awesome of her.

But yeah, Turtles Forever might've been a huge event for hardcores but a lot of the "casuals" missed out on it, and that's the majority of people who would call themselves "TMNT Fans". Whenever one of the TMNT Facebook pages post anything from it there's always a ton of people saying "What the heck was this?! When did this come out?" and so on. So not "everyone" definitely saw it or knew about it.

And past that, it's been over a decade since anyone made noise about it, so if you became a fan, say, after the Nick/Viacom buyout, like you got into TMNT because of the Nicktoon or (god forbid) BayTurtles movies, it's likely you never saw it or heard about it.

[Jephael]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Turtles Forever might've been a huge event for hardcores but a lot of the "casuals" missed out on it, and that's the majority of people who would call themselves "TMNT Fans". Whenever one of the TMNT Facebook pages post anything from it there's always a ton of people saying "What the heck was this?! When did this come out?" and so on. So not "everyone" definitely saw it or knew about it.

And past that, it's been over a decade since anyone made noise about it, so if you became a fan, say, after the Nick/Viacom buyout, like you got into TMNT because of the Nicktoon or (god forbid) BayTurtles movies, it's likely you never saw it or heard about it.

Very few kids these days care about what we enjoyed at their age, even if they're watching mere reboots and/or copies of the characters we liked.

I feel a big reason the 2003 series in a whole never got the recognition that the classic 1987 series had was because of the company that produced it. From what little I know of 4Kids Entertainment, they were a New York based animation company that didn't do any business with Hollywood companies, hence the reason Rob Paulsen and the rest of the cast of the original cartoon didn't get to reprise their roles.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

That was definitely awesome of her.

But yeah, Turtles Forever might've been a huge event for hardcores but a lot of the "casuals" missed out on it, and that's the majority of people who would call themselves "TMNT Fans". Whenever one of the TMNT Facebook pages post anything from it there's always a ton of people saying "What the heck was this?! When did this come out?" and so on. So not "everyone" definitely saw it or knew about it.

And past that, it's been over a decade since anyone made noise about it, so if you became a fan, say, after the Nick/Viacom buyout, like you got into TMNT because of the Nicktoon or (god forbid) BayTurtles movies, it's likely you never saw it or heard about it.

The thing is, Turtles Forever was more of a farewell movie for the 2003 show than anything else. Not many non-TMNT fans were really watching Back to the Sewers week after week back then.

I feel if it was more 'stand-alone' there woulda been more marketing for it, making it seem like a super event.

Instead it felt like "oh hey, the 2003 Turtles are having a farewell movie, and they just so happen to meet the 80's Turtles! Neat, huh?"

[shredder orokusaki]

Many of the 2003 episodes are based on Mirrage comics .

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Instead it felt like "oh hey, the 2003 Turtles are having a farewell movie, and they just so happen to meet the 80's Turtles! Neat, huh?"

Pretty much. People act like it's 50/50 Fred Wolf and 4Kids, when it's nowhere near that.

It's kind of like... what "Star Trek: Generations" was to TNG, "Turtles Forever" was to 4Kids. Except if there wasn't any sequels and if 4Kids never even got an "All Good Things."

Originally Posted by shredder orokusaki

Many of the 2003 episodes are based on Mirrage comics .

There is like two fairly faithful ones, the Rat King one and the Kirby one. The rest are pretty horrible bastardizations and exist in name only, IMHO.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by Jephael

Very few kids these days care about what we enjoyed at their age, even if they're watching mere reboots and/or copies of the characters we liked.

I feel a big reason the 2003 series in a whole never got the recognition that the classic 1987 series had was because of the company that produced it. From what little I know of 4Kids Entertainment, they were a New York based animation company that didn't do any business with Hollywood companies, hence the reason Rob Paulsen and the rest of the cast of the original cartoon didn't get to reprise their roles.

Really it was because Turtlesmania was not a thing anymore. Some people that grew up with the original cartoon may have just felt too old to be watching cartoons. I assumed I was the minority during High School that still watched them.