TMNT 2012 Missed opportunities

[Torterra]

A simple question what story-line or characters did you felt like was a missed opportunity for the 2012 series to do?

[sdp]

I wish we had gotten a few more horror tribute episodes.

[CyberCubed]

Wrong forum

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Wrong forum

Oh come on, the Nick forum is deader than a disco dancing dodo.

[mikey0]

I would like to have seen Anthrax in one or two episodes of this series.

[ssjup81]

Off the top of my head, I would have liked Tigerclaw's story changed a bit. Would have like Shinigami used more and Alopex.

I know it was pointless but Casey's family...I really wish his sister could've been in it at least. Would've been nice for Mikey to have another buddy to hang with.

April's mother...still wish she would've been alive and being held captive along with a real Irma or imply that April actually had a life away from the Turtles..

[Andrew NDB]

I just think it lost focus as it went along. I understand a lot of this wasn't Ciro's doing or anything... every season there'd be a bag of scripts he'd want to do, and Nick would say "yes" to only some of the ones that he was even crazy about and that left out ones that would have seemed important.

[The Great Saiyaman]

A lot of what I would have liked to see is stuff that I worked into my fan comics. The one I'm working on right now "The Full 80%" has a lot of things I always felt should be in.

- More of the Kraang and in such a way which makes them more creepy and secretive.
- For somebody who's role has been so big, we actually never gotten to know Karai all that well, what kind of life did she have under tutelage of Tatsuo? Did she grow up with a mother figure, what did her room on the Foot Clan's lair look like?
- In addition, I would have loved to see an episode devoted on Karai after her mutation, which shows her coming to terms with what happened and how she began to live on the streets avoiding the detection of the Foot, the Kraang and the Turtles.

[MikeandRaph87]

The Rat King had an origin that made sense. He was human as well. He behaved similarly to the 1987 cartoon version even though I hated the design. He only made TWO appearances and a third post-mortem. The character had a lot of potential of being a reoccurring threat.

The Shredder's primary motion. His primary motivation is to murder Splinter? I felt his character is best driven by desire for power, to rule. It made the first half of season 4 seem so wasted considering it would happen anyway.

The biggest gripe I have about the series as a whole is the tease of characters appearing however it is a tease as they are most often in name only. IDW takes existing characters big and small and fits the characters into the mold nicely. That is something Nickelodeon has failed to. Sure a reinvention here or there is fine such as making Bebop and Rocksteady different so as to distringuish one from the other and maybe add a trait to them in a later incarnation. T failed every single time from Hun to the Neutrinos to Wyrm to rechristening Bradford as Razhar. Even Apolex did not make sense in her one appearance.

Shredder has too many lieutenants. It prevented the growth of some of them and it needs to be limited to two to three. Some of the lieutenants are by force (Zeck, Sternako, Stockman) while others out of loyalty (Bradford, Mortez, and Takeshi). Not to mention Karai until she learns the truth. Chris Bradford had a lot of potential as a widely known person to the public who has always led a double life working as a lieutenant and trainer for a Japanese crime lord. He is rechristened for no reason other than toy sales and becomes a prime example of in name only then pushed to a lower tiered threat then killed off. The character has potential that was never capitalized on and if Shredder's hench characters can be cut down to half what it was at one time it would serve each character better.

[PizzaPower1985]

Is it too cynical or evil to say that the entire show was a disaster and a missed opportunity? After 2003 there was such an opportunity to take the franchise in the opposite direction of a children's cartoon. As I've said many times (aren't you sick of it?) a new TMNT show could have been closer to the Mirage turtles in Forever, perhaps without the OG cartoony designs of E&L. We could have gotten a deep, more introspective show and still aimed it at kids ala BTAS. That tone and style of storytelling would have made the TMNT just as good for adults as it was for your 1st and 2nd graders.

I think ultimately, had the designs been more inspired by the drawings of Peter Laird or Michael Dooney or even Santolouco, it would have been a better show.

They also should NEVER imply romance between a human being and an animal, mutated or otherwise. The April/Donnie thing was a huge turn-off.

[AquaParade]

Yeah, I think 2012 simply isn't the product you are wishing for.

I understand wanting a different kind of animated series for TMNT. One that doesn't bear the responsibility of selling millions in toys and backpacks.
I mean, a direct to dvd adaption of the Mirage or IDW comics, even with the measly budget of Batman v TMNT** would be a welcome treat. I'd love something of even higher quality though.

Again, as for the 2012 show, I think it excelled at what it had to do.

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Yeah, I think 2012 simply isn't the product you are wishing for.

I understand wanting a different kind of animated series for TMNT. One that doesn't bear the responsibility of selling millions in toys and backpacks.
I mean, a direct to dvd adaption of the Mirage or IDW comics, even with the measly budget of Batman v Superman would be a welcome treat. I'd love something of even higher quality though.

Again, as for the 2012 show, I think it excelled at what it had to do.

I don't particularly mind it being marketed to kids with toys, backpacks or otherwise, but this kind of show has become SOOOOO dumbed down and watered down since the 1990's.

BTAS and 90's X-men are great examples of shows that sold millions of toys and bedsheets and lunchboxes and pajamas BUT they were telling deep-as-the-ocean (for kids TV) allegorical stories that involved racism, homophobia, the gun/violence issues of the U.S., feminism, faith/spirituality, death/personal loss etc. and episodes were laced with drug references even. And yet, parents flocked to the toy aisle at Wal-Mart and bought the hunks of plastic and superhero school supplies for the kiddies. The reason why BTAS should be revered is not because it was such a great Batman adaptation. The reason why it should be revered is because it allowed certain episodes to be LAW AND ORDER/NYPD Blue for a younger audience.

Why can't TMNT tackle serious issues? Can we get a show that gives you a single episode of kids TV where Mikey isn't a clown? Kids TV DOES NOT have to be for very little kids. Let those guys have their Spongebob or whatever the hell my little nephew watches these days. TMNT should be a minimum of 2003/4Kids and should PUSH children into critical thinking and expose them to a bit of something more than just fun and games that people my age will let their kids tolerate.

And 6 to 8 year olds should be proud to see a TMNT show and wear a backpack to shool for a property that tackles something deeper than how many scoops of ice cream can fit on a pizza.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by PizzaPower1985

They also should NEVER imply romance between a human being and an animal, mutated or otherwise. The April/Donnie thing was a huge turn-off.

I have to agree here. Donatello needed depth because he was viewed as the least popular? This is a ridiculous twist to make him likable! Sure, Michelangelo makes one flirtatious line to April in the first film its not a crush or anything. It's fine. Aside from the disturbing triangle Rob Paulsen is why I love Raphael. Every time I read a TMNT comic I hear his voice so hearing the one who defines Raphael for me as Donatello makes it seem there are two Raphaels. It works in reverse for those who first watched the 2012 cartoon. They hear Donatello coming out of Raphael. Rob should have voiced Raphael since he made such an impact on the character. That itself was a missed opportunity! No offense against Sean of course.

Except for a few episodes it is hard to go back and rewatch the series like the previous two cartoons, as different as they were it is easy to watch over and over again.

[The Great Saiyaman]

Originally Posted by PizzaPower1985

I don't particularly mind it being marketed to kids with toys, backpacks or otherwise, but this kind of show has become SOOOOO dumbed down and watered down since the 1990's.

BTAS and 90's X-men are great examples of shows that sold millions of toys and bedsheets and lunchboxes and pajamas BUT they were telling deep-as-the-ocean (for kids TV) allegorical stories that involved racism, homophobia, the gun/violence issues of the U.S., feminism, faith/spirituality, death/personal loss etc. and episodes were laced with drug references even. And yet, parents flocked to the toy aisle at Wal-Mart and bought the hunks of plastic and superhero school supplies for the kiddies. The reason why BTAS should be revered is not because it was such a great Batman adaptation. The reason why it should be revered is because it allowed certain episodes to be LAW AND ORDER/NYPD Blue for a younger audience.

Why can't TMNT tackle serious issues? Can we get a show that gives you a single episode of kids TV where Mikey isn't a clown? Kids TV DOES NOT have to be for very little kids. Let those guys have their Spongebob or whatever the hell my little nephew watches these days. TMNT should be a minimum of 2003/4Kids and should PUSH children into critical thinking and expose them to a bit of something more than just fun and games that people my age will let their kids tolerate.

And 6 to 8 year olds should be proud to see a TMNT show and wear a backpack to shool for a property that tackles something deeper than how many scoops of ice cream can fit on a pizza.

Perhaps you should re-watch the series again because a lot what you put in your description isn't something I experienced when watching the series.

I'll take one episode: "Vengeance is mine"

And I'll take one scene from that particular episode.

Karai about to fall into that Mutagen.

That scene changed the whole series and every character involved with it.
- Shredder felt so guilty over having sliced the chain when trying to hit Leonardo
- Splinter's look on his face tells it all, he feels like he's losing his daughter again and again it's Oroku Saki who took her from him.
- Leonardo is feeling guilty about not having been able to convince Karai to not go and take on Shredder alone and he feels even more guilty about not getting there on time to save her.

That was a moment where EVERYBODY lost. Leonardo in particular became a very different person in subsequent episodes and remained so until the end of the series.

[Torterra]

For me I feel a wasted character was Mondo Gecko, I get in his introduction they wanted him to be basically a punching bag. But in his later appearances I feel like he should have learn some type of fighting skills. Like dude your on a team with a leader that learned the art of stealth and combat from the turtles and your best friends with Michelangelo who if you were to ask would have gladly teach you some stuff and the mutanimals would have a infiltrator/scout on the team especially since Pigeon Pete wasn't that good at it.

[dragonside]

not sure if anyone else was thinking it....


but i would've loved a crossover with DC or Marvel if the show was still going.

More likely with DC due to the Batman/TMNT crossovers.

However, I would've really liked to a Daredevil guest appearance.. or even a Daredevil like character.

[The Turtle Terminator]

A good wrap up of most of the forgotten villains (Snakeweed, Spider Bytez etc) would have been nice

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by dragonside

not sure if anyone else was thinking it....


but i would've loved a crossover with DC or Marvel if the show was still going.

More likely with DC due to the Batman/TMNT crossovers.

However, I would've really liked to a Daredevil guest appearance.. or even a Daredevil like character.

That's interesting... I always wanted a Daredevil crossover with TMNT in comics but then the Batman crossover happened and I wasn't the least bit interested. Then they made the movie and I still haven't seen it.

I guess as time goes on, things I used to think I'd love I kinda could care less about. Age happens, kids. Live it up because life is short.