Any particular reason season 1 couldn't just have been an the Space arc?

[neatoman]

Something that has bugged me ever since I've read the first seven issues, as well as the micros with a few other main issues, is that I noticed that they were all published way before the cartoon was put into production and it made me realise how pointless the changes season 1 made really were.

Aside from the revenge bit at the start, there really isn't that much plot relevant stuff that is inappropriate for children. After that, it's pretty much:

• #2 Evil scientist steals money.
• #3 Car chase.
• #4 Break in at a lab.
• #5 Alien city.
• #6 Alien Arena fight.
• #7 Back home.

The funny thing here is that I don't even need to argue that it could work hypothetically. Literally of that was adapted into two other cartoons, so I know there was no need to change it for the kids. Even if I were to argue that it could work and also ignore that I know it was adapted for kids later on, none of this seems at all like it would be hard to work with. In many ways Baxter Stockman's scheme is quite similar to what evil scientists in kids' cartoons tend to do.

What's also a bit strange is that the cartoon still has elements similar to what the comic had. There Alien Technology hidden in New York, and MOUSERS, and Brutish aliens, and a teleportation device, etc. So there really is no need to create something totally new here.

Maybe some of the demands of Playmates forced some alterations to the plot but I kind of doubt it. In my experience, toy companies don't really care that much about what the action figures are explained as being in-universe, just as long as they're on-screen. I know they don't, because Mattel was fine with He-Man going from being a caveman to a prince living in a castle, and Hasbro didn't mind Cobra Commander being a salesman in the comic while the cartoon made him an ancient snake mutant. If Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang, Turtle Van, Technodrome blimp Blimp had to be in the cartoon no matter what, you could have figured out a way to force them in anyway. Bebop and Rocksteady could just be aliens fought in the Triceraton Arena, Krang could just be an Utrom traitor and the Technodrome could just be a fortress on D'Hoonib. Nothing was set in stone back then, so why the hell not?

And what's probably the most baffling thing about this aside from how pointless it was, it's that it's not even done in favor of a good story. The story of season 1, while better in a very basic sense compared to the rest of the series, is actually kind of bad. It's basically just Shredder making really dumb tactical mistakes and Krang whining about not having a body, until Shredder somehow thinks giving Krang a body really is the last resort and the Turtles send the Technodrome back to Dimension X. Even you think the comic had a dumb story, it still has a more clear through line.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

It would have been difficult to adapt many of the Japanese cultural differences if season 1 was set in space (Hamato Yoshis backstory, the turtles fighting style, the Foot Soldiers and the Ninja District).

[CyberCubed]

I honestly don't know why anyone would come to this conclusion.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I honestly don't know why anyone would come to this conclusion.

That I concluded that season 1 should just have adapted the story from #2 to #7 or FredWolfLeonardo thinking it needed to take place on earth to establish the Japanse things better?

[slashpieturtlemix]

I actually have to disagree and I am happy we didn't get a comic adaption. Literally every tmnt is different and they all seem to go in different directions. I love that we have such diversity in this franchise.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by slashpieturtlemix

I actually have to disagree and I am happy we didn't get a comic adaption. Literally every tmnt is different and they all seem to go in different directions. I love that we have such diversity in this franchise.

It's not so much a question of of "should" as much as it's a question of "why" along with a statement of "could".

They could have adapted the space arc and had all the basic elements they wanted to sell toys, there's really no problem there. They just chose not to when they clearly didn't have to and I just wonder why that it is. Even if you are satisfied with the end product, that doesn't mean the end product had to be as different from the comic as it was.

[Leo656]

I'd be more happy about the franchise being so "diverse" if 75-80% of it now wasn't lousy-to-terrible.

For the record, I don't include FW TMNT in that... at least not most of it. Some of it was definitely terrible. But there's some good in there, too.

Rather than just cranking out a bunch of new and different iterations for the sake of being "new and different", I sincerely wish that each new version would instead just take what was good or what already worked and just built on that. This brand absolutely could do with more consistency between versions, not less.

[FrederikWolferson]

Bold of you to assume David Wise read the comic.

[jignat]

This 87 toon basically feels like Wise was given the list of toys/vehicles and skimmed through issues 1 and 2 in 1 minute and came up with something that was a corny 50s sci fi movie parody that was exceedingly self aware.

if you only read Mirage no 1 there all somewhat blank slates. April has the jumpsuit from no.2, but otherwise it might as well be an original property when compared to Mirage.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Technodrome could just be a fortress on D'Hoonib.

I think the writers wanted the Turtles to save Earth, not D'Hoonib. The Technodrome being a fortress on D'Hoonib would only work if Krang attempted to move the Technodrome from D'Hoonib to Earth.

[Mad Dog McMutt]

I think the first season of the classic cartoon was perfect just how it was. It had all the right ingredients. Perhaps tmnt wouldn't have exploded in popularity back then if it was any different.

[sdp]

Since it was a kid property kids would've eaten it up just the same most likely, as long as it was different from the normal 80s cartoon the new generation would've accepted it just as well. 1987 felt fresh compared to other 80s cartoons as long as it did that it would've succeeded and space would've made no difference.