Should the Turtles even sound like normal humans?

[Andrew NDB]

Should the Turtles' voices sound raspier, more animal-like or maybe guttural, on the count of them not having normal human vocal cords (and probably not, you know, sounding like Rob Paulsen or something)?

[IMJ]

Basically between your thread here and those hideous drawings of the TMNT looking like actual warty turtles some years back, it's immediately become clear that a TMNT product should depict no verisimilitude outside of the TMNT simply walking around the real world itself.

Without the cartoony appeal, TMNT is nightmare fuel, man.

[Leo656]

Whether or not they "should", they do. So what the f*ck, man?

This is some "Should Superman be able to fly?" stuff. Theoretically, no. There's no actual scientific explanation for it. It's essentially just "wish magic" and has no basis in reality. A humanoid being with no wings or propulsion system by definition cannot achieve flight. Byrne tried to staple on some "psychokinesis" razzmatazz, but even then he was like "C'mon, don't think so hard. He can fly because he can, not because it makes any logical sense whatsoever."

Likewise, the Turtles sound like people because it's just easier that way. We've occasionally seen them sweat, too, and "technically" they shouldn't be able to do that either.

I'm always just like, "Okay, so the mutagen completely f*cked them up to the point they're like 70% human-ish and 30% Turtle, inside and out." Thinking about it any deeper than that is... well, the entire thing completely falls apart anyway.

"Realistically", upon being exposed to radioactive goo they'd probably just painfully melt to death. In which case this wouldn't even be a question.

[Bahamut810]

TMNT is good furry ****, not bad scaley ****...

[Coola Yagami]

I mean they have human limbs and whatnot. The mutagen/ooze gave em humanoid vocal cords.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I mean they have human limbs

No they don't.

[oldmanwinters]

I feel like Corey Feldman had the perfect "Mutant Turtle" voice.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I feel like Corey Feldman had the perfect "Mutant Turtle" voice.

He does kinda "croak" when he speaks.

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I mean they have human limbs and whatnot.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

No they don't.

They are clearly "humanOID" limbs, Captain Pedantic. Ya knew what he meant, c'mon.

Love You.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I feel like Corey Feldman had the perfect "Mutant Turtle" voice.

Came here to say this.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I feel like Corey Feldman had the perfect "Mutant Turtle" voice.

Yup!

Originally Posted by Leo656

He does kinda "croak" when he speaks.

Yup!

Andrew, do you picture something like the recent Planet of the Apes films when the turtles speak?

[neatoman]

Yes, the odds of them turning out be screeching monsters without the ability to talk does seem more likely. But I guess a bigger question is, why are they often given California accents when they have lived in New York all their lives?

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Yes, the odds of them turning out be screeching monsters without the ability to talk does seem more likely. But I guess a bigger question is, why are they often given California accents when they have lived in New York all their lives?

At least Mikey. Raph seems to be the only New Yorker among em.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Yes, the odds of them turning out be screeching monsters without the ability to talk does seem more likely. But I guess a bigger question is, why are they often given California accents when they have lived in New York all their lives?

It doesn't make any difference who is above the sewer manholes. It only matters who they see on the TV.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

https://i.ibb.co/Wgwk6Wq/20200622-11...le-300x202.jpg

Should the Turtles' voices sound raspier, more animal-like or maybe guttural, on the count of them not having normal human vocal cords (and probably not, you know, sounding like Rob Paulsen or something)?

I feel attacked...

I dunna man. I think the Hodgson's Law probably applies.

Also it's, Leo it's less a "Should Superman EVEN fly!?" and more a "Would Superman EVEN have INSERT HUMAN ORGAN/BODY PART!?"

[Leo656]

I meant from the sense of "Some things aren't even worth over-thinking", not as a straight analogy.

Also, Andrew's TV Theory makes sense, so let's play a game. The FW cartoon was the very first time we ever got to hear the Turtles' voices. Given the time period, if we agree that their TV watching influenced how they developed their speech, we can thus ascertain that "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" was FW Michelangelo's favorite movie growing up, that Sean Penn's Spicoli was his favorite character, and also, that Mikey saw Phoebe Cates's boobs about a million times.

But anyways, so that much we can pretty much write up as Fact. What I wanna know is, what were FW Leo, Don, and Raphael watching on TV growing up in order for them to adopt the voices and inflections that they did?

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Raph seems to be the only New Yorker among em.

Well since he's often the one going above the surface, he must've picked up on Brooklyn speech more than the others. The turtle who embraces NY the most.

[AquaParade]

I think it's an interesting question. It depends how seriously you want to take them, but I think it's worth asking.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Jester

Also it's, Leo it's less a "Should Superman EVEN fly!?" and more a "Would Superman EVEN have INSERT HUMAN ORGAN/BODY PART!?"

This reminds me of a comic where Superman and Lois are about to do it for the first time. Superman whips it out and Lois is like "WTF IS THAT?!" Superman is confused and is like 'it's my penis?'. It's off screen and we, the readers, don't see it of course, but it's assumed its some sort of weird looking... organ.

Lois is still dumbfounded and asks 'yeah but... why the pincers? What are they even for?"

The caption read something like 'it was now when Lois remembered she was going out with an alien. LOL

[IMJ]

This reminds me of how sometimes creators like to take existing I.P.'s and sort of fashion them into a genre flick that would fit. It would be like doing a G.I. Joe movie in the style of Platoon, or doing a Batman movie more like Silence of the Lambs than a comic book flick.

With that said, imagine that sort of sci-fi horror flick akin to "Critters" or Gremlins with those voices and these designs...

[TigerClaw]

That's kind of a silly question, Because they always sounded human, Some of there voices were of the stereotypical variety, but eventually they had natural sounding voices that were close to the voice actor's own voice.