What's So Bad About TMNT FF?

[DaShredder]

I was up at Best Buy today and I saw the first season of Fast Forward at 12.99 and seeing as it was a good deal and I hadn't seen any FF episodes,I got it. I watched the first two episodes last night and alot of the bad reports gave low excpectations,and then....I was very surprised,they were great! So,I just wanted to ask you guys what exactly are you hating about it? I like alot of heavily hated things(like Judge Dredd the movie),so maybe that explains it,but if there's another reason please share.

[mikey2007]

Originally Posted by DaShredder

I was up at Best Buy today and I saw the first season of Fast Forward at 12.99 and seeing as it was a good deal and I hadn't seen any FF episodes,I got it. I watched the first two episodes last night and alot of the bad reports gave low excpectations,and then....I was very surprised,they were great! So,I just wanted to ask you guys what exactly are you hating about it? I like alot of heavily hated things(like Judge Dredd the movie),so maybe that explains it,but if there's another reason please share.

read through a lot of the posts, lol it tells u why.....people don't like the animation, the fact they lost all their character development build through 2k3, its too bright, the stories aren't as good as they were in 2k3....i know there are more things people have griped about, i know i don't hate it, but i'll just watch it cuz its turtles, and the stories get a little better as the season goes on

[Jo Dawn]

There aren't enough words...

To make it short, I'd go with...

The complete lack of quality in everything. The storyline has gone down the tubes greatly. I won't go into the quality of art. (Though I could really live with that, if it weren't for the rest of the crap.) We've lost the general quality that 2K3 had.

The characters have changed; they are mere shadows of their old selves. The character building has gone right out the window.

Even worse, they kiddified it. Kids aren't stupid. Kids don't even like FF. But the show is dumbed down now, and I don't tolerate that.

And, the worst of all.... Cody. Just... Cody.



...And that, is my short version. More to come as I think of it.

[gobo]

It's just an extremely pale comparison to previous seasons. Reasonably, it's insulting to think of this as a serious continuation of the story, but most people are just amplifying how bad it is. Even though I hated Scrappy-Doo more than most (even when I was 3), adding a kid as a main character will never be an "no way will this be good now!" development to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's not too bad. It's just far from being as good as the previous seasons. But, now that I think of it, I have a tendency to be generous.

[Masked Ninja]

It might be tolerable, except the 4 seasons of real TMNT were so much better. It's like enjoying a steak dinner, then someone switches it out for a slice of balogna. The balogna isn't too bad on its own, but compared to what you were just eating... blech.

[Roseangelo]

The best way I can put it is that you can replace Splinter and the Turtles (and any other established characters) with ANY other generic characters and the show would be exactly the same as it is now. This is not a TMNT cartoon, it is a cartoon that features the TMNT.

[ThemanthatwouldbeRaphael]

I know it's all been said before, but I'll do it anyway.

The art style and animation, an eyesore. Everythings too bright, so much it doesn't fit the tone TMNT has been trying to establish. The overall quality has fallen drastically. Everything looks so flat and blocky.

The writting is terrible, generic, and lacks any of the depth the past 4 seasons have had.

No character development, in fact, it's undone most of the previous character development.

Cody Jones and Serling are generic and useless characters.

The theme song is worse than ever.

The who point of this show was to boost rattings, and it didn't work, so all of this crap was for nothing. What Rose said was right, if you replaced the Turtles with the Cowboys of Moo Mesa, nothing would change. The show might not be completley horrendous, but the fact that it follows the past 4 seasons, which have been nothing short excellent, doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

[Spitfire]

Should be 9.99 at Best Buy...

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by DaShredder

I was up at Best Buy today and I saw the first season of Fast Forward at 12.99 and seeing as it was a good deal and I hadn't seen any FF episodes,I got it. I watched the first two episodes last night and alot of the bad reports gave low excpectations,and then....I was very surprised,they were great! So,I just wanted to ask you guys what exactly are you hating about it? I like alot of heavily hated things(like Judge Dredd the movie),so maybe that explains it,but if there's another reason please share.

I like a lot of globally hated comic based movies that are actually intelligent little affairs that stay true to their source material, but if your tastes are allowing you to enjoy Judge Dredd...well, chances are your're obviously going to like low-brow popcorn crap.


TMNT unfortunatly, has never been popcorn, with the original it's humour was subversive and it had dark and light moments at the same time, with the recent series, it was mostly dark with less lighter touches, the storylines were tailor made to treat the surroundings and entire premise as something that could happen.

This? This is just dumbass networks eeing the Turtles as toys and putting them in an unreallistic situation, there is no grounded reality, there's no way people beleive Cody is a teen genius, or that this future could hope to exist. It's like taking all of the exaggerations about the future Futurama makes fun of whilst making them it's own world and assuming that this WILL happen

[X]

Got mine for 9.99 at my Best Buy.

In anycase, I have a different opinion then most on these forums. Sure FF can be a pain, but the only reason I would ever call it a pain, is because of the gap from season 4 to season 6. In other words, I would totally be happy with FF, if I had the lost season on DVD. As for why I like FF. Well I don't fear change. Sure the animation took a hit, and the story is a lighter in tone, but if I dealt with it growing up on the 80's-90's Turtles show, and dug it, I can tolerate this, and hey, it still has some good fight scenes. Just because the fights in FF aren't sped up to look like some cracked out videogame running at 60 FPS (or an anime with superb animation I guess,) doesn't mean squat to me honestly. Any Turtles are better then none IMO. Or I guess being 28, I've seen enough in life to know that the nitpicks of FF should not make me lose sleep at night, when the world has real problems to face.

I like the set, just like all previous DVD's (the quality, wish most DVD's were in order.) Can't wait to see if the 2k3 series is condenced into 4 disc sets, to make room in my 400 disc DVD player, for all the 2007 blockbuster movies coming out.

-X-

[R-iZZy]

I think everyone pretty much said what I wanted.

Lack of character development, horrible storylines, pointless villains (it's like having Garbageman and N.A.N.O. as the main antagonists throughout the entire series), animation is more cartoonish, overuse of bland humor, unnecessarily replaced the Ninja Tribunal arc, and worst of all: "It's ninja time!"

Seriously, this show sucks harder than...... well, I won't go there. But seriously, this show had potential, but completely became a swing-and-a-miss with its childish humor and colorfulness.

Only positives I can think of were the action and the environment/setting... that's about it.

[Tora_Chan]

FF is bad because they took away to many things that make the TMNT who they are by placing them in the future. Suddenly they can walk around without a care in the world, no oppresion whatsoever. And with Cody's wast fortune they don't have to care about getting by either.

They hardly train anymore and if they do it's always silly not to mention completely disconnected from the actual plot the episode.

All of the secondary characters we liked are gone; no more April, Casey, Leatherhead, Nobody, etc. And the new characters like Cody are simply not interesting enough to take their place. This goes for the villians too. And Bishop as a good guy sucks.

They don't really do anything anymore, everything simply happens to them and they never take an initiative to do something against that. No more patrolling the streets, no investigating. Why not find out who Shoka'naboo is or try to find a way to expose Darius Dunn as the criminal he is?

The animation style has changed for the worst, the colors are flat and the sharp edged turtles don't look nearly as good as the old ones.

There is more, but this post is already long enough. Just ask yourself honestly: Would you watch this show if it wasn't TMNT?

[Rooish]

Heh, I agree with every complaint, except that I actually like its theme song more than the 2k3 toon's. Which I will always cringe at.

I didn't know it was possible to make Mikey less mature until Fast Forward.

That being said, I'll probably buy the season set...

[VGiselleH]

Originally Posted by Masked Ninja

It might be tolerable, except the 4 seasons of real TMNT were so much better. It's like enjoying a steak dinner, then someone switches it out for a slice of balogna. The balogna isn't too bad on its own, but compared to what you were just eating... blech.

That one pretty much sums it up perfectly for me. I can enjoy FF to a certain degree, I have no trouble shutting off my brain and go with the flow. It's only knowing what it used to be that that makes it so pale and disappointing to watch (hence the shutting off brain bit to forget about 2k3 while watching FF). The theme song is catchy and fun (must ignore it's not very turtle-ish and overly hyper). One thing I can not ignore even while going into stupid-mode while watching though: the art. No, that's just one big no. Those angles, ugh.

Originally Posted by Tora_Chan

Just ask yourself honestly: Would you watch this show if it wasn't TMNT?

...I wouldn't.

[Buslady]

I'm gonna list my gripes:

• Art: it stinks. Gone are the rounded cheeks replaced by rediculous sharp edges. The style looks cheap, less detailed and visually tedious.
• Personalities & minor details: The turtles have lost all of their maturity that was gained in the 2k3 run. Splinter watching soaps is out of character and allowing the guys to run around Cody's joint shows there is no discipline at all. Leo's shell is suddenly all healed up, turtle shells don't heal THAT fast.
• Other characters: Serling is idiotic, all he ever wants is the others to suffer pain. Cody is a freakin Gary Stu. ANNOYING
• Opening titles and theme: Reminiscent of a crap show...Next Mutation. WTF is with CODY in the center on the title card? SPLINTER should be there! Darren (Splinter's voice talent) wasn't too thrilled over that.
• Tag lines: "It's ninja time" Okey this is NOT NEXT @#*$ MUTATION! They said it in that. RAPH DOES NOT SAY CRAP LIKE THAT EITHER! Taglines are Mikey's department & it's Raph's job to shut him up.

The whole show had been turned into a familiar formula known as the 30-min commercial. There are no 5-6 part epic stories that made the original run (2K3)a great series. No more great adaptations of original comic stories. No more great music, drama, action and major character development. They're stale..static...it's dying a slow death.

And Raph's being make to look like a twit.

[Jo Dawn]

Yep, I agree with everything said.

However... I don't agree with it being said that it's a fear of change. I don't fear change. I also grew up with the 80's show. (Wellll.... Maybe not 'grew up', persay. I was at least 'younger' then. ) I still hate this.

Why? Simply put: Because it's crap.

[tinlunlau]

another example of why putting superheroes into the future will not work.
(Batman Beyond is the only exception)

[Lady Venus]

I don't think antthing is wrong with TMNT:FF.

[Drtooth]

I will say the worst thing is that they're trying to make it more like the 1980's series, and just managed to make it goofy and juvenile instead. I mean, I can forgive the turtles acting like children... I mean, they have no concerns other than getting back to their own time period.

The show is good for what it is, but compared to the eariler episodes? No. It doesn't work. Ninja Time isn't terrible, but do they REALLY need to make it a poor substitute for "Turtle Power?" Do they even need a going into battle action phrase?

One thing I will say doesn't do the show any good is the "Look how much the world has changed yet oddly stayed the same" plots that took up 90% of the episodes. They must be building up to something, but taking a cue from Sonic X's last season,. they're taking their sweet anus time to tell us what. I'd say, at least half the episodes are enjoyable on some level. But the writing really needs to imporve sharply.

This show was made to sell toys, and they seem to be doing well enough. I finnaly got a couple, myself. I only have Mike and Serling though (Yes, the figure's pretty cool, and I am starting to like the character.)

[gobo]

Originally Posted by Tora_Chan

Just ask yourself honestly: Would you watch this show if it wasn't TMNT?

This is really the only thing that ever needed to be said. If it wasn't TMNT, I might never have given it a second look, and I most certainly wouldn't care if I missed an ep. Ben 10 is the only non-AdultSwim show I currently watch on Cartoon Network, and it shares a lot of writers with Fast Forward. Even before noticing the writer-coincidence, I just haven't been very strict about keeping up with all of the episodes. So, that's probably how I'd feel about Fast Forward if it had nothing to do with the Turtles. But, it's still hard to take seriously as an extension of the story set by 2K3.