TMNT 2003 Vs TMNT 1990

[Teddygaming reviews]

Many people compare the TMNT shows against one another on which is better. But one thing's many people don't compare the 2003 turtles and the 1990 movie. They both use the same source material as there story and I was wondering which one was better and more comic accurate

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Teddygaming reviews

Many people compare the TMNT shows against one another on which is better. But one thing's many people don't compare the 2003 turtles and the 1990 movie. They both use the same source material as there story and I was wondering which one was better and more comic accurate

The movie, by far. 2003 was like a goofy toy commercial version of Mirage.

[AquaParade]

The movie. I love what 2k3 was trying to do but I feel nothing when I watch it.

[sdp]

To be fair we need to put some type of rules over what we're comparing. The 1990 turtles also continue their story with TMNT II and TMNT III, hell arguably The Next Mutation. Are we counting those as well? Because things get fairly silly very quickly more than 2k3 ever did. If we're not then it's only fair to count the origin episodes of 2k3 in season 1 or choose the episodes that match up with the events of the movie. That would give us likely a closer Mirage feeling. If we do either of those scenarios then the answer is not as easy of an answer as compare 1 movie with over 100 episodes of a show.

Now if it's only who would win in an actual fight then it would be the 2k3 turtles, the 1990 turtles couldn't even defeat Shredder., in fact they're rather weak overall if we take a look at how they fared against enemies in their 3 movies.

[neatoman]

Comic accurate...

I guess the 2003 show wins that on some technicalities.

1. The volumes of stories used and common characters is far greater (not really fair, I know, but it is a factor).
2. April is actually a programmer and not a reporter.
3. Hamato Yoshi does in fact kill the envious other man, who isn't the Shredder.
4. Splinter does not lose an ear.
5. The Foot Clan are not a bunch of runaways.
6. The Turtles do in fact fight the Shredder before the store skirmish.
7. It does contain an adaptation of the Leo micro and it is Leo who gets injured.
8. Splinter is actually present on the farm.
9. The farm is stated to belong to Casey.
10. The return does actually involve infiltration of the foot headquarters.
11. The resolution does involve a head chop instead of a garbage truck.

That's not to say the 1990 movie did a better job in terms of qualitative similarities, but when it comes to the quantitative the 2003 show wins out. About the only thing 1990 is closer in is that it kept the Shredder human.

Not fully sure how to classify some things however. The Foot is clearly more than just a gang of thugs in the comic, but they're not secretly an attempt to launch an invasion of the Utrom homeworld either...

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Comic accurate...

I guess the 2003 show wins that on some technicalities.

1. The volumes of stories used and common characters is far greater (not really fair, I know, but it is a factor).
2. April is actually a programmer and not a reporter.
3. Hamato Yoshi does in fact kill the envious other man, who isn't the Shredder.
4. Splinter does not lose an ear.
5. The Foot Clan are not a bunch of runaways.
6. The Turtles do in fact fight the Shredder before the store skirmish.
7. It does contain an adaptation of the Leo micro and it is Leo who gets injured.
8. Splinter is actually present on the farm.
9. The farm is stated to belong to Casey.
10. The return does actually involve infiltration of the foot headquarters.
11. The resolution does involve a head chop instead of a garbage truck.

That's not to say the 1990 movie did a better job in terms of qualitative similarities, but when it comes to the quantitative the 2003 show wins out. About the only thing 1990 is closer in is that it kept the Shredder human.

Not fully sure how to classify some things however. The Foot is clearly more than just a gang of thugs in the comic, but they're not secretly an attempt to launch an invasion of the Utrom homeworld either...

This list has some good points but seems flawed to me. For instance, "Splinter losing an ear" points out something the movie does differently from the comics, and uses it as a point for 2k3. But if we are going to look at all the things 2k3 does that differentiates from the comics, you are going to have a completely different looking list. Example: One point for the 1990 movie because the turtles don't encounter Hun. Another point for 1990 because the turtles never fight the "Garbageman" antagonist in the 1990 film. See what I mean?

Anyways, I was coming at this from more of a "which do you prefer?" stance, but I thought I'd chime in here.

[Sumac]

I don't think it is fair to compare one movie with series, which was around for 7 seasons.
They clearly were trying to do very different things and both succeeded at it.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by Sumac

I don't think it is fair to compare one movie with series, which was around for 7 seasons.
They clearly were trying to do very different things and both succeeded at it.

This. I find this thread random.

[IndigoErth]

Some interesting points made.

Though I agree this is rather hard to compare such different mediums that ultimately had different intentions and time frames.

Like comparing apples, er, table grapes to wine grapes. Both similar and delicious and have a lot in common and reach back to the same originator, but the intended end result is rather different.

Spoiler:

Oh, and 2003 is the snackable table variety (because series) while 1990 is the wine, for its craftsmanship and less frequent indulgence.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

This list has some good points but seems flawed to me. For instance, "Splinter losing an ear" points out something the movie does differently from the comics, and uses it as a point for 2k3. But if we are going to look at all the things 2k3 does that differentiates from the comics, you are going to have a completely different looking list. Example: One point for the 1990 movie because the turtles don't encounter Hun. Another point for 1990 because the turtles never fight the "Garbageman" antagonist in the 1990 film. See what I mean?

Anyways, I was coming at this from more of a "which do you prefer?" stance, but I thought I'd chime in here.

This is why I did point out that the amount of stories used isn't really that fair, and why most of these points are only in regards to what's relevant to the stories being adapted. I intentionally kept additions, removals and OCs out of the list to keep it simple and to just focus on the parts they share and where they were outright altered.

Yes, it is true that Hun (at least at the start) and the Garbageman are not characters sound in the Mirage studios comics, but neither are Danny and Tatsu. Even if you add new characters or ignore previously established ones, that doesn't necessarily alter the core events or the other characters (Danny is kind of intrusive on that front but that's another can of worms). I also don't think filler stories necessarily count when it comes to outright changes, SAINW is obviously not a Mirage studios story but it has no real impact on the adapted stories either.

Are you familiar with Dragon Ball Z and the trimmed down version Dragon Ball Kai? Kai is technically closer to the manga than Z is simply because most of the filler has been removed but you could essentially still recreate the manga with stills from either. That's kind of the approach I went with, if I were to try and recreate the comics using stills, which one would get closer? If were to just focus on the issues the movie adapted, the answer would be the 2003 show, because then I would be able to include the MOUSERS, the actual Ooze spill, Baxter, the Shredder clones, etc, etc. I know the show had more time to do all this but that is still what I would end up with.

[Teddygaming reviews]

i think that both are refreshing takes on the story. i do think that one does better than the other on the certain story. like i think the turtles first battle with the shredder in the movie was better as it had a build up to it but i prefer the 2003 casey jone introduction due to it being the main focus of that episode.

with the each version having its own differences from the other version and the comic, i feel is a very interesting subject to talk about because it could have made the story better or worse. Like the movie made a lot of small changes to make the movie flow at a better pace whereas the 2003 made a few big changes to help move the series along but still did the story in there unique way and comparable to the other version.

[Vegeta]

I'll take the 1990 movie over any of the cartoons. The most grounded and interesting take on the characters outside of the comics. Seems we'll never get something like it again unfortunately even though it was wildely successful. I have no interest in CGI movies.

[Chabelo88]

Originally Posted by Teddygaming reviews

Many people compare the TMNT shows against one another on which is better. But one thing's many people don't compare the 2003 turtles and the 1990 movie. They both use the same source material as there story and I was wondering which one was better and more comic accurate

I think the 2003 were more accurate to the comic I mean all the episodes and references, the 90s series was more for children and merchandise

[mikey0]

The movie wins (ignoring the sequels, of course). I understand why younger fans would take the 2003 cartoon over the 1990 movie, but the 1990 movie is more well known and it has something for everyone. The 1990 movie closely follows the first Mirage issue. There is cursing, balls-to-the-wall live action martial arts stunts, references to the Mirage comic book, and a human Shredder. I cannot get past the animation style for the 2003 cartoon. Everything is blocky. Minus April O Neil being out of character and Casey Jones appearing, TMNT the Movie was a solid film for fans of the Mirage comic book.