Shredder

[Coola Yagami]

If the Shredder died in the first issue of the original comics and didn't return till like.. 20 or so issues later... how did they decide to make him the main villian of the original cartoon?

[VaughnMichael]

have no freakin clue lol
he's really not that great except for in the first movie and this new show...
I really kinda wish people would get over shredder and the foot...
cause peter laird sure has...well with shredder anyways.
and I like it that way frankly I hope they kinda go other ways in the new toon and move away from shredder and the foot the stories will become very repetive over time cause theres only so much you can do with shredder before it becomes like the old toon shredder trying to raise his technodrome from the center of some thing or another lol.
I mean don't get me wrong I like shredder especially in the red sky episodes like when he blew up chanel 6 god I remeber seing that for the first time and my jaw droped I was like now thats a villan!
but I am sure this alien shredder thing will add a new twist to the story and make him more interesting. I just hope they focus on some other characters as well. But your post is exactly what I've been thinking for such a long time
-Vaughn Michael

[cobraMorph]

Since this is a shredder topic, i been wondering. He is japanese right? & they do their names family name first, right? So Shredder's given name is Saki, & his family name Ororo right?

Same with Spliter? He Yoshi. Of the Hamoto famiy?

I never even gave it a thought, then one day i was like, hey! When they were making the characters, did they know about the name thing, or go american.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Despite only appearing in a handful of issues, the battle between TMNT and Shredder and the Foot was the main focus of volume one's ongoing plotline. Hence his establishment as the "chief villian".

[Coola Yagami]

yeah, but was volume 1 finished before the cartoon was made? I mean was the cartoon goin on before Shredder made his second appearance in the comics?

Wow.. now that I realize, in the cartoons the foot was just Shredder... and million of purple robots... I hardly think Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady count as foot ninjas...

[Jephael]

Not even close, dude! Volume 1 of the original Mirage series went on for nearly a good 10 years, making 62 issues.

[Deathknight]

The old toon had almost 0 relation with the original comics. The main enemy in the beginning I assume was Shredder so they used him. Besides, he made a great villian on the show. One of these days I'll have to read more of the comic scans I've got.

[Krangfan]

Wow, it's so hard for me to think of TMNT w/o Shredder being the main villain. I grew up w/ the Turtles' battles against Shredder almost every episode!

[Skeletoncrew]

Originally Posted by cobraMorph

Since this is a shredder topic, i been wondering. He is japanese right? & they do their names family name first, right? So Shredder's given name is Saki, & his family name Ororo right?

Same with Spliter? He Yoshi. Of the Hamoto famiy?

I never even gave it a thought, then one day i was like, hey! When they were making the characters, did they know about the name thing, or go american.

You are correct in that Japanese surnames ("family names") come first.

Shredder is Oroku Saki. Shredder's elder brother was Oroku Nagi.

Splinter in the original cartoons was Hamato Yoshi.

Splinter in the original comic and the new cartoon is just Splinter because he was never human. A lot of fanfic authors like to make the assumption that he and the Turtles would take the surname of Hamato, but I don't know if that ever happened in "canon".

[jeff the cheff]

The reason shredder was tha main villain is because he is such a badass.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

yeah, but was volume 1 finished before the cartoon was made? I mean was the cartoon goin on before Shredder made his second appearance in the comics?

Wow.. now that I realize, in the cartoons the foot was just Shredder... and million of purple robots... I hardly think Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady count as foot ninjas...

At the time The Old Cartoon started the Turtles were living in the farmhouse because (ressurected/cloned) Shredder drove them out of April's apartment and burned the place down. So he did have the "strongest villian presence" in the series at the time.

[cobraMorph]

Originally Posted by Skeletoncrew

Splinter in the original comic and the new cartoon is just Splinter because he was never human. A lot of fanfic authors like to make the assumption that he and the Turtles would take the surname of Hamato, but I don't know if that ever happened in "canon".

When typing this i was thinking of the older cartoon.

Like said, its hard not thinking of Shredder as the main villian, & for me, its also hard to think about Splinter not being human. I used to wonder why in the old toon, it said, that the mutagen makes them similar to whatever creature they had contct with or something. & that was why Splinter became a rat, but i always wondered why he wasnt also part turtle, & why they didnt have rat in them.

Plus, imagine how pissed i was when thinking the movie F-ed up Splinter's origin. Even today, i dont know which i perfer.

But IMO there i no reason why Splinter or the TMNT would use Hamato. I'd say they'd use O'Neil before Hamato.

[Templar]

Despite only appearing in a handful of issues, the battle between TMNT and Shredder and the Foot was the main focus of volume one's ongoing plotline. Hence his establishment as the "chief villian".

agreed.

he was featured in the cartoon so prominently, because the TMNT had not yet encountered an iconic bad-guy to go up against... seriously, who else are you going to use? A faceless street gang? Trigger happy hunters? The elder-god Dagon? The Triceratons? (who were not in many more issues) Shredder was the man on day(issue) one... even if he didn't go further than that himself... his death impacted the continuity clear to the end of the series with "City at War".

makes perfect sense to me.

[Jarrah White]

Originally Posted by Skeletoncrew

You are correct in that Japanese surnames ("family names") come first.

Shredder is Oroku Saki. Shredder's elder brother was Oroku Nagi.

Splinter in the original cartoons was Hamato Yoshi.

Splinter in the original comic and the new cartoon is just Splinter because he was never human. A lot of fanfic authors like to make the assumption that he and the Turtles would take the surname of Hamato, but I don't know if that ever happened in "canon".

If Splinter's Hamato Yoshi, does that make the turtles Hamato Leonardo, Hamato Michelangelo, Hamato Donatello, Hamato Raphael and (If she counts) Hamato Venus de Milo?

[Mr. Stay Puft]

Basically, Shredder was so prominently featured in the cartoons because the cartoons are targeted for kids. Almost every kid's cartoon has to have that one main villain. This goes all the way back to Bugs Bunny, who had Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam. The heroes can still fight other villains on the side, but that one villain has to remain in the picture, even if he's out of focus. The '95 Spider-Man cartoon had the Green Goblin as the main villain through much of the series, even though he was dead for 25 years before he debuted on the cartoon. My point: cartoons need a major villain and it doesn't matter if they're dead in the comic.

And yes Shredder is a badass, even as an evil Utrom. KRANG!!

Just kidding. Feel free to kill me now.

[Jarrah White]

Almost every kid's cartoon has to have that one main villain

Not just cartoons, film series also seems to have that one lead villian. The Star Wars films always had Darth Vader as the lead villian and the early Bond films had Ernst Stavro Blofeld as the lead villian.

[Ninja Turtles Cartoon Fan]

Part of me has always wondered how different the Turtles universe would have been if, say, Lord Dregg had been the main villain from the start, only to be replaced by Shredder, Krang, the Technodrome, etc.

Would we be damning Shredder then, and worshiping Lord Dregg? Somehow, I don't think the series would have lasted as long, seeing as how Lord Dregg wasn't a strong enough character to carry the load.

Food for thought, I guess.

"Reptiles! I have your friend! Unless you want me to transport her to the labor mines of Dimension X, I suggest you come rescue her!" - Lord Dregg, from "Divide and Conquer"

[Coola Yagami]

Well imagine if they chose a different Mirag villain? What if the main villians were the Triceratons and every ep dealt with the TMNT trying to stop their invasion plans?

[Moose]

Originally Posted by Jarrah White

If Splinter's Hamato Yoshi, does that make the turtles Hamato Leonardo, Hamato Michelangelo, Hamato Donatello, Hamato Raphael and (If she counts) Hamato Venus de Milo?

I think the surnames only applies to people with blood relations and since Splinter was not related to Hamato Yoshi in blood, he's not called Hamato Splinter. The same concept applies to the turtles since they weren't related in blood to Hamato Yoshi so...I don't think they have surnames at all.

[Jephael]

That's true, but if Splinter had adopted the turtles, they probably would have taken his family name.