Turtles Forever

[The Borgified Corpse]

I finally watched it. I haven't smiled that hard in ages. Of course, I mostly wound up rooting for the 1987 cartoon versions. Those were my Turtles (or at least a close 2nd after the movie versions). Still, I liked the playful ribbing they gave the old series.

"Robots?"
"Exploding robots."

"Our Shredder isn't like yours. He's vicious."
"Lethal."
"Competant!"

"Was that a mutant banana?"



I feel bad now because I can't remember her name. Who was that nerdy girl who worked with April O'Neal at Channel 6 on the 1987 cartoon? I saw she got a brief walk-on when the 2 sets of Turtles first arrived in the 1987 universe.

 

[FordSVT]

Irma, I believe.

 

[Corran Horn]

I finally watched it. I haven't smiled that hard in ages. Of course, I mostly wound up rooting for the 1987 cartoon versions. Those were my Turtles (or at least a close 2nd after the movie versions). Still, I liked the playful ribbing they gave the old series.

"Robots?"
"Exploding robots."

"Our Shredder isn't like yours. He's vicious."
"Lethal."
"Competant!"

"Was that a mutant banana?"



I feel bad now because I can't remember her name. Who was that nerdy girl who worked with April O'Neal at Channel 6 on the 1987 cartoon? I saw she got a brief walk-on when the 2 sets of Turtles first arrived in the 1987 universe.

Yeah, I saw the Irma walk-by and promptly told my wife. She gave me this odd look...

 

[Gojirob]

An Irma-alike also showed up in one of the earlier 2000's eps, as the mother of a kid Raph rescues. This is not long after the conclusion of the initial Utrom Shredder arc (the one where they find out he is one) in which April-2000's dons a yellow jumpsuit and pretends to be a reporter ("Not in this lifetime').

 

[The Lyts]

I was so happy to see my corny 87 turtles! I missed them so much. That movie reminded me why I missed them so much! I haven't smiled that big in awhile. I love their solutions to everything. "TURTLE POWER!!" I haven't heard a good turtle power in a long time. I still know that theme song by heart.
Not to mention the source turtles. They were badass "I strike down two on my way down." Like little Batmans!

The current turtles were kind of boring by comparison. They really were just there to hype the other ones. I haven't really watched the new turtles so I don't know what their lasting impression will be but I love the other incarnations. Too goofy and too serious work for me!

 

[barnaclelapse]

Turtles Forever is a crossover special between the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the 2K3 Turtles as they combine together to face the returning Utrom Shredder. None of the original voice cast was brought back to reprise their roles so the special suffers a bit from that as some of the voices sound riduclous but overall the special was well done, maybe the only poor part was the constant dissing of the 87 Turtles who are caricatures of themselves in this basically. It contains the 87 Turtles, 2K3 Turtles, and the Mirage Turtles. Overall it's awesome. Must watch if you can find it online. No word yet about a DVD release.

I honestly don't think the 80's Turtles were all that bad.

 

[Chris3123]

For those that missed it, CW is reshowing it this Saturday at 11:30 Eastern.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Turtles Forever is a crossover special between the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the 2K3 Turtles as they combine together to face the returning Utrom Shredder. None of the original voice cast was brought back to reprise their roles so the special suffers a bit from that as some of the voices sound riduclous but overall the special was well done, maybe the only poor part was the constant dissing of the 87 Turtles who are caricatures of themselves in this basically. It contains the 87 Turtles, 2K3 Turtles, and the Mirage Turtles. Overall it's awesome. Must watch if you can find it online. No word yet about a DVD release.

I honestly don't think the 80's Turtles were all that bad.

It gets a bad rap but it ran for a hell of a long time, especially for a kids' show. I think people might be comparing it to more serialized shows, but it's worth remembering those came later. The '80's cartoon did start to follow arcs in its last couple of seasons, going with the trend being set by other shows at the time.

 

[AnyStar]

the old NES TMNT games were also "totaly rad!!" to use the period terminology

 

[Christopher]

It gets a bad rap but it ran for a hell of a long time, especially for a kids' show. I think people might be comparing it to more serialized shows, but it's worth remembering those came later. The '80's cartoon did start to follow arcs in its last couple of seasons, going with the trend being set by other shows at the time.

I recall it having a fair amount of continuity from the beginning. Its "pilot" was a five-episode miniseries, and that was certainly a single arc. And there was a progression to the storyline from season to season, at least to an extent. It wasn't like you could take an episode from season 1 and swap it with an episode from season 3.

 

[Smiley]

The 13 episodes of Season 2 also have a pretty solid arc, especially with the four magical gemstones that both the Turtles and Shredder are looking for.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

It gets a bad rap but it ran for a hell of a long time, especially for a kids' show. I think people might be comparing it to more serialized shows, but it's worth remembering those came later. The '80's cartoon did start to follow arcs in its last couple of seasons, going with the trend being set by other shows at the time.

I recall it having a fair amount of continuity from the beginning. Its "pilot" was a five-episode miniseries, and that was certainly a single arc. And there was a progression to the storyline from season to season, at least to an extent. It wasn't like you could take an episode from season 1 and swap it with an episode from season 3.

The 13 episodes of Season 2 also have a pretty solid arc, especially with the four magical gemstones that both the Turtles and Shredder are looking for.

Yeah, I know the initial miniseries was one long arc, and they began the second season with the gemstone arc, but as the series went on it became far more episodic. The episodic shows greatly outweighed the arc-based ones.

There was also that partial season they spent in Europe, which was kind of an arc, but kind of wasn't. You didn't have to watch each episode of it for it to make sense, though if you just jumped in you might wonder why the hell they were in Europe.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, I think that if an arc requires you to see every episode for it to make sense, then it's gone too far in the serialized direction. An effort should always be made to keep the individual installments of a storyline as accessible as possible, for the benefit of audience members who don't obsessively follow the series. People tend to talk about episodic and arc-based storytelling as if they were diametric opposites, absolutes with no middle ground, but the truth is that most series mix elements of both to varying degrees, and I think the best approach is to strike a balance between them. There's no reason in the world why an arc can't be made up of largely independent episodic stories, and indeed a very large percentage of TV series are structured exactly that way.

 

[Broccoli]

Story arcs or not, lets not kid ourselves here. The old show's primary reason for existing was to sell toys.

 

[AnyStar]

same is true of virtually EVERY cartoon on the air.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Story arcs or not, lets not kid ourselves here. The old show's primary reason for existing was to sell toys.

So was Exo-Squad. It was still a good show.

Just because something is done to promote tie-ins doesn't mean it has to be garbage.

 

[Davros]

Wow. I've never heard of this before. It sounds fun, although a little fanwanky and totally non-canon (similar to the "Forever Red" Power Rangers special they did several years ago). I especially like the idea of seeing Krang, Bebop, & Rocksteady again. I miss those guys.

Bebop & Rocksteady were the best thing from the 80's cartoon. They had most of the funniest dialog.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

It wasn't like you could take an episode from season 1 and swap it with an episode from season 3.

Perhaps not, though pretty much all of the Season 3 episodes were interchangable with each other. And aside from a change in the opening credits, Season 3 was pretty similar to the next couple seasons that followed it as well. (At that point, it became harder for me to follow the series because the CBS affiliate here would often preempt the show with reruns of Beakman's World or something.)

Still, I saw a few episodes from the final season. (They were included as bonus features on the Season 1 DVD set.) I confess I was a little lost at that point. When did they finally get rid of the Shredder? What happened?

^Well, I think that if an arc requires you to see every episode for it to make sense, then it's gone too far in the serialized direction. An effort should always be made to keep the individual installments of a storyline as accessible as possible, for the benefit of audience members who don't obsessively follow the series. People tend to talk about episodic and arc-based storytelling as if they were diametric opposites, absolutes with no middle ground, but the truth is that most series mix elements of both to varying degrees, and I think the best approach is to strike a balance between them. There's no reason in the world why an arc can't be made up of largely independent episodic stories, and indeed a very large percentage of TV series are structured exactly that way.

Thank you! Sometimes I feel like you, me, & Joss Whedon are the only people who hold this opinion. There is such a thing as being too serialized (Heroes, Lost). I generally give up on a TV series if I can't just pick up a random episode and get SOME entertainment value out of it, even if I don't understand everything.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Still, I saw a few episodes from the final season. (They were included as bonus features on the Season 1 DVD set.) I confess I was a little lost at that point. When did they finally get rid of the Shredder? What happened?

It was at the end of one of the seasons. Eight, I think? The Technodrome got blasted into Dimension X, and Shredder, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady were stranded on Earth. They escaped in a pickup truck, thoroughly humiliated.

They showed up once or twice during the Dregg arc, but their story was pretty much over by this point.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

So was that a first for the Mirage Turtles in animation? A lot of fun and a nice tribute to three eras of Turtles.

Some say it was trying to put down the 80's Turtles, I don't know if I agree with that but I think they came off well regardless. Maybe it was just nostalgia but I loved their good-natured goofiness and thought they had a lot more personality than the new ones.