Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[Avaitor]

We didn't make a thread for the turtles yet? Well, I think Desen made one for the movies, but the shows need one too.

Talk about either the 80's show, 2K3/Turtles Forever, or potentially even the new series coming to Nick next year on here.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I meant to make this and forgot.

Ironically the one franchise where the aspect I grew up on (the original cartoon) is my least favorite part of it by far.

I'm definitely interested to see where they plan on taking the new show.

[Lord Dalek]

To think the most popular installment of this franchise may be the single worst adaptation of a comic book ever.

From the adhering to the source material perspective of course.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Has there ever been an "unfaithful" adaption of something as popular as the 80s cartoon was?

I honestly don't think so.

[Avaitor]

Maybe the Adam West Batman show, but to be fair, most DC comics from that era were as campy as the show.

The only difference was that the show was aware of it.

[Lord Dalek]

I guess if you want to make an analogy the TMNT comic and TV show are much like the different iterations Police Squad! franchise. The original comics were a pretty obvious parody of an existing series (Frank Miller's Ronin) but played 100% straight-faced. The TV show went more for the screwball elements and made the turtles into goofy bumblers who still manage to come out on top.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The thing is, I don't actually mind the changes of tone the original show made from the comic. My beef was more that the writing was just awful.

If the show was written more like the Turtles Forever goofballs were, (IE: well) then I would love it.

[Sketch]

You can't be serious. The Turtle's Forever 80s Turtles were written very badly. Not attrociously badly and not terribly out of character but they were more than a little pathetic. Shredder and Krang were pretty good though.

The writing on the OG TMNT ranged from very funny to downright groan worthy but I think even some of the worst written episodes made the turtles more competent and entertaining than the OG Turtles in Turtles Forever acted. I'm probably forgetting a few absolutely terrible episodes though.

The OG clearly suffered from a lack of quality control (as common of many 80s cartoons shelling toys) but the writing and the voice acting is one of the few elements that holds up as entertaining. Hardly serious but entertaining. I do feel it's a genuinely funny cartoon the majority of it's run. It was only when it tried to shake off it's goofy persona that and "fake" seriousness rather than at least somewhat accomplish it the way they did with the pilot (be it the writing, the action sequences or the vocal performances) that it lost that charm for me.

I feel the strengths of the old cartoon as a comedy are where the 2003 series was lacking. The comedy in 2K3 was so heavily forced and almost always coming from Mikey or Raphael beating on Mikey one way or another. The comedic moments that actually were good usually came from Leo or Don and sometimes Raph for the occasional sarcastic remark. That's really the only thing that was not fantastic about the 2003 series pre-Fast Forward.

Whether you're just trying to shell out action figures or are making attempts to tell a gripping story with these iconic characters, more action and more drama is the way to go and that's why the 2003 series will probably never be surpassed as a serious cartoon for the franchise. Nothing wrong with that. If TMNT 2K3 remains the champion of action packed Ninja Turtles television then we are not left in wanting in my opinion so Nick can do whatever they may and we'll still have both a great comedy and a great action series from the franchise.

TMNT was always a satire of popular comics but the laughable concept was played so straight faced with a hint of sarcasm, it's really quite infectious. Even the 2K3 series couldn't quite capture that but it got darn close while also bringing to the table some great new ideas that I hope will not be forgotten by the public in favor of the generally inferior series that made put the franchise on the map. But I guess you can't really expect non-fans to keep in mind alternate versions of much of anything. It's just disappointing to me to see so many people overlook the 2K3 or bash it for not being like the OG cartoon. Especially when that is indeed one of the least faithful adaptations from comic to animation. At least the first movie got it close to right and people do have fond memories of that in particular. It's still among my favorite movies as well.

[Spark Of Spirit]

See, while the original series might have had better characterization of the '87 Turtles, the main issue was that the cheesy jokes for the most part were much funnier than what the original show gave us. While I can enjoy the first two season of the original show as a brainless comedy, it gets pretty freaking bad after that. Characterization can't save it from the awful animation and horrendous writing.

The new interpretation might have been goofier, but, IMO, they were a lot funnier. I would easily watch a TMNT comedy if it was closer to that with more characterization.