Why Nickelodeon’s New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Is Great For Old and New Fans!
I remember growing up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) – watching the show, buying the figurines and getting uber excited when the first live-action movie came out back in the day. I was such a Turtle fan I even remember when the heroes on a half shell appeared on the Opera Winfrey show, due to having their own band. I have watched every incarnation of the lean mean green team fighting machine, though I may avoid the Michael Bay executive produced take on the Turtles due out in 2014 but enough about those incarnations.
Nickelodeon’s incarnation, to sum it up takes most of the previous takes of TMNT with very stylized animation to create a very enjoyable series that both veteran and new fans can enjoy. Based upon the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, TMNT is the story of four turtles mutated by alien ooze and transformed into mutants along with their master Splinter (a rat) who teaches the four turtles the art of ninjitsu. Both the turtles and Splinter live underground in the New York Sewers. Named after the great painters of the Renaissance, Leonardo (the leader), Raphael (the bad boy with anger management issues), Donatello (genius inventor) and Michelangelo (wild one and self-proclaimed best at naming things) the Turtles use their martial arts skills to fight off such villains as the alien group known as the Krang in the first few episodes. As soon as Shredder makes his appearance in the first episodes, discovering that Splinter is alive, stuff gets real from there on out for the series.
Lesser known villains such as the Rat King, familiar villainess Karai and new villains such as Bradford Sever make their appearance in this series. Both the story and art re-invent the characters while staying true to the characters. April O’ Neil in this incarnation is a 16 year-old with a scientist father who are both kidnapped by the Krang. The Turtles befriend and save April from the Krang with Donatello (whose character design has changed to him having a gap in his tooth) growing a crush on her . Karai (who some may remember from earlier TMNT animated series) has bicolored hair now and is the daughter of the Shredder. Leonardo develops feelings for Karai in this series, which almost costs him the trust of his brothers.
The theme song, though catchy with an added rap solo, is basically the same theme song from the previous animated TMNT incarnation back in the 1980s.
As Nickelodeon has already ordered episodes for two more seasons hopefully such classic characters as Casey Jones or even the Ninja Frogs, seen in the 1980s incarnation of TMNT series, created by Shredder. While TMNT is on hiatus right now, you can still catch episodes of this show on Nickelodeon on Fridays at 7 pm. Season two begins airing September 2013 on Nickelodeon.
