Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

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Other (ended 1996)
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Show Summary

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This version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the most distinctive from its MIRAGE comic origins. It thrived more on humor instead of a dark attitude, especially in earlier seasons. Its creativity and bizarre humor made it something in the late '80s and early '90s something that had never been done before, so it drew in fans and grew to syndication on USA's Cartoon Express and new episodes would be aired weekends on CBS in late 1990.

Four turtles fall into the sewers and are befriended by Hamato Yoshi, a Japanese man who fled from New York and had nowhere to live but in the sewers. He was framed by his enemy, Oroku Saki, in a plot to kill the sensei. One day he sees a strange green glow which transforms the four turtles into human-like creatures. Hamato (now Master Splinter) changes into a giant rat from the green glow and teaches the turtles the skills of the ninja as they team up with Channel 6 news reporter April O'Neil to battle against Yoshi's archenemy Shredder and Krang, an alien warlord from Dimension X. There would be other enemies as well. Season 3 gave new opportunities outside the Shredder storyline, such as Don Turtelli, the Rat King, and Leatherhead. Especially in later CBS episodes, where there were many episodes without the Turtles battling Shredder, enemies such as Pinky McFingers and other minor recurring villains would fight the Turtles as well.

After Season 7, the show took a dark turn towards the action storyline that made it more of a mainstream American adventure cartoon as Dregg and other characters were created and gave the Turtles quite a zealous collection of adventures before they finally faded out in 1996.

In the U.K, TMNT was broadcast under the name Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles due to fears that the "ninja" part of the logo was too extreme a word to use on British television at the time.moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 10 :  Ep 8 Aired 11/2/96
S 10 :  Ep 7 Aired 10/26/96
S 10 :  Ep 6 Aired 10/19/96
S 10 :  Ep 5 Aired 10/12/96
S 10 :  Ep 4 Aired 10/5/96

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) News

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  • May 20, 2008 DVD Releases 14

    May 20, 2008 DVD Releases

    By Micheal Hise, May 19, 2008

    dvd_weekly_roundup.jpg 24Season One Special Edition Buy the DVD! More 24 Show Summary | Episode Guide | Forum Penn & Teller: Bullsh**!The Complete Season Five (Uncensored) Buy the DVD! More Penn & Teller: Bullsh**! Show Summary | Episode Guide | Forum… more

  • April 8, 2008 DVD Releases 12

    April 8, 2008 DVD Releases

    By Micheal Hise, Apr 08, 2008

    dvd_weekly_roundup.jpg Hell's KitchenSeason One Buy the DVD! More Hell's Kitchen Show Summary | Episode Guide | Forum Meerkat ManorSeason Two Buy the DVD! More Meerkat Manor Show Summary | Episode Guide | Forum MythBustersCollection Three Buy the DVD! More MythBusters… more

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Fan Reviews (84)

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  • Great! Though not as good as the new series.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By kerfootw, Aug 23, 2011 Report Abuse
    This series may be quite a getaway but when it's time to revisit the present, you have to be watching the new series. For example:
    Pros: 1) The voice cast! You can't beat Cam Clarke, Rob Paulson (my favorite VA ever), Townsend Coleman, Barry Gordon, and James Avery! 2) Some pretty good storylines and fight scenes. 3) Perfect humor.
    Cons: 1) Weak villains. 2) TONS of animation errors that unfortunately a 2 year old can point out. 3) Dialogue becomes too kiddy at some points. 4) Direction and writing, in quite a lot of episodes, are quite off. 5) Not the real Ninja Turtles.

    Put simply, this is a classic! I even continue to buy the DVDs. Still, this has nothing on the new series! This guy seinfeld121 says that Bebop and Rocksteady (quite a bunch of losers) can beat the tower of power known as Hun in the new series. The guy's clearly delusional and shouldn't be taken seriously! Also, the new Shredder can kill the old one in less than 20 seconds!moreless

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    0 8

  • Heroes in a half shell! Turtle Power!! This cartoon rules!!!

    9.3
    "Superb"
    By BlueMario1016, Feb 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    My 10th review after the flat-out worst show of all time on Nick, "Mr. Meaty". This cartoon is superb and classic! Nothing beats the Original 1987 TMNT! This is so much better then that dumb 4Kids 2003's TMNT!!!!! Leonardo and Michealangleo are my Favorites!!!
    This is an Perfect classic for any old school cartoon fan!
    Now the grade..... Ah-ha! this show is Truely gonna get an A++!!!!!!!!! Now here the results:

    Voice-acting: A++ 9.5/10.0 The voice-acting is truely outstanding and very fun to watch!

    Animation: A++ 9.8/10.0 The Animation is increbile! It looked like it's country of orgin was from japan. (It might maybe be it!)

    Dialouge: A+ 9.4/10.0 The Dialouge's Funny, Entertaining and Oringal! This cartoon STILL rules!!

    Grapihcs: A++ 9.8/10.0 Perfectly matches with the Animation, at it's own rate,

    Sound: A++ 10.0/10.0 The music's AWESOME!!! so are the sound effects, and the Theme song! Lasting Appeal: A++ 10.0/10.0 You can be Obesseed with one of the greatest cartoons of all time and THIS is maybe it.

    Overall: A++ 9.3/10.0 This cartoon is a amazing timeless classic. trust me, If you never saw this, you'll love it! (Not the crummy 4Kids 2003 version.)moreless

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    1 2

  • This was my favorite show from my childhood. Its better than the current series.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By TvTome_systemax, Feb 15, 2011 Report Abuse
    This series was better than the current one. I know its not like the comics at all, but it was still great. Its later seasons were not at all up to par, but the first 5-6 seasons were awesome. The best season was undoubtably the best season. People say this series was terrible, but had it not been for this one, the current one wouldn't exist. People would have long forgotten about the turtles if there hadn't been this series. Also this was the one that created the Red, Blue, Purple, and Orange colored headbands. In the comics, they were all red. I like this series waaaaay more than the current and my mind will never change.moreless

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    2 1

  • A good piece of entertainment, but only if some discernment is followed.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By z-agent, Aug 14, 2010 Report Abuse
    When this was on back then, I wanted so badly to watch this but was prohibited because I was told it was violent (ha!). I finally got my chance to watch some of it at age 9. I regret and don't regret getting into it. For once it is fun, but with a few reservations. First of all it is talky and not enough action (although some parts mock the true philosophy ninjas are to adhere to (according to "essence of ninjistu"): the first priority of the ninja is to win without fighting (I encourage you to do some research on ninja, can't stress that enough). Second, there are some ethnic stereotypes (Bebop both in human and warthog forms, and the Italian chef) that border on racism. And finally, eating nothing but pizza is close-mindedness when we have to broaden our minds to the world's foods. Still here? Good, you allowed me to vent. On the plus side, the action is decent, and there is good voice acting. On the whole I give it an 8 for what it is rather than what it isn't.moreless

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    1 1

  • The Turtles rock the show doesn't.

    2.6
    "Terrible"
    By Bonjovi101, Jul 12, 2010 Report Abuse
    i have never really watched this show at all. I have a computer game of it which i think is alright but i dont really get the point of it. I love the actual turtels themselves which gets them a score of 2.5 already, but for the show i dont really think its that brilliant. If they redone the show and maybe made some changes then i'd think about liking it more. Overall my favourite part of Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles has to be the turtles names. They are so cool. But for now this show isnt a favourite of mine.moreless

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    0 12
 

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