Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Origin of the comic

As a parody of the popular 1980s comic book series Daredevil, X-Men, and Ronin, cartoonists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird had developed a short story about four mutant, talking giant turtles who were instructed in the art of ninjutsu by an equally mutant rat. After the self-produced and -printed first issue was enthusiastically received across the country for its dark, quirky charm, Eastman and Laird began working on more stories and the Ninja Turtles universe took on a life of its own, gaining depth and growing beyond mere persiflage. The Turtles were named after four Italian Renaissance artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raffaello Sanzio and Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, known as Donatello.

Content

The comic is about the four mutated - therefore humanoid - turtles (English: Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, who live in the sewers of New York. The four Turtles are taught the Asian martial art of Ninjutsu by Master Splinter, who has mutated into a humanoid rat. Master Splinter takes over something like a father role for the four Turtles, who are in their teens at the beginning of the series. He is their mentor and educator and learned his knowledge by imitating his former owner Hamato Yoshi (in other versions he is Hamato Yoshi).

The four turtles' only undisguised contact with the surface is with a scientist named April O'Neil (in the first animated series as well as the live-action adaptations, she is a television news reporter; in the CGI series, she is a teenager) and a hockey-masked vigilante named Casey Jones. The four turtles prefer to feed on pizza. Each of the four main characters has a particular trait. For example, Leonardo (Leo) is the calm leader, Donatello (Donnie) is the thinker and inventor, Raphael (Raph) is the aggressive rebel, and Michelangelo (Mikey) is the comedian. The Turtles are distinguished by the weapons they each specialize in, and in later versions continue to be distinguished by the colors of their face masks. Leonardo (blue) fights with two katanas (swords), Donatello (purple) defends himself with a Bō (baton), Raphael (red) distinguishes his sai (hand trident), and Michelangelo (orange) carries nunchaku. The Ninja Turtles' arch-nemesis is the evil Shredder, leader of the Foot ninja clan (translated in German as 'Foot Gang'), who has mutant underlings in the first animated series. In the live-action series, Dragon Lord becomes their worst enemy.

The comic series now consists of four volumes. In the fourth year, the Turtles have evolved a lot. They are now in their thirties, have more fighting skills and a more aggressive sense of humor, and their friends April O'Neil and Casey Jones are married and have an adopted daughter named Shadow. However, the series was abruptly ended after the rights to use it were sold to Nickelodeon in 2009, without continuing any of the storylines started in it. The Mirage comics are currently available in reissues from IDW Publishing, which obtained the rights to process the comic medium.

Vintages

* German title of the series

By the late 1980s, the comic book series with its four protagonists Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello had become so popular that television networks offered the cartoonists the chance to produce an animated series based on their characters.

The animated series became a worldwide success and brought it to 10 seasons with a total of 193 almost half-hour episodes. There was no escaping the Ninja Turtles phenomenon in the early 1990s. Three live-action film adaptations were produced, which adapted the comics independently of the series. Endless masses of merchandising flooded the international market. Other comic book publishers besides Eastmans and Lairds Mirage Publishing published Ninja Turtles comics (including Archie Comics and Image Comics), all of which ran quite successfully.

Roleplay

In 1985, the publisher Palladium Books published the role-playing game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness. Until 1994, a total of 11 expansions were published.

First animated series 1987-1996

The popularity of the comic book template in the late 1980s led television networks to offer Turtles creators Eastman and Laird to produce an animated series based on their characters.

Real Series

In the late 1990s, a live-action series based on the previous live-action adaptations was created, titled The Ninja Turtles (original English title: Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation). In the series, however, the well-known frame story is expanded to include another fifth Turtle, the Turtles' missing sister Mei Pieh Chi, also known by her nickname Venus de Milo (named after the famous statue: Venus of Milo).

Second animated series

From 2003 to 2009, a new animated series was produced for US television. This new series is more closely based on the original comic than any of the previous comic adaptations. Although this series is also mainly aimed at children, it is much darker and more intelligent than its predecessors.

CGI Series

Between 2012 and 2017, the now fourth series adaptation ran on television, this time from Nickelodeon. The series deals with the first adventures of the four turtle brothers in New York City. There were 124 episodes produced in five seasons.

Third animated series

Since September 2018, a new 2D animated series called The Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) has been airing on Nickelodeon. The character designs of the old familiar characters were redeveloped and the roles changed. Thus, April is now an African-American girl and Raphael is the leader of the Turtles. Ordered 26 episodes in a season. The German-language offshoot Nickelodeons released in advance the first episode on January 29, 2019 on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, the Nick website and app, the television broadcast is scheduled for April 8, 2019.

IDW comic

After Mirage Studios sold the rights to the franchise to studio Nickelodeon in 2009, IDW Publishing published a reissue of the TMNT comic starting in 2011. Their atmosphere sticks closely to their Mirage originals, but also includes many popular elements from throughout the franchise, such as the characters Karai, the Utroms, the mutant alligator Leatherhead, and the Fugitoid from the Mirage comics; Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, Slash, and the Neutrinos from the 1987 animated series; and Ch'rell, Hun, and Angel from the 2003 animated series.

In this series, the Turtles and Splinter begin their existence as reincarnations of Hamato Yoshi and his four sons, who were murdered by the Shredder in medieval Japan after Yoshi defied his bloodthirsty leadership of the Foot Clan, branding him a traitor. However, the mystery surrounding their mutation is much more deeply tied to the fate of the entire Earth than they first imagined: The utronomic warlord Krang is secretly trying to colonize Earth for the last survivors of his people, and the mutagen that came from his dead homeworld has also helped the Shredder survive to the present day to eventually rule New York. In addition, a group of ancient immortal beings, who were worshipped as gods in ancient times, rise up again and in a kind of "game" - with the protagonists of the series as their "pawns" - dispute the rule over humanity among themselves.

Filming

The first animated series increased the popularity and awareness of the Turtles franchise to such an extent that three live-action adaptations were made in the early 1990s, which adapted the comic book independently of the parallel animated series. Thanks to the efforts of director Steve Barron, the first live-action adaptation was more closely aligned with the original comic. The first film adaptation was so successful that a sequel was produced shortly thereafter. The second part was much less successful. Nevertheless, a third part was produced, but it had even less success at the box office. As a result, no more films were produced at first.

After a very successful new animated series was broadcast in the United States of America since 2003, which adapted the comic template once again, much more true to the original, a completely computer-animated film was produced, which was based on this series. In 2009, another animated film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever, was produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Turtles. Unlike the previous four films, it built on the storylines of the first and second animated series.

In 2014, a new live-action film adaptation was released under the title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The material was remade by Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes, with Jonathan Liebesman directing. The Turtles were voiced by Alan Ritchson (Raphael), Johnny Knoxville (Leonardo), Jeremy Howard (Donatello) and Noel Fisher (Michelangelo), with Splinter voiced by Tony Shalhoub. Megan Fox was featured as April O'Neil, Will Arnett played cinematographer Vern Fenwick, and William Fichtner played the film's antagonist. Although the film was met with negative reviews - on Rotten Tomatoes, the film only holds a 21% rating based on 131 reviews evaluated - a sequel titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows was released in 2016.

• 1990: Turtles (original title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
• 1991: Turtles II - The Secret of the Ooze (Original title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze)
• 1993: Turtles III (Original title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III)
• 2007: Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles (TMNT)
• 2009: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever
• 2014: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• 2016: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

2019 saw the release of Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a crossover with Batman.

Video games

Over time, a large number of video games based on the classic and new series, as well as the animated film, have been created.

Furthermore, several games have been released as arcade machines, for the Amiga and other home computers.