Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I want to talk to you if I may about something very serious. Something that has always annoyed me and continues to annoy me now. Teenage Mutant NINJA Turtles. The “Ninja” part is very important. This is the story of a little boy and his eyes being opened to the larger world. When he realised you can have great meaning and significance in something that on the surface appears to be only very small.

21 years ago I was introduced to Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. Four characters that still mean a lot to me now. The year was 1989 and I was just a small boy. Transformers had come and gone. But even now the voice of Peter Cullen and Optimus Prime bring back fond memories, and always puts a smile on my face (I am fortunate I can share this with my son, and my daughter when she is a little bigger). But that was 1985, I needed something new, something fresh.

Hero Turtles

The film that changed it all

Then something came for me “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles”. Four amazing mutant turtles trained in martial arts by their rat master Splinter. Every week they fought the evil Shredder and all was good with the world. If I am honest with you I loved the series when it was on, but I always though the style was a little weak, but the concept was and is solid.

Then in 1990 when I was just 11 I got to see an astounding film. I still remember going to the cinema with my dad to see it. He was not so keen, but I had waited months to see it. It was everything I had hoped for, and it created a new interest in me, a fascination with Special FX and animatronincs. I saw it another three times at the cinema and longed for the day I could buy it on video.

Movie Trivial for you. Watch closely for Sam Rockwell in one of his first roles.

There is nothing I wanted more in the world than turtles. The toys we some way off, and when they did eventually come they were very hard to get hold off and not well made. I managed to nab a Michaelangelo and Leonardo .

World destroyed, eyes opened

The cover that changed it all

Then in 1991 (I was 12) I discovered the original comics. They came in four large books, I remember standing in the book shop looking at the cover thinking they look like the turtles, but its not right. They are all in red, and they are “Ninja” turtles? Something is wrong here. I managed to persuade my mum I needed the book, and my sister got the second volume.

From that moment the world I thought I knew was no more. The cartoon, the film, everything I had was destroyed. Raised to the ground and rebuilt better than before. This comic showed something I had always thought was missing from the idea. A real weight and meaning to the story, it was not just whimsical and a little silly. It was serious and deadly, it was a dark story of  revenge and family. This was not the turtles I knew at all, this was much more real.

But there was something else I noticed over the course of the books. From the very start of the stories to the end the turtles are evolving, changing their personalities and growing. The films stole various elements from the comics, but the comics themselves make you feel a lot more.

Loving to hate Raph

If you had asked me who do you liked the least I would have said Raphael. No question, he was just a jerk in the cartoon and films. A hot head who refused to listen and just wanted to do his own thing.

But the comic makes the reason for this perfectly clear. He is the best of all of them, he is the most natural and most skilful. He feels is held back by his three brothers, and rejected by the world around him. He can not come to terms with the fact that they see Leo as the leader. He should be the leader because he is the best, and that’s what makes him a jerk. But he knows why they look to Leo and not him, and while that hurts him he feels it as well.

Understanding Raph has to be my favorite story of the turtles. Its always there in everything they do, but you just don’t see it until later. Then you can look back and say “oh yeah.. how did I not see that?”.

Leo, Mike and Don

Again as a small boy I would have told you Don is my favorite because he is clever and makes cool things. Mike was always in third place after Leo. He was cool, but that was really all he did and while I enjoyed it, it was not really enough.

Leo has always been great. He has two swords.. what’s not to love about that. He leads the group and over the course of the comics comes to realise that being a leader is not always fun.

Evolution of more than just turtles

But something else I noticed over the course of the comic was the evolution of Eastman and Laird‘s drawing style. From the initial book to the last book, the styles are very different, it accentuates the evolution going on in the turtles, showing you they are not the same as they were when they started.

It’s Ninja not Hero

Once I had started down the path of the ninja, there was no going back. I could never look at the “Hero Turtles” the same way, they seemed childish in comparison to real story that inspired them. In a way I was a little saddened I could not enjoy them any more. But in many more ways I was happy I had seen something much better.

The best arcade

But I am thankful to the hero turtles for the arcade game that shares their name. It is still one of the best arcade games ever made, and I lost a lot of time and money to that machine.

Who’s your favorite?

If you ask me that now… I would have to say Leonardo (he is the leader… and has two swords). But Raphael comes a close second.

If I had to put money on one of them in a fight.. it would be on Raph.

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