The TMNT Movie Reboot Should Learn From The Forgotten 2003 TV Show

The TMNT Movie Reboot Should Learn From The Forgotten 2003 TV Show

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The fan-favorite 2003 series could set an example for the new TMNT movie. Sadly, the show is almost impossible to find in its entirety these days.

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The TMNT Movie Reboot Should Learn From The Forgotten 2003 TV Show

As Seth Rogen’s upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie looks to avoid the mistakes of previous films, one past version could offer an excellent blueprint – the oft-forgotten TV show from 2003. The show, which ran for seven seasons on Fox’s now-defunct kids TV block 4Kids, is one of the most fan-celebrated iterations of the Ninja Turtles to date. Unfortunately, a few major factors have made the show largely forgotten and difficult to find.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the second full animated series based off the comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It was jointly produced by 4Kids and Eastman and Laird’s own Mirage Studios, from 2003 to 2010. The series took on a slightly darker tone than the 1987 cartoon, holding more closely to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, and the result was a stylistically diverse, compellingly written show that appealed to both kids and older audiences. While the animation and writing suffered in the last two spinoff-style seasons, the first five complete a full arc that’s among the best the franchise has seen (all discussion of the show in this article is in reference to those first five season).

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Unfortunately, due to Viacom’s acquisition of the TMNT rights in the wake of the show’s conclusion, it’s been difficult to watch for the past decade, as the company has promoted its own shows on Nickelodeon. The first three seasons of the ’03 series are available for digital purchase on YouTube and Amazon, but there’s been no official physical or digital rerelease. The fourth and fifth season are nearly impossible to find in any official capacity, and old DVD copies of the show sell online for high prices. Because of this disappearance, combined with the show having aired at an awkward middle ground between the franchise’s ‘90s popularity and modern resurgence, the series has been largely lost to time.

However, there’s a lot of unique merit to the 2003 series, and the upcoming animated film would do well to take a few cues from it. Film adaptations of TMNT have been widely panned by fans and critics alike since the surprise success of the original live action movie in 1990, and there are a few main reasons why. The 2003 animated series shows some ways to avoid these problems, while also showcasing some important aspect of the Ninja Turtles franchise that are too often ignored.

Why 2003’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV Show Was So Good

The TMNT Movie Reboot Should Learn From The Forgotten 2003 TV Show

Coming off of TMNT’s roaring success in the 1980s and 90s, the 2003 series faced the challenge of relaunching the franchise for a new era. The result was a show that embraced the comically bizarre world of the Ninja Turtles, while creating a distinct feel from the identifiably ‘80s and ‘90s “cowabunga” energy of earlier entries. What makes the series so good? A couple things. For starters, it excels in every major area for a cartoon – writing that’s fun but not too goofy, a stellar voice cast with excellent chemistry, storylines that work on both episodic and long-term arcs, and a great animation style that becomes more striking and ambition over the course of the show. The fights are exciting, the music’s fantastic, and the jokes consistently land.

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Beyond the fundamentals though, the 2003 series succeeds off of its delicate balance – at the same time embracing all the bizarre sci-fi plotlines you could ask for, and grounding it all with consistent and compelling character work. Every single genre trope you could imagine is present: magical time lord sorcerers? Check. Invading dinosaur aliens? Check. How about a trans-dimensional martial arts tournament? Nanotech robots? Secret government agencies? Ancient demons? A final plot arc that sees the Turtles transform into actual dragons to battle an ancient evil in the skies over New York City? It’s all here, all at once, and somehow still manages to feel cohesive.

It’s a stunt of Evel Knievel proportions that this show takes so many different plotlines, with so many different characters, in so many different subgenres, and meshes them all together so well. Of course, it wouldn’t work if the writing and core characters weren’t so strong. The Turtles each get moments to shine in the show, and none of them are reduced to the flat archetypes they’ve occasionally been relegated to (the Nerd, the Jokester, the Hothead, and the Leader). Donatello gets to fight and drop quips. Michelangelo grapples with self-doubt and insecurity. Raphael has to accept there are some things he can’t fix. And in all the pressure he puts on himself, Leonardo messes up. A lot. The Turtles truly feel like brothers, and the supporting cast is excellent as well.

There are lot of other little things that make the show great, from the inspired creature designs, to the way every little plot thread comes back later in the show. It’s far from a perfect series. The later seasons can get a little bogged down from time to time, and a few plotlines are a bit too convoluted for their own good. But throughout, the series stays fun, stylish and engaging. It’s everything a cartoon – everything TMNT – should be.

Where TMNT Movies Have Gone Wrong

The TMNT Movie Reboot Should Learn From The Forgotten 2003 TV Show

The failure of past TMNT movies can generally be traced back to a poor balance of the comics’ more serious tone, and the franchise’s ludicrous celebration of sci-fi nonsense. While the 1990 film got it right, its sequels aired too much on the side of young-kid-friendly, cringe-comedy silliness. Conversely, the 2014 and 2016 Michael Bay-produced live action films went too much in the opposite direction, aiming for a more “mature” tone, but ultimately falling short with bland action sequences, distracting CGI, and “gritty” redesigns of the Turtles themselves that were universally criticized.

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Of all the feature outings for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since 1990, the 2007 animated movie – simply titled TMNT – perhaps gets closest to the balance that the 2003 series does so well. The story in TMNT focuses on the brothers themselves, and how they must reunite after time apart to work together as a family. It’s grounded and at times rather compelling, without falling too far into embarrassingly “dark” territory (you can only get so serious when your protagonists are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Unfortunately, the 2007 film loses the fun along the way, spending most of its run time on a forgettable portal-to-another-realm plotline with equally forgettable villains.

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How The TMNT Movie Reboot Can Learn From The 2003 Show

By modeling the 2003 series, Seth Rogen’s TMNT can once again strike a balance between absurd sci-fi fun, and compelling personal narratives. The Turtles need to be, first and foremost, a family. They also each need to be more than their most basic trait. Let Leo be funny. Let Donnie be cool. Let Raph and Mikey be vulnerable. The 2003 series is proof that you don’t need to sacrifice wackiness and fun to make your characters relatable. Because while kids love action, they love good stories too.

At the same time, the new movie shouldn’t eschew its zany genre roots. Quite the contrary, it should – as the 2003 series did – include as many different bits from the comics as possible. There was a time, not so long ago, when big-budget blockbusters couldn’t fully embrace the weirdness that succeeded in comic books. But the latter-day Marvel Cinematic Universe – films like Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers: Endgame – have shown that’s no longer the case. These days, audiences are open to time travel, multiple dimensions, alternate realities, aliens, magic, and superhero trees. It’s the perfect time to open the gates for TMNT and not hold back.

Modern audiences – especially kids – don’t need a lot of explanation for these sci-fi concepts. Too many movies make the mistake of wasting dull exposition on time travel, when in reality, all you have to do is say “it’s time travel,” and most people are on board. The next TMNT can utilize that openness to weirdness, incorporating different parts of the Turtles’ universe in fun and stylish ways. That leaves more time to focus on strong writing and character development – another thing that’s made the MCU’s more recent films work so well. Rocket Raccoon is one of the most beloved Marvel characters now, and it’s not because he’s kooky. It’s because he has simple, effective emotional moments, and also happens to be a trigger-happy raccoon. That same duality is what worked for 2003’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and it can work again for the upcoming film.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/tmnt-reboot-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-show-learn/

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