Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 

The adventures of a quartet of humanoid warrior turtles and their friends.

Creators:

Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, David Wise

Stars:

Cam Clarke, Barry Gordon, Rob Paulsen

5 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Cam Clarke	...	Leonardo / ... 193 episodes, 1987-1996
Townsend Coleman	...	Michelangelo / ... 193 episodes, 1987-1996
Renae Jacobs	...	April O'Neil / ... 191 episodes, 1987-1996
Barry Gordon	...	Donatello / ... 186 episodes, 1987-1996
Peter Renaday	...	Splinter / ... 181 episodes, 1987-1996
Rob Paulsen	...	Raphael / ... 170 episodes, 1987-1995
Pat Fraley	...	Krang / ... 152 episodes, 1987-1996
James Avery	...	Shredder / ... 106 episodes, 1987-1993
Jennifer Darling	...	Irma Langinstein / ... 81 episodes, 1988-1994

Storyline

This show tells the adventures of four turtles who were transformed into humanoids by a strange ooze and were trained as ninja by a human martial arts master, Hamato Yoshi, who was changed into a humanoid rat, Splinter, by the same substance. Together with the intrepid reporter, April O'Neil, they fight against the threats against the world, like Shredder and Krang.

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Plot Keywords:

turtle | shredder | knife | 1990s | 1980s | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Family | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Official Sites:

Fred Wolf Films Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 December 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

T.M.N.T

Company Credits

Production Co:

Murakami Wolf Swenson, Fred Wolf Films, Mirage Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (193 episodes) 23 min (1990-1996)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When production started for CBS the show was aired on an hour block on CBS Kid TV. The first episode consisted of an action-oriented episode and the second episode was more comedic and highlighted one of the four turtles. The latter type of episode was discontinued in Season 6 when the show went to just one episode per week.

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Goofs

The turtles are often referred to in the series as amphibians even though they are reptiles.

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Quotes

April O'Neil: For some people, it's an improvement!
[giggles]

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Alternate Versions

In the UK, Ninjas and their weapons are a taboo subject, and several kinds of weapons are illegal to show on TV (Such as Katana and Nunchaku). To try and get around censorship laws, the show was marketed as "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" and the names of cerain weapons and places were changed. Towards the end of the show's run, the format changed almost entirely as part of a trend to make shows more "extreme" to appeal to a new generation of viewers:

• Shredder and Krang were removed from the show for over a sesaon. New villains came in the form of giant space slugs involved in organized crime;
• Almost all character building scenes were removed to make it an entirely action oriented show;
• April and Splinter's roles were diminished considerably;
• The turtles voices were altered to sound more deep and aggressive;
• The cartoon feel of the show was removed--The sky was changed from blue with white clouds to red with gray clouds and buildings were drawn as if destroyed;
• Irma, Verne, April's boss, Baxter Stockman, Ratking, and numerous other characters were totally removed from the show;
• In addition, the opening sequence was hiked up, changing the music to a techno beat with flashing lights and scenes from the Tutles movies intercut with new scenes from the show.

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Connections

Referenced in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Disrupts the Paradigm! (2018)

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Soundtracks

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme
Composed by Chuck Lorre and Dennis C. Brown

User Reviews

Cowabunga! A memorable cartoon!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is very cool cartoon with the series about 4 turtles that get covered in ooze and become ninja mutants along with a guy the got turned into a rat. So now they fight crime on the streets of New York City against the evil Shredder and his two goons Rocksteady and Bebop.

Leonardo was the leader of TMNT. Donatello was the expert at machines and mechanical stuff. Raphael was the tuff one and the practical joker and Michaelangelo was the one who is the life of the party. Splinter thought them to become ninja superhero teens and also the turtles would get help from news reporter, April O'Neill. I thought James Avery did a good job at voicing the Shredder and so did Jim Cummings for the final seasons for this show. I also thought Barry Gordon did a good job at Donatello because I also liked Barry Gordon doing Razor from Swat Kats: Radical Squadron and the other voice actors were good too! I hope sooner or later they start making dvds of the complete episodes of every season this show had. I also enjoy the new series on Fox Box

BOTTOM LINE: GOOD SHOW!

User Rating: 9/10