This month marks the 20th anniversary of the first “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie, which isn’t the truest and best incarnation of the Turtles (that would be the early issues of the comics, which began in 1984), but it is the truest and best adaptation of the original vision.
I’ll post more about the ’90 movie later this month, but first I want to highlight “Turtles Forever,” the November 2009 animated TV movie that may have flown under the radar of old-school Turtles fans. (I, for one, watched it for the first time last night after stumbling across it on YouTube.)
Laird’s last big project
“Turtles Forever” is essentially a love letter from Peter Laird (who co-created TMNT with Kevin Eastman, but who has been running the franchise solo for the last decade) to Turtles fans. Laird recently sold all the TMNT rights to Nickelodeon, so this was the last project where he was calling the shots.
“Turtles Forever” (2009)
Directors: Roy Burdine, Lloyd Goldfine
Writers: Robert David, Matthew Drdek, Lloyd Goldfine
Stars: Michael Sinterniklaas, Wayne Grayson, Sam Riegel
It mixes the 2003-09 Turtles cartoon universe with the 1987-96 cartoon universe when Shredder (the ’03 Shredder, specifically) discovers a mutliverse portal and realizes he must wipe out the Turtles in all of the countless ‘verses, starting with Turtles Prime — the gritty, not-as-kid-friendly original incarnation from the ’84 Mirage comics by Eastman and Laird.
“Turtles Forever,” penned by writers from the ’03 series and — I’m assuming — overseen by Laird, parodies the ’87 cartoon and the ’84 comic and, in the process, highlights the flaws of the ’03 version. The ’03 cartoon attempted to get the Turtles closer to their gritty roots — it did this by dropping the goofball humor from the ’87 version and using characters and storylines from the Mirage world (and also by not drawing in the Turtles eyes, settling for hollow white slits instead).
But because it was still a kids show, it felt just humorless to me, not gritty, and I tuned out after a sampling a couple episodes.
Sense of humor
“Turtles Forever” exaggerates the ’87 cartoon in ways that — while not always entirely accurate — are very funny. Raphael makes a quip to the camera, and everyone stops fighting to ask whom the shell he’s talking to. The ’03 Turtles ask if the ’87 Turtles have any ideas, and they all raise their hands enthusiastically. “… other than going out for a slice?” the ’03 Don finishes his question with exasperation.
The ’03 Turtles ask the ’87 April why she’s wearing a yellow jumpsuit — does she work at a car wash? And it’s a lot of fun to see old-school antics from the ’87 Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady.
The ’87 series wasn’t as cheesy as “Turtles Forever” makes it out to be. At one point the ’87 Turtles cower in fear from the ’84 Turtles, and one thing no incarnation of the Turtles would ever do is cower. At another point, April is attacked by mutant pizza slices and bananas — one of the strengths of the ’87 series was the awesomeness of the mutant villains, at least in the early seasons (granted, I never saw the last few years of its 10-season run, but I’m pretty sure it never went the mutant-fruit route).
Still, this movie works as a broad, loving parody, and I laughed many times.
Turtles Prime
Then the movie is capped off in grand style with a visit to Turtles Prime, which is beautifully rendered to look exactly like Issue No. 1 from ’84 in all its black-and-white glory. This is all in good fun, so the writers have ’84 Leo narrate the fight as he did in that first issue, and one of the newer Turtles asks “Why is he narrating?”
Parody aside, the Turtles Prime world is so well done that it’s a eureka moment for fans (and it should’ve been for Laird, too): This is the animated show that Laird should’ve made when he re-launched the franchise in ’03. Sure, it might’ve played better on Cartoon Network than on CW4Kids, but still, if you’re gonna go gritty, you can’t do it halfway. That’s why the ’03 series was ultimately just another kids’ series, and not an all-ages series like, say, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”
I get a sense that “Turtles Forever” gave Laird closure. Anyone who’s ever been a Turtles fan should watch it. And then just try to resist pulling out your old Mirage comics afterward.