My TV Show Review on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) · 6:58pm Jan 19th, 2019
Hey, what’s up, guys. This is AMU back on the line with another review all ready for reading.
Today, I will be reviewing the 2012 version of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.
Fun Fact: In real life, this was the very first review I made of a tv show. It was first posted on my personal website.
Anyway...
The series follows the adventures of four teenaged turtles, Leonardo (played by Jason Biggs from Seasons 1-2, Dominic Catrombone for seven final episodes of Season 2, Seth Green from Seasons 3-5), Donatello (played by Rob Paulsen), Raphael (played by Sean Astin), and Michelangelo (played by Greg Cipes), who were mutated into mutants by a substance called Mutagen, and trained by their sewer rat father/teacher, Master Splinter (played by Hoon Lee), who used to be a human from Japan. With the help of their friends and allies, such as April O’ Neil (Mae Whitman), they must protect their world from an alien race known as the Kraang, and a ninja warrior clan called the Foot, lead by a tyrannical leader by the name of the Shredder (played by Kevin Michael Richardson).
I would like to start off by saying this: This show is the best adaption of the Turtles franchise I’ve ever seen! Perhaps even the best one yet!
The animation that the show had was top-of-the-line awesome! It had this look and feel like it was a comic book on television, while at the same time, giving audiences the feeling that it’s much more than your run-of-the-mill kids show.
Each character featured in the series was unique, because they all have a story that gives them purpose and background. They were so three-dimensional, in that the emotions, expressions, and thoughts everyone had were so convincing.
The people picked for each character in the show, recurring or minor, were perfect for their parts, like the roles were meant for them. Aided by some outstanding voice directing, the cast made their voice acting some of the most natural and realistic I’ve ever heard. They carry with them such great emotion & commitment too, and they gave their characters such great and noticeable lines.
The writing done for the series was really smart and clever. I love how with an entire season, or with just around five to thirteen episodes, the episodes would get orchestrated to form one big story, which is awesome, and I thought it was something that a big-screen movie couldn’t do. The stories can be very dark, thrilling, and dramatic, but there’s some great comedy to help ease the tension in yourself and the show. An A+ on the action too, because it was definitely action-packed to the point of excitement.
The music that was composed by Sebastian Evans was really groundbreaking, probably some of the best I’ve ever seen in a tv show. Every episode had music that was genuine for every moment, and the rhythm of the series’ music fit the show like a glove. My favorite, of course, comes from his work on the theme song of the show, especially from Seasons 1-4:
(TMNT Theme Song. Season 1 Version)
Mr. Evans, if you see this review, I would like for you to know that I would love to see your musical career be taken to larger heights. You should totally compose for feature films someday.
I will note that unfortunately, the show isn’t without some negatives.
The drama that the series had was great, but, it seemed to get too intense at times.
A great many of the mutants I’m afraid also seem too scary for younger audiences, which is a reason why I recommend the show as something more for adults and teens.
And lastly, there are some certain ideologies that likely won’t be very agreeable to people, especially ones who are of religion.
The most notable of things for Christians are that in the show’s world, man wasn’t created in God’s image. They were instead experiments of the Kraang as part of their conquest to create a world suitable for themselves. In addition, there’s no Heaven or Hell, but some other kind of afterlife where people both good and bad go after they die. Monsters, like Bigfoot and Dracula, actually exist in the world they live in. Finally, things seem to follow in the beliefs of evolution, but the show staff does also twist things up to help it be science fiction, which is nice and helped things be fun.
Despite these setbacks, in the end, the show is a must-watch for all people, particularly 13 and up.
So, I rate the 2012 adaption of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” four out of five stars. The rating being because of the negatives I mentioned.
Yeah. I loved the series too even with its flaws. Plus with every season you learn something new about the characters and everything.
Wow, and I thought the 2003 version of TMNT was dramatic storywise. Because I personally felt that the 2012 series was more of a return of the more comedic flavor of the 1980s cartoon.
can't say, not that interested.
This series has definitely been on my list to watch for a while, it definitely sounds like the best TMNT story out there, but, as always, it will be a while before I get to it. But it definitely sounds good, though!
Hm. I'm not too interested in TMNT, so I had to look at this from a strange perspective. It doesn't look all bad, but I don't know if I'll be watching it anytime soon.
You should watch and review Attack on Titan.
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I’ve never heard of that, actually.
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Watch it. It's an amazing show.
TMNT was actually one of the most difficult cartoons to produce.
The toy line was designed and physicaly produced before the cartoon was even started; and it was planned from the beginning to have both. The toy line constantly saw new villians created in figurines before they appeared in episodes.
Usually the show comes out first to get the attention of the target audience and then artists render action figure designs based on the show. With things happening in reverse order, the cartoon writers and animators were in a way forced to be inventive with who these often bizzare villians were
Just browsing through the reviews and thought I'd pipe up with this little tidbit:
This is the Ninja Turtles animated adaptation where they are actual ninjas. Shredder says "Nani wa" when faced with a UFO, which is a nice way of getting 'What the hey' under the radar. In one of the early episodes, Mikey mentions his martial arts idol has Hatsumi sensei at the top of his friends list. That's an actual ninja master: a guy who administers the tests for third-degree black belts in bujinkan.
The Turtles use stealth like real ninjas, finally! Splinter lets them use technology and innovate, same as how real ninjas started using firearms. The Turtles now have secondary weapons: Mikey's sickle and chain especially were a nice touch. Thematically accurate, too, to reflect his loose personality and to play off of his looser, more fluid style of fighting.
The show had a layer of genuine-ness to it, at least in the early episodes, that previous incarnations were lacking. It took some of the good stuff from the films, concentrated it, then added it to the animated material and the result ended up being pretty solid as well as respectful to its source material.
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My re-analyzing of this program is up and ready, in case you guys are interested:
My Re-Analyzing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)