Lately it’s been everything that’s been old has been new again. Plenty of video game remakes, and there are also the plenty of remakes of old cartoons. From Transformers to He-Man there seems to be plenty of good remakes, and not surprisingly there is also a teenage mutant ninja turtle remake.

The history of the turtles according to there official website is that two guys just clowning around where drawing strange doodles and one came up with a ninja turtle. The next one drew a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle. Since the idea was to crazy to be actually believable the two decided to run it has a comic. After the comic’s success the turtles became a toy line and a cartoon series that wasn’t based on the original comic that much, or so I am told because I have never read the original comic. The original cartoon was what I grew up watching, and it’s still an all time favorite of mine.

The original lasted 10 seasons which is pretty long for a cartoon started up has a marketing gig. And despite the fact that the last season royally sucked the cartoon wasn’t canned because of low ratings, I’ve heard that it was canned because of some sort of FCA crack down on non-educational tv shows. Can’t let kids have Saturdays mornings be the one time where they can do something that doesn’t involve stuffing information into there heads can we.

Well after the original was canned one year later another spin off show came out. This one was a life action show called the next mutation. Now if you never heard of this one I envy you cause this is about has much suck age has you can get because it was produced by Saban (the makers of the horrible Mighty Moronic Power Range) and they basically ruin everything. Took the shredder out for the most part, added in a 5th turtle, and made sucky episodes that seemed to be like rejects of the power rangers and you got this show. Luckily it only lasted a year before it was put out of it’s misery.

Now skip about 5 or so years down the road and with basically every good cartoon from the 80’s now getting some sort of a remake it was inevitable before the ninja turtles got there. This time it was given to an animation studio who actually hired one of the original creators has it’s supervisor. What we get is like all the other remakes a vastly superior show that add’s a lot more to the original, and while it’s better then everyway there’s still something that the old school has on it.

Story.
The story starts with the turtles getting kicked out of there old lair my Dr. Stockman’s robots. They quickly find a new one but not before ticking off the purple dragon a gang of young hoodlooms, and a ninja clan known has the foot. They quickly find themselves over there shells when it comes to tangling with the foot’s leader the Shredder. Luckily they meet Baxter’s lab assistant April O Neal when he turns his Mousers on her, has well has a hot headed vigil anti known has Casey Jones.

The good guys.

Leonardo.
Master of the katana blades and the boy or um turtle in the blue bandana is Leo. Leo is the self appointed leader of the group. It’s a good thing to because he’s probably the most stable and level headed of the turtles. His character has changed a bit, being the leader he can sometimes over work himself and he is prown to a bit of self depression at times.

Michelangelo.
The most famous of the turtles in the original is our turtle in orange Mikey. He is probably the least change still the laid back, wise cracker, surfer turtle that we knew in the original. Mikey may not always pick up on things and he’s a bit clumsy, but his humor does help keep the group going. Mikey may not train much but he has mastered his nun chucks.

Donatello.
Speaking about turtles who haven’t changed much Don is still the genius of the group. This geeky turtle is responsible for the turtles non ninja gear. Weather it’s a fully decked out battle shell, or a subterranean digger Don is the man responsible for it. Unlike the original series Don genius is also used in figuring out some of the foot latest gear and helping the gang find weakness to it, of course being such a techno freak Don sometimes hesitates when it comes to destroying some of the foots more advance technology. Don weapon of choice is the bow staff.

Raphael.
This is the most changed turtles. While the other have pretty much kept most of there personalities from the original, only given quirks to help make them better characters. Raphael is completely different. In the original he was the sarcastic but cool headed insult thrower who always was good for a laugh. In this one though he is the angry hot headed always looking for a fight dangerous turtle. Even though he may be hot headed he does every once in a while shows that he has a kind spot. He and Mikey like to pick on each other a lot but there the two that also look out for each other the most.

Splinter.
A pet rat to a legendary warrior known has Yamoto Yoshi. Splinter watched all of Yoshi’s moves from inside his cage and was able to learn them. When the foot clan attacked Yoshi, Splinter was able to escape to New York city and found a home in the sewers. However one day 4 baby turtles and some green ooze fell on them. The baby turtles started to grow big and gain speech and he to also gain intelligence. Knowing that live in the world would be hard he train the 4 turtles using what he remembered from Yoshi.

Splinter is both the teacher and parental figure for the 4 turtles. While they usually break all of his rules and teachings just being unruly teenaged turtles that they are. he manges to find a way to show up and help them out of there mess. In this one he does more then just stay in the layer, he is also a great fighter in his own right.

April.
April is about has big a computer geek has Donatello, and being Baxter Stockman’s ex-lab assistant is proof of that. Since Baxter turned on her April has gone into her family antique business. The guys have her provide lookout and outside support. Her and Casey Jones have a love hate relationship.

Casey Jones.
Ralph meet Casey Jones when he was out trying to blow off some steam after a training session with Mikey went bad. Casey can be has hot headed has Raphael, especially when it comes to the purple dragon gang. Seems like a couple of them burned down his father business when he was a kid and he’s out for a little revenge. After Raph is able to clam him down the two become friends and he joined the team.

The Otrons.
Aliens from outer space that crashed into earth a millennium ago when a prisoner they where carrying escaped. and had to wait for the humans to get Technologically advance enough in order to build a way home. There guardians help the turtles out against the foot and there leader Shredder which seems to be after them for some reason.

Bad guys.
Hun: Shredder right hand man and the leader of the purple dragon. Is tattoos on both of his arms shows his allegiance to both the purple dragons and the foot. The one thing you can say is that he is very very big, and more menacing then Rocksteady and Bebop could ever hope to be. Hun is very loyal to the Shredder and does everything he is order to do.

Baxter Stockman.
In the classic he was the bumbling scientist who got turned into a fly. In this one he is a treherous scientist who helps the foot clan only so he can may one day gain the technology to topple Shredder. Shredder of course realizes this and keeps Baxter on a pretty short leash. Also every time one of Baxter’s invention fails in battle or goes wrong Shredder punishes him by taking away a body part. In the series rather then being a giant fly he is now just a brain in a beaker with an eye.

Shredder/Oraku Saki.
A master ninja and leader of the foot clan of thieves. Unlike the melodramatic villain of the 80’s this Shredder isn’t some whiny boy lackey, this time Shredder is the master villain in his own right. Ruthless, lethal, and heartless Shredder seems relentless to find and destroy the enemies he has been searching for. And he’ll kill anybody who get’s in the way, even if there 4 green freaks. Also there is something not quite right about this guy he keeps coming back no matter how many times the turtles think he’s good and dead.. Surviving a fall from atop of a several story building, to even coming back from a beheading.

Animation.
The animation for this show puts the old one in the dust. It’s darker and has a comic book feel to it similar to the batman cartoons of the 90’s. The turtles are also drawn better then they where in the classics, now with body parts that match there body’s, unlike some of the heads are twice has big has there body that the old one has. The only thing that urkes me is that they went with the Oreo eyes rather then giving eye balls, it looked a bit freakish in till I got used to it a few episodes in.

Voices.
The original TMNT series was voiced by what many consider was the best in the business. And I was worried what the voices of the new turtles voices would sound like especially since it was done by 4kids, which do a good job on Yugioh and Pokemon but I didn’t know if they could do the turtles. I was actually surprised at how good the voices where and how much they fit the turtles and there new personalities.

Age.
This is for a bit older crowd then that of the original series. While there is no blood or anything like that it is darker and a bit scarier. Defiantly for the 8 and up crowd.

Final Recommendation.
The new TMNT might take a few episodes to get used to for those who where die hard fans of the older series. But the episodes have a bit more story to them, and the turtles themselves have a bit more rounded out personalities. Of course if your looking for anything that’s cheesy then your going to be disappointed.

Times on
The new ninja turtles can be found on CN in the after noon on there Miguzi line up. And can also be found on the fox box on Saturday mornings.

Recommended: Yes

Type of Program: Cartoon or Animated
Program Quality: Entertaining, but not intellectually or emotionally engaging
Best Suited For: 9 Years or Older