Cricket?
Nobody understands cricket.
You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket.
Hello my Beautiful Watchers and welcome back to Lost in Adaptation.
Sooo….
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I’m going to level with you guys, this is an episode I never would have considered had
it not been an official request from a long time patron because it's almost the perfect
storm of unsuitable for my show.
For starters it's a very very popular franchise with a… dedicated fan base that’s often
fuelled by the all powerful nostalgia and it’s one that I have no personal experience
with.
Yeah until recently I’d seen maybe the odd scene from a TV series here and there and
I half watched the Michael Bay monstrosity on a airplane once and that is it for me and
the Ninja Turtles I’m afraid.
This wasn't by design or anything.
I mean, I was just more of a Power Ranger kid growing up but I think it was more that
I just never happened to cross paths with the Ninja Turtles in any significant way.
It's also a long running comic series that’s been adapted and rebooted multiple times,
with every incarnation taking influence from all that came before it and introducing new
elements to be considered for those that came after.
The only things that make this episode even remotely possible is the fact that this particular
link in the line of evolution is very close to the start AND it has a reputation for being
the only incarnation that made any effort to pay homage to the comic books that started
it all.
The comic series was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and was apparently the result
of a doodle one of them made of a turtle holding nunchucks that amused both of them so much
they decided to make a comic out of it.
Originally simply intended to be a one shot humorous parody of popular comics like Daredevil
and self published with a loan from an uncle, it was so unexpectedly popular demand for
more copies and a follow up series skyrocketed.
It's runaway success even inspired a host of really obvious and fucking weird attempts
to copy it, none of which gained anywhere near the same level of appreciation.
I have to assume you’re familiar with the monolith franchise it’s become since then.
Even though I’d never taken a direct interest in it I still knew all the basics of the Ninja
Turtles though geek cultural osmosis.
The film was the second adaptation of the concept and the first attempt at a live action
production.
Its predecessor, the first animated series was even more popular than the comic gaining
worldwide recognition and running for 10 seasons.
It was however something of a in name only adaptation, following its own original plot,
introducing a host of new characters and changing most of the existing characters backstories
and personalities.
From what I can see, because it outshone its source material so much, the first animated
series became the de facto definitive archetype that all future adaptations primarily drew
from instead of the original comic…. with the possible exception of this film….
Kinda…
The 1990 big screen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was directed by Steve Barron, know for…
The Ah Ha music video where a horny artist ends up dating a comic book character she
created.
Not the oddest segway into feature film directing I’ve seen but it's up there.
It’s somewhat famous for being one of the most successful independent movies ever as
none of the large studios of the time wanted to take a risk on it despite the popularity
of the comic and animated series.
A timid move I’m sure they deeply regretted as it was made on a very modest budget of
$13 million and went onto to pull in over $200 million at the box office.
It’s also worthy of note that creating the turtle costumes was one of the last things
that Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets did before his tragic and untimely death.
As usual before discussing the loyalty of the adaptation here's my brief thoughts on
the comic book itself.
You would have to seek out the opinion of a comic specific Youtuber like my esteemed
colleague Linkara for a more indepth opinion on the art style and panel layout here, just
going off my very amateur perspective, I’d say the first issue in particular is a little
bit… not good, art wise.
I dunno maybe it's an intentional stylistic thing but it just looks ugly and overly simplistic
to me.
Apparently it was printed on like super cheap ass newspaper so that might have been a factor.
The immediate follow up issues improved in picture quality but not in art.
The Turtles tend to keep their weapons on them at all times because that’s the ONLY
way to tell them apart.
There's hints of what will become separate personalities down the line, like Donatello's
affinity for computers and Raphael's independent streak but besides that the four of them are
pretty much interchangeable.
It's also a very simplistic comic plot wise too, at least at first.
Probably a product of its time.
The next bad guy who turns up after The Shredder is maniacal laughing mad scientist who threatens
to blow stuff up unless he’s given one million dollars.
You know, it’s that's the level of originality they go with.
I did notice that the storylines often boil down to the turtles have to go and punch and
kick things until the fair city of New York is safe again.
I didn’t hate this comic though by any means, it is a enjoyable enough read and if there’s
a Turtles fan out there who hasn’t had a chance to read it yet I’m sure they’d
get a big kick out of seeing this… proto form of them.
Moving onto the film.
I know a lot of people love this movie and I can’t deny I enjoyed it a lot...
But there are some bits of it that are just really really bad, either due to lack of budget
or the writers having the sense of humor of a 12 year old.
And yes I know 12 years olds probably were the target demographic for this film, but
there is a difference between writing for them and writing as if you are one.
You’re a claustrophobic.
I’ve never even looked at another guy before.
For the most part Henson did an amazing job.
Those clunky ass costumes may have been heavy as fuck but they were actually capable of
conveying a range of emotions and expressions I wouldn’t have expected from rubber masks.
Though I have to admit some aspects of them were better then others.
This scene in particular had me unintentionally in stitches for hours.
I am here, my son.
Holy shit you can see children smoking, drinking and gambling in this film.
Like… they don’t fake this shit, they stick a cigar in a preteen actor’s mouth
for a scene.
I don’t think you’re actually allowed to break underage smoking laws for films are
you?
Thats…
I don’t know, either really impressive commitment or disturbing disregard for children’s safety…
Or both i guess.
My claim that this is the adaptation that drew the most from the comics is true but
it’s also possibly a bit misleading.
To be completely honest with you the similarities to the comics that I could see were few and
far between.
It might in fact be an exaggeration to call this is an adaptation at all, more it’s
another reimagining that makes the occasional callback to the original.
I might have been tempted to do this as an in name only episode but the film makes even
that impossible as the comic accurate parts that are included are taken from multiple
issues of the series so I can’t exactly provide a synopsis of all of them.
I’m afraid instead you’re just going to have to deal with unusually short categories
on this one.
Introducing the Ninja Turtles into the narrative by having them defeat some street criminals
before withdrawing into the sewers of New York through a storm drain before the police
can arrive.
SOME of Shredder’s, Splinter’s and the Turtles’ original backstory made it into
the film.
Like Splinter originally being a regular rat that was owned by a ninjutsu master in Japan
and learned his martial arts by mimicking his movements from his cage.
Said Master, named Yoshi moving to America to live with a woman, but getting tracked
down and murdered by a mysterious figure from his past who then started an organized crime
syndicate in New York and became known as The Shredder.
Splinter ending up alone in the sewers until he comes across 4 baby turtles covered in
some sort of mysterious ooze.
Said ooze mutating him and his 4 new adopted sons into fully self aware bipedal beings
and him teaching them the art of Ninjutsu and naming them after famous Renaissance painters.
An unconscious April O'Neil being brought back to the Turtles’ sewer hideout after
she was rescued from an attack.
The Turtles later returning to their home to find it ransacked and Splinter missing.
One of the Turtles getting thrown through a skylight of an antique store by the Foot
Clan.
Casey Jones, the sports equipment armed vigilante getting into a fight with Raphael and smacking
him right in the face.
The Ninja Turtles being driven out of New York and taking refuge on a farm for a bit.
Ending on a rooftop battle with Shredder that culminates in him falling to his apparent
doom.
A lot of this stuff comes with a metaphorical asterisk indicating it’s taking some careful
wording to make it sound like it fits the original way more that it actually does.
Everything that can be traced back to the comic was altered to fit the radically different
story of the film.
Because of its huge overshadowing success it was somewhat inevitable that the film would
draw from the animated series as much as if not more than the comics.
A lot of the changes I’m about to mention originated in this first adaptation and were
just carried over so I won’t bother wasting time trying to analyze exactly what the filmmakers
motivations were for making them.
The film Turtles have way more of the attitude, maturity, mannerisms and… pizza obsession
that they’re famous for these days.
I don’t know if there's an official name for this in America but they sound like surfer
dudes.
Radical, Cowabunga, and all that malarkey.
Surprisingly, in the comic they’re way more no nonsense.
They take their Ninjutsu, Splinter’s missions and their personal honor super seriously,
making them more in keeping with the Japanese warrior stereotype most western countries
are familiar with.
Shredder and the Foot Clan are also pretty uptight about their honor and organized crime
syndicate, offering protection services to high end customers.
I am willing to bet the comic version of them probably would have been appalled at the idea
of profiteering from extremely petty theft performed by children.
One thing that really caught me off guard when I read the comic was the Turtles unhesitating
willingness to murder a bitch.
The opening fight was between them and a young but notoriously violent street gang and they…
they kill all of them.
I imagine that would be a real shock to the system for anyone used to ANY of the subsequent
adaptations where they only use their bladed weapons for show or to smash robots.
Also, complete tangent here but has anyone else ever pondered the moral implications
of the trope that it's absolutely ok to destroy a robot in children's cartoons, even if said
robot has proven that it’s just as sapient as the humans the hero refuses to kill under
any circumstances?
If Detroit: Become Human ever happens for real it will be because of shit like this.
Anyways, getting back to the Turtles, the gang they fight in the opening of the film
that they certainly didn’t kill is a lot smaller, younger and less heavily armed than
in the comic making Leonardo's boast of prevailing over many a bit of a fib.
Because of the no killing rule in the film they went out of their way to make it clear
that Shredder fell from the rooftop because he tried a dishonorable sneak attack on Splinter,
making it no ones fault but his own.
Negated somewhat when Casey Jones makes sure he’s dead by crushing the body in a garbage
truck.
Holy crap guys….
I mean even if he was dead already that’s still pretty fucking dark.
One and a half GALLONS of blood would be leaking out of that truck as you celebrate with all
the little kids you just liberated.
I know Shredder comes back in the sequel but still…
Fuck.
A somewhat, in my opinion, unsettling addition to the film is the Turtles’ open sexual
attraction to April.
There’s just...so much wrong with that.
Oooh yeah a woman at least ten years older than me and a completely different and almost
certainly incompatible species, that is so my type.
April O'Neil becomes a go getter reporter instead of a computer programmer and assistant
robot designer as she was in her first appearance.
Is that cooler?
I’d be more impressed with the robotics if I’m honest but I guess constantly chasing
stories allowed them to work her into more episodes of the cartoon.
The attack she was saved from originally was from a bunch of small but vicious robots she
had helped design but had turned on her at the behest of her mad scientist boss.
Also all the Turtles but Mikey were there so Raph didn’t get all the credit.
As I’ve mentioned a few times now, the plot, while incorporating some story beats and panels
from several early comics, is basically unique to the film.
It's mostly about teaming up with April to defeat Shredder but they just sort of… fall
into this fight by being in the city when Shredder starts ramping up his crime wave.
Despite Splinter’s rich history with The Shredder, April's connection to her boss’
son is way more relevant to bringing to these two sides together.
Interestingly, and in keeping with the slightly more adult elements of the early comics, in
the first issue Splinter decides that his pupils have completed their training and orders
the Turtles to challenge Shredder to a fight to the death so his late master Yoshi could
be avenged.
That's pretty much it: Revenge.
Not justice, not protecting New York or fighting crime.
Revenge.
The ninja rat wanted his sons to kill the man who killed his master for killing his
brother.
An endless cycle of revenge and death that he’s now dragging his teenage children into….
Cowabunga.
As there were at least 5 different comics the film pulled scenes from, describing everything
that wasn’t included from all of them would be somewhat impractical so I fear I must restrict
myself to things of particular interest or stuff relevant to what they DID include.
While a lot of Splinter’s backstory plot dump was from the comics, in the film he didn’t
tell the full story.
Yoshi was indeed in a romantic competition with another ninja, but it wasn't Shredder
himself, it was his big brother.
Yoshi caught him trying to assault her and beat him to death with his bare hands.
As it was forbidden within the Foot Clan to kill another member for any reason he had
to either commit suicide with honor or flee to America.
His new girlfriend convinced him to do the latter but young Shredder grew up full of
rage for the man who killed his brother and trained to become the ultimate ninja.
When the Foot Clan put him in change of their new American branch, he took the opportunity
to kill Yoshi and rejoin the parts of the story that the film included.
When he was defeated, the Turtles offered the Shredder a change to commit seppuku and
die with honor.
I’m just… trying to imagine that with any of the other iterations.
Whoa Shredder dude, you gotta like, disembowel yourself to save your honor.
It's like totally radical.
The Dom’s Final Thoughts
I believe I’ve made it abundantly clear at this point that I don’t really consider
this to be an adaptation, it’s a movie that's paying the occasional respectful homage to
where it came from.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles evolved away from their roots pretty fast and never came
back to them but that's not a bad thing in this case.
While it was what started it all, the original comic was super rough and underdeveloped in
places and they did a lot of really cool things to flesh it out in later incarnations.
I think people should give this comic a go but I doubt there will be ever be a serious
demand for an original source material accurate adaptation.
Thank you for joining me my Beautiful Watchers.
I leave you with the standard reminder that as much as it pains me to constantly hound
you to like comment and subscribe, if a youtuber fails to do this his or her channel is almost
certainly doomed to be dragged down into the depths of Tartarus by the unspeakable horror
that is the youtube algorithm.
See you soon.
Hello again my Beautiful Watchers.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to give you a quick reminder that there’s a
wonderful website called Patreon that’s been allowing online producers to actually
make a living doing what they do, since apparently YouTube’s decided that they shouldn't anymore.
Basically, they offer the chance to pledge a certain amount of money per month or per
video in exchange for various rewards offered by the creator.
There’s a variety of stuff you can earn by becoming one of my patrons, including early
access to all videos and taking part in that survey you see at the start of every Lost
in Adaptation episode.
That’s actually a very important part of the process, as I use it to gauge how much
I’m going to need to explain about the book and the film before I start preparing them.
If you decide to become a higher level contributor you’ll be added to the credits that you’re
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If you’re keen enough to join the topmost tier of patronage, you’ll earn the most
coveted of all the rewards: the chance to pick a future adaptation to be reviewed by
yours truly.
However, if right now you’re thinking, my goodness The Dom, I can’t do that, a mysterious
but handsome wizard wearing sunglasses informed me you’re spending the money on a cannon
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I hope you have a most pleasant day and I will see you in the next episode.