The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have stood as one of the most prolific and enduring pop
culture sensations since the 1980s, having appeared in numerous comics, television shows,
movies, video games, and more.
But did you know TMNT first began in 1984 as a small independently-published comic book
by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird?
Despite becoming a rousing success in the underground comic scene, bigger things were
yet to come for the series.
In 1986, Playmates Toys approached the creators interested in adapting TMNT for their own
action figure line, alongside an animated television series.
One issue remained though, as the original comic’s dark tone and violence didn’t
fit Playmates’ 4 to 8-year-old target audience.
Thus, the series was massively reworked, culminating in the kid friendly 1987 animated TV series,
starring wise-cracking, pizza-obsessed multi-colored turtles fighting equally colorful and silly
enemies.
Soon enough, this incarnation of TMNT became a smash-hit with American audiences, prompting
it to be aired all across the world.
However, TMNT faced a couple of hurdles upon entering the UK.
First, ninjas were deemed to be too violent for children.
Therefore, the franchise was retitled “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles,” upon its release in
the UK.
Moreover, all references to the word “ninja” in the cartoon were either replaced or cut
out entirely.
These changes are especially noticeable in the UK release’s opening sequence, which
replaced the series’ logo, changed the chanting from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” to
“Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles,” and tweaked the line, “Splinter taught them to be ninja
teens,” to instead be, “Splinter taught them to be fighting teens.”
Watching the two intros side by side also reveals that a number of scenes involving
Michelangelo were edited out as well.
This was due to a ruling by the British Board of Film Classification in 1975 which enforced
a blanket ban on the usage of nunchaku and shuriken following reports of street violence
involving martial arts weaponry.
As covered on the channel in a previous episode, this ban impacted everything rated by the
BBFC, from movies, such as Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, to video games, like Tenchu: Stealth
Assassins.
This meant that censors had to edit out practically every single frame that featured Michelangelo
using his trademark nunchakus before the show could be aired in the UK.
For example, in the first episode Splinter introduces each of the turtles over scenes
of them showing off their trademark weapons as seen here:
In the UK however, this scene was cut down to a simple freeze frame on Michelangelo’s
face.
To make things easier, the showrunners eventually replaced Michelangelo’s nunchakus with the
“turtle line” grappling hook after the show’s third season.
The BBFC’s ban didn’t end with the animated show though, as the ‘90s live action trilogy
also endured numerous cuts as well.
This is most evident in the first movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1990.
Once again, many scenes throughout the movie showcasing nunchaku were excluded, such as
when Michelangelo and a foot clan ninja show off their nunchaku skills.
Furthermore, many alternate takes were used in the UK theatrical release to hide Michelangelo’s
nunchaku as much as possible.
For example, in the scene where Michelangelo orders pizza from a payphone he can be seen
casually flipping his nunchaku in the original version of the film.
Whereas the UK release uses a much darker take that shrouds his nunchaku in the shadows.
The BBFC’s ban was so strict that even the scene in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II:
The Secret of the Ooze where Michelangelo comically uses sausages like nunchaku was
removed from the UK release.
Interestingly, despite these changes, all three of the movies in the trilogy retained
“ninja” in their titles rather than switching it out with “hero”.
This signified a change in attitude within the BBFC and them starting to ease up a little
more.
However, the UK’s strict policies with TMNT actually ended up having a knock-on effect
on some other European countries.
Whereas some countries just used the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles name, others used the
UK’s censored footage as well.
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On the other hand, while the TMNT video games released in Europe used the “Teenage Mutant
Hero Turtle” moniker, none of the games were rated by the BBFC.
Therefore, Michelangelo’s nunchakuswere left intact in every single release.
Nevertheless, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ battle with censorship in the UK finally came
to an end when the BBFC’s ban was lifted in 1999.
From that point onwards the BBFC followed a set of written guidelines restricting glamorized
violence with realistic, easily obtainable weapons on a contextual basis, rather than
outright banning any particular weapon.
This allowed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 animated series to become the first entry
into the franchise that was never censored in the UK and this is a trend that has continued
ever since.
That’s all for this episode of Censored Gaming but if you’re interested in learning
more about the history behind the BBFC’s ban then consider watching our episode, “Why
the UK Banned Media Containing Nunchaku” that you'll be able to find linked in the
description.
Until next time, thank you for watching!