I don't know who you are.
But thanks.
You're not human!
Bingo!
Yeah, we're dealing with a real mind here.
That's what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
looked like in the 1987 sci-fi comedy adventure cartoon
that made them famous.
It was a big change from the look
they sported when they debuted just three
years earlier in a landmark independent comic book series.
But while the animated versions quickly became iconic,
the character designs of Leonardo,
Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael
were really just beginning to mutate.
You're turtles!
Yep, so we are.
I can't handle this.
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why not take a moment to subscribe
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In 1983, comic book creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
moved in together in Dover, New Hampshire,
and began tinkering with some new ideas.
One night, in an effort to make his partner laugh,
Eastman jokingly sketched an anthropomorphic turtle
wearing a mask and armed with nunchucks.
At the top of the page, he wrote the words "ninja turtle."
Eastman's original turtle had a flat face, short neck,
and generally bulky appearance.
But Laird, who agreed that the idea of a slow ninja was funny,
later redrew it, making it slightly less goofy and more
human, with a slimmer neck, longer limbs,
and protruding nose.
He also added the words "teenage mutant."
The two didn't take the idea seriously at first.
But the next day, they already started
to see real potential in it.
The two decided to create a team of four such characters
and called them the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The Turtles made their comic book debut in May of 1984
in a book self-published by Eastman and Laird
under their Mirage Studios banner.
These original Turtles were clearly
descendants of the turtle in Laird's sketch,
but they have grown even more human
in appearance, with even longer legs and arms.
Also, to save money, the series was
published in black and white, which fortunately was well
suited to the dark gritty tone of its world.
Except for their weapons, these original Turtles
were virtually impossible to distinguish from one another.
They even shared identical profiles,
which made them a bit of an anomaly
from a design perspective, because the conventional wisdom
holds that a character should be recognizable
based on their profile alone.
But then in 1986, a licensing agent
pitched Playmates Toys on doing a line of action figures
based on the comic book, but the company was only interested
if a cartoon series would be produced to function
as commercials for the toys.
That series, produced by Fred Wolf Films,
debuted on December of 1987, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles would never be the same again.
The 1987 cartoon changed everything
about the Turtles and their world, starting with the tone.
The violent moodiness of the comics
was replaced with a brightly colored kid friendly adventure
vibe.
Check this out!
[YELLING]
And the design of the Turtles themselves
was drastically altered in service of that change.
The features of the cartoon Turtles,
who were designed by Ira Turek and Peter Chung,
were rounded out to make them softer and cuter.
And their anatomies were made even more human-like like.
The series also made an effort to make
the individual Turtles identifiable
beyond their trademark weapons.
Each turtle started wearing the first letter of their name
on their belt buckle, and even more prominently,
their masks, which had all been red in the comic books,
were now four different colors.
Blue for Leonardo, purple for Donatello,
orange for Michelangelo, and red for Raphael.
It was all a bit jarring for fans of the comic book,
and at the time, many dismissed the cartoon
as an inferior version for children.
But the show was seen by a much wider audience,
and it was that version of the Turtles that became famous.
Aspects of the redesign were migrated back to the comics,
and even some of Eastman and Laird's own art--
like the now iconic covers to the first comics collection--
reflected the new status quo.
But like some sort of ninja turtle storytelling yin
yang, both visions--
the dark comic book version and the light animated version--
would continue to exert a creative pull
on all future incarnations of the franchise.
Here's looking at you, kid.
A great example of this came in 1990 with the first live action
Turtles film.
It told a story based on the early comic books
and took place in a world grittier
than that of the cartoon.
At the same time, the Turtles movie--
realized via actors wearing foam rubber latex suits created
by Jim Henson Creature Shop-- had
inherited their cartoon counterparts' love of pizza
as well as their color coded bandannas.
The film was a massive hit, and the cartoon series--
then in its eighth season-- would undergo a redesign
to make it more like the movie.
The success of the film and its sequels
also spawned a 1997 live action television
show called Ninja Turtles The Next Mutation which leaned more
towards kids.
Looks like Rafi's taken up a little square dancing.
The Turtles of Next Mutation-- which included a fifth female
turtle named Venus de Milo--
were realized through foam rubber suits like the movie
Turtles, but the designs were noticeably different, and most
agreed not for the better.
These Turtles had rounder heads and permanent expressions
that were, well, just weird.
Leonardo and Donatello's masks were also
extended to cover the top of their heads
and Michelangelo's to wrap underneath his chin.
Meanwhile, the badges displaying their respective first
initials, which they wore as belt buckles in the cartoon,
were moved up to adorn the leather
straps they wore across their chests.
The show was canceled after a single season.
Even worse, a disagreement over the controversial Venus de Milo
character, as well as another hypothetical fifth turtle named
Kirby that had been proposed for a movie sequel,
caused a rift between creators Eastman and Laird.
And as a result, the franchise sat dormant for a few years.
But in 2003 the Turtles got a new cartoon.
Because Laird himself was the driving force behind it,
this time the tone stuck much closer
to that of the original comics.
Although what seemed grim and gritty in 2003
may seem quaint by today's standards.
So let's see you boys clean up for a change.
This chamber is filthy.
[GROANING]
The 2003 Turtles were less cute and pudgy
than the '87 versions, and their pupils
were removed, creating this mysterious white eye look
Batman had been sporting for decades.
Well, that was easier than expected.
I hope there are more of those guys.
I'm just getting warmed up.
Despite being a quasi-sequal to the previous live action films,
2007's TMNT from Imagi Animation Studios
was a fully computer generated theatrical feature.
The movie's tone was closer to the dark world
of the original comic, but the Turtles themselves
were redesigned by Jeff Matsuda and Thomas Perkins
to be more round, cute, and kid friendly.
The 2012 CGI cartoon titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
gave the Turtles wider eyes that made them look more kiddish
and oversized forearms and calves that
created the feel of youngsters who hadn't quite filled out
yet.
You think you're tough enough to stand up to my hot nunchuck
fury?
While initially disliked by fans,
the show would ultimately be celebrated as one
of the best Turtles properties.
Nonetheless, the heroes in a half shell
were about to get their most drastic redesign
yet in a 2014 movie produced by Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes.
To signal how physical and action driven they'd be,
the movie's Turtles-- designed by Jared Krichevsky
were bigger and burlier than ever.
At least, some of them were.
Because the other thing the movie
did was start to change up the Turtles' profiles.
Donatello for example, was skinnier than the others,
and Michelangelo was shorter.
But most memorably, the 2014 Turtles
had their most human-like faces of any incarnation
yet, including some seriously weird looking lips.
Dude.
Despite the complete visual overhaul,
Turtles fans were pleasantly surprised
to find the personalities of their heroes mostly intact.
And while critics savaged the movie
like they were in league with Shredder,
it did well enough in the box office to earn a sequel.
Then in 2017, it was back to television
and on to a brand new style of animation
that leaned into the Turtles' fun side.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
used cleverly simplified but highly expressive
character designs that drew on almost
every previous incarnation.
Designed by Andy Suriano, these Ninja Turtles had multi-colored
masks like the '87 versions, different style masks like The
Next Mutation, individualized characteristics like gaps
in their teeth, and non-uniform profiles like in the Michael
Bay produced movie.
And now, 2023's Seth Rogan produced theatrical feature
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant
Mayhem comes to us as a polished up throwback
to the 2012 animated cartoon by the way
of what looks to be an animation style influenced
by Sony's Spider-Verse movies.
Since the arrival of the 1987 cartoon,
the world has had to grapple with the idea
that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
can be more than one thing and look more than one way.
Perhaps because this was so early
in the franchise's lifespan, it meant
that there was never really one single iconic vision
of the Ninja Turtles.
And maybe there never needed to be.
God, I love being a turtle!
So what do you think?
What was your favorite look for the Ninja Turtles,
and how would you change their design if you could?
Let us down in the comments below.
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