Taking a hit from UK censors, a court battle with "The Howdy Doody Show,” and a very real negative
impact on our ecosystem. You won’t believe the truth behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The Turtles made their first appearance in May 1984, in the pages of their self-titled
comic. Co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird self-published their reptilian romp
under the banner of Mirage Studios, a name they reportedly chose because they had no
actual publishing company. When the turtles' popularity began to boom alongside the release
of their first cartoon in 1987, Archie Comics launched their own comic book series — "Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures" — to capitalize on the show's success.
The Turtles' original Mirage series ran for two volumes. A third volume — which was brutal,
violent, and largely considered by fans to be non-canon — was published under Image Comics in
1996. The series returned to the Mirage fold for Volume 4, which ran from 2001 to 2014.
A tie-in comic to the 2003 TV series was published by Dreamwave, which only lasted for seven issues.
IDW Publishing has also been putting out a TMNT comic since 2011, which has had more than 250
issues to date. Aside from their ongoing series, the Turtles have also made crossover appearances
in comics published by Dark Horse, Boom! Studios, and DC. However, the Turtles have yet to
officially appear in the Marvel universe — which is ironic, considering how their very first story
was written in a way that tied in to the origin of the Hero of Hell's Kitchen himself, Daredevil.
Any TMNT fan is familiar with their origin story: Four turtles in the New York sewers end up in the
care of Splinter, a martial arts expert who is also a rat. When a canister of radioactive ooze
falls into the sewers, transforming the Turtles and their master, the newly mutated ninja warrior
names his four adopted sons after Renaissance artists and teaches them how to fight. However,
there have been at least two significant occasions where the crime-fighting quartet
welcomed a fifth mutant Turtle to their team — and in both instances, that new member was a girl.
The 1997 TV show "Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation" introduced a major change to the
TMNT mythos in the form of Venus de Milo, the fifth Turtle. Venus apparently mutated
alongside the other four, but was adopted and raised by a Chinese Shinobi master.
She wore a braided light blue mask, and was a skilled magic practitioner.
She didn't quite catch on; in fact, legend has it that Peter Laird hated
her with such a passion that he banned her from appearing in any future Turtles adaptations.
About two decades later, a fifth Turtle would join the group once again,
but this time a little differently. First appearing in 2015's "Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles" #51, the IDW series introduced Jennika, a former assassin who was mutated into a turtle
when Leonardo and Donatello gave her an emergency blood transfusion to save her life.
She wears a yellow bandana and uses a pair of claws evocative of the Marvel hero Wolverine.
The Turtles successfully took the pop culture world by storm in the '90s,
but that doesn't mean the franchise didn't have to make some compromises along the way.
One of the most infamous examples is the retitling of the series — and the replacement of one of
the leads' signature weapons — in order to make it past censors in the United Kingdom.
Throughout the 80s and 90s, the British government was particularly iffy about portrayals of violence
in various forms of media. For some reason, the idea of the ninja — a stealthy assassin
from halfway across the globe — just didn't sit right with UK censors. That was why,
in the UK and other European countries, they were known as the "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles."
The show's name wasn't the only adjustment that TMNT — or TMHT — had to make for
British audiences, though. UK censors also weren't too keen on Michelangelo's nunchucks,
weapons strongly associated with ninjas. Therefore, Michelangelo's main weapon in the
cartoon was changed to become a grappling hook. This censorship rule also necessitated a rather
odd edit in the 1991 movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze":
Censors mandated that a scene showing Michelangelo swinging sausage links
as makeshift weapons be cut from the final film. An amusing note from the censors read:
"Reduce to minimum dazzling display of swinging sausages indistinguishable from chainsticks."
"Ha ha! And next time I'll use mustard! Heh heh heh."
When the Ninja Turtles first jumped onto the scene, it seemed like the
franchise could do no wrong. The cartoon was a massive hit, the movies made fans happy,
and toy sales were off the charts. That's likely what brought about
the idea of a live concert tour, sponsored and promoted by Pizza Hut.
In 1990, the "Coming Out of Our Shells" tour featured the four Turtles trading in
their ninja weapons for musical instruments. Leonardo was on the bass guitar, Raphael was
on the drums, Donatello was the keyboardist, and Michelangelo was the guitarist and lead singer.
An actual band — dressed up in infamously bad TMNT costumes with denim vests — went
on a year-long tour across the United States, performing original songs on stage.
Their first performance was a live pay-per-view broadcast from Radio City Music Hall in New York.
The central story of the musical tour revolved around the Turtles' nemesis,
the Shredder, and his plan to steal the world's music. Needless to say,
the "Coming Out of Our Shells" tour certainly wasn't a highlight of the TMNT fandom,
even though it was successful enough to merit a smaller follow-up tour in 1992.
Most people know Chuck Lorre [LORE-ee] for his work on popular sitcoms such
as "Roseanne," "Two and a Half Men," and "The Big Bang Theory." However,
one of the lesser-known accomplishments of the "King of Sitcoms" was a major
contribution to TMNT's popularity: He wrote the iconic theme song from the 1987 cartoon.
In an interview with IndieWire, Lorre shared how, three decades ago, he and his co-writer
Dennis Brown were faced with an incredibly short turnaround time for the song, saying,
"We wrote it in an afternoon and we recorded it in an evening."
At the time, Lorre was trying to kick-start his career by writing songs and scripts for TV shows,
and was particularly interested in the Turtles gig. Someone else got the job at first,
but when they didn't complete the task on time, the production team had no choice but to contact
Lorre and give him the assignment on a tight 48-hour timeline.
Lorre and Brown read the Mirage comics for inspiration, then made the most out of their
meager $2,000 budget by booking a studio in Los Angeles from midnight until 8 AM.
Lorre also revealed that originally, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon was
only going to last for six episodes. He said of the show's lasting legacy,
"The fact that the song still means anything to anyone anywhere is just
wonderful… It's become this phenomenon I'm very proud to be attached to."
The worldwide popularity of the TMNT franchise has allowed for some truly diverse interpretations
of the characters. Perhaps one of the best examples was the Japanese animated special
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Legend of the Supermutants," also known as "Mutant Turtles:
Superman Legend." This two-part, direct-to-video original video animation was released in 1996,
and was created as a companion cartoon to the Metal Mutant and Supermutant action figures. The
limited series also brought back some of the voice actors from the Japanese dub of the 1987 cartoon.
"Legend of the Supermutants" sees the four Turtles gaining the ability to transform into armored
"Super Turtles" through the use of mystical gems called MutaStones. Their evil counterparts — the
Shredder, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady — could also transform using the MutaStones; with Shredder
in particular having a striking dragon-like alternate form. Further strengthening the
comparisons between "Legend of the Supermutants", it also borrows from tokusatsu [toh-koo-SAH-tsoo]
tropes by allowing the Super Turtles to merge into a stronger entity called the Turtle Saint.
The second part was even more bizarre, depicting the four Turtles as having the power to shift
into elemental animal forms through the use of mystical suits of armor called Metal Beasts.
The cover of Marvel's "Captain America Comics" #1
features the Sentinel of Liberty punching Adolf Hitler in the face,
a powerful image that immediately tells the reader who Steve Rogers is and what he stands
for. Interestingly enough, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle had a similar encounter in the comics — one
that, in the Turtles' reality, actually helped put an end to the second World War.
In Issue #64 of Archie Comics' "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures," the future versions
of Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael use a Time-Slip Generator to go back to the
past and stop a human brain in a robot suit from wreaking havoc. They land in Nazi Germany, where
they learn that the brain powering their robot adversary belonged to the mad tyrant himself.
A scuffle quickly ensues, during which the one-eyed future Raph ["raff"] gets
the opportunity to deck the dictator in the dome. Upon retrieving the brain,
the Turtles quickly open up a portal to their own time, but not before convincing
Hitler that they're actually brain-snatching "demons." In a vain attempt to foil their plans,
Hitler responds by promptly pulling out a Luger and blowing his brains out.
Ask any longtime fan of TMNT to tell you a single word that they connect with the series,
and there's a good chance they'll respond with one particularly iconic catchphrase:
"Cowabunga!"
A nonsensical term coined by Buffalo Bob Smith for "The Howdy Doody Show" in 1949, surfers began to
popularize the phrase in the 1960s. There's no doubt, however, that the Turtles' use of
"Cowabunga" helped cement the term's popularity in the eyes — and mouths — of the general public.
According to David Wise, head writer of the 1987 TMNT series,
he wrote "Cowabunga!" into Michelangelo's dialogue to give him some added character,
but when the party-loving reptile uttered the phrase in the pilot episode,
it just clicked — and "Cowabunga!" became the Turtles' battle cry.
However, this prompted Buffalo Bob to sue Eastman and Laird for their use of the term he invented.
They eventually settled out of court for $50,000, but due to its enduring popularity in the TMNT
mythos, the phrase continues to pop up in different onscreen incarnations of the team.
The most popular species of pet turtle in the world is arguably the red-eared slider.
Their cheap price and availability made them easily obtainable in the U.S. until 1975,
when concerns about salmonella negatively impacted the turtle trade. However, less than two decades
later, the demand for pet turtles soared anew because of the TMNT phenomenon — and worsened a
major invasive species problem that continues to plague the world's ecosystems to this very day.
Based on reports cited by the U.S. Geological Survey, there is,
indeed, a direct connection between the TMNT "television cartoon craze," as they called it,
and the sudden boom in red-eared slider populations worldwide. U.S. turtle exports
from 1989 to 1997 experienced a staggering 257 percent increase as thousands of children across
the world begged their parents for their very own turtle pets at home. There was a problem,
though: When young pet owners often decided that they no longer wanted the responsibility
of caring for their turtles, they would release them into nearby lakes or rivers.
Unfortunately, red-eared sliders are infamous not just for their tendency to carry disease, but also
for being bigger and more competitive than many native turtle species. When an invasive species
is introduced into a new environment, it usually spells doom for other species in the ecosystem;
in fact, invasive species are the second greatest driver of biodiversity loss worldwide.
The seeds of the TMNT franchise were planted in 1983, thanks to a random
illustration that Kevin Eastman sketched while he was staying at Peter Laird's place.
At the time, they were working on a different comic, but the ridiculousness
of Eastman's doodle — a turtle wearing a bandana and standing on two legs,
with a pair of nunchucks strapped to his arms — made them reconsider their priorities. While
the other turtles would come to fruition soon after, it was Michelangelo that started it all.
Michelangelo is often portrayed across various media adaptations as the least
serious among the Turtles, the comic relief that balances out Leonardo's stoicism,
Raphael's ill temper, and Donatello's awkward nerdiness. In most iterations,
he's also the least skilled fighter, despite his tremendous unrealized potential. Perhaps
that's why Eastman and Laird thought it would be appropriate for him to be the
lone surviving Turtle in a dystopian future story that they'd been planning since 1987.
The 2020 comic series "TMNT: The Last Ronin" features a much older Michelangelo,
on a mission to avenge his brothers after they were killed by descendants of the Shredder.
Armed with his brothers' weapons, this Michelangelo is violent,
fearless, and determined to take out the Foot clan once and for all.
There's something very unsettling about seeing the class clown in a different, more brutal light.
Aside from serving as a love letter to the various versions of the TMNT,
the 2009 animated film "Turtles Forever" made one thing clear: In every universe that has the
Turtles, there's an iteration of the villainous Shredder to serve as their foil. However,
this wasn't always meant to be the case, if the first-ever TMNT story is any indication.
In their 1984 debut, the Turtles faced off against the Shredder — also known as Oroku Saki — in a
rooftop battle that ended in his off-screen death. Some time later, the villain returned to pester
the Turtles anew, resurrected by the Foot clan. In a final showdown, Leonardo managed to cut off
the Shredder's head, seemingly killing him for good, but The Shredder's specter would continue
to haunt the brothers, however, with Raphael even adopting the villain's mantle at one point.
Of course, in virtually every other incarnation of the Turtles, the Shredder has been portrayed as
their main antagonist. Nowadays, many recognize the Shredder as the yin to the Turtles' yang,
like the Joker to Batman or Lex Luthor to Superman. Not too bad
for a guy named after an office machine and covered with glorified cheese graters.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Looper videos about your favorite Turtles are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.