Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the latest cinematic venture for the 80’s comic book sensation and by all accounts looks to be a critical and commercial success.
I fell in love with the OG Turtles from the first three or four issues of the Eastman and Laird run. I’ve appreciated something about every iteration since apart from the Platinum Dunes monstrosities, even Rise, which has great fight scenes. I think the first episode of the ‘87 cartoon is one of the best Turtles stories, period. I think that whole first season was pretty solid, but then it nakedly became a toy commercial. And then that first movie, what an accomplishment. It was the highest-grossing independent movie for quite a while, so I’m not sure how the studio executives said “you know, we should make the sequel absolutely toothless” for Secret of the Ooze. There’s a good movie in there somewhere but I think executive meddling kind of ruined it. Let’s not talk about Turtles in Time. The CGI movie (TMNT) was fun, I was happy it went in a different direction, and that fight between Leo and Raph is iconic. I enjoyed the 2003 series a lot until Shredder became an ancient, mystic force somehow and they wound up going to space a lot and whatever that Battle Nexus was. I feel like they lost the plot at some point, but the early seasons were great adaptations of the comic. In fact, my biggest issue with other iterations of the Turtles is that Shredder became such a crutch. Dude’s in the first issue of the comic and DIES (spoilers?). He turns up again a few years later as a magic-based clone and also DIES and is never heard from again. I really loved the later years of the Archie Adventures series. I miss that ISHT. They were going places with that comic and then, again, cancelled by studio executives after parents complained it was getting too serious. Cowards. I might be the only one who enjoyed the Image run (Volume 3), which IDW recently republished as Urban Legends. To be clear, it’s a mess, but it took some GIANT swings and I appreciated that. IDW let the original team do an ending (since the original run ended before it could be wrapped up) and I’m sad to report the ending was not the best. Everything leading up to it, though, was fun enough. I enjoyed the 2012 Nickelodeon series but, again, Shredder was so omnipresent it got old. The art style took a lot of getting used to. I thought Season 5 is where the writers really took the show in a better direction. That series’ Usagi Yojimbo story is easily my second favorite piece of Turtles animation. It is *chef’s kiss* I haven’t watched much of Rise, but I keep meaning to, if only for the fight scenes, and I’ve heard the movie is very good. The IDW ongoing series has remained incredibly solid through 140-something issues. Gets a little aimless at times but I like the new additions (Jennika!) and revisions of old characters (Rat King, Utroms, Karai, etc.). It has the best versions of Rocksteady & Bebop. I also really enjoyed Last Ronin and have been enjoying The Lost Years way more than I thought I would. I think the best Turtles stories highlight the team’s sibling dynamics, the different personalities bouncing off each other, and just sticking them in new situations and seeing what happens. I appreciate how much every iteration honors the past while doing its own thing. And I have to mention the Konami games. Those are what the turtles are all about.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the best of the lot. Turtles is a great franchise because it’s ALWAYS reinventing itself. No sacred cows. New generation and new ideas. This reboot gets the spirit right. This was made by people who clearly have a lot of love for Kevin Eastman’s & Peter Laird’s creations. It’ll be a fun ride for folks experiencing TMNT for the first time and for those of us who have been fans since back in the day.. It’s radical.