The Many, MANY Intros Of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Live-Action One

Not that ninjas from space isn’t cool, but it’s not their origin.

And that was before the upcoming movie…wait a minute! I already did this one as part of the My Not-So-Favorite Intros series. So I can move on to…what? Updated information? Showcasing the UK version because that’s how this series works? Really? Aw shell!

Fine. Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation was Saban’s attempt at trying to do something other than Power Rangers…sort of. Power Rangers, VR Troopers, Masked Rider, and the Beetleborgs had their adventures formed from a mix of Japanese and US footage to create a new show. VR Troopers was put into syndication because some adults got upset about the action in the various Power Rangers shows leading to kids getting hurt playing the adventures. Because as we all know no child ever got hurt role playing characters before Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers came out. While this was the reason given for the lightened tone of Masked Rider and the two Beetleborgs shows…nothing really changed on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, so I’m a bit suspicious.

At any rate, Saban’s next two shows technically kept the Sentai formula without any Japanese footage. Mystic Knights Of Tir Na Nog, who’s intro is so bland it’s not worth any of my intro series, was essentially Power Rangers in a Scottish fantasy realm. Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation already had four Turtles but because Saban was diverse before diverse was shoved down our throats they tossed in a girl Turtle rather than have April or Mona Lisa from the cartoon show up. It was also the first time they stated that the Turtles weren’t related, just in case they wanted to put Venus (original name Mei Pieh Chi, which was too hard for these idiot versions of the boys to say so rather than look up an artist they went with a broken armed statue of a naked woman) into a romance with one of the boys. My money’s on Leonardo, but we aren’t here to talk about how terrible the show was.

Phelous on YouTube already did an episode by episode look at the show or my old Reviewers Unknown colleague The Rowdy Reviewer did an overview if you want to get the jist of why it was crap. Rowdy also did a retrospective on the franchise with a deeper look at the live-action show, and if he can talk about the Next Mutilation twice, I guess I can, too. So…intro!

As I said in the original review of this intro, points to the song for a good summary of the show so you know what’s coming. However, the montage doesn’t really give you any insight into the characters outside of Venus doing magic stuff. They also used a test prop of Leo’s head in the last shot with the fake bandana not colored correctly. I’m also not a fan of the music. It’s like spoken rap, if you understand what I’m trying to say (since rap, including freestyle, is basically speaking in rhythm).

And of course the UK got the same thing but without the “Ninja”.

I will give it this: the “Hero” replacement doesn’t sound as out of place as in other intros. Doesn’t help the intro in any way mind you. What DOES the UK have against ninjas anyway?

For some reason, after Saban got the rights to the show back when Haim Saban launched Saban Brands they opted to make a NEW theme song, but changed none of the visuals. It’s the version from Shout Factory’s DVD set and the one they used in their promo.

When it starts the song almost lines up but somewhere when the “Ninja” part comes up it doesn’t quite fit as well as the “na-na-na-na ninja” part, and feels like it got cut off to fit in the space. It’s too bad. I like this music style more because of the beat, though the song is still speaking more than singing and now it does a terrible job introducing the concept of the show. So even when it wins it loses. Kind of fitting really.

Either way the outro to the show, and I know this is the intro article but I found it interesting, uses a wholly different song.

I’m amused by the Turtles having a band, as one of the few people on Earth who doesn’t hate the Coming Out Their Shells period (in fact I’m not the only one who wishes they just went with those costumes instead of the bulky overmuscled mess they chose), and the giant Venus looking over the rooftop. Of course the UK did their fix.

The song itself: meh. Not really sure what they’re saying in the end part. Put it all together and you get…a one minute video of the full theme song with the Turtles singing their own theme song AND giant Venus?

And that’s it. We’re done here. Nothing else to say about this version’s intro. So next time we FINALLY get to my favorite of the Ninja Turtles series, and this may take a few installments. There are that many intros to go over, so prepare to count them off!