Bet they have to go to the same shoe store as the Rescue Heroes.
Here we go, nearing the end of this article series based on current available TV shows…and this is the most confusing for me. Back when Nickelodeon took over the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise I was curious to see what they did with it. Granted, the 4Kids series kind of spoiled me. I even learned to accept Utrom Shredder because otherwise the show was so good and so faithful to the essence of the source material while doing its own thing, something none of the other shows can boast. Maybe the first movie. It’s something that is dying in modern adaptations, but that’s getting off-topic. When this show aired its first episode…I was not impressed and said so in a review. While I’ve softened on the intro and I’ve heard the story does get good (outside of the Donatello/April/Casey triangle) the first episode just didn’t really do it for me. Even back then I didn’t call it bad, just not something I personally was interested in, and so I went into these intros sight unseen.
This may have proven to be a problem. Trying to figure out these intros was something of a mess. A Turtlepedia entry on the intros mentions eight different sequences. I will not be showing all eight because thankfully this series isn’t about EVERY intro. The international alone would be difficult but what gets me trying to go over these is that there isn’t a lot of differences between them. You’ll have to check the article for the full list of differences between sequences but trying to do them all would feel like going over every object hiding behind the crumbling castle in Dave The Barbarian or each rhyme after “totally insaney” in the Animaniacs intro. It’s not enough. Let’s start with the first one.
Like I said, I softened a bit on the intro from that old pilot review. I’m still not into it but it does a good job of introducing the Turtles being mutated and their various personalities, as well as the villains they fight…which is the only thing they change most seasons. CBS completely changed the original intro twice, and the 4Kids intros not only changed to reflect villains but eventually also refreshed the intros as the show went on. This series…not so much.
That’s supposedly the season three intro, or the third sequence. I’m not sure how that all works because I wasn’t watching at the time. The second season/sequence only changed the villain from just the Shredder to all those other villains but I didn’t see a major change. Here the changes only really come in the second half. The Turtles using bows and arrows and wearing the headpieces for whatever reason they did in the show, some of the battle sequences, and April training with Splinter were the only real changes I picked out on first watch. It’s something of a refresh. I’m not asking for the theme song to be changed. I just want to see some effort, which there really isn’t in the second sequence. Jump backwards with me and I’ll show you.
It takes more than grappling hooks (UK approved) and a villain roster to be a good refresh. I wasn’t even going to show this but I figured I’d be called out if I didn’t. Go rewatch the first intro and point out all the differences. They’re minor and I didn’t catch more than a few. Now season four apparently had a huge change due to where the story had headed, with Earth being destroyed. I really couldn’t find it on YouTube outside of a video that played all the intros as the exact same time to show how few changes there were outside of that season. I had to find it on Facebook and I’m not even sure I can embed it right.
Okay, that seemed to format well enough in the preview. Good thing because I’d have to go to TikTok otherwise. [shudder] Not sure I like the change to Fugitoid, but that’s not what we’re here to discuss. The first half of the intro is replaced by Leonardo setting up the arc’s situation. Earth is bye-bye and the Turtles were saved by good aliens. it’s a good refresh in the second half as each, though that’s by necessity. April now has psychic powers or something. I heard they made her an alien, which the comics apparently did far past where I’m currently reading them, and it sounds just as dumb here frankly. I don’t think April needed to be a space alien or hybrid or whatever. She was learning martial arts from Splinter. That’s already pretty awesome.
Of course, once Earth was restored so was the intro. A bit too restored.
The new villain roster and fight sequences look cooler but otherwise everything is so backwards that April is back on the hammock watching Splinter look off to the side. Have her training with Splinter again at least. You already have that animation. Then again, a new bit of animation using her powers (if she still has them) would have been better but at least have her doing more than sitting on her butt when she’s been shown training previously. Then again, maybe someone else screwed up and this is in the wrong spot. I switched two and three to make a point but this is supposed to be the second half of season two. How do you go backwards in your intro?
The only serious change to the intro outside of the one arc with the Triceratons is the final season. Redubbed Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was the name of one of the Mirage comics, it sound like a coda to the series, a clearing of the board of the various villains the Turtles came up with after the death of Splinter and Shredder. It’s the only other serious refresh to the intro…and I’m not really a fan.
I don’t hate it, I just am not as impressed as I want to be. The new visuals are aesthetically pleasing, the instrumental remix of the theme fits well…but there are some things that don’t work for me. Trying to use catch phrases to showcase each Turtles’ personality works better on paper that it does in execution. There are two teenage female martial artists who almost look like sisters thanks to the cut outs, the villain roster reveal isn’t as cool. I see what they were trying to do and I give them marks for effort, but the execution just didn’t do it for me.
Might I have more affinity for these intros if I had watched the show, or if tracking down that one intro wasn’t such a pain? Perhaps, but some of my favorite shows have had weak intros and some of the shows I’m not interested in have great intros. Between other Many, MANY Intros articles and the My Favorite/Not-So-Favorite Intros series I think I’ve demonstrated that, and will in future installments of both. As far ast this one goes it just doesn’t work for me, and definitely not in the format of this review.
I believe we only have one more intro to go, but I haven’t watched more than a few episodes of the final entry as of post time. Join me next time as we try to “rise” to a new intro.
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