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August 5, 2023

Saturday Night Showcase> The Original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon

I’m still annoyed that Paramount decided to pull down INTROS to the original series (I should check after this to see if they’re still up) but when am I going to get a chance to highlight the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series?

Yeah, by now you know the characters’ origins but Playmates enters the scenes and sees toys for kids, since adult collecting of action figures really wasn’t a thing back in the 1980s. At least not at today’s level. The show, produced by Fred Wolf Productions, changed almost everything, so technically it’s a bad adaptation of the comics if not for the fact that the personalities, flattened a bit for the audience and format mind you, are still there. Leonardo’s in charge, Donatello makes gadgets, Michelangelo is the fun-loving one, though Raphael’s tempers was toned down to just the snarky one. They opted to make Splinter into Hamato Yoshi rather than his pet so they didn’t have to kill off the human, which is also why fighting over a woman was replaced with fighting for control of the Foot Clan. Interestingly the movie would restores all of those changes, except that Oroku Nagi and Oroku Saki were now the same character and Tang Shen just didn’t want Yoshi to risk fighting him.

Tonight, thanks to Nickelodeon’s official YouTube channel, we get to see the first five episode, originally released as a miniseries. There are some changes to note, and I will after the video embed, but it’s still the original miniseries after the later edits to match the series, like episode title cards. Also, they changed the intro. The miniseries used the same version as the original series, but I guess somebody couldn’t get access to that one so they simply re-recorded it. Enjoy.

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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on August 5, 2023 in Animation Spotlight, Comic Spotlight, Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged 1980s, Fred Wolf Productions, kids TV, Saturday Night Showcase, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1980s cartoon).

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August 5, 2023

“Yesterday’s Comic> The Blue Beetle #20

Now he’s not even on his own cover. Unless that’s Spunky disguised as a Japanese war propaganda stereotype.

The Blue Beetle #20

Sorry.

The NEW Blue Beetle #20

Holyoke Publishing Co. (April, 1943)

There are two versions up at Comic Book+. I’m using the “alt” version since it appears to be cleaner. Follow along with me here.

I have to wonder if Holyoke was trying to kick Dan Garret off of his own title at this point. Now he’s not even on the cover, which proclaims itself to be the “New” Blue Beetle comic. The Beetle is only in two stories, one in the front and the other buried in other stories. Just end the title and do an anthology not named after one of the characters. You decided to continuing the Fox numbering and use the character.

Frankly, I’m surprised the character lasted long enough for Fox Features to get him back.

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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on August 5, 2023 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged Arabian Knights, Blue Beetle, Dan Garret, Duke De Montray, Flying Squadron, Holyoke Publishing, Sinbad The Sailor.

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August 4, 2023

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!

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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on August 4, 2023 in Ninja Turtles and tagged Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Saban Entertainment, TV intros.

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August 4, 2023

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Stan Sakai Builds Characters

“Let’s see Kenshin pull this off.”

Stan Sakai Builds Characters

Dark Horse Comics (June, 2015)

This is an anthology series featuring some of Sakai’s work for Dark Horse. It’s the fourth in a series of “Dark Horse Builds Characters” tributes to indie creators’ with numerous great stories under their belts. With five stories, three of which involves his most famous character of rabbit samurai Usagi Yojimbo, I’m just going to speed through these reviews.

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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on August 4, 2023 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged 47 Ronin, Dark Horse Comics, Miyamoto Usagi, Nilson Groundthumper, Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo.

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August 4, 2023

BW’s Daily Video> Do You Not Know The Point Of Villains?

Catch more from Comics By Perch on YouTube

Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on August 4, 2023 in Marvel Spotlight and tagged Comics By Perch, Hellfire Gala, supervillains, Villain, X-Men.

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August 3, 2023

Why Superheroes Keep Their Secret Identity From Their Friends

No, this isn’t me going on another My Adventures With Superman commentary. I’ve said my peace on that and why I personally have no interest in it, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing. I’m sure Casually Comics is putting together a history of Lois learning Clark is Superman (or trying to learn–one of the recurring Silver Age stories is Lois trying to do stupid things to prove Clark is Superman only to look like an idiot) right now. I will say that in the fifth episode of a show in which they’re both interns and not reporters, have known each other maybe a few months tops in-universe, and as Clark noted she’s always out to expose Superman’s secrets–and the girl has a history of NOT trusting Clark will help her without lying–this is all happening way too soon. They couldn’t possibly have the time to trust each other the way previous versions of the characters have in continuities that have lasted longer. Watching the romance develop is more interesting that BOOM! LOVE! that the show is going for.

All that over with it’s still not the best “Clark tells Lois the truth” scene in Superman fiction. This is.

That never stops being funny.

Instead I want to look into Superman’s motivation, and that of other superheroes, as to why they keep the identity a secret from their loved ones. Some years ago I already posted a debate between Scott Niswander back when NerdSync was Comic Misconceptions and Ricky of Stewdippen about whether or not a superhero should even have a secret identity. My point of view, as voiced there, hasn’t changed.

So what do I think? If I had superpowers I’d probably follow Scott’s advice and go the secret identity route. It would be easier to go shopping without the paparazzi, have my deed do all the speaking, except when I did some public speaking somewhere which is where I tell the kids anyone can do it, the symbol can be more powerful (depending how I “brand” myself), and keeping my family safer from criminals or rouge government agents is a good thing. Plus it would be kind of fun keeping it a secret, except for a select few because you know I support a support network of non super friends to keep me human instead of pseudo-god.

I could go more into that in the future but shouldn’t you tell all your family and friends you’re a superhero so you don’t have to have to keep coming up with excuses? Well, like the secret identity itself it varies from hero to hero and I could do a whole series going into why each hero maintains a secret identity. Why you don’t tell everyone you know is what’s interesting me at the moment.

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