TMNT Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
TMNT Wiki
TMNT Wiki
1,836
pages
in: The Show, The Turtles, Behind-The-Scenes, TV Shows

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV series)

Sign in to edit
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nickolodien Pizza Eating Poster

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an CGI cartoon series developed by the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in the franchise of the same name. A one hour sneak peek was released on September 28, 2012, while the official premiere aired on Nickelodeon on September 29, 2012. The series premiered in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 1, 2012 and in Australia along with New Zealand on October 8, 2012.

The show proved to be popular with both audiences and critics, garnering 3.9 million viewers on its premiere night and hit a ratings high for Nickelodeon with boys 2-11, making it the network's top-rated premiere for an animated series since 2009. During its premiere weekend the series reached nearly 12 million total viewers. The premiere's success prompted Nickelodeon to order a second season and third season in February 2013, the network renewed the show for a third season.

The series makes slight changes to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continuity, notably.

Michelangelo's new catchphrase is "Booyakasha!" instead of "Cowabunga!" and his brother, Raphael, also has an un-mutated pet turtle named Spike. The series follows the four Ninja Turtles living in the sewers of Manhattan, where they're being trained in martial arts by the ratlike Master Splinter. Merchandise based on the series includes a new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles consumer products, and six LEGO sets.

Viacom purchase[]

After Viacom purchased the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in October 2009, a press release was issued unveiling that Nickelodeon would be developing a new CGI-animated television series slated to air in 2012. Though the franchise was brought out from Mirage Studios, the company is still able to publish up to 18, 48 paged black and white TMNT comics a year. Additionally, toy products would continue to be made through Playmates and the rumors of a new live-action TMNT movie were put to rest as the company also revealed that they'd be making a film for 2012 with Paramount Pictures, though the date has seen been pushed back.

Development[]

TMNT first poster

First initial promotional poster.

At the time, details on the series were scarce. From March 2011, new details about the show were released to the public. Ciro Nieli, executive producer, cited that the series would be slightly different than past incarnations. The turtles will now have "more individual attributes" that will tell them apart, wereas previously they could only be distinguished by the color of their masks, the color of their skin and their weapons. Also, Michelangelo's traditional nunchaku would be replaced by kusari-gama. Along with this wealth of new information, a first glimpse of the show was released alongside an initial promotional image.

More information was unveiled at an invite-only fan event in March 2010. These details, however, were from a work-in-progress version of the series, and have the opportunity to change in the final product. Some details that have been made known, however, including a teenage April O'Neil, Hamato Yoshi becoming Master Splinter, and The Kraang, an homage to many different entities in TMNT lore (Kraang/Utroms/Foot Soldiers). The series is said to have the dark elements and intense action of the 2003 TV series, but still have the jokes of the 1987 series while still being something of its own.

Second ever TMNT poster

Later promotional poster.

Images of the turtles, Master Splinter, April, Shredder and the Kraang have all been revealed. Some confirmed changes to the series are Donatello having a strong crush on April, Master Splinter being younger and having a more active role in the series, and Splinter training April to be a ninja so she can go out and battle enemies with the turtles. Mikey and Don can also extend their weapons into blades. Leonardo will also still be the skilled leader, albeit younger than Don and Raph, (who will still be a hot-head).

Sometime in March 2011, a micro site for the new series was leaked on Nickelodeon's website. The micro site revealed pictures of April, Shredder, the Kraang, and Splinter with bios for all of them. The site was shut down for some time, but as of June 2011, it is back up and features a personality quiz, bios for the turtles, a newsletter, a new game called TMNT: Dark Horizons, and the new trailer for the series. Merchandise for the series is already starting to get made, including action figures from Playmates Toys which will be released in August 2011, a set of stickers, Halloween costumes, and books based off the series.

An official trailer was released on June 23, 2011 and aired on Nickelodeon the following Saturday. The trailer revealed the turtle's new voices, the animation, and that the theme song of the new show will be a remixed/remade version of the original theme song from the 1987 cartoon.

Casting[]

Jason Biggs originally voiced Leonardo and Rob Paulsen, who voiced Raphael in the 1987 series, portrays Donatello. In June 2011, it was confirmed that Sean Astin is playing Raphael and Greg Cipes is Michelangelo. In August 2011, it was revealed that Mae Whitman would be the voice for April O'Neil. In April 2012, it was announced that Phil Lamarr would be playing the role of Baxter Stockman and Nolan North would be playing a race of aliens known as The Kraang. Actress Kelly Hu confirmed her role as Karai in May 2012.

Nickelodeon has ordered three seasons, all of which will have 26 episodes. Season 1 premiered on September 29, 2012. The premiere of season 2 was on October 12 2013. Season 3 has been announced on February 26, 2013. Season 4 has been announced on June 17, 2014. Season 5 has been announced on March 2, 2017, which will serve the end of the series,

Production crew[]

Trivia[]

  • According to CBR, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 TV series is ranked to be the best TMNT TV show for sixteen reasons.
  • This is the first series in which each Turtle has a definitive spotting detail, beyond the colored bandanas-masks, skin color, and weapons:
    • Michelangelo has freckles, a childlike face, and is the shortest.
    • Donatello has a gap between his front teeth and is the tallest and leanest of the brothers.
    • Raphael has a lightning bolt chip broken off on the top right of his plastron. He is also the 2nd shortest.
    • Leonardo has, for the most part, been unchanged, but if one looks closely, it can be seen that his skin is a darker shade of green than the others, and he's also the second tallest.
    • They all have different mask lengths, in order from longest to shortest: Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo, and Michelangelo.
    • The Turtles all have distinct eye colors. Raphael has green, Donatello has reddish brown, and Michelangelo and Leonardo both have blue eyes, though Mikey's are a lighter shade of blue than Leo's.
    • On another note, they all have pupils except when they become serious in some segments, to when they have white, empty eyes.
    • Each Turtle's head is distinctly shaped.
  • All the Turtles have their own skateboard, which was shown in a trailer.
  • The Turtles start off as 15 years old in this series, though it is obvious Leonardo is the oldest, followed by Raphael, then Donatello, and finally Michelangelo being the youngest.
  • They have three toes on each foot instead of two like in previous incarnations.
  • They don't have visible tails like in some previous incarnations.
  • They have different color wraps on their feet and wrists with Leonardo having light peach, Donatello having golden brown, Michelangelo having light brown, and Raphael having dark brown.
  • Leonardo's favorite television series, Space Heroes, has similar art and story to the Filmation Star Trek animated series. However, it was replaced in the second season by Super Robo Mecha Force Five!.
  • The romantic element of the story is more emphasized in this series, with each turtle developing a crush on someone (primarily Donatello and April O'Neil, although Raphael and Mona Lisa are the only confirmed couple by the end of the series).
  • This is the second incarnation of Shredder to be voiced by an African-American actor. James Avery was the villain voice for most of the 1987 TV series' run, along with Dorian Harewood, who voiced him for several Season 3 episodes. This Shredder is played by Kevin Michael Richardson.
  • The show tends to shift into three different styles, mainly the mouth movement.
  • The show's opening ends with the Turtles in the same poses as the original Turtles on the cover of the very first issue of the Mirage Studios' comic book.
  • Just like in the original comics, the 1987 TV series and the 2003 TV series showed that a young boy purchased the TMNT when they were still baby turtles, but in this version, it's Hamato Yoshi the one who bought them.
  • This is the third TV series to show the Ninja Turtles as little preteen kids.
  • There are two references to Megan Fox, April O'Neil actress in the Paramount Pictures TMNT films, one made by Kraang Subprime in a 2016 episode and by Mikey in a 2017 episode.
  • So far, this is the only CGI television series within TMNT media, while the other three animated series use 2D animation.
  • This was the first TV series for TMNT where the audience can distinguish the Turtles by their different physical appearance, the second being Rise of the TMNT.
    • The 2012 Turtles are still the same species, whereas they're different species in Rise of the TMNT.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More TMNT Wiki