TV Reviews - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

I loved the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was growing up. I had several of the old VHS tapes, and I would watch them over and over, and the TMNT action figures were some of the first that I ever actually collected from the store, unlike Transformers which I primarily bought from garage sales. I loved the characters, even if they were simple and stereotypical and a complete product of the times (cowabunga anyone?), and what passed for science in the show was laughable at best and totally suspension-of-disbelief-shattering at worst, but there was just something about the premise that worked. I also wholly believe that this show is responsible for my unnatural love of pizza. I enjoyed the live action movies as well, both of them (third movie, what third movie?). Needless to say I get excited whenever something TMNT is announced (unless it has Michael Bay's name on it).

I liked the reboot in 2003. Supposedly it took queues from the comics or something, but I never really read those. It was good though. Not great, but good. It was an attempt to make the turtles more serious, and it mostly succeeded at that, but it lacked the humor that made the show fun when I was young, and the story just got way too convoluted way too fast in later seasons. Then there was the TMNT cg animated movie that was basically an indirect sequel to that series, and it was pretty good too, though I really felt that the conflicts between the turtles were too overblown and forced and it took something away from the movie for me. So I waited patiently for a version of the turtles to come along that was modern, serious, and captured the spirit of the original, all at once. I knew it would happen. TMNT had already proven itself to be a franchise that lasts. So I waited, and my waiting paid off.

The recent 2012 TMNT series on Nick is everything I could have hoped for and more. The characters are simultaneously similar to the old '80's characters and more developed, making them more interesting to modern audiences, and the villains remind me of the villains in the recent series Transformers Prime: they still resemble their original iterations and draw queues from them, but they are infinitely more threatening. The storyline is interesting and complex enough to develop for as long as the writers wish to develop it, and the twists rarely disappoint. Not only that, but we're getting a look at the turtles a little bit earlier in their training, so they actually feel rough and unfinished. They actually feel like teenagers.

I love this show. It is my childhood literally migrated into my adulthood, and more successfully than I think any show has done before. Anyone who liked the '80's turtles or just liked '80's cartoons in general should really check this one out. The only thing about it that takes some getting used to is the animation, but once you get into it you'll really appreciate how well it works. It's not quite a perfect show, there are still some notes that fall flat, but this show is truly deserving of a 9 out of 10.