Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was nothing short of a phenomenon. When the turtles came onto the scene in the late 80′s, jumping from the comic books to the hallowed halls of children’s programming, they literally could not pump out the merchandise fast enough to meet the demand. They came with such an explosive impact that the powers that be had to scramble in order to strike while the iron was hot.
And BOY was the iron hot. It was nuclear HOT. TMNT was a cash cow, bringing in tons of money whether it was in the form of toys, video games, board games, movies, costumes, or freakin’ breakfast cereal! Millions of young boys were privileged to include the likeness of TMNT in just about every facet of their day to day lives.
The Movies
Did you know that the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie, released in 1990 was an independent movie? That’s right, it had no major studio backing! And did you know that it was the highest grossing independent movie of all time? That’s right, it made over $133 million dollars, and was unbeaten as the king of independent movies until The Blair Witch Project came out in 1999.
Simply put, part of the reason that the TMNT franchise was so powerful in the early 90′s was because of the first movie. In my opinion, that movie is SEVERLY underrated. True, the original cartoon series that ran from 1987 to 1996 was the main reason that many of us got into the franchise, but it was the movie that made the Turtles larger than life. It was the movie that was THE turtle event of 1990, and thus ushered in the era of TMNT.
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And then the second movie came out, and turned out to be highly successful, but not nearly as much as the first movie. Maybe this was the reason that the budget was scaled back so much for the third movie? Whatever the reason is, the third TMNT movie is a horrible, awful piece of cinematic audacity. Here’s a list of things that the Third Movie did wrong:
Casey Jones’ relationship with April O’Neal isn’t revived and his absence isn’t explained!
One of the major plotlines of the first movie was the romantic subplot of Apri O’Neal and Casey Jones. They spent a GOOD chunk of the movie developing this romance between the two, which finally culiminated with the two sharing a kiss one minute before the end of the film. This was one of the VERY last events of the movie that they repeatedly teased as soon as they put the two characters in the same room.
And then… boom! Casey Jones is a complete no-show in the second movie. Where did he go? Nobody knows. And when he’s brought back in the third movie, nothing is explained whatsoever, and the relationship subplot with April O’Neal is completely forgotten about. What gives?
Keno wasn’t brought back!
If you remember, Keno was the teenage pizza delivery boy introduced at the beginning of the second movie. He has an extensive knowledge of martial arts, and is quite eager to help out the turtles in their fight against Shredder and the Foot Clan. Not only does he help Raphael (More about that shortly) to find the Foot HQ, but he is able to save a bystander from being attacked by Shredder at the end of the movie.
And then…boom! Keno is nowhere to be found in the third movie. After teasing that his fight was yet to come, and that he would go on to greater importance, Keno just vanishes from the movie series and never comes back. It is implied that Keno would have a great deal to learn from Splinter regarding patience and wisdom, but nothing ever comes of it. And speaking of Splinter…
They recast Splinter!
Kevin Clash, who is more famous for voicing the Sesame Street character Elmo, was the puppeteer and voice actor for Splinter in the first two movies. And his voice was perfect for Splinter. Unfortunately, they ditched Clash and gave him some lame cartoony voice for the third movie.
Raphael And Leonardo Get Along Just Fine!
And finally, this was a storyline that was building throughout the entire series. It starts with Raphael’s annoyance that the turtles aren’t taking action and seeking the Foot Clan after they kidnap Splinter. Raphael questions Leonardo’s leadership, and storms out. This happens again in the second movie when Leonardo makes the decision to find a place to live before going and looking for the newly reformed Foot Clan. And in this instance, Raphael actually manages to FIND the Foot Clan, thanks to the help of Keno.
And then…boom! Nothing comes of this interesting plot line. Raphael and Leonardo get along just fine in the third movie, and don’t have any fundamental disagreement between themselves.
And So… The Conclusion.
In the third movie, I would have done any number of things differently. First of all, I would have brought back Keno, and built on the subplot established between Leonardo and Raphael. Raphael would have decided to confront the last remnants of the Foot Clan, along with Casey Jones, Keno, and April O’Neal.
I would have revealed that Casey Jones disappeared in the second movie, because he had spent time in Japan investigating the Japanese branch of the Foot Clan, at the request of April. Upon the discovery that the Foot is still very much alive in Japan, Raphael plans to go after them, and comes to blows with Leonardo and Splinter over this. Splinter urges patience, yet Raphael won’t have any of it, and takes Keno, Casey, and April with him to disrupt the Japanese Foot.
Of course, anything would have been better than what they went with for the third movie. Simply put, they dropped the ball… HARD on the third movie. I’m not the only person who feels this way… check out The Angry Video Game Nerd’s review of the movie right here.
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Do you agree? Disagree? Would you like to take your day to day frustrations out on a total stranger who writes on a blog? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes” then by all means, leave a reply!
Also, read up on my other geeky guy articles, such as “Disney Buys Marvel, Marvel Sells Out!“, or “The Influence Of Mystery Science Theater 3000“!
And remember to check out the buzz regarding the new Instrumental Album, “Anti-Social” coming out 3/20/10!
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At my age, a part of me feels silly commenting on this. And yet, I have to, although I can’t talk about the third movie because I didn’t see it.
I didn’t see it because the second movie was so horrible compared to the first one. Man, I loved that first one so much that I watched it over and over again. The second one; ugh. I didn’t like how anyone looked, I didn’t like how emasculated Splinter seemed, I didn’t like how positively cartoonish the villain seemed, and I hated that Vanilla Ice was in it in a stupid capacity also. Come on, they’re rapping while one of the big fight scenes was going on; ugh again.
Sometimes there’s so much charm in a first movie that a second can’t touch it. I hear that’s what happened when they tried to create Blair Witch II; at that point the mystery was gone, so why try to go back to that?
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You are right. The First is the best and the only one I own. The fact that It was Indepedent gave it the “realness” quality. After that, I think they took the “cartoonish” approach. That created a downward spiral. And Vanilla Ice appeared for who knows how much money. They knew that the second would sell because the first did so well. And followed with an ugly sequel. Ha! Sounds like you have a basis for a script Trey- a good one two. Dont forget that other movie that was released as a play…. “Comin Out of our Shell” I believe It was calked. Oh the humor.