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I decided to revisit all the TMNT movies, TV shows and video games and put together a personal Top Ten list. So, if you're looking to recreate some of that Turtle Power from your youth, let me make a few recommendations. From worst to first, here is my power ranking of all things TMNT:10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
I honestly consider this one of the worst movies of all time. It starts off when Michaelangelo picks up an old scepter that randomly sends the Turtles back in time to Japan in the year 1603. While they are there, the Turtles (along with April) hang out for a bit, make some bad jokes, battle "Lord Norinaga" and then randomly time travel back home.
If you've never seen this before, don't waste your time. The plot makes no sense, there's hardly any action, the jokes are terrible and the Turtles' mouths don't even sync up with the dialogue. This was such an epic fail that we didn't see another Turtles movie for fourteen years when the series was rebooted in 2007...
Best Part: None
9. TMNT (2007)
In 2007, the Turtles were rebooted in CGI. They team up with Casey Jones to battle a group of monsters from another dimension. It's a little out there, but it's a nice change of pace instead of fighting Shredder for the ten millionth time. There's also a fight scene between between two of the Turtles, Raph and Leo - which is a first for the series.
However, it's not very memorable and the CGI looks very dated for being only seven years old. At times, it looks like a bad Nintendo 64 game. It's worth checking out if you can watch it for free, just don't be expecting much.
Best Part: The corny jokes:
Casey Jones: "Hey Raph, I'm up here on the roof."
Raphael: "What is it?"
Casey Jones: "It's the thing on top of the house. C'mon who doesn't know what a roof is?"
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES - 1989)
Lots of people hate on this game because it's too hard and confusing - which I'll certainly concede. For me though, TMNT has a special nostalgia factor as it was one of the first NES games I had as a kid.
The game starts off pretty easy with boss fights against Bebop and Rocksteady. But the next level is insanely difficult - it's the infamous underwater level with the bombs and deadly seaweed. As a kid, I could just barely get past this level and would always die soon after.
Overall, this was a great game it was just way, way too hard - at least for the target audience. I'm sorry, but there's just no way in hell any six year-old kids were completing this in 1988.
Best Part: Finally defeating Shredder twenty five years later...Over the past year, I've gotten into collecting old school NES games. I've went back and beat all the other Turtles games no problem - but this one was tough as hell. It took a month of playing every night, but when I finally defeated Shredder - it was awesome! I can't explain how amazing it felt to finish this game after twenty five years of falling short.
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
'Secret of the Ooze' starts where the first Turtles movie left off. The Turtles think Shredder is dead and we first see them fighting bad guys with their new friend Keno (the pizza delivery guy). Meanwhile, Shredder is alive and has found the mutagen ooze that created the Turtles. He uses the ooze on a wolf and snapping turtle to create Tokka and Rahzar.
Fun Fact: Supershredder is played by pro wrestler Kevin Nash
After the Turtles defeat Tokka and Rahzar, Shredder drinks the ooze himself and doubles in size to become "Supershredder". He gets too big for his own good and "dies" when he knocks out the support beams of an old warehouse, causing the building to collapse on top of him. It's kind of vague whether or not Shredder dies in this last scene (just like 'TMNT 1'), but since he's not in 'TMNT III' - I'm going to assume he's dead.
In a lot of ways, 'TMNT 2' reminds me of 'Gremlins 2' (another one of my favs) - it's not as dark as the original, has cheesier jokes, celebrity cameos and even makes fun of itself at times. But if you take it for what it is - it's a lot of fun.
Best Part: Before the final battle with Shredder, the Turtles end up in a bar where Vanilla Ice is performing. They join him onstage and he goes into a freestyle called 'Ninja Rap'. Sadly, this was the second most successful song of Vanilla Ice's career.
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES - 1992)
The Manhattan Project begins with the Turtles vacationing in Florida. They're just chillin by the beach one day when Shredder takes Manhattan hostage and turns it into a floating island. To save the city, the Turtles have to battle their way back to Manhattan and face Shredder in the Technodrome.
In several ways, this is better than 'Turtles II: The Arcade Game'. The plot is more interesting, the graphics are better and so are the controls. My only complaint is that it's SO similar to part II, it feels more like an extension of part II than its own game.
Every TMNT video game ends the same way:
Fight Shredder. Save April. Roll Credits.
Fight Shredder. Save April. Roll Credits.
It's still an awesome game, but 'TMNT II' will always be considered better because it came first and had a much bigger impact.
Best Part: Playing with a friend. 'TMNT III' is the perfect game to play with a friend on a lazy Sunday. Use the old Konami Code to start with ten lives (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left Right, B, A, Start).
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Despite growing up as a huge Turtles fan, I didn't see the new movie in theaters. I just wasn't excited about the Turtles were being rebooted in CGI with Michael Bay directing. When I finally watched this on Blu Ray - it was actually really good. Overall, I'd say it's the second best Turtles movie only behind the original film from 1990.
It starts off with the origin story of the Turtles we've all heard a million times. We also get a back story for April O'Neil (Megan Fox) and her partner Vern (Will Arnett). They form an alliance with the Turtles to battle Shredder - who is planning to poison the city of New York.
The plot is pretty generic, but it's the little things that make this movie great. Like at one point, Raphael gets shot with machine guns and just puts some Duct Tape on the back of his shell. It's hilarious. I also love how Michaelangelo is a goofball stoner (like in the cartoon). He keeps forgetting Vern's name and just refers to him as "that old guy". He also has a huge weakness for pizza - there's a scene where Splinter hypnotizes him with a 99 cheese pizza (yes, a pizza with 99 different kinds of cheese).
You have to check this out if you grew up watching the Turtles. It has great action/special effects and a high replay value. It was also insanely profitable ($477 million in worldwide ticket sales on a budget of $120 million) so there will be a sequel (yes!); 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2' is slated for a June 2016 release.
Vern: "You're a talking Turtle?!?"
Raphael: "Yeah, and you're a human nerd. Now that we got that out of the way, we gotta get outta here!"
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES - 1989)
Unlike the first Turtles game on the NES, this is what we were all hoping for - a straight forward arcade style beat 'em up. This was basically the same as the arcade version, except they added two bonus levels. There were also ads for Pizza Hut within the game - (which I believe was a first on the NES).
It's not too tough to make it to the lest level, but Shredder is insanely hard. It takes like 100 hits to defeat him, but he can kill you in just one hit with his Mutagen Ray. As Michaelangelo would say, "That's totally bogus, dude".
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
When I was seven years old, (like most young dudes my age) I was obsessed with the Turtles cartoon and toys. When I heard there was going to be a Turtles movie - I can't tell you how excited I was. And when I got to see it in the theaters - it was perfect! So perfect that I wanted to watch it over and over once I got a copy on VHS. I'm sure you had one too (remember the Pizza Hut commercials that were part of the previews?).
The movie starts off with the Turtles ordering a pizza. Since they live in the sewer, they have the delivery guy put the pizza through the sewer hole. It's classic. We're then introduced to April O' Neil, who is reporting on a recent crime wave in New York. These crimes are the work of the Foot Clan, an underground gang led by the Turtles' nemesis, Shredder.
Shredder's Foot Clan always reminds me of Darth Vader's Storm Troopers from Star Wars - both are a seemingly endless supply of bad guys that are easily defeated. But unlike working for Darth Vader, joining the Foot Clan had some pretty cool benefits. During their down time, the Foot Clan could hang in an abandoned building where they could skateboard, smoke cigarettes and play arcade games. Sounds a hell of a lot better than joining the Dark Side.
While Shredder is recruiting an army of teenagers, the Turtles form an alliance with April O'Neil but Raphael leaves after an argument. Raph is eventually captured by Shredder and the Turtles have to rescue him with the help of April. In the end, Shredder is seemingly killed in a garbage truck, but returns in the sequel, 'TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze'.
Best part: When Raph meets Casey Jones
Raphael: "What is this? A Jose Canseco bat? Please tell me you didn't pay money for this!"
2. TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)
Turtles in Time is easily the best Turtles video game and is (in my opinion) one of the top five games on the SNES. In addition to having great graphics and solid game play, it also has an AWESOME plot.
You start off fighting the Foot Clan in New York which leads to a boss fight with Shredder. After you defeat Shredder, he sends you into a "time warp" where you're randomly sent to different times throughout history.
You start off in Prehistoric times battling the Foot Clan on dinosaurs. Then it's forward millions of years to a pirate ship and a fight against Rocksteady and Bebop. Next, it's a train level with a fight against Leatherhead. Finally, you end up in the year 2032 and fight Krang before warping back home.
Best part: After getting no love in any of the movies, Krang gets a prominent role in 'Turtles in Time'. He steals the Statue of Liberty in the opening scene and you eventually battle him in the year 2032.
1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV Series (1987-1996)
In my opinion, the original cartoon is the pinnacle of things TMNT. I grew up watching this every Saturday morning and let me tell you - when you're six years old - there's nothing better than a big bowl of Lucky Charms and a half an hour of Ninja Turtles.
The cartoon aired for ten years and had a total of 193 episodes. In a lot of ways it was like 'The Simpsons'; it started off amazing and slowly got worse over time. But just like 'The Simpsons' there are dozens of classic episodes that are just as great now as they were back then.
What really makes the cartoon #1 is the great cast of villains. My favorite was always Krang - a talking brain that controls a robot body. For me, it's been a HUGE disappointment that Krang hasn't appeared in any of the Turtles movies.
In the later seasons, they branched out with new villains, like Baxter Stockman, the Rat King and Leatherhead. I'm sure a lot of this had to do with selling toys (every single one had their own action figure), but it sure made for some awesome cartoons.
To counter the huge cast of villains, there were also plenty of "good guys" that would help the Turtles. My favorites were the Neutrinos, a trio of alien teenagers from Dimension X. They have a flying convertible and share similar interests with the Turtles (pizza, corny jokes, fighting Shredder, etc).
Fun fact: The voice of Shredder is played by
Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince (James Avery).
What really makes the cartoon #1 is the great cast of villains. My favorite was always Krang - a talking brain that controls a robot body. For me, it's been a HUGE disappointment that Krang hasn't appeared in any of the Turtles movies.
Shredder also had two henchmen, Bebop and Rocksteady. They were pretty useless and would routinely fail at stopping the Turtles. They were also really lazy. Whenever Shredder assigned them a job, Bebop would always say something like, "Awww geee boss do we have to?".
In the later seasons, they branched out with new villains, like Baxter Stockman, the Rat King and Leatherhead. I'm sure a lot of this had to do with selling toys (every single one had their own action figure), but it sure made for some awesome cartoons.
To counter the huge cast of villains, there were also plenty of "good guys" that would help the Turtles. My favorites were the Neutrinos, a trio of alien teenagers from Dimension X. They have a flying convertible and share similar interests with the Turtles (pizza, corny jokes, fighting Shredder, etc).
In my opinion, the cartoon is by far the best version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles you can experience. I was lucky enough to get the complete series on DVD last Christmas from my parents. It comes in this awesome Turtle Van ^ and has all 193 episodes. The later seasons aren't nearly as good as the first few, but if you've never seen the first two or three seasons you should really check them out.
Best Season: Season One, hands down. It's an eight episode story arc where each episode continues into the next. The Turtles are trying to get their hands on a mutagen gun that will transform Splinter back into human form. Instead, Krang uses the gun on himself and grows ten times in size. The Turtles eventually defeat Krang but the mutagen gun is destroyed and Splinter can never return to human form.
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